camera compared to musical instruments

[jp]

I was in a pretty lucid mood last night before I spilled the beans on Jim Galli and Reinhold. I was thinking, a camera really is a pretty simple thing. I have training in piano, but have no creative gift in that instrument. I was sitting back relaxing in my living room watching random music videos on youtube via chromecast. Random talented amateurs on piano or hammond organ.

Here I am with a camera, years of learning and practice. It has 4 things I can adjustment. Shutter speed, aperture, lens choice, focus. That's it, and it's captured. A piano has 88 keys and 2-3 pedals. An organ I've lost track of how many keys, pedals, knobs, sliders, etc... An electric guitar has some strings and several knobs and is thus more complicated than a camera. We don't have to have rhythm, we don't have to time things by hand unless we use a packard shutter. Yet photography is still quite a challenge.

[Vaughn]

Of course, the camera is just the beginning of the process. And taking the musical note a little farther; as opposed to 'just' playing an instrument, photographers also have to write the music, play it and handle the lights and sound.

[BrianShaw]

... It has 4 things I can adjustment. Shutter speed, aperture, lens choice, focus. That's it, and it's captured. ...

Sorry to say this, but no... that's not it. The additional "adjustments" are the choice of imagery you framed in the viewfinder/GG and the timing of your exposure (AKA "capture"). These two might be even more important than some of the aforementioned. This is what make photography so challenging!

[Tin Can]

I woke up to this online news story and thought how well film compares to vinyl records. Vinyl records are making a comeback. I shot a double vinyl 33 inside cover last year.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140...onics-on-devon

[Bob Salomon]

But you are posting this in a large format forum. What happened to front and rear tilt? Front and rear swing? Front and rear rise? front and rear drop?

[gleaf]

I see the comparison only if the piano only played properly with the proper orientation of only one seasonal sun light angle and atmospheric conditions which happen perhaps once every three or four years.

[jp]

Or the other extreme is painting or drawing where there are basically nothing to adjust.

My main LF camera only has front rise and I don't use it much. My main MF camera doesn't have interchangable lenses, so there are only three adjustments.

[C. D. Keth]

Or the other extreme is painting or drawing where there are basically nothing to adjust.

My main LF camera only has front rise and I don't use it much. My main MF camera doesn't have interchangable lenses, so there are only three adjustments.

Have you ever painted or drawn? There's as much variety in those media as in photography or music. The medium of painting hasn't thrived for 30,000 years on the strength of "basically nothing to adjust."

[Nathan Potter]

Going back further than just the instruments, there is an interpretation of previous work in both cases. The photographer is faced with a scene already existing while the musician is faced with notes on a sheet. Each are faced with deciphering previous work and do not have the advantage of starting from scratch as in other art forms.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Bill_1856]

The world is full of bad musicians and mediocre photographers, but in the end the only thing that matters is if it gives them pleasure.