Pros, how do you know you have a great photo?

shefjr · Jul 24, 2012

So for the pros (or anyone who feels they can help) out there, I'm curious to know if you instantly know that a photo is exceptional (or better than most). I ask because I have had opportunities to photograph items that I like (wild life) and events (unpaid/unrequested, just for myself to learn and experience) and after a while I feel like I'm just shooting the same thing from a different angle/pov/whatever you want to call it. I become bored from my images (I try to take several from different pov of the same image) after reviewing them which makes pp difficult for me. Any thoughts on this would be really helpful. Thanks :thumbup:

Buckster · Jul 24, 2012

It jumps up, grabs me by the eyeballs, and makes me involuntarily suck in my breath, usually followed by "WOW! **** ****!!!!!.

Derrel · Jul 24, 2012

A pint or so of hard liquor can improve one's photos immensely if taken in a series of small, rapid doses; it almost by magic makes one's pictures seem BETTER...more-vivid...at times, almost exceptional! After an age- and experience-appropriate dose of burbon, I INSTANTLY know that every time I mash that shutter button, that the shot is gonna be AWWWWWESOME!!!!!!!!

molested_cow · Jul 24, 2012

Ok I am no pro by any means, but when i see the title, I was thinking "Pros, how do you know when you are a pro?"

Anyways, to your question, for me there is no absolutely great photo. What I think is great pleases myself, but may not mean anything to others. I am much more interested at photos with a story behind it, but if you don't know the story, or don't feel connected to it, then it's less meaningful.

I personally find wildlife photography much more of a technical challenge than artistic challenge. When I lived in s.Florida, I went out with natural photography fanatics and before long, every alligator looks the same to me, but we kept shooting them and shooting more and shooting more. I got worn out really quickly. I am a street guy, always a street guy.

I recently bought a F2.8 105mm VR macro. What a great lens! I bought it because I now live right next to a tidal zone on a rocky coast. When the tide is low, there are tons of marine creatures with incredible tiny details, so I finally got the lens. Then I found myself using it more for street and portraits.

Anyways, my rule for a great photo is, when you really like what you've got. That's it, nothing more.

Derrel · Jul 24, 2012

No, but seriously...I've been shooting pictures since I was 10 years old...39 years now...at times (and not as often as I woukld like, BUT often enough to keep me in the game), I can SEE a good situation, recognize it, frame it, and press the shutter release and pretty much "know" within about 95% certainty if I "got the shot." I mean, with a modern SLR camera with an instant return mirror, the picture you TAKE is actually "invisble" to your eye...when I was learning, I used a viewfinder or rangefinder style camera, where it was possible to actually HEAR, and to literally SEE the scene AS the shutter fired; same thing with the five different TLR cameras I had as a beginner...

You are "there". You are in charge of the camera, and are following the action/scene/setup, and so, when you trip the shutter, if you have your eyes open, the shot you JUST TOOK is, usually, a fair approximation of what is in the viewfinder when the mirror comes back down and the finder image reappears; this is one of the things about the new pro-level cameras--they have such SHORT latency times that it's very easy to know if you got the shot. With a pro Nikon or Canon, the mirror pops back to viewing position in mere milliseconds; with my first-ever single lens reflex, a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex made in 1954, there was NO RETURN of the mirror...you pressed the button, and the mirror went up, the finder went JET BLACK, and the leaf shutter went "Scrrrritch". That was the knock against single lens reflex cameras from the 1880's (yes, the 1880's, 1890's) all the way up to the mid-1950's when Asahi invented the "instant-return mirror".

Occasionally, there is a surprise for me, but usually, I know as soon as I have tripped the shot that it might be, "a really good one".

KmH · Jul 24, 2012

Ansel Adams said - "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop."

Professional photographers don't often make 'exceptional' photographs, but because of experience and knowledge know one when they see one.

imagemaker46 · Jul 24, 2012

I shoot consistantly, and all the images to me look good, my clients think they look great. This past weekend I shot a few that I really like, they have a good feeling to them, that's all that really matters to me. I shot a photo a bunch of years ago, it has all the elements that other pros look at and tell me that it is a great photo. When I looked at it, I said to myself that it was a great photo, it has all the emotions you can imagine in it. I will post the the photo. Some may agree, some may not, and that's fine.

These guys won the race.

cgipson1 · Jul 24, 2012

shefjr said:
So for the pros (or anyone who feels they can help) out there, I'm curious to know if you instantly know that a photo is exceptional (or better than most). I ask because I have had opportunities to photograph items that I like (wild life) and events (unpaid/unrequested, just for myself to learn and experience) and after a while I feel like I'm just shooting the same thing from a different angle/pov/whatever you want to call it. I become bored from my images (I try to take several from different pov of the same image) after reviewing them which makes pp difficult for me. Any thoughts on this would be really helpful. Thanks :thumbup:

Part of the journey is learning to see... and finding that that makes you happy with your images. If you are bored with what you are doing.. try something else.

Done macro yet? Got it down to where you are get good, clean, consistent images?
Florals?
Landscapes?
Event photography bores me stiff (except for shooting some bands, especially if they don't mind some lighting).
Rodeo can be fun! Stock shows ... SNORE!

have you gotten really good using flash? That alone can add such a dimension to your photography... that it is like you are starting over.

Find something you want to do.. and then do it, until you have it as good as you want it to be. Just snapping shots won't get you anywhere... you have to be excited about it... trying to do your best.

If you are bored already.. where are you going to be a year from now?

imagemaker46 · Jul 24, 2012

shefjr said:
So for the pros (or anyone who feels they can help) out there, I'm curious to know if you instantly know that a photo is exceptional (or better than most). I ask because I have had opportunities to photograph items that I like (wild life) and events (unpaid/unrequested, just for myself to learn and experience) and after a while I feel like I'm just shooting the same thing from a different angle/pov/whatever you want to call it. I become bored from my images (I try to take several from different pov of the same image) after reviewing them which makes pp difficult for me. Any thoughts on this would be really helpful. Thanks :thumbup:

How long have you been using a camera? Being bored does go in cycles.

rexbobcat · Jul 24, 2012

It depends on what I'm shooting. When I shoot sports, I get a lot of "good" shots, but they're mostly only good in terms of their intent. They're pretty generic otherwise.

but when I shoot something that is beyond the scope of just shooting for money, then I get a much more...giddier feeling...I guess. Professional and commercial work can definitely produce some really great images, but when they transcend the shallow pretty girl, or peak of the action, do they become really great in my eyes.

Steve5D · Jul 24, 2012

A politician, years ago, was asked "What is pornography?"

His reply was along the lines of "I can't explain it, but I know it when I see it".

That's how I know when I've got one.

Sometimes I know I'll have an exceptional shot as soon as I hit the shutter. Most often, though, it's only after I've looked at them on the computer...

Derrel · Jul 24, 2012

imagemaker46 said:
I shoot consistantly, and all the images to me look good, my clients think they look great. This past weekend I shot a few that I really like, they have a good feeling to them, that's all that really matters to me. I shot a photo a bunch of years ago, it has all the elements that other pros look at and tell me that it is a great photo. When I looked at it, I said to myself that it was a great photo, it has all the emotions you can imagine in it. I will post the the photo. Some may agree, some may not, and that's fine.

These guys won the race.

Great photo.

Forkie · Jul 25, 2012

If I say to myself, "I took that!" it's a good one.

If I say, "Did I take that?" It's not.

sm4him · Jul 25, 2012

I'm not a pro (well I AM a pro, but not in photography, lol) but I just pull out the ones I *think* are good and post them on FB; if I get a lot of people oohing and aahing and telling me I should sell them, then I know they're awesome.
:biglaugh:

Not really--that just seems like the going method for determing great photos.

Depends on what you mean by a "great" photo really. If you mean how do you know that you have a photo that OTHERS are going to love, well, I can't answer that question because I have no idea.

For me, I just go through my photos at the end of a day of shooting, and it's kinda like Buckster said--I (hopefully) come across a few that make me go "Oooooh, Pretty!" Now, honestly--I have probably never taken a GREAT photo. I've taken more GOOD photos in the past six months than I took in the six years before that!
But, since I'm not a pro, I don't have to please anyone except me. So, if I like it, it's good.
Well...these days, if I like it, chances are it goes on TPF to see if a few others whose opinions I trust like it too. THEN I know I'm onto something.