Farmhouse, Eastern Colorado. Nikon D7000, Tokina 12-24 f/4 @ f/4, 1/800 sec, ISO 100, 3 image HDR
I spent the last few days visiting family in Nebraska. Got out to shoot a couple of times, but unfortunately, I engaged in “Lazy Photography”. Now, anyone can have their own unique definition of lazy photography and that definition can change whenever necessary. In this case, the definition is, I think, pretty cut and dried. I didn’t “bother” with a tripod, opting instead to up the ISO (except for the photo above) to make up for any camera shake, I didn’t carefully consider my compositions, and I neglected to make sure my exposures were adequate (they weren’t – I had the metering set up wrong and ended up with properly exposed skies and dark buildings).
The first issue, no tripod, isn’t that bad - when taking the shots not only did I have a fairly high shutter speed, but I was also squeezing the shot off in between breaths. For you old military people (and young too) I’m sure you recognize that technique – squeezing a round off between exhale and inhale to reduce weapon shake. I ended up with reasonably sharp photos. Still – I usually go with a tripod.
But the composition problems – well, that’s another story. Nothing I can do about that. A cutoff church steeple is going to stay cutoff. It means revisiting the subject sometime to get it right.
And the exposure problems? I’ll blame it on the brightness of the day and the fact that what you do see on the LCD screen is a jpeg representation of the RAW file. At any rate, looking at the images on my monitor revealed that many of them were severely underexposed.
I managed a few salvageable shots, but overall, I just got lazy.
Another lesson learned.
Thanks for reading,
John
With respect to this image, I don’t think you were “lazy” at all. If you were exposing for the sky, you were doing it exactly right (in my opinion). If the exposure had been set for the old farmhouse, the sky most likely would have been blown out. Not a good thing. And you can always bring up the shadows in processing. All in all, the resulting photograph is very good. Nice job.
Thanks Paul. Actually, this particular image took some serious post-processing to coax the details out of the side of the shack – they were pretty much gone in the original photo. I ended up creating three images from the one (increase exposure, decrease exposure and normal), exporting them and then using Photomatix to combine them. Then I took the result into Topaz Adjust 5 to give it just the right ‘look’. It’s the end result that’s important and I was pretty pleased. Thanks for your comments!
John, I like to think of it as “Pleasure Photography” rather then “Lazy Photography!” Besides, sometimes you can stumble upon real “gems” if your not looking too hard — it let’s the inner voice have a stronger say.
As for this photo, as Paul stated, it’s very good — no matter the process which got you there.
“Pleasure Photography”….I like it! All the fun, none of the guilt. Thanks, Earl!
To me, lazy photography is the same as no photography. If this photo is a result of your laziness, we should all be so lazy. I’ve set my camera to permanent 3 stop brackets because I’m too lazy to make adjustments. And forget about a tripod. A photo is only technically bad if it can’t be coaxed into something good after its shot. I think this is really very good.
Thanks, Ken…maybe “Lazy” wasn’t the right word to use. As I mentioned in the post, I usually shoot with a tripod and just pay more attention than I usually do, so perhaps “atypical” would be a better word to describe it. I did feel I neglected my usual techniques. Heck. Maybe I’ll do that more often!
Actually, at times a tripod can be a hindrance. You can get more creative by not being restricted to a tripod. On other occasions, it is a requirement, especially for sharp interior architectural shots. Of course when photographing inside of museums and such places it is usually forbidden. I guess the main point, it’s not laziness, I would call it being flexible. Anyway, love this shot of this old farmhouse!
Thanks for your comments, John. As others have noted, it really isn’t lazy, and I believe I’ll agree, especially about the tripod. It can be restrictive at times – and at other times it can make one more deliberate in their compositions. Flexibility is paramount as is using the right tools for a job. Looking back at the photos I took during this trip, I’m finding some that are acceptable, some (perhaps a larger percentage overall) that simply aren’t. But then, don’t we all end up with unacceptable images from sessions?
I think it turned out reasonably well anyway!
I think I have to put myself in the “lazy photographer” category. RAW save some of my missteps and the others I just leave in storage! 
Thanks Don! I always shoot RAW these days – I find I have more latitude that way. My only complaint is Windows 7 doesn’t show thumbnails of the images from NEF files…
Why is it when I am being lazy I don’t get photos like this? I love everything about this. The ample foreground adds just the right effect to the structure and your processing worked beautifully. I would vote for more of this kind of “atypical” work. Of course, I am prejudiced. Being chronically lazy about the tripod, this is the typical way for me to work.
I’m hearing from quite a few folks about how they don’t typically use a tripod except for critical situations, so from now on, if I have the tripod with me and decide not to use it, then c’est le vie! I won’t sweat it! Thanks for yours and everyone else’s kind comments. I really don’t feel so lazy now!
That is a stunning landscape! I love the dramatic framing incredibly and the lighting and atmosphere is absolutely fabulous. Great work!
Thanks Martina, I appreciate the comments! I’ve been perusing your site and love it – the food shots are simply beautiful!
A bit late to the game, but I’ll throw in my two cents worth. I understand how you feel; I get that feeling sometimes when I’ve gone shooting a long time without my tripod. I feel that I rush things, or that I’m just doing drive-by photography.
Eventually, I get over it, but for those times when I can’t seem to, I just get out the tripod and have a session with it in the woods and that clears things up.
Paul, you’re absolutely correct – all I had to do was take the darn tripod out, set it up and use it. The rushed feeling would have faded. And probably, when I am out and get that feeling I should reach for the tripod to stop it in it’s tracks…unless, of course there’s a reason for being rushed!
I consider myself lazy when I do this too, but sometimes it’s called for. Sometimes you just need to shoot snapshots. I think it’s akin to an athlete’s off season training (or something like that). Camera explorations.
I love the prairie landscape so will have to keep an eye on your blog.
Thanks, Roberta! I like the analogy – off season training. Just have to remember to go back on-season!