The photography blog of Happy Accidents
Both of these shots might have been rejected under certain circumstances. Neither is "sharp" in the traditional sense. The movement that is associated with a slightly longer shutter speed and the motion of either the subject or my camera gives both images a soft feel. At my Flickr size of only eight hundred pixels high, that's not always obvious so trust me on this.
While this isn't my typical approach to making pictures, every once in a while you get a "happy accident." (That's what my first photography professor used to call them and I've loved the notion ever since). To some in the fashion industry, this is a legitimate, desired and often very evocative way to shoot "beautiful" people. I've seen countless fashion and beauty ads that are unsharp yet still prefect. It's photography after all. It's a flexible medium. Lot's of things work.
When shooting more by the seat of your pants and keeping the client's ultimate use of the images in mind, such aesthetic contrivances aren't the top priority. Simply put, these are mistakes. For the top one, I wanted the kid sharp but in my haste I didn't make the appropriate changes for a proper exposure. I'd been shooting in the bright sun most of the hour and then I saw this face in the shadow of a house and started shooting without regard for color temperature (I'm shooting JPEGs), or shutter speed. When I chimped it, it looked good. (You'd think by now, I'd realize almost everything looks good when it's only two inches across). Only later did the softness reveal itself. My initial disappointment quickly passed as I realized the image was still strong, maybe stronger with that slight motion. Color temperature wasn't an issue and I can't quite tell is it's the very slight motion or the very small depth of field that gives it that 'just soft' look.
The lower image is one I don't even remember making. I'd been passing over it in Lightroom. I scrolled along doing my editing without paying much attention to it but each time it would catch my eye. There's something strangely haunting about this one. If it keeps catching my eye, I'll give it some loving.
The special sauce really made it pop too. It's a keeper.
Make pictures and mistakes.
While this isn't my typical approach to making pictures, every once in a while you get a "happy accident." (That's what my first photography professor used to call them and I've loved the notion ever since). To some in the fashion industry, this is a legitimate, desired and often very evocative way to shoot "beautiful" people. I've seen countless fashion and beauty ads that are unsharp yet still prefect. It's photography after all. It's a flexible medium. Lot's of things work.
When shooting more by the seat of your pants and keeping the client's ultimate use of the images in mind, such aesthetic contrivances aren't the top priority. Simply put, these are mistakes. For the top one, I wanted the kid sharp but in my haste I didn't make the appropriate changes for a proper exposure. I'd been shooting in the bright sun most of the hour and then I saw this face in the shadow of a house and started shooting without regard for color temperature (I'm shooting JPEGs), or shutter speed. When I chimped it, it looked good. (You'd think by now, I'd realize almost everything looks good when it's only two inches across). Only later did the softness reveal itself. My initial disappointment quickly passed as I realized the image was still strong, maybe stronger with that slight motion. Color temperature wasn't an issue and I can't quite tell is it's the very slight motion or the very small depth of field that gives it that 'just soft' look.
The lower image is one I don't even remember making. I'd been passing over it in Lightroom. I scrolled along doing my editing without paying much attention to it but each time it would catch my eye. There's something strangely haunting about this one. If it keeps catching my eye, I'll give it some loving.
The special sauce really made it pop too. It's a keeper.
Make pictures and mistakes.
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