Yearly Archives: 2007

Great pictures! You must have an expensive camera.

Photography

And Shakespeare had an expensive pen.

That’s what I heard when a friend (?) was looking at some of my photos on the wall the other day and I confess it’s not the first time I have heard this sort of silliness. (Not the ‘Great pictures’ bit – I can live with that).

And while I continue to maintain that good gear makes a good photographer better, it will never save a bad one.

Well, this time I did respond with the Shakespeare crack but it was lost on my audience, which probably begs the question why I was showing this person my snaps in the first place. Then again, you cannot control your audience, and I suppose all publicity is good.

Great car. You must be a great driver.

Great woman. You must be a great lover.

Great kitchen. You must be a fabulous cook.

Oh! dear….


Peeking. Canon 5D, 24-105mmL zoom.

No more cheating?

Photographs

Stay sceptical

I wrote of the need for a healthy dollop of scepticism when it comes to photojournalism here.

Now Reuters has announced all sorts of new rules as to which Photoshop tools can and cannot be used by photojournalists in manipulating their images.

This quixotic effort is doomed to failure as detection of tool use is simply too long and convoluted a process in the face of publishing deadlines. Further, the mere presence of rules has nothing to do with ensuring compliance. Wouldn’t it be better if Reuters simply insisted that their photographers submit RAW files only, with all image manipulation being done by back office workers at headquarters?