Friday, November 6, 2009

But....I Can't Just Take a Picture Anymore!

So, I've been thinking about starting a blog to go with my site for awhile now. I was just having a hard time coming up with exactly what I would write about. Of course, I could tell everyone how I photograph the way that I do- but it seems odd to me that anyone would want to do what I do. For those who are passionate about photography, I find it so much more rewarding to find your own style. See through your own eyes...

ANYWAYS, last Friday gave me an insight about a first topic. It made me laugh and I'm sure hundreds of other photogs can relate.

My friend Alix and I went to go see Sandy Puc's Tot's to Teens seminar. On one of the breaks, we were chatting about all of the different aspects of a photo- getting exposure right, white balance, etc. She mentioned the phenomena of, "I just can't take a picture anymore!"

I laughed. It's so true. Any aspiring photographer or pro knows exactly what we were talking about...

Remember the days when you could just snap a photo? On a point and shoot, disposable, whatever kind of camera you had in your hand. You got the subject in the photo, yelled cheese and that was that. The photo eventually got developed or put on the internet and everyone reminisced about how fun that event was...

Fast forward to when you start to pursue photography. Someone yells, "take a picture" and you frantically search for your high resolution DSLR. Wait, you can't take the photo without your hot shoe flash, god forbid you make the rookie mistake of shooting with your on board flash. Set it to manual, there's no way you're going to screw up using an automatic setting! Make sure your ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed are perfect....uh oh did you forget to set your white balance? Are you shooting in raw? Is your focus sharp? ARE YOU POINTING THE CAMERA AT THE RIGHT LEVEL!?!?

It's insane but it's impossible to "just take a photo". Not to mention the time you may spend correcting things in Photoshop afterwards.

Gone are the days of the snapshot.

(Now...my husband makes me pull out the point and shoot when our son is doing something cute)

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