Landscapers ― share your best “take-down” tips

[jayabbas]

Obvious -- nah... just had this picture in my mind of parts, a weeping photographer and an unwanted wallet thinning exercise. Bet your meters are well protected nowadays.

[Frank Petronio]

I just tried to develop the habits of keeping the meter in one pocket, loupe around my neck, darkcloth around tripod, reading glasses in breast pocket, lenscaps in the lenswrap and case.

If I change a lens, I put the other lens away first.

If I ever needed a list, I'd probably lose it.

I'm one to collapse the bellows and carry the camera mounted to the tripod, periodically checking the tripod mount but not babying it either. By keeping the bellows compressed there is less chance of wacking it.

[Joseph Dickerson]

Hi All,

After I have exposed my film, and before I put anything away, I open the lens and recheck my focus. I do this whether I'm shooting in the studio or in the field. I have saved my butt many times by discovering that I hadn't locked something down tightly and it had slipped while I was loading the camera.

I think I picked this up from Morley Baer at a Napa Valley workshop about a hundred years ago. Also from Morley, I always fire my shutter once before I pull the darkslide, if the shutter is still open I'll know it before I waste a sheet of film.

I also wear one of those geeky photo vests (he says, putting on a flame retardant suit! ), actually it's a travel vest from Cabela's, but it's still pretty geeky. Sometimes I feel like Marlin Perkins. But I don't carry my gear in it while on the trail, rather I use it to store stuff I don't want to put on the ground while I shoot. Saves a lot of time spent in the backpack while I shoot. After shooting everything goes back into the backpack, hopefully in the same pocket it came out of.

JD

[Heroique]

Nice tip, Joseph. ;^)

I admit it, I do this too. Re-checking composition & settings ... after the shot!

I’ve made this a habit after complicated shots, when errors are more likely.

Rather counter-intuitive, but over time, the habit has saved me several shots since I can take a corrected shot, right then and there. Yes, I’d rather catch an oversight when I’m still on location & set-up – not when I’m back home examining my developed film. Even when I’m out of extra film, I’ll still make a “post-shot check,” so I can note any mistakes in advance of film development, and perhaps save the shot w/ special development.

(Note on psychology: it’s interesting how one’s awareness can change, some would say “sharpen,” right after a shot. You see and understand things that weren’t apparent before.)

[jayabbas]

Thanks for your pieces of knowledge JD. It is those little things that make it a craft practiced by craftsmen.

[dave_whatever]

First thing I do after stowing the film away is to rezero all the movements. Seems pretty obvious but nobody else has said it yet.

Another favourite of mine is taking all the filters off, realising you had a center filter on the lens that you didn't account for when you meterd, then frantically scrabble though your filmholders for the one you just shot so you can write "push 1.5 stops" on it.

[Joseph Dickerson]

Does having a pint of a dark frothy beverage count as "take down"?

I can really recommend it!

JD

[Nathan Potter]

Certainly the fastest "take down" for me was a gust of wind that toppled my rig into the Robson River just off the Yellowhead Highway in BC. Pulled the TK45 and 360 Nikon and tripod out of the river quickly, wiped down with my shirt and packed it all away. Don't exactly remember the details of the sequence though. But recovery from the river was a mere seconds. I think this was about 2004 when the area seemed to be burning up.

Nate Potter, Austin TX

[keith english]

Since the Zone VI want fold up with a lens on or a film holder in, its pretty easy to remember everything. And I keep most eveything in a vest, so nothing on the ground. I do try to remember to put the front lens cap on before removing the lens, and have the rear cap in hand. Makes it easier than trying to dig for the caps with the lens in your hand.

[Brian Ellis]

Always leave at least one sheet of film unexposed so that you'll be able to make a photograph on your way out. Things look a lot different when you're going in the opposite direction from the one you came in from.

Other than that I don't have a "take down list." I also don't have a "drive my car" list or a "eat my dinner" list." Some things are so obvious that even for me a list isn't necessary.