More than the Camera

Song and photograph of the week will be posted later this evening :) I had this one done before going to my nanny job today! Enjoy!

I, along with countless photographers get comments along the lines of " you camera takes good/amazing/great photos!" It got me thinking, 'maybe my clients/ potential clients don't know what I do?' Just to warn you this is a topic I have a strong opinion about, and am not afraid to say so. I just want people to understand all the thought and work that goes into what I do :)

If you don't want to read all of this, at least scroll down to the before and after images :)

Too many people nowadays view photography as just clicking one button on your phones/cameras. For me, I view that as composing, not photography necessarily. People that have their phone/camera doing all the work (having it in auto mode) are just composing shots. Which can look really nice, don't get me wrong. But they are only framing the picture, they aren't thinking about exposure/shutter speed/where to meter, ISO, white balance, framing the subjects, where the light is coming from, and focusing/where to focus, all in addition to either giving people directions or dancing around a family tickling their kids.

Photography to me is thinking for your camera AND what you do out of camera (post processing/editing). Having taken a black and white film photography class has given me more understanding of my camera and other overlooked aspects of photography. The digital age has changed people's view of photography. For a lot of people, it has devalued photography, because they think anyone can do it. They are probably right. But as with any career/hobby/profession, anyone could do it with the right amount of schooling/training.

With people's definition of photography being only clicking one button, and letting your phone/camera do all the work, yes, anyone can stand there and do that. Anyone can frame an image and click a button. But not everyone will take the time to learn how to really use their camera, or how to post process/edit their photos, and make a style their own. That is the great thing about art, no one will have the exact same style (shooting or editing). Real art I think, is making something your own.

During my two photography (black and white film, and digital color photography) classes I have taken, I have learned how to shoot in full manual. I tell my camera exactly what to do, the only 2 things I let it control are White Balance (occasionally if the lighting is weird) and focus (unless I'm using a couple older lenses). Other than that...the list I stated above in the second paragraph are all the things I control! I love it. It has taken me a few years of shooting auto, aperture priority, and shutter priority to get to where I am today. Shooting in manual is so great!

One thing I really try to do is get things right in camera. I have a very natural style, I like to get things how I want it by using my camera. And as an artist I have the freedom to change images in post processing/editing if I had a vision for them, and couldn't get it how I wanted in camera. Now, cameras don't always get everything right, which is where I do some corrections. I correct the colors/white balance, highlights (blown out areas if there are any from too bright of sun), contrast, and some sharpening. After that, I edit in Photoshop to make them look how I want.

Just wanted to bring to light that my camera doesn't control how my images look, I do! Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Below you will find some Before and After images from Sydney's session (which will be up here soon!). The before images are straight out of camera (SOOC) and the after images are after full editing.

And I converted it to black and white. Which in Photoshop, looks more silvery grey, whereas uploaded on here it looks a little brown? I have no idea why though. Sorry if that happens to you!