Why Professional Photographers Will Remain Relevant as Camera Technology Leaps Ahead

May 20, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Cameras are advancing so rapidly, you're now able to get clean images at ISOs that a couple of decades ago would've been considered impossible, and automatic modes are so smart indeed it's possible for more people to get decent shots without knowing anything about photography. So why do we still need professional photographers?

What's important is not what cameras can do but what within the next few foreseeable centuries they'll never be able to do:

Know why you're taking a shot or whether it should be taken
Know what composition is the best for the scene
Know the final image you see in your mind
Tell or show the subject how to pose
Create interesting light
Recognize the best expression of the subject
Understand what the most important element of the photograph is and how to expose creatively for it
Know whether the quality of light is good
Know the best location or angle for a shot
Impart your heart and soul into the image

These are just a few of the most important things about photography that equipment will probably never understand. A camera can decide what's the technically correct exposure for any scene, but it can't know what aperture to use to deliver the final image you see in your mind, nor can it know what creative exposure will deliver that image. A camera can't know where the best light is coming from or where to place the light, or even how important a particular light is. And it certainly won't understand how to set up or use multiple lights for you.

The best cameras, lenses, lights and computers are just tools that in the hands of a master can perform outstanding feats of creativity and in the hands of a novice create just snap shots.

I've seen what will probably become a new trend in photography -- using HD video to film a scene or subject and then extract the best stills from it. I cringe at it, and I know many photographers will hate it. But people will do it, and they'll get great images from it. Will it destroy still photography? No. Whether you extract an image from a video or a still frame, you end up with a still frame, and if you can make a better still frame than someone pulling it from video, you're still relevant. Video can't replace photography because video is video and photography is photography. You can't make a moving still image or vice versa. So the result comes down to how good you can make a still frame, and whether you're using video or still, the same rules of photography and lighting apply.

There may come a day when technology wipes out the art of photography and people no longer care about the art of great images. There may come a day when people prefer video over still images and video may replace still photography. But if those days happen, they're probably thousands of years away at least. The collective human spirit would have to decide that art is so unimportant that it would be let pass from our consciousness.

So take heart, photographers. If you're distinguishing yourself from the pack, you're still relevant and will be for a long time.

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