Categories: PhotographyTags:

One thing that always gets me revved about photography and excited to create photographs is reading about light. Light its, after all, the only reason that photography exists. I’ve been wanting to shoot some food photographs that have a lot of glass-work in them, or just with interesting lighting setups, so I decided to dust off my copy of Light, Science & Magic (here’s the Amazon link to the book)and check out the chapter on lighting glass. (This book, BTW, is THE BEST resource for photographic lighting … they cover everything, all from a very scientific perspective.) While reading through the intro something caught my attention and I felt was worth a mention here (bold-face type added by me for emphasis):

Successful photographers depend on the photographer more than the equipment. Inexperienced photographers work best with the camera with which they are familiar. Experienced photographers work best with the camera they like. These human factors sometimes have more to do with the success of a photograph than the purely technical principles.

You hear it all the time, that it’s not about gear as much as it’s about vision, or skill, or maybe even just a bit of planning. But those words above summed it up so much better than I’ve ever seen. It’s a no-brainer, really—if you are in love with the camera you are using then you will be more passionate about your work and you will make better photographs. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new Canon 1DX, a Nikon D4, a Fuji x100 or an old Polaroid. Use what you enjoy working with, or what you’re most familiar with, and you’ll find you have better success with your photographs.

One thing that always gets me revved about photography and excited to create photographs is reading about light. Light its, after all, the only reason that photography exists. I’ve been wanting to shoot some food photographs that have a lot of glass-work in them, or just with interesting lighting setups, so I decided to dust off my copy of Light, Science & Magic (here’s the Amazon link to the book)and check out the chapter on lighting glass. (This book, BTW, is THE BEST resource for photographic lighting … they cover everything, all from a very scientific perspective.) While reading through the intro something caught my attention and I felt was worth a mention here (bold-face type added by me for emphasis):

Successful photographers depend on the photographer more than the equipment. Inexperienced photographers work best with the camera with which they are familiar. Experienced photographers work best with the camera they like. These human factors sometimes have more to do with the success of a photograph than the purely technical principles.

You hear it all the time, that it’s not about gear as much as it’s about vision, or skill, or maybe even just a bit of planning. But those words above summed it up so much better than I’ve ever seen. It’s a no-brainer, really—if you are in love with the camera you are using then you will be more passionate about your work and you will make better photographs. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new Canon 1DX, a Nikon D4, a Fuji x100 or an old Polaroid. Use what you enjoy working with, or what you’re most familiar with, and you’ll find you have better success with your photographs.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

5 Comments

  1. Sean January 9, 2012 at 12:24 pm - Reply

    Found your page through Craft & Vision on Facebook.

    This is something I wholeheartedly agree with! I never believed that upgrading from a D80 to a D700 would necessarily make me a better photographer, just less inhibited by certain technical constraints (e.g. ISO performance; true wide angle). I love my D700 for so many reasons, most of all the way the camera just does what I want it to without much thought on my end. It’s a symbiotic relationship that I don’t have with any other brand or model, and I could be bothered with having to relearn another camera – I perform better with the one I have, and I’m not about to jump on the newest thing just because it’s has x, y, and z added in.

  2. Helene January 9, 2012 at 1:11 pm - Reply

    One of the first things I learned and probably the one I remember most from a photo course I took several years ago…look for the light, follow the light, watch what the light does. It is a beautiful thing! And, as far as equipment goes, I was using a D5000 but moved to a D7000. I believe the camera pushed me to shoot more, become more aware, and enjoy this craft more. It is the first time I feel the camera isn’t something I’m holding but is actually an extension of me.

  3. Erin January 10, 2012 at 2:04 am - Reply

    It seems that I can also reflect a similar story to the replies above! So you must have hit a nail on its head! Light is an amazing and beautiful thing. Thanks for the post.

  4. Claudia January 10, 2012 at 7:06 am - Reply

    It’s truly a wonderful thing when the camera you pick up is just an extension of yourself, a tool with which to communicate, like the paint brush for a painter or a musical instrument for the musician. I’d not heard of this book, thanks for mentioning it.

  5. Conan February 4, 2012 at 4:19 am - Reply

    .I like the tag ‘artography’ it’s a term I seem to have misesd, but very apt for these nicely put together images..

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