Just watched a video made with a D700, that gave me a 'wow' moment. And then as a follow on to Alex's thread about major philosophical changes, I got to thinking - what makes a great image or great video. What is it that gives me that 'wow' moment and what makes one unmanipulated image great and another boring, and similarly with manipulated images, why are some great and others just so so.
So I had to start thinking, what is it that makes a great image for me. I realized that it's mostly about 'discovery and wonder', either in the subject matter and the environment itself, or in the way in which it is portrayed. This is why I can enjoy a totally unmanipulated natural history image of an exotic creature in a spectacular environment, and also the most mundane creature or subject, presented in a highly manipulated way. The manner in which an image was made, is totally secondary to the experience of enjoying a great image. I also realized the concept of what is a still image and what is a video has changed. Long ago even before digital, the concept of what is the correct or real exposure, what is the correct or real color, what is the correct or real contrast. Now still merges into video, time lapse photography blurs the distinction between them, as did Edgerton's images and slow motion cinematography before. Now what is in focus and where our eye follows in an image is variable with Lytro. Certainly time-lapse and video, and 3D, in Lytro will follow.
In underwater photography, the limits of working in the underwater realm, are really the main things that limit our creativity, it's technically more difficult to do HDR or time lapse, or recast the lighting, but it's happening anyway, just more slowly.
So sorry about the psychoramble, back to the video, a 'wow' moment, made with 'old'' technology, a camera that's not supposed to shoot video. And then one has to ask what makes a video. Is this video, or is this stills? Are the video people as perplexed about technological innovation as the still folks. So basically the tools, the subject, the environment, the methodology, are so variable, it's ultimately all about the creative mind behind the lens. I also realized that I've never envied people who are richer than me, only those smarter and more creative than me.
