What is Chimping?

What is Chimping?
New photographers (and sometime experienced ones) wonder what does "chimping" mean? Chimping is a slang term photographers use for looking at your photos on the back of a digital camera, usually immediately after you take a shot.

When digital cameras first arrived on the market and professional photographers had the chance to see their photos before getting into the darkroom they almost instantly got caught up in the “take a photo, pull it up on the screen, take a photo, pull it up on the screen” loop of action. This was most likely originally done by professional photographers because many of the first early adapters of digital photography were pro photographers using very high end (for the time) DSLRs. As soon as amateur, hobbyists, and the general public started buying point and shoot digital cameras they too, quickly adopted this behavior loop. Often these would include multiple people crowded around the tiny LCD screen on the back of the camera at one time so that no one could really clearly see the photo. It was like a Polaroid instant photo but even faster and the general impatient nature of people took over.

Almost as quickly, other photographers realized the funny faces their colleagues were making as they looked at the new digital previews and started photographing the photographers.

Fairly universally the common face of a photographer reviewing a digital image was wide eyed, pursed lips, and mumbling "oh, oh, oh, oh" under their breath. This reminded almost everyone of chimpanzees or monkeys. Very quickly the common term became "chimping." Of course you can also use "chimped" or "chimps" as needed by sentence structure to accurately describe the event.

For example:
"He chimped all through the basketball game. I bet he missed 80% of the good shots."
"Stop chimping! You look like you’ve lost your mind."
"I can’t believe he still chimps. Does anyone really do that anymore?"
"He is such a chimper. He spends more time staring at the back of the camera than through the viewfinder!"


Just for Fun

How to Photograph Someone Who is Chimping
The key to getting a great funny photo of someone chimping is the angle of your photograph. Getting the back of the camera or the photo being viewed is not important. The most important part of a chimping photo is getting the camera body and the expression on the chimper’s face. The best way to do this is to shoot from the side of the subject so you have a nice 3/4 view of their face. This helps to highlight any odd mouth shapes being made during the chimping. If possible shoot upwards at a slight angle so that your point of view is looking upwards into the chimper's face. Just like many people freeze when you tell them to smile for the camera, if the chimping photographer notices you taking their photo they are likely to immediately stop what they are doing. Try not to be seen before you take the photo for best results.


More Just for Fun

How to Chimp
Chimping doesn’t require a big DSLR or any specific camera feature other than a digital image preview display. Point and shoot cameras, cell phones, tablet devices, even your Nintendo DSi works great for chimping.

Step 1 - Take a photo
Step 2 - Activate the photo display on your camera
Step 3 - Look downward at your camera/photo
Step 4 - Purse your lips together and chant "oh, oh, oh, oh"
Bonus - Place one hand on top of your head and lightly scratch
Extra Bonus - Convince one or more friends to crowd around the camera display and complete steps 1-4 at the same time

Congratulations! You’ve just chimped your photos!