Does a Better Camera Make You a Better Photographer?

Here's something I've heard more than a couple times "Your camera is amazing, it takes really good photos!" 

I usually just agree or say "thank you" but here's something I want you to know: my camera doesn't take great photos in fact my camera has never taken a photo.

I wouldn't look at a great painting and then tell the artist that they must have used really great brushes and that the brushes painted a nice picture - that just doesn't make sense, yet a lot of times we think if someone takes a "good" photo they must have a nice camera and if someone takes a "bad" photo they must have used a bad camera. But I believe that you can take good photos with any camera. 

Today I put my theory to the test and used one of the worst cameras I've ever used to do it.  

With it's less than impressive features and it's two megapixels I think it's safe to assume that the "Samsung Galaxy Tab 3" was not  intended for photography. Which made it the perfect candidate for my experiment: Does a better camera make you a better photographer? 

I  took some test shots and put them side by side. Can you tell which photo was taken with the Samsung Galaxy and which was taken with a dslr?

I can't really see a difference. But if you were wondering, the one on the left was taken with the  Samsung Tablet and the one on the right was taken with my dslr camera.

The photos are practically the same which goes to show that the camera I used was not a deciding factor in which photo turned out better. 

For my second test I went outside and snapped a photo of these flowers.

Which one of these photos was taken with a dslr and which one was taken with the Samsung Galaxy?

They were actually both taken with the tablet camera. I promise I don't "trick" people for fun. I just want to prove a point:  We typically assume that a photo with better lighting was taken with a better camera, this is simply not the case, bad light is bad light no matter what camera you use. In the photo on the left there was direct sunlight hitting the flowers causing harsh shadows and for the photo on the right I used a piece of cardboard to block the sunlight and cast a shadow over the flowers. In my opinion the fastest way to improve your photography is to improve your understanding of light. 

Here's another example of what a huge difference lighting can make in your images. I used the Samsung Camera for both but the one on the right is clearly better than the other  - the only change I made was the placement of the mug in relation to the light so that it wasn't backlit.

WILL A BETTER CAMERA MAKE YOU A BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER?

Simply put, no. To quote Ansel Adams:

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” 

The only thing that makes a photo "good" or "bad" is you. Better cameras do not change bad lighting nor will they make boring photos of leaves interesting. Here's evidence:

(The first two images were taken with my dslr and the second two were taken with the Samsung Tablet camera.)

Think of it this way: If you owned a really expensive piano, but you didn't know how to play it you can't blame the piano for not sounding good when you play it. Just because you own a good instrument doesn't mean that you are a good musician.

Here's my point: If we base our conception of what makes a good photo off of whether or not the camera that was used was expensive or not we are selling ourselves short.

Content and great composition are far superior to fancy settings and expensive cameras. The photos below were taken with the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. While they aren't the most interesting or amazing photos and they don't have the greatest resolution would you consider them to be good photos?

That's a hard question to answer because what makes a photo "good"? I'm inclined to believe it's not the amount of pixels that it's made up of or the camera it was taken with. What's your conclusion?

Before you spend your savings on a fancy camera and play the whole Canon vs. Nikon, Sony vs. Fujifilm game ask yourself this: "What can I do with the camera I currently have?" In the end cameras are just plastic, metal and glass - think about it. If you want to improve your photography then study photography, learn everything you can about making photographs. Dream big and don't be afraid to fail. Experiment with whatever camera you have, work hard, don't be lazy, practice everyday and never ever give up.