What FB Gets Wrong

Photo by Marion West

You see it everyday on FaceBook.

Somebody, usually somebody new to photography, asks “what or what settings did you use to get that photo?”

What they should have asked was “how did you see that photo!”

Asking what settings or what camera tells you nothing about how the photographer saw the image. And it tells you nothing about how to take a similar photo because everything about this image and the light around it are constantly changing and even the best automatic digital camera won’t get the same image from one moment to the next.

In Marion’s shot (above) which was taken on the fly with a cellphone in New York City it’s way more important to ask how did she see the possibility of this image that she shot.

This photo, as I said was shot on a cellphone, but it could have been shot with any camera whether cellphone, 35mm, medium or even large format. It wouldn’t have mattered if the camera was a digital or film camera.

What mattered was Marion has been training her eye to “see” photo possibilities that are all around us. She is blessed with an artistic sense and the ability to actually “see” photo possibilities but she is also working that “seeing” muscle.

How do you get better at “seeing”?

First of all you carry a camera with you at all times and it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s a cellphone or a Hasselblad. Second you shoot at every opportunity and third you shoot a lot.

Finally you study the masters of your craft.

Doesn’t matter if it’s portraits or landscapes or street photography. Go to YouTube and watch the videos about how the masters of your type of photography shot their photos and how their photography and their ability to “see” changed and grew over time.

Photography is both a craft and it can be an art form and one can be learned and the other is a blessing.