PRotography EU's photostream

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The words below are not mine but mirror my own thoughts perfectly.

Stolen from - www.flickr.com/people/billy_wilson/


I wouldn't say that I have a particular style that is very distinctive or unique compared to other people but I thought that it would be worth mentioning what I believe in concerning photography. I believe that a camera is the easiest way to get a fairly close representation of reality captured. Reality happens to be a very subjective matter, what you beleive will be different in some way from what I beleive. A camera DOES NOT capture reality in absolute truth, it is mearly a representation of some aspects of a moment in time, it is up to the photographer to decide what they want the reality of that moment to be, whether that means staging a shoot to capture an emotion or editing an image. The image that a photographer produces can be as subjective as the mind of the photographer.

I don't believe in what people call "SOOC" or "Straight Out of Camera", for a few reasons. First, a lens cannot capture a scene with complete accuracy, there is no such thing as a perfect lens, MTF charts that assess lens performance can show you that. Second, if you aren't using a lens that produces a natural perspective on the format you are using, then the lens itself is distorting reality, for example, does anyone's eyes see like an 800mm telephoto lens or a 15mm fisheye lens? Third, there isn't any medium that will perfectly record what a lens produces even if we had a "perfect lens". For example, many people who enjoy SOOC use Xpro film and cross processing, how can this be looked at as a natural representation of reality. Fourth, you can rearrange props around your subject, then why can't you rearrange them in Photoshop? I beleive that since there is no such thing as a camera that captures reality 100%, it is up to the photographer to decide what to enthasize and focus on. For example, can your eyes adjust their aperture to affect depth of focus? No, but they do adjust to let in more or less light, many people who say their image is SOOC might have used large apertures relative to their format that can render the background more blurry. Hence, because of the fact that a camera and lens can and do distort reality, I beleive that the photographer should be allowed to choise his or her reality whether it be by opening the aperture or adding gaussian blur in Photoshop. To me it is the final image that matters the most and it is up to the creator how they are going to achieve the results that they want.

I believe that a great photograph is one that has been thought through durning all stages of the photo taking experience. You have to first have a concept, know how everything is going to look, and be able to edit the image to perfection. I believe in quality over quantity with my images and I try to push the limits of what people think a photo can be or show. I want to create images that are perfect, that show a tonal and dynamic range as good as or even better than your eye and are extreamly detailed. I want to create images that will make people look at them again and again, an image that you can become obsessed with. I want to create images that show techniques perfectly mastered and applied to create stunning images.

I come from a science background and I have been taught to always provide a record of the methods that I have done and the materials that I have used to reach my final product. I like to throw this over into the photography world as well, in many of my images I include a step by step guide that should allow anyone who understands the terms that I use, to recreate the exact same image as I did. Some people use this as a learning resource and I have been complimented for it. I believe that photography is for everyone and anyone should be shown how to create a specific image.