cameras--do they matter?

I've been having lots of fun trying out photography, and am finding that the quality of the photographer matters at least as much as the quality of the camera. These were taken with my moderately priced digi and while some detail is visible, for instance the sunlight is accurately if overly brightly reproduced and the fine patina of rust is visible on the billhook, the overall quality of the pictures is about what you'd expect from someone who has seen pictures and knows how they should look but no actual skill in reproducing them.

These were taken by a friend with her pro quality digi and lessons on how to use it. Notice the fine detail and the feeling that you are looking at the actual object and not a crummy snapshot taken on vacation. The detail is especially good. You can actually see the hammer marks in the steel and the subtle sheen produced by the paraffin coating cooked in just right.

I have improved in the area of getting a sort of diffuser going by taping a folded up napkin over the flash of my cheap camera so that the details don't get washed out by the glare, but this is about as technical as I'm likely to get. At least for a while. There are so many other things I need to do first.