Toronto Photography Meetup Group

In what they will accept as far as photography goes with the advent of things like camera phones, as it seems people are more interested in instant gratification these days then with the true cutting edge quality that is available today.

maybe the opposite. When people hire someone to take photos, they expect amazing photos, otherwise, they assume that anyone with a DSLR can take them.

But I am finding that people that just dump their cards as event photographers online asap after the event, and then offer low prices, are getting sales, over a top quality well exposed tack sharp photo.

The lack of quality is obvious, yet people will gobble this stuff up, yet I have to wonder if it is because they really do not know any better, as they fell for the iPhone marketing hype, and to them, thats how it really should be.

Lots of photos end up on social media sites, you don't need high resolutions for this medium.

I understand that resolution isn't needed for the web, but OoF is OoF regardless of the resolution.

I'm talking about the fact that people that are event photographers, aren't even putting forth quality work, and yet people will buy stuff that would never have seen the light of day in days gone by.

I was thinking the same thing. I was flipping through some celebrity gossip magazines and I noticed a lot of photos that have made it to full page spreads from big events (like the royal wedding) are completely out of focus. When it comes down to it though, having the picture is better than not having one especially when you only have so many photographers there. Also, I did an event late last year where partway through the night they wanted to start uploading the photos to their blog. People want instant information these days.

IMO...asking me to pay for a magazine, and then giving me crappy photos, is an insult to me as a consumer.

I have a friend who has zero interest in taking photos, but even he gets offended by the garbage that gets pawned off on the world these days photographically. I showed him a Canadian published auto racing magazine, and he could not believe how substandard the photography was for an issue that would cost $5.00 on the newstand.

People have gone from wanting a 'good' photo, to wanting a 'good enough' photo. Sometimes they want anything, no matter how bad. I've had people ask to buy my culled shots. As far as I'm concerned they don't exist, once I've binned them.

Maybe CNN knew what they were dong then when they fired their photojournalist in favour of using crappypics. Sad.

Newspapers and other media have been shifting to the "citizen photographer" for years now. It costs them nothing, as so many people just want to see their name in print. CITY TV replaced their on-site news people with people carrying cameras, a couple of decades back, as a cost cutting measure. "Be there!" was the slogan.

It all fits with the 24 hour news cycle, from cable TV, which is essentially 4 hour news bites played 6 times a day.

We have the best technology ever, yet suffer worse photos then ever before.

Brilliant!

+1

I feel that it takes a photographer to fully appreciate another photographer's work.
I think same is true for any other art.

Photography is not the only medium abused by this concept however.
Writing is as bad as it's ever been, the proofing on it is worse still. Pick up a news paper and count the errors.
I know the music industry faces these issues, as well as dancers, event planners/coordinators and all kinds of other industry folk suffer the same fate.

In this "instant" world we've created, everyone wants things 5 minutes ago.
People only care about quality when it is costing them money, and even then they want to cheap out.

The problem arises when someone throws out a job posting and under-cuts what any professional could do. They dangle it everywhere until somebody picks up the scraps. And as soon as somebody picks up the scraps, they list two new ads for equal or less. And they drive the cost/quality down to its bare minimum and then ride off into the sunset.

+1 Further evidence can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahosking/

What do you want? We live in a consumer world where everything is disposable. You think you are the shit with your D3x/s? Well, you won't be when the D4 comes out. You think you have one of the best cameras money can buy in a D90? Nah, the D7000 is better. You think your D7000 is the shit? A year later it ain't nothing but shit. What? You drive a BMW 335is? Nice car ... not so nice when the new one comes out.

You are still listening to Radiohead and Oasis? That is so 2000's!!!

For these reasons some people choose to go back to vinyl, shoot film and drive good old reliable beautiful cars.

This is especially the case with electronics. Prime example: Apple! Supply creates demand. We are letting companies tell us what we want and not us telling them what we want. Seriously, do we really need tablets? Do we really need a shitty camera on our phones? Lomo/instagram? You call that your "style"? More like you jumping on the "hipster" bandwagon.

Go out there and shoot film. Wait for it to develop, rush home, review your negs like a kid in a candy store. Buy a full mechanical film camera that will last you a lifetime. Forget about what Nikon/Canon/Sony/Oly/Lumix are coming out with.

Will do, as soon as I finish chiselling the stone wheel for my car. I feel like I've suddenly started reading a transcript of a sermon.

LOLOLOLOL That was funny ... made my night! Thanks for the laugh!

I guess humour just isn't what it use to be, must be all that YouTube Boop Tube stuff. There is probably more good stuff then ever before only you have to go through a hundred times more crap to find it.

People aren't interested in quality, until they see it side by side with their cheaper consideration. It boils down to "if they haven't been exposed to it, then what they have seen is the norm".

Most don't seem to get to see both.

Yeah, and even if two images of the same scene are available for viewing on the web, its not a fair comparsion, since monitor calibration comes into play, not to mention how much can you really ascertain from a web image?

Well it's different when you see a client before they book with you. Even though they may see my site, emailed images I've done for others, or if I take my laptop ... I still always take big prints (11x14 and 8x10). It's usually comments like "What a difference a nice camera/lens makes", LOL. They're partly right, but I focus on the added variations as well ... especially portrait work at events. People looking in the wrong direction, eyes closes, talking ... drives me nuts. I quickly realized why you take 3-4 shots of exactly the same scene. Even in the studio, still so much work to Photoshop peoples eyes open from one pic to the other.

At the end of the day, it's great to hear (on top of the cheque and the any tips paid) "you made us look so good".

I think that I use more rapid fire shooting in candids, than I do at trackside.

Funny, right now I'm looking at a framed promotional poster from a racing series, that was made from one of my shots years back, and in addition to the signatures of the three top fnishers it says, "You made us all look great! Thanks!!"

For some reason this part made me smile

Photography just like language can be high art or useless drivel. The same words that make up a poem can also be used to advertize mattresses... The problem is not so much about the quality of photos, its more about people not being able to differentiate between a poem and a mattress flyer.

I think it's true that more people have lowered their expectations of photography. For instance, you can just use a built-in filter in an iphone app to achieve the "look" that you want for your photos now. But, that's more due to the acquired taste and familiarity of what people identify as a "good" popular photo. But, the truly standout photos from the masters will always be appreciated if these people see them and can understand them.

the iphone photography is just a way where people can pull off fun effects and thats what people look for in Facebook photography. people now a days want/need that instant gratification of having some thing to show right away. people will still and continue to understand what real good photography is. thats why Most people dont compare the two.

Yup, this is what I found.