One of the hardest
things for a photographer, at least from my point of view, is getting a
beautiful image for the clients to love. I can become my worst enemy when
evaluating photos. I want an image to tell a story. Why are we looking at this
image, what am I feeling from looking at this image? What memories does it
possibly bring back? But most importantly, I want an image to be remembered for
its beauty and/or moment.
Memories… One of the
things I strive for is to give my clients as many wonderful shots as possible
so that they can remember their day. Growing up my father was the family
photographer and had shoe boxes filled with photos. There were hundreds if not
thousands of photos of our family and friends. Sadly, lacking the modern
technology such as the cloud, most, if not all of those photos are lost
forever. Thus, allowing my clients to remember as much as possible from their
day.
Looking back on my
younger days, it was widely accepted for photos to be blurry, over exposed,
under exposed, incorrect white balance, grainy and/or with mom's head cut out
of the photo. Interesting enough, those photos were widely accepted and framed,
at least in our house. The one-hour
photos labs would just print what was within the film. Some would attempt to
lighten and/or darken where needed, but it wasn't as easy as today. Times have
certainly changed.
Same as yesterday,
today we, continue to find that the most difficult thing photographers have to
encounter is equipment failure. The client is expecting beautiful images that
can be shared within social media. Personally, I love the feel and quality of the
photo paper between my fingers. It reminds me of the time when I was a kid
looking through the boxes of family photos. But, equipment failure can truly
ruin your day. I remember being a guest at a wedding and the photographer
forgot to install film during the ceremony. It was not realized until after the
bride and groom kissed. They had to redo the entire ceremony so that they can
get the shot. Luckily, today's camera's having warning indicators if the memory
stick is not installed. However, data corruption is our biggest concern. Knock
on wood, I have not experienced this, but it can happen.
With modern
technology, saving photos from being over exposed, under exposed, white balance
off, noise, grain, and/or pimple removal has become much easier with software
like Photoshop and Lightroom. Photoshop has certainly made the photography
industry easier. But there are still techniques that need more than just
Photoshop to save a photo. Such as positioning of camera, flash or composition
of your photo. Sometimes I would look at
a photo and think, "I wish I moved to this angle, this would have looked a
lot better."
Yes, you can take a
photo that is possibly too dark and lighten it up in Photoshop. But then the
photo can become too grainy and not as sharp as you may want. Blurry photos can
make or break how people view your work. Yes, blurring a photo is a technique
that many like to use, but usually, it's an attempt to vignette or focus onto
the subject that is usually sharp within the image.
Recently, I was
shooting at a beautiful venue, The Red Barn in Hampshire College in Amherst,
Ma. The wood was beautiful, with a wonderful texture (you are seeing some of
those shots here). The venue had streamed small lights overhead to provide a
nice warm feel. But the walls and ceiling were light eaters. I was forced to
install a secondary off camera flash that would help fill light onto the
subjects properly. I also had a flash on my camera. It was an extremely
difficult task of getting the shot to initially focus. The room was extremely
dark. From time to time, the camera having a difficult time picking up on an
object to focus.
The added difficulty
of the night was also attributed to some equipment failure. During family
portraits, one of the flashes had stopped transmitting and was causing a delay.
The flash had become faulty and needed to be replaced. Luckily, I had a backup flash
and was able to get back on track without the clients realizing the issue.
Additionally, the
battery pack cable was destroyed. Let's just say, "my dog ate my
homework." I also had one camera
have issues with the connection between the lens. Thus, I was not getting clean
photos from that camera. I was able to grab my backup camera.
With all of the
issues that I was experiencing, the key was keeping the cool during the day. I
look at it like this, if I am stressed, then the bridal party is stressed, and
the day becomes a long unpleasant day for everyone. Plus, if bridal party is
stress, it will come through in the photos. I certainly don't want to be
remembered as the photographer that mess up their wedding. So I really try to
avoid those type of situations. Basically, I have created a "What
if?" scenario backup plan for most situations. By doing this, it helps
with keeping things in order.
The point to all of
this - create a Plan B for everything. For example, if it rains or is too cold
outside, where will the ceremony and/or portraits conducted at? Such as you
should having a backup plan for your wedding, a photographer should have a backup
plan for equipment failure. Remember, anything could happen.
I hope you enjoyed
this month's entry. You have been viewing Nicky and Ryan's wedding ceremony
that was captured on March 4, 2017. The enclosed link will take you to their
wedding slideshow that was created within YouTube.
What is next for
Vignetting Photography - On March 30, 2017 - we will be sponsoring the
Margarita Madness 2017 event that the Amherst Chamber of Commerce is putting
together. It will be hosted at The Hadley Farm Meeting House in Hadley Ma. We
will be having a booth and also take photos of the event. Below is a link for
you to get more information. Hope to see you there…
