Evening Flight
Standing calmly near the edge of the Ashley River, waiting with eager anticipation as the sun began to drop below the horizon, I mounted my D300 on the tripod, framed up the scene before me and then a thought occurred to me. I’ve not used auto bracketing in a long, long, time. As the contrast was fairly high, I figured that this would be a good thing to do. Later, I could come back home and combine a couple of exposures using Photoshop and have a nice looking image.
For some reason, my mind would only bring up memories of how to do it on my D2X, which I sold more than a year ago. I hunted through the various menus and could not remember how to do it. Damn! I always carry my book with me, but I never want to waste time when the sun is sinking trying to thumb through a book and figure something out!
All of my simplifying left me a bit clueless. Suddenly, I started laughing out loud and thinking to myself: Dufus! What would you do if you had a film camera that didn’t have all of that cool technology in it? Of course, I’d change it to manual and kick it old school, which is exactly what I did.
Sometimes that guy behind the camera is so funny! What a knucklehead! Of course, when I got home, one of the first things that I did, while the photos were being copied to the computer, was look to see how to do bracketing. Maybe I’ll be ready the next time, assuming that it isn’t too long between those times.
Oddly enough, there were a few of the bracketed ones that I liked, but none quite as much as this one, which isn’t bracketed. I was looking at the clouds after the sun had dipped below the horizon and noticed this jet flying through what looked like a corridor between the clouds.
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12 Responses to “Now how do you use this damn thing?”
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As I read your post I was thinking: “yeah, how would I auto-bracket on my camera? I gotta find out in case I’m ever in the same situation as Paul here”. Then you mentioned “manual” bracketing and I’m thinking “D’oh!”. See, you’re not the only dufus around.
It’s funny how stuck we can get on technology!
I try to read some of my manual and other photo books every night even if it is only a page or two. I don’t want the tech to get in the way of what I am trying to shoot or say. The point is to make the camera so automatic that it is an extension of what I see in my head. Still can’t remember sometimes
The good thing, even though I haven’t used it more than twice at most, ts that on my camera this is a hardware switch behind the wheel for shutter speeds. Quite logical, too. It’s only the thing I never remember that I have that feature…
Wonderful image, that air plane really makes it special.
Thanks, Ove. I liked the plane, otherwise it was just another cloud shot.
I rather liked the corridor.
Paul just remembered there is a manual for the D300 that you can put on the iPhone if you have one of those?
LOL!! I am sure most photographers will laugh along with you on this post. I’ve done the same thing and at one time carried my manual with me all the time. I read once where we need to read our manuals once then practice with the camera then read the manual again. Repeat until the handling of the camera becomes second nature. This is a good reason for shooting everyday. I also think it would be quite difficult to shoot with two or more different cameras and to be proficient with them both. We want to be ready with camera in hand for those special moments but we also want to enjoy the art of shooting.
It’s nice to know that I’m not alone.
Even though I shoot most every day, I don’t use bracketing every day so it’s easy to forget. I’ll probably have to resort to the same thing next time, manual mode, because it will have been so long since I used bracketing. Oh well. More than one way to skin a cat! (No cats were harmed in the making of this comment! ) 
I primarily shoot in aperture priority mode on my D300. I’ve learned, when using a tripod, to use the Main Command Dial to quickly change exposure value in the increments I want. I guess you can call it my way to bracket on the run. When I’m using a tripod for scenics I will use the bracketing mode.
The plane really makes it!
Re. the manuals: I am glad I don’t need mine – I read it once after the purchase, but now it’s in the box. Usually I try what you did: Doing it old school. And I do only use maybe 10% of the ghee-whizz Sony built into my camera, from all the scene modes sunset mode was the only one that I tried – once. Shooting raw, why should I bother with modes that can be applied much better during postprocessing. So I restrict myself to mostly aperture-preference and manual. The good thing with my camera is that it has a lot of mechanical switches and buttons, so I seldom need the menu system, switching between fill flash and wireless flash and between the two memory card slots the only notable exceptions.
I used to know how to do it, but it’s been so long and I’ve been using such simplified cameras that that piece of information just slipped away!
Man, I was laughing as I read your post, as I am the guy who JUST learned how to use EV on his camera. The things I don’t know or have forgotten I’m sure can eclipse the things you’ve forgotten.
Beautiful Image.