creating an image

It’s been a fairly hectic year for us, so we haven’t had much of a chance to sit back, grab a drink and blog away on more FAQ/insight based photography content. A spare moment has been found!

I’d like to spend a bit of time touching on what I see as the difference between taking a photo and creating an image.

Increasingly more people have affordable access to digital SLR cameras, enjoy taking photos of their family/friends/travels and dabble a bit in Photoshop. Does this make you a photographer? Can you create nice photos? Sure, why not. Power to everyone!

So what’s the difference between a photo and an image? In my view, there is a huge difference.

I believe an image is a pre-visualisation of knowing the outcome of what you are about to create, being able to do that consistently to a professional standard and picturing how that image will be processed, printed and presented within a printed or bound form for your client. All before the shutter button is pressed.

Often, all of this needs to occur in a few split seconds at a wedding.

So, what are some of the things that go through our minds in the seconds before we capture an image? In the simplest form…
Where do I want the light to fall within the frame?
What is the personality of the subject or mood I’m looking to portray?
What composition and framing do I want for my subject?
What is in the background of the frame? What objects are wider/in closer? How close/far away is my subject from other elements?
What am I trying to achieve from this image exposure wise?
Do I want lots of light/darkness in the frame? Do I want lots of things in focus or narrow focus?
What ISO? What Shutter Speed? What Aperture?
How do I want the end result of this image to look?

All of this before we even touch a computer.

If many of these elements are missed, no level of photoshop is going to convey an image.

We are strong believers that having a vision for an image adds a significant element to consistency in your work.

We are going out on a limb here with a few very raw sample insights into what our images look like straight out of the camera (SOOC) vs. final state. Note the same composition, lighting, framing & exposure. Our pre-visualised outcome is merely refined in post processing based on the mood and style we wanted to reflect.

As always, we enjoy your thoughts.