P3D Andrea's Macro Conclusions, Baking Bread

[Michael Georgoff <Michael_Georgoff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrea,

Thanks for passing on details of David Lee's workshop.  I've seen Lee's
work, and it might be an understatement to simply call him
"accomplished".  As they say of musicians, Lee has his chops (mastery of
instrument, intuitive, and beyond).

Now, taking Bruce "Not the Boss" Springsteen, plus Andrea, plus David
Lee, it all adds up to three cases of trial and error use.  Or, more
accurately, planned trial range, and selection of best results,
discarding errors.

Being a man of modest means, I like to try to achieve to high
shoot-to-keep ratio. In other words, trial and error may imply more than
a few shots that end up in the error bin, with best-results success
maybe 1 out of 3 exposures?

Even if film and processing were not an issue, as a guy with a
techno-geek mentality, I keep thinking there has to be a better way.
Given your example (A, B, C... sixths), I'd have to imagine that, given
careful recordkeeping, you would eventually come to some conclusions on
"if conditions x, then results y = good".  

For example, I've developed a French bread recipe that was originally a
hybrid of 3 published recipes, and over the years I've tweaked the
recipe, noting changes and judging results.  By now, I bake a mean loaf,
lemme tell you (no bread machines here).  There were many error loafs
along the way. But by taking notes and making decisions based on the
judgement of results, I have been able to achieve a "formula" (hey,
baking is chemistry) that yields planned and predictable results.  I
like my predictable results still warm from the oven with butter,
thanks.

I contend that science is full of hypothesis and observation and
conclusion, and there must be macro-math that works.  You said "I'm sure
there may be some obscure string of figures that requires a scientific
calculator, a slide rule, and an abacus to calculate, but don't send it
to me - I don't care."  If your trial and error does yield a simple
formula, or approximate cause-and-effect rule, please do share it with
us.  (You too, Bruce!)  I, too, hate the idea of booting up a computer
loaded with a spreadsheet to do 16 calculations before I shoot, or
consulting tables of data on hardcopy while my macro subject scurries
away or wilts.

Got to be a way to get closer to a rule on this.  Any comments or advice
from other macro-shooters out there?

Michael Georgoff
San Jose, CA


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