50
Photography TIPS from Working
Pros and Famous Photographers
To see the original web page with photos of the photographers click the link below:
Advice. It’s a funny thing. If we applied all of photography’s apparent rules and dos and don’ts to our work, there would be little, if any, room for creativity and surely that’s the point. So you’ll find no textbook photography tips here; instead we asked 50 top pro and famous photographers to share the secrets they’ve gleaned from years of shooting day in day out.
Expect to be inspired and challenged by the advice of famous photographers like David Bailey and Mary Ellen Mark, as well as up-and-coming names and photographers who make it their business to take amazing pictures for their clients each day.
Starting below you will find numbers 1 through 25 from the list of jobbing pros and famous photographers we interviewed, beginning with David Noton, Mary Ellen Mark, David Bailey and ending with Thomas Marent. On page 2 of this article you’ll find numbers 26 through 50, beginning with Eric Ryan Anderson, Pal Hermanson, Damian Lovegrove and ending with Kevin Poolman. Enjoy!
1 - David Noton
When I first got into photography I thought I could take my camera for a walk and come back with stunning images, but of course I gradually realised that it doesn’t work like that. You can read about the technique until the cows come home, but what’s really the key is learning the tried and tested method of scouting a location, previsualising the light, planning a shoot and finally returning again and again until the conditions are perfect to create an award-winning image that will have your friends and family frothing at the mouth.
It sounds obvious but it isn’t. When a photographer first achieves this it really is a Eureka moment. Life, and your photography, will never be the same again.
The key to constant improvement is innovation, practice, imagination, persistence and crucially, learning from your mistakes. Believe me, at least two times out of three it just doesn’t come together. Don’t beat yourself up about it; analyse why a shoot isn’t working and plan accordingly. Above all, enjoy the dawn and dusk vigils and stick at it.
David is an award-winning landscape and travel photographer who has over 25 years professional experience.
2 – Mary Ellen Mark
Be totally prepared when you shoot. If it’s a travel shoot, make sure you do all your research. Find people where you’re working that can help you – sometimes it helps a lot to hire a local assistant who really knows their way around. Keep detailed lists of what you packed, so the next time it will be easier to prepare.
If you’re working in a studio, make detailed technical notes. For example, note all the f-stops, light outputs of the strobes, distance between the subject and background, distance between camera and subject. Attach a copy of the final image to the tech notes. I promise all of this will make your photographic life much easier.
Mary Ellen Mark is a contributing photographer to The New Yorker and has been published in LIFE, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. She teaches at several workshops, including a Halloween Weekend Workshop in NY and a ten-day workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico.
3 - George Logan
Before setting up and producing an image, take your idea and try to accurately visualise the picture in your head, really imagine how your finished image might look. Use this as a starting point then try to create an environment where you can allow your vision to come to life using whatever it takes… location, lighting, backgrounds, models, props etc. However, don’t keep things too regimented, build in a few variables and definitely allow for happy accidents!
George is a multi-award-winning advertising photographer.
4 - Colin Prior
Many photographers aren’t aware of the depth of field preview button on their DSLR’s lens mount. This is used to stop down the aperture manually to its working size and allow you to see the effective depth of field. It also enables you to more easily read the graphics of an image and acts as a real-time conduit between the three dimensional world in which we live and the two dimensional world of photography. I find it a far more useful aid than the screen at the back of the camera, which is about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Colin is an award-winning landscape photographer based in Scotland. He runs a host of innovative tours and workshops, pitched at different levels of expertise and all offering unforgettable experiences of wild places.
5 - Nick Turpin
Like with many things in life, confidence is central to good innovative picture making, having the confidence to be an artist, the confidence to experiment technically and with ideas, having the confidence to make decisions and see them through despite criticism and finally the confidence to stand out as unique in a visually cluttered world. The most famous photographers of today have had the confidence to be different, to lead the way rather than follow.
Nick specializes in advertising and street photography, and the founder of street photography website, In-Public.
6 - Bob Aylott
To never miss a street picture, always have your camera set to 1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400. When the clocks change for summer, change the aperture to f/8 instead.
Bob is an award-winning former Fleet Street photographer who has gone on to interview the world’s best shooters.
7 - Brett Harkness
Practice, practice, practice and when you think you know it all, practice again. The most important thing for me is to be at one with my camera, which in turn gives me confidence. This confidence then exudes out to my subject, which comes back to me through
the camera. You get back what you give out…
Brett is one of the UK’s most in-demand wedding and social photographers.
8 - David Solomons
Use a normal or moderate wide-angle fixed lens for shooting on the street. Telephotos and zooms tend to encourage users to be less imaginative and active with their framing and composition. I would say 90% of all my pictures were taken with a 35mm lens, it forces me to move closer to my subject matter and you get to instinctively learn how far to stand away from it before you take the shot.
David is one of the leading lights in the UK street photography scene.
9 - Alex Majoli
1. Read. My suggestions are: Amos Oz, Pirandello, Saramago, Musil.
2. Learn how to choose a good wine and know one or two recipes.
3. Walk 5 to 10km every day.
4. Read the Herald Tribune everyday.
5. Shoot a slide film every six months.
6. Be light on your equipment – one lens and one camera and in your hotel/b&b/tent, plus a back-up.
7. Buy good shoes – make sure they’re light, waterproof and comfortable.
8. Don’t try to understand things/people/cultures, before a trip.
9. Try not to organise your assignments too much before you leave home.
10. Enjoy photography, remember that it’s not a contest.
Alex is a multi award-winning member of Magnum Photos and has documented conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as covering other major stories.
10 - Matt Cardy
I’m often asked where I did my photography training and the simple answer is out on the road. So many people think that to be a photographer you need to be sat in a college classroom somewhere discussing other people’s pictures. Not that there’s anything wrong in looking for inspiration in the work of others, but as long as that’s what it does, rather than intimidating people into not getting out there and taking pictures themselves.
No matter how good your theory and technical knowledge is, the best place to learn is on the job. Often people see press photographers weighed down with gear and assume that they’ll be getting much better shots. With the advancement in digital technology, sometimes it’s quite the opposite and I’m constantly amazed by what amateur photographers can produce, alongside professionals on jobs. It’s a case of not what you have got, but where you’re at!
Matt Cardy is a news photographer for Getty Images. Find out how you, too, can be a Getty contributor.
11 – Aldo Pavan
Think about photographing what we can’t see, that we can only imagine, either an object or a concept. Can we photograph absence? Yes, we can. A portrait that excludes the face of the person, hidden by a veil maybe, the dark silhouette of a person, an object against the light or something strongly out of focus – with absence we can achieve more interesting photographs because the viewer has to become involved with the images and use their imagination to fill the space.
Aldo Pavan’s books, The Ganges, The Nile and The Yellow River, are available through Thames and Hudson.
12 – Annie Griffiths-Belt
When photographing people, go simple and travel light. You don’t want to be intimidating or even very interesting. One camera, maybe two lenses and you’re set. Avoid camera vests or camera cases. I go out with just a simple backpack.
When photographing children, get on your knees. Pictures of kids are much nicer when you’re on their level and seeing things as kids see them. It’s even better when you can get the camera angle lower than the child’s eyes.
Also, try to get a catchlight in the eyes of the person you’re photographing. Simply by moving your angle, or asking the subject to slowly move their eyes or gently move their head, you can often get light reflecting in their eyes. It adds instant intimacy.
Annie is an award-winning National Geographic photographer and a Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. She has completed a photo-memoir of her life called A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel.
13 – David Loftus
I remember being told at art college: ‘Always shoot with the sun behind you or to the sides to avoid flare.’ Some of my favourite shots have been taken when I’ve allowed flare to happen – fashion shots, portraits and interiors have all benefited on occasion… Keep some thick black paper and a roll of gaffer tape in your kit bag so you can extend your lens hood into more of a funnel shape, so that the flare isn’t too excessive, and shoot away.
David is one of the big names in food photography, having worked with the likes of Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver. He shot Jamie’s last six books.
14 – David Bailey
It’s certainly worth remembering that exceptional photos all rely on a element of luck and that luck increases significantly when you shoot a lot. When we probed David Bailey for tip, his advice was: “Everyone will take one great picture, I’ve done better because I’ve taken two.”
David needs no introduction.
15 – Anna Kari
Once photography becomes a job it’s easy to lose the passion and fascination that originally brought you to it! It’s better to be an amateur who loves photography with all their heart than a bitter pro who can’t stop complaining how little they’re paid. Figure out what you really want to shoot, develop little project ideas and get out there and do it, and you’ll be in as good a position as a professionals to develop truly personal and amazing work.
Anna Kari is a freelance photojournalist. Her work focuses on humanitarian issues and she works extensively in Africa and Europe.
16 – Andrea Jones
There’s simply no way round it – start before the sun comes up and go to bed after it sets. That’s if you want your pictures to have wow factor. Software programs are wonderful – but there’s no human imagination that can dream up what natural light can do. And there’s no point getting to your location as the sun rises as you’ll miss the moment. Recce the day before, preferably at lunchtime when there’s no hope of good light, and then be waiting for the first (or last) rays of the day. A tough regime in mid summer but the experience is something that you just can’t beat.
Andrea is one of the world’s leading garden photographers who’s been published widely, from House and Garden to National Geographic.
17 – Annabel Williams
To me, a great family picture is one that makes a connection with the subjects. Select a location that means something to the family and reminds them of a time in their lives. Put the children in it and then capture what happens.
Annabel is probably the biggest name in photographic training in the UK.
18 – Elliott Landy
At my appearances, people often come up to me to show me their photos and begin our conversation with a caution that they’re not professional – their way of telling me not to expect too much. I tell them that the fact they’re not ‘professional’ is actually a badge of honour, because they’re doing it strictly for love and not for money.
I have known many people who take great photographs and live from other work. It’s almost better to do so because then your vision is kept pure. You take only the photos you want to take, not what someone pays you to. Many pros wind up very distressed after many years that their personal visions, blurred by the pulls of their assignments has not been expressed.
Not infrequently, you see the personal work of well-known commercial photographer and it’s actually not very good. Why is it not good? Because they have not had the practice and feedback which life offers when you ‘do your own thing,’ and then learn from it. So if you can find a way to take the photos that you want to take, that is what is important not whether you have earned money from them or not. Van Gogh, of course, is the ultimate example of an unsold master. The main thing is to enjoy what you do.
Elliot rose to fame with his iconic shots of rock musicians from the 1960s. His portraits feature on the covers of many classic albums of the time, including Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.
19 – Charlie Waite
The issue that so many of us often have is the whole business of composition. Dealing with it in the abstract is never easy but I’d say that the more that we invest ourselves into the picture making process, then in theory we will attain a more rewarding result. I often look to see where any conflicts lie and try and get the elements within the image to appear to be related and not in argument with one another.The eye is very discerning and can so easily reject an image for reasons many of us do not understand. Try to inject your work with some gravitas and use light to your advantage.
Charlie Waite is the owner and founder of Light & Land, Europe’s leading photographic experience company. Light & Land run photographic tours, courses and workshops worldwide that are dedicated to inspiring photographers and improving their photography.
20 – Steve Bloom
Always remember that the camera is merely a tool, and no matter how good the technology, nothing can replace the art of seeing. Great photographs are made by learning technique and taking it to a point where it resides in the subconscious. After that, feelings should dictate aesthetics. In other words, shoot from the heart. Photography is like music or poetry, and is best created with heightened feelings. Get excited – be emotional about the photographs you take and try to feel empathy with the subject.
Steve is one of the world’s most prolific wildlife photographers.
21 – John Kenny
Try to think carefully about what happens to your images when they move from three dimensions to two dimensions – that is, your print or computer screen. Starting to understand this change, and later predict its effects, can really advance your compositions. Developing this skill can really help you capture light and be sensitive to its effects on your subjects without being excessively influenced to emphasise the obvious; helping you to look beyond those near/large objects or subjects that ‘cry out’ for your attention but often make less satisfying images.
An accomplished portrait and travel photographer, you can see John’s stunning fine art work on his website.
22 – Cameron Davidson
Finding your unique perspective is a good mindfulness exercise. To find your distinctive viewpoint is to push your work further from the pack and helps you create memorable images. One way to do this is to approach your next personal project with one camera and one lens. If it’s a zoom, tape it to the 28, 35 or 50mm position. The goal is to let your feet do your zooming and for you to move actively around your subject until you find the position that looks right to you.
For me, it’s when everything aligns perfectly in the viewfinder to tell the story and creates a graphic and hopefully, compelling image. It could be from on top of a wall, or at street level. It may be shooting at one lens/f-stop combination at a certain distance. But once you find your perspective, you’ll know it’s right and you will have another tool in your kit that helps you create images that reflect who you’re and not just a record of what was in front of the camera.
Cameron is an award-winning aerial and location photographer who shoots around the globe for the likes of Vanity Fair, National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines.
23 – John Freeman
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Having ideas I always found the easy part, but executing them was a little more difficult. I was annoyed with myself, to see years later, someone being lauded for a photographic concept that I had thought of years before, but which I had kept in the ‘to do’ tray!
John is an award-winning freelance commercial photographer specialising in people, the body, travel and food, and he’s the author of more than 30 books.
24 – Miss Aniela
Experiment with photography and don’t fret about getting everything ‘right’. Go with the flow, don’t get your head stuck in manuals, use them only as you would use a dictionary – dip in and out. Keep hands-on. Be inspired by other artists but always develop personal ideas – using your dreams as inspiration is a good idea! Don’t just reproduce a conventional image (such as a sunset shot) other than to get started. Consciously try to be different and play with the rules. Listen to advice, but never let
anyone tell you what to do, or that you’re doing something ‘wrong’. Photography is an art, not a science.
Miss Aniela is a fine-art photographer and internet phenomenon. She’s exhibited and presented her work at Palm Springs Photo Festival, Microsoft Pro Photo Summit, Seattle and Tate Britain.
25 – Thomas Marent
For me, combining the animal with the right background is very important, the colours must complement each other. In most cases, a calm or blurred background which should be in a darker light than the subject of the image will make the subject stand out more. For this blurred background-effect in macro photography use a longer lens of 100mm, 200mm or more. Another nice effect is to show the animal and plant subjects as part of their environments. For this purpose you need a wide-angle with close-focusing ability.
Thomas is a professional nature shooter whose first book, Rainforest, was published in 2006. It’s now available in 13 languages across 25 countries.
26 – Eric Ryan Anderson
One piece of advice I wish I’d received when I was starting out is in a culture inundated with instant gratification, practice patience. Be patient when setting up an image: wait for the best moment, not just a good one. Be patient in your editing process: don’t always rush to be the first online. And be patient with your body of work: building a good portfolio simply can’t be accomplished overnight. It requires years of experiences, opportunities, travels… and patience.
Eric is a self-taught commercial photographer who lists MTV, Italian Vanity Fair and National Geographic Travel in his client list.
27 – Tim Wallace
Develop a style – marketing people and agencies are very aware of the photographers that are on the circuit and don’t want to see work that’s an obvious copy of somebody else, it shows a lack of imagination and after all great photography is 90% creative and 10% technique. A good photographer can get a tune so to speak out of any camera… Be honest to yourself and experiment, don’t let people tell you it can’t be done that way, it usually means they’ve tried and failed and just don’t want to see you achieve it.
Be inspired by Tim’s commercial and advertising photography, specialising in automotive.
28 – Morten Hvaal
“How do you get people to ignore you and the camera?” I get asked that a lot, and the answer is: “I’m rather strange!”
Good candid photography necessitates being a psychic bore. It basically means sitting quietly in a corner, not staring at people, not smiling back at children, and so on. Not distracting your subjects by aiming a large ugly camera at them means being able to pre-visualise the finished photograph, making all the right settings on the camera while it’s hanging over your shoulder. Then it’s back to being a bore and waiting for the right moment.
Morten is an award-winning documentary photographer who has covered major conflicts and worked with UNICEF and the Nobel Peace Centre.
29 – Lee Beel
The two questions that I’m asked most often are “what camera do you use?” and “what camera should I buy?”. Of course, a quality camera body will deliver great images but it’s better to have a great lens with an average camera than the other way round! If you have a budget for a DSLR and lens then blow most of it on the body and compromise on the lens, you’ll regret it!
Lee is a widely published freelance photographer, with numerous magazine covers under his belt.
30 – Clive Nichols
The question I get asked most is: “how do you get into such amazing gardens when many are privately owned?” The answer is simple – I spend a lot of time visiting gardens that are open to the public, especially those that open under the charity known as The National Gardens Scheme (NGS). If I like the look of a garden, I’ll have a chat with the owners, explain clearly to them that I’d love to photograph their garden for magazines, books, calendars etc and see if they’re open to the idea. Once I have their confidence, I’m often able to return to the gardens at dawn or dusk – the optimum times for atmospheric shots.
Clive Nichols is one of the world’s most successful flower photographers. He sits on the RHS Photographic Committee and is a judge for the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition.
31 – Kevin Fern
If you’ve taken a shot of a person and walked away thinking “damn, I should have taken it the other way,” then don’t be afraid to turn around and go back and ask for one more quick picture. If you have to, just make up an excuse and say the camera broke!
Kevin is a popular freelance photographer specialising in news, commercial images and weddings.
32 – David Creedon
Always carry a tripod, not just in low-light. Yes, they’re heavy, cumbersome and slow everything down but that’s the point – using a tripod makes you consider every shot. Your work will get better. Mine did. Handholding just makes you miss shots that would have benefited from being composed properly. The only exception is if I’m shooting streets and occasionally for some portrait work.
David’s documentary photography project, Ghosts of the Faithful Departed, has been widely published in a range
of prestigious magazines. He has exhibited around the world and received a runner up award in the Prix de la Photographie, Paris.
33 – Guy Edwardes
Don’t always rely upon a tripod for support when shooting landscapes with lenses in excess of 200mm. Where practical use a large beanbag instead. This can support the whole length of the lens and will eliminate vibrations caused by the mirror and shutter action as well as any wind induced vibration. It works particularly well when using shutter speeds of between 1/125th and 4 seconds (and longer in windy conditions).
Keep your beanbag filled with a weighty substance such as grain, rice or polypropylene granules. If you can’t find a suitable spot from which to set up a beanbag then place it on top of your tripod, as it’s the tripod head which is normally the weakest link when it comes to supporting long lenses during lengthy exposures.
Guy is one of the UK’s best scenic ’togs.
34 – Pål Hermansen
All nature photo books still emphasise that the use of tripod is essential to achieve the best results. And wherever you see a nature photographer, you see a big lens and a big tripod. Okay, the advice was reasonable in the years of 50 ISO Velvia, but now, when high ISO and stabilisers have taken over, it’s time to claim the opposite – don’t use a tripod other when you really need it, such as during long exposures.
Get rid of the tripod, and you’ll see better results! There are at least three benefits: 1) You’re more mobile and can catch the ‘crucial moment’, such as subjects moving quickly. 2) You save time and can try out alternative compositions easily.
3) You get rid of a heavy burden.
Pål has been working as a freelance photographer since 1971, and his nature images have been published in National Geographic Magazine, Conde Naste Traveller, GEO and Stern.
35 – David Clapp
One of the mistakes photographers make when building their own commercial landscape library is to continue shooting for themselves and not their clients. One of the hardest things to develop is the mindset of a graphic designer as it goes against everything learnt about composition. But leaving blank spaces, photographing clear skies and even emptiness itself can be the key to selling more imagery than a personally satisfying shot could yield.
David is a landscape and travel photographer who is a contibutor to Getty, as well as many other photo agencies and sells work directly to clients worldwide.
36 – Fabio De Paola
Always try and think of different ways to light a subject and be prepared to use any source. You don’t just have to use available light and flash to light a portrait – it can be lit by many other sources such as a torch, a candle or car headlights. These instances can be forced upon you when no other options are available, be it at night, in a dark room or when there’s no time to set a flash up and time is limited.
Fabio is a freelance photographer based in Nottingham whose work is frequently seen in The Guardian.
37 – Damien Lovegrove
One of the most important techniques I use to ‘learn’ about lighting is the process of deconstructing other photographers’ pictures. I keep tear sheets from magazines of the fashion pictures that I like and I analyse every bit of light in the scene to work back to the the original lighting set up used. I study shadows to see if the light sources are hard or soft, I look at the direction of light sources and I imagine the scene without any added light. Then I work out how I might have lit the shot and what would the result look like. It’s a bit of a geeky technique but I’ve learned so much from the great photographers of our time this way.
A former BBC cameraman and lighting director turned wedding pro, Damien runs popular training courses.
38 – Mark Humpage
The most frequent question that lands in my inbox is not the usual how do you do this or that (although I do get a lot of these!), but quite simply “How can I make a few quid from photography?” My tip is to sell your photos to a news agency – it’s become the single biggest earner from my photographic work. By forging a relationship with a national agency (such as SWNS or APEX) your images can bring in surprising amounts of money. With my own work I’ve almost become ‘paparazzi of the natural world’.
You’ll need to contact the agency, send a ‘story photo’ and then let them market your photo to all the national newspapers. If it gets used then you receive a cheque in the post. It’s surprising what constitutes a ‘story photo’ and how easy it can be to get your photo inside a national newspaper.
Remember that someone, somewhere is always in the right place at the right time. Should you witness an unusual or eye-catching event, there’s a good chance it can make you money. National newspapers are always looking for good stories and images such as strange holiday snaps, weird weather or festivals.
Mark is a seasoned Stormchaser and ambassador for Olympus, as a professional elemental photographer.
39 – Haje Jan Kamps
It’s surprisingly difficult to get useful feedback on your photographs. “That’s pretty” or “I love her eyes” are nice to hear, but aren’t going to improve you as a photographer. Whenever I ask people to critique my work (and when I critique others) I ask them to complete these sentences: “This photo makes me think of…”, “I think this photo is about…”, “Technically, I think…”, “What I like about this photo is…”, “If I were to improve anything, I would…” By using a simple framework, people are forced to give feedback you can actually use.
Haje is the man behind the popular Photocritic blog.
40 – Tim Fisher
Be creative! Obvious advice, I know, but how many galleries do you visit a month? Drink in the visual arts (get drunk on the stuff!), be it sculpture, paintings, photography, architecture, textiles, you name it. Many are best viewed in a public space & not necessarily in book or magazine form.
At home, how often do you take an A4 sheet of tracing paper and overlay a page in say Tatler, Esquire or Marie Claire & then draw all the triangles, be they equilateral, isosceles or right angled. How about rhombuses and rhomboids? What about the rectangles and the squares? You’d be shocked how everything great in photography seems to distillate down to geometry, so try it!
Tim won first prize in the Automotive category of 2008’s Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3).
41 – Dave Butcher
Keep images as simple as possible. Have a strong centre of interest, maybe with a strong foreground to set off the image, too. Avoid distractions or too many eye catching elements within view, slow down and check around the edges of the image to make sure nothing unnecessary or bright is included in these areas before pressing the button. Use a tripod to enable full use of the camera settings, such as slow shutter speeds and small apertures for full depth of field; blurred foregrounds can be very distracting.
Dave is a fine art black and white specialist and an Ilford Master Printer. See more of Dave’s photography.
42 – Richard Lee
Know your equipment inside out to maximise its potential even if it does mean reading the instruction manual from cover to cover – it’s surprising how many pro photographers still come up and ask me how to perform basic functions on their Nikon D3. Also, after having the safe shots in the bag, don’t be afraid to try something different.
Richard is a freelance photographer
with over 10 years’ experience in news, sport and feature photography. See his varied professional portfolio.
43 – Svein Bringsdal
I wish that someone would have given me the following advice when I started shooting 14 years ago. It’s easy to try to copy other photographers and make your shots look like mainstream professional photos. Forget it! The best-known pros have their own recognisable style. If you want to stand out, do it your way! Trust yourself, and believe in your style.
Svein is a top fashion photographer working out of Bergen, Milan, Paris and London, and the publisher of Norwegian fashion title, Sva magazine. Visit Svein’s new website.
44 – Russell Lewis
If you’re planning to produce a composite image, the key word is ‘planning’. Sketch out a storyboard and plan the stages of shooting before you even consider removing the lens cap! Plan each element of the composite so that it remains balanced in the key aspects; strength and direction of light and shade, depth of field, shooting distance etc. If you’re planning to ‘treat’ the final image, do all of your layering work before applying the tweaks.
Russell spent almost 30 years as a graphic artist, the past ten working for F1 team and sponsors, and is now building a name for himself as a creative commercial photographer.
45 – Ron Moes
When photographing portraits, don’t try and act the clown. Although you need to make your portrait sitter feel at ease and forget that they’re being photographed, stay in control. Be confident about your camera and lighting settings. If things are going wrong, don’t let the subject know – ‘sell’ it as an experiment you were trying…
Ron Moes is an award-winning wedding photographer based in the Netherlands.
46 – Emma Delves-Broughton
If you’re dealing with models you have to think of all the things that could possibly go wrong and be prepared for them. It’s often something minor such as a false nail coming off, to something major such a model not turning up. I always like to speak to them a week before, and the day before the shoot, to check everything is okay, and get them to text me when they’re on the train, or about to set off in the car.
Emma is an in-demand fetish and fashion photographer.
47 – Laurence Baker
You need to be (and I hate this word because I’m sick of TV chefs using it all the time) passionate about what you’re doing and you need to know something about your subject. It’s no good waking up one day and deciding you’re going to be an architectural photographer for instance and not having the slightest bit of knowledge about it.
Laurence is a freelance photographer specialising in rock star portraits.
48 – Ben Birchall
“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” That saying is so true. Filling the frame gives your images maximum impact, leaving no room for distractions. Forget standing back and fitting longer lenses, the effect just isn’t the same. Taking a step towards your subject will always result in much better photographs as it forces you to interact and engage with whatever your shooting.
Ben Birchall is an award-winning press photographer – and ex-DC staffer.
49 – Lee Pengelly
In my workshops one question I’m asked regularly is: “How do you know what to shoot?” when we arrive at locations. Planning is the key. Having a predetermined viewpoint and arriving when you know the light’s at its best will improve your hit rate no end. Plan for things like tides and sun position.
Lee is a successful freelance shooter specialising in landscapes.
50 – Kevin Poolman
If you want to earn money from your photography, I think it’s important not to squeeze too many jobs in. It’s important to spend more time keeping your regular clients happy, rather than dropping these for the one-off better paying clients who inevitably pop up, when you’re already booked. It’s crucial to maintain a steady income and keep your regulars coming back to you. It’s also worthwhile buddying up with another few photographers with whom you can share work with, when one of you is booked.
Kevin is a popular freelance press
and PR photographer.