What makes a great picture? What makes a picture not only catch the eye, but also have an impact on the soul? When does a picture tell a story instead of just recording an event? These are really questions that can be debated ad nauseum, but as a general rule, a picture can't be great before it is good. This aspect I can comment on.
When someone looks at one of my pictures and says, "Wow, those are good! You must have an awesome camera." I want to punch them. You wouldn't associate a painting with how good the brushes are, or the taste of a meal with how good the pots and pans are. Why would you do the same thing with photography? It is true, it is easier to take good photographs when you are using better equipment. But, it is also true that you could hand me a $50,000 Hasselblad and hand Ansel Adams a $200 point and shoot and he would outshoot me any day of the week, and he's dead!
There is still a large amount of skill involved in taking a good picture. Advances in technology have brought up the baseline so it is easier for more people to take passable pictures without thinking about it. This also means that to distinguish themselves, the top echelon of photographers also has to improve to justify getting paid for their work. Occasionally someone with a point and shoot will take an awesome picture under good shooting conditions. The separation comes when a photographer is contracted to take many good pictures on a specific day no matter what the shooting conditions. The consistency and ability to perform no matter what is where the skill and training come in, with a little help from equipment.
The basis of all photography really goes back to an understanding of light. Light is like sound for a musician. Light is like ingredients to a cook. Light is like words to a poet. Without an understanding of how it works, it is impossible to use it to its full potential. The hardest thing to wrap your mind around is the quality of light. It is not an absolute scale, nor is it even a one-dimensional scale. It deals with many aspects of light, such as intensity, direction, contrast, color, variability, and consistency. Some of these qualities are more important than others and where in that scale you want to be depends on the type of shooting you are doing. What may be ideal light conditions for a senior portrait of a teenage girl may yield a flat, uninteresting shot of a racecar on the track. Even within the same type of shooting, portraits for example, the desired qualities may change. The lighting setup for the lead singer of a heavy metal band would probably make a middle-aged soccer mom want to cry.
There isn't really one cohesive idea that runs through this post. Actually, it's a rather scattered collection of thoughts loosely connected by a camera, but it gives me something to do in between classes that breaks up the studying. For those that know me well, you probably followed this post like one of our conversations, all over the place, but you got the general idea. For those of you that don't think like me, I'm quite sorry and if you need me to clarify I am more than happy to do that too. Hope everybody has a great day. Au revoir.
-Z
2 comments:
Now if you can just convince dad that it ain't the equipment, it's the skier, you'll have done a great deed for civilization. Nice post! Do more than two a year! :)
Well you know, if it makes your legs sore then you're not doing it right.
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