rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I’m not sure whether tastes have changed or our abilities to meet them have. In the past, the best lenses were sharp in the middle - today we expect corner-to-corner sharpness, even if that requires lenses several times as heavy.

chuckc

I disagree. We have the technology of today because the camera manufactures are always pushing technology to market the latest and greatest, not because the strive for perfection is driving it.

Besides, what is "perfection," and how will one know it once it's been achieved.

Perfection is not an absolute, but rather infinite.

Chuck

Nickaroo

So Very True Paul. The honest truth ro an age old ???

Brucer Loc: Bedminster, NJ

Photos I shot years ago on my Pentax K1000 and framed I will never take down from my walls. I even have two shots framed, which I keep up, done on a throwaway film camera I used after my Pentax got stolen, and I couldn't yet afford another. Now I'm shooting with a D850--I do keep my D7100--and while I am entranced with the quality I'm getting, even though as yet I'm only now about to buy an external monitor, I move ahead with trepidation, because I find the technicalities tantalizingly difficult. As someone recently commented on a post I submitted. "And now you miss the days of film," or something to that effect.

Nickaroo

I was one of the "Pro-Photographers" for the North American tour for Led Zeppelin. I also do the photography for 1 of my favorite college athletic programs, Big Blue, but I just happen to be 1 of 20. Our pics are no better than anyone else's. I do not consider myself to be some great pro as my shots are nothing greater than anyone else could do. As a concert photographer I was just at the right place at the right time, plus I had some major people that helped me. I photographed many acts from many genres of music and the groups, especially Zeppelin were not looking for perfection. Hell, we were living "All the World's A Stage" moment in our years. I never had 1 complaint against my work because we were all making $$$$, and that was all that mattered. Photography is an art and it can be manipulated to whatever one so chooses. One person may like it and one person may not, different strokes for different folks.

Brucer Loc: Bedminster, NJ

A friend of mine studied photography in college. Soon thereafter, he crashed one of Jimmy Buffet's parties with a friend and got caught red-handed by Buffet himself. Instead of throwing them out, Buffet said, "Why don't turn burgers for us?" So they turned burgers and one thing led to another...he became one of Buffet's photographers, so I imagine your story is similar to his.

Many years later, but not too many, given where we are now, he followed the Grateful Dead around, shooting events at their concerts. (One of his photos the Dead used on part of an album cover, but that photo was unrelated to these travels I mention.) I believe he told me some of these follower photos were of the very last concert before Garcia died. He has a big album full of them. He told me he was interested in getting them published in book form, but he hasn't followed through. I thought he captured some amazing expressions.

Interesting story of yours. Yes, and about art and making photos any way you want. I'm about to buy a colorimeter and an external monitor in the interest of getting color "right." And yet, I think some shades, to put it this way, can be lost in striving for an aesthetic of perfect representation. Just minutes ago, I viewed a shot I took five years ago on my former D60. From the RAW image, I created a sky with a shade of blue that seems so much better than what it really was. It's a shot full of fresh snow, on tree limbs over the stream I stood in the middle of to get it, wearing waders, the temperature at 13 degrees. It seems just the right shade to complement the frigid cold and the snow and the dark--though it was clear--water.

uhaas2009

A friend of my have a b&w image from her mother what was taken before photography was that popular. Ever time I see this image I see perfection in lighting and posing......

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Interesting question. I've just about finished putting a book together for print. It contains all the portraits which I've shot over about 50 years - the ones I like. I doubt whether a great many of them would be judged as great portraits by some of the commentators on this forum. However, in reviewing my body of work, I can honestly say that my portraits say something about each subject, either exposing their personality or a particular quirk or something else that relates to them. They're not perfect but they are never-to-be-repeated-moments in time that are perfect to me.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

This is not limited to photography in my opinion. Expectations of perfection is both expected and in many cases demanded these days it seems emotions run amok if they are not met.
In the end, it is either a snapshot or art.
In any case, perfection can only be judged by whomever controlled the camera,brush, or program.

Brucer Loc: Bedminster, NJ

Yeah, and I think perfection can only be judged in the end by whomever controlled the camera, and so on, because he sees the details of that process (of control), all of which together he alone has the knowledge, as the finished result. In the end, it's the viewing of the photograph which is the perfection. And the viewing itself develops over time....

Nickaroo

This is usually how gigs for me have happened, I was young and very lucky. If you are going to buy an external editor, take a close look at the BenQ lineup.

GerryER Loc: Virginia USA

Or what they would like to look like!

Photography, to me, is the accurate reproduction of a scene, or subject (even if some post-processing is required); once you get past this, you are into art and self-expression, or maybe deception. For example, a portrait of someone where all blemishes are eradicated is art, and not photography. If that makes your clock tick, fine, but it isn't an accurate rendition of the subject. Not to get philosophical, but I believe this is why people in general have lost trust; you can't tell what is real and what is "doctored up" anymore. JMO.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

When you are a professional portrait photographer, you do what the client wants. I wasn't going to tell people I refuse to touch up their photos because it would be deceptive. There were times I would advise them the amount of touch up they wanted wouldn't look real. I wanted to arrive at an image which people who know the subject wouldn't say it looked touched up, but instead that it was a very good photo of them. If you can't tell if it was real and not "doctored up" that is a good thing. Touching up portraits is something that has been done since the beginning of photography.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Computerization has affected many things. Level of attainment which was once only a dream can now be achieved if you just throw enough computing at it. The cell phone I am typing this on has more power than what was once needed to take men to the moon. On another note, when my wife finished her doctoral dissertation - which required the largest computer at the university then - in 1980, I commented that someday we would have a computer in our bedroom big enough to do the job; well, it is in our den instead, but it can do it.

DanCulleton

Too much perfection? What a concept!