The “Perfect shot” is such a popular notion but is it something we should really strive for?
Personally - outside of the likes of potraiture, still life etc* - I do not think so. So many factors can alter what makes a picture “perfect”. Even the best set up, preparation and timing can still have the clouds in the wrong position, the light ever so slightly off, the shooting angle wrong or myriad other variables that we can’t account for - even after we close the shutter.
There is the ability to take as many pictures as we can store on memory, sd card, film or even cloud these days so we should never be afraid to take as many pictures as we feel necessary - we can always delete any we don’t want when we view them later.
Some of my favourite photographs have been taken on a whim or as an individual of many to capture the scene I was aiming for. Try taking a picture of the family dog twice; each time it’s likely they will have moved, changed expression or completely disappeared. Sure - a well trained dog will sit and stay on command but in no way does that make every picture the same.
Holiday photography is something we can all enjoy and precisely because you’re not over-thinking each minutiae of the image that could make it better or worse. You just take the picture, maybe a couple more to make sure, and move on. It’s about the memories of that place, the photo conjures those memories back to you upon seeing the sights in it.
I try to use the same logic behind pictures for my website - when compared to my holiday snaps - too. Sure, there is a lot more thought and planning that goes into each one but I tend to take multiple pictures as there have been plenty of times that all sorts of little details have changed between each one. You never know which one you’ll prefer when it comes to processing.
I’ve had a lot of fun setting up pictures to take that special one, it definitely has its place in professional portraiture and still life images*. That one picture can only change in so many ways. Out in nature or in a busy place the variables leap up so much that you just can’t account for it being the same way every time.
This really is the essence of what I’m getting at - We should never be afraid to take as many shots as we like of anything because you never know what will have changed each time we press that button.
*I'm not downplaying the importance of or the skill involved in either, merely that the variables tend to be more controlled around the chosen subject matters.
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