# Hey, that's a nice photo, you must have an expensive camera



## HeavenHell (Aug 25, 2012)

How do you respond to the following compliment: Hey, that's a nice photo, you must have an expensive camera. It's a compliment in that they like your photo enough to comment on it, but it seems like they are giving all the credit to the equipment used and none to the person behind it.


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## nightbreath (Aug 25, 2012)

Just don't bother. People who think that way are not your clients 8)


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## neuroanatomist (Aug 25, 2012)

HeavenHell said:


> How do you respond...



"Hey, that's a cute kid, you must have an attractive spouse."


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## DianeK (Aug 25, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> HeavenHell said:
> 
> 
> > How do you respond...
> ...



Neuro, you never fail to make me laugh out loud! ;D


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## donjensen (Aug 25, 2012)

Ask them if they would ever say to a chef: Hey that was a nice meal, you must have a really good frying pan!


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## distant.star (Aug 25, 2012)

.
Simple. You make it cause and effect.

"Yep, you have to be a really phenomenal photographer to afford the kind of equipment I use."


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## RLPhoto (Aug 25, 2012)

Interesting observation, do you believe an excellent meal depends on how expensive the pans you use? :-X


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## canon816 (Aug 25, 2012)

Take the pseudo-complement in stride and ask if they would be interested in purchasing a print.


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## friedmud (Aug 26, 2012)

canon816 said:


> Take the pseudo-complement in stride and ask if they would be interested in purchasing a print.



This.

Non-photographers will never understand what it takes to deliver excellent photos.

I literally just got in a huge fight with my mom about this. We were in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and they had a whole room dedicated to a wildlife photography competition that had just ended. Really nice big prints and really great photos.

She kept saying how "lucky" these people were to get those photos. I tried to explain to her that luck has VERY little to do with it. She says about one photo "but he definitely got lucky that that wolf went just under that log at the right moment so he could get a photo of it!".

Then I tried to calmly explain how that guy had probably tracked that wolf or pack of wolves for days. Waiting and watching for just the right moment where the light came together with an incredible image. This is a guy who has honed his craft over years and knows his equipment and himself like the back of his hand and therefore had the ability to react on a moments notice to get the focus, exposure and composition just right.... and just the way he envisioned it.

Her reply: "I suppose"

Sigh

People who are not serious about photography will never understand how we stand in the freezing dark for hours waiting for the sun to peek through. Or how we lug enormous amounts of gear to the tops of mountains to get the perfect shot. Or the training necessary to perfectly capture a motorcycle rider at ~200 MPh with that perfect background blur.

Yep Mom. Photographers just "get lucky" and the ones with the best gear are the only ones capable of "getting lucky"...

The best we can do is be happy that people enjoy our images and if we're ever around fellow photographers showin good photos... make sure to give them personal praise... because no one else will...

(sorry for typos, I'm on my iPhone right now! Oh and just do you don't think I'm a little kid: I'm 30 and happened to be in DC to get an award and my parents came along and we had a few extra days to do some site seeing


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## nikkito (Aug 26, 2012)

i usually give them my camera and tell them to make a photo of me, i set my camera it to the biggest aperture available and when they dont nail the focus i tell them "so? the camera does not take the photos itself, does it?"

it works almost always ;D


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## rpt (Aug 26, 2012)

I smile and say thank you. No point expending energies...


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## kaihp (Aug 26, 2012)

I've heard that saying "Your mouth makes very nice compliments" also drives home the point


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## acoll123 (Aug 26, 2012)

You should see my golf clubs!


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## Orangutan (Aug 26, 2012)

If there were not some truth to it we'd never upgrade our gear.

This has been discussed before, and I think most would agree:

Good gear + bad photographer => bad photos

Good gear + decent photographer => decent photos + a few good photos

Good gear + good photographer => consistently good photos

Bad gear + bad photographer => laughter + beer

Bad gear + good photographer => some good photos, and the good sense to destroy the others


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## Z (Aug 26, 2012)

Don't let it bother you. Like others have said, the majority of people will never appreciate the work that goes into creating 'good' photographs, so don't even bother.


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## Menace (Aug 26, 2012)

I just say thank you very much and carry on shooting. 

On occasions usually when i have the 70-200 with the lens hood, I just say "I'm compensating"...


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