I ran into an interesting amature photographer at Bosque during my last visit. He was shooting flight shots of snow geese with a Canon 30D and 400mm 5.6 L lens. I asked him if he made any good shots. His reply was, "Well, I shot 10 gigs yesterday and 7 gigs today. I am sure out of 17 gigs there will be at least 40 to 50 great shots". He also said that he purchased the 400mm 5.6 lens specifically to do flight shots because reviews said it is the best lens to do flight shots. Another photographer standing next to me said in a low voice "He is a faith based photographer".

So what is this faith based photography? A person who strongly believes that taking a large number of images with a good camera and lens will produce some great results. "I shot 10 gigs, there will be at least 50 great images" and "I just got my Canon 30D and 400mm f 5.6". I am going to get some killer flight shots". These are classic examples of faith based photography. Faith based photographers spend most of their time reading equipment reviews and talking about what lens to use for specific kinds of photography. They strongly believe that having great equipment is the first step to producing great images.

Mostly, faith based photography is practiced by beginners. I did have my share of this when I started a few years back. I consider on line forums as one of the biggest resources for beginners. 9 out of 10 times we see posting regarding camera and lens and very little information on settings. This drove me to believe that having a great lens and camera are the only requirements for producing great images. As a beginner it was hard for me to understand and practice exposure compensation, focus modes, etc. After every shot, I used to chimp on my little LCD to see how good the picture is and if was not satisfactory I would shoot it again with the same settings. Once in a while the light would change or a lucky focus lock would produce a decent image. This made me believe that if I shot 100 images I would be able to produce at least a couple of decent images. It took a while for me to realize that using improper settings again and again will not produce a good shot.

So what is the bad side of faith based photography? Especially in nature photography, the photographer gets a very narrow window to make a good shot. Imagine a sand hill crane flying or great blue heron performing courtship rituals. The subject is not going to sit there all day long and pose. Photographers should know what settings to use to produce a decent image in a limited number of frames and time. Often, there will not be a second chance to shoot. Depending on faith based photography it is a very bad idea if you are dreaming of producing great images. Also, it is very important to understand that it is the photographer who produces images, not the equipment. Is there a good side of faith based photography? Definitely not.

Quitting the faith based photography habit is quite simple. Next time, rather than chimping for only the quality of picture, chimp for settings also. For example, if you are shooting birds in flight shoot a frame and see if your shutter speed is enough to freeze the motion. Apply the sunny F-16 rule and see if your shutter speed is enough to handhold at the focal distance you are shooting. If you are shooting landscapes, check out your f-stop value to make sure you have enough depth of field. Other than f-stops and shutter speeds pay attention to camera settings. Different brands of cameras use different algorithms for focusing and metering. Try to familiarize yourself with available focusing and metering modes and when to use them. During the post processing spend some time analyzing your bad pictures. This is a very important process in producing better images. See what went wrong and what setting would have made it right. Next time, try to use settings based on previous experience and analysis rather than guessing or trusting the camera.

Someday in the field you will have only one chance to shoot your favorite subject and you will need to nail the exposure and focus in one single shot. On that day you can pat your own shoulder and say "Yep, I did it". It is worth quitting faith based photography at least for that.

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Siddhardha Garige is a serious amateur photographer from Tampa, Florida. He freelances as a sports photographer but enjoys doing nature and bird photography. He has been published in local newspapers and magazines and won awards in local and state photo competitions. For more information please visit Luminepixels.com