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"Snapping a few pictures"

Lets talk about this...

By Ashleigh Cropper

March 21^st, 2018

It sounds like nails on a chalkboard:

"Can you just snap a few pictures?"

I'm sure it's coming from a harmless place when people say this, but it also shows me the lack of awareness and education about what really goes into an image as a professional photographer.

There is NOTHING, and I do mean absolutely NOTHING that could more poorly describe me at a photo shoot as just "snapping" a few quick, easy images. So lets get down to the details here...

The list!

I thought it would be a great exercise to walk you through the million points I run through before I take an image. Many of these are a split second though--a quick check mark off the list before I push the trigger.

Let's say we have a couple on their wedding day standing in a field at sunset:

1) Where is the sun right now?

2) How quickly is that sun about to set because the lighting will change drastically in any given minute.

3) How can I get my couple to be more engaged and be natural?

4) Okay, great, they are in a moment together. Now look at their attire, is anything out of place? Shoot, the bouquet is next to her face...ask her to drop her hand real quick.

5) (Now I put the camera to my eye). I need to make sure my ISO is correct in this lighting that is changing so quickly because I want their skin tones to look good and washed out.

6) I need to make sure the sun setting is a bit more to the side since I want that golden color. I quickly re-position them a little bit.

7) Composition...where do I want my audiences eye's to go? Should I have some negative space in there? I need to be more creative, think of something new, different, interesting, captivating.

8) Triple check all my settings. It looks good!

9) I push the trigger!

10) Not done yet! Now I look at the back of my camera to see how the lighting looks. I need another image of that exact same thing, but change my shutter speed a bit to bring in more sunlight.

11) Push the trigger again! I love it! Done?

12) And no, I am not even close to being done. That was just the image being "snapped" in my camera. On to the next big steps.

Post Production

Lets talk about what happens to an image after I actually photograph it and write it to a memory card.

1) I take the memory card and import it to my specific folder just for that couple, on my external hard drive.

2) 15 minutes later, the images are loaded!

3) I now pull those images, including that stunning sunset photo I took, into a culling software. Culling is when I go through and pick the best images to deliver. I take anywhere from 2000-5000 images at a wedding!

4) Then I pull all those chosen images into Lightroom, my preferred tool for editing the image.

5) I apply my preset, which is the editing style I have personally created. Sorry, no, you can't buy this preset. It has taken me 5 years to get it exactly how I want my images to look.

6) I then have to make adjustments to the image. Her hair is wispy in the wind and distracting, so I edit that out. That takes at least 15-30 minutes per image. (aside: to edit a full wedding it can take anywhere from 24-78 full straight through hours...if I'm lucky.)

7) That sunset image is in a group of all those wedding photos that get exported. This takes a good 2-4 hours of exporting because the files are huge! (Full, high resolution images always!)

8) Are you thinking, is this over yet?! Hahah! Now I take those edited images and upload them to my couple's personal online gallery. That takes another loooong time to upload.

9) I make sure to go through and sort out each image into it's own individual folder for the events throughout the day. That sunset image was just placed into the "portrait folder."

10) The gallery with that sunset image is finally ready! I send it away in an email to my couple, and wait on pins and needles to hear back from them! Because, let's be honest, every photographer loves gratitude and praise for all the hard work and heart they put into their work!

Is this list long? Yes! But I think it's so easy to think our work stops after an image is taken. I work quickly out in the field as I capture these images, even though that list is long. That doesn't mean it's not a well thought-out, trained-eye image. Years and years of experience stand behind being able to deliver these images. I always look at the Olympians in their sports and think it looks so effortless. I want to go out the next day and try to run a half marathon at record speed. Two miles in, I am tired and can barely make it home.

You wouldn't ask a florist to just throw a few bouquets together, or a baker to whip a couple cakes up, because we all have a sense that those things take time, thought, practice, and experience.

Photography is magical, but just picking up a camera and calling yourself a professional isn't okay to me. It takes lots of hard work, practice, studying, mentoring, courses, personal development to get to being a truly talented photographer.

So the next time you say, "hey photo-girl, can you just snap a few pictures?" Remember this list and how much goes into that one image. A better way to say this is, "I would so appreciate an image of xyz. I know lots of work goes into an image, but this would mean so much to me." It would mean so much to us!