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Thread started 22 Apr 2008 (Tuesday) 13:46
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When it is about photography, not the camera.

 
00silvergt
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Apr 22, 2008 13:46 |  #1

Just want to rant about an observation I have made in the past few days:

I've been strolling along the internet in the quest to bring my photography to a higher level. So I was glancing at the many galleries of many outstanding photographers and started to notice something.

While viewing the various galleries and finding myself back here to chat around and learn a few things, I also made another observation. Now I am only on the first step of the scientific method while postulating this hypothesis, but at a glance, I noticed a possible important fact that I missed during my arduous journey into the enlightenment of better photography.

All along I thought I was on the proper road; that the road I was traveling was somewhat the righteous road to photographic Nirvana. But then fate decides to wake me and lead me yet to another path. Just when I thought I was walking the proper route.

All this time I spent learning and researching about cameras, lenses, flashes and other accessories a sudden warm thought entered my now capacious mind, filled with facts, charts and figures. Copiously gathering every minute detail of every aspect of very thing mechanical and functional, I have not seen the forest for the trees.

Then, while making the proper calculations for the optimal aperture for the correct depth of field desired for a certain exposure, the details became insignificant. As if a sudden, but warm ambiance has surrounded me as the right side of my brain dominates its sinister counterpart, an epiphany came to me.

Regardless of the timeless amounts of feverishly maintaining my inventories of lenses, bodies, flashes and other gadgets, the thought invaded my mind. An idea so foreign, so extrinsic, so outside of design, yet was so natural and guileless that I would not have been able to conjure it with all the sorcerers from the time of old.

My observations have lead me to open my eyes to the fact that one bit of information was missing from the text of many of the splendid, enchanting myriads of galleries that I viewed. At first realization I speculated that perhaps an oversight has occurred. For as it stands to reason that people who produce such exquisite photographs would of course share their love for the equipment that they used, the tools responsible to create the various masterpieces displayed proudly in their web-based fairs.

I continued to other galleries, one after another. What I expected to have volumes of information of the tools and the mechanics involved, there were none. My cynicism starts to overtake me and I started to ponder perhaps this was some sort of arrogance or parsimonious agenda of the photographer to niggardly stow the secrets of wonderful photography to themselves.

Returning to this faithful forum I see similar quality exposures and noticed that people are more than forthcoming when asked about the techniques and equipment used. So I disregarded my previous thoughts of some dastardly, conniving clandestine operation to keep the knowledge of great photographs from the masses.

This leads me to cogitate yet another possibility. Perhaps the devil is in the details. The greatest aspect to this wonderful past time of ours, though lost in the pages of catalogs and talks of various brands and equipment lies mainly on the photographs themselves! That the fruit of the activity of taking a picture is really that simple and naive. Taking pictures.

WOW what a concept! ;):p I hope you enjoyed that as much I, writing it.


"Ne nuntium necare"
"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our traditions from
the spirits of our ancestors. You have our gratitude."
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FlyingPhotog
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Apr 22, 2008 13:50 |  #2

Vicodin or Percaset? <j/k>

You're absolutely right. The Measurbators, Pixel Peepers and Gear Freaks will do what they always do but three truths still hold up:

Shut up and shoot...
Enjoy the time spent shooting...
If you like it, it's a good photo...

The rest is noise.


Jay
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"If you aren't getting extraordinary images from today's dSLRs, regardless of brand, it's not the camera!" - Bill Fortney, Nikon Corp.

  
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00silvergt
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Apr 22, 2008 13:59 |  #3

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #5381987 (external link)
Vicodin or Percaset? <j/k>

You're absolutely right. The Measurbators, Pixel Peepers and Gear Freaks will do what they always do but three truths still hold up:

Shut up and shoot...
Enjoy the time spent shooting...
If you like it, it's a good photo...

The rest is noise.

A little of both, please and pass the 420 while you're at it! ;)

I was inspired by a poster here who wanted to get rid of his 40D which he traded numerous times...now he wants a 5D. All the while everyone is telling him, dude it is your technique, shoot some pics...it is now 5 pages long! LOL:p:D;)


"Ne nuntium necare"
"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our traditions from
the spirits of our ancestors. You have our gratitude."
https://photography-on-the.net …rgt/newlogo.jpg​%5B/IMG%5D

  
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kevin_c
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Apr 22, 2008 14:23 |  #4

00silvergt wrote in post #5382038 (external link)
A little of both, please and pass the 420 while you're at it! ;)

I was inspired by a poster here who wanted to get rid of his 40D which he traded numerous times...now he wants a 5D. All the while everyone is telling him, dude it is your technique, shoot some pics...it is now 5 pages long! LOL:p:D;)

Yeah, I read that one as well :rolleyes: - I get as much enjoyment actually going out and taking pictures as I do seeing the results - Sure it's great to get a real 'keeper' but I just enjoy the act of taking them too.

I've gone back to using my film bodies more now, mainly because I find myself thinking about the shot rather than just 'snapping away' with my 20D.


-- K e v i n --

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Jim ­ G
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Apr 22, 2008 14:29 |  #5

I think online forums have rather a high concentration of gear-heads... and while it's possible to be a gearhead and a photographer I think some people are more in it for the gear :)

And hey, each to their own.

It's interesting to go from hanging out with gearheads/techheads to hanging out with arty types who have no idea about the technical side of things... can be a real eye-opener when they pull out some awesome results.


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00silvergt
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Apr 22, 2008 15:07 |  #6

Jim G wrote in post #5382232 (external link)
I think online forums have rather a high concentration of gear-heads... and while it's possible to be a gearhead and a photographer I think some people are more in it for the gear :)

And hey, each to their own.

It's interesting to go from hanging out with gearheads/techheads to hanging out with arty types who have no idea about the technical side of things... can be a real eye-opener when they pull out some awesome results.

Or you can be both...I enjoy the technical side, I'm an engineer in mind, but also appreciate the talent and skill required to make a great photograph; artist at heart. I guess, I generally and genuinely love photography.;):oops:


"Ne nuntium necare"
"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our traditions from
the spirits of our ancestors. You have our gratitude."
https://photography-on-the.net …rgt/newlogo.jpg​%5B/IMG%5D

  
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bacchanal
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Apr 22, 2008 17:29 as a reply to  @ 00silvergt's post |  #7

When I'm not taking pictures, I'm almost always thinking about the details, the equipment, measurebating, pixel peeping, whatever you want to call it. However, when I'm behind the camera I generally do not let these things occupy my train of thought...or I should say, I'm at my best when I do not let these things take over my mind.
Ideally, I want to know my equipment inside and out, so the technical aspects of a shot become automatic during a shoot. When the artistic part of my brain composes a shot, I want the technical part to take over and create the best shot that I know how to. I'm not to that point yet, and I doubt that I will ever master this hobby...but it is something that I hope to continually strive to do. You can have it both ways I think.


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Cyth0n
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Apr 22, 2008 18:13 |  #8

What an extraordinarily eloquent post. Thank you for taking the time. You are, of course, correct. If you trawl any photography forum, you will find endless debate over numbers, to the extent that you may start to believe that one photograph is quantifiably better than another. All of the best photographs that I've taken have been whilst shooting for pure enjoyment, without concious regard for numbers.

Numbers are a good place to start learning, but always remember that numbers don't take photographs.


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airfrogusmc
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Apr 22, 2008 18:22 as a reply to  @ Cyth0n's post |  #9

Yep the internet seems to attract those more interested in gear. The only thing that matters is the finished photograph.




  
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jbergdoll
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Apr 22, 2008 18:36 as a reply to  @ airfrogusmc's post |  #10
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One can have all the gear in the world and still suck at photography. The eye that can see the photographic outcome without a test shot or a LCD screen is the most valuable piece of equipment one can have in this quick to gear-gasm world of photography.


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00silvergt
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Apr 22, 2008 19:01 |  #11

Cyth0n wrote in post #5383650 (external link)
What an extraordinarily eloquent post. Thank you for taking the time. You are, of course, correct. If you trawl any photography forum, you will find endless debate over numbers, to the extent that you may start to believe that one photograph is quantifiably better than another. All of the best photographs that I've taken have been whilst shooting for pure enjoyment, without concious regard for numbers.

Numbers are a good place to start learning, but always remember that numbers don't take photographs.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #5383686 (external link)
Yep the internet seems to attract those more interested in gear. The only thing that matters is the finished photograph.

jbergdoll wrote in post #5383781 (external link)
One can have all the gear in the world and still suck at photography. The eye that can see the photographic outcome without a test shot or a LCD screen is the most valuable piece of equipment one can have in this quick to gear-gasm world of photography.

Funny, and not to offend anyone who has their gearlist on their signature, its your prerogative...however just making the quick observation that those who are inclined to think that hardware is second to the human factor(except Cyth0n, again no offense) do not have a gear list in their signature. I personally have amassed a great deal of photography equipment, may not be more than some of you, but certainly more than some who have listed their equipment, some who even added things like a Giotto Rocket Blower to add fluff and weight to their equipment list. But I don't, because albeit I care about my equipment, in fact I'm very anal retentive about it since it cost me some blood and sweat, but I won't publish because it is my pictures that matter, not what I use.

Yes, I've seen and sometimes participated in the debates of one camera over another ad nauseam. I'm inclined to be technical, since what brings home the proverbial bacon deals with the technical side of life, but I also have an artistic side which can easily be disturbed by the nitpicking of semantics. LOL


"Ne nuntium necare"
"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our traditions from
the spirits of our ancestors. You have our gratitude."
https://photography-on-the.net …rgt/newlogo.jpg​%5B/IMG%5D

  
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DocFrankenstein
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Apr 22, 2008 19:34 |  #12

Such a long essay! Brevity is a virtue.


National Sarcasm Society. Like we need your support.

  
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Cyth0n
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Apr 22, 2008 19:36 |  #13

Although I think that the artistic eye is more important than numbers, doesn't follow that numbers aren't important. To borrow your analogy, I don't believe that numbers and artistic intuition are seperate roads. Rather, they're the same road leading to 'photograpic Nirvana', and you need both to get all the way along it. However, on its own, your photographic intuition will get you much further.

To say they're seperate things would seem to suggest that the way to take the hypothetical 'perfect photograph' would be to forget everything you know about cameras and how they work. The real magic happens when you know the numbers so well that you don't even need to think about them. At that point, you can combine art and technology seamlessly to take the perfect photograph.

Sadly, I'm not there yet :D


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00silvergt
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Apr 22, 2008 19:37 |  #14

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5384100 (external link)
Such a long essay! Brevity is a virtue.


It was meant to be long winded...a bit of surprise factor to it. Patience is also a virtue.;):p


"Ne nuntium necare"
"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our traditions from
the spirits of our ancestors. You have our gratitude."
https://photography-on-the.net …rgt/newlogo.jpg​%5B/IMG%5D

  
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elader
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Apr 22, 2008 19:41 |  #15

I love ooking through pbase's 'popular' galleries. So many fabulaius photographs and no lens discussions. Most of these guys are out there making art, not argueing about 5D vs 40D


Eric
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