Monday, October 10, 2005

It's not just the camera



I get a lot of questions from people asking about my camera. This leads me to believe that people assume the camera just produces these nice photos by itself. The camera is only a fraction of the photography process. First of all, it's what you do with the camera. There is the composition, then there is the white-blance decision, and focusing, etc. Even with auto-focus, I need to make sure that the camera is focusing where I want it to. I consider the file I get from the camera to be like raw material for the final photo. I take 90 percent of my photos into Photoshop and tweak the cropping, contrast, color, etc., before publishing. The photo you end up seeing is the product of an extended creative process. It's not just the camera.

4 comments:

stacey abshire said...

I love to tweak my shots.. rarely, if ever do they stand on their own. I almost always do some tweaking, even if it is only a simple color-balance tweak.

Kim said...

I always knew it wasn't just the camera. I couldn't shoot the side of a barn with the most expensive camera on the market. You either got it or ya don't. I don't. You most definitely do! : D

Geekwif said...

It's nice to know that even the pros do a little tweaking. I've just got a cheesy little Canon A70 digital camera and I'm definitely not an expert photographer. I've always felt guilty for fixing up the contrast a bit in Photoshop, but now my guilt has been relieved. Thanks! :)

Unknown said...

Photographers have always tweaked their results. It's easier now with digital and programs like Photoshop, but printing a picture in a darkroom, you can adjust brightness, contrast, cropping, do some dodging and burning, etc.

So tweak away guilt-free, geekwif :-)