Bleich, Arthur H. - Think like a pro.pdf

7/30/2019 Bleich, Arthur H. - Think like a pro.pdf

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By Arthur H. Bleich

32 DIGITAL CAMERA MAGAZINE www.digicamera.com

ThinkLikea

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rofessional photographersusually take better photosthan you do because, a) theyshoot more and, b) they have

developed methods to assurethat knock-out pictures are delivered totheir clients. You, too, have clients (familyand friends) and although they may not beas demanding (because theyre not paying)you still have an obligation (and hopefullya desire) not to bore them with trivial snap-shots.

No doubt about it, serious photographyis difficult because it requires both a mas-tery of technique and an eye for esthetics.Sometimes one gets in the way of the oth-er and visual chaos results. But if you think

like a professional photographer, youll findit a lot easier to get the kinds of results thatllhave both you and your clients saying:Thats a great shot! Lets begin.

01 Have a goal in mind whenever youdecide to shoot pictures. Dont justwander around hoping that some-thing will catch your eye. Decide, forexample, that todays the day forshooting unique doorways, or sealsat the zoo, or something equally spe-cific. With your mind (and eye) fo-

cused on one objective, you wontget frustrated trying to find thingsto take pictures of or come back witha lot of junk. In essence, you are tak-ing on an assignment that hassome structure to it and you will beforced to shoot accordingly. Youllalso end up with lots of good pic-tures to choose from instead of asmorgasbord of images, none ofwhich may be very good because youdidnt spend enough time on eachof them.

02 If you want to shoot great candidpictures of kids, pretend to ignorethem. With younger kids, be pleas-ant at first but if they continue tobug you with questions or start toham it up for the camera just dontanswer and keep the camera up toyour eye. Theyl l quickly becomebored and go back to their activities,forgetting that youre there (whichis exactly what you want). Dealingwith pre-teens and teens requires ne-

gotiation, especially if you want

them to pose for some portraits. Tell

them up front you know this maynot be their idea of fun but youpromise it wont take more than 15minutes. Most of them can live withthat, though theyll probably stillthink its an eternity. If you offer areward, that will sweeten the dealconsiderably.

03 Dont fixate on equipment. Manyphotographers constantly gripe thatif only they had this or that cameraor lens, they could make better pic-

tures. That really ap-plies to only a few ar-eas, mainly sports andwildlife where, indeed,some long telephotolenses are required.But you know what?Even if these com-plainers had thoselenses, theyd find an-other reason why theycouldnt bring homethe bacon. Learn to

make the most of theequipment you haveand you may find youdont really need asmuch as you thoughtyou would. Unlessthey have assistantsalong, most pros leavethe kitchen sink athome and travel lighta couple of camerabodies and a few lens-es. The legendary

Henri Cartier-Bresson

shot most of his great pictures with

one camera and a 50mm lens.

04 Find a long-term project to work on.You wouldnt think it, but most proshave a pet project theyre workingon aside from their commercial as-signments. Though it sounds like abusmans holiday, it keeps their eyein shape and allows them to shootwhatever (and however) they wantwithout having to answer to a client.Committing to a long-term projectalso will allow you to make adjust-

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ments as you move along. As youshoot and see your results, you be-gin to think about how certain im-ages could be improved and you canthen make a mental note of what todo the next time out. To begin with,pick a subject that you can spend atleast a half-day a week with over aone or two month period. Thiscould be a bridge or building shot

from different viewpoints at differ-ent times of day, or a sports orsinging group that meets periodi-cally, or a series of pictures on al-most any subject.

05 Stop counting pennies (actually dol-lars). When film was in its heyday,film and processing were expensive.If you did your own darkroom work,paper and chemicals added to thecost. Heres something all proslearned early on: if you wanted to get

good, you had to shoot a lot of filmand if you did your own developingand printing, you couldnt countpennies when it came to making halfa dozen or more prints of the sameimage to get one that was perfect.You just had to forget the price oryoud stop shooting or printing toosoon. The easiest way to do that wasto buy 100 rolls of film at a time and500-sheet boxes of paper so youcould just dip into an endless supply.Today, as a digital photographer, you

dont spend a cent on film or pro-cessing so youre way ahead. Put thatmoney toward buying a dozen ormore inksets and a few hundredsheets of paperall at onceso youcan work on an image until it reach-es perfection without thinking aboutrunning out of supplies or how muchit costs.

06 Preparation, preparation, prepara-tion. That was the late JohnnyCochran Jr.s mantra and youd dowell to heed it. When pros get as-signments, they dont just throwtheir camera gear in a bag and takeoff. In the early stages of my career,I sat next to a National Geographicphotographer on a plane to Alaskaand watched as he went throughnotebooks worth of material he had

researched for weeks before leavingon his assignment. Years later, Ifound myself doing the same thingbecause its the only way to makesure you have all your bases coveredand know what to look for. Now,with the Internet so easily accessi-ble, theres just no excuse for notlearning everything you can about

your intended subject so you knowwhat to look for before you eventurn your camera on.

07 There are things you should alwayshave with youextra memorycards, batteries, a tripod and all that,but most pros have a much longerlist and it goes beyond throwing aniPod into their camera bag for en-

tertainment. One of the most valu-able pieces of gear you can have is apair of kneepads (do I hear somesnickering, out there?). Most pho-tographers simply duck-squat whentrying to shoot dramatic low-angleshots and that can just about wreckyour body. An inexpensive pair ofknee-pads from Home Depot canlet you get down and dirty with asmile on your face. You can evenwear them under an old pair of jeansso youre ready to hit the ground at

any time. For less extreme shots,bring along a lightweight foldingcanvas stool (about 13-inches high)so you can sit low and shoot, say, atthe sidelines of an event. And at theother end of the spectrum, mostpros carry a small ladder for timesthey need a little added height to im-prove their viewpoint.

08 Force yourself to shoot the samesubject from different points of viewand at different times of day. At first,

this can be a killer because it takessome thinking and a lot of work. Butif you look at images shot by pros,youll find that most of them havebeen shot at an unusual angle orwith unusual lighting (early or latein the day or at night). Pros have tobring back eye-poppers and shoot-ing the subject straight on at noonjust doesnt cut it. After awhile, itwill just become natural for you tothink in terms of different angles andlighting and your pictures will sud-

denly begin to jump out at viewers.Pros also love wide angle lenses be-cause they give a unique look to animage and can add some deliberatedistortion. Buy a wide-angle lens andlearn to love it, too.

09 Pros read many of the same booksand magazines about photographythat you do and listen to a lot ofchatter about which cameras, lens-es, printers, computers, and softwareare supposed to be the best. But they

dont go switching around wildly be-cause that can lead to disaster. If you


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find that the camera and lens(es)you have are giving you good results,stick with them. If shooting in JPEGyields good prints, theres no needto get bogged down in RAW. Somephotographers actually like to use

complicated processesit makesthem feel superior to others. Youdont need the latest and greatest tomake good pictures; constantlychanging your gear and techniquesmay actually hold you back as youconstantly struggle with new learn-ing curves. Most pros keep thingssimple so they can concentrate onthe image-making process. Youshould, too.

10 One of the most difficult things pho-

tographers have to learn is to over-come their reluctance to approachpeople they dont know and ask ifthey can photograph them. A proonce told me how he was able to es-tablish quick rapport with subjects,putting them at ease while he shottheir pictures. He said he always hadan imaginary aunt, uncle, nephew,or niece in his pocket who was in thesame occupation as his intendedsubject. For example, if he was pho-tographing oil workers on a rig, hed

tell them how his uncle used to

work on oil rigs and how hisaunt was always com-plaining because, eventhough the money wasgood, she and the familydidnt see him for weeks ata time. He would immedi-ately see nods and smilesand the ice was broken. OK,maybe you think he was

cheating a bit but it workedand no one was hurt by it.If you use this technique, re-member not to have an im-mediate member of yourfamily in the same occupa-tion or you may be expectedto know more than you do.

11 Props can make or break ashot. Many pros drag awhole bunch of them alongif they are appropriate to

their assignment. A little girlis just a little girl, but a lit-tle girl with a red ballooncan really catch your eye.Scenic photographers fre-quently carry a duffel bagfull of different colored jack-

ets and hats for their foregroundsubjects to wear so they stand out.If you shoot pictures of kids andteens, encourage them to bringalong their favorite toys or posses-sions; itll make the shot more in-

teresting and your subjects will bemore comfortable in front of thecamera.

12 Always keep your eyes open for pic-ture possibilities that are not main-stream. For example, I know a sportsphotographer whose most interest-ing shots are not of the game but ofthings big and small that surroundit. In the world of motion picturesthese are known as cutaways, scenesrelated to the main action but not

part of it. Fans in the stands, play-ers in anguish over losing or tri-umphant in victory, a referee tyinghis shoelaces, bored pitchers in thebullpen, and so on. Similarly, every-day things that you walk by a thou-sand times bear closer examination.A rope tied to a pole can make agreat design shot if you move in onit and frame it well. Even a watersprinkler head can look like a mu-seum piece if you take the time toshoot it at a unique angle when the

light is right.

13 There are a few things you should-nt do. One of them is relying on

your sequence (or burst) mode tocatch a great action shot. Shootinga sequence of images doesnt guar-antee youll catch the peak of action;the only way thatd be a shoo-in isif your camera could fire at about30 frames or more per second andthats not possible yet. Besides, evenif it were, think of the memory cardrequirements. Before motor drivesbecame available on film cameras,sports photographers relied on theirown sense of timing to stop the ac-

tion. Guess what? They did a prettygood job of it. All it takes is practice.The other thing you should avoid isbeing too quick to erase bad im-ages. Many pros have gone throughtheir film negatives after the passageof time and have found great imagesthey overlooked when they first shotthem. Digital makes it too easy tomake quick (and often wrong) de-cisions to delete pictures. Only scrubobvious garbageif youre not sure,keep it.

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14 Imaging programs will not improveyour photographic skills. This maysound like digital heresy but slavishdevotion to these programs can im-pede your progress as a photogra-pher. When film was king, many ofthe worlds greatest photographersnever went near a darkroomtheyhanded their take to a lab for pro-

cessing and then edited their slides.Imaging programs are great for ad-justing brightness, contrast, color,sharpness, and for getting rid of im-perfections and unwanted elementsbut thats all you need to know howto do. If you spend a lot of time withyour imaging program, thats lesstime to shoot. The secret is to shootcorrectly to begin with so the timeyou spend on the computer is min-imized. And spending US $650 forPhotoshop when $80 for Elements

will suffice is simply an exercise inconspicuous consumption or keep-ing up with the Joness, both ofwhich are despicable

15 Pros frequently donate their time tocharitable projects and so shouldyou. It will give you a good feelingto know just how powerful photog-raphy can be as a force for positivechange. And you will make a lot of

contacts that can be valuable to youin the future. The State of New Jer-sey recently asked top pros (likeDavid Bergman whos been featured

in DCM) if they would photographkids who were up for adoption.They wanted appealing images thatwould give an insight into the kidspersonalities rather than just mugshots that theyd used in the past. Asa result, more kids were adopted andeach photographer came away pro-foundly touched by the experience.You can see the results at The HeartGallery .

Many pros got their start in the fieldby doing photography for non-prof-its. Choose a charity in your area (itcould even be your place of worship)

and let them know youre availableto do some volunteer photographyfor them. Itll be good for both of you.

Arthur H. Bleich([email protected]) is a pho-

tographer, writer, and educator who lives in Mi-

ami. He does assignments for major publications

both in the U.S. and abroad, and conducts digi-

tal photography workshop cruises, the next of which

will sail on December 3, 2005. Visit his Digital

PhotoCorner atwww.dpcorner.com.

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JonCox

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