Great minds think alike, I guess. On the same day that I was thinking about this subject, my friends Monte Stevens and Paul Lester were also posting similar thoughts on their own blogs. In fact my reply to Monte’s post became the basis for this post, and if I hadn’t read Monte’s post first I might have posted the same comment on Paul’s post!
Monte talks about how the most emotional images aren’t necessarily the ones that exhibit technical perfection. Paul related an experience with a co-worker who didn’t appreciate Paul’s photograph that his daughter appeared in because it was “blurry.”
We sometimes lose track of the fact that “technical perfection” is that technique that adequately expresses our vision. That doesn’t always mean sharp or even “properly” exposed. This past weekend I took pictures of the children of some friends. They are mostly candid shots of the kids playing, swinging, hanging from monkey bars, etc. Some of them are horribly overexposed and many of them are blurry or misfocused. On my first pass through the photos I marked a lot of them as Rejects. But I went back later and decided that some of them had merit, so I processed some of them and think that a few of them – happy accidents they may be – really express the emotions and energy of these 2 1/2 year-olds. And at that point, exposure, focus and sharpness take a back seat to the feeling that the photo portrays.
While we always strive for technical excellence, sometimes the shots that show the emotion we are trying to capture are not the ones that are “perfect,” but they end up being the ones the express our intentions “perfectly.”
A great subject for a Friday – inspiration for the weekend!
Given the first and the last photo, how could you not smile when seeing them? A perfect post to tie all three blog posts together.
Sometimes, we keep looking at better and better gear, faster cameras, sharper lenses, etc to give us the edge. Sure, those things make technically fantastic looking images, bright, sharp, colorful, but if they are lacking in emotional content, they are just flat, in my opinion. That ‘connection’, to me, is the difficult part, yet, I keep looking for it. 🙂
Thanks, Paul. The smiles are truly the reward for me!
Sometimes it’s the imperfections which are the most appealing. Tom, that last photo, especially, is priceless!
I definitely find myself guilty of being too technical 90% of the time. Even when events and moments have sentimental value to me, I very quick to bin photos that I don’t consider technically sound. I often catch myself in the technical mode when giving options to family members of which photos they life best, usually it’s the one that I don’t like. I think as photographers or hobbyist, we tend to see photographs very differently that those that just want certain moments captured and could care less about exposure or fstops.
Well said, Tom. Love the last image as you did nail it. I’ve also found that very subtle differences in an image can be a major difference to a client. Ones we like, they don’t and vice-versa.
A persons expression can overcome some technical problems and produce a worthwhile photo. But sometimes photographer may not aware of this and put what could be great photos in the “RECYCLE” folder. It takes and open mind.