rocket science

Only a complete fool would insult the person he/she is asking a favor of…..or so you would think.

I recently had someone comment to me that photography was not rocket science. (S)he (and I use that phrase to protect ME, not the innocent, because (s)he is most assuredly not) was begging for help regarding a photo shoot. Of course (s)he most likely wants it for cheap. [See prior blog post regarding misplaced loyalty.] Apparently (s)he thought any old Tom, Dick, or Harriet with a camera could shoot interiors without the resulting pics being dark as night, blurry, discolored…..you get my drift. Sounds like they got what they paid for. Oh….wait….they pay this guy $2,000 a month.

I was a professional photographer for a number of years for two local architectural firms. I also had my own darkroom business for 10 years. I was, as far as I know, the only Cibachrome lab in the state. I had a good reputation for nailing the color, spot on. I have enough camera equipment to weigh down a medium sized pack animal.

The problem that I continue to see with the advent of the digital world is that everyone with a camera thinks they can do the job. Thus the derogatory, derisive comment…."it’s not rocket science.”

Oh really?

Maybe…or not. I’ll grant you that half of a successful shot is having a good eye for composition. That, to me, means you’ve got an artist’s background. You were most likely born with it. You can foster it, but it’s pretty hard to flat out learn if you don’t have that inclination to begin with. The folks involved in this latest tale do not have an artist’s eye by any stretch of the imagination. You would think they would acknowledge that, and, knowing they can’t and you can, your God-given talents would engender some respect. Why is it, anyway, that art is so discounted?

Even so, after inherent artistic talent, shooting on automatic will only get you so far.

Do you really know your equipment?
Do you know the correlation between f stops and shutter speed?
Do you know the concept depth of field, and why a shallow DOF is sometimes desirable?
Do you know the difference between shutter priority and aperture priority, and in what circumstance each should be used?
Do you know what ISO is?
How about white balance?
Do you know why you shouldn’t use an ordinary polarizing filter on an auto focus lens?
Do know the differences between jpg’s, TIFF’s, and raw files, and the advantages raw files have?
Do you know what a histogram is?

What happens remains to be seen. I’m still waiting on the phone call. The pity of it is, it’s a job that would be fun. I love photography. I love going to job sites, setting up, working through the problems until you get a good product. [Frankly, I would never turn in substandard work, and it amazes me the other guy did.] But is it acceptable to work for people who insult the craft and, it follows, me?