What do you do to help yourself in the field?

[C. D. Keth]

Tips and tricks threads are always nice. I thought it might be nice to hear what people do back at home to help make shooting a little easier or better.

I'm a label freak. I print p-touch labels for nearly everything. I like to give myself lots of information in useful forms so I don't have to calculate or rummage for answers when I'm shooting. I like the uninterrupted creative thought it facilitates.

I have a few tiny charts on the back of my meter: exposure for expanded and contracted development, reciprocity corrections, and the focus spread chart from this website.

All of my filters get the stop correction on the edge, and that same information goes on my filter wallet thing in case the small label comes off.

Finally- and this is my favorite- all of my lenses gets a chart on the board with bellows corrections in 1/3 stop increments out as far as my bellows will extend. I just have to choose the closest correction or interpolate between them for chromes.



Untitled by CKeth, on Flickr

[papac]

There was some nice ideas. Liked the bellows extension list, most helpful.

I my self have a hard time with numbers, never been a friend of math, so I have to come up with thing that help me with that. When I shoot LF I have done a form that works for me. It´s a work in progress so when I come up with something new to test I just edit the psd-file and print some new.

I get two forms from a A4 printing paper. Cut it and fold it. One side pre printed with thing I easy just ring in , underscore or write with help of the pre print. I got the other sides in the fold to take notes, drawings or what I need at the moment. When developed and the neg is in a envelop I keep that in the fold as long as I work with that image. When I archive it I put the neg on one side and the note on the other.

This helps me remember what I have done and also helps me figuring out 1 stop here and 1 stop there. I´m not new to f-stops, been shooting film fore some 35 year but I still need some help on my way. For me It´s always been better to know where to find everything rather then to remember all things

With this system the notes can follow the neg from shoot to archive and there is plenty of room to add notes that comes up during the process.

There are some iPhone apps I use to complement this, Field tools and Reciprocity Timer.


exp.form by papac_1, on Flickr

[jcoldslabs]

What do I do to help myself in the field? Not nearly enough! Thanks for the post. You guys are giving me ideas.

Jonathan

[Chuck P.]

I have my exposure record card that I print on 5x8 index cards, but I don't take the cards into the field. I will dictate the exposure notes, holder ID, etc.. into a small digital voice recorder----i hate writing notes in the field. When I get home or in the truck before leaving, I will put those notes on the cards. For things such as filter factors, bellows extension, reciprocity adjustments, hyper focal distances, etc..., I keep them on a small 4x6 index cards that are spiral bound for easy access.

[Brian Ellis]

I help myself in the field by keeping everything as simple as possible and no longer carry around or make charts, notes, cards, graphs, or anything else of that nature. I used to do all that - had my reciprocity chart, had my bellows extension card, had my ruler for measuring distances, and most importantly had my Casio pocket computer used with the BTZS system. But with a few years of experience and sticking to only one film, one developer, etc. I found that I never actually used any of that information for anything. I had great detailed records of everything I did, kept in order by date and subject matter for easy reference in the future but found that I had no reason to ever refer to any of it again.

Today all I record is the anticipated deviation from normal development time if any (i.e. N+1, N-1, etc.). I don't need charts for things like filter factors because I know them for the few filters I use or bellows compensation because I just use the 8x (some people use 10x) rule of thumb (if the object on which I'm focusing is farther away than 8x the focal length of the lens use no compensation, if it's a little closer open up a stop, it it's a lot closer open up two stops, all done by eyeballing).

If others feel that notes, charts, gadgets, labels, etc. help their photography that's fine for them, I wouldn't criticize anyone else's practices, we all have our own methods that hopefully work for us. But for me I found that most of that kind of thing just got in the way and I do much better (not to mention enjoying myself more) by keeping everything as simple as possible.

[Chuck P.]

....................but found that I had no reason to ever refer to any of it again.

I find the information most relevant when I've made mistakes and I make plenty of them; having notes to look back on can be quite rewarding.

[David Lobato]

To keep from losing caps I have sticky back Velcro on lens caps, meter cap, and other small items. Then have mating Velcro pieces on my tripod and head. It's quick to velcro small items to the tripod and keep them handy and out of the way. I also have an emergency space blanket, really a tarp, that comes out of the pack first, spread out on the dirt/grass/snow/sand/etc, then place onto it lenses/filters/film holders/meter/notebook/pencils/hat/glasses/jacket. This keeps items clean, harder to lose, and easier to access. One side is silver, the other side orange in case of emergency. I have also used it to crouch underneath during rain showers.

[ic-racer]

Tips and tricks threads are always nice. I thought it might be nice to hear what people do back at home to help make shooting a little easier or better.

Keth,
I think about things to make shooting easier quite a bit. However my setup is very much different from yours. I shoot B&W negatives and print on VC paper and use a view meter.
Therefore I don't need any development, or exposure 'compensation' in the field. With a view meter I meter a selected area of 'average' illumination and expose based on an exposure index that has worked for me for many many years. I don't use filters and carry only one lens. I can set up my 8x10, compose, focus and expose in a short time then be on to the next area of interest. I don't consider large format to be 'slow.' In fact the light I seek to photograph is frequently quite ephemeral and requires a rapid setup.

[ian kraus]

blue painters tape with film info on anything with film loaded

[Ari]

I keep it very simple: camera, lens, film, meter, tripod; extra information is stored in me noggin.