It’s a battle waged by every bride: spend your hardearned money on a professional photographer, or let your shutterbug uncle handle the job; after all, he has a nice camera, is keen to do it, and will do it for free. Unfortunately, after the wedding when it’s too late, many new brides are dismayed over their lack of decent images — but uncle did his best.

Much the same scene plays out in the adult entertainment world, where dudes that think they can point a camera in the right direction and press a button, fancy themselves as “photographers” — eager, ready and willing to shoot a porno flick.

And who could blame him for trying, given the pro-like features of his new camera?

These days, as the price/performance ratio of even the simplest consumer gear is rising dramatically, advancements on the mid- to pro level have been even more effective at delivering high quality results under nearly any realistic shooting conditions; providing a competitive advantage to those that can afford (and know how to use) higher-end gear.

Even mid-level gear, such as the Nikon D7000 DSLR, can produce stunning results when equipped with the right lens — bringing advanced depth of field (DOF) techniques to budget digital video shooters — whether they’re shooting weddings, or hardcore porn.

Although it was doubtlessly in the hands of a professional shooter, even the latest feature release from Elegant Angel, “Wasteland,” was shot in 1080p HD with a DSLR camera, providing more than adequate quality for DVD and Blu-ray video distribution.

While it’s true that today’s technology can deliver technically excellent results with point and shoot ease, whether you are using a $300 HD Hero or a $30,000 follow-focus equipped DSLR rig, every professional will tell you that it takes more than a good camera to produce great images.

Attention to details surrounding composition, focus, lighting, staging and more are all important for achieving excellent results — but presets and controls for these vital factors cannot be found on any fancy camera’s menu system — they are ingredients that must be learned and practiced if you have any hopes of producing truly professional results.