There is something that has been on my mind for quite some time now, but I have never really expressed my feelings on the matter. Being that there is no better time than the present, I have decided to share my feelings with everyone on the subject. This short rant is aimed at all the [...]
There is something that has been on my mind for quite some time now, but I have never really expressed my feelings on the matter. Being that there is no better time than the present, I have decided to share my feelings with everyone on the subject. This short rant is aimed at all the people who have recently bought new digital SLR (DSLR) cameras and now think that they are professional photographers. I now talk to these people…
Hey, you. You know who you are. Don’t go turning around, ignoring me, pretending that you don’t know that I am talking to you. What is that you have in your hand? The new DSLR that you bought yourself at Best Buy the other week? Yes it is a pretty big step up from the $50 point and shoot one you bought at Wal-Mart a few years back. Oh I know this is a super exciting event, one might even say a fantabulous one, but guess what? Just because you now own a new entry level DSLR camera, with 12mp (no mp does not stand for “mega pictures”), does not make you a professional photographer. Do you even know how the aperture and shutter speed affect your pictures? Do you even know what they are?
"OMG I heart this one Hayley!" Too bad it's overexposed blowing out all the detail of the dress and the poor girls face.
So let me guess what you are going to do, now that you have your new camera… You are going to round up all your friends that are in relationships, take fake engagement pictures of them and then take close up pictures of some flowers that you found in your backyard. Once you have about 50 or so pictures, you are going to go home, open photoshop and make them all black and white, leaving one object/area in the picture in color to draw attention to it. Too bad the rest of the picture is horribly out of focus, because you don’t know how to use the auto focus properly. Now what to do with all these amazing looking pictures? You need some kind of validation, validation that will let you know that you are just as amazing as you think you are, but how to do it? Got it!!! You can make a Facebook page to show off all your pictures and invite all your friends to become “fans”. Your friends and family will surely provide all the validation you need. But wait! You have to make it look “professional”, so you select a calligraphy font and watermark all of your pictures so no one can take credit for your creative genius. After launching the Facebook page and having all your “BFF’s” comment on how they “heart this picture”, you suddenly think, “Hey, I could make a living out of this!” Since you probably aren’t married yet and all your “girlz” are getting married over the summer, why not become a wedding photographer! Armed only with the thoughts of what your fairytale princess wedding pictures are going to look like, you head out for you first real paid photo shoot! Probably for one of your cheapest friends, because they don’t want to pay for a real photographer. Over equiped and under qualified, you will take a million pictures at the wedding thinking that your friend is going to love them all. Unsurprisingly, most of them turn out over and/or underexposed, mainly because you used the built in flash from 5ft away while taking portraits, making all your subjects look like Casper the friendly ghost. Upon seeing the pictures of the wedding, your BFF, now former BFF, blames you ruining their day and photographic memories for future generations. Thinking that this is a one time mistake, you pester all your other friends that are getting married, trying to get them to let you do their weddings. Already having heard of how you ruined the other wedding, they decline and opt for a real photographer. After suffering rejection time and time again, you will finally resort to taking pictures of your cat, posting them on Facebook and ultimately end up making a MySpace page for said cat.
The end result of you owning this camera sounds pretty depressing doesn’t it? Well I am here to help you! Simply go back to Best Buy, return the camera and buy a small point and shoot, so you can go back to taking pictures of you and your “girlz” in the bathrooms of the clubs you go to. Don’t believe me? Go on Facebook and search “Photography” and select pages, you will see I speak nothing but the truth.
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14 Responses
Hilarious and oh so true!
Whoa, whoa, whoa- are you trying to tell me that just because I have Photoshop I am not a professional photographer? Sir! You are blowing my mind!
What are you talking about?? I have my disposable camera and my PASSION.
I AM a professional.
So true! I loved this! Good rant dude!!!
Ouch, I believe that that one actually hurt:-)
But you’re right, it is all to true and I’ve seen it happen too many times. As if “natural talent” (doubtful anyway) beats training and education. The majority of the time they go hand in hand.
I have to agree with you 100%. I have been taking photos since I was 7. I was raised by a photographer. I know all the in’s and out’s of a camera. But do I do it for a living? Nope. I take wedding photos for my friends and family that can’t afford someone big. I actaully was a Team Photographer for a baseball team. I take photos for fun… since I won a DSLR (also a SLR… you know film… lol).
One reason I didn’t make this my job… too many people out there think they can just pick up a camera and be a photographer. I hate them all.
Dude… do I count? I only have a point and shoot and post ‘artsy’ photos on flickr? LOL
No really… do I count?
The other type of person I hate, is the one that thinks “Oh I’ll just get a camera with a ton of MP, then just crop what I don’t want and fix the rest in photoshop”. Sorry, but even my ninja photoshop won’t fix your horrible pictures.
@Fragileheart No you are safe.
@Erika I just sold my film SLR a few months back. Need to pick up a DSLR, but I rather buy plane tickets instead right now.
Some of us are just naturally talented, okay??
Seriously, though, I took an actual photography class a few years ago. Back when they had this stuff called “film” that had to be “developed.” After recovering from the resulting chemical burns, I can honestly say that I still know precious little about real photography.
But it’s still fun to pretend.
Hilarious! I have been thinking the same thing lately. This now tops my list of pet peeves.
I felt the same about 5 years ago with graphic designers. Everyone with a copy of photoshop thought they were designers or web developers. you can always tell who they are, beveling and using more plugins then my firefox broswer (nice lens flare by the way *wink*).
got any good sites or books for amateur photographers out there?
@Wes I remember that whole graphic designer thing lol. They way I learned photography was to read all the magazines and websites I could. That helped with the technical aspect. I would say look at popular photographers and how they compose their pictures and have a critical eye for things. I love Ansel Adams and spent hours and hours looking at his work.
Omg, this is SO true. WTF is up with this?!? One of my good friends from summer camp growing up has done this – only worse. She didn’t even GET a fancy camera – she just uses a higher-end (heh) point and shoot! She lives in a really small town, so she gets away with this and shoots weddings, engagements, family pics, and even the high school cheerleading squad, etc! It is truly depressing to look at her wedding photo portfolio. I wonder if her clients realize she is not providing quality photos and use her because she is a friend and her services are cheap? Or what? Oh god, if I see another single-color-highlight photo, I’m going to gag…
Wow so true! You took the words right out of my mouth! and I have like 5 friends that do this! It is sooo annoying! What makes me the maddest is that I am actually a photographer but alot of people would rather pay half price for crap pictures than go with the real photographer and they dont find out till its too late. Hahaha I love all the comments too.