Useful tips and insights - Jeff Ascough

[dubaiphil]

I found a very useful link to an old interview with a fantastic wedding photographer (Jeff Ascough) this morning.

There are some amazing tips to pick up, not only for wedding photographers, but for photojournalists, street photographers and anyone really:

http://photo.net/learn/wedding/weddi...-jeff-ascough/

Any wedding album of Jeff's would literally be a work of art.

http://www.jeffascough.com/

[inkista]

Yeah, he's well worth reading. I'm still sad he took down his old typepad blog. I loved his post on how he prepares for a wedding shoot.

[Shadowman]

Thanks for the link.

[D L]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting

[inkista]

I also like the Don McCullin CPN video, where Ascough introduces him to the joys of digital.

[IzzieK]

Although I do not like weddings, it is an interesting read. Thanks.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for posting this one Phil. The article is a bit dated, but the information is still quite relevent.

The one thing that strikes me though is that we amateurs often look at the work of commercial photographers as the standard to judge ourselves by. While there are some areas of overlap, I find that the differences between the two areas of photography are in fact so different that they could be considered totally different fields.

1. A commercial photographer is working for a client, which means he or she must meet client expectations for quality, timing and quantity. This generally means a fairly conservative approach to how the subject is photographed and are working to a deadline;

2. Time is money. These people are making a living from photography. They can't spend minutes (or hours) setting up and taking a picture. They can't spend a lot of time in post-production, especially if they are wedding photographers and they are turning out hundreds of images. One commercial photographer that I know quite well figures he spends a total of less than 45 seconds on an image in post (that includes everything from culling, to adjusting the image to getting them ready for print / packaging to the client).

This means they generally have a routine / script that they follow. It produces decent images that their clients like in a cost effective manner; and

3. Most of their work is getting the next assignment and in customer support, rather than in taking the picture and working on it in post. This is a fairly common story that you get from a lot of independent contractors and consultants; they spend a most of their time doing these types of activities.

This is not at all the way I shoot and post process, so reading what pros do is quite interesting, but much of it needs to be read in context with how we enthusiasts actually approach photography. The differences are often greater than the similarities.