We all love those big LCD screens that they’re putting on the back of our cameras these days. I love mine. It’s a 3-inch screen on the back of my Nikon D700. It shows great details, all sorts of fancy histograms and bell curves,  lets me review my exposure and keeps me in check when it comes down to framing my subject. I can even push a button and it will show me ALL of the settings I’m dealing with on my camera at that moment — an awesome thing to have in lowlight situations. You don’t want to get me started on all the fancy menus and settings I can explore using that big LCD screen. I love it.

But that big little LCD screen is dangerous.

We’ve all done it. When I’m walking around backstage at the folk festival, or around an event like the Fire Safety Carnival hosted this past week by the Pagosa Fire Protection District, people want to see want you’ve been shooting — and you want to see too. When you take a look through your photos and see what you’ve captured, you’re bound to hear it and say it.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, ooh, ooh.”

The first time I heard the term was at the Rich Clarkson Sports Photography Workshop that I attended in the summer of 2007. (Totally amazing workshop by the way. They’ve got some others I’d love to attend some day.) You don’t want to get caught “Chimping.” You can miss so many moments with your eyes glued to your LCD rather than shooting. Checking what just went on guarantees that you will miss what‘s going on.

Like I’ve said in other posts, I try to check my exposure and lighting with each new environment and setting that I move into.  At the safety carnival, I moved in and out, from direct sunlight to inside the garages where it was darker.  I exposed for the garage as I moved inside so I would not have to look at my LCD and adjust exposure. With confidence in my settings I was able to capture this shot, and many other very cute moments, because I didn’t have to check on settings. I also try not to review my shots to see what I have just shot because I’ll miss moments like this one.