selflearning

Dan Heller said:

1:Painting by the Numbers

I am asked the following question far too often:
"What were your camera settings when you took that picture? It would really help me to know that, because I'm a beginner."
This reminds me of the story where Ansel Adams was teaching a photo workshop in Yosemite National Park, and a student raised his hand. "What was the aperture setting and shutter speed on that photo?", asked the student as he pointed to a classic black and white print of Half Dome. Ansel replied without batting an eyelash, "f64 at 2 seconds." This prompted another student to do the same, "And what about that photo?" Again, he quickly replied, "f32 at 1 second." This goes on and on, while the students scribble in their notebooks the technical information they were told, as if the magician were giving away secrets. Finally, someone
asked, "How do you remember all that information?" This time, the answer was more direct, "I don't. I'm making it up." The pencils stopped. He continued, "beginners always wonder about this information, but it's meaningless. When we get to learning how to shoot, it won't even occur to you to ask such questions."
http://www.danheller.com/tech-intro.html