I have noticed recently that there are 3 types of people and everyone falls into at least one of a category.

The first type includes those who like to look at pictures. It’s a passive type but doesn’t mean it’s bad. In the second category fall those who take pictures. Here things start to be a little more complicated because some of you who claim to be photographers, will fall in this group together with non-photographers. Let me explain you in a second after mentioning the final, third group of those who make pictures (yes, make pictures – it’s not a linguistic mistake). For me personally, it is the latter group that includes real photographers.

Now few sentences of explanations. A person can fall into more than one group. Naturally, those who are in the first group, have little to do with the active part of photography. They just enjoy looking at pictures (passive part of photography) and I would say that 99,99% of everyone is in this group. The second group of those who take pictures, usually includes those who own point-and-shoot cameras and take casual pictures at birthdays, parties, etc. However, those who own DSLRs and in some cases those who claim to be photographers as well. In general, it will be those who just point-and-shoot no matter how expensive and how professional their equipment is. They don’t spend too much time (or not at all) to see and try a different composition of a picture, they don’t walk around their subject to investigate lighting, different angles, possibilities, etc. They just point-and-shoot.

The third group includes real photographers. This is the group where people, or rather photographers, make pictures – they spend time before pressing the shutter button on thinking about the composition of a picture, they play with light and its sources, they put their camera into Manual mode or semi-manual and play with different settings for each picture. The most interesting thing about this group is that you really don’t need expensive or professional equipment. You can do everything I just mentioned with today produced point-and-shoot cameras and many professional photographers still use point-and-shoot cameras!