July 11, 2023 • 31 mins
Ever wondered what separates a good photographer from a truly great one? Let's find out! Today, we dive into the world of photography, exploring the elements that transform a simple click into a breathtaking masterpiece. We'll unravel the blend of technical skills, artistic vision, and the dedication necessary to separate from the photograph pack. The ability to visualize the shot before clicking the shutter, creating a powerful composition, and pushing boundaries with colors and innovation - these are all part of the recipe for success.
But photography isn't just about technicalities. It's about the intimate dance between the photographer and the subject - the connection that makes each photograph a story worth telling. From building a rapport to empathizing with the subject, we'll shed light on how interaction adds depth to your photographs. And remember, the key to becoming a great photographer is the relentless pursuit of knowledge. As the world of photography constantly evolves, a true artist thrives on learning and adapting. You can't transform from good to great by buying the latest gear. Photography education is the key to breaking away from the pack and becoming a great photographer.
The 8 Elelments to Becoming a Great Photographer
Technical Proficiency
Creativity and Artistic Vision
Attention to Detail
Patience and Timing
Adaptability and Problem-Solving Skills
Storytelling Ability
Connection and Empathy
Continuous Education
Questions or Comments? Reach out at MariaB@CluedUpBTS.com and I'll be in touch* directly or address your comment on the podcast.
*By submitting a question or statement, you agree that your submission can be discussed publicly on the podcast, website, or other platforms owned by or affiliated with CluedUpBTS and its parent company, HeadshotNJ, and affiliate company Maria B Photography Studio. while retaining your anonymity.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maria (00:00):
And it's Maria, and welcome to this week's episode
of Clued Up, the behind thescenes photography podcast.
Now, if you listen to our lastepisode, we had some questions,
you know called it 10 food forthought photography questions,
and we went through questionsone through nine And then we got
(00:20):
to question number 10, which iswhat makes a great photographer
, and I think that is a meatyenough topic that it deserves
its own podcast episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to Clued Up with MariaB, the behind the scenes
photography podcast.
Clued Up is your insider's viewto building successful magazine
(00:44):
style photo shoots.
We talk design and concept,fashion and style, tech, social
media and, of course, business,plus so much more, including how
to avoid common photographypitfalls.
You'll also meet some specialguests who work behind the
camera and in front of the lens.
Whether you're an aspiringphotographer, a portrait
(01:04):
photographer thinking aboutstarting your own business, or
you just have an interest inwhat it takes to plan and
execute professional shoots,you've come to the right place.
I'm your host, maria B.
Now let's get you Clued Up.
So, as we make our way intothis topic, i think this is
really interesting because youknow, being a good photographer
(01:29):
is such a complex thing, rightLike you have to know so much
about so many different elementsof photography.
It's actually mind bogglingwhen you stop to think about it.
And that's simply because thereare so many components to
photography.
There's the artistic aspect,there's the business aspect,
(01:50):
there's the technical aspect,there's lighting, there's posing
, there's also, you know,there's that psychological
aspect of you finding a way tocomfortably ask people to pose
for you.
And then there's the otherpsychological aspect, which is,
(02:12):
once people are in front of yourcamera, you kind of have to
manage them, to manage theirposing.
You have to manage theiremotions.
You have to ask them to evokecertain feelings.
Sometimes you have to ask themcertain questions to engage them
so that you get, you know, thewhole perspective, or you get
(02:33):
that, not perspective, but thatexpression that you're looking
for.
And of course you have to haveattention to details.
And having attention to detailsduring a shoot, and especially
before a shoot, helps minimizethe amount of work you may have
to do in post production.
And then you get to talkingabout post production, because
(02:53):
you know you take a photo and itlooks good, but then you have
to know what to do to reallyelevate that image and make it
something that really stands outfor you, for the client, etc.
There are about a millionthings you need to know, but
somehow you have to find a wayto bring all of that together,
(03:15):
and today we're going to talkabout some of those things, some
of those things that reallymake a great photographer Dive
into that.
Let me just give you adefinition or how I would define
great, and this is purelysubjective.
When I say great, i'm nottalking like you know, your name
is known around the world, oreven within your state or within
(03:38):
your town.
When I say great, what I'mtalking about is the
photographer who is consistent.
Consistent in turning out ahigh quality of work, something
where people who are familiarwith that person's work are not
(03:59):
surprised when they see it.
Or they can look at a photo andthink, well, i know so and so
must have taken that photo.
That looks like that looks liketheir style.
These are individuals who havemastered these characteristics
that we're about to talk about.
The first is technicalproficiency.
So technical proficiency meansthat, as a photographer, you
(04:23):
have a deep understanding ofyour camera settings and what
your camera is capable of.
But I would also include undertechnical proficiency things
like lighting, composition andpost processing techniques.
All of these are technicalaspects that you can just group
(04:46):
together and being really,really good at them.
Being a strong photographer andbeing a great photographer
requires proficiency in theseareas.
Number two creativity andartistic vision.
It's not enough to be technical.
You have to have a particulareye, a particular way of seeing
(05:10):
things.
You have to actually have adifferent eye, because it's so
easy for a group ofphotographers to all take a
similar photo, but those whohave that extra something
they're more likely to explore,they're more likely to
(05:30):
photograph at different angles,at odd angles.
They may use differentapertures, like an aperture you
wouldn't expect to use for aportrait or landscape or some
other aspect or some other genreof photography.
They tend to explore, they tendto look for the different and
(05:52):
they tend to see light a littlebit differently than most people
.
Within creative and artisticvision, we have creative
composition, the use of colorand what some would call an
innovative approach to conveytheir particular vision, and
(06:12):
then attention to detail.
I cannot emphasize howimportant this is to good
photography, and I really thinkthe great photographers are
almost obsessive about details.
When you watch some of thesepeople work, before they even
(06:33):
pick up the camera.
They are arranging, rearranging, changing things around,
they're fixing everything toreduce the amount of work they
will have to do later andpost-processing.
But that's not the only reason,the reason.
(06:55):
I think the reason is becausethey have such a strong work
ethic toward getting thingsright in camera and actually
seeing the photograph that theywant that they want to produce
in front of their eyes beforethey hit the shutter.
So attention to detail while ithelps reduce the workflow, it
(07:22):
also helps to bring their visionto life, the viewer.
This makes the photograph a lotmore pleasant and it also has
the ability to be extremelyimpactful.
Following attention to detail ispatience and timing.
The really great photographershave the ability to anticipate
(07:47):
and capture that special moment,and that requires a couple of
things.
It requires knowing behavior,it requires patience and it
requires a special sense oftiming, because that
photographer has to wait for theright light, the right gesture,
(08:08):
the right expression of emotionthat can result in a very
unique and extraordinaryphotograph.
There's no surprise, becauseI've talked about this in other
episodes, and that isadaptability and problem-solving
skills.
Most photographers can workwith almost any subject, any
(08:34):
client, any model.
They can work under variouslighting conditions indoors,
studio, outdoors, differentenvironments.
They can find solutions toproblems that just occur on the
spur of the moment and theydon't freak out.
They have the ability tocapture magnificent images and
(08:58):
compelling images, regardless ofthe circumstances they find
themselves in.
So what do photographers talkabout having to do portraits in
cleaning closets when they're,like you know, photographing
someone to promote a movie, oryou're in your studio and your
(09:20):
lights aren't working the waythey should, or your lights just
are not working.
You have to find a way toresolve this problem, because
you may never have the chance tophotograph this person again.
And what are you going to sayto your client?
I can't take your photo becauseof X, y and Z.
No, you have to find a way, andlearning to find a way under
(09:44):
any circumstance just makes youa master problem solver and it
reduces your fear of findingyourself in a situation that you
will not be able to handle.
And I think the very bestphotographers they know they can
walk into a situation andphotograph something and come
(10:07):
out with something extraordinary, no matter what.
Our next characteristic in greatphotography is storytelling
ability, and this is the abilityof the photographer to not just
capture a moment butessentially summarize previous
(10:27):
action or action or emotionthat's about to happen in an
instant, be it the result ofsomething that happened before
or the anticipation of what's tocome.
It's really a beautiful thingto look at a photo, to look at
something that is still and twodimensional, and yet it evokes
(10:53):
an entire story as to what ishappening in that moment.
And the best photographers, thegreat photographers they tell
stories with almost each andevery photo that they produce.
What's characteristic iscreating connection and
possessing empathy.
(11:13):
So building a rapport with yoursubject, with your client, and
connecting with them so that theentire session of photographing
them, their entire photographicsession, is not simply a list
(11:33):
of to-dos make up wardrobe, getin front of the lens, take a
photo.
There's some connection betweenthe two people.
It's almost like a dance, it'ssomething that's intimate, and
you can see that in the photosof great photographers, because
they're able to evoke emotion byconnecting with their subject.
(11:58):
The other side of that is thatthere's a connection with the
viewer, similar to storytellingability.
Right, because those two thingsare connected.
When somebody stops, you know,either stops scrolling, or they
(12:18):
stop to look at a photograph, oryou know a print or something
in a magazine or what have you.
There's something that'sdrawing them in.
There's some type of connectionthat happens between the
subject, the environment thatsubject is in and the person
(12:39):
viewing the photo, and all ofthat is made possible by the
connection and the sense ofempathy that the photographer
creates.
So far we've talked abouttechnical proficiency,
creativity and artistic vision,attention to detail, patience
(13:01):
and timing, adaptability andproblem solving, storytelling
ability, connection and empathy.
Those are great characteristics.
They're difficult to master.
I think most photographers mostof the greatest, the well-known
(13:25):
, the photographer, the localphotographer who puts out high
quality work consistentlythey've mastered these.
For me, all of thesecharacteristics are important.
But there's something else.
There's something that Iconsider the most absolute most
(13:49):
absolute I don't think that'sproper grammar the most absolute
characteristic of greatphotographers, and that is the
ability to continuously learn.
Great photographers do not siton their laurels.
(14:11):
One, photography consistentlychanges, so you always have to
keep up.
But more than that, there'sthat sense that there's so much
to know in the photographyuniverse that no one person can
(14:32):
know everything.
And when photographers gettogether and I'm talking like
the big dog photographers gettogether they talk among
themselves and discuss thingsthat are new, or people talk
about how they managed to createa particular photograph, what
(14:55):
were the technical aspects?
what was said?
what were they trying to convey?
did it come out the way theythought it would?
And there's that back and forth, and you get your input from,
or they get their input from,their photography colleagues,
and you know they talk abouttheir experiences, or that they
tried to do something similar.
(15:16):
This is what I did.
You know they they're alwayslearning from one another And to
me that's crucial The fact thatsome of the greatest
photographers that we know donot see themselves as people who
know everything.
They know they're good at whatthey do.
(15:38):
They may even know that they'regreat at what they do, but They
certainly realize that, as muchas they know, they can still
learn more.
They can always improve theirwork.
It's like almost likeself-actualization The higher
you go, the higher you can go.
(16:01):
You didn't just get here to gethere.
You got here so you can do more, that you could do better than
what you did yesterday, because,as they all know and as we all
know, you're as good as yourlast photo.
People have a sense of humilityabout their work.
They are again interested inlearning, not so much interested
(16:27):
in look at me.
This is what I've done And Ithink that's such a great lesson
Because I look at people whoyou know.
Nowadays it's not difficult toget a hold of a great camera.
They're more affordable thanever.
(16:48):
If you have money in the bank,if you have a credit card, you
can go out and buy a reallyexpensive camera And then you
can go and buy some reallyexpensive lenses And you could
start taking photos and they'rereally good photos.
But that doesn't necessarilymake for great photography,
(17:14):
because if we run through thatlist of characteristics that I
talked about, there's a lot tolearn there And you don't learn
that by just hitting the shutterand getting some good photos.
People I know who are very,very good or even great
(17:38):
photographers have spent most oftheir money on photography
education.
They've flown across thecountry, in some cases across an
ocean.
They've purchased and spenthours watching videos, all to
(17:59):
learn how to do better work, allto become far more proficient
in those things that we'vetalked about already.
I rent my studio tophotographers looking for space.
You know they want to do ashoot.
They rent my place for a coupleof hours And you can tell the
(18:23):
people who are on track toreally becoming proficient.
And then you can tell thepeople who bought an expensive
camera and love the whole gearthing And who can take a good
photo, but they're also notreally going to get far beyond
(18:44):
that.
So here are a couple ofexamples.
I've watched people walk into mystudio.
First of all, they rent thestudio for an hour.
Now, yeah, if you rent mystudio for more than an hour,
yes, there is the financialbenefit for me, but if you rent
(19:06):
a studio for an hour, unlessyou're doing a headshot, you
really can't accomplish thatmuch because you have to.
First of all, you should arrivewith a plan.
You should have a concept.
You should take the time to setup before your client arrives.
(19:30):
You should have the time totalk to your client when that
client arrives.
If you had not done sopreviously, have the time to
speak with your client as youwork through this process of
taking their photograph.
And we're talking about just oneindividual.
(19:51):
I've had people come intophotograph a family and just
booked for an hour, And that'sreally hard to do, and yet get
high quality photographs orphotographs that are more
intimate than everyone justlining up and posing.
So these are things that I seewhen people rent my space And I
(20:17):
have to tell you like sometimesit's really hard to sit there
and watch, but I don't want tointerfere.
I'm happy to suggest andsometimes I do when I see
there's a way to instruct and togive them some advice, just to
either move things along or helpthem create a better photo.
(20:39):
They that if it's yourunderstanding that you're going
to do some exquisite portraitwork in an hour it's, it can be
good but it could definitely bebetter.
Some of the other things I seethat I think they sort of hinder
people's ability to elevatetheir work is they don't take
(21:02):
control as the photographer.
I know I've spoken about thisin other episodes, but I've
watched people as they rent fromme where you know they're
shooting tethered And the clientis looking at what's on the
screen and the photographer iskind of following along what the
(21:29):
client wants to do and clearlyit's the client who's running
things.
And I look at this and I'm justthinking what is your client
know about photography?
and this says a couple ofthings about the photographer.
It says, one, you're notconfident enough to take control
of this photography session andtwo, perhaps you're just not
(21:55):
really ready to do this, saythat.
But this is what I mean when Isay there's a lot of work that
needs to be done before youstart accepting money to
photograph individuals orfamilies if you cannot yet
produce a particular level ofwork.
(22:18):
Here's another example if you'rephotographing something or some
genre or a subject you're notparticularly comfortable with,
do the work before the photoshoot.
So, for example, the first timeI had to do, the first time I
was asked to do a maternityshoot.
(22:39):
You can bet your bottom dollarthat I went and I spent the
money to learn from aprofessional photographer be it
live or video I think it waslive and video how to do a
maternity shoot, the lighting,the clothing.
(23:00):
You know the setups.
I explored that, i took notes,i learned, i learned and I
learned some more.
And even now, if someone asksme to do a maternity shoot, i
still go back to that materialand I review it and I review
videos and I review my notes onit, because when that person
(23:23):
comes to me and they're in mystudio, i want them to be
comfortable with the fact thatthey have allowed me to
photograph them at thisimportant time in their life.
And yet I've watched peopleshow up in my studio from
maternity shoot and essentiallyall they've done is put the
(23:47):
person, put the woman in frontof a backdrop and taken some
photos.
And there's so much more youcan do as far as what they wear,
the different setups you canprovide, how much creativity you
could bring to that moment andreally create something that is
(24:08):
epic and joyous that they'regoing to look back upon for the
rest of their life.
And by no means am I saying I ama great photographer.
What I am saying is that whenit comes to photographing
someone, anyone, under anycircumstance, you really have to
do the background work, becausethat separates you from the
(24:33):
person with the really expensivecamera and the really expensive
lens who just put somebody outin front of a backdrop and takes
some photos.
They don't know posing, theydon't know lighting, they they
don't know how to evoke emotionand they come across as not
being sure of themselves.
(24:54):
And it's just it's.
I hate to say it, but watchingit happen in front of me, it's
like nails on the blackboardthat it's the client who's.
It's the client or the theclient's family member, who's
pretty much critiquing andrunning the session.
(25:14):
It's just wrong.
It's wrong on so many levelsand it's so hard to correct.
I try to guide, i tried to helppeople, to help them improve
their work, but sometimes youknow people don't want to listen
and you really can't imposeyour work ethic on them.
(25:35):
I'm unfortunate because there'sso much information out there
for almost anything that youwant to photograph.
You know, when I photographgirls for their 16th birthday,
their sweet 16, i've got photos,i've got educational material
from having done it before.
(25:56):
But again I go back and Ireview because girl is 16, she's
not a little girl anymore, butshe's not a woman.
So you don't want overtlysexual poses, but you also don't
want to pose her like she'sfive years old.
So what's appropriate?
and I just wonder when I lookat people and I look at the way
(26:18):
they work and I just think hereyou are with a $3,000 camera, a
$2,000 lens and How are youelevating your work?
You would be better off withlike a I don't know a five, six,
seven, eight hundred dollarcamera with an, you know a
(26:42):
little telephoto or a couple ofinterchangeable, inexpensive
lenses, but dedicated money onphotography education.
And I think that's what'smissing from a lot of people who
are quote-unquote intophotography.
They are not willing to investin the educational part of it
(27:07):
and they're not really learning.
And I think that's whatseparates the good from the very
good, the excellent and thegreat ones because, like I said
before, the greatest well-knownphotographers living today
people who I follow, people whomy photography friends follow
(27:28):
they're always learning fromeach other and they're learning
all they're.
They're always learning.
And yet I look at people whocall themselves photographers
and I'm just like when are yougonna, when are you gonna learn?
when are you going to make theinvestment in educating yourself
(27:48):
so that you come across as areally good photographer on the
way to becoming a greatphotographer?
sum up, i'm not gonna list thecharacteristics again.
They're gonna be in the shownotes, but for everything I've
said, for you know, having runthe list of characteristics, the
(28:12):
most important thing you can doas a photographer if you want
to elevate your work is toinvest in photography education
posing, lighting, connecting,learning how to connect with
(28:33):
people, learning what'sappropriate for the shoots that
you're going to do.
When somebody calls you up andthey want to do, you know they
want to do a glam photo shoot,or they want maternity, or it's
their sweet 16, or it's a family.
Don't just give the person adate in the time and think that
(28:54):
they're gonna show up and you'regonna make these great photos.
You've got to do the workbehind the scenes to create
strong, substantial, impactfulphotography that you can then
charge for.
And I have to say this ifyou're not gonna do the work,
(29:18):
someone else's someone else withnot as good a camera don't have
fancy lenses, but you know what?
they're gonna put somebody infront of the camera and the
lenses that they have andthey're gonna pose them and
they're gonna talk to them andthey're gonna connect with them
(29:39):
and they're gonna learn aboutstyling and they're gonna learn
about evoking emotion andthey're gonna learn about
lighting and they're gonna learnabout lighting some more and
they're gonna become so goodwith their little dinky camera
that they're gonna have shinethe person who can spend the
money and just walk aroundsaying, oh, i'm a photographer,
(30:04):
please do the work.
There's nothing stopping you.
There's absolutely nothingstopping you.
Stop investing in what's newand shiny.
Stop investing in you know yourbrand of cameras, new lens.
Stop investing in upgradingyour camera once a year when the
(30:24):
the next new model comes out,and invest in what cannot be
taken from you, which is astrong foundation of photography
education.
That is how you separateyourself from everyone else not
by the gear that you own, but byyour knowledge of photography,
(30:49):
because that's what separatesthe good from the very good,
from the excellent from thegreat.
Okay, thank you everyone forlistening to this week's episode
.
I'll talk to you soon.
Thanks so much for listening tothis episode of Clued Up with
me, your host, maria B.
(31:10):
If you've enjoyed this podcast,please be sure to rate,
subscribe and review on yourpreferred podcast listening
platform.
I really appreciate yoursupport.
When you rate, subscribe andreview, you're also helping
other listeners find and enjoythis podcast.
Until next time.
And it's Maria, and welcome to this week's episode
of Clued Up, the behind thescenes photography podcast.
Now, if you listen to our lastepisode, we had some questions,
you know called it 10 food forthought photography questions,
and we went through questionsone through nine And then we got
(00:20):
to question number 10, which iswhat makes a great photographer
, and I think that is a meatyenough topic that it deserves
its own podcast episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to Clued Up with MariaB, the behind the scenes
photography podcast.
Clued Up is your insider's viewto building successful magazine
(00:44):
style photo shoots.
We talk design and concept,fashion and style, tech, social
media and, of course, business,plus so much more, including how
to avoid common photographypitfalls.
You'll also meet some specialguests who work behind the
camera and in front of the lens.
Whether you're an aspiringphotographer, a portrait
(01:04):
photographer thinking aboutstarting your own business, or
you just have an interest inwhat it takes to plan and
execute professional shoots,you've come to the right place.
I'm your host, maria B.
Now let's get you Clued Up.
So, as we make our way intothis topic, i think this is
really interesting because youknow, being a good photographer
(01:29):
is such a complex thing, rightLike you have to know so much
about so many different elementsof photography.
It's actually mind bogglingwhen you stop to think about it.
And that's simply because thereare so many components to
photography.
There's the artistic aspect,there's the business aspect,
(01:50):
there's the technical aspect,there's lighting, there's posing
, there's also, you know,there's that psychological
aspect of you finding a way tocomfortably ask people to pose
for you.
And then there's the otherpsychological aspect, which is,
(02:12):
once people are in front of yourcamera, you kind of have to
manage them, to manage theirposing.
You have to manage theiremotions.
You have to ask them to evokecertain feelings.
Sometimes you have to ask themcertain questions to engage them
so that you get, you know, thewhole perspective, or you get
(02:33):
that, not perspective, but thatexpression that you're looking
for.
And of course you have to haveattention to details.
And having attention to detailsduring a shoot, and especially
before a shoot, helps minimizethe amount of work you may have
to do in post production.
And then you get to talkingabout post production, because
(02:53):
you know you take a photo and itlooks good, but then you have
to know what to do to reallyelevate that image and make it
something that really stands outfor you, for the client, etc.
There are about a millionthings you need to know, but
somehow you have to find a wayto bring all of that together,
(03:15):
and today we're going to talkabout some of those things, some
of those things that reallymake a great photographer Dive
into that.
Let me just give you adefinition or how I would define
great, and this is purelysubjective.
When I say great, i'm nottalking like you know, your name
is known around the world, oreven within your state or within
(03:38):
your town.
When I say great, what I'mtalking about is the
photographer who is consistent.
Consistent in turning out ahigh quality of work, something
where people who are familiarwith that person's work are not
(03:59):
surprised when they see it.
Or they can look at a photo andthink, well, i know so and so
must have taken that photo.
That looks like that looks liketheir style.
These are individuals who havemastered these characteristics
that we're about to talk about.
The first is technicalproficiency.
So technical proficiency meansthat, as a photographer, you
(04:23):
have a deep understanding ofyour camera settings and what
your camera is capable of.
But I would also include undertechnical proficiency things
like lighting, composition andpost processing techniques.
All of these are technicalaspects that you can just group
(04:46):
together and being really,really good at them.
Being a strong photographer andbeing a great photographer
requires proficiency in theseareas.
Number two creativity andartistic vision.
It's not enough to be technical.
You have to have a particulareye, a particular way of seeing
(05:10):
things.
You have to actually have adifferent eye, because it's so
easy for a group ofphotographers to all take a
similar photo, but those whohave that extra something
they're more likely to explore,they're more likely to
(05:30):
photograph at different angles,at odd angles.
They may use differentapertures, like an aperture you
wouldn't expect to use for aportrait or landscape or some
other aspect or some other genreof photography.
They tend to explore, they tendto look for the different and
(05:52):
they tend to see light a littlebit differently than most people
.
Within creative and artisticvision, we have creative
composition, the use of colorand what some would call an
innovative approach to conveytheir particular vision, and
(06:12):
then attention to detail.
I cannot emphasize howimportant this is to good
photography, and I really thinkthe great photographers are
almost obsessive about details.
When you watch some of thesepeople work, before they even
(06:33):
pick up the camera.
They are arranging, rearranging, changing things around,
they're fixing everything toreduce the amount of work they
will have to do later andpost-processing.
But that's not the only reason,the reason.
(06:55):
I think the reason is becausethey have such a strong work
ethic toward getting thingsright in camera and actually
seeing the photograph that theywant that they want to produce
in front of their eyes beforethey hit the shutter.
So attention to detail while ithelps reduce the workflow, it
(07:22):
also helps to bring their visionto life, the viewer.
This makes the photograph a lotmore pleasant and it also has
the ability to be extremelyimpactful.
Following attention to detail ispatience and timing.
The really great photographershave the ability to anticipate
(07:47):
and capture that special moment,and that requires a couple of
things.
It requires knowing behavior,it requires patience and it
requires a special sense oftiming, because that
photographer has to wait for theright light, the right gesture,
(08:08):
the right expression of emotionthat can result in a very
unique and extraordinaryphotograph.
There's no surprise, becauseI've talked about this in other
episodes, and that isadaptability and problem-solving
skills.
Most photographers can workwith almost any subject, any
(08:34):
client, any model.
They can work under variouslighting conditions indoors,
studio, outdoors, differentenvironments.
They can find solutions toproblems that just occur on the
spur of the moment and theydon't freak out.
They have the ability tocapture magnificent images and
(08:58):
compelling images, regardless ofthe circumstances they find
themselves in.
So what do photographers talkabout having to do portraits in
cleaning closets when they're,like you know, photographing
someone to promote a movie, oryou're in your studio and your
(09:20):
lights aren't working the waythey should, or your lights just
are not working.
You have to find a way toresolve this problem, because
you may never have the chance tophotograph this person again.
And what are you going to sayto your client?
I can't take your photo becauseof X, y and Z.
No, you have to find a way, andlearning to find a way under
(09:44):
any circumstance just makes youa master problem solver and it
reduces your fear of findingyourself in a situation that you
will not be able to handle.
And I think the very bestphotographers they know they can
walk into a situation andphotograph something and come
(10:07):
out with something extraordinary, no matter what.
Our next characteristic in greatphotography is storytelling
ability, and this is the abilityof the photographer to not just
capture a moment butessentially summarize previous
(10:27):
action or action or emotionthat's about to happen in an
instant, be it the result ofsomething that happened before
or the anticipation of what's tocome.
It's really a beautiful thingto look at a photo, to look at
something that is still and twodimensional, and yet it evokes
(10:53):
an entire story as to what ishappening in that moment.
And the best photographers, thegreat photographers they tell
stories with almost each andevery photo that they produce.
What's characteristic iscreating connection and
possessing empathy.
(11:13):
So building a rapport with yoursubject, with your client, and
connecting with them so that theentire session of photographing
them, their entire photographicsession, is not simply a list
(11:33):
of to-dos make up wardrobe, getin front of the lens, take a
photo.
There's some connection betweenthe two people.
It's almost like a dance, it'ssomething that's intimate, and
you can see that in the photosof great photographers, because
they're able to evoke emotion byconnecting with their subject.
(11:58):
The other side of that is thatthere's a connection with the
viewer, similar to storytellingability.
Right, because those two thingsare connected.
When somebody stops, you know,either stops scrolling, or they
(12:18):
stop to look at a photograph, oryou know a print or something
in a magazine or what have you.
There's something that'sdrawing them in.
There's some type of connectionthat happens between the
subject, the environment thatsubject is in and the person
(12:39):
viewing the photo, and all ofthat is made possible by the
connection and the sense ofempathy that the photographer
creates.
So far we've talked abouttechnical proficiency,
creativity and artistic vision,attention to detail, patience
(13:01):
and timing, adaptability andproblem solving, storytelling
ability, connection and empathy.
Those are great characteristics.
They're difficult to master.
I think most photographers mostof the greatest, the well-known
(13:25):
, the photographer, the localphotographer who puts out high
quality work consistentlythey've mastered these.
For me, all of thesecharacteristics are important.
But there's something else.
There's something that Iconsider the most absolute most
(13:49):
absolute I don't think that'sproper grammar the most absolute
characteristic of greatphotographers, and that is the
ability to continuously learn.
Great photographers do not siton their laurels.
(14:11):
One, photography consistentlychanges, so you always have to
keep up.
But more than that, there'sthat sense that there's so much
to know in the photographyuniverse that no one person can
(14:32):
know everything.
And when photographers gettogether and I'm talking like
the big dog photographers gettogether they talk among
themselves and discuss thingsthat are new, or people talk
about how they managed to createa particular photograph, what
(14:55):
were the technical aspects?
what was said?
what were they trying to convey?
did it come out the way theythought it would?
And there's that back and forth, and you get your input from,
or they get their input from,their photography colleagues,
and you know they talk abouttheir experiences, or that they
tried to do something similar.
(15:16):
This is what I did.
You know they they're alwayslearning from one another And to
me that's crucial The fact thatsome of the greatest
photographers that we know donot see themselves as people who
know everything.
They know they're good at whatthey do.
(15:38):
They may even know that they'regreat at what they do, but They
certainly realize that, as muchas they know, they can still
learn more.
They can always improve theirwork.
It's like almost likeself-actualization The higher
you go, the higher you can go.
(16:01):
You didn't just get here to gethere.
You got here so you can do more, that you could do better than
what you did yesterday, because,as they all know and as we all
know, you're as good as yourlast photo.
People have a sense of humilityabout their work.
They are again interested inlearning, not so much interested
(16:27):
in look at me.
This is what I've done And Ithink that's such a great lesson
Because I look at people whoyou know.
Nowadays it's not difficult toget a hold of a great camera.
They're more affordable thanever.
(16:48):
If you have money in the bank,if you have a credit card, you
can go out and buy a reallyexpensive camera And then you
can go and buy some reallyexpensive lenses And you could
start taking photos and they'rereally good photos.
But that doesn't necessarilymake for great photography,
(17:14):
because if we run through thatlist of characteristics that I
talked about, there's a lot tolearn there And you don't learn
that by just hitting the shutterand getting some good photos.
People I know who are very,very good or even great
(17:38):
photographers have spent most oftheir money on photography
education.
They've flown across thecountry, in some cases across an
ocean.
They've purchased and spenthours watching videos, all to
(17:59):
learn how to do better work, allto become far more proficient
in those things that we'vetalked about already.
I rent my studio tophotographers looking for space.
You know they want to do ashoot.
They rent my place for a coupleof hours And you can tell the
(18:23):
people who are on track toreally becoming proficient.
And then you can tell thepeople who bought an expensive
camera and love the whole gearthing And who can take a good
photo, but they're also notreally going to get far beyond
(18:44):
that.
So here are a couple ofexamples.
I've watched people walk into mystudio.
First of all, they rent thestudio for an hour.
Now, yeah, if you rent mystudio for more than an hour,
yes, there is the financialbenefit for me, but if you rent
(19:06):
a studio for an hour, unlessyou're doing a headshot, you
really can't accomplish thatmuch because you have to.
First of all, you should arrivewith a plan.
You should have a concept.
You should take the time to setup before your client arrives.
(19:30):
You should have the time totalk to your client when that
client arrives.
If you had not done sopreviously, have the time to
speak with your client as youwork through this process of
taking their photograph.
And we're talking about just oneindividual.
(19:51):
I've had people come intophotograph a family and just
booked for an hour, And that'sreally hard to do, and yet get
high quality photographs orphotographs that are more
intimate than everyone justlining up and posing.
So these are things that I seewhen people rent my space And I
(20:17):
have to tell you like sometimesit's really hard to sit there
and watch, but I don't want tointerfere.
I'm happy to suggest andsometimes I do when I see
there's a way to instruct and togive them some advice, just to
either move things along or helpthem create a better photo.
(20:39):
They that if it's yourunderstanding that you're going
to do some exquisite portraitwork in an hour it's, it can be
good but it could definitely bebetter.
Some of the other things I seethat I think they sort of hinder
people's ability to elevatetheir work is they don't take
(21:02):
control as the photographer.
I know I've spoken about thisin other episodes, but I've
watched people as they rent fromme where you know they're
shooting tethered And the clientis looking at what's on the
screen and the photographer iskind of following along what the
(21:29):
client wants to do and clearlyit's the client who's running
things.
And I look at this and I'm justthinking what is your client
know about photography?
and this says a couple ofthings about the photographer.
It says, one, you're notconfident enough to take control
of this photography session andtwo, perhaps you're just not
(21:55):
really ready to do this, saythat.
But this is what I mean when Isay there's a lot of work that
needs to be done before youstart accepting money to
photograph individuals orfamilies if you cannot yet
produce a particular level ofwork.
(22:18):
Here's another example if you'rephotographing something or some
genre or a subject you're notparticularly comfortable with,
do the work before the photoshoot.
So, for example, the first timeI had to do, the first time I
was asked to do a maternityshoot.
(22:39):
You can bet your bottom dollarthat I went and I spent the
money to learn from aprofessional photographer be it
live or video I think it waslive and video how to do a
maternity shoot, the lighting,the clothing.
(23:00):
You know the setups.
I explored that, i took notes,i learned, i learned and I
learned some more.
And even now, if someone asksme to do a maternity shoot, i
still go back to that materialand I review it and I review
videos and I review my notes onit, because when that person
(23:23):
comes to me and they're in mystudio, i want them to be
comfortable with the fact thatthey have allowed me to
photograph them at thisimportant time in their life.
And yet I've watched peopleshow up in my studio from
maternity shoot and essentiallyall they've done is put the
(23:47):
person, put the woman in frontof a backdrop and taken some
photos.
And there's so much more youcan do as far as what they wear,
the different setups you canprovide, how much creativity you
could bring to that moment andreally create something that is
(24:08):
epic and joyous that they'regoing to look back upon for the
rest of their life.
And by no means am I saying I ama great photographer.
What I am saying is that whenit comes to photographing
someone, anyone, under anycircumstance, you really have to
do the background work, becausethat separates you from the
(24:33):
person with the really expensivecamera and the really expensive
lens who just put somebody outin front of a backdrop and takes
some photos.
They don't know posing, theydon't know lighting, they they
don't know how to evoke emotionand they come across as not
being sure of themselves.
(24:54):
And it's just it's.
I hate to say it, but watchingit happen in front of me, it's
like nails on the blackboardthat it's the client who's.
It's the client or the theclient's family member, who's
pretty much critiquing andrunning the session.
(25:14):
It's just wrong.
It's wrong on so many levelsand it's so hard to correct.
I try to guide, i tried to helppeople, to help them improve
their work, but sometimes youknow people don't want to listen
and you really can't imposeyour work ethic on them.
(25:35):
I'm unfortunate because there'sso much information out there
for almost anything that youwant to photograph.
You know, when I photographgirls for their 16th birthday,
their sweet 16, i've got photos,i've got educational material
from having done it before.
(25:56):
But again I go back and Ireview because girl is 16, she's
not a little girl anymore, butshe's not a woman.
So you don't want overtlysexual poses, but you also don't
want to pose her like she'sfive years old.
So what's appropriate?
and I just wonder when I lookat people and I look at the way
(26:18):
they work and I just think hereyou are with a $3,000 camera, a
$2,000 lens and How are youelevating your work?
You would be better off withlike a I don't know a five, six,
seven, eight hundred dollarcamera with an, you know a
(26:42):
little telephoto or a couple ofinterchangeable, inexpensive
lenses, but dedicated money onphotography education.
And I think that's what'smissing from a lot of people who
are quote-unquote intophotography.
They are not willing to investin the educational part of it
(27:07):
and they're not really learning.
And I think that's whatseparates the good from the very
good, the excellent and thegreat ones because, like I said
before, the greatest well-knownphotographers living today
people who I follow, people whomy photography friends follow
(27:28):
they're always learning fromeach other and they're learning
all they're.
They're always learning.
And yet I look at people whocall themselves photographers
and I'm just like when are yougonna, when are you gonna learn?
when are you going to make theinvestment in educating yourself
(27:48):
so that you come across as areally good photographer on the
way to becoming a greatphotographer?
sum up, i'm not gonna list thecharacteristics again.
They're gonna be in the shownotes, but for everything I've
said, for you know, having runthe list of characteristics, the
(28:12):
most important thing you can doas a photographer if you want
to elevate your work is toinvest in photography education
posing, lighting, connecting,learning how to connect with
(28:33):
people, learning what'sappropriate for the shoots that
you're going to do.
When somebody calls you up andthey want to do, you know they
want to do a glam photo shoot,or they want maternity, or it's
their sweet 16, or it's a family.
Don't just give the person adate in the time and think that
(28:54):
they're gonna show up and you'regonna make these great photos.
You've got to do the workbehind the scenes to create
strong, substantial, impactfulphotography that you can then
charge for.
And I have to say this ifyou're not gonna do the work,
(29:18):
someone else's someone else withnot as good a camera don't have
fancy lenses, but you know what?
they're gonna put somebody infront of the camera and the
lenses that they have andthey're gonna pose them and
they're gonna talk to them andthey're gonna connect with them
(29:39):
and they're gonna learn aboutstyling and they're gonna learn
about evoking emotion andthey're gonna learn about
lighting and they're gonna learnabout lighting some more and
they're gonna become so goodwith their little dinky camera
that they're gonna have shinethe person who can spend the
money and just walk aroundsaying, oh, i'm a photographer,
(30:04):
please do the work.
There's nothing stopping you.
There's absolutely nothingstopping you.
Stop investing in what's newand shiny.
Stop investing in you know yourbrand of cameras, new lens.
Stop investing in upgradingyour camera once a year when the
(30:24):
the next new model comes out,and invest in what cannot be
taken from you, which is astrong foundation of photography
education.
That is how you separateyourself from everyone else not
by the gear that you own, but byyour knowledge of photography,
(30:49):
because that's what separatesthe good from the very good,
from the excellent from thegreat.
Okay, thank you everyone forlistening to this week's episode
.
I'll talk to you soon.
Thanks so much for listening tothis episode of Clued Up with
me, your host, maria B.
(31:10):
If you've enjoyed this podcast,please be sure to rate,
subscribe and review on yourpreferred podcast listening
platform.
I really appreciate yoursupport.
When you rate, subscribe andreview, you're also helping
other listeners find and enjoythis podcast.
Until next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.