One of the best tools you can use to progress as a photographer is one that anyone can get without spending a dime.
My shoot ended early today. For a good cause. Not because it went badly. It was just one of those rare moments when my dog was left alone for a few hours less than he expected when I left the house early in the morning and ordered his food and water.
Now, the average person can see this gift of free time as the perfect opportunity to watch a movie or catch up on social media. And perhaps those activities will be very rewarding. But, being a workaholic in the best and worst sense of the word, I have instead chosen to head back to my office to finish the work I spent the night before shaking hands. into implementation.
What is the mission? Is it something fun, like planning a big photo shoot? No. Is it something super hot, like organizing my portfolio or lining up little sheets of paper for a promotional package? Well, no, that’s not it either. Instead, the task at hand is clearly more mundane.
As someone who is both a photographer and videographer, I have to be equally adept at lighting my scenes with both flash and continuous light sources. As a stills photographer, I pride myself on getting the final look at my images in-camera whenever possible. Sure, you can do wonders in Photoshop. However, if you work in advertising like I do, where you are constantly surrounded by an entire team of client executives who literally evaluate every image you take the moment you press the shutter button. , the idea of relying on post-production to achieve a “special look” is not beneficial. In fact, most of the time, you’ll be shooting straight at the client’s hard drive, so waiting for the “finish” of an image can be completely impractical.
This goes double for cinematography. Sure, you can do amazing things in a color layer to bring images to life. However, if you are trying to achieve a specific look that will last in post-production and appear on the other end, just like you thought, you should get the original image as close to perfect as possible. as good as possible before the matter is taken out of your hands.
It is for this reason that I spend a fair amount of my free time doing camera and lighting tests. I want to know exactly what every feature and menu item in my device does before I start the setup so I know what and what not to try before being scrutinized by a customer. In yesterday’s case, I booked Aputure Nova P300c RGBWW . LEDs board through a battery test. For those who don’t know, they are continuous RGB panel lights akin to something like lights Go to Skypanel but with a lighter price tag. They can range from standard daylight and tungsten color temperatures to everything in between. So you can shoot “normally” or you can shoot Happiness and inject bold colors into every inch of your scene. They even have effect templates, such as police or fire lights, that you can turn on with just a few buttons. I’ve put more than one of these to use since I got them. However, for less dramatic changes in saturation, you can also opt for the more traditional gel effects that have been popular on set for over a century. Everything is like adding only ¼ CTB to cool a scene. Or add a splash of magenta or green to correct light that doesn’t have the right shade.
The list of gels that can be applied to a light source is endless. And this point has continued to point to me yesterday when I started creating a visual reference guide for every built-in gel included in the P300c’s firmware. Thankfully, since the light has built-in gel effects, changing from one light to another is a fairly easy process. No need to get up and physically gel in front of your light. Now, a simple dial turn is all it takes to get the job done. And my goal is to create a frame of reference for the effect that every option available to me will have so that the next time I start, it will be much more effective to choose the perfect gel for the moment.
I’m one of those people who still remembers getting a haircut as a kid and seeing posters on the wall with pictures of the different popular hairstyles barbers could offer. Do I want one fade in, one fade out, part flat top, part right, part left? Those old posters on the walls are clearly getting better after what seemed like decades on the faux wood walls of my barbershop. But was it possible that simply letting my desired hairstyle, rather than having to describe what I wanted, made my life as a kid worrying about my middle school reputation become a mess? should be much easier.
The tendency to want to point to what I want has continued into my creative career. The art may not be quite as simple as which side parting you choose, but the ease of communication is appropriate. Especially when the person I’m communicating with is myself. I can decide in advance what kind of look to introduce, then pair it with specific image references so I not only know that I want to add blue to the scene, but also know exactly what blue I want to add the scene . Sure, that can be changed during the day. However, by planning for it, it increases the efficiency of the set.
Likewise, having these references also gives you something tangible to share with your client when discussing the look you intend to achieve. You can try to explain that you are going to make it blue, but not too green, a kind of green, but not really green, a hybrid between red green and yes little bright red. Or, you can pull up a reference image on your tablet and point at it. One of those things is much easier than the other.
Of course, there is a third reason to document your creativity. As discussed, you can use the materials to help you prepare for the shoot. You can use documents to help you communicate with your customers. Just as important, however, capturing your creation allows you to go back to a particular setting later and recreate it based on math rather than just a hunch.
The first person I saw doing this was the legendary celebrity portrait photographer Frank Ockenfels. I was attending a seminar where he was teaching about light and, at some point, he pulled out an old self-bound book that was strangely reminiscent of his diary. my sister when I was growing up and still banned to this day. peek inside. While my sister’s diary could very well be a constant complaint about her curious brother, Frank’s diary contains page after page handwritten, illustrated with pictures. Drawings and old Polaroid prints are pinned between the pages, capturing the lighting layout of some of his most famous images. . Putting the value of these original physics books aside in the world of fine arts, the practical value is enormous. Frank was able to recreate every of his most iconic images down to the letter just by looking at the diagrams scrawled inside the margins of the diary. Frank is Frank, a dedicated artist, he could easily improve on the original and choose not to follow the notes at all. But, he can do it if he wants to. As time went on, I understood that this is what many professional photographers and videographers do, so I quickly set it up as part of my normal routine when completing each shoot.
Aside from tax returns, the main difference between a professional photographer and someone who just has a knack for photography is repeatability. Someone who has a knack for photography but doesn’t fully understand what they’re doing to get those precise results can get you a great shot if all the elements fit together perfectly. perfect. But a professional photographer knows exactly how to recreate that shot even if the elements aren’t always in the right place.
Sometimes it’s literally recreating a scene. For example, let’s say you’re shooting a movie and you don’t find out until the movie is in the editing room three months later that the lead actress has a giant fly on her forehead during a climactic shot. Obviously you’ll need to reshoot the scene. But that was three months ago. The captured image needs to match the original image. But how will you recall where you put the lights three months ago?
Or, maybe you don’t have to literally recreate the same shot, but you need to recreate the same feel. Three months ago, you instinctively pulled out that bluish-green gel to give your shadows a very specific shade. But a quarter of a year later, you have absolutely no idea which one it is.
Keeping notes can prove important in covering your own tracks and protecting yourself if you need to reshoot a scene. But taking notes can be even more helpful in educating yourself for the future.
As I sat in front of my camera yesterday, snapping selfies with gel after gel, not only did I create a physical reference table that I could refer to to plan my work in the future. future. I am also burning my brain, the gel that I like more than the others. Now I have reference images in my diary for reference. However, the act of practicing with each, one after another, gives me a certain level of memory that I can recall even without mentioning the images.
Being a better artist doesn’t matter how much money you can spend on the latest and greatest gear. It’s about figuring out how to get the most out of the equipment you already have and get the most out of your creativity. Taking deliberate steps to document that creativity makes planning easier, communicating easier, and recalling the tools needed to create your next masterpiece. All three will help you up your game, run a more productive team, and have more happy customers.
So the next time you’ve done something that you’re particularly proud of or want to make sure you never repeat, take a moment to write it down. That knowledge can be helpful and take your next image to the next level.
