Blake Rubin Comments On How Advancing Technology Is Shaping The Present And Future Of Photography

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Technology has changed many facets of everyday life. It has changed the way people communicate, consume content, and stay current.

Numerous industries have also been greatly impacted by the advances in technology. The photography industry is just one of them.

Not too long ago, you still needed to purchase expensive and bulky cameras if you wanted to take high-resolution photographs. You can still do that today. However, there are alternative photography instruments that can rival those more cumbersome options in terms of performance.

These days, you can pull out your phone and take a great picture if you know what you’re doing.
Equipment is not the barrier to great photography that it used to be because many people are willing to spend big on smartphones anyway.

Skilled photographers such as Blake Rubin have been able to keep up with these changes and adjust to them accordingly. The changes are far from finished and more of them are continuing to affect the industry and the craft of photography.

Commercial Photography Is Losing Ground to Rendering

Log on to the website of many smartphone makers and you’ll likely notice a trend. Instead of taking photos of their phones and posting them for promotion, they will provide renders.

They are more likely to post photos taken using those phones as opposed to sharing actual pictures of the phones themselves.

The increased usage of renders is not limited to smartphone makers.

As pointed out by this article on Fstoppers, online retailers such as Amazon have long allowed their sellers to use renders to populate their product listings. The article also notes that renders have become more popular among automotive companies trying to sell consumers on their newest offerings.

It’s difficult to blame those businesses for taking advantage of rendering over traditional photography.

Those companies already employ people who excel at computer wizardry. If they can cut down on expenses by just asking someone already on the payroll to come up with renders instead of paying photographers to do their thing, it’s hard to imagine any business going with the latter option.

Unfortunately for professional photographers, that translates to lost jobs in an industry that is already coping with some big changes. What was once a reliable income avenue for photographers could very well dry up in the very near future.

Photographers will likely have to look beyond taking pictures of objects being sold if they want to continue in this line of work.

Technology Is Making Photography Better and More Accessible

Think of what you need to take great photographs now and you can begin to truly appreciate just how much technology has made this particular pursuit more accessible.

Right inside your pocket is a gadget equipped with high-performance lenses and sensors that can take remarkably clear pictures. As noted earlier, the prevalence of smartphones with high quality cameras has essentially made it possible for more people to produce great photographs even if they didn’t splurge on expensive equipment beforehand.

It’s not just the lenses and the sensors that have improved. Many smartphones are also loaded with photography-focused features. They are designed to make it easier for amateur photographers to get the right shot.

You still need to put in plenty of time practicing and studying to become a truly skilled photographer, but you can continue to churn out some decent pictures by just following the instructions laid out by your phone.

The Camera Is Changing Significantly

Smartphone cameras are quite remarkable, but they are not the only ones benefiting from improved technology.

Standalone cameras themselves have changed quite significantly in recent years. This article from CNet details how the relatively new mirrorless cameras are changing how photography works.

These mirrorless cameras function almost like video cameras. They are recording the scenery constantly and they only stop to pick out a single frame to highlight when you tell them to.

Mirrorless cameras also improve upon their more conventional counterparts by being lighter, quieter, and easier to use; especially at night. This specific type of camera has gotten popular enough that the heavyweights in the industry – Canon and Nikon – have put out their own versions as well.

Expect even more mirrorless cameras to come out in the near future.

Optical Improvements May Be Capped but Computational Enhancements Can Continue

A recent article from Tech Crunch puts forth an interesting prediction for the future of cameras and photography as a whole. The site notes that since camera lenses can only improve so much and sensors are not getting better fast enough, tech companies may attempt to innovate through introducing computational changes.

At a certain point, companies may pursue software upgrades instead of hardware enhancements to improve photography. They may even introduce new features that can manipulate light in certain ways.

Those innovations are still far off in the future, but they are most certainly worth watching out for.

Regardless of how cameras and camera technology may change, the one thing that will remain constant is that skilled photographers such as Blake Rubin will continue to roll with those innovations in order to produce great pictures.