Obscura

Posted at 2:20 PM on 30 March 2008

I have always enjoyed taking photographs.

And yet, I have been completely rubbish at taking them for years and years. Not just rubbish in the "I don't take enough" sense, but also rubbish in the "I really can't face all the fiddling about and everything that taking a photograph inevitably entails".

And this makes the proto-jesu sad.

I don't know why I don't take photographs. Or why I didn't take photographs. Initially, it was the whole getting film-rolls developed and not knowing what the results might be. But I've owned a digital camera of some sort or another for over ten years now, so it can't be down to that. Shutter lag in digital cameras (at least in the ones I bought) inevitably lead to the "say cheese! three two one... [press shutter release] ... (?) ... (what is going on?) ... CLICK" -- at which point nobody's looking at the camera anymore, or whatever moment was ensuing is lost forever.

And if not for shutter lag, even when that was a "solved problem" (depending on camera model), then having to wait 15-20 seconds between each shot was a significant downer. Frequently, the first shot wasn't quite right, and a perfect moment would occur during which a beautiful shot could have been taken, if only the camera wasn't trying to spool the current photograph onto a low-bandwidth compact flash or SD card.

A bummer man, a bummer.

So, for whatever reason, I ended up not taking photos rather than wallow in the disappointment of moments missed.

And even when I did make the effort, the photos (with whatever digital compact I happened to be using at the time) always seemed a little... well, flat. Nothing I could put my finger on, as such -- but enough such that I always felt that whatever picture I thought I was taking, it'd never live up to how I wanted it to look in my mind's eye.

And so, the vicious cycle.

So I was, frankly, mystified as to why other people apparently loved taking photographs. Constantly. Of random stuff and things. Whatever took their fancy. And that they always seemed to take better photographs than what I was capable of.

However. It may have taken a while, but I noticed a common thread. None of these people were using compact cameras, taking photographs on their mobile phones or fiddling about with the latest pocket-sized wonder. They were using beefy, gloriously chunky and apparently unwieldy digital SLRs with interchangeable lenses and (practically) beard-and-pipe built in of the sort that "you can't just have it on you when you want to take a picture".

A curious aspect indeed, and one duly (and suspiciously) noted.

Now. There is one gigantic elephant in the room when it comes to digital SLRs (DSLRs) and hip-to-the-hip hop friendly point-and-shoot megapixel-whizzo compacts that so saturate the market. And that is, for any DSLR you might care to buy, for the same price you can have TWO of the latest-and-greatest compacts. And when you start looking properly, you realise that there really isn't any middle ground at all. What you think might be, are just glorified compacts with all the disadvantages they entail. You also very quickly become aware that there really isn't an upper-limit to what you can spend on DSLR equipment. The costs can be terrifying, and every little piece mocks you from the window of Jessops (or whatever the independent camera retailer of your choice happens to be).

And they don't even fit in your pocket. And they cost megabucks. And they...

Well, take damned good pictures.

It's taken a while. A really, really long while. And lots of saving. And "umm"ing and "ahh"ing. Lots of questions and research, soul-searching and head-bashing. ESPECIALLY the head-bashing. And I suppose I've been leading up to this for at least the last half-dozen paragraphs or so: I decided to buy a DSLR camera.

In the end, I plumped for a Nikon D60 but truth be told, I don't think that the manufacturer or model is in the least bit important. It just isn't. You're choosing the icing on an already-delicious and juicy cake. They might be ugly, heavy and expensive, but any DSLR will reinvigorate your love of taking pictures.

Maybe it's the complete lack of shutter-lag. You press the shutter release and SNAP. You have a photo. Press it again and SNAP. There's the next one.

Ace.

But because of the lens, all of a sudden your photographs come to life. It's hard to describe the difference without referring to the technical details I'm more than a little shaky on. I'm not an expert, and indeed, can't even pretend to be one on TV. But my gut instinct tells me that whilst superior optics and the like all play a part, the biggest difference between a compact and DSLR is 'depth of field'.

"Depth of field" refers to (and this is only my understanding, I could be very wrong) the size of the 'plane' in which the features of a photograph will remain in focus. That is, outside of this plain, blurring will occur to the front and back of the intended subject. A large aperture (along with magnification) dramatically increases this effect, such that only a few centimeters will be in focus. Small apertures (and reduced magnification) lead to the opposite; things a few inches from the camera are as sharply in focus as things in the distance.

As such, these tiny compact camera with small, densely-packed megapixel sensors and small-scale optics simply don't have the space available to do much with regard to aperture and magnification.

As tradeoffs go, it is understandable, but leads to a lack of the all-important je-ne-sais-quoi that makes good images shine and, whilst not looking exactly look bad, having all too frequent lack-of-depth in the imagery. All that focus makes everything a little bit 'busy'.

And so, I've been taking a metric heckload of photographs. Of really strange things. Just because something looks interesting, or distinctive in some way. I've started seeing things in terms of, 'ooh, I like the look of that'. And then taking a photograph.

I think that's the main thing; whilst I don't doubt that my photographic abilities are limited, cliched and naive, freed up from the taking-a-few-snapshots-of-the-family mentality means that old synapses are reinvigorated and lead you in surprising new directions. I have never had any particular interest in flowers or gardening for instance, but when you're out-and about and have a camera, they make for a remarkably rich seam of photographic potential, being as they are unlikely to blink at an inappropriate moment, and tend not to squirm around in the way that a small child might.

So if you're debating at all as to whether or not to buy a DSLR like I once was, go for it. You'll love it. Although it's hard not to start turning your nose up at people using digital compacts and phones taking photographs of things that you know won't do the subject any justice...

Before you know it, you'll be a beard-wielding, pipe-smoking photography pedant, regardless of whether you have one X chromosome or two. Well. You never know...

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