Or to give it it’s full title “Photographers, do you chimp or are you finally past that stage of insecurity?”. It’s a strange habit that some photographers have (working in the field, not in critical situations such as a studio where every single thing is set up for the perfect shot). As a side-note, we are also talking about chimping with a modern mirrorless camera not a DSLR (although much remains the same).
We’ve all seen it, that one person who after every shot looks at the back of their screen. This my friends is the art of “chimping“, and it usually affects people new to photography and can become a bad habit.
Think for a moment what you are doing. You’ve just taken the image, and seen in real time what it is going to look like. And then, a second later you look again at the tiny LCD screen or the viewfinder, both low resolution screens, usually affected by the light and setting around you, to see if what you just seen is the image you want to see.
You’re checking focus? Most of the time on those small screens, even when you zoom in things look for the most part in focus. But check just in case.
The best thing I hear these days working with long time amateurs and full time professionals when I ask about a shot they’ve just taken is “we will see when we get it home“. Years of experience has taught them this, and it’s always nice to hear.
Let’s get some context. When I’m shooting weddings, events and portraits for work, or when I’m out with the camera for fun on the streets or looking for wildlife I can take thousands of images for work, and many dozens of images when I’m out for fun. I will only ever have two reasons to ever check the images I’ve just taken.
• Reason 1: Usually after my first or second image, just to check that everything is working and there are no issues with the camera.
• Reason 2: To show a couple/individuals or a model an image that they might like. So they can see how they look.
I have complete and utter faith in my camera and the settings I chose to use. I see the image live on my screen, I know that my Nikon ZF and Z6ii will hit what I focused on, I know the composition I chose, I know the light, the shadows and every part of that image before I press the button.
Of course I, and many of the people that I’ve been watching the journey and evolution of their photography used to chimp. It was a habit based on the inability to trust your settings, trust your camera and trust your decision making. But that does go away in the end for most people.
Have I ever got home and been disappointed with a few images? Of course, just like your favourite music CD album has “filler” tracks, we have images that miss the mark for numerous reasons, but you’ve made up for those one or two images by keeping your eye on the subject instead of chimping and captured those decisive moments that matter.
My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography.
You can find all the latest articles and blogs on my homepage here.
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Nikon Recipes for the Z system can be found here.
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