Thursday, October 23, 2008

Something to Think About: Should Photography be Easy?

LIGHTING ESSENTIALS : For Photographers - Something to Think About: Should Photography be Easy?: "Is photography easy?

Should it be?

We seem to expect it to be. I see the ads about how easy it is to “click” and get a picture. Kodak said it decades earlier: “Push the button and we do the rest.” Now Ashton Kucher, the uh, actor or whatever he is, tells us that it is even easier.

I see post after post on forums everywhere that seem to say “I don’t have time to learn this, just show me how to do it really well. I got a minute. I have to do an annual report next tuesday and my ass is on the line. How do I light a CEO?”

To record an image to a sensor is an extremely easy thing to do these days. Point and shoots do it amazingly well. And the new pro cameras are simply awesome. Throw in a flash and a modicum understanding of light and ‘voila’ - a photograph."

2 comments:

bmillios said...

Good thoughts, Don!

I think this is also tied to "are you taking a picture, or making a picture?"

Even what looks like a candid shot of Briana on the beach is a "made" picture, in that you approached it with the end in mind, rather than merely pushing a button and hoping to get a "keeper".

-Jennifer Harvey said...

Don, I'm glad it's not easy to make pictures, if it were we would be out of a carear! You do make it look easy though.