Professional pictures with point and shoot cameras (looking for examples)

[Arkitech]

I've heard it said on several occasions that a truly gifted photographer can produce stunning pictures on even the most modest of cameras. I'm looking for examples of this, where pro's have taken just a basic point and shoot camera and created some amazing art. Can anyone direct me to something like this?

 

[Kanalua]

DigitalRev has a series on YouTube called the "Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera Challenge"

Check it out here:
http://youtu.be/v6lNCSHH7Vg?hd=1

 

[Arkitech]

DigitalRev has a series on YouTube called the "Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera Challenge"

Check it out here:
http://youtu.be/v6lNCSHH7Vg?hd=1

Thanks man, sounds exactly like what I was looking for.

 

[JohnnyRebel]

I've heard it said on several occasions that a truly gifted photographer can produce stunning pictures on even the most modest of cameras. I'm looking for examples of this, where pro's have taken just a basic point and shoot camera and created some amazing art. Can anyone direct me to something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Camera-On.../dp/0321684788

Jarvis Chase used his iPhone for all the shots.

JR

 

[Cattykit]

The problem with such conception is that many people tend to think 'good photographers will produce great photographs with any given cameras regardless of situation' which is not true.

A good photographer would know limitations of his gears and play within the boundary. As I've mentioned before, you don't give Ansel Adams a Leica, Bresson a large format camera and expect them to come up with such works they've mastered. For some, they need D3s and for some, iphone is a better solution.

 

[JohnnyRebel]

How about 'good photographers will produce interesting photographs with any given cameras regardless of situation'?

A Hack on a good camera can make a sharp, accurate photograph. Making a photo that's not boring is the start of photographic greatness.

JR

BTW, there's nothing wrong with the Hacks photograph. Using a camera to chronicle history is, perhaps, more valid than art.

 

[Maximus96]

heard this time and time again,

beginners worry about cost, amateurs worry about gear, professionals worry about light

 

[Fardringle]

I'm not a pro, and it's not a truly "cheap" camera, but I did take these with my relatively inexpensive four year old Fuji S6000fd: (a few examples of some of my favorites from that camera)

And this one was taken about 11 years ago with an Olympus D460 1.3mp camera:

 

[iGas]

I'm no pro as well but check my thread to see what a cheap point and shoot can do. A wise man once said, "a camera is just a box, it is who behind the box is what make the different."

Indonesia, an eye opening experience. [ Update, pictures included ]

 

[RobDickinson]

If a cheap camera , in ideal conditions, cant be made to take a good picture then its utterly useless.

A major part of photography is the art, selecting the viewpoint, focusing attention, the whole experience of the image. This is where a good photographer shows. They also pay a lot of attention to light, either shooting at the right time, in the right place, or by supplying their own.

The mechanics of capture dont matter so much, in ideal situations anyhow.

If you want to shoot in low light, or sports, or have shallow DOF or any of those things an SLR really excels at then a P&S is not going to help. Its also not going to let you use filters as easily.

So if your a HCB wannabe then a P&S may be all you need, if your trying to be AA then its unlikely but possible (as he processed a lot and often had infinite depth of field etc).

 

[Paladin3]

Back when I was a newspaper shooter I hurt my shoulder and wore a sling for two weeks. I continued to work and used an Olympus Stylus film P&S with a 35mm f3.5 lens to shoot everything I needed to. On a few occasions I set up a Vivitar 283 flash with a peanut slave for some extra light.

I didn't cover any sports, but I shot a lot of random news events and portraits. Some cops I knew looked at me funny when I showed up at a traffic collision with the P&S, and I remember covering a garage fire with it.

That cheap Oly was surprisingly competent for what it was. My son sometimes used it to take snaps when he accompanied me on my more kid friendly assignments. He was only six when he grabbed a low angle shot of someone having their hair cut for donations at a charity event, and I snuck the image into the features editor's box and she ran it in the paper the next day. He even got a byline.

I caught hell from the other photogs because they didn't want anyone thinking the job was easily enough for a six-year-old to do. I told them to try writing complete, grammatically correct, and properly spelled sentences for their captions if they wanted more respect from the editors, who had all come up as writers and felt most photographers were basically illiterate. Hell, a lot of them were back then.

 

[magomago]

IMO it comes down to

(A) composition
(B) using base iso, which may involve using a tripod.

The first is pure skill. The second is simply about carrying a tripod so noise doesn't ruin the photo; noise on a DSLR can look nice, but I simply can't stand the noise from a P&S because it is just too blotchy and un natural (although the blotchy part might be poor compression?)

 

[Throckmorton]

I'm not a pro and I have a Panasonic P&S but I think I get pretty good results. I use Paint.net for adjusting curves, saturation, and cropping.

 

[Rottie]

hell no I am not a good photographer but I am good at digital art.

 

[yhelothar]

some excellent pics in here. Photogenic weekend has some good ones.
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/weekend_backnumber/2008.html
You could compare with DSLR as well.

 

[finbarqs]

will this count? Shot on a Nikon E4200

 

[elitejp]

heard this time and time again,

beginners worry about cost, amateurs worry about gear, professionals worry about light

Ive never heard that before but really like it.
The thing is your p&s or even crappy camera phone will occasionally get a perfect picture. But if you want to repeat getting a great pic again and again especially in tricky situations (generally speaking) an expensive camera paired with an expensive lens will help up your keeper rate.

I like how on observer put it when he switched from a crop format camera to a full frame..."both cameras took great pictures but my keeper rate with the full frame is higher and the post processing is less"

 

[finbarqs]

shoot... I worry about cost, gear, and light! (bad economy makes me think a lot about cost) -- I'm in IT so it's in my blood to worry about gear, and I'm constantly looking for the subject at the given light!

But if it's studio work, then yeah... I'm observing and conceptualizing my lighting setup for a future photoshoot!