Photography

I recently attended a photography seminar titled Eleven Simple Secrets to Better Pictures, led by John VanSteenberg of Tamron USA, Inc. and learned a great deal about taking pictures intended for sale.  I would HIGHLY recommend Mr. VanSteenberg’s class to any newcomer that aspires to sell their prints or photography services.

One of the first, and most poignant points of his discussion was the separation between Snapshots, and Photographs.  While it may be fun to take a bunch of quick snaps with your camera, people typically buy and frame prints that speak to them.  This is exactly why many of my photographer friends still buy simple, point-and-shoot cameras even though they already own several, far superior, SLR cameras.  Snapshots are quick, fun, & easy.  Photographs take time, reflection, and a creative eye.  To paraphrase Robert Hughes, for every photograph you take, there were 14 billion you didn’t.

VanSteenberg also made a solid case for shooting in RAW rather than JPEG, which I’ve been doing for a while, simply because I could.  RAW images have much more room to correct exposure at the high end, and with a proper workflow program like Aperture or LightRoom, they’re nearly as quick to modify and print as their compressed counterpart.  While this seems obvious, it made me realize that there must be some compelling reason for the RAW format.  I’ve been reading The Raw Pipeline to educate myself and it does an excellent job of explaining how image sensors work, and why JPEG isn’t necessarily bad, but falls far short of the abilities of RAW.  It also pushes the use of a particular color calibration chart, which I never have used, but I plan to start using after reading why I should.

The most important things I learned out of these endeavors:

• Take a shot, then walk away, zoom in, and take the same shot…  Notice the subtle differences between the two photographs.
• There is a difference between looking at an image and seeing it.  You must take time to process an image and give it the consideration it deserves.  A poor exposure can be corrected on the computer, a poor composition can’t.
• The pros DO use PhotoShop, but keep it subtle!

Now I’m not an expert, but I’ve taken a few pictures in my day, and used literally hundreds of different cameras.  While many great photographers will say that your camera doesn’t matter in terms of taking great pictures, certain types of photographs require certain pieces of equipment.  In fact, if you read deeply into that article I linked, it eventually begins to agree with me.  Once you begin to understand the physics of light and how photography works, you will quickly realize why you may want to spend the extra $200 on a DSLR.

SLR cameras are without a doubt, more future-proof than their point and shoot counterparts.  As most people already know, the typical SLR camera can take various lenses and flashes, but many overlook the capability to take software updates, and the use of various filters.

Now if all of this just sounds like more money to you, perhaps the DSLR isn’t for you…  and that’s fine…  Most of the DLSR owners i know, also have point-and-shoot cameras of their own.  If you want a camera that you can take to the park, slip in your pocket, and have ready to shoot in an instant, it’s hard to beat the portability of the small camera.  But if you want to catch ultra-fast sports action, blur out the everything behind your subject, or catch the blurred headlights of the night travelers, you will be hard pressed to find a point and shoot that will do it.