It's not you, it's the camera!.. Is it you?

[Shokinen]

High-end gear will not show you how to compose and this is where the line is.

It will allow you to do complicated things much faster, will produce better image quality, but will never tell you how to frame your subject. It will tell you gazillion kinds of information about the light coming in your viewfinder... but will never tell you where to place that little flower in your viewfinder...will never tell you that this picture would look better with a lower angle...

Some people would not expose properly without the gear they are using and that's why people are saying better equipment creates better photograph. Of course I cannot shoot everything a D3 can with my D90. I'm not a bad photograph for that... I'm a bad photograph thinking I can acheive what the D3 can using my D90.

[Sime]

Originally Posted by naco

Better equipment CAN (but not necessarily WILL) help the photographer turn his/her inner vision into a better image. As far as selling an image taken with a phone camera or of that sort to a stock agency I will say that 9.9 out of 10 the image will be turned down due to technical issues, regardless of who the photographer is– unless the photo shows something that nobody else captured and it would make the news worldwide anyway due to the shocking nature of the image.

NACO Photography

Only NINE times out of ten?!... ;-)

[Paulypoppins]

Here's my two cents: I think there's a psychological aspect to all of this. Simply being ABLE to take better pictures because of better equipment aside, the subconcious knowledge of the abilities of your better equipment and the confidence that brings may help you relax and be able to focus more on composition and light rather than worrying about "I hope this camera can do this". Better equipment frees you up to "jump in with both feet" rather than timidly fiddling with camera settings in a (potentially) vain effort to "make" your low-end camera do something it probably can't do. And when the fancy camera ends up living up to your vision and succeding, you'll only get better and better. This is my experience anyway, and the whole reason my business is called "Freedom Photography".

Freedom Photography

[Gonzo13]

Sime, I completely understand what you are saying. Didn't the idea of that come from back in the day when film ruled the scene?
Honestly my Wife, who lays no claim to being a photographer, has taken some amazing photographs with a disposable camera. However I wouldn't have even tried to take shots like that with my DSLR because of the way that I see the world. I'm not saying that it is all about the gear nor am I saying that it is about the photographer. They work hand in hand just like most everything else. Hand a Formula One racecare to someone who doesn't know how to drive it and they aren't going to win any races. Same goes for giving the best racecar driver a Yugo, he isn't going to win the race against Formula One racecars.

[castman]

My Stepfather wants to get an DSLR and he has horable photo's everyone has told him that and he thinks that an SLR is going to help him with that. I told him I don't think so. But he is getting it. So we will see is it the camera or is the preson?

[sHIMUZUKi]

start with the logic of a camera with no photograhper no picture; a photograhper with no camera no picture.sure a pro can take beautiful pics with a a phones built in camera but will that picture be able to be printed even on an A4??maybe if that pro had a eos 1 MK IV the picture might be sold for lots of mony and printed in a much larger size ???logical??

[LeeR]

I would argue that your experiment is only half complete. You have the skills AND the tools, now to complete the experiment you need to let someone who does not have your skills but has the use of your tools try the experiement.

[Smallfish]

Originally Posted by castman

My Stepfather wants to get an DSLR and he has horable photo's everyone has told him that and he thinks that an SLR is going to help him with that. I told him I don't think so. But he is getting it. So we will see is it the camera or is the preson?

My father in-law, sadly now deceased, loved photography. Bought the best camera he could afford developed his own film, he was a true dedicated amateur. Trouble was he could not see a good picture if it slapped him around the head. It was always a source of some amusement to watch him, often at weddings, hanging from trees or lying down on the wet grass in his suit trying to capture that perfect shot. The speed he would hit the ground, camera in hand and snapping away would have made a a member of the special forces proud. He'd then produce the results which were often so bad as to have moved out of the realm of being accidentally bad into the bad via genius talent. But because of the equipment he used just occasionally, like a 1000 monkeys on a 1000 typewriters, he'd produce a masterpiece.