Pixiq

You know you do it. You get caught up in all the technical mumbo jumbo that comes with today's digital photography. I know, I do it sometimes. It's why I have to consciously dial myself back. While it's important to pay attention to the 1s and 0s of digital photography you cannot become a slave to technology and it's advancements.

Master the technology. Don't let technology master you!

Ah, the LCD screen on your camera. It's arguably one of the biggest tools that digital photographers have at their disposal. It's also likely one of the biggest hindrances to your advancement as an artist.

The LCD on your camera will let you double check your composition, histogram, and you can make sure you didn't blow out any highlights. This has caused a worldwide phenomenon known as chimping.

You know what chimping is right? You've seen it before. After every snap the photographer takes a look at his/her LCD to check whatever that photographer needs to check to make sure they got the shot. Are you a chimper?

Look, there's nothing wrong with using the LCD to double check your stuff. But after every single shot? Come on now! You can do better than that.

You've got to trust your eyes, your initial settings and exposures, and your experience.

If you've been shooting for a while now you've got to cut the umbilical cord to your camera's LCD. Otherwise you're likely slowing down your growth as a photographer. You can learn to trust your eyes and your gut but it's gonna take some getting used to if you're a chimp!

Here's how I set up my and use the LCD on my camera.

1. Set the brightness on my LCD
2. Use the histogram sparingly
3. Check my blinkies

Adjust the brightness on your camera's LCD

First thing's first. Dial it down. Dial down that brightness. It's really easy to think we need the brightness on our LCDs to be set all the way up. It makes it easier to see, right? So why not?

Well consider that if your LCD is set too bright you aren't really seeing your photograph the way you'll see it later. You're computer monitor isn't likely set with the brightness all the way up if you've calibrated it properly and even if it is it may still not be as bright as your LCD. So set your brightness on the camera's LCD to match, as close as possible, to the brightness of your computer monitor. That way when you're out shooting and looking at your photos on your camera they'll be closer to what you see on your computer monitor.

Bonus - You'll also save your battery a little bit. And these days, a little bit can go a long way!

Make the histogram part of history

The histogram is an important tool and it's good to get a grasp of how it works and what you're reading when you view it. But you don't have to check every exposure against it. Besides, if you're shooting RAW you've got some wiggle room once you hit your digital darkroom.

Let's say you're out shooting in the city. You're working on some street photography stuff. You can likely do a couple of test shots, check your exposure against your histogram, make sure the exposure is correct, then go about your way taking photographs without looking back. If it starts to get noticeably darker, or you went from outdoors to indoors, then perhaps you check it again because your lighting situation changed.

If you're in the same lighting situation and it isn't changing dramatically let your eyes and your gut guide you after you've set up your initial exposures. Your eyes and your photographic brain will get better at this as time goes by. It's that whole "practice" thing.

Bow to the blinkies!

Okay, here's one place where I do pay closer attention to my LCD. The blinkies will let you know when you've blown out your highlights. This means you've got a section of your photograph that is pure white. There's no detail.

So you've got a few little blinkies on your screen. No big deal. Those little spots are probably white so they're probably fine. But if you see your whole background or a bride's entire dress covered in blinkies then this is probably a job for your exposure compensation. Unless of course you're going for that kind of thing which can be pretty cool too.

Bottom line

You can let your LCD run your photographic life or you can let your brain, your eyes, and your experiences guide you on an artistic journey.

Don't be a chimp!

Photographs:

Major Chimping by Leorex (Contributing to the important things in life)

Chimping by Brantford Selections (Brantford Selections, Brantford and Brant County Models)