How to tell different stories with single photography and how it is connected to programming.
TLDR: You lose ‘here and now’ photo opportunity, but preparation (for any action, probably) is the key. RAW photo will allow you to correct/enhance it later. In cozy place you can choose the best settings, adjust frame and tell your story.
And for those who are not familiar with RAW photo format:
“A camera raw image file contains unprocessed or minimally processed data from the image sensor (…)”. Simply — lot of additional data to comparing to normal jpg.
But why?
At the beginning of this year, I decided to go back to my old DSLR camera. I used to forget about photos taken via phone camera, eventually I put them on social media. But they had to be at least fine to share them with others. I wasn’t always happy with the result, but it was the maximum what I could achieve working on phone and with JPG. I wanted something more. Of course nowadays, software on phone allow us to adjust things before taking a picture, but it still takes time to check which settings are the best. I wanted to shoot a photo quickly and still have possibility to edit it. So DSLR.
Preparation
I don’t have one perfect lens to cover different FOVs (field of view — simply zoom) so a decision needs to be made — which lens to take. While I hadn’t used a DSLR for a long time and like to use manual settings, I had to recall actions of the buttons just to be able to quickly adjust shutter and exposure time. While it’s about telling the story, preparation also covers taking photos. Take as many as you can. I will never visit the same place in same condition and your feelings. Shoot without overthinking, it doesn’t matter right now.
Execution
Without rush, after few days, when I came back home, it was perfect time to check and develop photos. Before I start the edit process, I loop through photos and just watch them. I check what I’ve captured. Even if you are not satisfied (at first) with your photos, remember how you felt when taking them. For me, it’s a perfect journey back, to experience those views one more time. To tell your story, choose only few photos. Adjust white balance, sharpness, apply more light on shadows, decrease light, crop. Check different settings to figure out what will give the best results. Do not hurry, do not overdo with adjustments. Try to make photo to look natural with mildly visible retouch.
Example: first photo is what I got from camera with settings that I had. I’ve cropped it a little at the top. Playing with white balance can give some cozy warm afternoon light, or it can show cold winter out there. The last one is with tilt-shift effect, so it tries to imitate miniature. It’s your story :)
Where programming?
As a programmer, before every a new project/feature, I like to be well-prepared for the meeting with client. Knowledge refreshed, different scenarios prepared in head. Instead of ‘shooting as many photos as I can’, I ‘ask as many questions as I can’. There will be no next ‘first meeting’, time it ticking, client has deadline, so it’s up to you what information you will collect. The more answers the better solution and while the logic of the solution don’t have to change, adjustment on the interface can always be done. The story for the user can be changed to meet his expectations.
I love patterns! So, finding similarity in general approach for two different topics is a great exercise for the brain. Patterns are important in many aspects of developer work. It helps at splitting stories into smaller tasks, so you can better estimate your work. In bigger web applications patterns can help with maintaining the project, it’s easier to debug when you know the general flow of data in your app. In the end, everything you see is only HTML with CSS. Same logic but different appearance, same elements but with only few different properties. Seek for patterns and enjoy them ;)
