modern still cams make photography boring ?

Anyone else feel this way ?, my Canon S90 and Sony NEX 3 are now so good in P auto mode with only some occasional adjustment to exposure, that I am loosing interest now...sounds crazy, I remember a British Motorcycle fan saying that he lost interest in motorcycling when reliable leak free Jap bikes hit the market...I think I get it now

The next stage is surely to be hi res stills from video, then there will just be no challenge.....I will have to find another less developed interest I suppose

The idea of having such good automation is to free the photographer to concentrate fully on the elements of photography such as composition and light. There's still lots of fiddling to do...but now do it in your image...not your camera.

.

if the camera can expose well in the P mode. It's about the Photograph. You obviously seem incapable or unwilling to take a well composed photograph. That is the challenge, my friend. It's the finished product- not merely clicking the shutter to obtain a well exposed shot.

Shoot RAW in manual, and you won't be bored.

Shutyergob said:

if the camera can expose well in the P mode. It's about the Photograph. You obviously seem incapable or unwilling to take a well composed photograph. That is the challenge, my friend. It's the finished product- not merely clicking the shutter to obtain a well exposed shot.>

Click to expand...

Uhhh ???

Shutyergob said:

if the camera can expose well in the P mode. It's about the Photograph. You obviously seem incapable or unwilling to take a well composed photograph. That is the challenge, my friend. It's the finished product- not merely clicking the shutter to obtain a well exposed shot.

Click to expand...

Good one...

vaughanB said:

Anyone else feel this way ?, my Canon S90 and Sony NEX 3 are now so good in P auto mode with only some occasional adjustment to exposure, that I am loosing interest now...sounds crazy, I remember a British Motorcycle fan saying that he lost interest in motorcycling when reliable leak free Jap bikes hit the market...I think I get it now

The next stage is surely to be hi res stills from video, then there will just be no challenge.....I will have to find another less developed interest I suppose

Click to expand...

Were you taking pictures just to see if you got the exposure right? And now it's easy?

I have not found automatic modes to be useful in careful photography. I think it's fine to let a point and shoot camera do what it wants (because it's pretty hard to make it do anything else) but with a DSLR, it's still important for the photographer to control the technical details.

Beyond that, there's more to a good photo than correct exposure. It's got to be interesting to look at, and no camera can help you there.

With respect to motorcycles, there's more to a motorcycle than not leaking oil. Early Japanese motorcycles were ill-handling devices that couldn't compare to a Norton. It took many years for Japanese motorcycles to become reasonable sporting vehicles.

And neither English nor Japanese motorcycles could match Ducati, then and now.

--
Leonard Migliore

In one sense modern cameras give me more freedom to concentrate on the subject and content. On the other hand there are new technical challenges almost every time I go online.

In 40 years I have never found photography more challenging or more rewarding.

Gato

--
"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do."
-- Dale Carnegie

Silver Mirage Gallery:
http://www.silvermirage.com

If compact cams on Auto meet one's highest photographic aspiration, sure. Boring.

mbrowne said:

If compact cams on Auto meet one's highest photographic aspiration, sure. Boring.>

Click to expand...

Not really, I have had plenty of photographs published, I have experimented with many types of photography, I have sold quite a few shots via stock websites, I understand how to compose and judge the light, I used to regularly post travel shots here and my photographs were well recieved......but it really really isnt very skilled these days is it ?, there are some people that couldnt take a decent shot with any camera, but for some-one like me, I think its too easy to be very interesting these days, I do still take photographs, but the challengew has gone, and when we have stills from video......easy peasy

I Cant imagine what people talk about on photography courses these days, photography is now only about composition and judging the light, and you can teach that to yourself, or as in my case....its just obvious

The book "understanding exposure" is widely recommended here, so I bought it, read and understood every word....but it is far more than almost anybody needs to know given the level of automation that is now in modern cameras, of course, you could shoot fully manual for the challenge....but whats the point ?.....I maintain that photography is easy these days. So many second rate celebrities have suddenly decided that they are now photographers precisely because it is not hard anymore, as long as you have an eye for a shot, any idiot can do it

My brother in law is training with a wedding photographer as he intends to start a business (unwisely IMO), the fully experienced pro photographer that is training him freely admits that he shoots auto at all times, not even RAW, and his work is OK, the point is that it is not hard to do, which is precisely why I think my brother in law is misguided, I was made redundant recently and I retrained in something skilled that requires specialist qualifications (medical equipment validation).....photography can be done by anybody with an eye and a camera, which is why I would not expect it to put food on my table for very much longer

vaughanB said:

Anyone else feel this way ?, my Canon S90 and Sony NEX 3 are now so good in P auto mode with only some occasional adjustment to exposure, that I am loosing interest now...

Click to expand...

Maybe you should aim higher. If you're just "taking a picture," any camera will make you happy then bored. But maybe you'd like your pictures to look more like the photos in Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, or National Geographic. How do you blur that background? P won't do it consistently. How do you freeze that action at your kid's dark school play? How do you achieve that skin tone, those glamour shadows in the magazines? P won't do a damn thing for you there you have to set up some lights exactly the right way.

Because then you get beyond the camera itself and start discovering that very often, 50%-95% of serious photography is about what you do outside the camera. Then you'll find it's hard. Then you'll get your challenge back.

On the nature of the human condition:

Life for each of us is a series of problems, and we try to solve them.

What is happening is more and more problems are "being solved for us" Which fine except those of us who use the new found free time to do nothing of substance or value.

For instance:

If it used to take 4 hours to compose and find and take a good photo and 4 hours to develop and print. Then after that 8 hours you probably felt you accomplished something. And the 8 hours it took kept people who didn't have the income to do it as a hobby on, from competing with your work.

If today you can take the same photo in 2 hour, and photoshop and print it in 2 hours. Then you are left over with 4 hours. This means an amateur or person of lesser ability can spend more time or go capture more photos to compete with you.

So perhaps the extra time we have gained with technology needs to be used doing more self marketing, or studying business practices, or spending time with family, or exercising, or any number of things. Taking more photos with the free time gained if you cant make a living at it is useless.

Its really no different than farmers. Used to a farmer and his family had to spend a lot of time just to get enough food to eat.

Now one guy can grow enough food for his entire family with technology. So rather than growing enough for then entire neighborhood, where there isnt a demand for it, perhaps the farmer should spend his new found extra time, and learn another skill, or become a more well rounded person.

I think its why truly happy people seem to be always busy doing something and trying new things.
--
Mario Alessi

mario
Great answer....nice one

is correct it just that many of us will not admit that its easier with todays technology. I've shot countless weddings over too many years and initially found it very stressful as you were never 100% sure of results until you developed films, today you can check results as you go and minor errors are easily corrected in PP. I still go out and shoot for myself with D700, mostly sport, a friend who comes with me has a super zoom Panasonic and hand on heart he gets some great results with almost perfect exposure, so yes! it is easier but for me not boring.

Carl

Sure, point-and-shooting in full auto mode can get boring. But if you want a challenge, you got it. Try shooting with a DSLR and a manual focus tilt-shift lens and I guarantee that technology won't do all the work or thinking for you.

And even today there's nothing stopping you from buying a large format view camera, developing your own film & making your own optical prints. Challenge enough for you?

vaughanB said:

Anyone else feel this way ?, my Canon S90 and Sony NEX 3 are now so good in P auto mode with only some occasional adjustment to exposure, that I am loosing interest now...

Click to expand...

No

You simply need some old manual lenses and adapters for your NEX.
Oh dear, I forgot the NEX has no EVF so focusing is a pain using only the LCD.

Right, you need to buy a Lumix G1,G2 or Olympus e-P2, e-pL1 & EVF.

All of a sudden you've got an old leaky Triumph that'll do 150mph when it all goes right.
Interesting comes back!

Mario Alessi notes: "What is happening is more and more problems are being solved for us. Which fine except those of us who use the new found free time to do nothing of substance or value".

So true.

But it isn't as if there were no opportunities, in this labour-saving world, to find very challenging pursuits. The mechanics of photo-capture may now be improved to the point of ease but what about the composition (and getting to when/where a desired image may be composed), the photoshopping and the subsequent arrangements for image display? These aspects can all be as difficult as you like. Personally I enjoy making impressive audio-visual slideshows of out-of-the-way seascape views captured during dire weather, as well as succulent portrait prints assembled from self-constucted frames and mounts of my own devising.

The labour-saving technologies now allow everyman to try all these aspects without the need for a zillion quid, risk of photo-chemical degradation to the personage or a 10-year apprenticeship with a professional photographer.

It makes me laugh a bit, anyway, when lads go on about photography as a hobby. Shurely shome mishtake as the hobby is about the type of images you seek and what you do with them, not pressing a shutter button or "mastering" a new lens. There are: bird-watching; sporting events; local architecture; family history-making and so forth. Photography is just a means to one of many possible ends.

Would you be happy to spend all your time polishing your bicycle and seeing how fast you can ride it on the stationary trainer whilst trying the brakes and twiddling the gear levers at random? No, no - the technology is meant to underpin various adventures and outcomes, not to become a fetish-object.

Of course, the technology marketing men are very happy if you get all fetishistic about their wares; but this to the side since there is no need to become a consumer-victim. Anyroadup, I can think of many better things to get fetishistic about than a camera or a bicycle. (Make your own exciting list). Fellows who drool on camera stuff need to get out more - perhaps to take meaningful pictures?

What do you want to create - a camera and lens collection or a stimulating and accessible history wrought of evocative images?

SirLataxe, never content to play just scales on his guitar, even the difficult ones.

Are you serious? Modern cameras have made photography boring? Go take a walk to the beach and watch a beautiful sunset, or a waterfall, or travel abroad to somewhere new and exotic, or simply just take pictures of your kids playing in the snow...and if you find that 'Boring' then I suggest you put down the camera immediately and find a new hobby at once. Photography is much more about capturing magical, inspiring moments that invoke a reaction in people, than just pressing a button to get a correct exposure.