10 Things Successful Photographers Don’t Do

10 Things Successful Photographers Don’t Do
Pet Photography: Cutest Kitten in the World?
Photographing Celebrities With a Giant Polaroid (Video)
Interesting Photo of the Day: Mists of Myanmar

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 10:24 PM PST

Creative photographers strive to discover new patterns, color, adventure and beauty among many other things. Creativity awakens all of a photographer’s senses, adding an artistic touch to his or her final work. Many amateur photographers dream of becoming creative photography pros. There are, however, very few who actually master the trade.

“Sunrise Horseshoe Bend Page Az” captured by Clifford Briggin (Click image to see more from Briggin.)

Successful photographers have already learned to keep their creative juices flowing. They know a lot about every aspect of photography. Most importantly, they know what they shouldn’t do as professional photographers. Below are 10 things a successful photographer will never do if they want to stay creative:

1. Waste time thinking about gear

This is one of the most important things a successful photographer avoids at all costs. Photography gear may be important for enhancing shots, however, it’s not as important as core photography when taking creative photos. In fact, creative shots often come out better when they are taken naturally, without extra gadgets.

2. Leave the camera at home

Creative photography is all about capturing unrehearsed moments anywhere, anytime. Successful photographers know the pain of missing great opportunities. They make a point to have a camera anywhere they go. This enables them to capture interesting moments that other photographers miss. This is part of what makes them stand out.

“Untitled” captured by Irina Oreshina (Click image to see more from Oreshina.)

3. Use the same technique over and over again

There is nothing creative about using the same photography technique all the time. Successful photographers stay away from stagnant photography techniques, which hinder them from growing their skills and experimenting. The best photographers offer variety, which can only be offered by using many techniques and being open to new ideas. Successful photographers avoid monotony at all costs.

“Dreaming” captured by Jacc (Click image to see more from Jacc.)

4. Ignore the importance of copyrighting work

Copyrighting original work is advisable for obvious reasons (i.e. recognition and compensation). Any experienced photographer know the importance of protecting their valuable work, especially if it falls under the creative photography docket. Photographers become successful by receiving recognition and financial returns from their work. Copyrighting safeguards a photographer’s future earnings on past work and also keeps a record of their creative efforts, avoiding duplication.

5. Share technical problems with clients

Although it is important to be honest with your clients at all times, successful photographers know the dangers of sharing technical problems with their clients. Being honest when faced with technical problems does more harm than good from a professional photographer’s point of view. For instance, clients can start viewing you as unprofessional, which can hurt your reputation. Successful photographers have learned to stay mute about technical problems when dealing with clients. They go as far as planning ahead to avoid occurrences where they will be forced to share technical problems. Dealing with technical problems internally also helps to maintain focus which is important to stay creative.

6. Take each and every assignment they get

“Sandy Puc Workshop” captured by HConfer (Click image to see more from HConfer.)

You can’t jump at each and every photography opportunity and expect to remain creative. Creative photography is about inspiration. Successful creative photographers know inspiration is hard to come by; they choose their assignments carefully. For instance, they never take assignments just to make money. This is because they understand the importance of being in the right mind frame when working. This explains why they successful photographers don’t take assignments just to please clients. They have to feel inspired.

7. Create friction with event planners

Successful photographers also avoid creating friction with event planners at all costs. This has something to do with staying focused and being able to explore. Successful photographers understand the important role event planners play in their success–they provide photographers with the necessary support they need to do a great job. For instance, event planners obviously have a lot of influence in things like venue set up which can affect the final outcome of creative photography.

8. Try to be the life of an event

This is another mistake successful photographers avoid. Successful photographers understand exactly what their job is at any event. They know their work is to capture memorable times. This explains why they never go overboard trying to interact too much with guests. Don’t try to network or entertain guests, because you will end up losing focus.

9. Do everything themselves

Successful photographers concentrate on their core work. They don’t do everything themselves. Doing too much at once definitely shifts focus and concentration.

10. Ignore the Internet

Finally, successful photographers never underestimate the power of the internet. They recognize what works and what doesn’t. The Internet can be a great source of inspiration for photographers looking for new creative ideas.

Aspiring photographers should avoid common pitfalls that can easily stall their creative photography careers. Although there may be many other professional photography taboos, the above information is adequate enough to guide amateur photographer in the right direction.

About the Author:
Swee Shiong Chong writes for SG East Photo, a photography blog on techniques and equipment that is used in creating all types of photography from around the world.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Pet Photography: Cutest Kitten in the World?

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 06:39 PM PST

Cats and the Internet go together like… well, LOLcats and cheezburgers. We of the online era love pictures of our feline friends (often accompanied by a charmingly misspelled caption). But is it really possible that someone has finally found the “Cutest Kitten in the World”? (for those of you reading this by email, the album can be seen here)

Apparently so, and that man is Ben Torode. Based in Japan, Torode—though not a photographer by trade—has certainly created some stunning, beautifully lit (and did we mention adorable?) results.

The blue-eyed furball that stars in those photos is a Persian kitten named Daisy. In an interview, Torode explained how he helped Daisy to get into so many cute poses:

More than anything I have learned that it’s nearly impossible to make a kitten do something and have it understand what it’s doing in the process, so you cannot present human motivations and expect the cat to act accordingly. In other words, you need to play to the kitten’s own instincts to provide the motivation for it to go somewhere or act in a certain way that feels natural to the cat. As soon as a cat decides it doesn’t like something, you are going to lose the shot. . . . So you need to be ready for the cat to show curiosity and pause that very first time but not thereafter. They won’t repeat tricks on demand.

For the above photos, Torode primarily shot with a Sony A900 camera and 135mm f/1.8 lens. He also offered some tips on how capture those split-second “awww” moments before they’re gone:

The second technique I’ve developed is what I call a pre-focused “killing zone.” I like to use very large aperture lenses like the 135 f/1.8 or 85 f/1.4. These produce great images when the focus is spot on but there is only a narrow zone in which the kitten’s eyes are in focus. So I manual focus a specific zone, use a remote control shutter release in one hand and play with the cat until they enter the “zone.” So in many shots I’m not behind the lens but actually interacting with the cat, which is how I can get them into cute poses by myself.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Photographing Celebrities With a Giant Polaroid (Video)

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 02:15 PM PST

When Chuck Close decided to do a series of portraits involving 20 well-known celebrities, he wanted to do something a bit different from a typical photo shoot. In the video below, you get a backstage pass to the unique shoot. Once you see Close’s approach, you may be a little surprised:

Some of the celebrities involved in the process include Oprah, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Forrest Whitaker. In order to participate in the shoot, they all had to be willing to follow Close’s rules: they were not allowed to wear makeup, they were asked to style themselves, and they would be photographed using a giant Polaroid camera that was placed just inches from their faces.

Brad Pitt

“I don’t do glamor shots, they’re not airbrushed so they can be rough. I need to talk people through it so they’ll give up a great deal of vanity in order to do it. It takes a real act of generosity and faith on part of the subject to go with it and give me an image without having any control over the image.”

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Interesting Photo of the Day: Mists of Myanmar

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 12:19 PM PST

Looking ethereal and otherworldly–more like a painting than a photograph–today’s featured photo shows the magic of early morning light. Captured during a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the ancient city of Bagan, Myanmar, the photo shows the first rays of sunlight piercing through the fog to stream through temple spires and palm fronds:

View from a hot air balloon in Bagan, Myanmar. Photo by Dima Chatrov (Via Imgur. Click for larger size).

When the photo, shot by Dima Chatrov, was featured as a National Geographic Photo of the Day, Chatrov described the experience of capturing the moment:

“The first sunbeam breaks through the haze on the east and colors the valley in golden tones. A few more seconds and thousands of light blades pierce the fog. It is so beautiful and unusual that it seems like you are no longer in the 21st century, but somewhere in the middle of the 19th, flying like the heroes of Jules Verne, to open the unknown …”

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

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