Opportunities for Excellence

Years ago, on a photography message board I am a member of on Reddit, a challenge was given out to portrait photographers (or any photographers, really) to take the one image from a particular session that you felt was your worst-shot photo, and turn it into a masterpiece. This was an exercise that was two-fold in it's purpose. First, to challenge you to make what you consider the worst into the best. Second, it was to remind you that what you may see as your failures are actually the opportunities for excellence.

Think about that for a moment.

Your failures are opportunities for excellence.

Ever since that day, and it's been years since, I have implemented that challege into every session I capture.

You see, if you were working with a person in that session, and not just a bowl of fruit, you weren't just using your time, you were using your subject's time. That person chose you to capture this moment. They could have been doing a dozen other things, but they chose to be in front of your camera at that moment. They sacrificed a part of their life so that you might immortalize it.

They will never get that moment back.

So don't you dare waste it by clicking the "trash" button on the image you see as the one you botched.

On with this blog!

Photography has become (like most art) a thing that is seen as cheap and not very valuable. Nobody wants to pay for it anymore. You'd pay a plumber, an auto mechanic, a carpet cleaner, a cook, and a babysitter, but the photographer is seen as an artist...someone who does this for fun only.

If you post on Facebook that you are looking for a photographer, you'll get dozens of recommendations from dozens of people. Half these photographers are the recommdender's relative (Aunt Karen, for example) who just got a camera for Christmas. They love taking pictures and will do it for twenty bucks. Another 25% are amateurs who do okay work, but probably haven't been in business for very long, and likely aren't even licensed. The remaining 25% are actual pros who charge what they are worth.

So why should you hire that professional photographer from your hometown? That little man or woman who has lived in your city for five, ten, or even twenty years who you see at the grocery store and/or at church on Sunday? What's the difference between them and say, Olan Mills? Or Aunt Karen, even?

Let's change the subject for a moment, and talk about baking.

Aunt Karen (if she's not good at baking) will be happy to make you a cake for $20. She'll buy a box mix for $2, a tub of frosting for $2, add oil and eggs, and bake. Her cake will taste pretty okay if she does it right, but it will taste just like everyone else's who used that same mix.

Olan Mills (or similar, since they are no longer in busines) will also be happy to bake you a cake for $20. They bake hundreds of cakes a week, and they all look the same, except with different color frosting and decorations on top. They'll even write your name on the cake. You'll buy it, walk out, and they move onto the next customer. They won't remember you tomorrow, and they don't need to. You'll be back when you need another cake, after all. The money that you paid them will go into the pockets of their CEO who lives in New York.

The little hometown professional (think: that one lady who makes wedding and birthday cakes out of her home, and uses her grandmother's recipe that she won't share) will make you a cake for $50. She uses all her own ingredients, makes everything from scratch, stresses over every last detail, and when you take a bite of it, it tastes so good your eyes roll back. When you tell her how good it is, she cries a little inside because her grandmother would be so proud of her. She spent 4 hours on that cake, and every bite is worth every penny.

And the money you give her will buy her kids new shoes.

Ok, so now you know what you need to do next time you want pictures done, so I'm gonna get off that soap box.

The five or six people who read this blog will perhaps share it with others, who knows?

So when you hire a profesional photographer, what (other than the session) are you paying for? I decided to take the "worst image" from a recent session and show you. I opened the image, and each time I made a significant editing step, I saved a copy. I'll show you all my steps below, and note the changes. (Click each photo to enlarge for detail.)

Image opened in Adobe Camera Raw.

Transferred to Photoshop. This image is "straight out of camera". The bracketing is a little off, colors are muted (in-camera at my request) and UV light is making the image blue. The light leak on the top left is because my lens hood was damaged by a photography student, and I like the effect, so that hood isn't broken, it's priceless.

Removed UV cast, adjusted light levels slightly.

Bracketed correctly, cropped for rule of thirds.

Popped a bit of fill-lighting in her face, because the sun was super bright that day.

Eyes brightened (because of the sun's cast) and shadows adjusted.

Soft vignette added to bring out the background a bit.

Natural shadows on her face redefined, evened out brights and darks on her face.

Removed tiny skin blemishes caused by the sun being so harsh. I never overdo skin smoothing, because I want people, not Barbie dolls.

Tiny pop of light on her face just under her eye, and my stamp added. What was once my worst-shot image is something I put my heart into, because Kayla Green is MY senior representative, and this is MY WORK.


THIS is why we are worth it.