Does your finger move when you take a photo?
On the first day of a photojournalism class at Syracuse University in 1998, our teacher, Professor David Sutherland, told us all to stand up with our cameras. He gave the order like a military drill sergeant.
We stood up.
“When I point at you,” he said, “take my picture. If you do it right, you can sit down.” Only one person was allowed to sit. Everyone else, all 10 or so of us, failed. We kept taking his picture though, when he pointed at us again and again. Some tucked in their left elbow more, others flexed their knees a bit, some leaned against a wall for stability….
The reason we failed, we later realized, was because he saw our finger move when we took a picture. He demonstrated the correct way to push a shutter button. And when he did it, none of us could see his finger move. He walked around the classroom with the film Nikon N90 camera taking a picture two inches in front of each person’s face.
We all got a close up view. No one saw his finger move.
With a couple minutes of practice, it’s easy to take a photo without seeing your finger move. The thought process behind the drill is to prevent jerky motion when depressing the shutter. Just like in golf, everything seems to begin with the grip.
In the video above, you can see my mad skills at taking a picture without moving my finger. David Blaine - STEP!
Don’t even get me started with the chicken wing left arm/elbow-out camera grip.
Da Goddess wrote:
So funny that I should stumble upon this post at this time. My son and I had a similar “lesson” last week. I was explaining exposure adjustments to him, bracketing, and showing him why his photos would sometimes be out of focus while mine were. The difference, I’d told him, was that his hands were all over the place. If he kept his finger on the shutter button, always prepared for the shot, there wouldn’t be extra movement with the camera. He tried about 15 frames each way and when he saw the difference, he nodded appreciably.
Posted on 26-Aug-08 at 4:07 am | Permalink
Jody wrote:
Ha Ha. I remember when you and I were shooting the San Diego Padres together and I failed this test. I still have those silly photos. I just reminded myself yesterday to stay aware of the finger (of course it was while shooting my sixth football game in a row and I was so tired that I had to force myself to practice good photography mechanics).
If I find myself getting lazy and moving my finger, I just remember how you made fun of me that night at the Padres game and the finger stops. Good times.
Posted on 31-Aug-08 at 6:59 am | Permalink
Diala wrote:
I stumbled upon your blog while reading STROBIST and I must say I am happy i did…I have bookmarked you and I am enjoying my sunday reading thru ur blog…I’ll practice this finger thingy cos it seems its a reason my pics are sometimes blurry…thanks for sharing!!!
http://www.dialac1.deviantart.com
Posted on 31-Aug-08 at 1:03 pm | Permalink
Jun wrote:
That IS some mad skills!
You know I’ve been shooting for a few years now, and there are just some lessons that are so simple and yet could take your photography to the next level.
muchas gracias!
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 5:22 am | Permalink
How I get to pass 10 blog awards… « Tom Leuntjens Photography wrote:
[...] a picture. How things can change … I fell in love with the sound the shutter makes when you press that button, I fell in love with the feeling of holding a [...]
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 8:16 am | Permalink
Scott Roeben wrote:
New to your blog, too, but it looks like an amazing resource! Looking forward to checking back religiously. I have been noticing a little softness to my photos lately, and I’m starting to think it’s not the glass or autofocus. It’s me! I’ve just gotten lazy on the basics, relying far too much on good equipment to do the work for me. Thanks for the tip!
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 9:43 am | Permalink
adware wrote:
Amazing site.
Thanks, webmaster.
Posted on 06-Sep-08 at 2:08 pm | Permalink