The Importance of Standardizing Procedures

The Importance of Standardizing Procedures

by William Lulow

Photography is mostly a science that occasionally can be elevated to an art form. I used to teach how to expose, process and print film to achieve consistency, but similar techniques can be applied to digital photography as well.

Of course, this is not to belittle science per se, but it is important to bear in mind that the process of converting light rays to visible representations on celluloid and/or digital information and then paper, is very much dependent on certain scientific principles being understood and followed.

In order to maintain consistency it is necessary for the photographer to be able to refer to each step along the way to building better photographs. This includes one, a knowledge of equipment and techniques and two, how and when to use them properly. Because all the lighting exercises one can learn would mean nothing if not kept in the proper context with regard to other steps in producing good photographs. In other words, it is necessary to learn the science in order to be able to do the art! In the case of photography, the “science” is not complicated but if you are looking for consistency of results, it needs to be learned and practiced.

In any scientific discipline, one has to eliminate certain variables if one wants to perfect a technique and have predictable results. So it is with the photographic process. What good is a great expression captured for posterity if the image wasn’t exposed properly? Or, what good is that same portrait if the image, digital or traditional film, wasn’t processed and printed optimally? I have an adage which says that a photograph is as strong as the weakest link in the chain creating it. If you keep this in mind, you are on the road to standardizing your procedures and making consistently good pictures. Anyone seriously interested in doing photography professionally or semi-professionally, must learn the science first! In order to rely on your image-making process again and again, you must expose, process and print your images the same way every time in order to achieve results you can always count on. The following represents some of my techniques for obtaining consistently high quality results. This is presented, from time to time, in a series of articles here on the blog.

First, start with one camera and one basic lens, use it until you are thoroughly familiar with all the workings of them under many different lighting and shooting conditions. You will learn to get a feel for the lens’ “field of view.” You will also become more familiar with the workings of the camera itself; where all the controls are and how to change them quickly. The goal should be to repeat learned steps just as you first experienced them, each time, every time. If you watch really good musicians, they rarely need to look at what they are doing. They know it instinctively. That’s the kind of familiarity with one’s instruments, whatever they may be, that is brought about by constant practice and modifications and indicates the achievement of a certain level of professionalism.

It is important to realize that different camera manufacturers, even though they do extensive tests on their equipment cannot possibly know under all conditions, how their products will behave. They do tests to promote quality control, and they have tried to anticipate conditions that photographers would encounter. They have tried to build in “foolproof” systems so that anyone can use their cameras and get acceptable results. But you have to learn about all of these things yourself before you go out and charge people for your services, or try to make really great images for yourself.  Therefore, it is necessary for every photographer to conduct his or her own tests to determine how to modify techniques and adjust for differences in how the equipment reacts. Once tested, the camera can then be counted on to perform the same way under the same conditions over and over again. This is how consistency is achieved. You need to read the manuals thoroughly because each manufacturer puts controls in different places. You need to be familiar with all the “modes” from AUTO to MANUAL and how they are set up and used on your equipment. Most of all, you need to become familiar with all the ways your equipment controls exposure and how to use it under all the conditions with which you will be confronted. Just a further note here: although many think the digital process is really simple when it comes to making an image, all the various menus and settings should convince you otherwise.

Second, you need to be able to do the same “testing” with each lens, filter, camera body or light you add to your arsenal of equipment. All will help you to create your “art”, but not until you master each one. The “art” actually begins to come in when you know just how far you can “push” your equipment to do what you want. Or, put another way, once you know all the rules of how to achieve consistent results, you can then begin to experiment a bit by altering your procedures to see different effects. But you always have to know how to get back to the basics when needed.

Typically, I read and re-read the manual countless times before I use a new piece of equipment. Then, I try to learn how to use the camera under different lighting conditions. I then go back and read the manual again until I know how to manipulate the settings to get what I want. I import the images to a folder called “Tests” and enlarge and print the images until I know that the color balance and sharpness is working on my computer, monitors and printer. Sometimes, an image that looks sharp enough on the monitor, doesn’t look the same when it’s printed to an 8×10 size. So you need to monitor your computer equipment constantly to make sure it is performing the way it should.

The mark of a professional, at anything, is the ability to produce expected results repeatedly. Here is part of a contact sheet from a job I did many years ago:

This contact sheet made from three strips of film represents one roll of 120 size film that contained twelve exposures. Note how each exposure is exactly the same. The only thing that changes is the subject’s expression and pose. This is the kind of consistency that I am always looking for in my initial take. If the exposure is set and the film or digital information is processed the same way each time, consistency is achieved. You should strive to repeat your post-processing procedures to achieve this goal. This means assigning new images to a proper download folder, labeling them, and applying presets the same way each time. Once you do this, you have a beginning point from which you can always stray, if you like, or come back to, if you must. Knowing how to save your images may not qualify as scientific, but it sure is necessary if you want a smooth workflow.

Here are three portraits taken at different places and times, with similar backgrounds and lightings, but each has the same, professional quality and “look” to it and meets my standards of technical excellence:

Each portrait is different but yet they are consistent in terms of results. The exposure, and overall “feel” of each is the same.

This is the goal for which all professionals and amateur photographers must strive.  Standardizing of certain practices lead to consistency of results because you always know what the variables are. The only way you can achieve really top-notch images every time is to know what those variables are and how to control them, one at a time.