There is no recipe!!!

Something many photographers and photography users often seem to not realize is that photography and the creating of a photograph isn't just a matter of having a good camera and being able to get a correctly focussed and exposed image. The variables to most photographic situations are almost limitless. The only exceptions being some product shooting where every thing is set up to a standard then every single product is shot using the same camera settings, lighting and background. In those cases the photographer is no longer needed and we see in fact many situations now where the photographer has been replaced by a junior non skilled trainee. The results are predictable, acceptable to the client and obviously much cheaper to produce.

We are even seeing this trend in portraiture, and it works fine for all those people who want cookie cutter type photography. Hey there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you are happy with straight non creative record shots of a period in time. There is a lot of money in that style for the operators because every photo session is invariable the same as the last, cost of production can be kept low, charges for these services are frequently reasonable and profits margins good. As soon as we as photographers start adding creative variables and offering differences in styles and from sitting to sitting our cost climb, however our pricing often remains at a similar level to the mass produced services, leaving us with less profit and more work.

All this has little to do with the main intention of this post which was to give you a bit of an insight into how photographers think and work. This morning I came across a blog entry from Joe McNally a really terrific photographer working out of the USA. A good read if you have the time. Cheers...