Thursday 10

“The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image,” Mr. Adams once wrote, “often leads to creative disaster.”
It's a natural feeling to want to replace something old with something newer and better. In the digital electronics world, the number of pixels in both cameras and camcorders is so important to consumers. All though many believe the myth to be true, higher megapixels do produce great output but its actually not all that important. When looking at purchasing a product like a camera, people tend to look past the size of the pixels on a camera's sensor. The bigger the sensor, the bigger the pixels which provides advantages to the artist when making images. Russ Juskalian, A writer from the New York Times explains that, " The mechanics of this can be understood by thinking of a digital camera sensor as a flat sheet of material pocked with millions (hence “mega”) of cylindrical, cuplike pixels. In other words, picture the digital sensor as a tiny cupcake tin." A recent test done at dpreview.com proved that the Canon EOS 50D, a $1,400 - 15-megapixel camera , showed less dynamic range and more noise than the older camera Canon EOS 40D. ( 10-megapixel and 500 dollars cheaper).

There are many advantages of having a larger sensor but one of the most significant is the ability it gives you to produce a clear image when only a small portion of the subject is in focus. Although the technology is improving rapidly, the most important thing is still the photographers skill. Juskalian says it perfectly, " But no matter when the next advance in digital imaging comes, the old saying that the photographer is the most important part of a good photo will still hold true.

I felt it was necessary to blog about pixels becuase it has a great connection with my project. I am continuing a series I started last semester and I'm improving things that didn't go so well before. Rotating between my two lenses, only one being macro, led to my final prints coming out pixelated. In the images without the macro the pixelation just overtook the entire picture. It was frustrating to have these stunning images that I just couldn't make look decent in large format. This time around I am hardly cropping my images at all, I try to do it all in camera. Hopefully the changes I've made will make all the difference.

JusKalian Russ. "Pixels are Like Cupcakes, Let Me Explain." NyTimes.com. 11-12-2008. 3-25-2009.. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/technology/personaltech/13basics.html?_r=1