Chimping – verb – The act of fiddling with camera settings when you should be taking pictures. Most common among those who insist on doing everything manually. Experience supposedly cuts down on this but veterans have been spotted chimping with the rest of us.

I believe "chimping" has more to do with taking a picture and then looking at the picture you just took on the display while simultaneously making the noise "Oooo-Ooo" like a Chimpanzee. And then repeating this behavior. From an on-looker it looks as if a monkey with a camera is taking pictures. Shoot-Look-Make Noise. Those who insist on doing everything manually are not necessarily chimpers...they are just trying to take better pictures.

Fe

CORRECT!!!

Have you seen this?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/chimping/

I'm a chimper...

in my spare time!

...guilty...pass the banana...

Thanks for setting me straight guys. That's what happens when you let the new kid play with the keyboard.

Shoot...not gonna lie...

#1 chimper award!

JK

WHy is chimping bad? I guess I don't understand the negative connotation with the word... One of the MANY benefits to having digital

+1 I agree! I love to chimp!

Nothing wrong with chimping in my opinion. Is it bad to get excited when you see that you got a great shot? Hell, no. Clients love when I glance at my camera and tell them about the beautiful shot I just got. I think it makes them comfortable, and it makes them feel like they're doing "a good job", hah.

AAAAAAAAMENNNN!!!!!!

Huh?

Maybe some of us "insist" on doing everything manually becuase we know what the heck we're doing and we prefer to be in control of our images, rather than let the camera think for us.

Karen

+1 !!! I even show the client sometimes! Yesterday I did a senior session and showed him and his mom a couple and they loved it!

A big part of chimping for me is looking at the histogram and checking my exposures. The image on the back of your camera can lie to you depending on the light you are in, but the histogram shows the range of tonalities in the image.

Oh I agree, everything changes when you hit it and show the client the shot, they love it. Sometimes when the session is not as relaxed as I like I'll get a shot that I know they will like on screen and show them enthusiastically and everyone relaxes...

i dont ever chimp. never have. never will.

I think some people infer that if you need to show someone else your work to get approval, then you aren't very secure in your photographerness. Which is stupid and stupid.

If you'll notice, the video is from a sportshooter perspective which is primarily male (and extremely jocular) and the natural, "I don't need feedback from my clients/peers OR a map to tell me where to go..." It's just misplaced machismo and arrogance.

BTW - It cracks me up that sport shooters call themselves photojournalists, especially when they get all puffed up about it. Yuck. To me a photojournalist is James Nachtwey...that's serious journalism. If you've not seen the documentary "War Photographer" rent it tonight! It's so good. They put a video camera behind his camera so you can watch his fingers fly as he shoots in war zones. Just incredible.

Ryan

PS - Oooh eeeehh ooh oooh oooh...

Same here! It's such a great feeling to give your clients an in-camera sneek peak and see their faces light up! It makes me so happy.

I bet you've chimped at least ONCE. Everyone has done it...come on...once? Never shown someone a cool image on the back of your camera? For a photographer that would be like saying you've never lied or taken something that wasn't yours. We've all found occasion where is was justifiable...just one little "ooh ooh"? Come on Tami! You can doo eeet!

^{oh ok so i have once. but dont tell anyone, just keep it between us ok?}

Hand over the bannas folks, I am the BIGGEST one of them all.

(oh and I watched the video clip and yeah that is totally me at a basketball game with my sports shooting buddies during time outs. we have a ball)

I won't tell anyone...especially on OSP.

why wouldn't you? again... why is it negative? do you like the surprise?

I can't image not looking at least once in awhile to make sure exposure is correct and stuff. And I had one time that I had accidently moved my dial from M to TV mode and it was all messed up, if you don't look you can catch that kind of stuff.

i had a really funny dream about chimping. it is bizarre but true, so have a good laugh at my expense...

in the dream, i was at a photoshoot and when i started chimping, the loudspeakers played kenny rogers "the gambler", but it was about chimping. the chorus was changed to
"you gotta know when to compose em,
know when press the shutter,
and know when packem up
you never look at your photos when your waiting for the next shot
there will be time enough for chimping, when the shoot is done."

i wokeup and told my wife and she told me that was weird, and went back to bed. maybe bad pizza was the cause. i bet some of the younger photogs might not be familiar with this song, so check it out on iTunes.

and i do chimp. maybe that is just being a novice, but i think it is best when you chimp with the subject being shot.

ok so i have nothing against others doing it at all. in fact, chimp on!

i just dont see how it can help in my shooting. what i see on the screen does nothing for me, personally.

since i am just learning photography, i try to check the histogram and look for highlights or shadows. by no means am i an expert, but for me to experiment with the exposure compensation, aperture and shutter while in different modes and getting a general cursory glance at how that changes the histogram and look has been helpful. sometimes i cant contain the excitement when i get it occasionally right or discover something most on this board already know.

however, i do agree that the noises and effects contribute little value

i shoot for the moment - not for how it looks on the screen - but that is me, i am in no way being negative towards those who do use it.

I think the negative comes from people chimping while they should otherwise be taking pictures... ie: they miss a shot because they are busy chimping.
Additionally, I don't let my assistants chimp (nor do I do it) because many times a shot that is terrible on the LCD on the back of the camera can become a real winner once worked through the post process.

Chimp to check on occasion - hey, fine. Chimp to delete - bad. Chimp so much you miss other stuff - bad.

IMHO.

Oh man, puff puff give the banana over here, Johnny. I am a total chimper, and I think I will be for life after my first wedding of this season. I had just gotten a new camera and I was shooting the formals in Av mode when I chimped and saw that they were coming out WAY overexposed. Turns out, the metering system on the camera wasn't working (ended up having to exchange the camera for one that, you know, WORKED). I was able to switch over to manual and finish the wedding out that way, but I wouldn't have known if I hadn't looked.