----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Roberts"
Subject: Re: Have digital cameras made us better photographers?
"Alan P. Hayes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Digital cameras have made me a photographer.
Taking more and more pictures has made me a better photographer.
In the days before digital, it was commonly accepted that the best way
to become a better photographer was to get out and take a lot of photos.
I don't see any reason that would have changed with digital, but some
people think it has.
The commonly accepted theory is just that.
It's a theory.
And it is, to a great extent, a false one.
Shoot lots to learn how your camera works. Familiarity with the equipment is
why one would take a lot of pictures. You can do this with no film in the
camera, or no card in the slot.
The way to become a better photographer is to educate your eye.
The way to do that is to look at pictures, not necessarily take them.
Look at them, see why the work, and more importantly, what causes them to
fail, which they inevitably will, from time to time.
There are limits to how much information a person can process at one sitting
before their eyes start to bleed. If you reach that point, there isn't any
value in continuing to look.
I'm going to ponificate a bit here, so bear with me.
or not, I don't give a damn.
If you are not analyzing every single frame that you shoot, and discovering
why a picture works or not, and quantifying the reasons, you are shooting
too much.
If all you do is pull up a directory of thumbnails and go through them,
sending the ones you don't like to digital purgatory, and plucking the juicy
gobbets out of the mess, you are not teaching yourself to see.
What you are is the photographic equivalent of a terrorist bomber, not
caring what you hit, as long as you hit something from time to time.
William Robb
