Has Photography become more or less complicated

[limr]

I don't think that was just nostalgia but a simple observation. When people were using the Brownies that have come up in this discussion, they didn't know much about photography and a lot of their pictures came out kind of crappy. No one was mistaking their shots for professional work. Then 35mm cameras became more automated and popular and it was easier to get good exposure and focus, but a person still had to know more than your average bear to produce really good images more than every once in a while, and to go professional, you needed a LOT more knowledge.

But with modern DSLRs or even non-DSLR digitals, how many more people can produce good images without ever taking it out of Auto or learning what an aperture even is? How many people can get that really cool image of a bee captured in flight? Anyone who knows how to press a button enough times. I'm not saying this is better or worse, only easier. Once again, it takes skill and knowledge to get a higher hit rate on a regular basis - and to actually know how to get the shot without relying on modes, continuous shutter, and a big SD card - but the average snapshot is better in quality than it was in the Brownie days, and it is easier to get that quality. And again, to become a professional, you have to gain a lot more skill and knowledge, so that hasn't changed.

But things have changed for your average snapshot taker. So if so many more people can get better quality pictures and are taking and sharing them all, doesn't it logically follow that it is going to be a little bit harder to stand out? If everyone can now take perfectly exposed landscapes or in-focus bird-in-flight or macro bug shots because the dial on their camera allows them to, then people have to work a little harder - and learn a little bit more and do things a little differently - to make their shots stand out. The bar for "commonplace" has been raised without people necessarily learning anything more about photography. Even if they haven't taken those shots themselves, more and more people have seen them or know more people who can take them. It was easier to stand out when those types of shots required much more knowledge and different equipment than Average Joe had.

I'll say it again: it's not nostalgia but a simple observation.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

The elements of a great photograph cannot be defined as digital or analogue. They exist only between your ears until the moment the shutter moves and freezes that moment. How simple is that?