I love technology. I love what it's done to photography. I can get on my computer and view thousands of gorgeous shots at my leisure. I can explore the work of photographers I've never met. I can take a poorly composed, poorly lit, mundane shot of something and transform it into something beautiful.
Wait, what?
I'm not going to say that I dislike Hipstamatic, Camera+, or Instagram (or Photoshop, for that matter). In fact, I think they're great. They produce a ton of shots that would otherwise be really boring without the effects added to them. The only thing I dislike is that it's entirely too easy to use them as a crutch. Shots that took zero techinical proficiency, patience, or planning can turn out beautiful. To illustrate this point, I've included a picture of a boring shot:
This image, for all intents and purposes, stinks. It's got terrible white balance, no subject, and it's just sort of...bland.
Now, with a little time in Lightroom, I can make it do this:
Look at how much better that is! The clouds pop, the sea wall, lake, and sky are discernable, and it generally looks pretty okay. I could also make it black and white:
Now I don't know a thing about shooting in black and white, but this looks pretty artsy to me. I just had to add a preselected filter in Lightroom. The second picture took me about 10 minutes and a lot of careful evaluation. This one took me 10 seconds. One more example, and this time with a little more pizzazz:
Yellow highlights, blue shadows, heavy vignetting, and more contrast make this look a little vintage. This took me 30 seconds.
So, what do you think? Is one inherently better or worse than the other? Is this the further democratization of art? Do I, as an untrained photographer really have any say in the matter? I certainly don't have the answers, but I think it's a worthwhile question to think about.
Update on Monday, August 22, 2011 at 05:55PM by
Kevin Leckey
Check out the comments - there have been questions raised about the progress of art and the way in which we define art and its relationship with techonology. Also, a little related reading.