As many of you may know, I really got my start in the world of digital photography while working as an assistant for world-renowned nature photographer George Lepp. Many of George’s fans know that he shares his knowledge very freely, and I certainly benefited from that willingness to share during my time with him.
George Lepp (Photo by Dewitt Jones)
Since today is the ten year anniversary of my Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter, and since I started the email newsletter while working with George, I thought it would be fun to have him answer a few questions about where we’ve come from and where we’re going in digital photography.
So, on to the questions:
Tim Grey: Did we get to the point where digital effectively replaced film faster or slower than you anticipated?
George Lepp: Initially I was hoping digital would move faster because we started with digital cameras in excess of $20,000 that were nowhere near the quality of film. Then we got a whole bunch of digital point-and-shoot cameras that were cheaper, but again not about to replace film. It wasn’t until the Canon D60 came out that I felt we were really on our way. That was only 6MP, and it wasn’t cheap. At 10MP we matched film, maybe not in full resolution, but in the final result up to a certain sized print, and for sure on the screen for slide shows. From that point digital has actually moved faster than I expected with many innovations to support the digital format. Without Photoshop and other software digital photography couldn’t have progressed as fast as it has. Printers have also continued to progress until they all seem to be in sync to give us better and better results. We’ve gone through some pretty exciting times in imaging. It’s hard to keep up with all that’s happening in photography.
TG: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing digital photographers today?
GL: There are a number of challenges to digital photographers today, especially for those wanting to make a career of photography. The proliferation of images has brought the price down on images to the point that it is very difficult to make a living at stock photography, and there are very few assignments out there. The designers just pick up a camera and shoot it themselves. Another problem in digital for the general shooter is that with so many possibilities and so much control, they don’t know where to start–and even more important, they don’t know when to quit! My favorite saying these days is "Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should." All the over-sharpening and over-saturation sometimes gives digital a bad name.
TG: You always seem to be on the forefront of finding clever ways to put digital cameras to use, such as with your new "action sequence panoramas". Where do all these ideas come from?!
GL: Well, my wife Kathy says it’s just how I am. She calls me an "escalator" because I’m always pushing things beyond normal limits. But really, it’s just a matter of recognizing new possibilities, and then acting on them to see if they work. I hit upon the action sequence panoramas after I photographed a baboon running across a stream in Africa with a Canon 7D firing at 8 frames per second. As I reviewed the images of the sequence, I noticed the backgrounds were overlapping. This made for an instant panorama, and the timing of the camera made them match sequentially across the pan. I then went back to my files and I found where I had followed other subjects with the motor drive going uninterrupted. The next step is to actually do it on purpose, and that’s where I am now. I’m looking for and setting up the situations to do action sequence panoramas. Think hot air balloons, running horses and dogs, athletes; it just goes on from there.
© George Lepp / www.georgelepp.com
TG: Do you feel that we’ve reached a plateau in terms of the speed of development in technology for photographers?
GL: It has slowed a bit due to the economy. You have to have buyers for new gadgets and technology to fuel the development. But are we running out of ideas? Absolutely not. The cameras get better, they incorporate things like HDR, video has become a big player and will drive the future of the Internet and all our hand-held devices. 3D is going to proliferate on our TVs and on the iPads (or whatever) so the content we produce will have to match the possibilities of those devices. 10 years ago I couldn’t even imagine what we’re doing now. The same will be the case 10 years in the future.
TG: Is there any feature you wish were available in photography that isn’t?
GL: I want to see things that we normally don’t see, like very slow motion. We’re missing the ability to capture fast frame rate video at high definition with our DSLRs. I can shoot 60 fps video with two of my DSLR cameras, but it’s at 720p resolution. I take this video and slow it down using software with OK results, but not the quality I need. I would love to see a DSLR that could shoot at 120 fps at 1080p, or even higher resolution. Photography is about capturing images of things that we don’t normally see. Sure, there are video cameras that will do what I just mentioned, but they’re big and very expensive. I’m sure with improved processing speed that what I’m asking for will happen soon.
I want to thank George once again for his insights, and for everything he has done for me and so many other photographers. You can learn more about what George is up to these days through his website at:
www.georgelepp.com
Also, be sure to check out George’s latest book, Wildlife Photography: Stories from the Field, which is available through his website here:
http://bit.ly/e34Tgy
