7 myths debunked by Sinterklaas

Tuesday 5 December 2017, 10:01 by Michelle Peeters | 7,592 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Some photographic truths sound so logical and familiar,
that you have probably been relying on them for years.
A shame, because not every truth is quite as true,
even if that sounds a little strange.

Luckily, Sinterklaas is a wise man,
that old fellow knows quite a bit.
And he is more than happy to share that knowledge,
so you will no longer believe in fairy tales today.

Sint collected 7 photographic myths for you,
and debunked them with 'true or false'.
Things you simply must know as a photographer,
and hopefully never forget again.

1. Post-processing is unnecessary,
if you take a good photo straight away, you do not need it.
The fact remains that you can always get more out of your photo
than the camera wants to tell.
But a bad photo will never become truly good,
however hard you try in post-processing.

2. Never suffer from lens flare again with a lens hood,
does not work nearly every time, or you are forced to keep your framing tight.
With a wide-angle lens or a low sun,
the sun is right in the frame and the coloured spots appear again.

3. You zoom with your feet,
is not something you have to do.
If you swear by a prime lens,
remember that a zoom lens lets you do very different things.
Your viewpoint, composition and perspective change immediately,
you crop your image to size and distracting elements disappear completely.

4. Fast primes work best,
when you test them at their widest aperture.
If you often work with a large aperture number,
remember that a zoom lens can work just as well.
This myth really is not true,
a smaller aperture often works better, as you can see.

A fast prime benefits you in all sorts of ways,
focusing in the dark works better with it, saving you time!

5. I photograph everything handheld,
my stabilisation will get me out of trouble.
All my images are razor sharp,
even when I zoom in a lot and use extremely long shutter speeds.
Unfortunately, this one does not hold up completely either,
movement during a long exposure can still turn your photo into a failure.

6. You always see vibrations,
but that conclusion is a little too quick.
Have you ever tried a long shutter speed?
The vibration may be too brief to be recorded!
But do flip up your mirror,
because otherwise this vibration can still be your downfall.

7. If you place your Big Stopper in front of your lens first,
focusing and framing are no longer possible, the darkening is too intense.
The optical viewfinder is indeed darkened,
but what if you use Live View, which is not tied to the filter?
A digital viewfinder also offers a solution,
but unfortunately not every camera has one...

The myth about me is probably familiar to you?
I am not Spanish, you see, but a Turkish fellow...

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