Hit & miss

thebaz

heres a question for the pro's , how do you consistently shoot images of high quality ?

I find some days I have it , and other days I'm just flat - last week I was shooting something for someone and it just didn't work , last night i was at Chic and it just worked - for me anyway

http://pix.ie/thebaz/album/378121





maybe its this lack of consistency why i could never earn my living from photography , perhaps its maybe better to let things happen naturally the good and the bad - but I wonder what happens if you are flat at a wedding you are getting paid for -

Promac

That second shot is cool.

I don't think anyone is consistently good though. I always just my progress with photography with the **** to good ratio. When I come home and check out all my pics, sometimes I'll have 1 good "keeper" shot out of 20 - sometimes less, sometimes more. For me at least the only way around it is to take 20 times more shots than I think I need - then I'm guaranteed a few keepers at the end.

I have noticed that the ratio is getting better over time so it's not like you'll have the problem permanently.

oshead

Study and become more technically proficient. Understanding why an image works or not is invaluable knowledge IMO. For the days when your artistic flare is not flowing, at least you can fall back on technically ability.

Borderfox

Practice makes perfect, I worked at a show on Friday and shot three pictures per competitor for about 8 hours. I know the camera inside out and have a lot of experience in difficult conditions which imo helps my keeper rate. From the shot out of all the shots I took only about 2 shots a bit off.

Love the second shot Barry

melekalikimaka

Promac wrote: »

For me at least the only way around it is to take 20 times more shots than I think I need - then I'm guaranteed a few keepers at the end.

I used to do that for gigs, now i do the opposite, its all bout getting things down, spot on, fully manual, focus and settings, and you cant really fail. with gig theres the element of interaction, but you gotta listen as well as watch for the right shot I find

Borderfox

I keep shot amounts down to a minimum too, lift the camera three times for three shots

thebaz

Borderfox wrote: »

I keep shot amounts down to a minimum too, lift the camera three times for three shots

i try not to shoot too much either -its like the challenge - the problem i have is looking at things - sometimes i look at people whether a band or a person or a couple - and they just look bland - a week later i can look at the same person , and they look special and thats what i want to photograph , but for me that unfortunatly possible all the time - when i fake it they tend to look bland - maybe thats the key to professionalism

Promac

Yeah, the ultimate goal is to hit the shutter button knowing I've got the shot I want. I'm still learning my camera though - still re-learning photography in general after a 15 year gap and moving from film to digital. It's amazing how much you forget.

I'm more like 5:1 these days though so I'm getting there. Slowly...

mehfesto

Sometimes, particularly at live gigs, you have to accept defeat at the time and come back to it in PP later on. - You can't beat a neon blue light in the venue really, but you can REALLY clean it up at home:





Photoshop is vital, imo. You obviously need to get sharp shots first, but you can do wonders at a later stage!

Borderfox

A lot of the hit part comes from picking up the camera and knowing that I will be happy with what comes out of the camera (and the customer too) I shoot a lot of jpeg and all of these will go for sale direct to the public with minimal pp (crop/sharpen)