You have reconfirmed that the barrier to entry into professional photography has been lowered to such a pedestrian level, that anyone can enter. Great cameras are now everywhere and very affordable. Not all have the knowledge to use them however.

So my question to you is, with all of your experience and knowledge, when you overheard these two who clearly lack the basic understanding of photography, did you offer any clarity on the subject? It is so easy to explain the basics of photography in under 5 minutes. I have helped so many people with cameras get to the “Ah ha” moment with a quick explanation of the three variables of photography, what each does and how they interact.

It’s easy to gloat when seeing someone else’s potential failure, especially when they have little to no experience and are being paid, but that’s not helpful to advancing our talent and knowledge base, unless of course you are benefitting by their failure.

Today I was the witness of a conversation between two 'photographers' who obviously did not anything about their cameras...

Both complained of the lack of sharpness.

Turns out they both use the infamous VR, expecting it to be the cure of all ills.

They demonstrated an ignorance I could not believe. VR 'allows for a lower speed' That is inherently wrong. Sure, there is some truth in it when dealing with a static object, but a moving one? That is wrong. The subject motion is and must be what determines the speed used if one wants tack sharp capture. You can play with the dof or ISO, not with the speed.

Then they did not take into account the type of sensor array their camera has, such as the density of it. The smaller the individual sensors are, the faster the shutter speed needs to be.

Then there was their use of JPG which opens yet another can of worm.

These two are 'shooting' weddings, more like a terminal execution in my opinion. A firing squad should be the next step, as in 'YOU ARE FIRED!!!'.

The issues are, again, in my opinion., a near complete ignorance of their cameras' capabilities and utter misunderstanding of what DR does and where.

VR helps stabilize the camera lens combination when hand holding it. It does not compensate for the subject motion at all.

So if your shots are not up to your expectation first and foremost check your capture speed. Since dof is an important part of having your subject within the acceptable field of sharpness*, the only setting you can use is the ISO setting. And to use ISO effectively, you need to shoot raw and know your sensor capabilities (DR as well as optimal ISO for invariant sensors). If using auto ISO the lower limit is the one that allows for the minimal speed to use in order to capture an image that is sharp.

In short, stop complaining like these two and take the steps necessary to reduce the throw-away due to lack of sharpness.

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* I do not use depth of field because the acceptable field of sharpness is shorter than the depth of field, even if the two terms are used interchangeably by many.

You have reconfirmed that the barrier to entry into professional photography has been lowered to such a pedestrian level, that anyone can enter. Great cameras are now everywhere and very affordable. Not all have the knowledge to use them however.

So my question to you is, with all of your experience and knowledge, when you overheard these two who clearly lack the basic understanding of photography, did you offer any clarity on the subject? It is so easy to explain the basics of photography in under 5 minutes. I have helped so many people with cameras get to the “Ah ha” moment with a quick explanation of the three variables of photography, what each does and how they interact.

It’s easy to gloat when seeing someone else’s potential failure, especially when they have little to no experience and are being paid, but that’s not helpful to advancing our talent and knowledge base, unless of course you are benefitting by their failure.

The point being made is a valid one and it points to an unfortunate state of affairs. One of the most basic aspects of photography is that the shutter speed needs to be fast enough to eliminate motion blur (unless it is specifically wanted). There are only three other factors that are equally basic - the exposure needs to be right, the DOF needs to be right (which usually means "sufficient") and the ISO should be as low as circumstances allow.

Considering how simple and how basic those four requirements are, it's amazing that they are not all common knowledge and well understood. The fact that they aren't indicates that most teaching in photography is more complicated than it needs to be.