{"id":817,"date":"2010-07-25T14:32:03","date_gmt":"2010-07-25T20:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/?p=817"},"modified":"2010-11-16T12:52:07","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T18:52:07","slug":"so-much-more-than-a-fancy-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/2010\/07\/so-much-more-than-a-fancy-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"“Your Camera Takes Really Nice Pictures” [Delaware Wedding and Portrait Photographer]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine that you’re baking dessert for a party.\u00a0 It’s your special recipe: the one everyone asks for.\u00a0 You make it from scratch, of course, never looking at the recipe that you committed to memory so long ago.\u00a0 Sugar, beaten eggs, sift in the flour…\u00a0 you’re crafting something delicious from basic elements.\u00a0 Now you’re at the party and everyone is gushing about your dessert.\u00a0 The flavor!\u00a0 The texture!\u00a0 But most of all you’re being asked, \u201cwhat kind of oven do you have?\u00a0 It makes great cakes!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty much how a photographer feels when people look at their photos and say, \u201cyour camera takes great pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course it’s not the camera that takes great photos, any more than it’s the oven that makes a great dessert.\u00a0 Ovens and cameras are just tools that make our jobs easier.\u00a0 Yes, better equipment does make a difference.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t spend thousands of dollars on cameras and lenses if it didn\u2019t. \u00a0However, you must understand the camera to take advantage of all it can offer. \u00a0Just because you’re using a professional camera does not mean you are producing professional images.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about what you know: the technicalities of photography.\u00a0 You have to determine just the right type and direction of light, position your models to take advantage of that light and create a pleasing composition, utilize the correct camera settings (aperture, ISO, etc.) and work with your models to make them feel comfortable.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the first half!\u00a0 After the photo shoot there is still post-processing to be done.<\/p>\n

I decided to do a little experiment. \u00a0I used my friend’s daughter as my model and brought my brother with me for a mini session. \u00a0Not at a garden or the beach, but at Houlihan\u2019s Restaurant situated right in the middle of the mall parking lot.\u00a0 (I figured a little challenge never hurt anyone.) \u00a0 I set my camera to auto (well, technically it’s program mode — but it’s the closest my camera comes to auto), handed it over to my brother and sent him off with my model for 10 minutes to see what he could do.\u00a0\u00a0 When they came back, it was my turn (using my camera on manual, of course). \u00a0Same camera, same location, same model. \u00a0The only difference was the person using the camera.<\/p>\n

I was anxious to get home and look through them. \u00a0These are all straight out of the camera, with no processing.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that there wasn\u2019t a whole lot of thought put into the first set; my brother pretty much stuck the poor girl in front of different trees and snapped away.\u00a0 The exposure isn\u2019t perfect, the color is off in some and the composition is boring.<\/p>\n

Non-professional using a professional camera:\"\"<\/a>Professional using a professional camera:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And just because your session is over, that doesn\u2019t mean the photographer’s work is. \u00a0Far from it, actually.\u00a0 I carefully go through each image and select the very best.\u00a0 From there, I process each one carefully.\u00a0 Sharpening, smoothing, dodging, burning, cloning, layering… you name it!\u00a0 Most of the images from this session look pretty good right out of the camera, but you can see how just a little processing gives them a bit more “oomph”. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even turning a color image into black and white is more complex than it seems.\u00a0 Sure, there is an auto black and white feature in Photoshop, but let\u2019s take a look at the difference of the results between doing that and the way I normally do it.\u00a0 See the difference?\u00a0 The one on the left is very flat and dull-looking.\u00a0 The one on the right has greater depth; there’s a wider range of shades from darkest black to whitest white.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professional photographers spend so much of our time researching, learning and networking.\u00a0 We have a tendency to live, eat and breathe photography. \u00a0For instance, even when I’m taking a drive out to visit family, I’m always looking out the window, scanning the horizon, taking mental notes of great places to hold a photo session. \u00a0And if I happen to drive past a wheat field at sunset? \u00a0It takes every ounce of willpower not to drag my hungry, tired kids out of the car for an impromptu photo shoot. Professional photographers put all of their passion and knowledge into every wedding, graduation, birthday and family photo session.\u00a0 If expensive tools were all it took, producing great images would be a piece of cake.\u00a0 Amazingly delicious cake, of course.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine that you’re baking dessert for a party.\u00a0 It’s your special recipe: the one everyone asks for.\u00a0 You make it from scratch, of course, never looking at the recipe that you committed to memory so long ago.\u00a0 Sugar, beaten eggs, sift in the flour…\u00a0 you’re crafting something delicious from basic elements.\u00a0 Now you’re at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[56,23,26,47,43],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-info","tag-delaware-child-photographer","tag-delaware-newborn-photographer","tag-delaware-photographer","tag-delaware-portrait-photographer","tag-delaware-wedding-photographer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erinfarrellphotography.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}