A Couple of More Thoughts on Reverse-Engineering

Thanks for all the thoughtful and thought-provoking comments to my last post. I read them all with great interest.

I'd like to clarify a few things, leastwise in terms of my attitude towards reverse-engineering photos.

As a learning tool, reverse-engineering can be an invaluable process for photographers learning the craft. For example, for those learning to utilize artificial light, reverse-engineering helps photographers discover how various lighting techniques create great images. Hopefully, it also inspires the shooter to ask an important question: Why did the (original image's) shooter choose to light the model using that specific lighting approach?

Obviously, we're all influenced by the work of others. Sometimes our work seems indistinguishable from the work of those who have influenced us, i.e., from a technical point of view.

Hopefully, we find ways to stamp our own, personal, brands on our images even if they seem derivative or similar in their technical aspects to the images that influence us. How is this accomplished? Often, the difference between our own work and the work of some photographer who has influenced us is subtle. It comes, not so much from the techniques (lighting, composition, processing) we throw at the image, but in the ways we are able to get something different, something special, out of our subjects.

I've often written about the importance of gaining rapport with models. The more successful you are at gaining rapport, the more likely you will be at getting something out of your model others may have missed. As stated, it might be something quite subtle but it might also end up being something quite powerful.

For me, the greatest problem I have getting that extra-special something out of a model is when the model is very experienced. Often, we both end up going on auto-pilot, producing images that are just good enough. While the technical aspects of those images might be okay, the images themselves are shallow. Of course, in my line of work, most of my clients aren't looking for much emotional depth from the models I photograph. They're looking for something much simpler and quite primal. Fair enough. They are what they are and the resulting images usually produce the desired response.

But if you're looking to produce images that succeed on many levels, images that convey more than the obvious, you'll need to work hard at getting that out of the person in front of your camera. Successfully doing so is one way to set your work apart from the work of others.

Another shot of Jennifer up top. This was from last week. Jennifer did her own makeup and hair. I was seriously restricted in terms of where I could shoot and how much time I was allotted to photograph her. I quickly set two lights (a main and a side-light for accents and to separate her from the BG) and shot in front of that big window, working to avoid reflections.

P.S. Decided to go with an even darker grey for the blog's background. It's one shade greyer than black.