During the daily shooting process, many friends in the photography circle often discuss an interesting question: For photography enthusiasts, is better equipment more important, or is the brain behind the lens more important?
Some students said that of course the head behind the camera is important, because for photography and videos, the content is greater than the form. The most important thing is the soul of the work, and the content is the soul of the work. No matter how good the photography equipment is, if it encounters a head without the ability to think, it will not be able to capture in-depth content.
Moreover, these students also gave examples: Many masters used very primitive and simple photographic equipment to shoot classic works that have been handed down for generations, but many rich locals cannot shoot them even with Hasselblad and Phase One . Good works without soul.
However, some netizens said that although the head is very important, if the photography equipment is not powerful, no matter how good the head is, it will not be able to express genius creativity. There are cases where simple photography equipment is used to shoot masterpieces, but after all, this is In rare cases, more masters use top-notch equipment to shoot a steady stream of good films. Otherwise, why would new high-performance SLRs and mirrorless cameras be purchased by many professional photographers and practitioners when they come on the market? For example, Canon R3, Canon R5, Sony Alpha 7 IV and even Nikon Z9.
In fact, in my personal opinion, the two complement each other, but I prefer the head to be more important. Why do I say that? Because the reason why top photographers continue to replace new equipment with more powerful performance is because they already have very professional heads, and such good equipment can play its greatest role. On the contrary, if you ask a novice to take pictures, I am afraid that the effect produced by using a camera that costs 50,000 yuan will not be much different from that produced by a camera that costs 5,000 yuan.
On the contrary, if your "brain" is very powerful, no matter what equipment you use to shoot, you can maximize the power of the equipment in your hand, because it is blessed by your "skill", which is like a Ordinary paintbrushes, in the hands of Xu Beihong or Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, have completely different effects than in the hands of ordinary people.
The upgrade of equipment is relatively simple. As long as you have money, you can upgrade it at any time. If you place an order on a certain website on the first day, it will basically be in your hands the next day. But money cannot solve all problems, otherwise all wealthy people would become photography masters. Therefore, improving the brain is very important, but improving the brain is not a day's work, and it cannot be achieved overnight.
So, how to quickly improve your "brain"? In fact, the easiest way is to learn from the masters and the top people in the industry, and learn their lifelong shooting experience and skills in a short period of time, so that you can make a big improvement in a short period of time. To systematically study the lifelong experiences of the masters, you must read the classic books on photography summarized by these masters.
Below I would like to recommend some of the world's most important books on photography that are worth reading. I hope that they can make a relatively large qualitative improvement in your photography skills in a short period of time.
The first book is "The Beauty of Images, Visual China 500px Classic Photography Tutorial Practical Chapter", which is a masterpiece launched by Visual China and brings together many years of practical experience of tens of thousands of top photographers around the world. Visual China is the world's largest photo website, with tens of millions of registered members and tens of thousands of professional photographers from nearly 200 countries around the world. It is one of the world's top photography resource websites. "The Beauty of Images" launched by Visual China "Visual China 500px Classic Photography Tutorial Practical Chapter" is a summary of the shooting skills and experience of tens of thousands of photographers around the world.
"The Beauty of Image Vision China 500px Classic Photography Tutorial Practical Edition" is also a desk book for many well-known domestic photographers. This tutorial covers natural scenery, portrait photography, documentary photography, street photography, animal photography, flower photography, etc. The shooting subject matter is completely based on a practical perspective, allowing you to avoid many detours. It is one of the must-have books for photography enthusiasts to quickly improve.
The second part is "Beautiful Portrait Photography Handbook", which is a book dedicated to teaching you the most important subject in photography - portrait photography. Portrait photography is the most widely covered subject in daily photography, such as wedding photography, wedding photography, portraits, daily life, baby growth, friends and family gatherings, graduation photos, sports, concerts, etc., because people are Of all things, someone’s photos have more soul and commemorative significance, allowing time to condense into a certain moment. "Aesthetic Portrait Photography Handbook" is a tutorial to quickly improve your portrait photography skills. From entry to mastery, the 46 lessons cover all aspects of portrait photography skills and knowledge.
If you want to take pictures of girls that look good and make them like them, or take pictures that look like blockbusters and achieve stunning results, you should take a good look at "Aesthetic Portrait Photography Handbook".
The third part is " New York School of Photography Photography Textbook ", which is the authoritative photography professional standard tutorial of major universities in the United States and one of the top photography tutorials in the world. "New York School of Photography Photography Textbook" currently has sales of more than 100,000+ in some websites, with a favorable rating of 99%. It is a systematic photography tutorial that is a must-read for promotions.
"New York School of Photography Photography Textbook" is known as the bible of the photography industry, and is also a must-have classic learning tutorial for many professional photographers. Many well-known domestic photographers also highly recommend this book.
In addition, although many friends now do not have a SLR or mirrorless camera, or they find it inconvenient to carry around, they hope to obtain good results through mobile phone shooting, improve their mobile phone shooting skills, and make the photos they take appear more beautiful. More professional and with better results. If so, you can take a look at "Comprehensive Mobile Photography Techniques". This "Comprehensive Mobile Photography Techniques" covers all aspects of mobile photography, from portraits to landscapes, from architecture to flowers, from macro to night scenes, etc.
The last thing I want to tell you is that having good photography books does not mean that your photography level has improved. The most important thing is to learn more, practice more, practice more, and summarize, and finally master it and make it your own.
