Spray and Pray really doesn't have anything to do with a Stochastic method. Besides that, 3 or 4 carefully considered shots is the antithesis of S&P.
On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Walter Gilbert <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > For the past couple of days, I seem to keep encountering references to > "stochastic" photography -- or "spray and pray" if you will, and it's piqued > my interest. It's not that I'm considering actively pursuing the practice > so much as I wonder how much my current style (method?) could actually be > considered stochastic. Having never worked in the vicinity of another > photographer before, my days out shooting with Ted Beilby were, as I said, > educational. We took nearly diametrically opposed approaches. > > Clearly, Ted came out with better quality shots than I did. He was much > more methodical and exacting and produce much more highly textured images > than I did. At the same time, I came out with some images that, while not > as polished as Ted's, did have some redeeming value -- at least I thought > they did. I was so arrested by the sheer amount of potential subject matter > that I felt I had to get as many different shots as I could in order to get > a reasonable account of my experience, so I shot hand-held, almost > exclusively. Knowing that I'd have at least several hundred shots to go > through at the end of my trip (also, due to a relative lack of PC processing > power and memory), I stuck to shooting single exposures in jpeg. > > Some subjects, I chose to take three or four different shots from different > perspectives and focal depths, while others I shot once or twice and moved > on. And, that's typically the way I do things. A large part of the reason > for that is that I simply don't trust what the camera shows me on its > display to be an accurate depiction of what I'm going to see when I load it > onto the computer. The same goes for my perception of any given scene at > the time. I come away with rough approximation in my mind, and when I get > home, I'm usually "fairly"close, but never seemingly dead-on in my > expectations. > > And, of course, a good bit of what I do shoot simply defies staging in any > practical sense. I'm not going to be able to tell a butterfly how to hold > its wings, or a bird where to position itself within my frame. So, I have > to make snap judgments and several attempts. To the extent that I'm able to > dictate composition, I do make a fairly diligent attempt at it. But, at the > same time, I don't try to control every minute detail -- essentially because > the vast majority of the subjects I shoot are in an environment that simply > defies control. > > So, I was just curious as to the thoughts of the folks on the list as to how > much my approach would be considered "spray and pray" by more seasoned > photographers, and how much it would benefit if it were less so. > > Thanks for any input anyone has to offer. > > -- Walt > > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/waltergilbert > http://waltgilbert.posterous.com/ <http://polipix.posterous.com/> > Contact Me Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/walt.gilbert>Flickr > <http://www.flickr.com/photos/walt_gilbert/>Twitter > <http://twitter.com/walt_gilbert> > > --- @ WiseStamp Signature > <http://my.wisestamp.com/link?u=ypgdb385pypw7fhb&site=www.wisestamp.com/email-install>. > Get it now > <http://my.wisestamp.com/link?u=ypgdb385pypw7fhb&site=www.wisestamp.com/email-install> > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- David Parsons Photography http://www.davidparsonsphoto.com Aloha Photographer Photoblog http://alohaphotog.blogspot.com/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
