Special Presentation - "The Camera is an Idiot" by Michael Smyth
Due to the recent imposition of a further covid lockdown in NSW, our 50+1 celebration has been postponed.
To fill in the gap, Michael Smyth stepped up with a fun and thought provoking presentation titled “the Camera is an Idiot, or is it?”. In this presentation Michael looked at 5 things that our cameras do that annoy us and looked at solutions for our image making.
The main issues with using our cameras are that the image on the back of the camera is not the same as the RAW file and can mislead and confuse us in the field. Also, the camera sometimes “lies” to us by showing clipped highlights, when in fact the image is well exposed.
A lot of the issues with the camera comes from how the image on the back (or viewfinder with mirrorless cameras) is created in camera. This is a JPEG thumbnail that is generated within the camera and bears little resemblance to the RAW file we open in our image editing software.
Other issues such as the “appearance” of distractions in the image, innaccurate white balance and metering issues can all be traced to the way we interact with our cameras. Michael offered solutions to all these issues and even suggested some ways that our cameras can be improved in future. The discussion after the presentation raised some interesting issues, especially with the question of what is the “correct” White Balance, and how do we achieve it.
Comprehensive notes have been prepared by Michael and these can be downloaded by clicking HERE…
Keep an eye out for a more detailed presentation on the Phototutor YouTube channel, coming soon.
To view the other videos available on YouTube, click HERE…
Why does our camera “see” this ?
When we “see” this?