camera check camera rolling sound check sound rolling broadcast
check action
hello I'm Karl Taylor welcome to my studio for another episode of
photography rants now talking of photography rants we didn't actually
have much of a rant last time but I am going to have one today I can assure you
because after last episode a couple of the comments that were coming in about
gear and the usual which camera shall I get which lens should I get and you know
I get it I understand you want to make the best purchase you want to find the
best thing but let's just let's touch on this for a minute okay first of all you
are nowhere near as good as you think you are okay nowhere near not even close
to it I'm not as good as I think I am okay even after twenty plus years in
doing photography my photography actually I think only really improved
about 10 years ago when I discovered the magic secret but you guys you're all
freaking out about d8 this d7 d9 cannon5 this that and the other and you just
don't get it you don't get it you are missing the biggest trick of all okay
let's go to my screen please Ben this photograph that you can see on screen
now one of my favorites I shot this in 1991 1991 okay most of you weren't even
born I'm how old am i how old my 48 I'm 48
years old okay so I've been doing this for a long time that photo was taken on
this camera a Canon f1 film camera that's right film it uses film that goes
in there like that and so an SLR camera just like this type of camera here
except this is digital and this is film now I shot that picture let's go back to
that picture I shot that picture on film and
that film has been scanned and then digitized so that we can now obviously
show it in a digital format now why will that while we're there let's have a look
at some of these I also shot that one on the same camera that one on the same
camera that one on the same camera and many of these other pictures of my older
photojournalism shots I mean these ones here this is from 1994 this is an
another favorite of mine really love this one 1994 and the quality and the
clarity and and the the picture quality it's all there
everything you need for a good photo is there from this this camera that costs
$200 on eBay now $200 and all I get is which camera should I get should I get
the d8 should I get this should I get the 5d
Mark 3 sure I get the 60 sure I get to 70 by what the hell you like ok I really
couldn't give a crap ok the most important thing is what you do with the
knowledge what you do with the photography now I know what you can say
you can you can say right right now you're going well look at that
Hasselblad set next to you why do you use that Hasselblad okay it's about
business efficiency I'm gonna come back to that in a minute let's finish this
talk first okay I use a 5d Mark 3 I've used a 5d Mark 3 for years or for
whatever I'd the mark 2 before I'm gonna come back to why I use that okay the
fact of the matter is can you take a decent picture on another camera that's
less expensive and the answer is yes you can
the problem is so many and it's not all of you okay it's not all of you but so
many of you are fixated on needing the latest tech the latest bit of gear
thinking it's gonna solve your woeful picture-taking skills because it's not
okay because I could go out with this camera and because of what I know in
here I could deliver the same level of quality of results that I can on this
camera I just can't do it as efficiently one because it's not digital so I can't
see the image instantly two because I can only get 36 shots on a roll of film
three because I have to wait to get the film processed etc etc but that will not
stop me turning out the quality of result it won't stop me turning out the
same quality of picture this is a manual focus lens
I used manual focus cameras for 15 years I still focus manually on my cameras at
the moment and yet everyone's worried about sixty-four focus points or 27
focus zones and three in the corner and one on the left and one on the right and
one at the top one in the middle and do it does it have simultaneous by focus I
corrected whatever crap I have no idea I don't even pay any attention to any of
that stuff so when people say to me which camera should I buy I have no idea
and I don't even care all right I do not care the only thing that actually you
should be considering is the lens this bit is probably the most important part
that you stick on this so get a full frame 35 mil camera of any make any
brand any format I don't care spend your money on the lenses that's where the
difference is going to be as a matter of fact when I was shooting photojournalism
back on a camera like this that's the thing I concentrated on was the lenses
and now these old FD lenses right which are nowhere near as good as even some of
the cheaper lenses today they still delivered these pictures you know these
pictures that we're talking about here they were delivered on these old FD
lenses and they were perfectly capable of producing the results so stop going
on about the gear and get out and start shooting and start thinking like a
photographer start thinking about what it is to make a great picture what it is
to tell a story what it is to create images through careful composition
careful understanding of light careful understanding of depicting emotion okay
that's what's gonna get you a great picture not nerding it around pixel
peeping and chimpón at your camera and you know getting freaked out with dear
MV that's never gonna make you a good picture okay so now let's move on to all
the people that go okay right I have got a 5d Mark 3 okay
but as I explained to you I shot with much lower cameras that are still
perfectly capable today why do I have a 5d Mark 3 because I'm a professional
photographer I have to deliver a job now most of you that follow us I guess are
not professional photographers you are not having to work as efficiently you're
not having to work in such a way that you have to deliver things efficiently
and if it's not your job like for example if you're not a top chef but you
really love cooking if you're not a top chef if a top chef has the best ovens
the best Hobbs the best pots the boss the best pans and he's got loads of them
he's got three ovens he's got six Hobbs and he's got all of that and he's
restaurant because he's got to deliver stuff quickly and efficiently to make
his business more efficient but you can still cook the same quality of meal if
you have the knowledge you can do it on your basic oven at home with your basic
hob and your basic pots and pans because you have the knowledge so someone who's
into cooking they don't go out and kick their whole kitchen out at home with six
ovens and six Hobbs and every single accessory that a restaurant a restaurant
chef would have no they don't but they can still do a good job and in the same
sense as amateur photographers you don't necessarily need to worry about all the
super efficiencies you're being formed by the camera manufacturers on you need
this many pixels you know we've gone from 12 megapixel to 16 to 18 to 22 up
to 56 back down to 18 back up to 24 it's all over the shop because it's all
marketing it's all marketing spiel okay none of you or 90% of you are not gonna
make any difference whether you have a 46 megapixel or an 18 megapixel a 22
megapixel because you're never gonna be doing much more with your pictures then
put them in I stock or selling them at best on Getty or things like that or
producing a few nice prints and you can do
that with an 18 megapixel camera I know because I used to shoot with one okay so
it's about efficiency I've got this camera for the same reason the chef has
got all of the best equipment at his disposal to make his job easier to do
because he's getting paid for it as a living their tools so if you take this
lovely 50 megapixel Hasselblad camera this is a tool it's a tool to do a job
for product photography because the images are being blown up to huge sizes
for billboards and ad campaigns and sometimes the art directors want to crop
into the images so it's a tool for a job so why would you need to go crazy about
gear Envy if you're not doing it at that level for that job it's so often I'm
seeing all these questions come in from photographers and then I look at their
portfolios and I think you are just missing the point you've got a good
camera already or you can buy that particular camera and do and spend more
money on a lens that will do a better job and everyone is freaking out all the
time and we get lots and lots of questions about which camera which bit
of gear and it's just driving me nuts because the reason it drives me nuts is
because I know I can go out with this and if you had what I had in my head in
your head you could go out with this and do exactly the same thing so stop going
on about the gear and spend some more time shooting learning absorbing some
knowledge and bettering yourself so that you actually understand what photography
is really about okay that was a little rant I'd love to hear
your comments and thoughts on that little rant and while we're waiting for
any of those to come in let's just take a look seems we were looking at travel
photos there some of my old travel images I found this today this is on the
BBC website BBC News website they were celebrating the best
in travel photography it's a really nice page there's some beautiful images here
of different people's travel shots from all over the world different techniques
there we can see with the long exposure the slow shutter speed some beautiful
compositions and juxtaposition and contrast here with the the red against
the blue so some really nice inspirational images now these guys
might have had great gear they might have had basic gear for all we know some
of these shots might have been taken on an iPhone because it's about the story
it's about getting the image and getting the story being in the right place
understanding the moment understanding lighting understanding composition
understanding what it takes to make a good picture that's what it's about and
okay I know everyone gets obsessed by gear right
I must admit even I do a bit as well it's like you see a new lens you think
all what can that do but realistically right I don't have a 5d Mark for this a
5d Mark 4 I haven't got a 5d Mark I don't need a 5d Mark 4 I've still got
this 5d Mark 3 I didn't even buy this 5d Mark 3 for photography per se because I
used mostly that's blood I bought it because we wanted it for the video
capabilities and now we've superseded the video capabilities on that camera
with the sony a7 which has got better video capabilities so we haven't bought
it from a gear perspective we've bought it from a performance perspective from a
commercial perspective from a business perspective so in terms of gear I only
think of it as tools tools to do the job that will allow me to do my job more
efficiently and get paid more efficiently do work better for clients
more efficiently but if you're not doing it at that level why are you worrying
about it and so concerned about it at that level
ok that's the main message I want to get across today is start thinking about the
way you think about photography start thinking about what is in
horton an image is it about the latest badge or the latest number mark version
on your camera or is it about thinking about how you can get the shot what you
can do to get the shot or make the shot or create the shot or how you can put
yourself at the right place at the right time with the right techniques and the
right knowledge that is absolutely crucial that's absolutely key so right
we have talking of knowledge we have this amazing live show coming up on
Tuesday now this young lady shoots with 35 mil cameras basic lighting equipment
soft boxes scrims diffusion all sorts of stuff that you can sort of deal with
yourself and she makes these amazing food pictures because she knows that
what she needs to do is concentrate on the styling on the preparation on
building the image building the story and then just with fairly basic lighting
she's making those amazing pictures and on Tuesday we're going to show you
exactly how to do it Anna's going to be joining me and we're gonna work through
these pictures from scratch preparing the shots live on Tuesday a live
workshop where you can see and I'm making preparing the food the styling
and all the important stuff about what makes that picture so we look at those
pictures is what is it that makes these pictures it's not whether it's a 6d a 7d
a d810 a d750 it's not about that at all because at that resolution those
pictures could have been taken on a camera from 10 years ago they could be
taken on this f1 film camera so it's about the knowledge it's about what do
you actually have to do to make the good picture okay not about the gear it's
about the knowledge so I hope that you can join me on Tuesday with Anna where
we're going to show you exactly to create these amazing pictures and
they're the sort of pictures that you can actually make in your own home so if
you've get the ingredients together you follow the instructions that she's gonna
put down for us you could basically get this stuff get the props learn about her
tips for styling and the little food tricks that she's going to show us and
this is something you could shoot in your kitchen this is something that you
could do yourself and I can guarantee you could do it probably with the
current camera that you have without worrying about the rest of the gear okay
that's it that's the run over for today thank you
for joining me oh actually no there's one other thing
let's just go and have a look over here I want to show you all the preparation
that we've got for this stuff this is our kitchen so this is where and a
little little all this stuff we bout to start getting all the ingredients cuz
we're doing about seven or eight food shoots next week for a bunch of new
tutorials and Carl Taylor education comm but one of them is going to go out live
on Tuesday for the live show so we've got a Swiss just basically start getting
all the stuff ready so you don't need to buy this much stuff if you want to do a
food shoot this is because we're doing eight different styles of food shoots
and eight different food shots next week but one of them is being broadcast live
and you'll see Anna doing the preparation getting everything ready and
us making the picture and it's about making the picture no matter what gear
you've got we'll be able to show you how you can make a great picture so I can
join us Tuesday the 8th of August that's next week next Tuesday for a live
photography show on Carl Taylor education.com thanks very much for
listening see you
you