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Author Topic: Eschewing Perfection  (Read 58281 times)

Iluvmycam

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #20 on: March 30, 2015, 10:05:46 am »

Now, if your an anal, tripod photog...you better have pretty perfect pix.

No excuse for producing garbage if your set up / staged / landscape photog.

Only excuse is for doc photog and maybe art photog looking for effect.
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ripgriffith

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #21 on: March 30, 2015, 11:30:33 am »

Now, if your an anal, tripod photog...you better have pretty perfect pix.

No excuse for producing garbage if your set up / staged / landscape photog.

Only excuse is for doc photog and maybe art photog looking for effect.
You are seriously caught  up in this anal thing.  Did you just discover the word and feel you must try it out as often as you can, or is this the only way you can express your distaste for landscape and/or tripod-based photographers? If so, I truly wonder why you are on this forum, where you are bound to encounter many, many landscape and tripod-based photographers.  The word "trolling" springs to mind. BTW, I hope your photography is better than your grammar.  The word "your" is the possessive case of "you".  The word you're actually looking for is "you're", a contraction of "you are".
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #22 on: March 30, 2015, 11:32:04 am »

... BTW, I hope your photography is better than your grammar.  The word "your" is the possessive case of "you".  The word you're actually looking for is "you're", a contraction of "you are".

Then again, he is obviously not that anal about it ;D

ErikKaffehr

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #23 on: March 30, 2015, 12:03:03 pm »

Hi,

I would like this image a lot:



Would it not be extremely out of focus. It may work at really small size, but I cannot print it and put on the wall.

Best regards
Erik
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Erik Kaffehr
 

telyt

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #24 on: March 30, 2015, 01:37:52 pm »

I prefer something other than binary thinking, i.e., 'technical excellence is mandatory' (a proxy for perfection) vs. 'sharpness is a bourgeois concept'.  There's a time and a place for each.

Regarding the H C-B photo referenced above, it does nothing for me.  I get headaches looking at it.  I like many of his photos and I appreciate his influence on photography but he's not a deity.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #25 on: March 30, 2015, 03:36:53 pm »

Well, I thought Michael's rantatorial was just perfect (oops!)  ;)
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

PeterAit

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #26 on: March 30, 2015, 04:05:25 pm »

I could have written that rantatorial myself (although not as well as Michael did). A lot has been said about tis in previous posts, but I'll ad my 1.5 cents.

Evaluating the technical aspects of the photo is easy. Anyone with functioning eyeballs and half a brain can evaluate sharpness, DOF, dynamic range, and so on. Big deal. And, anyone with a credit card can upgrade to the latest umpteen megapixel camera, the latest ultra-sharp lens, and so on. But, to evaluate the esthetic value of a photo takes some skill, experience, and thought. A lot harder!
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #27 on: March 30, 2015, 04:50:39 pm »

Hi,

The way I see it, I either like a photograph or I don't. If I don't like a photograph I don't care about how it adheres to rules of composition or best practices. But, some other person my find it to be an excellent image.

On the other hand, I really prefer to print images at decent size. A well executed image will enlarge very well. Lack of technical quality can be an artistic expression, but that doesn't mean that a sloppy execution will turn a bad picture into art. Robert Capa's images from the Normandy invasion illustrate this, here the lack of technical quality gives authencity but also emphases the sadness of all things happening that day.

The same kind of sadness can be felt in Paul Hansen's technically perfect imagery here:

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-1920/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/5/15/1368606734100/Paul-Hansen-of-Gaza-City--001.jpg

Best regards
Erik


I could have written that rantatorial myself (although not as well as Michael did). A lot has been said about tis in previous posts, but I'll ad my 1.5 cents.

Evaluating the technical aspects of the photo is easy. Anyone with functioning eyeballs and half a brain can evaluate sharpness, DOF, dynamic range, and so on. Big deal. And, anyone with a credit card can upgrade to the latest umpteen megapixel camera, the latest ultra-sharp lens, and so on. But, to evaluate the esthetic value of a photo takes some skill, experience, and thought. A lot harder!
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Erik Kaffehr
 

Telecaster

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #28 on: March 30, 2015, 09:16:59 pm »

IMO some HCB photos are outstanding, others good & still others meh. Same with pretty much every other photographer of note. Bodies of work created by curious, explorative people tend to cover lots of ground.

I personally enjoy doing various kinds of photography, from precise tripod-based view camera work to handheld but careful shooting to freewheeling from-the-hip snapping. It's all good. At any particular time I typically favor one approach over the others, but that "one" changes from year to year and sometimes from month to month. All the approaches are worthwhile & meaningful to me.

-Dave-
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AreBee

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #29 on: March 31, 2015, 04:56:21 am »

Perfection has but one flaw: it is apt to be dull.
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ripgriffith

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #30 on: March 31, 2015, 07:01:55 am »

Perfection has but one flaw: it is apt to be dull.
This sounds like an argument one would make to justify flawed work.
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Hans Kruse

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #31 on: March 31, 2015, 07:29:04 am »

Perfection has but one flaw: it is apt to be dull.

It can be and it can't be. You are mixing up things here.

AreBee

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #32 on: March 31, 2015, 07:42:05 am »

ripgriffith,

Quote
This sounds like an argument one would make to justify flawed work.

I wouldn't know: the phrase was not coined by me.



Hans,

Quote
You are mixing up things here.

I have not mixed up anything. Refer above.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #33 on: March 31, 2015, 09:55:34 am »

...I wouldn't know: the phrase was not coined by me...

Then why did you post it as yours, i.e., without a proper attribution?

ripgriffith

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #34 on: March 31, 2015, 10:07:20 am »

Then why did you post it as yours, i.e., without a proper attribution?
Not only without attribution, but apparently  without even understanding what it says.
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AreBee

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #35 on: March 31, 2015, 03:03:50 pm »

Slobodan,

Quote
Then why did you post it as yours, i.e., without a proper attribution?

I didn't post the phrase as my own - italicised text was intended to convey that. You inferred from non-provision of credit that I claimed it for myself, albeit understandably so.



ripgriffith,

Quote
Not only without attribution, but apparently  without even understanding what it says.

You'll never know.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #36 on: March 31, 2015, 03:07:57 pm »

Slobodan,

I didn't post the phrase as my own - italicised text was intended to convey that....

Italicized text, by itself, is by no means a standard way of denoting quoting. Quotation marks are. Or you can start with "Someone once said..." or "I read somewhere..." if you do not know the origin of a quote.

NancyP

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #37 on: March 31, 2015, 08:05:27 pm »

Well, I tend to get caught up in finding reasons not to do things - I don't know enough, I need to read more, I don't have a preconceived image in mind, my portfolio is non-existent - and this tends to go on in all areas of my life. So my life-long motto is "the perfect is the enemy of the good". Phrased another way - Start doing "it". The sooner you make mistakes, the sooner you get better at "it". As to who came up with this idea, I can credit Ms. Ogg, of a cave in France some 15,000 years ago.  :D
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Otto Phocus

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #38 on: June 03, 2015, 11:49:50 am »

One of the issues is that the technical properties of a photograph can be measured.  If it can be measured, it can be compared with other measurements.  That makes discussing...ok  arguing... about a photograph easier.

I can measure focus, tonal patterns, the physics of composition, lighting, exposure...... The list goes on

If I can measure it, I can re-create it using technology and technique.  My ability to use the technology and implement my technique can thereby be discussed argued.

This is why discussions arguments about techniques and technology are common on the Internets Tubes forums.  It is easy to understand and it is easy to cherry pick facts that support one's opinion and refute someone else's opinion.  ;)

What I can't measure is art.  Because art does not have a definition.. or to be more accurate, art does not have a universally agreed upon definition.  Every one has their own definition of what is and ain't art.

This is why I can't say that something is good or bad art or even if it is or ain't art.  I can say that I personally like or don't like this form of art.  I can also say that this particular example of art adheres to or differs from some "arbitrary standard".  But that does not indicate whether someone's art is good or bad or whether it is or is not even art.

Therefore any discussion argument about art can quickly devolve into a matter of opinions.  Naturally anyone's opinion that differs from *my* opinion, must be wrong, uneducated, or is unsophisticated. After all, if they were, they would naturally share *my* opinion.   ;D

Photographers like to proclaim that it is not the equipment but the photographer, but if you notice most of the postings on photographic forums involves equipment.  It is not the equipment but I will sure argue about minutia about lens parameters to my dying breath!!

Why?

Because discussing arguing about technology is easier than discussing arguing about artistic intent.

Something is art if and only if the person that created it, considers it art.  Whether anyone else considers it art is their opinion.  But the artist is not constrained by anyone's opinion but theirs.
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I shoot with a Camera Obscura with an optical device attached that refracts and transmits light.

Telecaster

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Re: Eschewing Perfection
« Reply #39 on: June 03, 2015, 01:55:48 pm »

Reality consists of everything that continues to exist even if you stop believing in it. (A paraphrase of something someone said or wrote sometime…dunno who.)

But, yeah, photo tech talk is easy 'cuz you're dealing with qualitative things that, usually, can be quantified. I mostly stay away from discussion of "art" or why this photo resonates with me, or provokes me, while that one doesn't. I don't know how to talk about that stuff in a meaningful way, and actually see little point in trying. Better IMO to just take photos, check out other peoples' photos, go see a gallery/museum/installation exhibit, etc. Invest in the intuitive aspect of doing those things and give the calculating brain a rest.  :)

-Dave-
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