by Wouter Willemse
Hybrid workflow – it sure sounds a lot fancier than it is. What I mean with it is the roundtrip from film to digital to print. And that again sounds a lot less complicated than it is.
There is quite a lot of choices in the process, and multiple ways to skin the cat. In fact, it’s a recurring question on many photography forums. On the better forums you will get multiple answers, all valid. So what is what?
When the first Fuji X100 came out, it sparked quite a lot of reaction and discussion. Probably I am biased, but from what I recall, most people liked it. ‘It looks like a proper camera’ – retro design, modern inside. I’m biased, because I liked it a lot. And I still like the X100 series. That said, I never owned one, and actually never used one.
The mere act of processing images seems to easily cause debate. There are those that feels it’s an “anything goes”-game. Others that feel it’s an unmissable part of photography. And finally those that will call all of it ‘photoshopping’, with a clear negative meaning that any change to a photo after the fact is faking it. Finally, a lot of people somewhere in between these 3 points.
The underlying and more interesting question is when a photo is really done. At what point in the chain of events is it complete?
As with so much hobbies these days, a lot of forums and sites see their fair share of fanboys. Their only effort seems to be discrediting any other product than the one they use, whether they have any actual knowledge on that product or not. And vice-versa, everything their product does is at the top of any game, the most innovative, original, advanced… the best. The one and only best.
OK, that title is a silly and somewhat unnecessary innuendo. I admit that, though the less dirty mind might just wonder… the length of what?
Well, that focal length that seems natural to you, of course.
Legendary items. Twists and curves in history make some items rise to the top and come out as legends. It is not said, though, that legends are always what we want them to be. For plenty of legendary items, it’s true when they say “don’t meet your childhood heroes”.
A blast from the past, a blast from a ca(n)non?
My most-used cameras are Nikons, so according to the sadder parts of the internet, I should be actively against Canon somehow. Well, sorry to disappoint. I’ve owned one, and liked it a lot. I sold it, and still wonder why at times.
When I was still pretty active on a photography forum, one recurring discussion was between those who got all excited on the latest and greatest gear with all the new features, and those who claimed that the camera doesn’t matter because it’s all down to the photographer. In other words “with this camera, you can finally really make good images” versus “tools don’t matter”.
Yet another example of unnecessary polarised discussion.