Wednesday 14 July 2010

Everyone's a wildlife photographer

The web seems to be filled with blogs and sites displaying wildlife photographs, many offering prints for sale or images for use via agencies, some even offering photography workshops. The problem is that it's difficult to differentiate the true professionals from the wannabes.

You see it's all too easy to make images that look pin sharp at small sizes on the web. And with the ability for people to comment on blogs the uninitiated praise photos that are actually small versions of noisy crops. They look okay at 400 pixel width, but any larger and they reveal their true quality. Some folks also get sucked in by praise from the undiscerning and think their work is as good as they are told. Then they style themselves as 'wildlife photographers' - pushing it to the limit by adding 'pro' to the title if they have sold just one photo (or maybe less)!

The nature of some on-line photo agencies are less discerning than others. It costs them little to host the photos, so anyone can sign up and claim they have an agent. It all looks very professional - but it's just smoke and mirrors. But so long as nobody gets conned I guess it's pretty harmless fantasising.

Enough of the grumbling. Here's some pics from the garden. All tiny to make my point!







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