The 4 Legs of a Pro Shooter’s chair - Leg 1: QUALITY
The chair of a successful photographer has four legs. You may be able to sit on a chair with just one leg but it won’t take long before you fall over. A second leg might buy you a little extra time on the chair but you will fall. It’s possible to sit on a three legged chair for the duration of a career but it won’t be a comfortable one. So you need a chair with four solid legs if you want to make it as a pro shooter. In this first article in a series of … well, four, we are going to look at the first leg: QUALITY.
To me the first and most important asset you need if you want to go pro is QUALITY. The days where you could be just an ok-ish photographer are over. There’s too many ok-ish amateurs out there who are jumping to do that assignment for free or just a name credit. You will need to distinguish yourself from the masses and the only lasting way to do that is by offering quality, high quality.
Before you start charging for your work, make sure that you can provide a high level of quality anytime, anywhere, whatever happens. No matter how talented you are, you’ll need to study, practice and be your own most demanding critic. Just the stuff you’ve learned in school won’t cut it, The good new is that these days there is so much information easily available: blogs, webpages, forums, books, podcasts, DVD’s, workshops, …
Then there’s technical quality. An ad agency probably won’t be thrilled with that shot you took with your compact cam at iso 800. And that bride who’s wedding you shot with a Holga because the battery of your DSLR was dead, will probably take you to court.
I’m not saying that every pro need a Hasselblad H3D and a truck full of lighting equipment. I started out with a Canon 30D, a 300D (the original Digital Rebel), some good glass and two flashes. And that was good enough for the kind of work I was doing at that time. Know what your target market expects and buy the stuff you need (not the stuff you WANT). Don’t forget that you can always rent the things that you need only on few specific jobs.
Quality doesn’t mean that you can produce a stunning shot every now and then. At least, you need to be able to make decent pictures every single time. If you get to the point where you can make stunning images most of the time, you’ll do really well.
There is NO excuse for messing up. Be prepared for anything that can go wrong. Have a plan B, plan C, … When your experience grows, you’ll get more techniques, tricks, references and solutions in your toolbox that make improvising easy. When you start out, make sure you invest enough time and energy in planning, scouting and imagining different scenario’s. That will give you something to fall back onto in case things don’t go as expected. Having backup plans will boost your confidence and keeps your head cool.
On most jobs I feel confident enough about my improvising skills, but anytime I do a high end assignment that’s kind of new to me, I put the time and effort into planning and make sure I have everything covered.
You’ll need to set the same quality standards in all aspects of your work. In this digital age, most photographers often think they need to be not only a good snapper but also a skilled lab technician, a retoucher, a printer, … But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. I for one, am not very good at printing and I’m a mess when it comes to framing, mounting and basically anything that’s more complicated than pouring a cup of coffee. I know that, so instead of trying to learn the impossible, I outsource all my printing, mounting and framing to a pro lab. I pay them good money for their services but still less than I lose messing around with it myself. This buys me more time to do what I’m good at and love most: shooting.
Concentrate to become even better in what you are good at and find reliable partners for the other stuff that share your vision and quality standards.
Finally, quality is not an arbitrary standard, it evolves with time. And in the last decade the evolution has been fast, really fast. Personally I don’t think that evolution will slow down anytime soon. So you’ll have to work hard to stay on top of your craft throughout your whole career. Never think you know it all.
What are you still doing here? Start studying, shooting, post processing or printing right now!
Bert Stephani
Great article, can’t wait to see the other 3.
on what makes a good photographer. An this article is right on, as always, with some great advices.
Sometimes it’s good to stay away from the ISO’s, shutter speeds, and so on, and just think (or read
By the way, I’m loving the “squeeze the lime” thing, it’s a great start, with great articles (and video…). Congratulations to Bert and Pieter.
Consider myself a fan.
Best regards.
Fantastic article that really needs to be read more than a few times! I’m on the edge whether or not I could make it professionally so some feedback and advice is more than definitely needed!! Thank you for putting together this great site!
Thx
@Lourenço: You’re right, it’s not all about technique.
@Janne: I hope this series of articles will help you.
seems that the article really makes sense. btw do you have any books on photography that you can share with us? thanks.cheers
Great post! Im waiting for more.
I wrote school paper about quality management not so long ago. In the paper I talked about quality of photography servise. How is quality of photography mesured and what would be the ideal situation for photographer? What kind of things shooter has to know and be prepared for? Equipment was mention…in one sentence.
Most of the stuff I had to figure out myself as there is no certain way to mesure photography. And writing about it made me think things in a different way. Im not pro, just because Im too sure that I wouldn’t be consistent enough, quality of my work would have too much variation.
But what drove me to that write about photography and its quality was this huge amount of pros, or wannabe pros who produce bad images. What does flickr “pro”-sing mean? ;D
I ended up pretty much in the conclusions as you..
[...] one. So you need a chair with four solid legs if you want to make it as a pro shooter. In the first article we talked about QUALITY and in this second one we’ll focus on [...]
[...] with four solid legs if you want to make it as a pro shooter. In the first article we talked about QUALITY and in the second one we focused on SERVICE. In this third part we’ll talk about what most [...]
Yes, I am exactly experiencing what you describe. I do 2 casual shooting for my friends wedding this month. I felt not prepared because wrong equipment were use. I should have spend what I need for the occasion not what I want.
I bought 70-200mm f/4 none IS and this lens is not usable in indoor situation and the best part I do not have flash gun. Okay i’m very silly I know. I have to learn from a hard way damn. I felt awful now.
another silly thing - not enough practice. for some reason I use ISO800 for some 50 snaps and it screw everything up without realizing it not until the photo was loaded to HDD.
great article Bert!
Cheers
[...] you need a chair with four solid legs if you want to make it as a pro shooter. After talking about QUALITY, SERVICE and BUSINESS in the previous articles, we’ll devote this final leg of the chair to [...]
Hi Bert!
I’m glad I found out about you through Confessions of a Photographer and now the LIME series seems to be even better and more informative. I’m finding out about all of this at the perfect time in my life. I’m 22 and just about to graduate from college. I know I want to work hard to make photography work because it’s what I really love to do. Problem is, I’m competing with so many other people who are just like me.
The information in your blog and videos is crucial to people like me who are just starting out and need all the advice they can get. I look forward to more posts and behind the scenes videos.
Thanks and take care!
-Charlie
Not sure how this article tells us something we don’t know already. I am kind of confused as to how having the best equipment will make you an A-1 photographer?! I am sorry but most people whom are reading these articles are looking for creative ways to get a head in the the biz, not how to start. The problem is most of the equipment required to do a start-up photo biz is expensive. This can require lots of people needing to get a biz loan. Not sure if you understand the economy right now, but it is crappy. I don’t see too many start-up’s, especially photo ones getting even a $10,000 loan.
I am a little upset at how someone can say, you need to buy this and that to make it in photography as a profession. My take is buy what you can in basics and utilize what you have to the best of your abilities. I have been doing this for almost two years, as I don’t have an additional 6 grand to put towards extras I need to make my pics pop. However, I have tried to take the best photos with what I have. You can go on many websites that have DIY (Do it Yourself softboxes, diffusers, backdrop stands, lights tands, flash studio strobes, etc. for little or no money.
If you are good a photography you should be able to take a pic and make it your own through conveying and placing people, or items in a way that is artistic and beautiful.. Just do it. The more you experiment, the better your photos will become. So don’t let some pro tell you that starting off as an amateur is lame, and you are part of a million other lame photographers’ out there. Everyone has to start from scratch at some point. Just keep taking pictures, and you will eventually make enough money here and there to get the pro stuff.
Good Luck Everyone and Never Let Anyone Tell You that You are Lame if you Don’t have All The EXPENSIVE stuff!!
Dear Dark Woods,
I appreciate your comment but wanted to clear some things up:
- I reread the article and I can’t find any mention that you need lots of expensive gear to start out. I’m just saying that you need the right gear for the job. I started out with 5000 EUR worth of equipment. Not the best quality available but more than good enough for the kind of work I was doing then. And equally important: good enough to respond to the client’s needs in just about any situation I could logically expect. The gear you need depends on what you shoot. You can get by with an entry level dslr, a kitlens and some foamcore for portrait work but if you do weddings, you’ll need at least a backup body and lens for example.
- If you follow our and my (Bert’s) work, you’ll know that we are both gearheads but never cease to stress out that it’s not about the equipment. I can not remember advising anyone to buy unnecessary expensive equipment.
- This article may not be of interest to you but you are wrong in assessing our audience. We have many people who are thinking about starting a photography business. We try to produce some stuff for everyone but we cannot always target each and everyone.
- We started out as amateurs too and will never look down on anyone. We just say that going pro comes with responsabilities towards your clients, your business and yourself.
I’m sorry if our statements weren’t clear and do appreciate the feedback
Bert
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