sury wrote:Toni,
Not really.
I guess I should have been clearer. I was looking for quantifying answer for "certain".
Your categorization of "certain photographer" is qualitative, IMHO. It does not say what kind of photographer
is that one? E.g. portrait? landscape? abstract? experimental?
The analogy:
1) Zoom lenses are useful for certain photographers. - qualifying statement
2) After using Tamron200-500 lens, I can say this (type of, range of ...) lens is highly suitable for birders because
of the reach, but not for sports photographers shooting indoors due to its speed or lack thereof. - more quantifying statement.
After your month long experimentation with lensbaby optics, I was hoping for a quantifying observation. Since it your
blog, I was hoping for, but not I was looking for, that observation.
No harm done Sury, I'm just trying to understand what kind of knowledge are you looking for and to what interest. You know, there is a reason why I haven't used 'the-much-used-categorization of different photography genres' like potrait, landscape, macro, nature, sport etc. which one will find in every photography 101 book. I have actually tried to avoid it the whole time I have been doing my blog and I have not built any season around any of those categories (it would be obvious first thought to have season of landscape, season potraits, etc). The reason is that I think these categories, however how useful they feel, limit the imagination of any photographer. In my mind they are way too dry and technical, and any serious photographer would never describe their work with these terms, and you never see photography exhibitions described this way either. To me, photography is always about the message behind the photograph, not about the category it might fit in 101 text book. Yes, a great photograph might be 'a landscape picture', but people don't talk about it because it is a landscape. In short, I don't believe these categories are useful.
When it comes to Lensbaby, I feel it would be intellectually dishonest to put them into some certain category. For example, I recommended them to Chris, who does
black ethereal landscapes, they would fit to his style. Some people use Lensbaby for
macro photography. Some use them for
potrait photography. In future I will use them to photograph Aura, since I think, for me, they will work very nicely photographing children (as long as Aura can stay still). But as you see, there is no some certain category for which they are designed for - it's more about what kind of photographer one is. If one is point and shoot kind of guy, it will be difficult to get best out of Lensbaby because it takes some effort. If one is looking for distinctive look with some kind of vision in one's mind, it might be good idea to check them out. To me, that's the best way to describe them really.
-Toni
--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography:
http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/
