Tag: quality

It’s been a while since I’ve seen this debate and mostly because I don’t frequent forums where the topic comes up often, but all photography is real photography. It makes no difference what type of camera was used or whether it was on film or digital. Let’s face it, at one-time glass plates or a thin piece of metal were used as the media to record the image.

Current smartphones have cameras that are quite capable. It’s just a matter of learning how to control the features of the camera. The smartphone camera uses virtually the same technology as a dedicated digital camera.

I would venture to guess that most of us have a smartphone with a camera. I know there are times, as in many times, that my smartphone is the only device that I have to use to take a photograph. My iPhone X has a 12-megapixel sensor. I may not be able to make large prints from an image but it is quite capable.

I don’t intend to give up using my dedicated Nikon digital SLR cameras any time soon, but I do believe it is time to stop the debate about smartphone photography not being “real photography”. Learn to use all your gear, which includes your smartphone camera because sometimes it may be all you have to capture a marvelous scene.

A few years ago another photographer said to me, “It’s easy to take a pretty picture of a flower, it’s already pretty.” I’m not sure I would go quite that far, but it has some truth as I think back on the statement. Are we just about making pretty pictures of pretty subjects? I certainly hope not.

I’m not sure what the plant is in the featured photograph, but it isn’t pretty by most flower standards. I saw this plant wandering along a trail in the Flint Hills last September. Many of the plants in the Flints Hills look rugged like this. The open prairie is a harsh environment for plants, I’d guess. I was drawn to this because it was rugged-looking and had many textures.

I’ve heard photographers talk about going out on a photographic excursion. They are waiting for the perfect light, the golden hour, or the blue hour. They are looking for pretty subjects, in pretty light, on a pretty day. I try to not limit myself to just those subjects and just those hours. I often work to make a decent photograph of the mundane. Making decent photographic art with a mundane subject in mundane lighting on a mundane day is much more challenging. Can’t we find beauty and art in the mundane? I think so. Don’t limit yourself to only pretty subjects, in pretty light, on a pretty day. Look for interesting ways to capture the mundane.

Yesterday, I wrote about a post on a social media site stating how much gear matters. Originally, I didn’t even look at the person who wrote the post photographs, but eventually, I couldn’t help myself. I looked and I must say I wasn’t impressed. In my way of thinking, if you’re going to go out in the world and boast about how quality gear makes a difference you should have top-quality work.

We should let our work represent our skills, not our gear. Our photography gear serves merely as tools. We don’t need an expensive camera and lens to create quality work. What we do need is know-how.

I’ve set up a challenge for myself this weekend. I’m going to take my 16-year-old Nikon D80 and my $100 (I think it was $90 when I bought it in 2006) 50mm f/1.8 lens and create some quality photographs just to demonstrate to myself that it isn’t about gear but about results. Hopefully, I will be able to share the results with you all.

I don’t intend this to be a rant but rather a challenge to us to let our work speak for us rather than our tools. The tools we use are just that, tools. Our skill, our vision, and our resulting art are what matter.

Don’t let gear hold you back. I’ve seen high-quality photographs and videos shot with an iPhone.

The was a debate in a recent Nikon camera social media group. The debate began when a member wrote a post about people should stop saying gear doesn’t matter because it does. I didn’t look at any of his photos, didn’t need to. The only comment I made was, “No photographer is as good as the simplest camera – Edward Steichen”. For those who may not be familiar with Edward Steichen, he is often credited with elevating photography into an art form. Edward Steichen is one of my favorite past photography masters and I agree with his quote.

Gear doesn’t matter for the most part. A great photograph can be created with the simplest of cameras. A great photograph is created by the skill and vision of the photographer just like a great meal can be prepared on almost any stove in any type of pot and pan.

Just because you use the top-of-the-line, newest, latest greatest photographic equipment doesn’t mean you will be able to create great photographs. I have known photographers who owned all the best equipment and their photographs absolutely sucked!

There may be times when the gear is important. Maybe. For the vast majority of photographers, especially hobbyists, Our gear doesn’t really make a difference. I still own and use a Nikon D80 which is now 16 years old. I can put my $100 50 mm lens on it and create very good photographs. At the same time, I can take my newest full-frame camera and my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and create crap. Don’t let people tell you that to create great photographs you need the best equipment or the latest technology. Photography, like many hobbies, can be a money pit. Create your art with your gear. If you want better gear and can afford it, that is great. If you can’t afford the latest and greatest, don’t fret. Show them you can create great work and outperform them.

Let me start off by saying I don’t believe I’m a great photographer, I’m still a work in progress. That being said, I believe I’m a much better photographer than I was five years ago.

I recently read, well I’ll admit skimmed, an article about this topic (I did save it so I could go back and read it more thoroughly). One of the first things the author of the article suggested was to take photographs every day. As though practice makes perfect. He then went on to say that a 365 project was a good way. If you’re not familiar with a 365 project it is where you take a photograph every day for a year. I’ve tried this and they are difficult. It isn’t difficult to take a photograph every day what is often difficult is to take a quality photograph every day. I’m not sold on 365 projects.

I don’t disagree that to become a great photographer you must do something photographically every day. I just don’t know that it has to be taking an actual photograph every day. I mean would a cell phone photograph count as well? Probably for some of us. (Note: I’ve changed my stance on cell phone photographs but that may be a topic for a future ramble.) I think we can count on studying the photographs of others, reading about photography-related topics, and the basic study of things art and photography-related. It all builds towards our knowledge and skills as a photographer.

I haven’t done many photographs in the past couple of years. I have 404 photographs in my Lightroom catalog that were taken in 2021. So far, I have 126 photographs I have taken in 2022. I know that is a pathetic number, for 2022 especially since I took 93 of those at one photo session. My goal is to increase that number, dramatically and to work to ensure they are quality photographs. I can tell that I have become a bit rusty in some of my skills but I have honed other skills. My post-processing skills have improved. Now it is time to combine the two.

The bottom line is this. I don’t think we need to take a photograph every day, but I do believe we need to take photographs often. More than once a week, but we need to make sure all our skills keep up with our mechanics of taking an actual photograph. Let’s get out there and do some art making.