Photography for me has always been a simmering passion. I’ve never really committed loads of money or time to it, but I understand how it works in quite some detail, and can always get a great shot out of my trusty 450d on the fully manual setting.
I understand all about f-stop settings, and shutterspeeds, how that impacts the focus every so slightly and how different levels of zoom can cause varying levels of chromatic aberration.
I know how the fairly commonly used ISO setting on most cameras was derived from different grades of film, and historically a film was referred to as being slower when the ISO number is lower (because it takes a slow aperture setting to achieve the same image density).
It really annoys me then, that the fine art of photography that I’ve spent a lifetime learning has been killed by Instagram. I’m sick of underexposed, and overexposed shots appearing on various feeds and walls; they’re always distorted and technically rubbish… and all to achieve that ‘arty’ feel. I read in a blog that a couple in America had their entire wedding shot on an iPhone and processed through Instagram, imagine in 10 years when Instagram has fallen by the wayside like Bebo or MySpace and they don’t have a wedding album, just a load of poor quality thumbnails.
I suppose, in time, this fad will be surpassed by something else; my fear though is that as cameras get more intelligent, my favourite ‘M’ function will demise, followed by the rest that offer any form of control. Arty shots will eventually be decided by the camera and gone will be the days when faffing with knobs and buttons got the image to look just right, all by your own fair hand.
