Here’s a piece of advice that may sound contradictory. Depending on the type of photography you are doing, your success will improve if you think fast and slow down.
Think Fast
What do I mean by this? What I really mean is to practice, practice, practice and get to where you just immediately know what settings to use for exposure, focusing, and a zillion other options. There’s a lot to think about, enough to be overwhelming if you are just learning to use your camera.
Once you have used your camera enough you’ll just immediately know what settings to use. You can “think fast” and be ready to capture that next great shot. For wildlife photography, you sometimes have to think fast because that photo opportunity might just be a fleeting moment.
But what about in portraiture? How does this apply? One could argue that you should think slowly, and think through the settings you are going to use. And that’s valid. But in another sense, if you are fully comfortable in adjusting camera settings you can “think fast” in terms of adjusting settings, and instead devote more of your time interacting with the person(s) you are photographing. Portraiture is more about the interaction between the photographer and the subject and the more you can minimize the time spent on distractions about camera settings, the better. Otherwise, the camera sort of “gets in the way” of the photographic process.
Slow Down
Here I was just talking about being fast, and now I am saying you should slow down. What’s with that?? Well, I am just thinking about the impact of digital photography on our ability to take a LOT of photographs in a short period of time. In wildlife photography, for example. I think we are probably all guilty of taking way too many photographs of that bird or animal, as if the real goal is quantity over quality. So, slow down and watch for those really optimal moments where “now” is the time to take that shot. It’s a matter of pacing and critical judgement of how many shots you are going to take.
Being a photographer with a lot of years of experience (a kinder way of saying I am “old”), I started out shooting with film cameras. Back then, with film cameras, you really had no choice but to slow down and make your shot count. There would be NO way, you would shoot 500 photos of an animal with film, so this required us to shoot sparingly. But with digital photography, we could easily come away from a day’s work of shooting wildlife with a thousand or more shots. Remember, we want quality, not quantity. Later on, when going through your 1000+ shots, you’ll pay the price of having the tedious task of picking out the best shot.
Similarly, with portraiture, you are usually looking to create that perfect shot, not a few hundred photos of your subject. S-l-o-w down. Don’t just shoot a bunch of photos. Interact with your subject. Don’t hide behind your camera messing with settings. Be fully “present” in your interaction with person. Do what you can to bring out the best in them, reflecting a bit about their personality, and a genuine smile.
The Blue Heron
I remember back to a time, many years ago where I was leading a workshop and we noticed a blue heron perched on a log on a shoreline of a river. Several in the group were taking picture after picture of the heron as it just sat there, not moving. So they definitely would have won a prize for the greatest quantity of photographs of that heron.
I encouraged them to wait and eventually it would take off, and THAT would be the shot to get. I urged them to have all their settings on the camera ready to go, and especially make sure they have their focusing set where they’d get a sharp shot of the bird, and have an adequate shutter speed to freeze movement of its wings and adequate depth of field through their aperture choice.
I had prefocused on the bird (actually in manual focus mode, so I was ready to go). [This was before the days of the more advanced focusing modes of today.] Anyway, we were all standing there waiting for the heron to take flight, and talking, but I encouraged them all to watch and be ready. Some were tired of keeping the camera pointed at the heron so they had their cameras by their sides. Then, in a sudden burst of movement, the heron raised its wings and took off. In that brief moment, I swung my camera up and fired. All my camera settings were ready. In that sudden moment of activity, I was ready and I got the shot, while everyone else was scrambling to get their cameras pointed at the bird and focusing and making adjustments where there was NO opportunity to make adjustments. The thinking had to all be done prior to the bird taking flight. So this is just an example of thinking fast and then getting the shot. I didn’t need a hundred shots of that heron just sitting on the log. I slowed down and just waited for the ONE shot I wanted.
Practice
If you are new to photography, I encourage you to know your camera and practice using it in various settings. Even practice the process of quickly changing your camera settings. You will find there are moments where your speed in making setting changes will mean the difference of “getting the shot” or “missing the shot.”
Most Important Component of a Camera
That great photographer, Ansel Adams, once said “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” That is so VERY true. We are tempted to think if we just bought a more expensive camera, all our photographs will be better. What is more important is YOU and how well you know your camera. Improve your skills, and your photographs will improve.
I Can Help
I offer all kinds of classes to help you with your photography, plus I have a lot of students choosing to go with my private instruction where we can focus our discussion on your specific needs at timeframes that best fit your schedule.
Happy Picture Taking!
Kevin Gourley
