http://www.achangeinthewind.com/2010/09/war-and-peace-in-53-words-.html
It is approximately 7.5 words per sentence... On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 11:06 AM, Bob W <p...@web-options.com> wrote: > Nobody's going to read that, whatever it's about. Several long blocks of text > - why should anyone want to read it? > > Whatever it is you want to say, say it in less than 7 short sentences. > > B > >> On 7 Oct 2013, at 08:56, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote: >> >> This is somethingt that has been brewing in my mind for a while. I didn't >> have time to do more than just spew it out, without editing. And it >> was a real challlenge trying to phrase it as "there are people out there >> doing a lot more work than you realize", and not come across as "I do >> all this stuff for you, what are you going to do for me?". I hope >> I succeeded. >> >> If you are reading this, chances are that I've taken photos of you. I have >> nearly 1,600 people on my friends list, and I'm pretty sure it's not because >> of my sparkling personality. My social awkwardness is not legendary, but it >> is no secret. The reason that most people connect with me on social >> networking sites is because I'm one of the people that gets decent photos at >> those events where the cell phone photos always look like crap. In just >> about any social group there are a few of us, generally three or four, that >> you see at the various events, taking photos. >> Something like half of the photos ever taken, have been taken in the past >> year or two. To a first approximation, everybody now has a camera with them >> all the time. You might call it a phone, but it's also a camera. >> Meanwhile, the performance of dedicated cameras have improved at the >> exponential rate that Gordon Moore noticed several decades ago. So, not >> only can just about anyone take a photo at any time, but there's a decent >> chance that photo will look OK, or at least the objects in it will probably >> be recognizable. But in our various social groups, there are three or four >> of us who fairly regularly hear someone admit that their photos don't turn >> out as well as ours. >> There's a dirty secret that the people who make cameras won't tell you. >> While cameras have advanced to the point that you no longer need to have a >> good grasp of photographic fundamentals to take a pictures that is >> reasonably well exposed, and even has subjects in focus, if you don't know >> your aperture from a hole in the ground, chances are you won't take many >> good photos. >> Sure, you'll get lucky now and then. Throw enough darts in the general >> direction of the dart board and a few of them will hit the bullseye, but >> quite frankly, most of your photos will be crap, particularly in anything >> but favorable light. >> What camera companies will tell you is that to get good photos, you need >> good (read expensive) cameras and lenses. This is true to a point. A good >> photographer can get beautiful artistic photos with just about any working >> camera that you put in their hands, but there are times when you simply need >> the right tool for the job. If you want pictures of people dancing in a >> room that is too dark to comfortably read in, you are going to need a pretty >> good camera body, a decent lens, and in addition to knowing how to use them, >> you're going to need a decent computer for processing those photos. You can >> get these things on the cheap, relatively speaking, but if you're passionate >> about photography chances are that you've spent well over a thousand dollars >> on your kit. Actually, chances are that you've spent quite a few times that >> on your kit, but if you're creative, you might be able to take and process >> good photos in challenging light for under two or three thousand dollars. >> So, those people getting better photos than you did so because they spent >> the time to learn the basics of photography, and they spent more time >> practicing, and they spent a fair chunk of money on decent camera and >> computer gear. I'm not even going to start on the time, expense and effort >> involved with film and darkroom, I've Been There, Done That, and while it >> has it's appeal, it is beyond the scope of this discussion, and possibly >> even sanity in this day and age. >> These are arguably reasons enough to appreciate the people taking those >> photos of you dancing, riding bikes, playing guitar. racing cars or >> whatever. But we've barely even started. >> If we're taking photos at an event, there are things that we're not doing, >> and most of them are the reasons that we started going to those events at >> the first place. If it's at a dance, and I'm taking photos, there isn't a >> pretty girl in my arms moving to the music. If I'm at a class and taking >> photos, I'm missing a lot of what the teacher is saying, because while the >> teacher is talking, I'm also looking at the light, thinking about when >> something interesting is going to happen, taking care not to disturb class >> myself and very little of my brain is left over to absorb what is being >> taught. >> I'm not saying that taking photos isn't fun. It is a lot of fun, or we >> wouldn't be doing it on our own time, and giving away the photos for free. >> There are a lot of reasons to give them away for free. The big one is that >> most of us do this as a way to give back to the community and our friends. >> The other reason is that if we tried to sell our photos, we wouldn't get any >> money for them anyways, in no small part because we'd be competing against >> the people who are giving them away. >> But, we aren't done yet. Taking the photos is the easy part. Remember that >> I mentioned computers. The difference between crappy photos and decent >> photos may be skill and equipment, but the difference between decent photos >> and good photos is polishing them up in post processing, and the difference >> between good photos and great photos, is spending the time to go through >> them and deciding which 90-99% of them to throw away. >> If I spend an hour taking photos, and I'm just doing a quick and dirty job >> to post them on facebook, I can probably process them in an hour's work at >> home. I upload them to the computer, do rough exposure and color correction, >> pre-render them so that I can scan through them quickly, take several passes >> throwing away the worst ones, and then spend a bit more time, making another >> pass through them to throw out all but the best. >> LIke I said, for something like facebook, I generally do a quick and dirty, >> because most people seem like they'd rather have a decent photo of them >> doing something they love, than no photo, and a lot of people would rather >> have even an embarrassingly bad photo, than no photo at all. For the >> serious photos, I tend to spend as much, or more time, going over the ones >> that are left to pick the few really god that make it to the next cut. >> So, where you might think that each photo you see posted on facebook only >> represents the ten seconds it might take you to pull out your cell phone and >> take a snap, even ignoring the time and effort spent hauling the (very >> expensive) bag of camera gear around, each photo that you see, actually >> represents several minutes of work waiting for the right moment, taking that >> photo, and the other then that got thrown away, plus at least that much >> time, generally late at night, working on the photos so that the ones you >> see are better than pretty decent. >> And, if you actually run events, and appreciate having good photos of the >> event so people can see how much fun it is, think about ways to make the >> people who put the effort in to take those photos feel appreciated. >> -- >> Larry Colen l...@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> PDML@pdml.net >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Boris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
