The Amazing Notion of Photography

This is for the point and shooters out there. Whether you’re wondering why your pictures don’t look like the pros’, what big cameras are all about, or just have nothing to do but read a photographer’s blog, you’ll find something of interest here.

The dichotomy of P&S photographers and pros is kind of comical. On one hand you have people who are hungry for as much automation as they can get, with intelligent scene modes where the camera chooses the best settings for what it thinks the scene is about, eliminating all thinking from photography. On the other hand, you have pros who want the equipment to take as little control as possible.

It’s amazing, but yes, we actually do want to take full control over photography and not leave a single thing up to the camera. What a notion.

Control is what it’s about. See, professionals are a different breed. We’ve been shooting for many years. We’ve seen the great shots. We’ve seen the bad ones. We’ve studied and practiced the fundamentals of photography. We understand the limitations of equipment and the importance of creativity. We know that better in equals better out. We use this to craft images, and that means telling the camera what to do, not the other way around.

So, while consumers are snapping up the easiest-to-use cameras with the most do-it-for-me features, pros cringe at the thought of a camera making creative and technical decisions. This is because the technical aspect of photography is generally not much of a mystery to pros. We encounter technical challenges, but it’s not often that the technical aspect of recording an image is mysterious. We know how to get perfect creative exposure. We also want control over that exposure. I don’t want the camera telling me what ISO is best. I tell the camera what ISO I want, and then I craft an image with aperture and shutter speed.

But it’s about more than technicals. That only serves the vision in my head. I want to communicate not only what I see but what I feel, and that involves control over composition, color, exposure, contrast and post processing. I don’t want the camera making those decisions. I want to capture the most faithful negative possible and then process it to produce a finished work.

Camera manufacturers make consumer P&S cameras for financial reasons. They appeal to a large number of people and the idea is to make photography more accessible. This isn’t entirely new. There have been consumer and pro classes of cameras for decades. What pros want is a DSLR body because it puts control in the hands of the photographer — lots of control.

So, perhaps this opens your eyes to why pros care about big gear and why they’re not fascinated with the latest advancements in consumer cameras. It’s neat stuff, and it does its job for the most part, but it’s just not what we need to create great images. Interestingly, most of the time I fumble around if someone asks me to take a picture with a pocket cam. My life is spent using a camera layout and control system that hasn’t changed much since the ’80s. It’s consistent, and it’s an extension of my brain. So when someone hands me a different brand or a pocket camera that does all the thinking for me, it takes me a few more seconds to figure out how it works because it’s nothing like a pro SLR system.

Just something to think about next time you wonder why pros have such big gear.