Technology vs. Technique

[Editor's Note: I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome another new writer to our staff, Joshua Conti. Joshua has an enormous passion and knowledge for photography, which I think you'll get a great sense of as you read his first entry below. He's been shooting wedding and experimental photography, and I'm excited to have him as a part of our team, as I feel he will provide a great addition to our knowledgeable staff! Enjoy!]

As I write this, Steve Jobs is unveiling the new iPad 2. It’s literally the most brilliant thing I have seen… until I see the next new thing that comes out. The blinding speed at which new technology is released upon us is amazing, to say the least. All of it is advertised, designed and marketed to make what we do more fantastic, much easier and even better than what we can do with what we have now. And I, like most people, love to buy into that idea. But should technology be what drives us? I would like to argue that it should not be. Observe the two images below:

Which one of these father/daughter dance pictures (both used a 480exII and 18-200 3.5-5.6 lens) was shot by a Canon 60D and which one was shot by a Canon T2i?  Which one was edited on a Windows 7 6gb RAM/ 1tb HD PC and which one was edited on a Windows XP 1gb RAM 320gb HD PC? In all reality the image quality is -about- the same, right? Right. (answer key: top image Win7 / Canon 60D — bottom image Win XP / T2i)

The actual differences in the pictures lie outside of the technology. They are found within the decisions I made, not in the camera I used. A professional photographer who I know takes some of the greatest images I have ever seen… but he shoots at 10mp on a Canon 5DmkII. Look closely at theses pictures. Yes, there is a little graininess from my resizing of the pictures for this post, but putting the tech side of this aside for a second, look closely.

Look at the framing of each one. Look at the background. Go back to the technique side and forget about what kind of camera was used. If you look at the framing, I missed it on the bottom image. The bride’s head is almost cutoff and its rotated just a little too much. The top one is much more balanced and doesn’t look like I was trying too hard to get the picture.

Look at the backgrounds in both. In the top one, I really nailed it. The people are looking and taking pictures of the bride and her father dancing and back lighting is accenting her smile. The bottom one just has a lady’s feet, a lot of exit signs, doors and fire extinguishers throughout. I used ISO 1000 with the top one but broke down and used 1600 on the bottom one.

I shot the first image several months after I shot the second image. Virtually all the settings on the cameras were identical, including focal length and bounce flash set to full power. It was more that my technique changed the picture, not so much the camera.While technique develops as you continue to shoot, a camera is still just what it was when you pulled it out of the box: a camera. Technology is a tool, not a crutch. Don’t  jump for the just released 56mp super amazing DSLR with 2090p hd video capabilities and 18-600 lens. Owning it does not make you a professional photographer. It will not take a Jeremy Cowart meets Ansel Adams super amazing picture by just clicking the shutter. No, that comes from practice. From taking the time needed to really understand what ever option and setting does on the camera. From understanding why shooting at f1.4 makes the background all buttery and gorgeous and why f22 does the exact opposite. From discovering that ISO 800 is better for a situation where ISO 100 fails entirely. From experimenting with shots until your eyes bleed. From admitting to yourself that you will always be learning and never know it all. From telling yourself as you write this article that your images will be picked apart by better photographers when you post this but you’re okay with that.

Don’t get me wrong, technology is needed – it is amazing and helps your art. However, all technology is based on are certain fundamentals that form the foundation of our knowledge base. A carpenter who has a brand-spanking-new laser level still has to drive nails into the wall to hang the picture. A photographer with a fantastic new DSLR still has to hold it up, adjust settings and press the trigger. If you put your need for technique before your want for technology, you will find you can become all you dreamed you could be. Money can’t buy skill. Only hard work can. I’m not success at this photo biz thing yet myself and I’ve been going at it for over three years now. But I keep learning. I still take alot of my shots with a Canon Rebel XT (it takes amazing shots at ISO 100 in case you were wondering). I rent equipment early and often. I dream of the day when I can do this full time. And I wish I could have the new iPad2 and a Canon 1Ds mkIII and a… and a…

There is a story about a dirty, worn down violin put up for auction. The auctioneer places the starting bid at $50. No one raises it. Suddenly, an old musician with a full beard and tattered suit walks on to the podium, picks up the violin and begins to play a beautiful Beethoven concerto with it. The bidders are stirred into a frenzy. The auction ends with a winning bid of one hundred thousand dollars. The man who won the violin takes it and tries to play it as do several other people but all they get is squeaky strings and harsh tones. The value of the old violin was only found in the hands of the master musician.The same is with your camera. If you master your technique, you can make any era of camera technology work in your favor.