Has the Skill been taken out of photograpy?

[Pooner]

Ansell Adams excellent but over rated!!!

Having only a couple or so of plates does make you think about what you are doing and that is something digital can only address when loads of pix are reeled off and you strike lucky!!!!

Patrick Lichfield and David Bailey Very over rated!!!

Adams used 10"x8" film stock and no body knows just how many plates he took of the content to start with!...If he used just 1 then that is a marvellous achievement but I suspect that he used more.....

Digital photography and software has indeed made photography more popular, cheap, easy and accessible to the masses without a doubt and I feel that is a good thing in general even if photographic boundaries are being stretched.

But for me, digital will never be able to compete with true photography in my eye's.....as I believe that everything should be done in camera preferably...

I've been digital for 10 years and rarely use software to alter an image - an occasional crop and that's it!!!...

Any more is cheating in my eyes!!

 

[groundhog]

[] pooner mate, I think you summed it up very niceley in in your sentence" everything should be done in camera preferably", in my opinion a good photgrapher has an eye for a good picture and a natural eye for framing composing and manually setting his camera in order to get that really good Wow factor picture in one go direct from his or her camera.

 

[Pooner]

CBE...

For me digital lacks one important thing!

Having something tangible to handle like negatives, slides and prints!

I used to get a real buzz and anticipation when my processed media flopped through my letter box and I get to see if my efforts have been successful or not....Often not!

But loading a memory card into a pc just doesn't give me anywhere near the same thrill!...

I sold my Canon T-90 years ago and I still regret it!!!

The days when taking 36 frames rewarded you, if you were lucky, with 1 or 2 decent images!!!

That's proper Photography IMHO!!!

 

[carpmon43]

morning hahahaha


without the studio..you have to set to whats best, or tweek it a bit on a pc so it definatly offers more options..(more scope).

the rest is purely subject to personal preference. (ego..dudahh).

its bloody hard to beet a good straight exsposure untampered though.

 

[H T B]

One down side, as far as I'm concerned, about digital photography, is the real life photo has gone.
Days of getting the photo album out to show little 'un growing up etc, distant memories.

I know you can take your disc and get photos printed off, does anyone do this?
Now it's, pull out the laptop/pc, sit back and watch the slide show. Just feels so different...

Progress, I suppose......

 

[Pooner]

Originally posted by H T B

One down side, as far as I'm concerned, about digital photography, is the real life photo has gone.
Days of getting the photo album out to show little 'un growing up etc, distant memories.

I know you can take your disc and get photos printed off, does anyone do this?
Now it's, pull out the laptop/pc, sit back and watch the slide show. Just feels so different...

Progress, I suppose......

Yep Agreed!....

Getting digital images printed off is expensive compared with conventional images where you pay 6 quid or so and they last a lot longer than digi prints!!!

A folder of pix is better to show around than having to carry around a laptop or some other viewing devices.....

The anticipation of switching on the dark rooms lights after processing a film/print to see if you have got it right - priceless!

 

[Shez]

Companies regularly do deals online for cheap (1p per print) or free prints / cheap canvas prints / cheap photo books. Getting actual physical prints has never been cheaper or easier, if you do 5 minutes research online.

 

[Pooner]

Originally posted by Shez

Companies regularly do deals online for cheap (1p per print) or free prints / cheap canvas prints / cheap photo books. Getting actual physical prints has never been cheaper or easier, if you do 5 minutes research online.

Yes u can get them cheap and they have a short life too (depending on how they have been stored, like all media)!

Photo-books - I've made a load and they are excellent value...

I have seen digital prints degrade within weeks while a mate has a load of conventional prints on his shed roof going back to the days of '110/Disc' emulsions and they are still fine even though they have been subject to welding fumes, tobacco, Grinding sparks and other nasty substances...

p.s: the local chemist charges 0.35 for a 5x3.5...[:0]

 

[Pooner]

cant delete

 

[Fishing_Widow]

Originally posted by H T B

One down side, as far as I'm concerned, about digital photography, is the real life photo has gone.
Days of getting the photo album out to show little 'un growing up etc, distant memories.

I know you can take your disc and get photos printed off, does anyone do this?
Now it's, pull out the laptop/pc, sit back and watch the slide show. Just feels so different...

Progress, I suppose......

Yes I've noticed this. And we now take about 25 photos of the same shot, I'm guilty of it myself. When we used to use a roll and only had 36 pictures to take, they were more special in a way.

I used to love that trip to Max Speilmans to collect my photos after they'd been developing to see what photos I'd taken, I'd try and see if I could make it all the way home before I caved and opened them.

 

[davylad]

I also shoot in RAW but I do not believe in adjusting the photos I take to make them "look better"

 

[davylad]

Originally posted by davylad

I also shoot in RAW but I do not believe in adjusting the photos I take to make them "look better"

I've never heard so much trash in my life, I have a couple of good DLSR cameras and some very good lenses, but if I want a good end result I wouldn't be without CS5, post editing is a major part of modern day photography, do you remember when a lot of the elitists frowned upon digital cameras when they started becoming popular.

 

[jabtas]

Totally agree with the above, lots of post processing went on in the darkroom also
Dodging and burning was a common practice, as was exposure adjustment
Often contrast and saturation could be altered just by use of different paper, so alteration to the final product is nothing new

If you do shoot in RAW and convert with zero adjustments, especially to sharpness and contrast, you realy are loosing out on the power of RAW and would be better versed in shooting straight jpg in the first place

All cameras will produce a flat unsharp image from RAW, thats the very nature of the beast
The best way I can describe it, is that RAW should be treat as a 'digital negative', that needs to be 'developed' to release its full glory

RAW & the digital darkroom, go hand in hand for the modern photographer

 

[Pooner]

I have been digital for over 10 years but have never used the RAW function!

Could someone point out what RAW is and how to best use it?

I know that it is not compressed like a jpeg but I'd like to know more about it before I venture in that direction...

 

[jabtas]

Far better description/comparison than I could ever begin to give
http://digital-photography-school.com/raw-vs-jpeg

From a personal point of view, I would say that if you are more than happy with your results straight out of the camera, stick with jpg
By all means give RAW a go, but it does involve more work in producing the final images (and additional software, which may or may not have come with your cam

 

[groundhog]

Originally posted by davylad

I've never heard so much trash in my life, I have a couple of good DLSR cameras and some very good lenses, but if I want a good end result I wouldn't be without CS5, post editing is a major part of modern day photography, do you remember when a lot of the elitists frowned upon digital cameras when they started becoming popular.

[] It has nothing to do with being"elitist" daveylad mate, Just as to whether or not it is taking the skill and ability to take a good Camera shot with the Camera alone out of of photograpy.[:T]

[][] judging by this part of your above post,"if I want a good end result I wouldn't be without CS5" in your case the Answer is YES it is taking the skill out of taking a good picture using the camera alone,which is what my original post was all about.[:T]
[][][]

 

[carpmon43]

i think the points being missed, which is what do you as the individual want from it, one guy eants wet film another sais ooo RAW's and digitize, meanwhile.. whats one to do with the other?

from having a limited roll of film and not beign able to afford to exsplore the posabilities to being able to fire away as many as you want? thats an improvement.

being able to 'extend' your lighting dynamic range..thats another improvement..

being able to art farty..sharpen what ever without being privvy to the best developer in london with the snazzy secret chemicals and know how to make them fantastic prints that no one else could? hell! i'd say a huge! improvement!

nowthen, any noddy and his miss's can do a good foto? yeh right lol. the 'posability' is there now.. but, have you tried processing them fancy new images? its a little beyond a quick click on auto white balance then a tweek on brightness.. infact, its a whole new art of exsperience.... so once again a huge improvement of possabilities, but only when you know how.

if you dont know how, all thats left is gripsing about who who whats awaht and what shouldnt be lol.

and off course the old 'i think you all should be the same as what i am' routine...followed by shout it louder see who's daft enough to listen lol.

the art of photograghy is the art of b.u..ll..sh..i..tt..ing...

untill you actualy know, then its the art wading through reems of woffle, winging, moaning, old boy who's in the know and fitting into groups as 'accepted' etc etc etc...

bleghhh woffle on lolol.

 

[groundhog]

[] WTF Are you rambling on about?? carpmon43,whatever your on has to be an illegal substance.

 

[carpmon43]

Originally posted by groundhog

[] WTF Are you rambling on about?? carpmon43,whatever your on has to be an illegal substance.

hmm you dont know? can i borrow a fiver hehehe

 

[banksy]

Carpmon43 -

You DO make a few very valid points, but your posts are SO hard to read, because of the spelling and lack of punctuation.
I'm no English grammar and punctuation snob, but half of the spelling mistakes look like typos caused by your having rushed through your typing and not reviewing your stuff before posting it.

Like you, I refuse to use spellchecks or predictive text, but Hell's bells, it's not a race to be first to the post.

Intended to be constructive.