In
connection with my day job, I had the opportunity the other day to be present
at a professional photo shoot. For years, when I was at the newspaper, I worked
alongside professional news photographers and in my work as a writer and
publications consultant I still work with freelance professionals. Not as many
as I used to, and there’s a worrying trend happening here.
The
proliferation of iPhones and point and shoot cameras has taken some of the
mystery out of photography. It’s no longer necessary to worry about such things
as the choice of film, the F-stop and shutter speed, and anyone can now take an
in-focus photo that’s decently exposed.
That
has led to a trap, however. Too many people are beginning to believe that
because they can take a technically competent picture, they can also take a good one. Usually they can’t, and the
result is a form of unconscious incompetence — what you get when someone
doesn’t know what they’re doing and doesn’t know that he doesn’t know.
It’s Complicated
The
photo shoot referred to earlier was for a publication being done by a local
educational organization. They wanted a picture of a group of kids engaged in
learning on both the computer and traditional books. To get it, they lined up
six kids whose parents signed releases for a photo shoot, and we all met at the
library of one of the local schools late one morning.
Greg Pio, who took the author photo for my book The McHenry Inheritance, was called in to get the picture. He arrived early,
checked out the site, and set up some lighting to illuminate a corner where a
table was set up in front of shelves of books.
At
11:30 the kids came in, and Greg sat them down and talked to them, explaining
what we were doing and stressing that it was a joint project where he really
needed their cooperation. Addressing them as adults, in a matter-of-fact tone,
he pulled them into the project right away. He then gave them some specific
things to do while he took the photos. Watching from behind, it was clear to me
that they were getting into it, and that the shoot was going well.
Creating the Opportunity
He
took a lot of photos, and if you’ve ever shot a family gathering, you’ll know
why. Whenever you have more than two people in a picture, the odds that one of
them will have closed eyes, be drooling, be making a face, or otherwise
inadvertently wrecking the picture are pretty formidable. Because the kids were
relaxed and acting out a scene, that was less of an issue here. Greg has told me
before that when he sets up a picture like this, he’s creating an opportunity
to make the magic happen, then shooting enough pictures to be sure he’s
capturing it.
Sure
enough, the results were terrific. There were enough good photos that it was
tough to choose among them, but that’s the kind of problem you want. The client
picked one and everybody was happy. (I can’t show the photo here because it
belongs to the client, not me, so you’ll have to take my word for it.)
It
would have been easy for the client to cheap out and have someone on the staff
take a picture, rather than calling in a professional. And odds are, it would
have been wrong in a lot of subtle ways that add up to a boring photo. There’s
a lot more to getting a great picture than telling everybody to get behind the
table and say “Cheese.”
