The snow continues to fall tonight and winter looks like it here to stay for a while. This is good because if you were in the West last summer you will remember the endless days of smoke and fire. So lets keep that snow coming.
Well my day was uneventful. Continued to spend countless hours editing photos for multiple stock agencies. One thing everyone seemed to imagine as they made the leap to digital was the amount of time they would save not having to label, sort or scan all their slides. This may have been true to some extent, but I think we completely overlooked the consumption of time editing a single image can take.
I switched from film to digital two years ago and I can say the on demand of reviewing my images and the absent of film costs was what sold me. Not to mention the quality vs. 35mm. Even with all these great benefits of digital, I think the most important aspect is now our control.
We have immense creative power over our images, not only with in camera processing power, but our post processing software, such as Photoshop and other image editing tools.
Not only that but shooting in RAW mode you have data that you can manipulate without causing any degradation to the actual image. Now you start to open doors that were never even there in the first place.
The amount of stuff we can accomplish is quite incredible compared to 20 years ago. Yet 20 years ago amazing photographs were being made every day, and very famous ones for that matter. So with all our advances over image quality and creative control there is still one thing that matters more than anything else. That is image content.
There are a couple reasons this comes to mind for me. One is the vast amount of images that I see on the web that are aesthetically amazing and sometimes downright phenomenal. But they do not speak or hold me like a photograph that has a strong composition.
Another is the incessant ranting from individuals about how such & such lens is not as sharp when applying some highly complicated algorithmic test to it. How the newest camera body that is going to be released next quarter will totally smoke the current model making it an obsolete dinosaur, even though its only been in production for a mere 6 months.
Now granted there are certain things to consider when you are shooting in an increasingly competitive market. Like you do need quick auto-focus for fast moving things and that extra sharpness from your new “L” glass may give you that extra edge you need. But I think my point is that you can still make good images with whatever you are using and just because you don’t have Canon’s new 800mm (going for **gasp** $12,000.) doesn’t mean you still can’t get a good bird shot.
I also had thought the other day that was somewhat disturbing to me. I had purchased a very expensive camera last summer and recently it’s successor had been released. I suddenly found myself thinking this kick butt camera I’ve had the privilege of using for the last year is now somehow this hunk of junk that must immediately be replaced because its no longer worthy. How is that for the marketing department getting inside your head.
So after lamenting over this for a while, I read some blogs and posts that expressed an opinion that I think I can get behind. If my equipment continues to provide me with the images I seek, no sense in replacing just yet.
So focus on that light and composition and make that first, not the new bells & whistles of something that hasn’t even come out yet.
So back to my editing….
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