Video summary
The video explores a common misconception in photography where enthusiasts often prioritize mastering technical skills over cultivating artistic vision. The speaker argues that while photography is indeed a blend of art and science, chasing techniques for their own sake can lead to mediocrity rather than greatness. Many photographers feel compelled to learn new methods simply to prove their proficiency or to keep up with trends, such as the once-popular HDR craze or complex focus stacking. However, the speaker suggests that this approach often results in images where the technique is celebrated more than the photograph itself, leaving the final result somewhat unremarkable. Instead of learning a skill and then forcing it onto every subject, the speaker advocates for identifying an image one admires first and then reverse-engineering the techniques used to create it. This purpose-driven method ensures that technical knowledge serves a creative idea rather than dictating the outcome.
A significant portion of the discussion addresses the balance between understanding camera mechanics and relying on automatic settings. The speaker acknowledges that modern cameras can produce decent, average-exposed images when set to professional modes, but warns against becoming a "slave" to the equipment without knowing how it functions. If a photographer lacks even a basic technical understanding, they cannot effectively troubleshoot issues or adapt their workflow when the camera's automated decisions do not yield the desired result. The speaker admits his own limited grasp of complex mathematical formulas behind f-stops but emphasizes that practical knowledge is sufficient for creative exploration. One does not need to be a mathematician to understand how aperture affects depth of field; one only needs enough insight to manipulate those tools intentionally to support their vision, rather than blindly following the camera's suggestions.
The narrative further illustrates the danger of adopting styles simply because they are popular or trendy, drawing on personal experiences from film photography days where photographers would artificially include film rebates in prints just to fit a "cool" aesthetic. The speaker contrasts this with the idea that great photographers do not merely collect techniques; instead, they collect reasons to discover them. Techniques like cross-processing or creating light halos should be adopted only when they genuinely serve the specific image and the story the photographer wants to tell. By treating photography like a detective game where one analyzes how an admired image was made, a photographer can learn techniques with purpose and avoid the trap of applying processes that do not naturally fit the subject matter. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that every technical choice enhances the artistic intent, transforming the photographer from a follower of trends into a creator who understands both the science and the soul of their craft.
Read the full video transcript
We're talking about taking photographs
using the learn about series of books
from Ladybird. Within here there's a
bunch of pictures stuff about teaching
the you know the the the keen
photographer keen child photographer to
use things like form light color effect.
It's got some very basic techniques in
here and we've all been taught
techniques as photographers. That's
where we get started. That's where we
learn. But in doing so,
we have been
fed a bit of a red herring. Photography
is as we know it's part art and it's
part science.
And it's tempting to think that if we
nail the technique, if we are like
masterful technicians with our camera,
then nothing is beyond the rem. And in
some respects that's true,
but in many respects,
and I certainly had this problem for
ages,
we end up chasing technique for
techniques sake. So, we want to learn a
new technique because we feel that that
makes us improve as photographers. Feels
like we're actually getting somewhere.
But then we go off and try and apply
that technique to literally anything
that our camera points at. I'm thinking
about the HDR craze. This is this is now
going back
quite a while, right, where everybody
was just HDRing the hell out of like
everything. And that was people learning
a technique and then finding ways to
apply, finding things to shoot. Where I
think
the better way is to find photographs
and then look at it pictures that we
like or have an image in our head and
says, "What techniques do I need to
learn
to be able to take that photograph?"
Because then we're learning techniques
with a purpose.
We're not just taking
the time to learn a technique so that we
can then take the photograph, show it to
somebody, and say, "Look what I've
done." And they go, "Wow, what a good
technique that you have." So, I'm
thinking about focus stacking. Now, I
don't take macro photographs. I just I I
don't. You know that I don't. And I
appreciate the people who do. I think I
appreciate the work that they put in.
But when I see people posting images of,
you know, like Focus, Microsoft, the the
the the composition of the of the
discussion, not the composition of the
image, the composition of the discussion
is it's all about like this is how I did
it. This is a focus stack of a trillion
billion pictures that I put together and
I stitched and th and it's like what
what are we celebrating here? Are we
celebrating the picture itself
which often
is let's say it's somewhat
it it's somewhat mediocre
or are you celebrating the technique
because the two are not the same thing.
Creating a great photograph
I feel doesn't require
loads of technical skill there. Yes,
there are obviously very technically
proficient photographers for whom that
is their approach. That is what they
feel comfortable with, but they also
manage to understand that that needs to
be balanced with still taking an
aesthetically pleasing photograph.
Somebody sent me an email the other day.
They were talking about how they work in
a camera store and and what have you and
their boss remarked how they were quite
surprised
how and I think the words that the
person is how little that they knew
about the technical side of photography.
It's like how can you possibly work in
photography and selling cameras and
stuff if you don't know the technical
side of things and they didn't elaborate
about what the conversation was about. I
don't really know what sort of technical
things are there, but it it did get me
thinking that
I've just sat here and talked about like
are we going to display the the
technical skill or are we going to
display the
uh you know the creative side of things
and that you don't need masses of
technical skill to create a great
photograph which obviously
is going to raise a a point, raise a a
question in the mind that says, "Okay,
Alex, if you don't need the technical
skill, then why do we learn it at all?
Why not just put the camera on auto and
have done with it?"
I feel if you if if we do that,
especially in today's world
where you can take basically any camera,
put it on P for professional, right? And
it will just do it will do a good job.
It will it will get it will get you a
what it thinks is a a an averageely
exposed
photograph that you kind of look at and
go, "Yeah, that's fine." If that's the
thing that you're into. And if that's as
far as you want to go with photography,
then absolutely that that's fine. But if
there's no interest in the technical
side of things, then we don't know what
the camera's doing. We don't know how to
we become a slave to the camera. The
camera sits there and goes, you will
take that you will have the photograph
that I have decided that you will have.
Uh and of course, if you don't have any
technical uh background, then it's like,
well, How do I change it? How do I fix
it? Right? So I do think I think there
needs to be a modicum of understanding
technically. But at the same time, going
back to the other point, we don't need
to have a comprehensive understanding of
every single technical thing in
photography. I have been taking
photographs since I was basically like
six or seven. I'm 52 now.
I am not very good at maths.
I have the vaguest understanding
of how f-stops are numbered, why they're
numbered. I know something to do with a
percentage of the the lens or something
that is open or what have I you see? I
don't know. I I do not know. What I do
know is how to use them. Right? So
there's this it's like f-stops. You can
if I sit there and I say I I don't know
how fabs are named. There will be
certain photographers who might sit
there and go, "Well,
Mr. Kilby, you sit there on your wobbly
chair sitting and telling everybody
about photography, but you know nothing
about the the mathematical formula
behind f-stops. You you are you are a
charlatan, sir." And I would turn around
and I would hit them over the head with
my MPA important photographer of the
year award 2014
and say take that. Right. So we do need
to know something. We we need to know
enough
that allows us to explore our creative
ideas to look at a photograph and say
what is what is that person doing and
and do I like that? So can I explore
that technique? Can I design and and one
of the people who I really love
in their photography is is Nadav Kand
look at that. His head well this is not
him. This is
David Lynch I think. Yeah. Right. See
his head's as big as mine. Hello. So
he's he's
right. So he's going to do all the
talking from now on. Uh does actually
look right. So, I have seen his work
quite a bit and I'm just flicking
through trying to find one of his
photographs that illustrates the point
that I'm trying to make. Uh, this is
where I should have tagged it earlier,
but it's there. So, there there's one of
Lily Allen, right? So, so this Lily
Allen photograph, it's got like a kind
of a a little crossrocessed sort of feel
to it. Something like that. Now, I know
this because I've done cross processing
myself back when I was a student and
things of that nature. So, I can look at
and go, "Oh, okay. There's a thing." But
if I didn't know that this cross
processing and then if I wanted to
replicate that feel, I said, "Hey, do
you know now that I've kind of got this
photograph here and I absolutely cannot
find the one that I'm looking for. This
is typical, right?" that I could say to
somebody, what is it that that Nadev's
doing here? What is going on with the
photograph? There's a photograph here.
Found one of them of Desmond Tutu.
Hopefully I can show you that without
the the light there. Desmond Tutu. Now,
he has like a weird sort of halo around
his head. And I remember seeing this and
other pictures are like that. What is
What is he doing there? So, I'm starting
to explore and I'm breaking down. And
I'm using the basic technical knowledge
that I have. And I don't mean like my
knowledge is basic. I just mean like
some basic things like what's going on
here? I'm not over complicating it. I'm
not going I you know this is deep and
heavy man. I'm sitting there going why
is there a halo there? Why on some of
these images are there like specular
light sources moving across? Okay. Well,
that tells me the shutter's open here.
So that's a clue. It's a little bit like
a detective thing, isn't it? You sit
there like a poor a poor. You go, "Ah, I
have seen what you are doing." Or maybe
maybe I should just leave I should leave
my bad
expressions,
my [laughter] bad impressions some, but
I'm going in there. I'm looking at it
and I I'm I'm learning the technique. I
I don't not just following a tutorial
because if I follow a tutorial, I'm not
really learning it. I'm just I'm just
following along by looking at a picture
by picking it apart and by trying to
copy it and enjoying the process. I'm
actually learning what to do and in
doing so because obviously I am not
native and so I cannot
make that image exactly like him. I can
just take some guess work. I find a
technique of man and I go hey do you
know what that works really nice. it
makes this kind of photograph, right?
And and I have discovered something
rather than being taught a technique and
trying to apply it to images that don't
necessarily work for it. This is always
a thing, you know, you can't just you
can't just slap a process or look or
something. You know, we talked about
style recently. We can't just we can't
just put these things onto any old image
that we feel like and expect it to just
happen.
when I was a student and a lot of these
stories come like when I was a student
mostly because this is when I did a lot
of like mistakes and learning so it's a
thing we used to print images with uh
with negatives it was it was a wet dark
room and some of the negative carriers
so you put your negative into like a big
carrier and it would sit in the enlarger
when you made a print some of the
carriers and they had like a 35 a shape
for the for the negatives 35 5x 120 4x5
stuff. Some of those carriers had been
filed away a little bit so you could
print the entire image with the film
rebates and you know the corners and
stuff. Uh and subsequently that that
term later on when people started using
Photoshop a lot and so became became
called sloppy borders. But in those days
it was like oh do you know what the
style is to print the full frame so
everybody could see the rebates and
stuff and you just put it on not because
there was an actual
reason for doing it. You know I was like
hey you know this I'm going to put this
style on my thing because because of a
re because of an actual reason. It's
simply because oh you know it looks kind
of cool looks kind of cool and everybody
else is doing it so I'm like I I better
do it as well because I I want to be one
of the cool kids. I and I feel a lot of
these styles and things that that go
around these days
that technical
thing it's it's it is appealing because
it's popular. It's just a style of a
photograph in in the kind of more basic
way of talking about style like you know
like it's focus stacking or it's HDR or
it's it's crossrocessing or
[clears throat] something
and then people you it's just a trend.
So they just do their thing. Look for
techniques
that serve the image
that serve the idea that you have in
your head. What we're looking at here is
is not being able to sit at the next
camera club meeting or somewhere
something you know we get together talk
photography and say do you know look at
all the things I can do look all these
techniques that I have great
photographers don't collect techniques
great photographers collect reasons to
discover techniques
that's the message I want to leave with
you today thanks ever so much for
watching I See you guys soon.