They say you should learn something new every day. One of the best things about doing photography as my full time job is that I am constantly learning. I learn about new gear, new shooting techniques, new emotions, how to bring out the best in a client, how to make someone laugh, how to tell a better story. It’s a constant learning process (although I try not to learn anything new while on the actual paid job haha).
This is a photo from a wedding I shot a few weeks ago. Gorgeous bride, lovely day, and a totally candid and natural laugh (man, these are the best to capture!!!). I’ve been toying with various processing styles and decided on a whim to make a Facebook post and see what style the people liked the most. Simple question. Four different styles. I know which I prefer. You have my beloved high contrast black and white, you have a more colour popping style, a somewhat stylized wash and then an antique sepia look. I mean really, I like them all, but was curious to see what others thought.
If you want to read the comments, here is the Facebook link (and while you are at it, why not like my page, huh?)
And you know what I learned (well, more like confirmed what I knew haha)? Screw what others think. People should not process images based on what other’s think (granted, a commercial shoot with a specific intent is a bit different). You should find your own style, your own vision, and go with that! That vision can change over time, but who cares! This applies not only to wedding photos, but to show photos, to landscape photos, to street photography. Go with something YOU are happy with!!
- There is too much grain /noise
- The image is too contrasty
- You should add some colour tint in your black and white
- You saturate colours too much
These are all things I’ve heard at some time or another over the last few years.
Was a pretty cool post to do, as I have photographers, photo lovers, friends, strangers, and probably a few smurfs in my list of followers on Facebook. I got some great comments. One person was distracted by the cars in one image, someone else wasn’t. One person didn’t like the shine in one image, someone thought the highlights were too bright in one of them, some loved the tones of one while others loved the tones of another. Some commented on how one tells a story and captures a moment… great comments and feedback.
And if you are curious, 1, 2, and 3 were pretty much equal in terms of who preferred what. 4 was a bit laggy behind (and I admitted to only putting sepia up because I needed a 4th image haha)
Thanks everyone who took the time to post up on Facebook (and those of you who will now post up … [insert hypnotizing stare] … ) I’ll be doing more of these types of “what do you think” posts as it’s pretty cool hearing people’s opinions. 🙂