Picture quality. Who cares?

[mickfly]

I was in my local Tesco supermarket today dealing with a mobile phone issue and was perusing the large wall display images whilst waiting.
One picture was a nice shot of a modern nuclear family going up a hill with a nice sky behind them, which was spoiled for me by the thick purple band down the edge of the dads sweater and along the arm of one of the kids.
The CA or purple banding was VERY prominent and I can only assume that one of the directors nephews or nieces took the picture with one of the phones which they sell!

In Morira, Spain whilst looking at images of multi million Euro Villas in an estate agents window display (very big pictures) they showed CA on all the vertical edges of all the properties, so, I assume that although they will be charging a fortune to clients for the advertising, and making a sweet commision, they are also using relatives with phones to take the pictures.

This is just a grumpy rant as I missed out on some news pictures of a big fire in my home town today and, whilst looking on Twitter I saw that all the vultures were asking if they could use the pictures or clips (for free) "with a credit to you, of course :)" , and I just felt a bit sad, and angry, to see nearly all of them answer, "yeah, sure" to all the requests for freebies!

 

Is there any hope for any young people in the future who want to make a carreer out of photography, or photo-journalism?

Edited November 16, 2020 by mickfly
typos

[Betty LaRue]

8 minutes ago, mickfly said:

I was in my local Tesco supermarket today dealing with a mobile phone issue and was perusing the large wall display images whilst waiting.
One picture was a nice shot of a modern nuclear family going up a hill with a nice sky behind them, which was spoiled for me by the thick purple band down the edge of the dads sweater and along the arm of one of the kids.
The CA or purple banding was VERY prominent and I can only assume that one of the directors nephews or nieces took the picture with one of the phones which they sell!

In Morira, Spain whilst looking at images of multi million Euro Villas in an estate agents window display (very big pictures) they showed CA on all the vertical edges of all the properties, so, I assume that although they will be charging a fortune to clients for the advertising, and making a sweet commision, they are also using relatives with phones to take the pictures.

This is just a grumpy rant as I missed out on some news pictures of a big fire in my home town today and, whilst looking on Twitter I saw that all the vultures were asking if they could use the pictures or clips (for free) "with a credit to you, of course :)" , and I just felt a bit sad, and angry, to see nearly all of them answer, "yeah, sure" to all the requests for freebies!

 

Is there any hope for any young people in the future who want to make a carreer out of photography, or photo-journalism?

No hope.

[MizBrown]

3 hours ago, mickfly said:

I was in my local Tesco supermarket today dealing with a mobile phone issue and was perusing the large wall display images whilst waiting.
One picture was a nice shot of a modern nuclear family going up a hill with a nice sky behind them, which was spoiled for me by the thick purple band down the edge of the dads sweater and along the arm of one of the kids.
The CA or purple banding was VERY prominent and I can only assume that one of the directors nephews or nieces took the picture with one of the phones which they sell!

In Morira, Spain whilst looking at images of multi million Euro Villas in an estate agents window display (very big pictures) they showed CA on all the vertical edges of all the properties, so, I assume that although they will be charging a fortune to clients for the advertising, and making a sweet commision, they are also using relatives with phones to take the pictures.

This is just a grumpy rant as I missed out on some news pictures of a big fire in my home town today and, whilst looking on Twitter I saw that all the vultures were asking if they could use the pictures or clips (for free) "with a credit to you, of course :)" , and I just felt a bit sad, and angry, to see nearly all of them answer, "yeah, sure" to all the requests for freebies!

 

Is there any hope for any young people in the future who want to make a carreer out of photography, or photo-journalism?

 

A friend who majored in photography said that the real money was in combat photography and fashion photography.  Amateurs looking for ego boosts don't tend to want to risk their lives or their sanity on those.  

 

I just supported one of the local photographers -- C$ 200 (roughly US  $5.75) for two passport photos.   Guy worked to get a good one for me -- took several, adjusted my hair and blouse, and took some more.    Pictures for the residency file down in Managua.    He shoots with the same Godox SK400ii that I have, just has two of them.  One gridded softbox, one other Godox softbox.  When my ex-landlord wanted me to shoot a birthday party for him, I sent him to the guy I use for the passport sized photos today.

 

Long run, though, I think  the more people are taking photographs, the more sophisticated people will get about photography.  Every literate man and some women in Elizabethan England wrote some poetry and probably acted in amateur theatrics, and they could from their own practice recognize really great theater.  Several people died trying to be professional Elizabethan playwrights.  One of the survivors who didn't make it went on to medical school. 

[Cal]

I've heard it said that you are your own worst critic.

 

As photographers we train our eyes to see things that are likely rather insignificant to what I see as the average stock photo buyer. A little bit of CA here and there will go largely unnoticed to many people but it's the content of the image that wins the prize.

 

10 hours ago, MizBrown said:

 

Long run, though, I think  the more people are taking photographs, the more sophisticated people will get about photography.  

 

I am not so sure. Many people still can't hold the camera straight or compose to the rule of thirds etc. I think at one stage the market was cornered simply by being able to afford decent gear, while everyone else was shooting with film compacts or 2MP digitals that produced awful images. Now a large amount of people in the western world can afford a half decent alamy-capable camera but you still need to know how to use it to even pass QC.

[spacecadet]

10 hours ago, MizBrown said:

 

 

 

I just supported one of the local photographers

Bravo. A professional photographer consuming their own product (even for $6). A good example to the rest of us.

[geogphotos]

I'm working on a set of amateur Kodachrome slides taken in Trinidad in 1961 by a British woman who was teaching geography there. 

 

They are snapshots. They are absolutely wonderful.

 

Nothing more than some people would describe as a 'blink of an eye' - but what more do you want to be transported to seeing a carnival passing by 59 years ago?

Edited November 17, 2020 by geogphotos

[spacecadet]

Just now, geogphotos said:

I'm working on a set of amateur Kodachrome slides taken in Trinidad in 1961 by a British woman who was teaching geography there. 

 

They are snapshots. They are absolutely wonderful.

 

Nothing more than some people would describe as a 'blink of an eye' - but what more do you want to be transported to seeing a carnival passing by 59 years ago?

Photography used to cost real money so being careful was worthwhile. Now it's free, not so much We may wince but the dross is just what used to come out of a million Instamatics. It's just that now there are a billion of them.

[geogphotos]

17 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Photography used to cost real money so being careful was worthwhile. Now it's free, not so much We may wince but the dross is just what used to come out of a million Instamatics. It's just that now there are a billion of them.

 

I wouldn't be so judgemental. 

[spacecadet]

1 minute ago, geogphotos said:

 

I wouldn't be so judgemental. 

No, just musing on a forum, as is OP.

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

No, just musing on a forum, as is OP.

 

Wasn't a criticism. I am enjoying looking at old 'snapshots' and pleased that they exist. 

 

https://blog.geographyphotos.com/2020/11/17/geography-photos-by-margaret-folland/

[spacecadet]

22 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

Wasn't a criticism. I am enjoying looking at old 'snapshots' and pleased that they exist. 

 

https://blog.geographyphotos.com/2020/11/17/geography-photos-by-margaret-folland/

Great images, and those boxes! Wow!

Edited November 17, 2020 by spacecadet

[geogphotos]

10 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Great images, and those boxes! Wow!

 

Yes that should keep me busy over winter. 

[Ed Rooney]

13 hours ago, MizBrown said:

 

A friend who majored in photography said that the real money was in combat photography and fashion photography.  Amateurs looking for ego boosts don't tend to want to risk their lives or their sanity on those.  

 

 

I've done both, MizB. Didn't make that much at either. But I didn't work at the top level with either, either. I've got both scary and funny stories about each. The fashion was in Rome in the '60s, where most of the Italian designers were. But the mags and ad agencies, where the money was, were in Milano.

[MizBrown]

3 hours ago, spacecadet said:

Bravo. A professional photographer consuming their own product (even for $6). A good example to the rest of us.

 

I've had licenses that were for less. 

[MizBrown]

3 hours ago, Cal said:

I've heard it said that you are your own worst critic.

 

As photographers we train our eyes to see things that are likely rather insignificant to what I see as the average stock photo buyer. A little bit of CA here and there will go largely unnoticed to many people but it's the content of the image that wins the prize.

 

 

I am not so sure. Many people still can't hold the camera straight or compose to the rule of thirds etc. I think at one stage the market was cornered simply by being able to afford decent gear, while everyone else was shooting with film compacts or 2MP digitals that produced awful images. Now a large amount of people in the western world can afford a half decent alamy-capable camera but you still need to know how to use it to even pass QC.

 

One writer friend lamented that a typewriter was no longer enough for submitting stories, articles, and novels to publishers, and so trying to become a writer was now out of  the financial means of the poorer people who could afford a typewriter, but not a computer and a legal copy of Word.   The thing with decent gear and chemical processing is that we had a lot of adequate technicians who shot, to my eye, not all that interesting photos.  They were the portraits on everyone's wall from Olin Mills because people were paying for that larger enlargement.   And I'm sure that Olin Mills executives made more than the photographers. 

 

I don't think art was ever particularly a stable economic field to  be in.   And some people would always do better, but paintings of weavers and painters from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance show painters in poorer circumstances than the weavers, who were doing work that people had to have. 

 

The Nicaraguan photographer here in Jinotega has a decent Canon, Godox lighting equipment, and prints better than the semi-pro camera shop I used in the DC area.  Bulk of what he's doing is the usual weddings portraits, birthday parties, school graduations, girl's fifteenth birthdays, confirmations, and all the rest of that kind of work.   Someone from Reuters has been taking news shots in Jinotega (do an image search for Jinotega -- about half are mine). 

 

I think the boundary between amateur and professional is getting to that point where you are your own worst critic.  I thought about whether I wanted to ruin a lovely hobby by trying to make money from it, but I think being ones own more severe critic means more pleasure when one does something well.  Being able to see what's wrong also means being able to see what's right.   (On the other hand, one of my literary agents told me that when writers told her that the current project was the best one ever, she knew she was in trouble).

 

 

[Allan Bell]

4 hours ago, geogphotos said:

 

Wasn't a criticism. I am enjoying looking at old 'snapshots' and pleased that they exist. 

 

https://blog.geographyphotos.com/2020/11/17/geography-photos-by-margaret-folland/

 

I see Margaret had a Ford Anglia. I could only afford the underdog the 1956 Ford Popular. It was my first car.

 

Allan

 

[robko photography]

21 hours ago, mickfly said:

I was in my local Tesco supermarket today dealing with a mobile phone issue and was perusing the large wall display images whilst waiting.
One picture was a nice shot of a modern nuclear family going up a hill with a nice sky behind them, which was spoiled for me by the thick purple band down the edge of the dads sweater and along the arm of one of the kids.
The CA or purple banding was VERY prominent and I can only assume that one of the directors nephews or nieces took the picture with one of the phones which they sell!

In Morira, Spain whilst looking at images of multi million Euro Villas in an estate agents window display (very big pictures) they showed CA on all the vertical edges of all the properties, so, I assume that although they will be charging a fortune to clients for the advertising, and making a sweet commision, they are also using relatives with phones to take the pictures.

This is just a grumpy rant as I missed out on some news pictures of a big fire in my home town today and, whilst looking on Twitter I saw that all the vultures were asking if they could use the pictures or clips (for free) "with a credit to you, of course :)" , and I just felt a bit sad, and angry, to see nearly all of them answer, "yeah, sure" to all the requests for freebies!

 

Is there any hope for any young people in the future who want to make a carreer out of photography, or photo-journalism?

 

Especially replying to the last sentence, as somebody who came within an inch of enrolling in a (photo)journalism diploma program at a technical school, this is relevant. After being certain I'd like to do it, I'm now about 80% sure I won't enrol after all. 

 

I don't know very much about the industry but with my circumstances and what I'd like to do, it's distressing.

Edited November 17, 2020 by robko photography

[Phil]

17 hours ago, MizBrown said:

A friend who majored in photography said that the real money was in combat photography and fashion photography. 

 

Years ago the local community college's Photography Dept Head told students that the way to make money in photography was to find something to sell to photographers.

[MizBrown]

26 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Years ago the local community college's Photography Dept Head told students that the way to make money in photography was to find something to sell to photographers.

 

Basically, selling courses is the cheapest end of selling things to photographers you can do. 

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

I see Margaret had a Ford Anglia. I could only afford the underdog the 1956 Ford Popular. It was my first car.

 

Allan

 

 

That photo brought back some memories. I lived in Barbados when I was very young, and my parents had an Anglia. I have a picture of myself sitting in the driver's seat (early 50's).

 

Sorry, I'm way off topic as usual... ☺️

[Phil]

14 minutes ago, MizBrown said:

 

Basically, selling courses is the cheapest end of selling things to photographers you can do. 

 

If you mean on-line courses that's likely correct. 

 

For the many wildlife, landscape, travel, etc. photographers whose incomes were slashed as a result of the world-wide flood of digital images - that income was replaced in many cases by them hosting in-person workshop courses and on location photo workshops to exotic locations around the world.  Of course Covid-19 has bashed most all that.

[Allan Bell]

15 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

That photo brought back some memories. I lived in Barbados when I was very young, and my parents had an Anglia. I have a picture of myself sitting in the driver's seat (early 50's).

 

Sorry, I'm way off topic as usual... ☺️

 

It is me that should be sorry as I started the off topic subject.😈

 

Allan

 

[John Mitchell]

8 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

It is me that should be sorry as I started the off topic subject.😈

 

Allan

 

 

Don't be sorry. Anglias were cool little cars. My parents' Anglia must have been a 40's model. I believe they were made by Ford UK.

[Inchiquin]

On 17/11/2020 at 10:21, spacecadet said:

 

Photography used to cost real money so being careful was worthwhile. Now it's free, not so much We may wince but the dross is just what used to come out of a million Instamatics. It's just that now there are a billion of them.

 

 

And more importantly, those million Instamatics didn't have access to a worldwide wall to pin them to.

 

Alan

[Allan Bell]

16 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Don't be sorry. Anglias were cool little cars. My parents' Anglia must have been a 40's model. I believe they were made by Ford UK.

 

Yes they were made by Ford in the uk. My Popular (same shape) was first registered in 1956 and I got it in 1962 when I was 17. That was and still is the youngest age when you can get a licence to drive legally on Britains road. You had to have passed your driving test to be able to use the motorways though. I drove that car a long way before exchanging it for a bigger limo. So easy to work on too.

 

Allan