Frustating People

[Frazzled LaShawn]

OK, I am relatively new to the world of photography...OK, VERY new. Anyway...once I bought my first SLR in Feb. I got hooked. I have had a blog for gosh, 5 years or so, and have been posting a lot of my pictures there. People who have known me for a long time or read my blog for a long time are noticing a difference in my pictures lately. *I* know that it is mostly due to me studying and starting to learn how to actually take a decent picture. Apparently this isn't obvious to most. I have now been asked 300 times what kind of camera I use. While I get that, I am really frustrated with people automatically assuming it is only the camera and has nothing to do with the person pushing the freaking button. I know I am no pro, but I am improving. I guess I should take it as a compliment that it is noticeable from the pictures I used to post. OK...end rant. Sorry. :

[CaptainTom]

welcome to the world of photography. it happens to all of us.

to paraphrase something I've read on this forum.

" Just because you have a nice stove doesn't make you a great chef ! "

[HeatherLou]

I think the reason they ask that question is this....most people think taking a pic is easy, all you do is press a button??Right?? However, they notice that there pics don't look like anything they see you do, so they think, (since photography is so easy) that it must be the camera :) People just don't realize how much work it takes to take one photo.

[Howard Barlow]

Hemingway must have had one hell of a typewriter.

[mdparthum]

IMO I think we as photographers ask what the other is using out of 1)wanting to know what the other person is using, 2)hoping that they have the same camera so they can get the same quality shots, and 3)just for conversation. I don't think they mean any disrespect! Or maybe they do but I hope not.

[Howard Barlow]

"...hoping that they have the same camera so they can get the same quality shots... Ahem.... Sorry about that.


A lady we travel with bought the same p&s Nikon as I had. "Here, set mine just like yours." I did.

"I just don't understand it. I have the same camera as you, the settings are all the same, but I just don't get the results you get."

At first, I thought she was kidding. But, after each download session, and looking at mine, she would make the same lament. Finally, I said, " I hate to say it, but you're not going to get what I get."

"Why? Is there something wrong with my camera?"

I asked her, "Do you play the piano?"

"No."

"So, if you sat at a Steinway grand, could you play it? I mean, after all, it's one of the finest instruments in the world."

"Well, no."

"It ain't the arrow, it's the Indian. I've spent 30 years making a profession of this."

"Well, I've been taking pictures for years, too."

When I added an XTi, she bought one. Same song, second verse. One day, she complained that there was something wrong with the Tamron 28-200 lens she bought for it. "Here, you can have it. I can't get it to focus any more, so I ordered a new lens."

I asked, "Do you see this M and A? That means manual, or auto focus. You had it set to M. You have to manually focus it there, the camera only does it on A."

"Well, I don't want to fool with that, so, you keep it, the other one is on the way."

[mdparthum]

Originally Posted by Howard Barlow

"...hoping that they have the same camera so they can get the same quality shots...Attachment 73539 Ahem.... Sorry about that.
Attachment 73538

Like I said..."hoping".

[Double H]

Those same questions happen in every field. If you are a great guitarist, the question is "What kind of guitar do you play?". If you are a great fisherman, the question is "What kind of rod and reel do you use?" Marketing folks love it because they want everyone to buy the same "expensive" stuff the pros use, whether the buyer knows how to use it or not. Most amateurs often fail to realize that those of us in the profession can make some of the most mundane equipment sing and dance pretty good because we actually know what we are doing!!!

My $0.02 worth (i.e., my rant for the day)

RM

[newtune3]

I agree in principal with the whole equipment thing except.... A Steinway does sound great and lets a pianist shine. That is not to say that a pianist can make a cheap piano sound good, but play the Steinway and well. The same with any quality instrument. Nothing can substitute for talent and and artistic eye. Yet IMHO a DSLR in an artist's hands might produce much higher IQ than a point and shoot. I have shot for 35 years plus and still don't have the eye of most of the photogs here. Yet i would rather play the songs I know on a nice instrument. Just my thoughts no offense intended.

[alamoshutterbug]

About a year ago my sister decided she wanted to take pictures. She called me up and asked what kind of camera to buy and I suggested a good point and shoot, telling her that the dSLR would take better pictures only after knowing how to use it with some common photographic knowledge. I know my sister well, and took her for a program mode user. She didn't bite and got an XTI. Sho'nuff, every time I visit I look and see a green square guiding her way.

So last Christmas I visited her and her family, I had recently bought an XTI, same as hers, and offered to tweak her settings and show her some stuff; really basic stuff, turning the beeps off, showing her how to program for color and such, opting to have the camera not work without a memory card, etc. Well she calls me up after a few days livid. "you broke my camera". "What did you do?" So I talk to her about it and listen. Before long I pin her problem down, she had accidentally turned the diopter control wheel, making the viewfinder blurry for her. Easy fix, but at the time of our talk she was getting dressed to take it down and return it (and she's not good with retail workers). I told her that was one reason she needed a simpler camera.

That same visit she was also using her new 580exII, full on, no diffuser. Now I would try to teach her differently, but she would just blame all her bad shots on my advice.

So she has $1000 dollars of equipment total, camera operating in full auto, just a kit lens, with one hell of a nice flash being used as a glorified pop-up flash. That is one expensive point and shoot.

[Damon]

The same thing is happening to me right now, but I think in my case it's true. It is the camera.

For years I was using a Sony Cybershot P&S, and just recently bought my first SLR.

Them: "The depth of field in this image is great."

Me: "I know!!"

[CaptainTom]

I have mixed emotions about the role that equipment plays in photography.
If someone offered to give me a bottom line DSLR or a top of the line DSLR there would be no question I'd opt for the top of the line. But, I am a fairly accomplished trumpet player and people do not care what make or model trumpet I have. Once in a while another trumpet player will ask, but it's usually because my trumpet has a little different look from others. Whether someone shoots a Nikon or a Canon or an Olympus really has no bearing on if I like their images or not. If you get out and meet other photographers you'll see lots of brand loyalty and even snobbery. Just be happy with your own skills, and don't be concerned with the equipment question.
Brand recogniton is important to the manufacturers. You'll never see a concert Steinway / Yamah / Baldwin without the name plastered all over the side.

[Frazzled LaShawn]

I agree...the equipment can certainly takes a photographers ability to another level. BUT, there has to be an artistic eye and some know how there to begin with. I was a musician for many years as well and was never asked what brand of flute I played (and I promise I didn't totally suck ). I do agree with Heather. People think taking a picture is easy. Boy have I learned that a good one takes more than pushing a button.

[Damon]

I think having a P&S for so many years helped me a lot. With very little zoom and NO depth of field, I really had to work to get a good shot. Composition was never a problem, but getting a foreground object to pop from the background could get tricky.

Only did I realize when I got my DSLR that I had soooo much to learn. All of a sudden it wasn't about just pointing and clicking anymore!

[PhotosbyHollyWood]

I have a few friends that are going out and BUYING "bigger" and "better" cameras cause they are seeing my pics...lol

I can't bring my self to tell them it is all in the shooter... not the camera and that the PP has something to do with it as well!!!

I had one the other day ask me what MP mine was I told her 8 she cam back and says so my camera is technically better than yours huh cause' it is a 10 MP (cannon P & S) I told her not nessisaryly it means you have BIGGER pics than I do!! lol