sorry..just been seeing so many pix in art galleries, on the net, in the news..and i so dunno. It's a competition..since everyone got digi cameras and cell phones.. shoot, photoshop or whatever the phone apps are..and there you have it? 

or am i really old fashioned? i want my 35mm slides back, my manual slrs, my oh..hour or two of waiting in a lab..pushing or pulling a film. it wasn't just shooting..it was mixing art and technique together..and blow me if you you didn't get it.. you'd have to reshoot it again. 

has technology spoilt photography? 

Oh..I use photoshop..don't get me wrong..I'm more into 3d than photography ..but when I look at everyone shooting and getting near to perfect pictures..even tourists...and even if they didn't.. you can digitally enhance it..or wait..even put up blurred pix and say that's how you wanted it.(i went for a phtography exhibition in london.. it was all blurred pix put up..)  you think.. oh.. is that it anymore?

Has the magic of photography gone? 

get my brains straight, please.. 

oh..pix..shot by me in the foot tunnel under the thames, greenwich. 

The sharper my pictures is the more happier i am. It is tough for me though as even my sharp good quality pictures are rejected at shutterstock.

I agree with you one must not downgrade especially with so many cell phones having cameras. They are not in the same league then DSLR cameras.

God Bless.

Tight and sharp is my default preference.

Arty abstracts are good too!

Two different points in your post:

On the issue of blurry photos, I agree - I don't like them either, though there are limited situations where blurring can be appropriate to the subject.

On the issue of digital killing "the magic of photography", I completely disagree. It has expanded the capabilities of photography & opened photography up to many people who otherwise might have been intimidated by the technical challenges of traditional photography. And digital software like Photoshop allow you to explore creative techniques without the complications of a darkroom, as well as opening up unlimited possibilities that go way beyond what you can achieve in any darkroom.

Digital photography has no more ruined traditional photography than digital art has ruined painting. In fact, if you look at the quality of the images in the Photography Gallery here at Renderosity, I think it's generally very impressive, compared to the quality of art in the various 3D galleries, which tends to be very crude & amateurish for the most part (with quite a few exceptions that are outstanding, of course). You may feel nostalgic for the old methods & technologies & choose to continue to use them if you want to & that's fine, but art, like everything else, marches on & changes & skill, creativity & imagination can be applied to any medium... 

If I'm doing jet aircraft and can capture a full screen image of beastie doing 500mph at 1/500, then I'm more estatic than a bear in a hunny factory. If theres the slightest blur, I'm like a bear who's just sat on the jars in said factory! Playing with grads (just got a set and learning) then I can live with some blur. People portraits, only in the background, gotta be nice and shallow. Maybe a bit of DOF on the top/base of the head. For animal I saw an image recently where a glass zoom filter had been used on a closeup cat photo. Normally that screams fake, but here it was beautiful. So I'd say it all depends what you're shooting. As for digital ruining things, I'd also say no. photosynthesis comments about creativity ring so true. What took me days in a darkroom, and the risks of getting it wrong, can know be done in minutes. Plus it's affordabilty brings democracy to our craft. I can also let the GF's grandkids play without worrying about the production costs. They also feel more comfortable with images on screen rather than wanting hardcopies. 20p for a DVD is nothing compared to 20 quid for a basic photobook. Though the sheer choice of imagery available online, and increased financial pressures on publishers, does means it's harder to make a living from photography.

I do so agree with both the above, and especially the democracy!

For expense reasons I should have to have given it up in retirement but for the marvel of digital.

also I can no longer manage the weight off an SLR, let alone a DSLR,  but because of the amazing lens quality of my point and shout cameras the quality is not compromised.

thirdly I have little desire to spend the last third of my life I alone in a darkened room....that will sadly  come to many of us soon enough.

Hi..I guess you all ar right. I needed my brains straightened out a bit. Maybe I'm just a bout nostalgic about labs.. 

digital sure has changed everyone into a photographer though.. 

Indeed yes! How good is that!!

Maybe I'm just a bout nostalgic about labs.. Nothing wrong with that. Last summer made a print in one of the expo vans ilford use and the smell of developer made me miss those days.

Starting out on a road of learning magic, i can see that the same could be applied to that field.  If everyone could do it it would mean nothing and be more difficult to find the truly good magicians from the crowd.  How many people do you know who can do a genuinely good magic trick which actually blows your mind? (rather than you going "yeah yeah , i know how that one is done)...  same principle applies to photography - everyone is now a photographer and they all know how it is done (because the camera does it for them).

Interesting comment i heard the other day about a trick (from a magician) was that he didnt really realise that the trick he saw would actually work, because he knew the method and thought it was too obvious, then he was astonished when it worked time and again on laypeople. It had lost its "magic" to him because he knew too much.   (an often quoted dying magician's wish is to be fooled "just one more time...")

The same has happened to photography... people know (or assume they know) too much about it and can access it, it therefore has lost its own sense of magic and ability to awe people.

I can understand why in some ways that digital technology can appear to 'ruin the magic'. Overdone Instagrams on smart phones spring to mind. Sometimes a bad picture will always be bad no matter how it's been postworked. Equally I can see where tech can give us new levels of creativity. Like as in those light field cameras. That ability to change DOF and sharpness on the fly is pretty amazing. Just imagine that inside an SLR with a decent lens! As for losing the awe factor, with digital as we don't print so much, we can lose that reaction from others. Though if an image is striking enough, that wow! will be always be there, as the image has that. That said I find one problem is unlike film we can shoot more and sort less. So maybe we should use digital like we used to with contact sheets.

Thought provoking thread!

I myself held onto film for as long as I could. It just started making more financial sense to switch to digital. But if I had the means - I would go back to film!

Meisie.. i so know how you feel. the clarity of a 35 mm slide beats all..or  a black and white film, or the graininess of them..adn that silver that came wit black and white.

yup..no one prints anymore... sigh.

Inshaala.. my very thought. those instagrams post work make any shoddy pix amazing..it's technique..not the thought process that went into it..the reason behind shooting that pix. It is..oh..crap..pix looks bad..post work it..and wow! i've seen so many amazing pix like that. So many teeny boppers who coem out with amazing pix..not coz of the subject or the thoght behind it..but..ooh..lets saturate it more..change the hue..and voila... warhols galore.

Sometimes..I feel ansel Adams is turning into his grave..and so too the other greats.

mrsparky..I don't dispute the wonders of digital world.. yes.. can you rmemeber those days of sweating everytime you sent a film to the lab or developed it yourself?

but somewhere... we've los tthat touch of true phorography...

erosiaart - remember it well .. mostly the danger someone would open the door at the wrong time! Though sometimes the risks came in more bizzare ways. Spilt some developing chemicals once while renting a room. Didn't give any thought until a while later, female screaming was heard from downstairs and the landlord came storming in. The chemicals had seeped through the floor and reacted with the plaster, so it looked liked blood was dripping down the walls!

mrsparky..LOL! I had a problem with the smell..got all sick and pukey..so had to give it to a proffessional lab to develop. 

Its like saying music died the day Bob Dylan started using electric guitars instead of accustic.

Quote - Its like saying music died the day Bob Dylan started using electric guitars instead of accustic.

Not really - it would be more like saying music died the instant everyone thought that the demo button on an electric keyboard was the keyboard player's genius and that everyone who pressed that button was a good musician.  

This isnt about the medium, but the access to a "magic button" which creates something which looks good from something which doesnt.  It is the pop-music of photography.  

The moment i realised that a pop song i heard on the radio with a guitars / piano / drums and vocals was something i could actually play all the parts to myself was when pop-music died for me as a Grade 1 piano player (ie begginner), self taught guitarist (give me a set of powerchords any day!) and about a grand total of 2 hours playing the drums in my life (it is so much fun to make lots of noise!)... the only skill is in the production and the knowledge of what "works" musically, there is no skill in playing the individal pieces which make up the track - instagram nailed the same for the photography world as it fits people's sensibilities and "works" - doesnt make it good photography.

Now easy tracks to play can also be pretty damned good (i dont listen to bob dylan much but i would assume a lot of his songs follow a set chord progression with variations therein - 1/4/5/1 being a wild guess) but they need to mean something rather than telling someone to "call me maybe" (is that her name... "maybe"?) - a snapshot means nothing no matter how post-produced it is...

inshaala, garageland et al.. think you all ought to read this.. came out on BBC's website today...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19818425

oh..and inshaala..i agree with you..

LOL yeah I always shoot in full manual with an SLR so your preaching to the converted with me! But yeah I think your mind is ALWAYS the most important photographic tool you have.......not the latest camera with the most dooo-dad buttons.