Controversial Topic: What irks you about other photographers?

[MWHCVT]

Oh I've though of one...gear haters (maybe not quite the right phrase) now this is a bit of an odd one, but people that will not accept that their kit has limits...we all know that a decent photographer can get the best out of any camera and that pretty much every photo can be taken on even the cheapest of consumer/starter DSLR...however it might be harder

But the reality is that some situations are going to dictate that a better camera or lens is needed, irregardless of the talent of the photographer...p

e.g. Say a crisp clean photo of the Milky Way without star trails...your just not really going to be 100% successful with a older consumer DSLR with a kit lens...realistically you need a combination of a camera that has a great ISO performance and likely also a fast ultra wide angle lens...

Of course location is also going to play a part

Another polar example could be a wedding situation in some dark C15th church and flash isn't allowed then yeah your 500D with 18-55 isn't going to cut it

It's almost a reverse snobbery

 

[richardm]

Macro would probably be another good example of that. For a bit of fun / messing around... there are lots of cheap diy macro methods (tubes, lens mounted backward etc)... but for proper high quality macro there's no escaping the need for specialist equipment.

 

[richardm]

Another from me...

Photographer who think photography should be 'serious'.

I'm guilty of this. Falling into the mindset that I have to have a serious reason behind taking a picture and that anything else is a 'snap/snapshot' etc... I did some reshuffling of files on my raid drive the other day and realised most of my most loved pics were taken on my iPhone. Fun nights out. Walking the dog. Stupid stuff I see. I was clearly having fun when I took them. I have photographer friend who always sends me drunken phone pics - I'm not lying when I say they're some of the best images of his I've seen (and he's a long standing pro). Goes to show that technical quality of the image comes way behind the actual content of the image when it comes to evoke a reaction in the viewer.

I definitely make an effort these days to remind myself that photography is supposed to be fun!

 

[ianp5a]

I have photographer friend who always sends me drunken phone pics - I'm not lying when I say they're some of the best images of his I've seen

It could be that his photographic experience tells him which pictures "not" to send. A Pro might be ashamed of a duffer where many people would send it.

 

[ghoti]

Another from me...

Photographer who think photography should be 'serious'.

I'm guilty of this. Falling into the mindset that I have to have a serious reason behind taking a picture and that anything else is a 'snap/snapshot' etc... I did some reshuffling of files on my raid drive the other day and realised most of my most loved pics were taken on my iPhone. Fun nights out. Walking the dog. Stupid stuff I see. I was clearly having fun when I took them. I have photographer friend who always sends me drunken phone pics - I'm not lying when I say they're some of the best images of his I've seen (and he's a long standing pro). Goes to show that technical quality of the image comes way behind the actual content of the image when it comes to evoke a reaction in the viewer.

I definitely make an effort these days to remind myself that photography is supposed to be fun!

I think what that tells you is that photography ultimately comes down to the subject. You can achieve technical perfection but if your subject is sh1t most people won't care.
Great subject/concept trumps technical excellence every time.