You only get once chance to make a first impression, and if that first impression is poor grammar on your website, my opinion of you just sank. I’m not saying you need to write poetry, but for goodness sakes, the grammar and spelling should be correct. I’m talking about simple things like, “I worked [on] the New York Times.” Seriously? Which leads me to captions, if you can’t write a simple sentence, I’m guessing your captions won’t be very good either. Take some time; have a friend look over your website. Your pictures can be great, but oh those words matter. Poor grammar and misspellings take away from your professionalism.
My Photo Editor Mind – Photo Stories – Visual Novels
One of the biggest mistakes I see on photo stories is a lack of sequencing that makes sense. Remember, you are telling a story, and it has to have a beginning photo that sets the tone about what the story is about or who it’s about. It should also be one of your strongest photos. Then, you have to have a middle and an end. Next, take me along the journey of this story, whether it’s a person or town or an event. Make the sequencing make sense; subjects can’t be inside, then outside, then inside; you need to consider photos that are transitional. Help me understand where they are going and why. It’s always easiest to sequence like a day in the life; start in the morning, then go to night. Or start at an event and then take me through the process of how that event is dealt with. Consider the arc of the story; where is this positioned in the sequence? Good single images are great, but to make a photo story really sing, you need a solid story line just like a great author does in a novel. If this doesn’t make sense, or you are having trouble, you can always contact me for help.
My Photo Editor Mind - Getting work - Shoot what you love
Recently, I’ve been talking to a lot of clients about freshening up their websites, getting on a better path for work, talking about redefining themselves to get work, and shooting what they love.
When you love what you shoot, it becomes really evident in your work. “That’s your best work,” I recently told someone. “Oh, I love shooting stuff like that,” he said. It’s really that simple. It seems like every time I see a photographer that is really good at some specific kind of photography (portraits, conflicts, aerials, macros), it turns out that they have a certain passion and affinity for it. You might not even realize it, but what you love actually shows up in your work.
Of course, you can’t always just shoot what you love, but you can focus more on finding what you love and bringing your business in line with it. It takes a great deal of effort to generate new sources of work, so why not put your energy into your favorite things?
My Photo Editor Mind - Take that off your website
I appreciate that you want to show your new work, and your first thought is to post it on your website, but for goodness’ sake, stop it, take it down. I say this for a variety of reasons, but this is the most important. Let’s say you have a great and new idea, you’ve done your research, and haven’t seen it before. Your intent is to sell it as something new and exciting, right? Well if it’s on your website, (and maybe you even posted it on social media), it’s been seen. It’s not new anymore. Now since this story is public and available to anyone, another photographer might think they could do something similar. Now you have competition for the story. If I’m an editor wanting to purchase this story from you, I don’t want it public until it’s on my site or in my publication. So take that awesome, creative, and unique story idea off of your website.
My Photo Editor Mind – Ouch, did that hurt?
I always write these blogs about problems I see with photographers or websites or whatever it might be. And after I post something, I will later read it and wonder if it might have been too harsh. I hope I don’t hurt anybody’s feelings. I’m just trying to keep you from making the same mistakes I’ve made. As a photographer, I made a ton, so if sometimes you read a post of mine and it seems quite personal, it is. I made that mistake and I’m hoping to pass along some knowledge so you won’t have to.
My Photo Editor Mind - Be Quiet Please
You’d be surprised by what your images are telling me. I can see what your passionate about, how you arrange the content, and what lengths you will go to get a great photo. It’s almost like peeking into your heart and soul. What lens you favor, your understanding of light and composition, your ability (and desire) to have an intimate relationship with your subject – All of this is revealed in your images. I bring this up because when you sit down with an editor, some photographers talk too much, trying to explain every nuance about an image, what they were trying to say with the image. I’m telling you your images are saying so much, so the next time you’re sitting down with an editor, let the pictures speak for themselves. All that talking actually detracts attention from your images.
My Photo Editor Mind - No Excuses Please
Either you got the shot or you didn’t. “It was too hot,” “it was too cold,” “it was far away,” “it was a long day,” “I was tired,”—all of this doesn’t matter. Sure I will lend a sympathetic ear, and some days I remember as a photographer working my butt off trying to make the perfect image and nada, nothing, it was just a bad day. What ultimately matters though is whether you got the shot or not. “I tried” won’t get the picture published, and “I worked really hard” is not going to sit well with an editor either.
If the shoot did not go well, learn from it and move on. A client, or editor, doesn’t want to hear what went wrong, so instead of making excuses, accentuate the positive. Play up the strengths and what went right instead.
My Photo Editor Mind - Captions, captions, captions
You’ve spent a lot of time (and possibly money) to capture the perfect images to tell a story. You have great pictures, and then what do you do? Rush through the captions so they’re incomplete and lack any relevant information. But those pesky little captions are just as important as the images. It’s all part of the game, and you get judged on everything you do. Incomplete or bad captions tell me you aren’t paying attention, you simply don’t care, you don’t have the information you should have gathered, etc. But you’re a professional photographer. You’ve done the work. You have the information, so slow down and give me those fabulous captions.
My Photo Editor Mind - Get out of your car
Okay, I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to photography, and one I have no tolerance for is shooting from inside a car. Okay, I get it, you are in the car, and a moment happens in front of your eyes. Yes, you have to take the picture. If you got out of the car, it would be too late. However, it looks like it was shot from inside your car. There’s the window or door frame, generally the composition is off, etc. I’ve yet to see this work. Okay, when I’m editing a large batch of images, of course you can send me the car photo, but I will probably delete it. We’ll keep it a secret between the two of us. Never to be seen again.
My Photo Editor Mind - Autofocus can hurt you
One of the major drawbacks of autofocus is that photographers sometimes rely on it to compose their images. But there’s a problem. The focus is smack dab right in the middle of the image, and the image reflects that. You end up with either a poorly framed image or an image that seems off balance with too much sky or too much ground. If you go through a variety of your images and notice this pattern, try various focus settings to help solve this problem. Don’t let this technology get in the way of your vision.