SOOC Sat: Tendril
Another Hawaii shot.
(This one doesn't size down very well...please click on it!) I've been reflecting recently on how the art of photography has sort of been lost. (::gasp::) There are so many good results from the advent of digital photography, like the fact that I can take as many pictures as I want, and see them immediately. But I think a lot has been lost too. I don't know anything about "real" photography (regular? analog? oh...film!), but didn't it used to be hard? Don't get me wrong, I find my new hobby challenging. But it's challenging like figuring out a new email account, not like taming a wild horse. (You know what's challenging? Typing this while listening to the daughter refuse to go to sleep over the baby monitor, sobbing and trying out all her new words: "Down! Mama? All done! UP?! All done...double sob...") How did photography used to work? Did you just have to trust your light meter? Did you have to actually remember what settings worked best in what situations? I imagine I'll get there eventually, but for now I have my handy-dandy little camera screen. Besides it being hard, it used to just be different. Photography now seems like this weird intersection of computer-nerddom, wasting time messing around on the computer--because even those of us who don't know the first thing about computers can do that--and, finally, all that's involved in the Moment of Capture.
My mom likes to quote an old friend and mentor of our family, a certain Anglican Bishop Morse, who said "The virtual is the enemy of the real." Before you brush that off as luddite hogwash, think about it for a minute. Think about Farmville, what porn does to relationships, how facebook makes us sad, your boyfriend and his video games, how real women feel when inundated with perfected pictures of models. How often can a real picture measure up to one that is enhanced to be cooler? Some of you see no harm in this. I don't really. Lots of pictures are seriously enhanced by a little processing, just like a little cover-up and mascara can work wonders for any woman. But I also think there's value in the real deal. So I'm going to keep working on my camera skills and not put much time into my Photoshop ninja skills. I figured there had to be some kindred spirits out there, so Google brought me to this meme carnival, as I just learned it's called in blogland. (For those of you who, like me a few weeks ago, don't know what SOOC is: it means "straight out of the camera". No editing. Maybe a little cropping.)What's your take? I didn't get to write this on a caffeine high, unfortunately, so perhaps I'll expound later when I'm more inspired.
6 comments:
I always thing of what photography would be like if I still had to use film. I owned film point and shoots (that did all the work for you), but I never owned a film SLR (although both of my parents did). I can't imagine not being able to immediately see my mistakes and take the time to fix them!
A photographer should definitely aim to get the best SOOC shots possible. But I also think you can embrace Photoshop and look at it as a digital darkroom. There is a ton of Photoshop abuse out there, but a lot of what you can do in Photoshop is actually a digital version of what people did in darkrooms (for example, dodging and burning).
That's a great shot! I love the blurry background! I too need to work on my photography skills and not my Photoshop ninja skills. :0)
I think that's a great shot! I miss Hawaii! Everything is so green there!!!
Very nice :)
In a short photography class I took last year, we had various photographic assignments due each week, but we were never allowed to edit the shots. The point was to accomplish the goal through your camera lens Instead of going into the shot and changing all it's details with photoshop. It gave me a better appreciation for the actual art of photography!
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