This is the final installment of our look at the three most important skill sets I see in the most successful, pro photographers who come through the GlobalEye Stock Photo Agency each month. We covered Lighting and Patience in the first installment -- if you missed that, you can check our sell stock photos blog -- otherwise we'll dive back in and look at technique.
For all the ease of automatic-everything cameras, I often wish they were somehow available only after the photographers had passed a manual photography course. Unfortunately, it's so easy and so handy, that most photographers who start out on automatic never go back and learn the way to control those settings themselves.
And that means there are a huge number of photographers out there making images that are almost great ... But because they have no theory and only very basic technical skills, they won't ever know what's holding them back and more importantly, how simple it is to correct the mistakes and make great photographs.
I see this each week with the membership application submissions. Images that could have been stunning if the photographer had only turned off the center weighted auto focus and gave more attention to their subject. Shots that could have been stunning if they'd turned off the preset exposure mode, and thought about their depth-of-field. Shots that would have been stunning if only they'd thought about the effects of shutter speed ...
The other frustration is those photographers who don't even take the time to read the manual that came with their camera so they might take advantage of the features open to them. Here are just a few issues .. And the photographer's reasons ... That I have seen just recently ...
1. Great submission of images, but all of them had a noticeable color cast that even I (seriously color-blind) could spot.
"Yes, I saw something about setting white balance, but figured the factory settings would have it covered..."
2. Fantastic subjects & compositions, but too grainy to ever use ...
"That's possibly because I keep the ISO set to 1600 so I don't have to stress about flash using up my batteries ... "
3. Amazing submission ... Technically spot on & material perfectly suited for stock, except they were shot as medium jpgs ...
"I did not want to run out of space on my memory stick ... "
The last one might sound absolutely ridiculous but is a familiar story around here ... The photographer had a $2000 camera and was shooting lots of great photos every week with real stock potential, if only he'd spent another $50 on a couple of extra memory sticks. (The average point-and- shoot these days captures a better quality file than the one this guy was saving!)
So the final suggestion here is, if your total photography experience is digital-auto, every chance you can, switch off the auto-everything and learn how to do it yourself.
Even better, call into the local second-hand shop and pick up an old manual film camera ... They're giving them away nowadays ... And put 1 or 2 rolls of film through it. You may learn more from those 100 shots than a year with your digital auto-everything!
OK, that is just a few general ideas to get you thinking. Next time around I'll cover a few more particular elements we see in the best selling images and a straightforward trick to be sure you get them right ever single time.
For now, feel free to visit our blog and post your own ideas on what makes a photographer a professional!
For all the ease of automatic-everything cameras, I often wish they were somehow available only after the photographers had passed a manual photography course. Unfortunately, it's so easy and so handy, that most photographers who start out on automatic never go back and learn the way to control those settings themselves.
And that means there are a huge number of photographers out there making images that are almost great ... But because they have no theory and only very basic technical skills, they won't ever know what's holding them back and more importantly, how simple it is to correct the mistakes and make great photographs.
I see this each week with the membership application submissions. Images that could have been stunning if the photographer had only turned off the center weighted auto focus and gave more attention to their subject. Shots that could have been stunning if they'd turned off the preset exposure mode, and thought about their depth-of-field. Shots that would have been stunning if only they'd thought about the effects of shutter speed ...
The other frustration is those photographers who don't even take the time to read the manual that came with their camera so they might take advantage of the features open to them. Here are just a few issues .. And the photographer's reasons ... That I have seen just recently ...
1. Great submission of images, but all of them had a noticeable color cast that even I (seriously color-blind) could spot.
"Yes, I saw something about setting white balance, but figured the factory settings would have it covered..."
2. Fantastic subjects & compositions, but too grainy to ever use ...
"That's possibly because I keep the ISO set to 1600 so I don't have to stress about flash using up my batteries ... "
3. Amazing submission ... Technically spot on & material perfectly suited for stock, except they were shot as medium jpgs ...
"I did not want to run out of space on my memory stick ... "
The last one might sound absolutely ridiculous but is a familiar story around here ... The photographer had a $2000 camera and was shooting lots of great photos every week with real stock potential, if only he'd spent another $50 on a couple of extra memory sticks. (The average point-and- shoot these days captures a better quality file than the one this guy was saving!)
So the final suggestion here is, if your total photography experience is digital-auto, every chance you can, switch off the auto-everything and learn how to do it yourself.
Even better, call into the local second-hand shop and pick up an old manual film camera ... They're giving them away nowadays ... And put 1 or 2 rolls of film through it. You may learn more from those 100 shots than a year with your digital auto-everything!
OK, that is just a few general ideas to get you thinking. Next time around I'll cover a few more particular elements we see in the best selling images and a straightforward trick to be sure you get them right ever single time.
For now, feel free to visit our blog and post your own ideas on what makes a photographer a professional!
About the Author:
Matt Brading is a photographer with GlobalEye Photo Stock Agency who prefers to sell stock photos using the direct contact systems and content-based photo marketing. He also published instant photo web sites using the photo site secrets method.
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