By Steve Lingeman 9-12-2021

Photographer’s note: I thought I would have a little fun today. With Covid running rampant and the somber nature of September 11, maybe this will cheer somebody up.

The woman was clearly strutting her stuff at a motor cycle rally in New Hampshire. She was a walking metaphor for how a model should be posed - and I did not coach her in any way. Please look at the cropped out photos below. The eyes… the cone … and the tatoo.

It’s not about the pixels!

I have made a previous post about the Fuji GFX 100s and this blog post is the antecedent to that discussion which was about an amazing high pixel count camera.  However, it’s not always about the number of pixels on the sensor of the digital camera you are using.  

This image of a motorcycle enthusiast which I have called “Biker Babe” was shot on a 3.5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 990.  This image can be enlarged to over 48 inches high and prints very nicely at that size.  Well then if it’s not about megapixels, what is it about?   Answer:  it’s still about the basics of exposure - shutter speed, depth of field (aperture) and ISO (in the old days) and - focus.   Definitions of these terms are readily found by Googling, therefore I won’t bore you.  

All of the major digital camera brands have a “full auto” setting if you really don’t feel like taking control of the exposure, but would rather just make the photograph.  The standard cell phone camera functions are for the most part, full auto.  If a user wants a deep dive into photographing using a cell phone, there are apps that allow the user to set aperture, shutter and iso, as well as provide extensive post processing capability - directly on your iPhone.  (https://www.danburkholder.com)

So then what is it about?   The bottom line is that it is your intent. Norm Bell, one of our distinguished leaders of the TCC special interest groups.  Why are you taking this photograph?  

I got a kick out of Carol’s Ward’s description of her asking her astro photo students to tape the lens of their cameras using gaffer tape to encourage her students to focus on the sky - not the camera.  Some were a little put off by the pink tape, however it’s not about the color of the tape - it’s the “intent” of the setup.   

One of my first photography classes as an adult was a “black and white” film class.  The instructor taped our lenses to F16 and sent us into the world of Ansouis, Provence France to photograph anything we wanted.  However, our classroom instruction was about developing our vision and seeing the image.    In other words - exposure is one thing - intent is another.  

Our instructor had taken focus off the table, as well as film speed due to the ISO of the film, what was left?  Well, it was the little bobbing needle in the viewfinder of my Nikon Nikkormat.  Focus and depth of field (aperture) were off the table because the lens was taped to f16. I could control the quality of the photography and exposure only with the shutter speed dial, and … low and behold my intent.  

Well then, you may ask, what does any of this have to do with pixels?  It doesn’t.  It’s about intent. 

The “Biker Babe” image along with others below were captured at the 2003 Laconia, NH  motorcycle rally.    These images are minimally processed with the “full on intent” of capturing the biker culture.  

In conclusion:  At the end of the day, it’s far better to concentrate on what’s in the frame - aka, your intent -  than to worry about post processing.  If necessary, full auto in the field.   

Full disclosure:  I do not use Lightroom.  Photoshop requires very little understanding of the program to clean up most images, if they need it at all.  And, the current version of Photoshop RAW can also be set to look at JPEG, TIFF or any RAW format from any camera manufacturer.