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A Passion for Perfection

4 Nov 13

There are no bad images, if anyone says they “like it”.

The adoration of photography is what makes it such a great medium. The personal response to a moment captured by another person on another piece of the globe is what can bind us as humans at an emotional level.

An image which evokes a childhood memory or stirs laughter or tears has as much merit and status as anything which is crafted by any of the great photographers in history. If you like the blurry picture of little Johnny/Jane running past you and showing off their speed and athletic prowess, Age 5..then its a good image. No, a great image.

There has to be a ‘but’ right?

Yes. Don’t send that image to a professional photographer asking what they think.

You might think that professional photographers are pretty soulless individuals, after all, they try to make you think of something on an emotional level when you look at it, yet they have created it for purely commercially purposes. Thats the logic of the situation and I understand that. But you may be wrong.

The world of a pro photographer is a tough one. There is the onslaught of the masses through the wide availability of cheap and often still very good, digital cameras. The person who is willing to do weddings or portraits on a Saturday for a bit of extra cash or the amateur who takes images and looks for a few canvas sales online.

Is this is another pro griping? Nope, quite the opposite. I welcome it. I have lasted for nearly 29 years since shooting photo business cards in the 80s (what were we thinking). I seek no adulation from the critics. I seek only the approval of my customers and my bank manager...and he says I must be pretty good.

So, what happens when someone DOES send me an image to look at?

Firstly, I try to do service to the person who has sent it to me. They have asked me to give feedback as a professional photographer and they get that. I go through the basic tests of technical competence as any commercial photo editor would and I take no mind of the composition of the image until these technical boxes are ticked. Bearing in mind that this person sees what they offer up as ‘the finished article’

Why?

If you are selling your images or asking for my opinion on them at a professional level, then whether it stirs you or your family emotionally is irrelevant. Yes you will sell them to a few people who just happen to like it, and there will be a few who will butter you up because they like you, but the wider appeal and commercially viable business comes from ensuring that you have achieved a technical level of competence within the basics.

And thats what Good Photographers strive for…’Perfection’. Innately, that perfection is ever-present in the professional or they simply won’t survive and that sentiment can be present in the amateur. But, any amateur who aspires to be professional MUST achieve a passion for perfection if they are to endure and ultimately make a living from photography.

Does that mean that all images are perfect all the time?

No, I have some images that I look back on with total disgust. There are images that I submitted under a deadline that, as I draw my last breath on this earth, I will regret, but that is entirely my point. The professional is often awake at night contemplating another go at a tough crop. If they are shooting and editing video, they are constantly bothered by the transition that isn’t perfectly smooth or quality of the video that they have been given to edit which isn’t top quality next to their own...even if the final product is being shown embedded in presentation software, on a £200 projector, in a brightly lit room, it still matters to them. To the true professional, Good enough is not good enough.

They care. Not to the point that they can’t publish anything but to the point that they realise that although photography is subjective and people may not like the composition or content of their images, there can be no criticism of the technical aspects of their images which can exist.

My client may, or may not like what I have done for them but every image is ‘Straight’, exposed correctly with perfect tonal range and colour balance, free from blemishes and dust marks, sharpened to the correct level for the output medium on which I am showing it to them or on which they will be showing it finally, and not missing the essential details.

Any criticism offered, is not for these fundamentals.

If you have the ability to send a professional photographer ANY image that you hold to be good enough and which cannot be criticised on any of the factors above, then maybe a life in pro photography is waiting for you.

I see a lot of skill in the images which are sent to me but time and time again, I return them with a comment pointing out something simple which is technically wrong with the image. Most photographers take this as ‘nit picking’ or being over critical because I have not ‘appreciated their art’…bollocks!

Those who look and observe the issues, correct them and do not repeat them are certainly worthy. They have aspired to a great level and will certainly reap the rewards.

There are a great many amateurs who take images which are composed very well, but the horizon isn’t level (if this is water, then that is unforgivable), the verticals are diverging, the image is ‘gray’, too dark or ‘blown out’ in white areas. All of these are the basics.

The passion for perfection is what sets us apart, now and always. And its why I sleep easy at night.

Ewen

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