In a recent conversation I had on Twitter, a friend stated, “if I see a perfect shot, I can never seem to catch it the way I see it…it [the photo] doesn’t speak to me.”
This seems to be a very common problem all photographers experience at one time or another. I’m guessing, it’s a common problem all visual artists experience. I know I’ve run into this phenomenon many times myself over the years. Here are my thoughts as to why our “perfect photos” fail.
Photographic Reality
When you see the perfect shot, the perfect landscape, the perfect sunset, the perfect portrait…you are doing a lot more than seeing it. You have five senses, and your brain is recording more than just sight.
You are feeling the wind blowing across your body. Maybe feeling the heat of the sun against your skin.
You are hearing the wind as it blows across the grasses. Maybe hearing the waves crashing onto the shore.
You are tasting the salt air. Maybe the great food and wine you had for lunch.
You are smelling the incoming rainstorm mixed with a hint of the honeysuckles just upwind.
On top of your five senses, are your emotions, your hormones, your memories, and your personality.
What you see as the perfect shot is being recorded in your brain on many levels. You are unaware of all that is being recorded in your subconscious.
Now, let’s bring in your camera. You take a picture of your perfect shot, and you discover nothing but disappointment. It is a two-dimensional image with nothing to feel, smell, taste, or hear.
You do have somewhat of an advantage when looking at your photo. You have a memory of the event to draw from. As you look at the photo, memories are being recalled to the conscious parts of your brain.
Unfortunately, others viewing your photos don’t have those memories. All they see is a lifeless, two-dimensional image. A boring photo. I’m pretty sure that’s why looking at your neighbor’s 300 vacation photos is so mind-numbing.
Your Job as a Photographer
This is exactly why your job is to make a photograph and not take a picture. It’s your job to tell a story. It’s your job to help your viewers not only see what’s going on, but to also hear, taste, smell, and feel what’s going on. It’s your job to evoke an emotion.
Everybody thinks being a photographer is easy. Sure, taking pictures is easy, especially with today’s digital camera systems and cell phone cameras. But to truly be a photographer and make a photo that stirs emotion takes a little knowledge, some experience, and a lot of practice. All of which eventually leads to developing talent.
How to Capture the Perfect Shot
How do you make a photo that evokes emotion? How do you capture the photo the way your mind sees it?
First, you have to know the technical aspects of photography like the back of your hand. You don’t have enough brainpower to be concentrating on every aspect of your camera settings and also worry about how best to capture your subject and tell the story.
You need to practice with every button and setting on your camera until they are second nature. You need to understand the basic principles of photography initially and eventually have an in-depth knowledge of photographic theory.
Second, when faced with the “perfect shot,” a million questions should be flooding your brain. Here are a few:
- Do I need a fast shutter speed to stop motion, or a slower shutter speed to show blur?
- Do I want to open up and minimize depth of field (DOF) or close down and increase DOF?
- How much light is present? Do I need additional lighting?
- What angle will be the best for my subject?
- Is there anything in the background that takes away from my subject?
- What’s the lowest ISO that I can get away with?
- What visual clues can I include in the photo to trigger sensory memories in the viewer (touch, taste, sound, smell)?
- What compositional elements do I want to use?
- What can I include in the photo to invoke an emotion in the viewer?
You need to make these decisions rapidly and on the fly. If you run into a question that you cannot resolve, don’t get hung up on it. Decide to shoot it both ways and move on to the next question.
Third, start making photos. Notice I said photos. If you are just taking one photo of your perfect scene, then you are dropping the photographic ball. You are just taking a snapshot. You need to work the scene; changing angles, changing focal length, changing camera-to-subject distance. A good acronym to keep in mind is EDFAT.
- Entire – shoot an establishing shot of the entire scene.
- Details – shoot all the small details around your subject.
- Focal Length – vary your focal length.
- Angle – shoot from different angles.
- Time – shoot at different times of the day and vary your shutter speeds for creative control.
After all, is said and done, you will have a whole series of images on your memory card. If all is right in the Universe, you will find one or two that closely depicts your vision. Congratulations.
If your photos don’t excite you, then try again. Analyze what went wrong, ask other photographers you trust for their opinion, read some books, learn some new techniques. The important thing is to keep trying, keep experimenting. It does get easier.
What is your opinion on this? Am I on track with my thoughts or off in left field somewhere? Leave a comment below and tell us about your experiences with capturing the perfect shot.