civilized ku # 2127 ~ burning with desire
Monday, March 19, 2012 at 08:59AM ;)
Burger King exit ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggenIn a recent entry, wherein I mentioned that I have 4,000+ un-categorized pictures in my "finals" folder, Carolyn (no link provided) asked: "What are the main reason(s) for a photo to be in your "finals" folder"?
I could make up some wordy (bloviated) response to this question about the rigorously demanding criteria I use to select from the pictures I make those which are worthy of inclusion in my "finals" folder, but do so would be rather disingenuous because the simple fact is, 99.5% of the pictures I make go into my "finals" folder.
However, to be perfectly clear, that is not to state that every exposure, aka: "frame", I make goes into my "finals" folder. In the making of any given picture, with exception of "live action" events, I often, but not always, make a very few ever so slightly different takes of a scene / referent which has caught my eye. It is from those variations that, during the viewing of the RAW files in my RAW converter software, I edit which exposure / frame is suitable for processing and therefore, most likely on its way to the "finals" folder.
Occasionally, about 0.5% of the time (assuming the accuracy of my 99.5% success rate), I do not process a picture making effort due to some technical problem - missed focus, unintentional camera motion / blurring, or the like - but rarely do I reject a picture because I did not "get the shot" - i.e., a picture which captures and conveys that which caught my eye. Suffice it to state, my rejects are few and far between.
To what, you might ask, do I attribute my "get the shot" success rate? Dismissing out of hand those who might state that I am easily amused by my own picturing results, I would suggest my success rate is the result of several factors:
1) I keep it very simple, gear wise - 1 camera body with a 20mm lens, 1 with a 45mm lens. When something catches my eye, I simply put one camera or the other to my eye - as determined, rather intuitively by the referent at hand and the knowledge of exactly what each body+lens combination will produce, visually wise - and make a picture. If I decide, after taking a quick glance at the resulting image on the camera LCD, that a little adjustment would be advisable, POV/exposure wise, I will make another exposure/frame until I've got want I want.
2) Re: when something catches my eye. Simply put, I trust my eye in the sense of trusting my senses, aka: living in the picturing moment. That is to say, I know when I see something which, to my eye and sensibilities, will make a good picture. I also trust my eye and sensibilities to capture, in an interesting visual manner, that which has caught my eye. Both manners of trusting are part and parcel of my vision - the physical manner in which I see things - and my other vision - the manner in which I wish to represent what I see. Id est, vision 1 + vision 2 = Vision.
3) My Vision is driven, not by the desire to make "greatest hit" pictures but rather, as I have stated many times, by the burning desire to create a coherent body or bodies of work. With that in mind, not every one of the pictures that make it into my "finals" folder is required to be a stand alone greatest hit. FYI, there are quite a few such pictures in my "finals" folder but they are the result of picturing with a singular Vision as opposed to the pursuit of the "perfect" picture.
4) I would be remiss in not attributing, in part, my success rate to my 4+ decades of picture making experience. Although, truth be told, I began making my living - based solely upon the strength of my portfolio (no photo education / training) - and winning awards (photo competitions / trade recognition) within 6 months of picking up a camera. In that sense, "success" has always come relatively easy to me.
And, last but not least, 5) I am sufficiently confident in my picturing abilities - the making and the results thereof - to not be crushed or deterred by unfavorable criticism of my work. That is not to say I do not welcome honest and informed, positive or negative, feedback of my work because, in fact, I do.
My picturing intention is not to work in a vacuum, making picture only to please myself, but rather to illustrate and (hopefully) to illuminate - to capture and convey to others - some aspect of those referents which capture my eye and sensibilities. Feedback, in any of its forms, is always appreciated and, at times, instructive.
Reader Comments (5)
There are some very interesting ideas in this post, some I can relate to myself. Although my "success" rate is not nearly as high as yours, there are several factors that I am aware of beforehand that account for the failures. I bracket automatically and delete exposures not necessary after downloading. It's just a personal choice that has come in handy for some tricky lighting situations. I also have a very limited amount of equipment (95% is done with 2 lens and 1 body) and therefore I've become familiar with its capabilities.
But most important, like #5, I'm interested more in using photography as a pleasurable pastime and creative outlet for myself first and foremost and secondly to share with others.
Mark I have been reading your blog for years now but this is the most informative to me, thank you.
Informative for me, as well. As a visitor, I find your ability to express yourself clearly invaluable. Thank you.
"Suffice it to state, my rejects are few and far between."
Wow, like 1 in 200 ... so pretty much when you press the shutter it's a done deal!
Thanks for the explanation re points 1 to 4.
Perhaps another reason for your high success rate: your compositions have a natural / semi-formal aspect to them. There's nothing "way-out" or experimental going on. What do you think?
If you took pictures of dogs, family members or youth sports, your success rate would go way down.