![]() If you are not a people person (and there’s nothing wrong with that), then find something else to photograph! If you are great with people, then photograph people. In fact, any client that I book I do my best to set up some time (even 5 minutes) before the shoot to get to know the person(s) I’m photographing. This can be done via an engagement session, coffee, or even skype. If it’s a wedding, I insist on meeting the bride and groom in person before the wedding. The less ‘professional’ you make your shoot, the more natural of a mood you will get from your clients.ģ.) Invest actual time into getting to know your client – I do everything I can to get actual face time in with any client before I get behind a camera. ![]() This can be done by telling lame jokes, making a fool of yourself (I’m a natural at this), or just by having a good time with your subjects. At some point you have to release control and start working on making your subject comfortable enough to be themselves. I may even significantly pose them, but then take pictures as the pose degrades into a more natural look.Ģ.) Don’t be afraid of making a fool out of yourself – Posing isn’t bad if it’s done right, and there’s nothing I hate more than an over posed portrait. I’ll tell them roughly what I’m looking for and let them fill in the blanks on their own. I’ll have the person(s) I’m shooting stand/sit/lay down at a certain spot. So, how do you write an article on something as abstract as capturing a moment in a real and powerful way? Well, I don’t completely know how to answer that, but I will do my best here and hope you will let me know if it helped out.ġ.) Let your clients have some creative freedom – For my portrait work, I always try and include a proper mix of candid moments and a bit of posing. Others may spend decades pursuing it, and some their entire life. Some photographers are naturals at this, and can achieve greatness very soon in their careers. It’s only when you develop both that you can become great. When you only have one half of the equation, you will be lacking as a photographer. They can shape light as they see fit and are experts at exposure and white balance, but the end result is a dreadfully boring portrait that looks like something out of a high school yearbook. They can describe in detail how they lit the scene and why they placed each light in each position. I see these photographers with elaborate studio sets with lighting and backdrops and soft boxes and beauty dishes and snoots and grids and you name it. I’ve seen this all too often with portraiture. ![]() On the flip side, if you are an incredibly technical photographer, but have no eye for it or you are awkward with people, you will have technically perfect images with absolutely no feeling or emotion to them. If you have a great eye for photography, but still shoot in automatic, your creative vision is being choked out because you have no say (except for composition) on how that image will turn out. I think Darren nailed it when he said that a great photographer is someone that has a natural ability to see moments and compositions, but also has the necessary skill set to execute the moment in whatever way he/she sees fit. It’s difficult to put into words what all goes through a photographers head when a moment happens. Writing an article about creating a telling image or connecting with your subject is a completely different story. Here’s how it goes: I know how to do something that others may not be aware of, so I write an article telling how to do it with concrete steps of how to achieve that specific technique. I think the main reason we write technical articles is because everything technical is black and white. There is nothing wrong with technical articles, I find them extremely helpful and most of the time that is what I write about, but I figured in light of Darren’s video I would try and give some insight into how I try and capture moments in my images that convey emotion and tell stories. Most posts are about technique, camera settings, and this sort of thing. It’s very rare that you actually see a post anywhere online that teaches about capturing powerful moments or emotions in photography and really connecting with your subjects. When I watched Darren’s video the other day on the difference between great photographers and good ones, it really got me thinking.
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