It's The Camera That Makes The Difference....

OK, finally let's get back to this:)! If you aren't aware of this, I also do web design...thus McKee Photography & Web Design. I've been working on a custom site for a client...sigh.....I have a love hate relationship with web design. Some days I can't stand it while other days I love it (typically those days happen when everything is working the way it's suppose to:)! Either way, photography has always been a passion & true love for me so back to that!!!

It's the camera, not the photographer!
So, let's address this issue. Camera manufacturers market their cameras making people believe that technology has been able to replace the need for a professional. They don't say that in those exact words but I think that many people get that impression. I bolded the word market above for a reason. What is marketing? Let's look at the definition (I have a method to my madness...hang in there):

Marketing: is a societal process that is needed to discern consumers' wants; focusing on a product/service to those wants, and to mould the consumers towards the products/services. Marketing is fundamental to any businesses growth. The marketing teams (Marketers) have the task to create the consumer awareness of the products/services through marketing techniques; unless it pays due attention to its products/services and consumers' demographics and desires, a business will not usually prosper long-term. (Wikipedia)

So what do most people want from a camera? Something easy to use that takes great pictures...right? That's it in a nutshell. So you take that desire and market the camera towards the consumers wants thus you get "With a Nikon in your hand, anyone can take great pictures." How true is that? Is Nikon really saying that technology is replacing the need for a professional? Hmmm.....the term marketing....see what's bolded up top in that definition. Marketing in a nutshell is showing consumers how their product can meet their needs & wants. People have always wanted a way to take great pictures without having to study all the technical aspects of photography. Without having to know what the heck an f-stop is! With today's technology, does knowing how to shoot manual mean anything anymore?

Sorry, but technology has not and probably never will be able to replace the photographer's skill. I met with a great family the other day (wedding consult) who are into photography. The bride's mother told me about a survey that showed most "professionals" don't shoot in manual mode anymore. I find that very disturbing and is one reason why when people are looking to hire a photographer to document their wedding, the photographer not shooting in manual can create some issues. Take a wedding I did in November....technically speaking very difficult due to the lighting scenario. Shooting in any of the programmed modes would've resulted in some pretty icky images & not a happy bride! But I want to illustrate my point. I don't shoot in any programmed modes but I will just for you:)! Now these pictures will lack all creative stuff since I'm just taking quick snap shots to illustrate the difference between programmed & manual:)! I'm going to use my puppy (yes, he's my puppy...just a big puppy). His name is Buddy & since he is mostly black he will illustrate my point very well!! The only thing I will do to these pictures is resize them...taken on my Canon 40D by the way. I won't do anything else to the pics!

The first picture was taken on the portrait programmed mode as a JPG since that's what most people take them as. That flash popping up scared me to death:)! I don't use that flash!!! Results below & yes, I cringed!!


And now mine, shot in RAW (that's what I shoot in), manual settings. I used that pop up flash just to make it a little more fair but adjusted the settings & I don't think Buddy liked the flash either!!!


Hmm...see the difference? Let's make this easier....put the images together for you!


First thing that just jumps at me...the white balance wasn't right which caused the couch to have a reddish/magenta hue along with Buddy & you see that in his beige color. Also, it's over-exposed...it has that flashed look to it...we also see the beginnings of red eye. Just in general icky....so now why? Why didn't that programmed mode in portrait setting produce a properly exposed image??

First, one must understand the digital metering. It sees dark colors as being shadow for a lack of a better word (yes, I know....I could get into some other reasons but I just want to keep this simple). It sees whites/light toned colors as bright light. So, if you have a subject, like Buddy, where the scene is taken up by alot of dark tones, the camera isn't going to read the light correctly and over-expose the image. I know this and over the years know how to compensate for it. I also know how to manipulate the camera's settings. Interesting to note on the exposure settings of Buddy's picture:
Programmed Mode: Shutter: 1/60th of a second, Aperture: F5, ISO: 400
Manual Mode: Shutter: 1/60th of a second, Aperture: 4.6, ISO: 1600
Now, I adjusted that flash's power to not shoot off so strong (-1 for those who know)...why it doesn't look flashed. The programmed mode allowed the flash to compensate for the dimly lit scene and also had it fire off too strong since it thought Buddy was a shadow!! Now the color is off because of the white balance. I had it set at the adjusted white balance which is what most people use. This setting, the camera guesses what the white balance is. I don't guess, I know....the color in the second picture where Buddy is hiding is correct....that's the color of my couch.

Now, depending on your monitor...you may see the colors different or even see the brightness of the image different. This creates the other issue that people have....the picture looked one way on the monitor but when it printed it didn't look right. Professionals always calibrate their monitors!!! This way, when they do editing, what they are seeing on the monitor is how it will actually print:)!

I think those pictures proved my point between programmed modes & manual. It's not just the camera...there is skill behind photography. Much of this skill comes from experience & education! I'm going to close with this statement: For the amateur photographer, the CAMERA can improve his/her pictures due to the CAMERA'S better reading of the scene AND the IMAGE can be limited by the PHOTOGRAPHER'S ABILITY AND CAMERA. For the professional, the PHOTOGRAPHER can improve his/her pictures due to THEIR understanding of the scene AND the resulting IMAGE can be limited by the CAMERA!

Until next time, God Bless!

IT SNOWED!!!

I'm so pathetic....you would think growing up in Wisconsin that I wouldn't get so excited about the snow that fell yestarday but what can I say!!!

IT SNOWED!!!



I'll continue with what I started the other day here in the next couple days!!!

It's the camera that makes the difference, not the photographer.

It's the camera that makes the difference, not the photographer.

On my last post I cited Nikon's tag line "Anyone can take amazing digital pictures with a Nikon in their hand". Another photographer was quoted "The camera has nothing to do with the outcome & great photography lies in the skill of the photographer." So which is it? The camera or the photographer?

I believe years ago, back before the digital era this question was simple, the photographer made the difference. In this new digital era, camera manufacturers will tell you that with the technology today anyone can take a great picture but how true is that? But like any tool, if you don't know how to use it properly nothing else matters. For example, give me a canvas & oil paints, simple directions, & have me paint a mountain scene. I might do a half way decent job but it won't compare to that of someone who does this for a living who has the true skill & talent to do it. You can give me the most expensive brushes & the best paint & the best canvas but it won't change the outcome. With practice, I might get a little better but it still won't compare to that of a professional artist. The professional artist will know how to use the oil paints and different techniques that I simply don't have a clue about.

Let's look at another comparison, web design. Technology has made it easier than ever to create your own web site. Many companies help make it easier to design personal pages etc. Let's say you have Dreamweaver, a web design software. You study it a bit & can design a basic site. Will the person who has the education/experience be able to design the site better? Of course. Why? They know how to use the software.

Photography is no different than any other art or skill. I can give someone my equipment and tell them to go take pictures. Give them instructions on how to use the equipment & I guarantee you that the results might be OK but it won't compare to what I can do. A wedding I did back in November the formal portraits were being accomplished outside under an overcast sky. Easy shooting conditions for me and of course there were people all around taking pictures of the formal portraits I was doing. When I went to drop off the couple's CD of images she was showing me these pictures. To be completely honest, I thought the pictures that everyone else was taking will look just as good as mine since some of them had really nice cameras & we weren't in tricky lighting conditions, right? WRONG!! The bride was just amazed at how much better my images were than all the others! Why? Because I know how to use my equipment.

This concept is very simple, the tool is only as good as the person holding the tool. But the artist is only as good as their tools. You give me a crappy digital camera & I will make the best possible pictures with the limitations of the equipment. Will my pictures look better still on that camera than the Uncle Sam? Probably. Any photographer will tell you, equipment selection, especially in this digital era, is extremely important. One reason why when you see me at a wedding, I have at least $3,000 worth of equipment hanging around my neck & I'm looking to upgrade my system to have even more than that!! Some photographers will easily have $10,000 to $15,000 worth of equipment around their necks to photograph a wedding. Hard to believe? No, not when you look at some camera bodies cost $5,000 & then you need to spend at least $1,500 for a lens! One may say that you don't need to spend that much and the cheaper DSLR's are just as good. Well, let's take a look. The below images come from a site I referance frequently when making equipment purchases. It's called Digital Photography Review and you can access it by going to www.dpreview.com. Now one must remember, the below pictures are ones taken by a professional photographer

The first image is actually the general layout of their testing:


Art is not dead in photography!!! Let's not forget that not only do you hire a photographer for their skill but for their artistry as well. This digital era has seemed to take the artistry out of photography but to those who are skilled it actually added a whole new dimension to it. Take the artist again, they make their money not only because of their skill but also because of their vision. Photography is no different. It has changed over the years but it is still no different than the artist. Not only are you looking at the artistry in composing the image & creating dramatic lighting but in the digital rendition of the image afterwards. It all starts with a picture that even if nothing else was done to it, it would still be a beautiful picture.

Why hire a professional photographer?

I know I'm not the first photographer to address this and certainly won't be the last. Many photographers have addressed education & the thousands of dollars spent on equipment. These are very valid points and much of what I'm going to talk about does come from my education as well as experience but let's look beyond this. Over the next couple days, I'm going to address 3 key areas:

1) Why hire a professional photographer?
2) Its the camera that makes the difference.
3) Why use a professional printer?

Why hire a professional photographer?
So what is the difference between a professional & Uncle Sam who has an expensive camera? You hire a professional photographer so that you can have beautiful images. That's it in a nutshell right? But sometimes, Uncle Sam captures some really great images! First, I recognize that everyone can take a great picture every now and again & today's technology helps that. But the real question becomes, do they know why it looked so great that time & can they do it again? A professional captures beautiful images every time. With weddings, the question is do you want to chance that Uncle Sam might capture the important moments during the wedding? Or do you want to rely on a professional that has captured these important moments for other couples & will capture those moments for you?

I'm sure it has happened to every reader out there that they took a picture and it looked so awesome but when they tried to do it again, they couldn't do it! A professional knows why a picture looked so awesome AND they know how to do it again! In a formal portrait setting, this means the photographer understands composition & lighting. There are several rules of composition that all professional photographers know...Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines,etc. They also are trained in posing techniques that can help reduce the appearance of certain things the subject does not like about their body. For example, say you are like me and have huge thighs (yes, I admit it) & you are taking a picture sitting in a chair. There is a certain posing technique that will help in diminishing the size of my thighs. Professionals know this....Uncle Sam more than likely not.

Outside of posing/composition, lighting is critical to photography. A professional understands how lighting affects the final picture & this extends way beyond the studio session. The studio is the easiest place for a photographer to take pictures. Why? The lighting is in the photographer's control. In studio, I create the ideal lighting situation along with artistic lighting. Not only can posing help hide those imperfections, lighting also has a big impact. Take a headshot for example. Let's say your face is naturally wide & it's something that has always bugged you. How I light that person's face can either accentuate the wideness of his/her face or we can actually give the appearance of a face that isn't as wide. Uncle Sam probably isn't familiar with how to do that!

When a professional photographs a wedding, for a majority of the time they are in an uncontrolled lighting environment & actually most people take pictures this way. When taking pictures outside the studio whether in a church or outside in a park at high noon (a time all professionals hate on a sunny day), I know what to do to help the current lighting situation so that you have great pictures! A professional controls his/her camera to create a beautiful image. Non-professionals allow the camera to control the situation and create the image. This leads me to my final difference.

Finally, the main difference between Uncle Sam & a professional is that most professionals shoot in manual mode. Hmmmm....what's manual mode? I control the F-stop/aperature, shutter speed, & ISO settings to provide the best image I can in the lighting situation I find myself in!! This is the key reason why Uncle Sam can sometimes take a great picture & then in other situations, can't! I understand how lighting will affect the final image. I know when to use flash or bounce flash & how to do this in situations where the camera in one of those lovely programmed modes won't! F-stop/aperature can be used to create lovely images with a real depth to it. Hmmmm.....what do I mean by that and what the heck is an f-stop? All lenses have a "diaphragm" that lets light into the camera & exposes the digital sensor (or the film if you have that). Depending on how wide this "diaphragm" is will control how much of the image appears in focus!

Some non-professionals know this which is one reason why they sometimes use the aperature priority mode on their DSLR. But what happens when you shoot in aperature priority mode is the camera will set the other settings (shutter speed & ISO) to properly expose the image according to its internal reading. So? Well many times 3things will happen. First, the shutter speed will drop so low that the people moving in the picture will create a blurry image. Or you may have a nice hot shoe flash that will then fire off so strongly that even though there is no wall behind the person, there will be this big ugly shadow behind them and I absolutely can't stand seeing that (it's my biggest pet peeve...I would rather see red eye since that can be fixed). The second thing that many times occur with slower shutter speeds (and digital cameras are much more sensitive to this than the film cameras were), the person taking the picture is moving ever so slightly which will create a blurry image. Finally, if the shutter speed is slow enough, the simple motion of the mirror moving out of the way to expose the sensor can create a blurry image. The professional knows how to control all the camera settings to achieve beautiful images & to create special effects like dragging the shutter.

This actually leads me into the next topic. Nikon has a lovely commercial out there about how they gave a community a camera & they all took great pictures. Their tag line is "Anyone can take amazing digital pictures with a Nikon in their hand". Another photographer I know insists that the camera has nothing to do with the outcome & that great photography lies in the skill of the person holding the camera. So, which is it? Is it the camera? Or is it the photographer? We will talk about this tomorrow!

Feel free to post to this; I would love to hear your thoughts!

God bless!

Thought for the week: Imagine.....

This thought has occurred to me before & after the heart wrenching events in Africa, it's a question or thought coming up again.

What if everyone in the world, even if they don't believe in Jesus, practiced what he tought....love your enemies as your own or treat others the way you want to be treated. OK, so it's not an exact quote and no I couldn't reference the bible verses this teaching comes from. If you have read my first post, I'm not that familiar with bible verses but I'm at least familiar with the teachings....

But what if we could all do that? What if we could all treat others the way we want to be treated? It is actually one of the simplest teachings of Jesus but seems to be the most difficult to do!! Imagine how simpler life would be! Imagine how safe our children would be! Imagine the world all living together in harmony with no regard to religious differences/beliefs, skin color, race, gender...etc!

To love your enemy..hmmm....last year my now 8 year old daughter was having issues with a bully at school. I told her to "kill her with kindness" also stating that if you show it's not bothering you, they'll stop picking on you. Well, needless to say..they are now friends! Now if we as adults could all do this, the world would be a much better place!

My prayers go out to those impacted by the tragedy in Nairobi, Kenya. I also pray for the healing of the hearts and souls of those left behind to carry on. They are not alone!