"The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas . . .

[otherprof]

The other night, sitting on the patio and listening to some old-time radio shows, I looked up and understood that line from Alfred Noyse' poem, " The Highwayman" better than I ever have.
(My old iPhone 7+ was the only camera I had with me.)

 

[cgw]

The other night, sitting on the patio and listening to some old-time radio shows, I looked up and understood that line from Alfred Noyse' poem, " The Highwayman" better than I ever have.
(My old iPhone 7+ was the only camera I had with me.)

View attachment 271871

Catch the moment. It's all that matters. Gear doesn't.

 

[ClintLloyd]

Catch the moment. It's all that matters. Gear doesn't.

I don't really understand the whole 'gear doesn't matter' phrase. Whilst a good photographer can take a nice image with whatever camera they have on hand, I'm sure many would rather take the photo in high resolution with nice contrast, cropping options, fantastic aberration control, advanced AF etc.

If someone can't take photos then camera gear is absolutely irrelevant, but good gear definitely creates better images in the hands of skilled photographers.

 

[cgw]

I don't really understand the whole 'gear doesn't matter' phrase. Whilst a good photographer can take a nice image with whatever camera they have on hand, I'm sure many would rather take the photo in high resolution with nice contrast, cropping options, fantastic aberration control, advanced AF etc.

If someone can't take photos then camera gear is absolutely irrelevant, but good gear definitely creates better images in the hands of skilled photographers.

So what exactly did you think you proved here?

 

[ClintLloyd]

So what exactly did you think you proved here?

As you can see by the OP's images, he can definitely take photos so that wasn't aimed at him.

It isn't what I think I proved, it's fact. That's why you won't see any pictures of a swallow catching an insect in flight with a point and shoot, because gear does matter in many respects... ️

 

[cgw]

As you can see by the OP's images, he can definitely take photos so that wasn't aimed at him.

It isn't what I think I proved, it's fact. That's why you won't see any pictures of a swallow catching an insect in flight with a point and shoot, because gear does matter in many respects... ️

Please...Nothing beats a firm grasp of the obvious.

 

[ClintLloyd]

Please...Nothing beats a firm grasp of the obvious.

Catch the moment. It's all that matters. Gear doesn't.

- You...

We're in a photography forum. I don't go down to the drag races and tell them that horsepower doesn't matter...

 

[vintagesnaps]

Cool photo.

It's often better to get the photo than not. Waiting to get a camera and the moment may be gone.

The clouds could drift and cover more of the moon and you wouldn't have gotten this wonderful image.

 

[smoke665]

We're in a photography forum. I don't go down to the drag races and tell them that horsepower doesn't matter...

And when a gear head is taking his family on vacation he isn't carrying all his tools with him, but if his car breaks down on the side of the road he'll use whatever he can scrounge up to make a repair. Like the scrounge tool, any shot will always beat no shot when a chance opportunity presents itself.

good gear definitely creates better images in the hands of skilled photographers.

"Better" how? Unlike fast cars, requiring specialized mechanical marvels to perform, photography is an art form. While equipment can assist the process, the skill of the photographer is what dictates the outcome of something artworthy. Would you claim that a print made from a negative shot with a pin hole camera couldn't be worthy of being art? What about those that create with a toy camera and plastic lens? Or maybe a vintage 4x5 field camera. As concerns photography, the gear vs skill debate is a worn out argument with little basis in fact, because once you get past the technicals of an exposure "better" is just opinion.

 

[otherprof]

I was really most interested in seeing the moon as a 'ghostly galleon' for the first time. I had a similar experience with a line from Homer describing "the wine dark sea.' i guess for years I didn't see the ocean as he did, because i 'knew' what it should look like - i.e. what crayon I should use to color the sea. Then on a cold day i was looking at the ocean and saw that one side of each wave was bottle green but the other side was a frosty purple. It took me decades to see what Homer saw.

 

[smoke665]

guess for years I didn't see the ocean

It's the light, it's always the light, sometimes it's flat and dull and other times it shows up in royal garments. Had a similar experience a few years back coming home just after sunset, the sky lit up with a beautiful brilliant royal purple unllike anything I'd see before nor have I seen it since. In the space of a few mins it was there in all its glory and gone as darkness prevailed.