Overdoing It

There is a certain habit that we can get caught up in as a photographer, or in any profession really. We can learn this one technique and get great results but then over use that technique just to use it, even when its unnecessary or uncalled for. I remember this happening to me when I learned HDR.

I started right off the bat with HDR when I started photography. I got pretty good at it and people loved it, but then I started over using it. I would even use it on portraiture subjects, which is something that you really ought not do. The same thing has been happening to me with using off-camera lighting. I find myself starting to use the lights even when its not necessary. I remember before I got my strobist kit that I would take pictures and they would come out good without the use of spare lights. Now it seems that I want to use it all the time.

We especially do this on photos that we think are sub-par. We get this mentality that although this picture stinks, we can make it cooler by making it an HDR or converting it to black and white. A girl I liked came up to me and showed me a picture and she was excited about it and wanted to know what I thought. I told her it would look better in black and white. Usually that means the photo isn't all that great. Before you judge me, you cant tell me that you havent done that yourself, or something similar. But yeah, usually we make something black and white to give it a punch because "everything looks good in black and white."

Well, I caught myself and I stopped doing this. We can get so caught up in our equipment that we stop seeing the picture as it is. We can go crazy buying new lenses and new this and that, but is it necessary? Where and how do we learn that sober use of what we have? I guess the best advice is to never lose sight of the fact that your equipment is just another set of tools to get the job done. Dont lose the vision, thats what makes a photographer special.

Well, Im not big on New Years Resolutions, but I propose that in this day and age that we don't get lazy because we have all this technology around us. I say we use it to our advantage and take photography to the next level. No promises or anything like that, but I want to learn a new technique every single day this year and I will post it if I think it can help you out. BTW, Im going based on the day that I moved out to California last year, which was January 4th. So I will start tomorrow (from the date that this blog is posted)