Are people today accepting poorer quality photos?

[Alex_B]

I've taken maybe 15,000 exposures

I have taken less than 20,000 exposures in my whole photgraphic life (which started early) so far ... that means less than 20,000 in 20 years. :lmao:

 

[DSLR noob]

I have taken less than 20,000 exposures in my whole photgraphic life (which started early) so far ... that means less than 20,000 in 20 years. :lmao:

heh........... this was in like....... 9 months...........

 

[Jon, The Elder]

Has the digital revolution lowered the standards of good quality photos?

Well Jason, the short answer is a resounding 'Yes'.

Here in the U.S. the current attitude for many things is...."good enough, is good enough".

That feeling goes much deeper than just photography. Living in the old "Automotive Capitol", I've watched the American auto industry skid into decline for the last several years. The insatiable lust for 'bigger,shinier,noisier, and just plain newer has pushed the industry over the edge.

There was a time when Made-in-America meant it was the best. Today it is hard to find a "native" product here. Clothing, food, and nearly everything in our personal lives is created or made somewhere else in the world.

Photography is one of the few "industries" that still has a direct connection to ones personal standards.

I survive in photography because my customers tell me (and back it up with a check) that my photos are 'the best'. Why? Primarily because I will not sell them a photo that does not come up to my standards. I have on occasion stated that fact, and as a result my reputation is intact.

I swear some of my competitors have a philosophy of
"Throw enough crap on the wall and at least some of it will stick".

If you produce a good quality product, at a decent price consistantly, you're home free.

 

[Iron Flatline]

It's the same it's always been, you just see them a lot more - both good and bad.

Most people take crap pictures. To them it's still a fun memory. They used to throw them in a shoe-box, now they post them on the internet.

The current vogue in fashion and marketing photography is that DIY look that makes it seem somehow modern and "online-ish." Once people get over the novelty of everything being available and visible to everyone (and looking crappy) the consumer will seek a new look - and in this case it will also be driven by technology. It needs to reflect its modern "in-the-now" roots.

LOL - Assume that a variation of HDR will be the next gimmick.

 

[ga_shooter]

Do you think its possible that people are assuming that a crappy picture out of the camera can be fixed in PS? I know that as i take many many pictures trying to get exposure correct with out monkeying with it I have certainly posted things here that i have made or could make better with post processing. I was thinking about this last night as well. How different is it to mess around and improve an image in PS then it was to dodge, burn crop and mess with exposure in the dark room? Its been a long time since i was actually in a dark room, but i seem to remember messing wwith things quite a bit, and loving less than the best pictures for some odd reason or another. Any thoughts?

 

[NJMAN]

As far as I'm concerned, people can take as many crappy photos and post them on myspace, facebook, blogs, or forums all they want. To me, it just makes the truly good photography all the more recognizable. The people who produce and post consistently great photos on this forum or any other photography forum know who they are. And sooner or later, they will get noticed by others for their talent and skill.

I really don't care how many automatic gadgets they install on point and shoot cameras or even SLRs to make it easy for the average Joe. It will never replace the ability of a good photographer to think on their feet and apply proper theories and principles that give them consistent quality, whether it be lighting, composition, focus, depth of field, white balance, color, contrast, etc.

I dont have anything against people taking photos for fun and posting them all over the place. My standards are just set a little higher, and I try to live up to those standards, because that is my passion.

It still amuses me when I walk by a tourist area or busy street and see someone hold their camera phone 2 feet in front of their eyes, and then hear the fake shutter sound go off. They are having fun, and thats okay.

 

[Battou]

Has the digital revolution lowered the standards of good quality photos? With the enormous amount of pictures being taken daily since the proliferation of digital cameras, there are many lower quality photos floating around everywhere. Things ranging from minor issues like slightly off-balance colour, to blurry, dark out of focus images are becoming more common. So are people becoming desensitized to lower quality pictures?

What do you think.....

No, it's just an illusion. The standards of good quality photography remain the same. The enormous amount of lower quality pictures floating around the internet is merely a more accurate representation of just how many fail to meet the standards of quality photography. When one is good, it's not hard to forget that there are a lot more that suck.

the number of rubbish images has sort of exploded in recent years ... and acceptable or even good photography has not risen in numbers proportionally.

At least this is true when it comes to what is unleashed unto the world ... maybe just as much rubbish was produced a decade ago, just people did not post it all over the world using the internet

Good call.

Yesteryear it was not as easy to upload 200068848 digi-pics to photobucket or whatever...

My 12 year old sister could probably do it...

Now it's just as soon as you bring your camera near your computer somehow it gets on the web instantly and all that nice jazz.

People also don't care if they waste film anymore. They don't have to pay for film. It's all digital. usually they're like "I can just delete it later"...but they never end up deleting it and it ends up somewhere online.

I just learned recently that it's not just digital images. Not having a dark room of my own as well as not having the need to have film developed for some time, I was completely surprised to find out that (here locally) the default method to developing 35mm film is to digitize it and print it or saved to a compact disk, and presto your 35mm is now digital. If you want it done in a dark room you got to ask specifically. This opens the door wide open to the uber cheap disposable analog cameras and their undeletable contents spewed all over the internet.

On top of that, my digital camera came with driver software, like so many others. One of the aspects of this software is to automatically update your online gallery as it transfers images from camera to computer. I can't tell you how many times I have had to get into my sisters gallery and remove MY pictures from it, just because I plugged the camera into her computer.

The number of amature happysnappers has increased which can point to the increase in poor quality pictures.

I do get the feeling that modern trends tend towards cheap disposable everything as opposed to paying for high quality.

The number of snaphappy memorysavers has increased, yes, but not by the leaps and bounds it's being made out to be. Wile the digital revolution leads people (my self included) to displaying more of the junk. The "happysnappers" as you put them have been on the rise since the advent of the mono-use (disposable) cameras. Another trend you did not touch on is the trend of shrinking gizmos also plays part in it as well. People today are under the thought process of "why buy a large clunky device for two or three hundred bucks that will sit around, when I can buy a tincy tiny little thing for forty or fifty that I can use when I need it and chunk it when I am done with it."

What I have seen often, is that people switched from film to digital, and the quality went down since they could not afford a camera body which comes close im technical image quality to film. But these people realised and are unhappy since!

When I bought my digital camera, it was mostly for the aspect of practice as I had not taken any thing other than document shots (before and afters) in years, Not to mention I was too busy drawing pictures during composition theory in class....lol. I had considered staying with it and maybe buying a DSLR due to working for an online photo gallery sight and the ease of building a gallery befitting an administrator. Never the less I am growing more and more discontented with the digital camera and saying to hell with it and will likely be deleting a large number of images of that gallery because they are...well... unbefitting. I'll only keep it around for a snapshot here and there but any thing serious, I'll use film.

Do you think its possible that people are assuming that a crappy picture out of the camera can be fixed in PS? I know that as i take many many pictures trying to get exposure correct with out monkeying with it I have certainly posted things here that i have made or could make better with post processing. I was thinking about this last night as well. How different is it to mess around and improve an image in PS then it was to dodge, burn crop and mess with exposure in the dark room? Its been a long time since i was actually in a dark room, but i seem to remember messing wwith things quite a bit, and loving less than the best pictures for some odd reason or another. Any thoughts?

Photoshop and the like are like alcohol, when used in moderation it can be a good thing. Abuse it and it will do more harm than good and it is very easy to abuse it.

Abusing Photoshop leads to liver disease


*EDIT*

I had considered staying with it and maybe buying a DSLR due to working for an online photo gallery sight and the ease of building a gallery befitting an administrator.

Sitting here looking at the main page of that site, I am reminded of just how desprate we are for Photographers with high quality work to display

 

[usayit]

I believe that the overall quality of photography has not gone down. We are just all more exposed to it on an daily basis as technology has made photography much more available to the masses. Photos that would have stayed in the shoe box are now being posted on the internet for all of us to view. I call it "look at me" syndrome.

I also tend to feel that marketing of digital cameras have also changed focus. They used to concentrate the marketing SLRs to a smaller group of people comprised of serious amateurs to professionals. With the introduction of Digital SLRs, cameras are now being marketed to a wider consumer base with the premise that "You too can take professional photos". They usually follow up that message with segments of professional photographers shooting away with their fancy lenses (WHITE for Canon) and DSLRs. Not only does the consumer want to look professional they are lead to believe that the equipment itself makes them professional. There is a reason why the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L and the 24-70 f2.8L lens is one of Canon's best sellers in the L line. People observe professional wedding photographers using this lens all the time and want to be just like them. No doubt, revenue from sales has increased for Nikon and Canon since the introduction of DSLRs and a change in marketing. I call it the "poser" syndrome.

Recently, everyone here in the United States has seen an explosion of over consumption. We see it all over the place.. How many people really use the offroad utility of Hummers and Jeeps? (and complain when gas prices rise) How many people actually appreciate the balance, suspension, smooth power delivery, handling of a BMW or Porsche? (and Automatics are still the biggest sellers) Why is it all the homes being built in New Jersey HUGE and Ugly Mac Mansions? (and now are foreclosing) How many photographers really need a $1700+ lens paired to a $2500 camera with megapixels that can provide enough data for a poster? This is all behavior driven by our overwhelming desire to be better than the next guy. We all joking refer to it as "Keeping up with the Joneses".

So no wonder why we see a lot mediocre photos posted everywhere. No wonder people often take insult to honest critique. After all, we are a bunch of "Look at me", "Posers", suffering from "Keeping up with the Joneses." syndrome.

I love wikipedia!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses


BTW.. I'm not placing myself pedestal. I am totally convinced that the equipment I own is significantly more capable than me. After all I'm a product of this environment. I like to think I'm slightly different in the fact that I take all my hobbies to the fullest.. (I track my miata, been shooting for YEARS and seriously studied photography). In the end, I am just your mild-manner computer geek making a living.