As I’ve discussed on previous blogs so many things come into play when trying to get the perfect picture. Your approach to each picture is never the same for a very simple reason – taking a picture is a ‘living thing’ it’s an emotion, technique, gut feel, knowledge, commitment and most of all passion. In many cases your subject is on the move so your composition and light source changes constantly.
In still photography much like film production, it is rare to find an all rounder who is great at all types of photography; you gain experience and tend to specialize in what pushes your boat out. I don’t mean to generalize but I doubt if you will find a great paparazzi or news cameraman with a penchant for still life. I don’t think a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers will turn on an action man.
One of the many key elements to all photography is focus. Although subjective it is critical to your picture but also depends on what type of story you wish to tell. You as the artist may not require a sharp image for your shot, you may need a blurring effect to depict motion, but in most cases you will need a sharp image somewhere in the frame.

Industrial photography ranks high as being one of the most difficult to master, believe it or not great shots of bridges, architecture, high tech equipment or technology are tricky but still one of the most rewarding types of photography.
I cut my teeth as one of the industrial photographers contracted to Phillips (South Africa) and gained a huge amount of experience, also had a lot of fun at the same time. Industrial photography is taxing and it is important to have the right attitude, you have to realize its not fashion, or advertising or newsreel, and is seldom glamorous.

Lighting interiors of high tech control rooms, without picking up reflections of yourself, your camera and your client or getting rid of green casts from fluorescent lighting is a challenge.
With this kind of photography the end product has to be a perfect picture, in focus 3 inches in front of camera right to the end of the control consol 5 meters away – everything in the frame has to be pin sharp with no grain or as it’s referred to in video – noise. You can imagine how difficult that is! Industrial photographers tend to rely on bigger format cameras. I got some wonderful results from a Linhof 4X 5” studio camera.

After a few years, although rewarding, I personally found it too regimented and creatively restrictive.

Focus is critical no matter what you’re shooting but nowadays with the great digital cameras available your life is made a lot easier. With cameras like the Hasselblad H3D the Nikon D2X you have access to tools that keep your images sharp and do a million other things without you even having to ask, so how can you not get a great shot with all that back up?
All of us who can’t afford the expensive gear mustn’t get disheartened, these are expensive high end cameras but you can still achieve incredible results from entry level digital equipment, it depends on you, your eye and, of course your budget.

Most professional photographers are not crazy about auto focus for one reason – you lose control of your creativity. It’s like two guys taking a picture on the same camera at the same time. ‘Hey Frank, I think we should focus on the tree in the foreground and not the Lion?’ ‘No ways, it’ll make a better picture with the tree soft and the Lion sharp’

Well with autofocus the camera does exactly what the computer tells it to, it will only focus on images in the foreground – and if you’re a professional, it’s unlikely you’ll get the shot that you want. You must be in control of the focus.

With the more expensive sophisticated cameras available today, there is a wonderful facility whereby you can hold focus on a moving subject even if other objects are passing through frame.
This offers you the facility of panning with a Lion running at high speed to make a kill, without the focus changing. The Lion will retain its sharpness regardless of what other images pass across the frame.
For those of you who do not have that calibre of camera can still learn a trick or two from our infamous Paparazzi and news cameramen.

Trying to frame and focus on Charlize Theron at the Oscars whilst being pushed and jostled by henchmen or holding focus on a Helicopter evacuating wounded troops while under heavy machine gun fire is hectic, extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous.
A friend of mine who was a well known news cameraman who hated autofocus taught me how to cheat focus. As you have gathered by now I do not like Autofocus unless you’re taking happy snaps, manual focus is difficult because it gives you more things to do and takes more concentration but allows for more creativity.

Scenario: Let’s take Charlize Theron arriving at the Oscars. While you’re being shoved around, keep your cool and focus on a stationery object, any object, somewhere en route from where she arrives to where you are standing.
It could be a bowl of flowers or a statue next to the red carpet. Don’t use a person or moveable object because in all probability they will move in the hustle and bustle and your point of reference will disappear.
Make sure she has to walk through your ‘allocated’ focus point towards you or past you. As she walks into your focal ‘range’ i e close to the statue – fire away, you’ll be amazed at the results. Because of the homework you have done prior to her arrival, you’ll be reasonably calm and if you’re really lucky she will pause next the statue or somewhere within your designated focal point to talk to someone – if this happens, enjoy it’s your birthday and a bonus from the universe. Fire away Dude.

The same applies to the helicopter evacuation or any other situation where you are not in control of your subject, calculate your own focal reference and work within it.
Try it at your local baseball game, you’ll have great fun and might just crack a good pic.

As my news editor used to shout after me as I left HQ ‘Get the pic or don’t come back’