What photography advice do you ignore?

[olivermoss]

I follow the twitter of a few photography related accounts on twitter, including some blogs, to try to stay in the loop on things. One thing I see often is professional photographers urging me not to pixel peep! I usually pixel peep. If you are unfamiliar, pixel peeping is when you pause after a photo to preview it, zoom in and check the fine details. Apparently, this is bad for some reason. Since I do a lot of shooting in the dark, and also shoot street art, I need to pixel peep. Shooting handheld in the dark is hard. Also, as I've learned the hard way, street art might not still be there the next day!














I've looked at a few of these articles I keep seeing in my feed, and apparently making sure you got a clear shot hurts your artistic self or stops people from experimenting? I am baffled by these explanations.

What common photography advice do you ignore?

Comments

[olivermoss]

Manual setting? I usually start with aperture then see how far I can push ISO without going over a 3rd of a second shutter speed. I have done 3-second hand held long exposures, but those are easier to do if I can crouch, so it's more for landscapes.

[bleodswean]

Interesting! I don't know much about working like that. With studio and portrait work I tend toward the same settings. That's great if you can handhold 3 seconds!

[olivermoss]

Oh, lol, yeah I use different settings for each shot. I wasn't even sure what you were asking.

I know very little about studio work. I did a bit at the start of the pandemic. I was taking pictures of my dice and things. Proper macro lenses were sold out, so I was doing close focus with the lenses I have and my tripod in an inverted set up. Studio work is so odd for me, that idea that I can ... effect the lighting? Just move it? Doesn't even occur to me mid-shoot.

[bleodswean]

Oh, yeah, lighting is a whole 'nother convo. I prefer natural lighting, even in studio and use whiteboards to redirect.