The allure of 100%

Quick Note: All of this is from my experience. Other people may find this irrelevant or totally different from their image use.

I read lots of photography blogs out there. I read gear reviews, compare specs, and lens tests, etc… It seems the internet, blogs, and forums have given people the ability to well over analyze their equipment and compare to everyone else. I often find myself having wildly difference experiences from what I’ve read on certain equipment. I have also rediscovered a joy for printing on artistic papers and shooting film.

This has made me want to write out some of my thoughts about what is important when it comes to lenses and image making.

Aside from discovering a specific problem with a lens, I am growing less and less concerned with test results of lenses and sensors. I have my own criteria of what I think looks good. If the sensor can do what I want, then lenses have become a crayon box. Each has its own color and signature. I use the appropriate one for what vision I am trying to produce. The fine difference between them in terms of relative sharpness, aberrations, etc… really makes a lot less of an issue in the grand scheme of image making. I’m willing to say that 100% view of pixels or a scan is absolutely useless aside from spotting out dust in most situations!

All of the specifics that look atrocious at 100% aren’t so appalling at most print sizes. I am not talking about a 60″ print either. Even when printing super large however…most viewers will not be pressing their nose into it. At proper viewing distances you still will not see sensor and lens issues the same as 100% pixel view.

-Web images are posted at 72 dpi at no more than 2000 pixels, and generally viewed 800px or smaller on most sites. That is roughly a 4×6 at print resolution. (300dpi
-Ipad screen is 1024px at 132 dpi. That’s roughly the equivalent of a business card in terms of print resolution.
-Most average prints are 8×10 or 8×12.
-Most images in a magazine or book are roughly that size or smaller.

We almost never view images much larger than a 2-page magazine spread in most daily personal settings!

How a lens renders at 100% matters very little when it comes down to it. The overall look of the image matters most. This is why I generally don’t post 100% comparison’s on my site. I am not concerned with the super micro difference. I am concerned with the overall look and feel of the image as a whole. How do the corners work with the rest of the image. Soft corners are sometimes just fine. Do out of focus areas transition smoothly? Are details defined and 3D looking…or flat and boring? Is the image achieving my vision and goal for the work or is the lens failing me some how. Is it me that needs to improve on something, or is the lens lacking in some way. Is the lens just the wrong tool to express what I want to say.

I’m not saying to sacrifice excellence in the art you strive to make. Sometimes we can overlook how wonderful a lens’ look can be by focusing on it’s drawbacks instead of it’s strength. So stop worrying about the most expensive lens on the block and learn to speak the language of the lenses you have!

Take a step back from your images. View them against a wall. Print some out and hang the 5×7 or 8x10s next to your computer and look at them for a while. Hold your images in your hand, not just in a computer. Look at the whole picture and don’t worry so much about specifics. Enjoy your work and realize that no one looks at a picture and thinks…hmm…too much field curvature and not enough initial sharpening!