Four Photography Rules That No Longer Apply

For the most part, the laws of photography have stayed the same throughout its lifetime: Light is of utmost importance, always take time to compose your scene, slow shutter speeds can result to blurry images, etc, etc. But there are a few rules that, because of the advancements in technology, no longer apply. Here are four:

Don't Use High ISO Settings

This is a rule of the past. In the film days, using anything over 800 ISO would typically give you very grainy results. Once digital cameras came onto the scene, this didn't change much as low-light performance still wasn't great and high ISO settings generated a lot of digital noise. But now, with Nikon and Canon's flagship cameras boasting top limits of 204,800, noise is not not as big of a concern as it once was. Most professional DSLRs will be able to produce fairly clean images up to 3200.

Don't Use Zoom Lenses

For the longest time, professionals only used prime lenses, and, for the most part, this is still the case. Primes have traditionally always had better quality than zoom lenses. The technology simply lagged behind as it was much more difficult to create a lens that was sharp over a range of focal lengths than it was for just a single focal length. Optical technology has improved greatly since the invention of the zoom lens and has put these lenses on the grid of acceptable professional quality. Nikon and Canon both have their versions of the very popular 24-70mm lens and the 70-200mm, the former being a favorite among many professional wedding photographers. Sigma recently released the 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom lens, the fastest lens of its type. Critical reception of this new zoom has been very positive.

Pros Only Use SLRs

Back in the day, if you were a professional photographer, you shot with either an SLR or a professional rangefinder. Today, photographers still use SLRs for their professional work, but many are making the switch to smaller cameras for their own personal work and enjoyment. With the advancement in quality in the new mirrorless cameras and large sensor portable cameras like the Fuji X100, many photographers are leaving their bulky DLSRs at home and opting for the easier and lighter alternatives. Though they still can't do everything an SLR can, camera manufacturers have made vast improvements in the quality, low-light performance, focusing speed, and functionality of many pocket-sized cameras.

Overexposed Shots Will Happen

This is a past mistake of film shooters. Even though film typically has more latitude for dealing with over- and underexposed parts of the image, digital gives you an array of tools to prevent and correct this problem. Between the autoexposure, histogram, and highlight review mode, there should be no excuse to overexpose your photos. Sure, if you change scenes and forget to change your settings, you might end up with an over- or underexposed photo in the first shot. But by checking your LCD screen, you can see if and how much of the scene is too bright or dark allowing you to reshoot it with the correct settings. If you've not learned how to read a histogram yet, now's a good time. If your camera doesn't have a histogram (or you're too lazy to check it), most cameras will have an option to view the highlights in playback mode. Overexposed areas will blink letting you know that you need to drop you exposure settings a stop or two.

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Written by Spencer Seastrom