Messy, a wee bit overexposed and the real us. Just taking photos in the playroom.
It is funny how I would instantly love these photos for the moment that they represent in all their imperfect glory if they came from my phone camera. I loved the way that Gemma was getting Kieran to look at the camera by holding a toy over the lens. I was very proud. That bright morning light pouring in behind her was heavenly.
I feel that when we take something like this with the DSLR though, we agonize over the color and the sharpness and the grain and the mess. (I say “we” but I know not everyone feels the same way…just a general observation of mine here. Some people rock freedom with their digital cameras, trolls, be damned. Those people inspire me.)
All of this is part of the motivation behind the two roll rule that I use for myself. It comes from a combination of thinking about my days where I shot film only and also really analyzing the reasons why we love the images on our phones. Sort of that same feeling of Polaroids, but with a little give. It isn’t about just taking crap photos and being OK with it. It is about thought, “rule” breaking for a reason, composition and storytelling.
The goal is to get more of the moments I love in fewer photos taken.
To spend less time in the editing not waste time on the modern mistakes of digital perfection.
Have it all cost a lot less by just shooting my DSLR like the LCD is broken. Knowing the strength and limitations of my current gear and not just running out for new stuff (my D3 is from 2007…that is old in dog/digital camera years and my D200 is working way past retirement age).
I am about to head out of town without my laptop. I will be shooting as mindfully as possible because I might just run out of “digital” film. (I will be updating from the road with the Android tablet, just not my laptop to edit and sort and edit…I am giving myself a true vacation.)
There will be more coming on this topic and I plan to have projects, examples, more theory posts. What I am most excited about though is the results from the readers. I will be featuring your two roll projects this year.
While I am gone, why don’t you get started on a two roll project. It is really quite easy. Here is how it works:
Two Roll Rule Project Guidelines :
Get an old 1GB card and dedicate it to this project. Mine has “2 Rolls!” written on it in Sharpie.
Shoot JPEG. Think about the settings before and as you take the photo. Make your decisions then. We are getting back to basics here.
Take 72 frames only. Do not delete in camera any of the frames, there will be winners and there will be clear non-winners…the point is to see it as a whole. And to up your average the next time.
You can take the card out of the camera and then put it back in if you do not take the 72 frames all in one go. In fact, that is the golden lining in this digital age, you can even change the ISO!
All subjects are a go here. This is not just about kid photos. Let’s see your life.
Some post processing is fine. (These images above have a tone to the highlights…2 second fix.) The lab technicians used to color balance, tone correct and all that when printing for us, there is no magic digital photo fairy dust. Just don’t sit there for ages trying to “perfect” each shot.
Create a contact sheet proof of your 72 frames in order. (Most editing and organizing programs will let you do that. If you have Photoshop, you can easily do it as a batch process.)
Post them to flickr, facebook or on your blog and then link that up here. The point is, I want to see them!
That is it. Who is in? No time limit, but there may be prizes. hehehehehehe.
Oh and if you did not see it, my first guest post for dPS is up on their site now. There will be some more good stuff in the future!
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Love this. I am in!
x
i. love. this. so. much. no. words. but there are 10 xo~
i. am. so. down. i was just talking about the hipstamatic iphone pic phenomenon with my mom the other day! besides just the 2 roll rule, i’d love to dig into the psychology of the iphone photo thing as well. fun!
I’m in!! I’ve needed some inspiration to pick up my long neglected camera, this is perfect
Love this idea! My husband was employed as a photojournalist (for the military) until recently, and they did exercises like this as part of training.
thank you rachel! this is such a wonderful idea!
I am totally in on this. I need to get back to basics and spend less time on perfection. I feel the same way if I take a picture with my camera phone I will love it but if it isn’t perfect from my DSLR I end up not liking the picture as much. I need to change that.
in! i gotta get a 1gb.
I love this idea, I used to love my film camera and resisted the idea of digital for such a long time. Yet now I wonder how I ever coped with film and rolls. I’d love to join in!
i’m in. more of being thoughtful. less of not.
May just have to take you up on this Rach
x
i am in! thanks for the inspiration!
I would love to do this, but we’ll have to see if I can find time!
Sounds like a perfect – school is out but killing time before summer travel starts – project. I would love to play along! I may even use a film camera…
I’m in! Tweaked the challenge for myself a bit. I posted about it here:
http://putyourflareon.blogs.com/putyourflareon/2011/07/112.html
Thanks for the inspiration, Rachel. It’s going to be fun!
I almost have 72 frames! I don’t however have Photoshop to create a contact sheet. I use Lightroom. Is there another way to create a ‘contact sheet’?
i am not sure, but LR might have a way to do that…hmmmm. did you look at the printing part of it?
I did and you can make a contact sheet. I tried to save it as a PDF but it didn’t quite work. I’ll have to play with it some more.
Done! Yay! This was such an awesome project! I learned so much and it really forced me to push myself a little more than I’m used to! Thanks, Rachel.
My final images can be viewed at http://www.leahartmanphotoblog.com/2011/07/project-two-roll-challenge-finale.html