As photographers, we often find ourselves in a rut,taking things too seriously and forgetting just how fun it can be at times. These photographers decided to challenge themselves by trusting their experience to get the shot. No metering, no EVF, and no chimping.
While this isn't exactly the most practical photo shoot, it is definitely an interesting exercise to see just how well you know your gear. Being able to shoot on instinct, dial in your settings just from the light outside, and knowing what your lens is seeing before you bring it up to your eye is a skill many photographers should have in my opinion, especially if you're going to be shooting street, where things can change in a moment and being able to have your settings dialed in by instinct is imperative. Ansel Adams famously metered a scene just because he knew how much light the moon gave off.
Creative Contrast decided to take this to the extreme by doing a small photo shoot with just their instincts to guide them in beautiful Riverside Toronto, photographing Sarha Hanna just as the sun was close to the horizon in a pre-golden hour light, creating strong shadows and high contrast.
Have you ever done an exercise like this? Maybe not a full photo shoot, but at the very least guessing your settings before you get started?
An interesting idea!
I would have liked to see more of their successes and failures, rather than a just few times when they accidentally pressed the shutter and then showing their favourite image each at the end. I wonder how many did they nail the exposure and how many did yet not, and what range of compositions did they get? A montage would have been better to see.
But I guess I should try it myself to find this out for how I do.