WHY SELECT A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOG

WHY SELECT A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER?

By Robert Hughes

Do you think that anyone who swings a baseball bat should be paid eight (8) million dollars a year?

Do you consider anyone who owns a Guitar to be a world-class musician?

Do you believe that anyone who drives a car should qualify as a NASCAR driver?

Do you think that anyone who owns a Hammer and nails should serve as an Architect and be commissioned to design and construct your next home?

Do you think that anyone who sets foot on a Collage Campus should be handed the title of M.F.A., or PHD?

Why, then, would you ever have confidence in just anyone who owns a Camera?

Trusting just anyone, who owns a Camera, to deliver a “Professional” product is a bit like loading all but one bullet in the chamber of a pistol, giving it a spin and engaging in the deadly game of “Russian Roulette.”

Now, more than ever, the Professional Image specialist has to up the ante in the never-ending quest for Professional excellence. With the advent of all the current and rapidly changing technological options, the Professional Image maker is inundated and continually challenged by methods of Composition, Color Balance, ICC Management, Profiling, Resolution, Printing, Output, Theory, Tonal Range, Archival Properties, Bit Depth, Colorspaces, Upper and Lower Limitations of Media, Delivery Methodology, Correct and Proper Sensor Care, Control Standards, Histograms, Software Proficiency including all forms of Retouching and Monitoring correct Dynamic Ranges.

You can be sure that a Professional Image Maker is extremely interested in elevating the beloved Profession of making Images. I have often said, “I don’t take light lightly.” The Professional spends countless hours honing Theories, Technology and Art. For the first time in the history of our profession, specifics and Ambiguity integrate into one entity. This mindset alone changes the course of professional Imaging. Truly, science meets Art!

THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS!

People with Cameras who are not trained or educated about properties of light, can not properly understand and work with light! This may sound redundant, but the ability to recognize and correctly use light is the most important ingredient when creating compelling images!

Amateur Photographers are usually called that for a reason! Many Amateurs actually believe that because they see an image on the back of the Camera they have created a worthwhile image. This is usually not true! Since the image on the LCD back of a Digital Camera contains so much contrast, clients are often shocked to learn that many and sometimes all the images are not in sharp focus. The compositions of these images leave much to be desired.

It takes countless hours of practice to produce proper exposure and sharpness. This is in addition to all the scientific issues which have been mentioned above.

NOTE: There were good reasons that disposable Cameras didn’t last when placed on the guest tables of wedding receptions. The resulting pictures were underexposed, badly composed, over flashed, overexposed, and just plain meaningless. Brides and Grooms soon found that the money spent on disposable Cameras was a waste. Thankfully this idea went away in favor of Professional Imagery which not only showed Who, What, When, Why but with what Feelings and Emotions.

A THOUGHT ABOUT THE “SHOOT AND BURNERS”

There is a group of wannabe Photographers who compete on price. This group will offer to “Shoot pictures and burn them to a disc.” The real truth is that they do not want any further contact with the client. They neither have the knowledge, talent or experience to formulate legitimate business strategies.

This quote from Martha Blanchfield in her recent Studio Photography Magazine article, about Claudia Kronenberg, a wedding photographer in Nantucket, sums up the “Shoot and Burn” philosophy. "Having your wedding photographed and just receiving a disk of images is what I equate to receiving the fabric of the wedding dress without the designer to stitch it together," says Kronenberg. "It's what we do with the fabric, or photographs, that make the difference."

The “Shoot and Burners” do not really care about delivering a professionally finished, product as indicated by their philosophy which is shoot and burn. All they want is to be relieved of the responsibility of having to do the hard work which comes after quality images are created. The “Shoot and Burn” strategy does not save money! It catapults the consumer into a world of which they have little knowledge. By the time the victim experiences what is really involved in finishing the job, the “Shoot and Burner” is long gone with the client’s hard-earned money. “Shoot and burn,” is nothing more than an attempt to extract money from an unsuspecting client.

The “Shoot and Burn” strategy is really a statement! “I will do part of the work if you can figure out how to do all the rest.” This approach merely creates countless hours of frustration for the client (victim) who then makes a desperate attempt to obtain a decent finished print. Time and money is spent on, and not limited to, inks, paper, color management, profiles, education, manuals, software, and many more hours of what a true “professional” would have already delivered.

You will live a lifetime with either a Professional quality, meaningful images or you will spend a lifetime desperately trying to like a set of images which could have been professionally created.

The choice is up to you!

Respectfully,

Robert H. Hughes

Welcome to The Robert Hughes Center for Creative Imaging

Contact Robert Hughes Photography at: (614) 488-2769 / roberthughes@ameritech.net