Work with you've got

When the Way Seems Difficult
Originally uploaded by thefatcat44

Here is a lesson a prattle on to my students about.

Have you ever been out shooting and thought - "this is okay, but I could get a much better image if I had a 500mm lens (or Eos1ds Mk3, or better light, of mist rising off the water or whatever)"?

I have.

But we haven't. So, 'work with what you've got'.

Case in point. Regular readers of this blog will know I love Lee Graduated Neutral Density filters. Yesterday, in a rush, I grabbed my camera rucksack which I keep ready to go at all times. Or so I thought. A few days ago I had been adjusting my Leee filter holder, adding some more blades and had forgotton to return it to the rucksack. One of those wife is calling me for a meal I'll do it later moments. (Another tip - always do it now!)

So I get a chance at sunset in the Peak District. Climb to Stanage Edge. Open my rucksack, and because everything in my rucksac has a place I saw immediatley I had come without them.

My first thought was - 'I've blown it - might as well head back to the car'.

But my mantra came back to me. "Work with what you have". What did I do with difficult exposures before I could afford Lee filters? I took multiple exposures - of the sky and land - and then blended the properly exposed portions together in CS3 later to get a properly exposed image, or I combined them to create an HDR image in Photomatix. I worked with what I had at the time.

So, although leaving the holder behind irritated me, I pressed on and shot away as I used to. I haven't got round to processing any of the images yet, but who knows, I may have a good one in there.

So, rather than worrying about what we don't have, work with waht we've got. If you don't have an f1.2 lens for some interior portraits, bump up the ISO and introduce some subtle light - candles perhaps. If you don't have a 500mm lens for that killer wildlife shot - why not forego getting the close-up and use a shorter lens that you do have to place the animal in it's environment, or get closer yourself. Work harder for the shot...

And oftentimes those harder worked for images become favorites.