15 Truths about Photography
by Miserere
- All camera brands build great cameras.
- All camera brands build crap cameras.
- A good photographer will take great pictures with a crappy camera. A bad photographer won’t take a good picture with any camera.
- Film is just as good as digital. It’s also just as bad.
- Expensive lenses don’t take better pictures than cheap ones, they simply let you take pictures in some circumstances where a cheap lens wouldn’t.
- Most cheap lenses are better than you are a photographer.
- Don’t buy a new camera until you’ve hit all its limitations and have found your photography restricted by them for at least 3 months. Do this, and you may never have to buy another camera ever again.
- The grass is always sharper and its green channel displays increased tonal range on the other side of the fence. (Meaning: Everybody else’s pictures will always look better than yours, and everybody else’s camera will always seem better than yours.)
- There is no such thing as a photograph that isn’t postprocessed.
- You can tell how good a photographer is by the size of his waste-paper basket (or recycle bin).
- Most of your pictures suck. So do everyone else’s.
- If somebody tells you that their camera is fantastic and every picture comes out perfect, they’re lying (see Truth #11).
- When you improve/upgrade your camera and lens system by 500%, your photographs increase in artistic quality by approximately 0%.
- The more you complain about your camera system, the worse your photos are.
- The artistic and technical quality of your latest photo is directly proportional to the number of activations on your shutter.
You might not agree with all or any of these, but they are my truths and they serve me well.
Now tell me, what are your truths?
You might also want to check out 15 Lies about Photography.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 06:20
Couldn’t agree more!
#6 is so painfully true.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 07:09
I agree with Dan, although I have also found an additional truth which can be numbered as 14b.
“The more you boast about your camera system, the worse your photos are.”
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 07:41
Hehe, you are just making me to re-evaluate my own photography attitude. Too much lens measurebation lately.
Great that you are always reminding me how lost I had been lately…
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 10:24
nicely said!
This needs to become a mantra!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 10:35
So true! Should be a motivational poster!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 11:04
12: …or have lower standards than you do.
5: (from an artistic standpoint?) From a technical standpoint some differences are potentially visible but usually don’t matter much — see #6. I think I understand the spirit of the point, anyway.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 11:24
Wow, I thought the the other list was great, but this one may have topped that one. You also affirmed to me that I made a good choice yesterday evening. I was about to buy the new Sigma 120-400 lens when I decided it would not give me better pictures than what I already have. The biggest problem I have is not equipment, but the fellow behind the view finder.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 12:05
Thanks for the article. Maybe I can finally curb my LBA =)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 15:05
[…] truths about photography Original source; 15 Truths about Photography � Enticing the Light lets start adding to it! […]
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 18:54
Great
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 21:17
Well put !
The camera and lense are not the photographer !
Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 01:28
Amen! I don’t think I would correct one single one.
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 19:32
[…] the 15 truths here…….. posted by sen at 10:32 am […]
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 23:05
[…] 15 Truths about Photography « Enticing the Light. […]
Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 13:30
[…] I was reading around this morning on some of my usual haunts and found a funny list of Photography Truths on another WordPress blog. […]
Monday, February 9, 2009 at 08:49
certainly
Friday, February 13, 2009 at 09:33
[…] this list of “15 Truths About Photography” which were created by the author of the “Enticing the Light” blog. He says these are HIS TRUTHS, so what are YOUR […]
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 05:16
[…] andet de femten sandheder om fotografering – som du ikke vil læse hvis du er gadget-freak Tags:fotosites Kategori: Foto […]
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 15:55
Weelllll, I had an 80% rejection from Dreamstime for my first test submission, where the reason was specifically the sensor and lens quality of the Kodak Z612 (the other 20% are things I can learn from). So I recently got a K200d. I still take better pics with the z612, because I have to continue to learn this beast that isn’t anything like the Kodak OR like a fil slr.
So there -is- a reality to issues with sensor size and lens quality, not necessarily at the level of 8x10s, but in terms of sales.
Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 11:49
Hmm, but yaymicro is accepting those same captures from that camera. Interesting.
Still, I would say that the 15 list is absolutely true, except that you -can- run into IQ limitations having to do with artifacts such as CA and noise that will limit commercial value of your images, and you may find yourself over time, running into not being able to take the pictures you want due to lack of frame speed, low ISO noise, lack of reach in your lenses, and so forth NONE OF WHICH has ANYTHING to do with artistic quality and composition. At the level of a snapshot print, a 3 megapixel camera is more than sufficient, and unless it is poorly-made from poor components, the only variable is in the photographer.
Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 00:41
This is a very valuable reading for those of us struggling to get better with our photography–THANK YOU!
Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 01:08
[…] Forrás […]
Monday, April 13, 2009 at 16:22
now then have to say you have a point with most of these, part from some high quality lenses do hold sway over cheap lenses in any condition, and not everyones pictures suck (though we all have them)
rich
Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 21:05
i dont get number 10 can someone explain it to me?
Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 21:50
Hi Miriness,
#10 refers to the ability of good photographers to self-criticise. If you throw many photo files away (delete them) because you don’t consider them good enough, then you are reserving the best to show the World. The more critical you are with your work, the better the undeleted files will become over time.
Does this make sense? 🙂
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 19:49
My True? I love what you wrote..