19 Oct
2005
On Location With Rick Lee: It's not just the camera:
I take 90 percent of my photos into Photoshop and tweak the cropping, contrast, color, etc., before publishing. The photo you end up seeing is the product of an extended creative process. It's not just the camera.
Sure, it's not just the camera – but your ability with the camera has to come in there. I'd rather see a good photo taken on a crappy camera, than a crap photo taken on an outstanding camera – anyone would.
Most of what being a photographer about is vision – your ability to see what's there, to interpret it as it as, and as it might be. You need to know how to use your tools, and your camera is arguably the most important of these tools. Sure, you can use other tools as well, but the camera has to be at the top of your list.
We all tweak after the fact – improve the exposure a bit to bring out the detail, up the saturation a tad to make a bolder statement – whatever, it doesn't matter. It's your skill with as a photographer that had you there to capture that moment, with camera ready for the shot you knew was coming.
Does it matter what camera you use? Really, as long as it works for you, no. The important thing is the photographer – you – and how well you know your primary tool. Not only what it can do, but also what it can't. How do you learn that? Simple really – take more photos.
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