The wtF-Stop : Photography advice to ignore

Garbage in, garbage out! Please don’t fall for these idiots, they have no fucking idea.

Sometimes I come across these types of videos and this is gonna be the archive for that. There is SO MUCH bullshit out there…

Let’s start light. Here is a headless chicken talking about things.
This is relatively harmless, still wrong on so many levels.

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Might be nice to critique some of the points, so that people can learn? (I don’t have the requisite skills to do that, otherwise, I would)

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Just watched it. Not sure why it’s bad guidance for first time SLR users.

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That was my understanding. It’s not in-depth by any means, but it seems alright…

Not really interested in doing that to be honest. Probably gonna make something myself at some point but for now I would just give out links to good information on the web for the people that are interested.

There are a few bad behaviors, like setting away from native ISO and shutter to correct for wide open aperture by default, and she doesn’t explain the relationship between the three, or how each affects light capture and noise.

there’s also some detail glosses on videography that will lead to bad results, particularly with regards to shutter speed and framerate standards

it’s definitely not the worst 101 video I’ve seen though.

@noenken you really should explain your gripes with something if you want to share that you dislike it though, I figured the point of this thread was to help people avoid bad practices.

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Yeah, that was definitely something that I noticed… I saw it and she seemed to imply using non-native ISO was an okay thing to do in proper lighting situations.

Although, I suppose with new sensors, you could get away with something slightly above native, but it’s definitely not a good practice.

This is something I have no experience with, but would love to learn eventually. :man_shrugging:

she refers to motion blur as universally bad, which just isn’t the case for video, she doesn’t explain approximating shutter angle or rolling effects, and she completely glosses over the relationship between shutter angle, framerate, and exposures.

she also makes no mention of prime selection, or even beginner techniques like exposing from the left

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The video is simply all over the place and doesn’t help anyone. Nothing gets really explained and … then look at the title again.

She is just spewing out bad / half-assed / or straight up misinformation. No concept, no effort, just a brat with a camera and instagram filters…


I actually wanted this to be my photosnob corner where I point at people and feel superior. :stuck_out_tongue:

But you are probably right. I should at least hint at what is wrong.

yeah, Like I said, it isn’t very coherent and doesn’t add a lot of value if you’re a beginner, but I’ve seen worse. At least she isn’t recommending you breath fog clean your sensor.

I’m of the view we should use bad content to teach people what not to do, so this kind of thing isn’t repropogated.

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Maybe this works for some audiences, idk… didn’t watch the entire thing but wasn’t horrible although a bit off imho.

if you follow her instructions to the letter, like if you’re a beginner and this is your first source of information you will more than likely:

  1. end up with worse results than auto from a technical standpoint

  2. get terrible results except on modern high end bodies (at one point she mentions she didn’t get good results until she bought a 5d mk. IV)

  3. be lost as to what lenses work for your needs, especially on a budget

  4. have no idea why your images aren’t sharp or get noisy under most lighting conditions (most lenses get soft, even in focus, when you blow the iris wide open, and iso adjustment to compensate will lead to noise often)

  5. not have the first clue of basic exposure procedure past fliddling until it “looks right”

  6. end up with terrible results for video without knowing why, and get dark footage when you don’t because you’ve been told wide shutter angles are bad because of “motion blur”

  7. have no idea how to do white balance

  1. not understand why they still have deep dof if they’re on an MFT or smaller sensor

among other things.

The problem isn’t that the information is all incorrect (though some of it is) it’s that this, as a first piece of advice, starts people down a path that they’ll need to correct heavily to actually make good use of manual settings on their camera, and probably cost them money if they take the equipment flexing to heart.

Alright, that list pretty much sounds like it would be better to just play with the camera yourself rather than following a guide…

Do you have any beginner resources that would be better? I’m somewhat experienced, but I’m interested in comparing a good guide from a bad one.

The northrups are alright. They try to be as accesible as possible without compromising quality

the thing is, you still need a basic foundation in artistic composition and concepts to take good pictures. no amount of technical mastery will help you if you have no eye for composition and framing.

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That’s where my problem comes in. Is that something that can be taught or is it more of a natural ability that you have or don’t?

the technical aspects can absolutely be taught. So can the artistic elements.

people just tend to confuse the two

nothing in art or science is talent based, all of it can be learned.

If you want a good primer on the art side, here’s a classic:

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Thanks. That’s surprisingly affordable.

it just goes over the basic elements with archetypal examples, it isn’t a curricular course per se. Good reference book though.

If you want something that actually teaches art principles or photography, I’d recommend the northrup books or this:

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