Your LCD Is Not Your Friend

 

 

Rock City Barn on U.S. Highway 41A in Webster County, Kentucky.

Trying different filters, I used a #85 (light orange) filter to give

the  feeling of early morning light for the picture at top,

The second photograph was taken without a filter.

 

Your LCD -- you know -- the little screen on the back of your digital camera that you check to see if you got the shot? It's handy, and you may think it's great, but if you want to be a better photographer, it is not your friend.

Do you find yourself checking the screen after every shot to see if you "got it?" What if something better occurred while you were looking at that screen? You don't know, do you, unless you're photographing something totally stationary. Even then, there could be changes in the light or someone could move into or out of the picture, changing its significance -- you wouldn't know, would you.

This business of checking the LCD frequently is commonly called "chimping," because of its resemblance to chimpanzees looking at a picture.

For most people this is a non-issue. "I got it, it looks good enough. Let's move on." And for most people, good enough is good enough. But if you're serious about becoming a better photographer, good enough is never good enough.

Digital photography is marvelous in many ways. It makes the process of making pictures much easier and more convenient. And cheaper, too, because once you've paid for your camera and lens(es), the pictures are essentially free. And for beginning photographers, the LCD is actually a good learning tool because it gives you instant feedback. But after you've mastered the basics, it's time to ignore the LCD except in certain cases. Some cameras even allow you to turn the LCD around, so it's hidden from view.

In an interesting paradox, digital makes photography easier for beginners, but beyond a certain point can actually hinder the growth of experienced ones, while film makes things much more difficult for beginners or occasional photographers while helping experienced ones become even better.

Why is this? It's because with film we were never absolutely sure we had the shot. So we kept working the situation, trying different angles, different lenses, different exposure combinations, maybe a different filter or two. The result was that very often we ended up with much better photographs than we had originally visualized. Better photographs that never would have existed if we had just snapped off a few exposures, checked the screen, and said, "Okay. Got it." and moved on.

Having said all that, one good use of the LCD is checking the histogram to see if your exposure is correct. Your camera manual will explain this if you don't know how to do it. But never assume that just because a picture looks properly exposed on the screen that it is properly exposed.

As an aside, let me say that exposures in the digital era are almost universally bland. In film days, exposure was one more tool to create mood in a photograph. With film, we often underexposed slightly for greater saturation, but I often see digital photographs rendered in very light tones, even so far as blowing out the highlights. All a matter of taste, I guess.

 Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone