Photography Ecosystems
Digital workflows determine how we use our digital ecosystems
I like taking pictures, primarily of friends, buildings and animals. My first camera was a Honeywell Pentax that didn’t even have a light meter. I took it to Mexico for my Junior year abroad in 1962. I had to borrow a light meter to get my settings right.
I remember using Kodak film: Tri-X, Kodachrome, Ektachrome and others. Those were the days. I made my way through cameras such as the Pentax, Canon, Olympus, and into the digital realm with the 1 megapixel Kodak digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix G2, and up to the present day with my Leica gear.
Along the way, I have learned a lot about photography and hope to share my knowledge with my readers on Substack. Why come to Substack you ask? Well, my son Ben, who writes at Hefty Matters, coaxed me to create a site, and I would like to try the social aspects of Substack.
In this post I want to convey ideas that I have been thinking about for a while. I may come across as a bit academic, and there is a reason for that: I am a retired professor of Computer Science from George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia.
I want to talk about Photography Ecosystems. First, I define the concept of an ecosystem and then a digital ecosystem. Next, I introduce the features I want in a photography ecosystem. The major players in this space include Apple, Google, and camera brands. I also discuss software services such as the Adobe Creative Suite, including Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, Camera One Pro, Leica FOTOS, DxO PhotoLab 7, and Topaz Photo AI. I have experience with all this software and will write about them in subsequent posts.
I propose that a Photography Ecosystem also has a strong social component that involves sharing photos, as well as personal interactions with other photographers. I focus on the Leica Photography Ecosystem and delve into its features.
What constitutes an ecosystem?
Wikipedia defines an “ecosystem” as “all the organisms and the physical environment in which they interact.” For example, natural ecosystems are influenced by external factors such as climate, soil, and topography, as well as internal factors such as decomposition and the type of species present.
Ecosystems are dynamic and evolutionary and are subject to periodic disturbances. They can adapt and survive these disturbances.
An example of an ecosystem is the High Peaks Wilderness Area in the Adirondack Park in New York State. Other examples include the Amazon Jungle Ecosystem and the Australian Great Barrier Reef Ecosystem.
A specific takeaway from this discussion is that ecosystems consist of a physical environment, organisms that interact with the environment, and they have the capacity to adapt and evolve as that environment changes.
What is a Digital Ecosystem?
In the same way that we talk about a natural ecosystem, we can adapt the term to our digital lives. Below is a working definition of a digital ecosystem, based on the Wikipedia definition: Digital ecosystem.
A digital ecosystem is a distributed, adaptive, open socio-technical system with self-organization, scalability, and sustainability inspired by natural ecosystems. Digital ecosystem models are informed by knowledge of natural ecosystems, especially concerning competition and collaboration among diverse entities.
How do we couch this in lay terms and translate this to reflect what we do in real life?
We belong to one or more digital ecosystems: Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, among others.
What makes these digital ecosystems? Apple and Google provide mobile devices such as the iPhone and Pixel phones, search services, desktop- and mobile-device operating systems, cloud services to store files and photographs, and mechanisms for sharing content with friends and family. Microsoft offers users the Windows operating system environment, search services, Office 365 apps, and cloud storage for files and photographs. It does not offer a mobile phone.
Amazon handles our e-commerce needs as well as media offerings, e.g. Kindle and Audible, Amazon Prime video, and Amazon Music. Amazon Web Services offers cloud services for storage and virtual computing.
Apple is a tightly coupled ecosystem because it has complete control of hardware and software. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon can be viewed as loosely coupled because they do not control both hardware and software. They all adapt to competition and offer similar products. They also evolve as new technologies are introduced, e.g. AI-based large language models such as ChatGPT.
What is a Photography Ecosystem?
What would we be looking for in a Photography Ecosystem? Here are a few features worth considering:
1. Support for one or more cameras and apps;
2. Software to import, store, and manage photos;
3. Mobile apps to allow photographic workflows independent of desktops and laptops;
4. Cloud-based storage for syncing photos across multiple services;
5. Social support for users to share photographs, concepts, opinions, and interactions; and
6. Regular online or in-person meetings that allow users to learn from experts.
Clearly, both Apple and Google support items 1-5. Apple handles Item 6 through its physical stores. Google’s YouTube app has multiple channels dedicated to photography and cameras.
But what about camera manufacturers? Do they have their own ecosystems? I say they do. Let’s explore this point.
General Photography Ecosystems
To include camera manufacturers other than Apple and Google, we have to extend our definition to include additional cameras as well as several sophisticated software services. Here is a diagram showing the components of a general photography ecosystem. Your personal workflows define the connections among the components.
Camera Manufacturers
Apple consistently improves its iPhone cameras with each iteration. It claims to use “computational photography” to process images in-camera before users view them. I find that the images coming out of the iPhone are crisp and in focus; my Substack sunset cover image was taken with an iPhone 14 Pro.
Although the iPhone photos are phenomenal, some prefer a stand-alone camera to take pictures. Other camera manufacturers also use some form of computational photography to process the images from digital sensors as they are saved to camera memory cards.
Major manufacturers that come to mind are Panasonic, Pentax, Nikon, Sony, Canon, Olympus and Leica. I have owned cameras from Pentax, Panasonic, Nikon, and Canon. I now use Leica gear.
Leica has a smaller market share than the others, but prides itself on its brass camera bodies, its superb lenses, and the overall fit-and-finish of its products. However, this comes at a price, as its camera bodies and lenses are very expensive.
Leica also has introduced a mobile app called FOTOS – for iOS and Android – that connects to a Leica camera via Wi-Fi and allows users to download images from the camera directly onto their mobile device. From there, users can edit their photos in Lightroom (mobile) and share them via social media.
Photo Editing Software
Photo editing software programs include the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Capture One Pro, DxO PhotoLab 7, and Topaz Photo AI. I have first-hand experience with these four. Each supports all the major camera brands.
I will discuss these in more detail in another post, especially their AI (Artificial Intelligence) features.
Mobility
We take mobility for granted because of our smartphones. However, we don’t have the same level of mobility with software on our desktop/laptop. Here is where Leica FOTOS and Adobe Lightroom come in.
FOTOS enables downloading photos shot on Leica cameras, then sending them to Lightroom for editing, and eventually posting them to social media and websites.
FOTOS on the iPhone or iPad can connect to a camera using a camera-generated Wi-Fi network. After establishing a connection between the camera and FOTOS, the user downloads selected photos to the mobile device in Preview-, JPEG- or RAW format. Once on the mobile device, the user can send the photos to Lightroom for editing and distribution to social networks. I will write another post that focuses solely on FOTOS.
Below is an iPad screenshot of the FOTOS app, with the left portion showing the cameras that have been connected previously and the right showing the photos in the Leica Gallery. Note the ‘LR’ enclosed in a box at the top right indicating that a selected image may be sent to Lightroom for editing.
The Leica Photography Ecosystem
In this section, I discuss my continuing love affair with Leica.
In addition to my trusty iPhone, which I carry everywhere, I own several Leica cameras: the Q2, the SL2, and the M10-R Black Paint. Each camera fills a specific role in its use and capabilities. The Q2 is an all-in-one camera, a point-and-shoot, or it can become a fully manual camera if you want it to be.
The SL2 is the Swiss-army-knife of cameras with auto-focusing lenses, in-camera image stabilization, and waterproofing. I especially like the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90 ASPH zoom lens, which allows me to frame shots the way I want them.
The M10-R Black Paint is a beauty to behold and gives the rich image colors that Leica is famous for.
For me, the Leica Photography Ecosystem consists of a loosely connected federation of Leica Stores, Leica cameras, the Leica FOTOS app, photo-editing software and social media sites for sharing and learning. I examine these below.
Leica Stores
Leica-owned stores are located in major cities throughout the world. I have done business with both the Washington, DC and Miami stores, and have seen videos of the Kyoto, Japan store (see below). By the way, Kyoto is one of my favorite cities, and I have fond memories of my time at Kyoto University. These videos combine the sense of beauty of Japanese society and the striving for excellence of Leica products.
Leica Store Kyoto Opening Reception
Leica Store Kyoto 5th Anniversary Ceremony
Leica stores have galleries and put on shows dedicated to photography; they also give seminars and courses on Leica products and software such as Lightroom Classic.
These stores are the forward-facing contact for Leica, and I appreciate everything they do for us enthusiasts. For example, during the pandemic, Leica Washington, DC ran a weeks-long Zoom-based class on photography, in which we were given assignments, and our moderator provided critiques and encouragement. I found these encounters to be quite helpful, and made several lasting friendships.
Now I will focus on ways to meet Leica enthusiasts to share photos, experiences, and knowledge, both in-person and online.
Leica Society International
The Leica Society International is an independent organization whose mission and vision is to be “The Ultimate Place for Leica Photography Enthusiasts.” I am a Sustaining Member of the society. I have attended meetings in Santa Fe, NM; Bellevue, WA and most recently at Teaneck, NJ, which is the headquarters of Leica America USA.
Leica Society International Home Page
Leica pulled out all the stops for the LSI meeting at the Marriot in Teaneck. They invited top-notch photographers as speakers and brought the Leitz Photographica Auction team from Germany to show off about 40 antique Leica cameras and gear to be auctioned to enthusiasts.
LSI publishes a quarterly journal, called Viewfinder, which highlights stories of interest to photographers in general, and Leica enthusiasts in particular.
I have found being a member of LSI and attending these conferences to be very rewarding. Leica also has its “Leica-on-Loan” program, which allows attendees to check out cameras and lenses. I used the program to try out the SL2-S body and a prime 70mm lens for portraiture.
Social Media Outlets
We usually take photos for ourselves but also want to share them with friends and family.
The photography ecosystem supports this by posting and sharing to iCloud or other cloud services, or by posting to Facebook and Instagram.
Back in 2017, when I first started taking photos of people with my Leica cameras, I would ask for their email addresses to be able to send them their images. In return, they asked me if I had social media sites where they could view my photos. Since then, I have learned the value of social media sites. I now have a printed business cards, a Facebook Page (Kerschberg Photography), and a website on Wordpress. Now I can add a Substack site to the list.
Facebook
Facebook is such a compelling site for photographers. There are many groups dedicated to Leica cameras. I have found that there are great photographers on Facebook and I have “friended” many of them. We share a bond; the love of Leica cameras.
Here are some Leica Facebook groups to which I belong:
Leica M & Leica M Lenses User Group
LSI – Leica Society International Meetings Meetup
The Leica Landscape & Architecture Group
Instagram
Facebook owns Instagram and provides a venue for individuals to post one or more photos. These may be “liked” by others, and comments are welcome. I have a presence on Instagram and also post simultaneously to Facebook.
YouTube
YouTube is an excellent resource for photographers. I recommend it for those who wish to learn more about photography, their Leica gear and reviews of new products. Here are a few of my favorite channels:
Conclusions
I have introduced the concept of the Photography Ecosystem and presented its desired features. I discussed Leica’s photography ecosystem. A photography ecosystem involves more than just hardware and software; people and their social interactions are also important. We are social creatures, so let’s take advantage of the various venues to share our love of photography and our photos!
Thank you for reading Kerschberg Photography. If you enjoyed reading this post, you can support this (free!) newsletter in several ways:
Subscribe
Restack or Share this piece
Recommend the newsletter to your readers.
I appreciate your support. You may always reach me here.
Want to read some more? Enjoy one of these recent posts:
