Speaking Frankly

From The Keppler Files: September, 1994

Don't let professional photographers' account of what lenses they carry faze you. Pros usually are overburdened with large-aperture zooms. They often have to trundle them along on luggage carts. Sure, you may miss some shots they'd make with such gear, but not as often as you or they think

Inside Straight: Picture Progress

Looking back on a lifetime of pictures shows how my photography has -- and hasn't -- changed.

Lacking an updated photo encyclopedia, I have found the next best thing is a library of back issues of photo magazines. I've collected 50 years' worth, all bound and indexed, and I often have my nose stuck within, searching for specific information.

From The Keppler Files: December, 1989

Are you waiting until you want to shoot before autofocusing the subject? Many people do and it's just as wrong as starting manual focus only when you're ready to shoot. Instead, press the shutter release slightly as soon as you see the subject.

If it's not a moving subject, you should be in single-focus or focus-priority mode. The camera will focus, warn you that focus has been reached, and then lock in focus. Keep pressure on that shutter-release button to maintain focus! If you don't, the camera will have to start autofocus (and expose calculation) all over again when you want to make the picture!

Keep that pressure on. When the subject's right, press the button and you'll have your picture in short order.

From The Keppler Files: February, 1967

You are probably quite safe if you accept all accusations made by one manufacturer or importer against the product of another -- in theory, the importer has examined the opposition minutely -- far more minutely and intensely than you or I have the time and inclination to. If there are defects, depend on the rival to root them out -- that's politics and camera manufacturers.

From The Keppler Files: February, 1991

All would be a piece of cake (and maybe not so exhilarating to photograph) if subjects simply ignored cameras and went about their business. But we all know that the appearance of a camera causes most people in front of the lens to feel and do wild and crazy things. Children either mug outrageously or hide. Friends and family freeze in their tracks and become great stone faces (I do); or they fuss because you are shooting their worst side, they have no makeup, or their hair is messy. By the time they are satisfied with their own looks, spontaneity is gone and so is your desire to shoot the picture. Simply put, the best shots of people, known or unknown, are often made before they have a chance to freeze or hide.

What if your subjects ask to be paid before they allow their pictures to be taken? If you're in a deprived country, pay 'em. Most who request money are accustomed to being photographed and may cooperate fully, allowing you to pose them. I remember a beautiful Egyptian girl, about 10 years old, who wanted to be paid if I photographed her holding her newly born goat. I was so incensed at being forced to pay that I didn't take the picture. That scene has haunted me ever since. I should have given her the money and made the picture. (An Egyptian friend said: "Look at it this way. Most of us are very poor and the amount requested is very little. At least it is American aid that we will actually get instead of being squandered in administrative red tape.")