Digital BW, The Print

C J Morgan writes:
>> But in practice, we don't always know when the best
>> "decisive moment" is going to be. We might be able
>> to narrow it down to within a few second just before
>> we start shooting. But we can't always predict which
>> very specific moment is going to be the absolute best.

Anthony G. Atkielski wrote:
> Except for the most rapidly animated scenes, I can't see a use for
> things like motor drives.  I'm sure it has its application in sports,
> but beyond that, it's hard to see the utility.  Perhaps for some types
> of wildlife photography or something.

That's it, sports and wildlife? Oh geez, think larger? Heck, I find
all sorts of times where I might be using the motor drive to catch
"decisive moments" -- moments which I would venture to guess
would most often get missed no matter how experienced I am
in anticipation, because while experience might give me a
sense of a good moment coming, I can't entirely predict the
future, and some of the best moments are gone if we just
don't let the motordrive rip a little bit from time to time.

One of the best examples of that is when photographing young
children. Sometimes they are entirely unpredictable. And while
we might do our best to light and compose a given shot, sometimes
we just have to let loose a few quick frames to catch that one
very fleeting expression which in retrospect was the very best
of what that situation had to offer. Like this:

http://www.pbase.com/image/23722467

I took a number of quick images from this spot, but frame
was the best of them. And I don't well imagine I would have
caught it if I hadn't let the motordrive rip a bit.

Or this particular situation of a young couple:

http://www.pbase.com/image/23722478

There were fine enough just standing there, but it wasn't
until I started opening up with the motordrive that their
movement from moment to moment became less rigidly
self-conscious and otherwise became more quickly
spontaneous. I have no doubt that I didn't let the motor
drive rip a bit, as it were, we would have just continued
to end up with a session where they remained too 
self-conscious and rigid.

Yet here is another example, this time from wedding
day. I'd just finished some formal images of this couple,
and was sending them back off to their reception, when
I let the motordrive rip a bit as they were walking away.
Later on, in looking at these images, it seemed
to me there might be something there if I combined
the images into one image. And indeed, in the end,
it was one of my favorite images from that wedding:

http://www.pbase.com/image/23722470

So this aid of a motordrive in the help of catching
"decisive moments" is quite useful for more than just
things like shooting sports and wildlife, and indeed I
have no doubt that no matter how experienced I might
be in anticipating a good moment, there are just
some best moments which can't fully be predicted
and are only best realized after the motordrive has
been allowed to rip a bit and we then later can review
what we've shot at a more leisurely pace.

So if you find you have no use for a motordrive, then
okay, so be it. But for my own part, while I would like
to think that my experience and skills are enough to
have me catch the best decisive moment, the candid
truth of the matter is that even after a goodly number
of years of shooting, I am still not so pin point accurate
a predictor of the future that I might always get the
best decisive moment without the aid of letting the
motordrive take a burst of images once in a while.

CJ



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