At the seminar I mentioned recently the presenter prefaced anything that might sound critical with, "I know this doesn't apply to you, but..." So, I know this doesn't apply to you, but... Tony Bramley had this to say about Johanne's last post: "There have always been crap photographers. Even in the days of film our old lab used to tell us of terrible exposures etc. "It's just there are more of them with digital cameras who think they can do a professional job in a very amateur way. If they don't know their trade and tools they are not professionals. As a printing company as well as an album supplier, you need to accept that a certain percentage of your customers are going to be poor at what they do and cause you some grief. Unfortunate but a reality. "Good professional photographers have two schools of thought on this. It puts us, in customer perception, at a higher level with good value at a higher price for excellent work. However it does give the profession a bad name... I suggest charging extra for particularly bad images that require extra work and you could make some extra money!" When I asked, Johannes didn't disagree with Tony's main point, but said: "Before they invented pixels (ending the era of the unforgiving nature of film) it was more important to get it right in camera ... The magical art of pixel massage has reduced the need to 'get it right first time'. The expression, 'We can fix it in the computer' has led to lazy photographers. If people were able to incorporate those early capture ethics of exposure, composition and posing first up they would save themselves a lot of pain and time. "Getting it right in camera may not seem as important to the new generation of the 'forgiven', but in truth it is more important than ever. There will always be crap, I agree. That's a good thing. That is what makes the average look better, and the better than average look exceptional."