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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Discussion on the perfection of today's photography | |
friscoron wrote:
I'm eager to see what others think of the concept of perfect photography with today's dSLRs.
I've got a question regarding this ...
In what way does "today's dSLR's" have anything to do with respect to "perfect photography"?
On the technical side, to me, the digital medium certainly is far from infallible (noise/AA-blur/DR/moire to start with). And if anything .. the advent of AWB or "click to set WB" has given rise to even greater opportunity for error for the average user regarding color correction.
Add in the color shifts associated with angles of incidence @ sensors with UWA lenses. Also, the proliferation of color renderings that differ from each manufacturer, with none of them able to produce a camera that perfectly replicates color throughout the spectrum (neither did film) ... imo, it is a far cry from anything that the word "perfect" should be remotely associated with.
I'd suggest that the digital medium affords us a much greater access to the range and efficiency in latitude to process our images to our own goals for an image via the raw/linear approach, but so does a paint brush and canvas. Just from the tremendous variability that we see in rework potential ad infinitum, the concept of "perfect photography" is something that escapes me as only a myth.
When you stop and think about how much pain, angst & effort has been put into being able to emulate the look of film in its variant profiles in the digital medium ... or render a less digital look ... again, how does one even begin to construe today's dSLR's with "perfect photography".
Let's then consider that images must be sharpened as part of their processing. As noted recently in the Serengeti Dawn thread and numerous other threads, books and videos, global sharpening alone is insufficient to optimize all areas of an image. The need for a sharpening process that includes, input sharpening, selective sharpening and output sharpening is a far cry from what I would call "perfect photography". Meanwhile, camera and software sharpening algorithms continue to be refined in an attempt to achieve the elusive (i.e. still not perfected).
If WB/color correction wasn't a problem enough for people, achieving optimal sharpening without halo's and crunchies is the 1-2 punch of problems that are inherent to dslr image making. Again, not something that I would construe as "perfect photography" in the advent of "today's dSLR's still striving to overcome its inherent challenges, such as sharpening, color, moire, bloom and smearing.
Imo, the concept of "perfect photography" is only a myth and digital doesn't yield it any more/less than did film (albeit easier access to latitude in processing the capture and the use of the "undo" button, etc.). Rather, I would suggest that masterful image making is rooted more in the photographer's vision for an image and the message it will convey based on an understanding of light, form, shape, texture, tone, hue, perspective, mood, message, subject, lines, transitions, scale, mass and other elements in conjunction with his command & control of his tools of choice via exposure, aperture, focal length, lighting and perspective, vastly more than "today's dSLR's" have anything to do with approaching the holy grail of "perfect photography".
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