Yesterday my brother and I were chatting online about what we perceived as indiscriminate, over-done photo-manipulation and Kyle made this great statement: “You can’t just photoshop a crappy photo enough to make it good, methinks.”
I do think this is very true and is a good reason for why it is important for businesses to utilize professional photographers whenever they can. With a professional photographer on the job, a client is less likely to need as much post-production on an image as compared to a photo made by an amateur. Professional photographers have trained for years to make photos – to understand how light behaves, and people too; they understand the technical aspects of their equipment as well as the creative needs of a client’s sketch.
In this media-driven day, so much is communicated through imagery–photos in websites, annual reports, magazines, social-networking sites, and other marketing materials. How a client views a company can be irreversibly tainted by a photo that does not communicate the professional image a business is trying to put out. A well-done, professionally-made photo can make the difference and inspire confidence in a customer.
Technology is amazing and has made it very, very easy for just about any person to make a properly-exposed, relatively-color-correct, in-focus image. A good photo though is much more than simply pressing a button. A professional photographer brings years of experience to the assignment, an understanding of the subject matter and equipment being used, and the ability to pre-visualize an image. David Hurn, co-author of the book “On Being a Photographer”, has said, “These are the two basic controls at the photographer’s command–position and timing–all others are extensions, peripheral ones, compared to them.” These two aspects, position and timing, are things that cannot be mimicked mechanically.
As clever as our post-production tools are nowadays, strong, effective photographs begin at the press of a shutter. Who better to trust that to, than someone who spends every day thinking about it? Professional photographers makes the difference.
