The “Process” of Photography

The “Process” Of Photography

by William Lulow

In these articles for the BLOG, I have spent a lot of time writing about all the various techniques photographers use to create the images they do. I have written about exposure, focus, tripods, lighting, types of lights, how lights work, flash and strobes and how they work, various post-production techniques, software packages and even many of the tools advertising photographers use in their daily studio photoshoots. One thing I haven’t spoken so much about is the “Process of Photography” itself.

Making successful images involves a lot of preparation, thinking and actually setting up equipment to aid in the process. Making photographs includes being able to handle a fair amount of equipment, not just the camera. And, we are talking about professional level pictures here not just snap shots you can easily make from a camera-phone or a point-and-shoot camera, although, again with the right knowledge some of these can be quite good.

If you have ever seen a movie set or been around an advertising photographer while an actual shoot was taking place, you probably noticed all the equipment and the many people often just standing around or doing the various tasks associated with big productions. There are often literally tens of behind-the-scenes workers not to mention the actors, models or products necessary to make any shoot a success. Why does it take so many people to produce a single picture? Why do photographers need such elaborate, it seems, setups? Can’t they simply take the picture?

One of the answers to these questions is that still photographs as well as movies, are viewed by thousands of people, each with an eye that sees different kinds of details. Therefore, EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE AND MUST BE IN ITS PLACE at the exact time the image is made, and that takes an amazing amount of attention and time to set up.

Some may ask questions like “why does the setup for a shoot take so long?” or why does a photographer or movie maker need so much equipment? The answers, again go back to the viewer. If you are looking at a still photograph that is trying to sell something, the viewer’s attention needs to be directed to whatever is being sold. This often requires very detailed setups that serve to focus viewers’ attentions to it. Literally every part of the photograph deserves concentration of those involved in making the image. That often includes not only the photographer or cinematographer, but also people like stylists, assistants, grips, art directors, makeup people, costume people, and models or actors (if needed).

As you can tell by some of these images, making professional, commercial photographs often takes quite a setup. Depending on the photograph needed, it usually requires some kind of set to be built and by that I simply mean a place in which to shoot. A set can be outdoors or indoors but it needs to have all the components necessary to make the picture. This includes lights, backgrounds,  any needed props, a makeup+hair stylist and of course, the main subject:

I have written quite a bit about portraiture and making a good portrait also takes time and a fair amount of set up. Lights, camera, tripod and backgrounds all need to be coordinated if the portrait is to be successful and communicate what is intended. It’s not just a matter of sitting a subject in front of a background and turning on the lights.

It may look like a mundane shot, but this image required a special background, a transparent tabletop mounted on two saw horses, and a special lighting setup because the filaments in each bulb had to be easily visible. The bulbs had to be kept in place with the use of some tacki-wax under the threads of each and the background was a gradient paper specially made. The knowledge of lighting and how to apply it was of paramount importance here.

So really great images always take a lot of planning and time to execute. That’s what’s involved in the “process” of creating images that have impact and communicate the desired information.