What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like?

Hi and welcome to Episode 140 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I try explain one photographic in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish – OK more like less than 27ish minutes), but still without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. OK – well there was a little bit of research in this one. Just a little bit.

 In this episode, What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like? I touched on this in a previous episode or two, and have lots more to say on this. And a few thoughts from the last episode, Changes To My Podcast. And How Do We Get Started In Photography Today?

First - here is the answery bit
The future of photography is very bright. The demand for images is higher now that it has ever been, as has the number of photos being taken and shared. Photography has been opened up to a global, consumer market with advances in technology in phones, and also in cameras.

How photos are taken though has changed, as has how people get into photography these days. The challenge is to develop an interest in photography that goes beyond basic phone photography.

The future of photography also has to cater for the constant need for immediacy - higher quality quicker. Or even higher quality immediately.

Listen on for much more.

What’s next?
Episode 141 - Do I Really Need A Camera In 2022? Or Will My Phone Do Instead?

Transcript

Hi and welcome to Episode 140 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I try explain one photographic in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish – OK more like less than 27ish minutes), but still without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. OK – well there was a little bit of research in this one. Just a little bit.

 In this episode, What Does The Future Of Photography Look Like? I touched on this in a previous episode or two, and have lots more to say on this. And a few thoughts from the last episode, Changes To My Podcast. And How Do We Get Started In Photography Today?

First - here is the answery bit

The future of photography is very bright. The demand for images is higher now that it has ever been, as has the number of photos being taken and shared. Photography has been opened up to a global, consumer market with advances in technology in phones, and also in cameras.

How photos are taken though has changed, as has how people get into photography these days. The challenge is to develop an interest in photography that goes beyond basic phone photography.

The future of photography also has to cater for the constant need for immediacy - higher quality quicker. Or even higher quality immediately.

Blimey, let’s dive into this little lot.

And this is not a definitive list of future technologies, this is my take on the future of photography as I see it, ok?

Here is the talky bit

Cameras

Let’s start with cameras. While the future of photography is secure, I am not so sure that it is for cameras, and certainly not as we know them now. “Cameras need to evolve, to continue to give higher image quality but with the immediateness of phones”. I said that a few episodes ago.

Cameras though have much larger sensors than phones, and have the ability to capture higher quality images than phones do. And for me there is so much more that I get from my camera than I do with my phone, photography wise that is. Sure I can’t make phone calls with my camera, but my camera is my go to thing for taking photos. Not my phone.

Tech in cameras evolves – take the new Canon mirrorless cameras which give 8 stops of in-body image stabilisation. That is just phenomenal. And there are so many other examples - so many in fact that I am going to do an episode all about technology in cameras, and how it can help us.

The problem is the people who get into photography with their phones. Well they’re not a problem, I don’t mean that! If you haven’t listened to it yet, pop back to episode 139 for more on this. But the question is this - how do we get people who only use their phones to take photos to develop as photographers, when all they might have known is their phone?

Back to cameras. There is one thing that cameras have that phones do not have, and probably never will have. Not with the phone manufacturers obsession with sleek, shiny, rounded devices. Which I hate by the way.

Ergonomics. Yes, ergonomics. Not a word that I use about my phone, which I have to put in a case or I will drop it.

A camera was designed to take photos. Of course it was. Cameras have been designed for a human to hold, and for a human to take photos with. My Canon 6D fits in my hands so naturally and instinctively. All the controls are where I want them.

My phone though is as ergonomically well thought out as a slippery eel. The obsession with how my phone looks completely ignores the fact that I have to hold it to use it.

I hate taking photos with my iPhone, a flat, smooth rounded thing. I really do hate it when I compare it to taking photos with my camera.

So the future of photography includes cameras. Well it does for me.

Much more on this in episode 141.

Lenses

Very important of course. And lenses can, and do, set cameras apart from phones, above and beyond. I am talking about image quality, focal length, aperture, focus, depth of field – the things what we photographers have to think about that someone taking photos with a phone does not.

And this is why there will always be a demand for cameras and for lenses. It is just how much demand?

As to the future of lenses, I am not sure how far technology can go as optics are constrained by physical laws. Light is light after all.

But lenses are integral to photography, and for me always will be.

Phones

Moving straight from cameras to phones. Well phones are the future are they not? The advances in the tech in phones is amazing. And their global popularity has changed things, not only in photography, but in so many other ways of course.

I think we all know that phones are going to be even more significant in the future due to their mass appeal, and the constant investment in technology.

But there is the elephant in the phone room. I have talked about ergonomics. Or the lack of them in phones.

Other gear

If you have a camera there is gear that you use. If you just have a phone you do not. So there is a split. The future for photography gear is in two halves for me.

One is the stuff that people with cameras need, and the other is the limited number of things that you can add to a phone.

This is another differentiator for me, another limitation of the phone. But that is me talking as a camera user who also takes photos with a phone.

If you have only ever taken photos with a phone do you need a large tripod?

Again, there is a transition to be managed. But these accessories that we photographers use help us to get photos that we cannot get without them.

Image quality

Cameras have larger sensors than phones. And that will probably always be the case. Camera sensors improve year on year, but we seem to have settled down on the megapixel race. Better sensors give higher image quality, and with the advances in technology give photographers more options for taking better photos.

 Image quality in phones is quite frankly amazing. Well we expect it these days. But, I cannot get the photos that I need with my phone. The quality is almost there, it is just the focal lengths that I use and the image capture techniques that are lacking in my phone.

 I am sure though that I could get away with giving a client the odd photo taken with my phone. Not that I have.

But there is one thing about image quality.

Good enough

How good do photos need to be? Do we need high quality, “professional photos”. Yes I am using air quotes here. It depends. Good enough now can be photos taken with a phone. And if photos taken with a phone can be good enough now, then they will be more so in the future, as phones and the tech within them develops.

 And in the future?

The entry level has changed. Long gone are the days when to make money from photography you needed pro gear. These days, consumer cameras, and phones, create much higher quality photos. And pro cameras are probably more accessible now than they ever have been anyway.

 Add to that advances in processing tech and yes, the gap is closing all the time.

 And again, this trend is going to continue.

 Video

Video is getting more and more popular. I could do without it, but the world has gone video mad. So the future of photography is stills and moving images.

 Should we even call it video that anymore? Well video comes from the Latin word videre, which means to see. So all fine there. Good research Rick!

 Yep video is now and the future. So, to be anything in photography, do video. And make sure you work on the audio too. And learn how to edit video. Yes Rick, learn how to edit video.

3D/ VR/ Immersive

Well these are surely also the future. Not things that I have dabbled in to be honest. Although I did get approved by Google to do those 3D walkthroughs – remember them – like Google Streetview but they took you inside a building. That was some years ago. And is still a thing?

VR will be bigger in the future, but is has not taken off as I was expecting. Not sure why, one to look out for.

And as to creating that kind of stuff? Not for me. Well not now anyway. No, I see a 2D future for me.

The demand for “professional photos”

Well, unfortunately I see the demand for professional photographers and professional photos only going one way. And that is down. Phones, tech and software are advancing at such a pace that you can get excellent photos with phones.

 People growing up with phones are used to taking photos with phones, and are used to looking at photos taken with phones.

 And every year there are more and more people with this view. And every year there are more and more technological advances. Sure phones don’t take photos that are as good as those taken with pro gear. And pro photographers can take better photos than others. Can. Not necessarily do.

 But I will say this again. Photos taken by non-professional photographers using phones, are, in a lot of cases, good enough. The question here is about future demand for higher quality images as the gap closes. Demand for photography is not the issue, demand for higher quality, pro photography is.

And that is the problem for us photographers, dear listener. 

So we have to adapt to the now. We can’t hide behind what we have always been doing. That is not the future, that is the past.

Who wants the photos?

This relates directly to the demand for professional photos. Who wants the photos, for what purpose, and to what end?

 So much stuff is viewed online these days that we are all used to looking at photos on smaller devices, and I do not see this changing. In fact I see the gradual reduction in the number of home computers as mobile devices become more popular and more practical with apps giving us new ways to do things.

So more photos yes but viewed on smaller devices.

Making money from photography

Well, I take photos of buildings for clients. I also make money in other ways with my photography, but I have diversified into online content creation and podcasting – all about photography though.

 I think that in the future making money from photography is going to become more difficult, but at the same time there will be more ways of making money from photography than there were in the past.

So, the key to making money from photography in the future will require us all to adapt to what is relevant at the time. We cannot continue just doing what we have always done or we will get left behind.

Processing

Again, advances in tech mean that image processing gets easier, but AI and automation come at a cost.

 I use automation to save me time, by automatically doing the things that I do all the time. I apply some automation to every single client image.

Some of this automation is in the processing of images. But this is just the start of processing. Sure I apply develop preset stuff to all my images, but these have been created by me, for the work that I do.

I have different sets of presets for different situations, and for different cameras. But I then individually edit each and every photo that I issue to a client, without exception.

Automation can save time. But full automation removes the skill, the creativity, the unique way that you and I see things. AI applies learning as decided by someone else, and not you or I.

Fully automated image processing is here now, and many people use it and accept it. But this does not, in my opinion, and never will replace editing of photos by specialists in their field. By us mere humans.

So yes, advances in processing help, but we set ourselves apart by what we as photographers, experts in our fields, what we do to the photos that we create.

AI

Yep AI, artificial intelligence. That is for sure the future. I use Luminar and its AI Sky Replacement tool. No masking, it has learned which bits of a photo are sky, and which bits are not.

 And that is just the beginning.

I think that AI in photography is a subject that I need to cover in a future episode, so I have added it to my list. It is episode 143, as long as nothing else pops into my head in the meantime that is….

To say AI is the future is something of an understatement. More on that in episode 143.

Retro

Retro is the future. What?

 Yes, retro is back and will only get bigger. There is a demand for the old days, a demand for the past. But where will that sit in the modern digital world?

 Do you know what, I am going to look into this and cover this in a future episode. All I know about retro stuff that people rave about, is that I was there for some of that good stuff, so let me go back in time to see what is current today!

Beyond phone photography

This is the bit that really interests me. This is the bit that I talked about last episode, and I am going to cover in every future episode. How do we bridge the gap between taking photos on a phone and all the other photography stuff out there that people might not even know about?

You – you are the future of photography

Last, and by no means least. I saved the most important bit until the end. You. Yes you. You can be part of the future of photography.

 How do you do this?

 By learning,. Practicing, creating your own unique way and creating photos that only you can create.

That is the real future of photography. By being you and putting you into your photographs.

Right – talky bit over - now for a new bit

What if I only use a phone?

Each episode I am going to apply this question to whatever I have been talking about. So what is the future of photography if you just use a phone? Well phones are a very big part of the future of photography.

 But for all you phone photographers out there, whilst there is a lot of photography stuff that you do not need to worry about, there are lots of things out there that can help you to take better photos. And you find these by embracing photography in its broadest sense.

It does not matter what you use to take photos – a great photo is a great photo, whatever it was taken with. And a rubbish photo is a rubbish photo just the same.

Having a great camera does not guarantee you great photos, neither does having the latest shiny phone.

So, what photography stuff do you need to know about if you take photos with your phone? Well that seems like an episode all of its own, which I will cover in episode 142 which is cunningly titled “I Take Photos With My Phone - What Photography Stuff Do I Need To Know?”

There – that is that covered nicely.

And check out this podcast I have found

Well, when I researched this episode I came across a podcast called “The Future Of Photography” would you believe. Yep, someone got there before me ha. Check it out at thefutureofphotography.com. And when I say got there before me they are on episode 232 at the time of writing this. How have I missed this?

 Some thoughts from the last episode, “Changes To My Podcast. And How Do We Get Started In Photography Today?”

This episode was quite a biggie for me. I had not thought before, that most people getting into photography nowadays do so using their phones, meaning that there is a whole heap of photography stuff that passes them by. I have just mentioned this, and will cover this lot in episode 142.

Why did I not think of this before? This is such a fundamental thing. Another good reason why a longer fortnightly episode works much better for me. Getting started in photography for the majority of folk is with their phone. And we need to remember that.

What do I do?

Well, in the context of the future of photography, I am going to be telling people who take photos with their phones what else there is in this wonderful world of photography that they might not know, might never come across.

 And as for me? Well I still need a camera, which I will mention in the next episode. And I need to be on top of current and future tech, so some work for me to do there.

 But I still take photos which I give to clients with my Canon 6D, and not with my phone. That need remains. Buildings get built and people need photographs of them. Buildings get sold and need photos to help them be marketed.

 And I love taking photos with my camera, and equally hate taking photos with my phone.

The question for me is will this demand ever go, will there come a time clients can create photos with their phones which are good enough for their needs? I cannot get the photos that I need with my phone. I need my camera and lens and the techniques and processing available to me.

Next episode

Episode 141 – Do I Really Need A Camera In 2022? Or Will My Phone Do Instead?

Now, I answered this question way back in episode 5, which I published in October 2020, so a good 2 years on, and it will be great to revisit what is after all, a fundamental question about photography.

 And talking of future episodes – my survey is still out there

My Photography Explained Podcast survey is still on the podcast website – just a few questions that should take less than a minute to answer – just head over to Photography Explained Podcast.com/survey. And thanks for your help.

Got a photography question you want me to answer in plain English, in less than 10 minutes (ish), oh ok, less than 30 minutes (ish), I will come up with something snappier, without the irrelevant details. You do? Great - just head over to PhotographyExplainedPodcast.com/start.

This episode was brought to you by, erm, ham, tomato, mustard and mayo wholemeal rolls, consumed before sitting down in my home-made, acoustically cushioned recording emporium. 

I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me between 20 and 30 (ish) minutes of your valuable time. There you go, I have stopped saying 10ish minutes finally.

Take care, stay safe

Cheers from me Rick