DeLong 1

Zach DeLong

Deborah Aughey

AP American Literature

25 March 2017

Toward the Reformation of Photography

Section 1: Introduction

How many times a day do you take a picture with a smartphone? Most people do

not realize that the overproduction of photographs inadvertently removes the importance

of pictures, harming photography as an art. This paper focuses on the history of digital

photography, the issue within modern photography, and what the future of photography

holds. A research project was conducted to determine how DSLRs offer a solution to the

issue of photography quality. In a time when every smartphone owner has a camera in his

or her pocket, the traditional DSLR is quintessential to renew and reflect the true art of

photography.

Section 2: Literature Review

Historical Context. Starting in the early 1990s CCD cameras were the original digital

camera, but it was non-commercial and complex. A charge coupled device (CCD) is an

integrated circuit etched onto a silicon surface forming light sensitive elements called

pixels. (What is a CCD?) The DSLR later replaced the CCD camera in quality and

convenience in both scientific and commercial fields. DSLRs started in astronomy for

photographing stars. According to Ron Arbour, CCDs were just beginning to advance to

focusing by diffraction with complicated systems of lens work, while DSLRs were

beginning to emerge with the ability to control focus within a lens, for convenience. The
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apparatus costs virtually nothing and can be made in a couple of minutes from a piece of

steel rod held in place by masking tape and spring clips, (Arbour). DSLRs were superior

because they could be modified, for convenience. But unlike CCD cameras, DSLRs are

equally adept at home taking everyday photos as well as long exposures of faint galaxies

attached to the hack of your scope. (Jakiel). The desire for convenient photography was

the impetus for developing cameras built into a phone, which was pursued with the trade

off of mediocre quality. Convenience hasnt escaped the folks at Apple, who have

turned the iPhone into the worlds most widely-used camera by iterating through an

increasingly sophisticated combination of hardware and software, (Tabini), which brings

up the issue with modern day photography, the oversaturation of art.

The contemporary issue surrounding photography. The largest issue surrounding

photography is the oversaturation of the art with the endless production of pictures. True

photographers, who practice the art itself, are categorized with the aforementioned selfie

photographers. Most people with a camera will call themselves a photographer, but the

only true photographers are the people who take pictures for a meaningful purpose. We

ask more from a self-portrait than we do from a selfie: more consideration, more

composition, more psychological insight and aesthetic care, (Wender). The

differentiation in photographers is almost non-existent, because most selfie

photographers dont realize that carelessness hurts an art. True photographers use

Manual mode, that way you tell the camera what you want, with no bad surprises from

automation, (Grunin), and selfie photographers rely on automation. Manual mode on a

DSLR allows the photographer to moderate visual artifacts within a picture to ensure

quality. Andrea et al states that visual artifacts were extremely common in photographs
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when using a smartphone for documentation, which is due to automation. The visual

artifacts referenced can vary in cause, but are likely due to ISO, shutter speed, or white

balance automation. ...the poor light sensitivity of a smaller sensor means that even a

slight increase in ISO can introduce a great deal of noise, (Braga), which applies to

smartphone cameras. The lacking control over smartphone pictures creates visual artifacts

such as noise, blurring, or toning, all of which degrade the quality. The other key factor of

quality is sharpness, and Yongli Zhou conducted a test of sharpness, concluding that a

semi professional DSLR produces sharper images than an expensive overhead scanner.

DSLRs have large sensors, which take in light for a photograph and capture sharp details,

while scanners and even smartphones need incredible amounts of light to capture details

in a photo. The small sensors on smartphones cause dull compressed photos when

utilizing normal daylight. The difference in sensor size alone shows the quality gap of

smartphones and DSLRs. These visual artifacts are unknown to the selfie photographer,

which is an indicator to their lack of care for the final picture.

DSLRs are adaptable to any situation, but require practice to execute masterfully.

It would be impossible to list all the camera and lens optionsthe DSLR manufacturers

are always striving to make their cameras and lenses more cost effective to manufacture,

(Morris). While equipment varies in price, most people can achieve their photo desires

for reasonable prices. Smartphones are not adaptable whatsoever, with a built in lens, no

way to modify the lens, and no changing focal length. Stuart Moores modifications on

his DSLR consisted of a Rainbow Optics Star Spectroscope, 200 lines/mm, and a 0.3m

Newtonian reflector to get the desired photo perfect. It takes a lot of practice before

choosing settings becomes instinctive, which can slow you down in unfamiliar
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situations, (Grunin), but this is irrelevant when you can use quick focus and simple

settings, where it allows both smartphones and DSLRs to take quick pictures. Due to the

limited capabilities with camera and skill, the selfie photographer should not be classified

as a photographer, but the grouping is continued with no definitive separation.

The Future of Photography. Selfie photographers are taking the art and skill out of

photography. Photographers are getting destroyed by the rise of iPhonesIncreasingly

we don't need photographers we can do just as well ourselves, (Jeffries). Photography

is devolving from an art with people taking necessary photos without art in mind. Even

true photographers are killing photography as an art, such as JP. Danko, who ignorantly

stated:

You can be a part time professional, shooting weddings on the weekends.

Or a mom taking baby photos in their spare time. Or surf bum shooting

stock. It doesnt matter as long as you treat your photography as a

business then you are a professional photographer. Many so called

amateur photographers create some pretty damn amazing photographs,

and many so called professional photographers deliver some pretty

awful photographs to their clients.

People like JP. Danko disregard the art, but can still produce quality images.

Analytically, DSLRs can become a viable solution, because As digital single-

lens reflex (DSLR) camera technologies advance and camera prices drop quickly, a

budget photography studio can help to achieve art preservation goals, (Zhou). The use of

DSLRs are to give upcoming photographers a fine tuned tool to learn quality in

photography. It is a quintessential part of photography to control the aspects of a picture,

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so DSLRs are the best method of putting control into the hands of beginner

photographers for a reasonable price.

Section 3: The Project I Completed

My project utilized the skill sets of three different people at different levels of

photography and tested their ability to take a picture. The three people will remain

ambiguous, but the group consisted of one selfie photographer with a smartphone

camera, one selfie photographer with a DSLR who was taught how to use the camera,

and one true photographer that was well practiced with their personal DSLR and photo

composition. The goal of the project was to determine if the DSLR made any difference

between the quality of photos taken. The testing included providing several image

subjects to the photographers and allowing them to take the picture any way they wanted.

Each photographer was responsible for a landscape shot, a portrait shot, and a product

shot of the different subjects. The photos taken would then be presented to a group of

four judges who are not aware of the best composition methods to simulate the average

viewer on social media or other photo browsing services. The true photographer was

considered the best by three out of the four judges, the beginner photographer was

considered best by one judge and second best by the other three judges, and the selfie

photographer was considered worst by all judges in all of the photos. The DSLR users

immediately had better quality, but shot composition from the professional and the

beginner already were considered better. The project showed that DSLR photographers

had better products with both image quality and shot composition definitively.

Section 4: The Successes and Failures

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The project succeeded in showing that the DSLR was the better camera for

creating aesthetically pleasing pictures. The project also succeeded in showing that

smartphone cameras and selfie photographers are below par for photography. However,

the project failed to show that the beginner photographer and selfie photographer were at

similar skill levels to begin with, so the data could be inconclusive as to whether beginner

DSLR users are truly better than selfie photographers at taking pictures. The project was

attempting data collection that would be better for quantitative rather than qualitative

data, rendering most of the findings with holes. The project also failed in proving that

DSLRs could save photography as an art, because the judges were not judging the

meaning, just the raw media. The project could be improved by asking a panel of judges

to account for the meaning and mood behind a photograph if present.

Section 5: Conclusion

DSLRs have the ability to produce amazing photos and amazing. Photography is a

fine tuned art, which the DSLR can handle considering its customizability. DSLRs have

the potential to save the art of photography by inspiring selfie photographers to take

better pictures, allowing them to focus on deeper meaning within photographs. If you are

a selfie photographer that cant afford a DSLR, taking fewer photos allows pictures to

inspire again. Dont post pictures of your food and post it online, it just adds clutter.

Every pointless photo reserved is allowing the art to have meaning again. As learned

through the project, DSLRs create better photos within the art so it can grow, and self-

control frees real estate for artful photography.

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