Location location location
We all know the term, location, location, location.
Meaning in short, that the location is very important….
Well that is of course 100% true, however sometimes photographers over-think this rule a bit too much and think they really need a STUNNING location to be able to make good shots. And I have to agree, this helps a lot of course, but I would like to challenge you to also shoot some images in locations that are actually not immediately jumping out as “stunning, wow or great”.
During the session we did with Nadine in Almelo we shot in some very nice location, but somehow I also always try to find a location that is actually not jumping out as a WOW location, but that I can transform into something interesting.
In this case we found this area between to buildings and almost everyone just walked passed it, but somehow it really had some attraction to me so we decided to do one of our last setups there. For this shot I used the Elinchrom Ranger with an Elinchrom Maxilight with white grid (as with many of the shots that day). What I liked about this location was the way the walls are framing my model, but also the shadow on the wall is something I love to work with. Shadows are in my opinion the soul of a shot and when working with them on walls you can really give the shot an almost “surreal” look and really create a “custom” mood/feel to the image.
So the next time you think there is no interesting location remember that YOU create the location by choosing the right angle, the light and of course the model. I strongly believe that there is actually nothing like a location where you cannot make interesting images 😀
You invited very recently a guest to post on Vision. This present article is to me an excellent example of what a vision is. I have seen you in your live in Boston video and this is it. It seems that everything is controlled and designed to produce what is perfectly clear in your mind. This is very impressive, and also scary as I can’t watch all the parameters like you do.
But Scott Kelby made me feel better about this with his (excellent) “light it, shoot it, retouch it”. Scott doesn’t get the shot right, he recreates the light afterwards. In fact I think that he is so good with Photoshop that he knows he can relax during the session. Still, when he looks at his picture, he knows what he wants to do.
The comparison between you and Scott really made me think a lot. it all ends with the vision. You get it very early, during the session, Scott gets it once he has Photoshop in his hands.
Hi,
That’s something to think about.
Some people will indeed do everything on location (and I think I’m one of those) and some will do everything in Photoshop.
Scott however very well knows how to light so I think it’s a bit too little credit to him for fixing everything in Photoshop. I think it fits that seminar very well because a lot of people don’t know how to light very well.
I think when Scott will do a pure lighting course you will be surprised 😀
On the other hand, both ways go, I’m just more the “why fake it, when you can create it” guy, and some people are more the “why create it, when you can fake it” kind of guys. You see a lot of those examples on the web, dead give aways that it’s not right.