Sony Arouje

I think most of the photographers out there faced this comment once or more in there life. Some time this comments are intended to degrade you or some times it’s out of curiosity. The fact is not every one can come up with a better photo even if post processed or with a great camera, other wise our world will be crowded with photographers. I like that curious minds, they wanted to learn.

Post processing

Did I do post production, hell I do. I do post production to give the feeling I wanted in a photo. As humans we do a lot of post processing on our self. We go to beauty parlors, or we trim or comb our hairs, in my terms these are post processing. why we do that? to make our self presentable or feel confident.

I am software engineer, like every developer I also do a lot of refactoring. We apply patterns or practice OO. Why we do that? compiler can understand and compile any code even if it’s not refactored or not having any patterns. Still we do it, we are doing it because to give an aesthetic to our code, to make our code readable to others.

Then why post processing of a photo is not right or considered silly in peoples view. In my opinion they are doing it because we didn’t want to accept that guy have a talent, we are saying he is not talented but his tools got talent. Then why can’t you go and take a photo using your camera and you also have access to the same tools that guy has. Still if you can’t come up with the kind of photos he produce, then accept it he got talent.

Is Camera matters?

To some extend yes, the camera matters, rest is the talent of the person behind the view finder. Some time people say your photo is good, because you have a great camera. It’s like telling that my friend Senthil is an awesome developer because he has the world class IDE from Microsoft. The fact is, he can code even using a notepad.

A great tool is a must for any professional. A blunt axe in a wood cutter’s hand, will it help him? obviously not. Like any other profession, photographer also need better camera. But a great camera will never make you a great photographer.

"A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove."
Sam Haskins

Summary

Do I care if people comment like this? not at all. I take photos because I am passionate about it. I am not doing it to get likes, I am doing it for my own satisfaction. If I get likes or comments, it’s a motivation.

Photoshop is a tool for post processing, so please don’t call all edited Photos as Photoshopped.

I like to hear your thoughts, please leave your comments in the comment section.