Skill v. Talent

Yesterday, I blathered about the so-called "secrets" of glamour photography. In that post, I contended there are no secrets. I also may have sounded as if I was dissing the skills or, at least, the claimed "secret" skills of experienced and notable photographers. I still maintain that none of them know anything, skill-wise, that anyone else cannot learn. But skill and knowledge aren't the same as natural talent.

When it comes to photography, talent resides in what many call the "eye." You've seen the comments, "Great eye!" and "He certainly has an eye!" or "She has the perfect eye!"

The "eye" is another word for a photographer's inherent talent and natural, artistic, sensibilities. A natural eye for composition is a good example.

Sure, there are rules to composition and anyone can learn them. But some people have an eye for it. They see an image in their viewfinder and they automatically frame it or, in the case of pretty girl shooting, they direct the model in ways that the total composition of the image--framing, angle, pose, everything--whether it adheres to the rules or not, simply works.

I'm not sure you can teach stuff like this to anyone. Either they have it or they don't.

It doesn't mean without that natural and gifted "eye" photographers can't learn the rules and then go out and shoot some really great images. They can. For the most part, however, most of what they'll shoot, even when it's spectacular, will conform to learned rules. And it is often missing something that is, artistically, uhh... over the top. Something that I can't explain and don't fully understand myself.

Shooters with a great "eye" just naturally know when everything looks right in an image. Not just composition, but a whole host of other artistic characteristics. I suppose that's why some go on to become celebrated artists and most don't.

There are also varying degrees of the "eye." Some have an "eye" that takes them to the heights of artistic appreciation. Others have an eye for some things and not for others. ("He sure has an eye for color!") Others have a pretty good "eye" that takes them to lesser degrees of artistic appreciation but, perhaps, high degress of commercial success. Unfortunately, some people just ain't got it. The good news is, I've seen more than a few cases where photogrpahers, over time, have developed an eye. I'm not sure how this happens. It must be that shooters like this had the eye all along but it was latent and refused to participate in the artistic process until, all of a sudden, it pops out of the closet and says, "Here. Let me handle this."

Aneesha is the featured model for this post. (Sorry, she doesn't do nude.) I captured her with a Canon 20D w/85mm prime in my studio. Monochrome conversion done in post with the "channel mixer." In the second two images, I added a hint of blue. Don't ask me why... seemed like a good idea at the time.