Gear vs Skill

Heinlein must have been an Anglophile. Americans say "dessert," not "sweet."

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #15797158
I'm particularly fond of this quote as it not only helps defend my beliefs where it applies to this subject we are discussing, but it also soundly accuses those of dissenting opinion of being nothing more than followers of that disheveled mystic of Das Kapital, turgid, tortured, confused, and neurotic, unscientific, and illogical, the pompous fraud Karl Marx. The idea that Gear is an equalizer is positively Marxists, wholly Stalinist, and frighteningly Maoist.

I think you need to open up a little on how you feel, as you are showing far too much restraint.

The scary thing for me was how we get to read Fred Engel's tonned down version of Marx' rhetoric, rather than getting it straight from the horse's mouth. I suspect that Marx makes lil' Kim in NK look sane.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #15792603
A plain wall in the background gives you the same bokeh




Use a north window.
Use an overcast day.


Light you get at ISO3200 and f/2 or below is pretty brutal. It's yellow, mixed and not very pleasant with weird color casts.

You CAN shoot there. So what? The skin tones are still bad.


Of course. Forum told us polarizer is important and removes reflections. We buy it, find a fishtank or a penquin in a zoo and MAGIC - reflections be gone... almost. But as a picture it still sucks because there's this distraction in the corner and the composition doesn't work. Another snapshot.


Why is it important? If you can't get it to look good shooting JPEG, you won't be able to polish it in post. Or you might, but you might as well draw it from scratch in PS to being with.

Sure - change white balance and adjust curves. Maybe some dodge and burn. But if it's not there - you'll get nothing.


Just my 2 cents

Man, I feel so much hate here! Cant believe this tread is still alive
I don't need to display any portfolio, no disrespect.
All I'm saying is that gear helps you achieve that great/stunning photo.
It gives you a lot of flexibilities for creating any kind of image you want.
Post Processing does even more!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #15797659
So, if you think Gear makes you better, in fact not only are you wrong, but by being unskilled (and relying on the gear) you are devaluing the gear! Your 5D is worth less in the hands of a hack!

I'd never thought of it that way, but you won't get any argument from me about that!

But I have long maintained that art happens when vision and craft meet, and if you can't be bothered learning the "craft" of photography, you will find the "art" somewhat elusive.

"Gear" and Luck allow the un-skilled the ability to achieve what the "Skilled" photographer produces naturally.

Like it or not my gear helps make me better. It gives me more opportunity to do things easier than they would have been otherwise which has meant I have improved at a greater speed than I would have done otherwise.

Call it "being unskilled" or "devaluing the gear" or whatever you want it personally doesn't phase me.

From another thread... this is how I started shooting "M"

My "M" method... on a 5D MKIII which works for getting at least 90% accuracy to what the exposure should be in camera. I also shoot a similar way on my 60D. I don't use the meters in the viewfinder to judge my shots.

I set the camera to "M". I turn on LV (liveview). I then set my WB to a K value which is right for where I am shooting. I judge this by what looks right on the LCD but most lighting conditions these day I now know just by looking at it pretty much what K value I should be using. I set my exposure (ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed). I then turn off LV and start shooting. In circumstances where I have a few different lighting environments I now register three different ones to C1, C2 and C3 (thanks for that nugget Lloyd). When I've taken pics I look at quite a number of them on the preview after I take them. I check my settings are still right and cull in camera if I need to. If the settings are wrong I turn on LV and tweak them. During the day my LCD gets turned on and off constantly (yes all through the ceremony as well) which is a little heavy on the batteries.

It basically means that I'm shooting a WYSIWYG "M" mode. I like to call it "LV" mode. I only started shooting in "M" when the 5D MKII came out and using a similar technique (which was a little less advanced back then).

I'm now at a point where I would be able to deliver SOOC images if I wanted to. Dramatic lighting shots are easy this way as you can see exactly what you are getting before you shoot it.

It may not be the standard or purist way of doing things but it works for me. The technology is there so I'm going to use it. It also has the added advantage that overtime I've learnt to see the light a lot better this way. I can go to a rough starting point setting for the exposure very quickly now.

Now I couldn't do that without the gear I have today or the technology it includes. The "craft" becomes much less important when you can shoot WYSIWYG.

At the end of the end result (the photos) is really all that matters.

Ricardo222 wrote in post #15805013
I'd never thought of it that way, but you won't get any argument from me about that!

But I have long maintained that art happens when vision and craft meet, and if you can't be bothered learning the "craft" of photography, you will find the "art" somewhat elusive.

Absolutely. You never want your vision to be handicapped by the inability to capture it. But the technique has alway been the easy part and it has really never been easier.

Again with vision the rest really doesn't matter much.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #15805272
Again with vision the rest really doesn't matter much.

Nonsense.

Try taking a macro of a flies eye with a pinhole camera.

shinyknights wrote in post #15804881
Man, I feel so much hate here! Cant believe this tread is still alive
I don't need to display any portfolio, no disrespect.
All I'm saying is that gear helps you achieve that great/stunning photo.
It gives you a lot of flexibilities for creating any kind of image you want.
Post Processing does even more!

No ones debating that gear doesn't help, I mean, you can't take a photograph without a camera. The point is that no piece of gear (or post production) is going to make a great image for you. Great images can be created with the most basic, bargain basement gear, with minimal post work, and total crap can be created with the fanciest, most ludicrously expensive gear, and excessive post work.

fotoworx wrote in post #15805357
Nonsense.

Try taking a macro of a flies eye with a pinhole camera.

If you can't see it doesn't matter what you have. You'll only produce crap.

fotoworx wrote in post #15805357
Nonsense.

Try taking a macro of a flies eye with a pinhole camera.

Hey Jim...haven't you heard of the "reversing ring"?

airfrogusmc wrote in post #15805381
If you can't see it doesn't matter what you have. You'll only produce crap.

That's a cop out from what you were asked.

fotoworx wrote in post #15805404
That's a cop out from what you were asked.

No its not. Its exactly what all this should be all about.

Ricardo222 wrote in post #15805383
Hey Jim...haven't you heard of the "reversing ring"?

I'd like to be able to reverse my ring sometimes after eating Mexican.