Not Just Clicking Buttons

Posted on July 27, 2010

“Your camera takes AMAZING pictures!”
“Great photos!  You must have a really good camera!”
“If I get the (insert fancy camera name here) then I’ll be able to take amazing pictures too!”

These comments are heard by photographers the world over every day.  And to some extent, it is true.  Having nice camera gear can make a difficult shoot more manageable but there is a lot more that goes into making a beautiful portrait than having professional gear.  Technology is only part of the story.

Creating great image requires a plan, skill to operate the gear, knowledge of light, posing, aesthetics and the ability to anticipate the “decisive moment” to be able to bring it all together.  Even with all of that in place, however, many images require further knowledge of processing in order to make them really stand out.

Take the two frames below.  In the “Before” picture, many of the elements are already in place.  The pose is there, the emotion, the convergence of lines and the basic colors.  What wasn’t there was the optimum exposure and framing.  Thanks to post-processing, these could be altered and the image perfected.

That’s not to say that all images require this much post work.  In fact, many images just require a minor adjustment.  But I selected this example to illustrate that the vast majority of work that goes into custom photography happens both before and after the shutter is clicked on the camera.

Before:
Location scouting including -
Checking the light at certain times of day
Looking for natural frames and new ways to capture familiar settings
Posing the couple in an aesthetically pleasing way
Interacting with the couple to elicit real emotions
Helping the couple to feel comfortable being themselves in front of the camera

**CLICK**

After:
Downloading the images
Selecting the best ones
Processing the images in a basic way
Making additional artistic edits as necessary

So you see, it is good to have a nice camera that can capture amazing amounts of data but it’s not all about the 1′s and 0′s.  It’s about the vision of the person behind the lens and how they use their technical knowledge to realize that vision.  The next time you look at a professional photograph, think about the work that went in to creating that image.

We all see the world from our own perspective.  I hope you enjoy mine.