This is another image from my trip to Choshi in Chiba Prefecture last month, and while I like the photo well enough, I’m not totally happy with the composition. As I said in a previous post, I arrived to the coast later than I had intended. This meant I wasn’t ready to start shooting until the sun was already up, leaving me to rush a bit once I arrived to try to make something of what good light remained. Add in the fact that it usually takes me a few shots to get into my photography groove, and I’m kind of surprised I got anything I could work with at all!
But that brings me to my point. A couple of months back a friend was looking at a photo I had taken with my wife’s Nikon J1 and, surprised by the result, remarked “ahh, so it’s not just the camera, it’s also the software.” As a photographer it was a bit of a facepalm moment, but in reality he’s partially right. The camera and software do play a role. If you want to create beautiful images, certain kinds of editing software are virtually necessary nowadays. But just having the software isn’t enough. You have to know how to use the software for it to matter. These programs are like stoves and cabinets full of spices, and you’re the cook. You can’t just turn it on, toss stuff in, and expect it to come out well. You have to learn how to use all of it together to create a dish people will want to eat. That skill takes time and lots of practice. It’s work. But it’s well worth it when you see others enjoy something you have created, and perhaps even more so when you didn’t have much to work with from the start.
