luck? eye? camera?

[treehuggerhikerboy]

I was thinking about the percentages of each it takes to be a 'good' photographer....

eye/imagination - 65%
luck - 25%
camera - 10%

any other ideas?

 

[terri36 7]

Photoshop! :mrgreen:

 

[LittleMan]

Photoshop! :mrgreen:

99%

 

[Alex_B]

I was thinking about the percentages of each it takes to be a 'good' photographer....

eye/imagination - 65%
luck - 25%
camera - 10%

any other ideas?

To be a good photographer it needs no good camera... so give the camera 0% as it does not decide over good or bad here.

The camera only decides about if the photographer can real play his talent! And camera quality decides about the useability of the final product for professional uses.

 

[thebeginning]

i'll narrow mine down to serious digital photography.

i'd say these are the key important things (it's hard to make a percentage because they kinda run together):

good eye for composition and light, creativity in candid situations, imagination in creating situations, Technical know-how/PS skills, and timing.


IMO luck has very very little to do with it.

 

[newrmdmike]

i'm with daniel, luck will not get you far. you can't expect it to get you anything more than the occasional decent shot.
camera 0%

 

[midget patrol]

i'll narrow mine down to serious digital photography.

i'd say these are the key important things (it's hard to make a percentage because they kinda run together):

good eye for composition and light, creativity in candid situations, imagination in creating situations, Technical know-how/PS skills, and timing.


IMO luck has very very little to do with it.

Luck is just the combination of timiliness and perparedness.

 

[JTHphoto]

I was going to say... i feel lucky sometimes, but is it really luck when you put yourself in the situation, camera in hand?

While I think a natural eye/talent is a sizable percentage, I think that experience/knowledge can be just as important. I consider myself a much better photographer now than when I took my first few rolls of film almost 10 years ago. And I certainly hope that I haven't peaked, because I have a long way to go!

 

[treehuggerhikerboy]

I think luck plays a small role in good photos...whether it's right place/right time or just guessing the right exposure for the right effect.

 

[mgbradsh]

There's been a few times when I've gone for pictures and stumbled across something I had no idea was there, but it made for some great pictures. It's not the most important thing...but who is going to say no to it if it's there.

I think you can take good pictures with a crappy camera, but the chances of taking good pictures with better cameras and the right lens goes up exponentially.

Eye and imagination are great too. Without those the pictures aren't going to be anything spectacular.

Eye/Imagination - 60%
camera - 30%
luck - 10%

 

[Alex_B]

I think you can take good pictures with a crappy camera, but the chances of taking good pictures with better cameras and the right lens goes up exponentially.

I think people have different ideas regarding the term "good picture". Those (including me) who said the camera gets 0% refer to composition, light and all that.
With a half way decent digital camera with a half way decent lens - be it SLR or any other type, you can take good pictures in that sense. I have seen really nice pictures taken with a mobile phone camera! Of course you could not do large format printing with those.

And anyway, the original question was what makes a good photographer, not a good picture And to answer that one, the camera certainly goes with 0%

Anyway, to add to thesse confusions about luck. Over the years you have many occasions where you have good luck and others where you have bad luck when taking pictures (actually luck can be regarding the weather, animals, situations)... and over the years those fluctuations simply average out! What remains is the bonus you get from your ability to decide where to go, when to go and which lens to have on, in order to optimise your chances.

 

[mgbradsh]

I think people have different ideas regarding the term "good picture". Those (including me) who said the camera gets 0% refer to composition, light and all that.
With a half way decent digital camera with a half way decent lens - be it SLR or any other type, you can take good pictures in that sense. I have seen really nice pictures taken with a mobile phone camera! Of course you could not do large format printing with those.

And anyway, the original question was what makes a good photographer, not a good picture And to answer that one, the camera certainly goes with 0%

Anyway, to add to thesse confusions about luck. Over the years you have many occasions where you have good luck and others where you have bad luck when taking pictures (actually luck can be regarding the weather, animals, situations)... and over the years those fluctuations simply average out! What remains is the bonus you get from your ability to decide where to go, when to go and which lens to have on, in order to optimise your chances.

Any photographer is only going to be as good as their pictures

I've noticed that as I've expanded my gear I've definitely expanded my potential and it's even allowed me to use my imagination more. You can take good pictures with a camera phone but you're more likely to take them with a good camera and a variety of lenses. If cameras were 0% we'd all be walking around with pinhole cameras. Do I think the very best gear will take the very best pictures? No. But I didn't put the camera at 100% either.

Photography isn't about averages. People here don't post their average pictures, they post their best ones. Why? Because it's about capturing something special. Once in a while you have to stumble upon that something special to get it because it's not something you could have planned for or used your imagination to capture. It's just there. And you take it. The other great thing about "luck" in this sense, is that it lets the photographer go beyond the boundaries of their imagination. In that way, I think as a photographer, you can grow in leaps and bounds instead of restricting yourself to the same old thing.