What’s your photographic kryptonite?
Oh will you look at that. How very Web 2.0!
My post about being down and out over dance photography the other day garnered quite a lot of comments and more e-mails that I’ve had over a blog post in quite a while… So now I’m properly curious…
Of course, there are lots of difficult things about different genres of photography. Portraits can be devilishly difficult, because it can be fiendish to get a good rapport with a model. Sports photography can be tricky because things are moving so fast – and indoor sports are even worse. Music photography can be a right bitch; landscapes are tricky because it’s all been done before; photographing fireworks is just plain hard; nude photography can be daunting because it’s a bit taboo, Food photography is hard because the photography subject spoils nearly immediately… and don’t even get me started on Macro…
In fact, I can’t really think of a single genre of photography which doesn’t bring its very own set of challenges to the table… What I’d love to know, however, is which particular genre is which gets you every time… Cast your vote below, and sound off in the comments if you’ve got a particular arch-enemy!
My day job, if it can be called that, is being a writer. I've got one book out there so far and it's awesome, so go ahead and buy a copy! It's available from 
In front of you, five hyperactive men with guitars, drums, and microphones. Behind you, five thousand fans. In your hands, a camera... You're going to need more than just a little bit of good luck to pull this one off. That's where this book comes in.
Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
Insights, suggestions and comments
I am not a bad photographer; I would say I am ‘better than average’. But the kind of photograph I always mess up is a photo of someone with a famous landmark in the background. I can get a decent shot of the famous temple, statue, whatever, but as soon as someone says, “Hey, take a picture of me in front of the (insert famous thing here),” I have no idea where to put them. I seem to be incapable of taking the kind of photo that everyone on a trip wants.
Landscapes… What looks stunning when I’m standing there looking at it, always seems flat and boring when I see it in print, or on the screen.
I really desperately need to figure out how to take candid shots, whether on a family outing, at a party, or whereever. My wife and most of my kids hate to pose, but are somewhat willing to be photographed while “doing something,” but so many times my candid shots come out with blurry moving people, folks with weird looks on their faces because they were in mid-sentence (or chewing food, etc). I suspect it’s mainly a case of good/lucky timing, and taking a lot of shots to comb through for “keepers.” If there are other “tricks” I’d sure love some pointers.
It seems that I’ve put myself into a giant minority by picking outdoor sports. But I do have a good reason.
It’s all about the light. Which in a lot of cases for me means a lack of light with soccer games. And depending on when the game starts and the time of year, going from the perfect amount of sunlight to the setting sun that makes half of the field about worthless to “How can they play in lighting this bad!?” mode.
Throw in rain, temperature, and the occasional fog that’s so thick you have to wipe off the lens every few seconds on top of that and you’ve got yourself a lot of things working against you.
Everything has its own challenges and I don’t shine or suck in any of them particularly bad but the most stressful for me is if it involves any sort of posing. Candids I’m much better at but I’m having a heck of a time getting a person posing (studio, portrait, nude/erotic) to look “natural”. Skin tones, smiles and other facial expressions, body language…there’s something about putting a person in front of a camera that causes these to all get out of whack.
Ultimately I want 2 things: A good photograph and the photo subject to be happy with it. These are not allways mutually compatible goals :-)
Photography is all about practice though so try, try again. Every shoot is a little better than the last and I learn a little something new from each one.
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