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A few tips...
... from my little experience.
Below reflexions aren't pretending to be fully true nor to be able to enlight everybody.
Getting infos
The most important!
If you want to progress, you have to shoot... after having studied a little bit.
Which format, which camera, where to buy, how to make a good photo ? There are several sources to use :
– specialized websites : for the hardware reviews, photography techniques, etc.
– forums : THE ultimate source.
Photo in its every aspects, plus we often find classifieds for attempting to get what you didn't find on eBay (or didn't want to use it).
Prior to posting a new topic, use the SEARCH ENGINE. Some questions are asked a hundred times, so frequent users may be reluctant to answer (and they'd be rightto act so)...
– books : a lot of well-written guides on more or less peculiar topics.
Shooting
– choose a film sensitivity matching with the ambient light.
I used to use 400 ISO film because it's versatile and I was afraid to be "in need of ISOs" ; actually 200 and even 100 aren't so difficult to handle when the sky darkens !
– wait for the light to be softer/stronger, again depending on the loaded film.
– wait for some external subjects to enter your frame in order to get a better composition.
Scans
Prefer to scan your negative film rather than reprints.
As negatives aren't likely to be perfectly straight, when using a flatbed scanner the back will provoke a crappy ray of light on the center of final images.
An anti-Newton rings glass on the negative avoids this annoying effect.
Digital or analog?
Film ou sensor?
Trendy brands or ol' fashionned ones?
Actually, that's the same.
On the one hand, we have:
"Dammit, the brand new Canikon's S.O.I. sensor has only 49 Megapixels :/
— Wait wait, they released a 8-800 IS VR L ED T* zoom with an incredible the AF (4.2 nano seconds response time!), so if you crop at a 16:10 ratio your picture is still good for the Pulitzer!
— And if you process the RAW with Macromedobe D.X.O. plus the 6.12 patch for quad-core you got a perfect JPEG, everything has been routined by the software. Developers have even coded a preemptive OOF optimiser function. »
On the other:
« What to buy? Hexar and Voigtländer 15 mm or R4s2 plus PA-Curtagon ? IMHO the Voigt' & Tri-X combination will be better, because this film is really a keeper... but one can't use a chrome lens on a black body, that's irrelevant.
— No way, I spent all the night reading HCB's books and prints and it appears clear to me that Tri-X couldn't handle the quintessence of its 'Cron 35. Anyway it's Cosina made so you won't notice any difference.
— Completely meaningless; that was entirely owing to the lens coating which didn't express the decisive moment, particularly at ƒ/2.8. That said and at the opposite, using Superia can underline a dramatic post-modern side, as seen with Salgado, who takes all its photographs at ƒ/4. »
The grass isn't greener on the other side...
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