https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2018/04/10/why-bad-photographers-think-theyre-good
So there’s this video doing the rounds right now, apparently a lot of people think it explains something about the psychology of photographers, and it may, but it doesn’t reveal what most of the commenters posting about it think that it does.
There’s no need to watch the video, the premise of applying the Dunning-Kruger effect to Photography is ludicrous.
At the core of the medium, photography is almost nothing but subjective opinion.
Yes, there are people who can’t get the right exposure, those people who lack the most basic technical familiarity with a camera may be frustrated by the methods of getting a decent exposure.
Beyond that, the whole of the medium is a level playing field. There is no right, there is no wrong, there is no best photograph and there is no photographer with any more or less talent than any other photographer.
A huge print that took dozens of hours of preparation and post processing and sells for a million dollars in a world famous art gallery has no more inherent value than the millions (billions?) of cat pictures flooding the Internet.
The satisfaction of the creator is the ultimate definition of success.
If you didn’t get it right, you may need a bit of practice reading the exposure meter, but looking at comments around the Internet today virtually no-one is talking about basic mechanical competancy in regard to the Dunning-Kruger effect.
What people are pointing out is how dependent they are on outside opinion for self assurance.
If someone else likes your photograph, that’s great, but it actually doesn’t change the value of an image. It may cost you money if you need to sell an image, but if you’re happy with something, it is good.
Consumers of your content will form their own opinions. Good, bad, or indifferent, the opinion of another person only tells you how to cater to the opinions of other people, it says absolutely nothing about the intrinsic value of a given image.
Intent and Execution is all that matters unless you let outside opinion influence how you feel about your work.
If you’re constantly looking for affirmation then you’re probably going to be constantly disappointed. Sooner or later every image will be criticized negatively.
“I think all your photos suck.” There, everyone reading this has had the whole of their work negatively criticized. Are you a worse photographer than you thought you were? If you let outside negativity influence your perspective of your work, then yes.
Trying to apply the Dunning-Kruger effect to photography is a self defeating exercise.
If you know what you like then no amount of criticism can change the quality of your photography. Your picture is perfect the moment you deem it so.
The most creative people will awlays have a thirst to learn and do more, it’s good to question what you know and how you do things, but your satisfaction with yourself will always be the ultimate test.
So there’s this video doing the rounds right now, apparently a lot of people think it explains something about the psychology of photographers, and it may, but it doesn’t reveal what most of the commenters posting about it think that it does.
There’s no need to watch the video, the premise of applying the Dunning-Kruger effect to Photography is ludicrous.
At the core of the medium, photography is almost nothing but subjective opinion.
Yes, there are people who can’t get the right exposure, those people who lack the most basic technical familiarity with a camera may be frustrated by the methods of getting a decent exposure.
Beyond that, the whole of the medium is a level playing field. There is no right, there is no wrong, there is no best photograph and there is no photographer with any more or less talent than any other photographer.
A huge print that took dozens of hours of preparation and post processing and sells for a million dollars in a world famous art gallery has no more inherent value than the millions (billions?) of cat pictures flooding the Internet.
The satisfaction of the creator is the ultimate definition of success.
If you didn’t get it right, you may need a bit of practice reading the exposure meter, but looking at comments around the Internet today virtually no-one is talking about basic mechanical competancy in regard to the Dunning-Kruger effect.
What people are pointing out is how dependent they are on outside opinion for self assurance.
If someone else likes your photograph, that’s great, but it actually doesn’t change the value of an image. It may cost you money if you need to sell an image, but if you’re happy with something, it is good.
Consumers of your content will form their own opinions. Good, bad, or indifferent, the opinion of another person only tells you how to cater to the opinions of other people, it says absolutely nothing about the intrinsic value of a given image.
Intent and Execution is all that matters unless you let outside opinion influence how you feel about your work.
If you’re constantly looking for affirmation then you’re probably going to be constantly disappointed. Sooner or later every image will be criticized negatively.
“I think all your photos suck.” There, everyone reading this has had the whole of their work negatively criticized. Are you a worse photographer than you thought you were? If you let outside negativity influence your perspective of your work, then yes.
Trying to apply the Dunning-Kruger effect to photography is a self defeating exercise.
If you know what you like then no amount of criticism can change the quality of your photography. Your picture is perfect the moment you deem it so.
The most creative people will awlays have a thirst to learn and do more, it’s good to question what you know and how you do things, but your satisfaction with yourself will always be the ultimate test.