“It’s not the camera that takes the photo, it’s the photographer.”
This or something like it is said a lot by photographers. Sure, a really expensive camera can help, but give an experienced photog a point-and-click disposable film camera from a bygone era and they’ll still crank out a few shots worth remembering.
So I was kind of shocked when I, first learning the difference between taking a good photo and wasting developer fluid, learned that my camera was already doing some of the thinking for me.
You see, at some point, someone sat down and looked  at a whole bunch of good photos, then averaged the lights and darks and decided they equaled about 18% gray. I haven’t found evidence of this beyond what my photography teacher told me, but it’s a nice story.
What’s true, however, is that any camera sophisticated enough to have a built-in light meter looks at whatever’s coming through the lens and tries to over- or under-expose your shot to hit that 18%. This is why that shot you tried to take in a low light situation ended up more blurry than you expected, or why that image where a lamp was in the shot left everyone else in the picture looking like they were in a dark shadow.
More experienced photographers know this and adjust accordingly, sometimes using “gray cards” to help calibrate their cameras for shots that are more true to  the lighting situation on hand, but this is working AROUND the camera more than it is working with it.
Which brings me to this neat little article  on PetaPixel. Apparently light balance wasn’t enough, someone made a camera that does a lot more of the thinking for you.
The Trophy Camera is an experimental camera powered by artificial intelligence that can only shoot images that it deems to be “award-winning.â€
There’s a lot more to it than that. This invention is meant more as a statement on the more formulaic and “questionable” (to quote the inventor…) nature of photojournalism than a useful tool for amateur shutterbugs that can’t be bothered to learn which end to point at a subject.
The article is an interesting read with several useful links for more information, Â but it also brings to mind some common thoughts about education: There’s the right answer, then there’s everything else.
We fall into this trap all the time. Multiple choice answers are easier to grade, so that’s what we put on tests. Â We’re hardwired to look for differences, so it’s easier to grade worksheets when the finished ones all need to look the same.
This is fine, if you’re just pointing your camera at things and hoping it’ll go click.
… but what are you doing to get around making all of your students 18% gray? What’s your equivalent of a “gray card” in your classroom?