How good photographs get made is a mystery to most people—including photographers. There are two general camps which attempt to explain the magic:

1. it’s the camera and the lenses that are making the image, and you’ll get better pictures with better kit; or
2. it’s not the camera that matters, it’s the photographer.

The purpose of this blog and our courses is to support the second explanation: an artist is an artist whatever the tool, and understanding the creative process is the answer to making better art. Nevertheless, it might be instructive to reflect on why so many people have a misconception of the camera’s power, and whether there’s anything to it. It’s easy to criticize all the whizbang functions of modern digital cameras and just dismiss them as so much marketing fluff. But the truth is, the major players in the camera market have been around a pretty long time. It’s difficult to question their commitment to photography, and it would be an error to dismiss their contributions. Camera manufacturers spend a lot of money developing the firmware and software to drive their products, and the settings which get programmed in address the common expectations people have about what kind of image will be made. Misunderstandings about the effect of those functions, or the potential uses of them, doesn’t rest with the camera manufacturer, but—as always—with the photographer. It’s always the photographer as artist who makes the image, and good photographers maximize the tools they’re using…..

Source: effeleven.blogspot.de

James Conley