Hi Jim, excellent advice.
Best,
Merg
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Self taught - mainly through reading the articles on this website.
The main thing to do is sort out a routine, this should incorporate all the little checks that prevent either not exposing the film, unintentionally exposing it, or getting the exposure wrong..
Non exhaustive list of examples follows:
* be sure that you've loaded your film correctly!
* make sure you have all of your required equipment when you go to shoot - finding out that you forgot a shutter release or light meter can be a bit annoying when you're many miles from home/the office.
* be sure that you've set up your gear correctly so that it's stable and unlikely to move during an exposure
* check light meter ISO setting
* check that you stop down after focusing
* check that your shutter speed is set correctly
* tap film holders to settle film before insertion into the back
* close the aperture before removing dark slides from holders
* check that appropriate filters are in place after composing/focusing/stopping down - eg colour correction (and correct exposure accordingly!!)
* double & triple checking exposure & reset as appropriate
* be certain to invert dark slides once you have an exposure (assuming your dark slides are black/white sided)
* fold the film holder hooks over the darkslides to prevent accidental darkslide removal/movement
* be sure to remove film holders from the back by firmly grasping the body of the holder and not the dark slide handles
It sounds like a lot to remember, but it becomes second nature soon enough.
Practice with empty holders until you feel you've got the routine down pat for you and your equipment.
Me also. Also thanks to this website.
I'm still a rookie LF photographer but I got here very advanced knowledge. I got very good advice, and key resources have been recommended to me by senior LF photographers with lots of field experience and wisdom. Thanks to all.
Self taught, with the help of a few books---especially Steve Simmons Using The View Camera, and the Ansel Adams' trilogy along with Adams 40 Photographs.
Sadly, there's not a lot of opportunity or support for formal instruction any more. Buy a camera, kludge up dark room, order supplies and have at it :)
Reading a book(s) is NOT self-taught. You are learning from someone else -- even though they are not in the room with you. The author(s) is teaching you. Give credit where credit is due.
Here's an example of my LF self-teaching -- figuring out how to make a true, large format fisheye lens. I didn't read about it in a book, magazine, or Internet web page/forum. I did not learn how to do it from a friend, colleague, or professor. I figured it all out on my own. And it works:
Attachment 169424
www.subclub.org/fujinon/gonefishin.pdf
But from my lens design perspective, you didn't actually make that lens ...merely repurposed the lens for large format.
I don't say that to discredit your work -- obviously you had to learn things as you adapted the optics, the results are great, and you rightfully take credit for it. I say this to point out that you consider your lens-work as "self-taught" in the same way other posters who have transferred knowledge via books consider themselves self-taught. In neither case did anyone start from scratch, and it's important to realize the distinct difference between "self-taught" and "starting from scratch". We all stand on the shoulders of giants.
Abraham Lincoln -- the epitome of a self-taught lawyer prior to his political career -- educated himself by reading and then putting what he read into practice.
I wouldn't discredit their "self-taught" status simply because they put into practice the information they learned in a book. After all, the book doesn't talk directly to the real and unique experiences that we all face when learning like an instructor would. There is always a learning curve to climb up to go from reading to practicing, and then of course experience is required to go from practice to mastery. Getting up that learning curve on your own definitely qualifies for "self taught."
I don't think using books/websites/youtube/research isn't violating the concept of self-taught. I think of self-taught as not needing an instructor who covers a curriculum or otherwise organizes your educational experience. You can't learn much without other people being involved at some point.
Having read many books and taken many classes, the only difference, to me, is having a (non-self-taught) instructor in the classes. In both cases, I learned. In both cases I was taught, but in neither case was I self-taught.
Why not just say "I learned LF from books" or "I was taught LF in classes", etc.?
IMHO "Self Teaching" also includes reading books. "Self Teaching" is not having a teacher. In fact there are a lot of books intended for self teaching: "Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide", "Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, 2nd edition" , "Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide" ...
Your fisheye project involves self teaching, but it also goes beyond that scope, this is in the experimentation and technical creativity field. The 37 Fisheye misses the corners, but focusing near objects by bellows extension you get a larger circle, and from that you can extend DOF by stopping aperture... This is not about teaching because a teacher would say that Fisheyes are absent in LF photography. BTW, nice idea, I 'll test that with the P67 FE.
With respect, it feels like some people actually understand what I meant when I used the phrase "self taught" but are deciding to (somewhat strangely) make an issue out of the use of the phrase. By "self-taught", I think most people understood that I meant "self-directed" learning using available resources such as books, forums such as these, YouTube, etc.
To me, the risk of self-directed learning comes from the fact that I am deciding what resources to use without knowing whether those resources are legitimate, etc.