A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries. Will Rogers

Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.  Ansel Adams

The type of Photo I like – ready to print

I love printed photos !  I have a large format printer  just so that I can print large photos and give them away.  A printed photo is much less forgiving than a computer screen; all photos look good on a computer screen.

However, not everyone is the same.  How do you like your photos?  Do you show them off in Facebook and Instagram, do you make 3″ x 5″ little prints to put in a shoe box?  Each of these has a different requirement; I have a son who uses his phone to take pictures of nice meals and posts those to Instagram or Facebook.   I have another son who converts photos to Black and White, and thinks of photos in Black & White.  I have a friend who is into street photography and he likes 11″ x 14″ size prints, and they publish books with their photos.  I have a cousin Pete who is the outdoor writer /photographer for a news paper.  He only shoots JPG, and almost never on a tripod, he doesn’t have time with deadlines and all.

For some of us, it is the process of creating the photo that is also important. This is what I started out  with for the opening photo.  I enjoy the process of creating the picture.

Raw photo, not the type of photo that I want

So, what does this have to do with you?   If you are an Instagram type of photo person, then a nice cell phone, or a small point and shoot is what you need.  If you like printing, then you need bigger sensors, which mean bigger glass, more weight, more $$$, more exercise, etc.     If you have deadlines you shoot in jpg,  If you like being creative, then you shoot in raw.  If you just want to shoot and forget about it a point and shoot is for you.  If you want something like the above photo of Yosemite, taken before sunrise, then you are starting to look at a tripod, and a camera that supports timed exposure (13 seconds at f/6.3).   If you want to think about your photos to make sure that you create good pictures rather than snapshots,  then take a workshop or two, signup for Photosig and write critiques.

If you are going to enjoy your photography, then it is important to know yourself and the type of photo you want.