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Manfrotto 468MGRC0 Hydrostatic Ball Head

Despite the claims of some photography pundits, you certainly do need a stable shooting platform for your camera in many situations. OIS, IS and VR can't help you when shutter speeds drop to seconds.

Read Mario Georgiou's full review!

Canon PowerShot G9 Digital Camera

As good camera designs get better and the market leaders — Canon and Nikon mainly — vie for top spot, consumers, hobbyists, amateurs and professional photographers benefit from the competition. Is there a G9 in your future?

Read Howard Carson's full review!

Canon PowerShot A650 IS Digital Compact Camera

Canon keeps coming up with terrific little cameras which exceed our expectations. Looking for a digital compact camera packed with value, usability and image quality? Consider looking at Canon first.

Read Howard Carson's full review!

TrueGrain v1.1

There is an increasingly steady turn away from film and film effects of all types in favor of a completely digital look and feel. Emulation of classic film grain, a hallmark of so much great film over the years, has some interesting uses.

Read Mario Georgiou's full review!

The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book

With apologies to veteran Photoshop users who spend lots of time in the Channels palette, the Photoshop Layers features and functions are the most powerful photo editing controls available today. A serious Photoshop layers book is always welcome.

Read Mario Georgiou's full review!

Nikon Coolpix P50 Digital Camera

Point & Shoot cameras come and go with the seasons. The problem is, some consumers have limited budgets. What's needed is a sturdy little camera that has some staying power in the form of rich, accurate color, a sharp lens, and lots of features.

Read Howard Carson's full review!

Photography & Video Shoulder Bags, Sling Packs, Backpacks, Waist Belt Systems and Rolling Bags - 2008 Product Roundup

We rounded up samples, talked to users, shopped and reviewed models from 30 makers. There are a lot of good designs to choose from. Find the bag that fits your needs.

Read Howard Carson's full review!

Plustek OpticFilm 7300 Film Scanner

It doesn't matter how dedicated you've become to digital photography. There's still a great storehouse of photos on slides and negatives sitting in a closet, calling out to you. Those old photos aren't suddenly unworthy simply because they're not digital.

Read Mario Georgiou's full review!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v1.3

Professional photographers and serious amateurs need robust, easy to use software which eases workflow while at the same time providing powerful and intuitively easy to use editing tools, content management and high quality output. Adobe has answered the call.

Read Mario Georgiou's full review!

Nikon D300 Digital SLR Camera

Great companies stay at or near the top of the mountain by relentlessly and creatively pursuing the improvement of their core products. Focus, focus, focus. Nikon exemplifies this by periodically designing and manufacturing some of the best cameras in the world.

Read Howard Carson's full review!

Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod

It's great to have the latest SLR camera and lens, but Pro or not, you'd also better have a reliable, versatile tripod

RAW Workflow from Capture to Archives

Digital photographers grappling with huge volumes of RAW files have to get into the habit of using an efficient workflow

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Art, Craft or happenstance

I was following a thread in a forum a few years ago, its subject matter was "a quick and spontaneous snap." There are many photographs which happen as a result of a reflex shot, where a "photographer" takes a quick shot of an event or situ as it happens and creates a piece of "Art." Many great images have been captured in this way. But how many of these are "happy" accidents and how many are feted through the selection process that an artist applies in filtering through their images? I feel that through working in the craft, you can create the image you wish to capture through the use of a combination of using ones "eye", timing, patience and selectivity.

The exercise is akin to developing any skill ... I liken it to the samurai pursuit of the perfect cut. They would practice 1000 cuts or so every day, do it enough times and there will come a moment when you achieve a level of mechanical fluidity and perfection, where you are no longer thinking about the cut, but doing it. In its most extreme form, the art takes place when you can transcend the mechanical movement and become the cut.


As a photographer pursuing your craft/art you need to become almost instinctively familiar with all aspects of your tools and skill so that when the moment presents itself you take the photo naturally and with no hesitation almost as second nature ...
In my book the Fine Art of photography really doesn't occur until one has mastered or come to a good understanding of the craft.

The Fine Art of Photography is in essence the creative application of Craft ... the components of the Phrase relate as follows: Art relating to the Craft of photography and Fine defined in this case as a refined or precise example of the craft...

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