What It Takes

"You have a great camera."

I get this all the time...and yes,  I do. It is a wonderful piece of equipment and the model itself makes a huge difference in the quality of my photos. However, what most people don't realize is that it is not the camera, or lenses, or other equipment that make photographs look the way they do.

Sure, they make a HUGE difference; but the truth is that it is practice, skill, and lots and lots of time researching, learning from trial and error, and most importantly, it is simply experience.

You know how they say that "practice makes perfect"? Well, I am in no way claiming that my photography is perfect. Au contraire,  I feel that it is far, far from perfect and my husband can attest to my feelings of inadequacy. What I am trying to say is that that adage is so true...and I hope to encourage those who may feel inadequate or incapable or perhaps even discouraged. I am amazed when I look back at the pictures I took when I first embarked on this challenging yet very rewarding endeavor and can see the progress I have made, even if it is not as drastic as I would love for it to be. Bottom line: the effort, time, and devotion you put into anything will be the pivotal keys and will make the difference.

With this said and getting back on the 'nice camera' topic, there are many factors involved in the production of great photography. And may I please say this and hopefully have it resonate: there is a big difference between having a nice camera and taking great pictures. Anyone can have a nice camera...but not everyone can take great pictures.

At first the 'nice camera' comments would really annoy me. Then I realized that I had been just as guilty as they were of thinking/making such "ignorant" {if you will} comments. To be blatantly honest, before I picked up a camera I used to think that photographers went out and spent money on nice cameras and lenses, took pictures, and uploaded them onto their flashy computers and burned them onto a CD for the overpriced photo package someone had bought. "What?! $300 for a photoshoot?! That is ridiculous!!!" I would think...

I.was.dead.wrong.

I could not have been any more ignorant than I already was. I am actually embarrassed to be admitting to this, but I do so in hopes to make anyone who thinks or has thought this will not feel like a cheap/terrible human being. It is very normal, and perhaps even expected, for most to think this way...until they understand how much work goes into producing that CD of high-resolution images.

So, in case you are wondering what exactly I mean by "how much work goes into",  here ya go.

Did you know:
*photographers spend literally thousands on that 'nice camera', lenses, lighting equipment, editing software, props, backdrops, etc? 
* it takes a photographer at least 2 hrs to take pictures for a relatively easy/planned photo shoot? Personally, it takes at least 30 minutes of total driving time to get to my appointments. This means I am spending time away from my family,  in addition to sometimes having to pay a babysitter, put mileage on my car and use up gas to come meet my fabulous clients. 
*once the picture is taken, it takes about 10 minutes to upload and back-up picture files?
*it takes me, Kristal, at least 8 minutes to edit each picture? 
I do not batch edit. Batch editing is clicking on a button in Photoshop that will apply a certain look/filters to all of the selected images the same way, across the board. This may work for some photographers, but it definitely does not for me. I pride myself in spending time on each and every single picture to meet my standards of quality and personalization. Translation: that pimple that showed up on your forehead from all that chocolate you had last night? Corrected. The lipstick stains on your teeth that mischievously showed up just as we got that perfect shot? Corrected. That grape juice stain that got on Junior's shirt as you were driving to your appointment? Gone. That picture that would be perfect had one of the kids been looking at the camera instead of the random dog running behind me? Perfected, once I swap out his distracted face for one from another image that has an ear-to-ear grin.
*then it takes more time to transfer those wonderful images onto a cd, package them to look nice and pretty, make my way to the lovely and efficient post office to send that little package with lots of love, and hope that hard work is received with gratitude and satisfaction.


Capice?

That is what it takes, folks.

So, the next time you are thinking that the quote you just got from a photographer is a little too high, you may want to remember that it is not the 'nice camera' doing the work and, most importantly, "you get what you pay for" :)