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photographic equipment are just tools to photography the way brushes, paint and canvas (lenses, film and paper) are to a painter. Having a brush in my hand does not make me a Monet any more so than purchasing a Leica would make me a Bresson.
understanding how to use the tools is about a quarter of the work in my opinion...the rest can be learned to a certain extent, but some just "have it" while others dont. Photography is no different than anything else in that regard
Start by getting the book "Photography" by Barbara London and read it cover to cover. Get the books the Camera, Negative and Print by Ansel Adams. get books by Edward Weston, Edward Steichan, Minor White, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Margaret Bourke-White, WeeGee, Paul Strand, Robert Capa, Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott, Mann Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sally Mann, Alfred Steiglitz, Helmut Newton, David Muench, Joel Peter Witkin and go over them cover to cover taking in all they produce, study every aspect of how and why they do it....but most of all try everything and find something you like.
Snapping away is easy.I use another couple of forums, and a small discussion has arose on the difficulty of obtain a good shot - Person A claims its a case of "snapping away...its not rocket science" While person B says its much more than that.
What do you think
Not really, NASA put a big shutter release button on the cameras the they took to the moon. So if you had no fingers you could use whats left to press the button.What if you had no fingers? That would certainly make things more difficult.
I agree with the above. I used to think that if I take a huge amount of photos that some of them will turn out good. One of them will have to have all of the eyes open etc.
There seems to be some truth to this, however, I would say that a truly great shot generally requires knowledge thought and preparation. There are some stunning shots that that were taken in a matter of moments, but in general it seems that shots that stand out from the average are ones that have had thought put into them.
taking a photograph is easy, taking a photograph that's technically perfect takes knowledge, experience and some thought.
And herein lies the problem.
Is a 'technically perfect' photograph the same as a 'good' photograph?
And the answer is, of course, no.
Firstly, what is 'technically perfect'? How do you judge? What do you measure it by?
Is it an image that is in focus?
I have seen images that are intentionally out of focus that I still consider amazing.
Is it an image that is correctly exposed?
Before you answer that work out what 'correct' exposure means and under what situations you will ever get it.
Colour balance? Depth of field?
It's not as easy as it seems to define 'technically perfect' when what works for one image will not work for another. Although there are one or two people on here who like to give 'crits' who think they have the answer.
And even if you did come up with what everyone would agree was a 'technically' perfect photo the chances are that it would be boring.
And all the time you see people hammering away at an image with Photoshop - adjusting contrast, saturation, cloning out trees and wires - in an endless and delusional pursuit.
If you have to do work on an image in Photoshop then the image must have been far from perfect to begin with - which should be an indication that the photographer still has a way to go before they achieve competence.
Technical perfection is not at all easy but it isn't everything either - in fact it is very little in the scheme of things.
I have been privileged to handle original prints by a lot of famous photographers and believe me a lot of them were far from technically perfect.
Technical control, now... that's a different matter.
But even if you worked hard and achieved technical control there is still no guarantee that you would ever produce a 'good' picture.
There is a great deal more to Photography than using a camera but most people don't seem to be aware of it. Which is why people think that it is easy.
But nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.
:thumbup:
I still think that my short reply was easier to read