"Recent Changes" series written by Brett Spinning. Info on Mr. Spinning at end of article.
A question I'm hearing and seeing more and more. DSLR cameras, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Apples Aperture, plugin suites like OnOne Suite 7 and Tiffen to name just a few have brought us so much technology and abilities to take RAW formatted files from the camera and manipulate these little binary 1's and 0's into amazing stuff. HDR has been a huge hit and it seems every part of the world has been photographed a thousand times over again by hundreds or thousands of professional photographers and up to millions of amateurs using everything from high end DSLR, mirror-less, point and shoots and of course, the Apple iPhone, that started a whole new generation and type of photographers using the amazing fixed lenses in the iPhone5, HT1 and now a Nokia that shoots an incredible 41 mp on a phone, really? Craziness. But, also the one camera always with you and every professional has been somewhere wishing their pro-camera wasn't back at home or in the studio!
So yes, I agree, I see it every time I go on Google+, 500px, Instagram, TumblR and even Facebook. Tons of HDR's, photos transformed into the miniature effect we all know too well, sepia, black and whites, glow, slow shutter or bulb setting shots and most like HDR and hundreds of other effects are done now with Apps! No need to spend hundreds or thousands on software though most of us old pros that run sites, process thousands of files thru post need elaborate systems to process and get what we imagined when we first took that photo during that golden hour. Kids nowadays are doing amazing things with their phone camera and an App. The newest big craze is the animated .gif files very popular on TumbLr. I've seen some incredible works and it comes so natural to these kids because they have always had a camera/phone in their pocket or purse since the age of 8. It really is remarkable and with their young brains imagining things that we as grown ups just can't anymore because well, we've grown up and aged and its all a natural state. We gain experience and wisdom but lose those crazy imaginations we had when we were 10, 12 or 17.
So, now what? With animated gif's and now movie clips on Instagram is still photography, being that ONE individual shot, going out or being left behind? Hmmmmm.......... We know technology will continue to change at incredible paces we can't even begin to keep up with. There's no doubt that there are hundreds of thousands of teenagers around the world using a simple phone camera, an app or two and a site to upload that is putting even the biggest names in modern photography to shame. If you don't believe me then you are either in denial or haven't searched Tumblr and other sites lately and seen this stuff. So you think it takes them days? WRONG. It would take us days to do some of these elaborately produced .gif files that many professional photographers haven't done the first one yet.
Now, I'm not at all saying one of these young genius little minds can come out and do a $20k wedding shoot and know exactly what needs to be done, have the packages and business skills or even the sales skills. Nor is this an amateur vs pro debate.....those have become really dated. The main point is we seem to be at a stalemate with an over abundance of HDR scenery, over texturized black and whites and those stunning miniature effect traffic photos (I still love all, personally). Whereas the cameras have gone from film to full sensor DSLR to mirror-less to 41 mp cellular phones. Our lenses or glass, has become incredibly advanced with coatings of every kind. But it's up to us, or you, the lead photographers with the famous global names and not just our regionally or state big names to lead us to what is next??? Is that what people are saying either out loud or by the drop of purchases of HDR and other photography styles of the last couple of years or a few more? Or, like Nokia did, does the guy about to go out of business suddenly come out with a major jump ahead in the business from the usual 5-10 mp phones? Or, is it that 16 year old in Salvador punching out unbelievable animated Gif files?
My point, I think, and thus in my closing is you and I need to MAKE SURE we are staying up with the technology out there and what the youth of the world, not just America, is shifting to. It is shifting right now and no, you don't have to run out and buy new equipment just know what's out there and it's advantages and disadvantages to what you have now. For example, the full size sensor vs a cropped sensor or if you are a Nikon shooter then the D300 vs the D7000 just for example and what each is better for and what one can't do. Watch those apps and see what the newest are doing....obviously gif files right now.
Remember, either lead or get out of the way because you will be left behind and not in a matter of years but weeks. In the meantime I'm going to continue viewing your HDR, glow, diffused, texturized and miniature effect city photos and I, myself, will continue to create them as well but don't think for a second that I'm not looking for that next creative scene for everyone else to follow as well and maybe you'll see my name on the cover of every photography magazine and not back on page 31.
Remember the basics no matter what: get out their and shoot, shoot and shoot but instead of coming inside and just post processing like always, you'd better start innovating............
Written by Brett Spinning of Brett Spinning Photography, Spinning Studios & Fine Art of Maine. Presque Isle, Maine USA. Http://TheMainePhotographer.com . @MainePics on Twitter and "TheMainePhotographer" on Facebook.
