Reality check

For lack of a better word let's call it that.

Anyone who spends any time around the major photography sites on the internet will notice there's an almost insane obsession with gear. We want top notch, a lot of us are willing to pay a lot of money for it and when we don't get what we want the first reaction is to throw money at it.

Now take a look at this:



Of course it's not serious, it's poking fun at a certain kind of photographer. But, let's be honest, how many of us haven't been in this frame of mind a little bit at one time or another?

Now let's take this one.



It's kinda long but this guy says a few very good things.

• know your gear
• if you buy a new lens get to know it before buying another one
• visualize your shots

I think all three are equally important. The last point is perhaps the most interesting. If you visualize something but you can't get it to turn out the way you want those website I mentioned earlier can be useful. Post your pic, with full exif, describe what you did and what you are not happy with. Good chance someone can help.

Of course sometimes the conclusion that you are expecting unreasonable things from your gear. Take this one.



Shot at iso 800 and a severe crop. ISo 800 will already show noise. A high contrast situation such as this will only make that worse. At a crop and you will see even more noise.

Conclusion. Lower the iso and bring my monopod. Or get closer. Or replace the 70-300 by something longer.