Friday, October 7, 2011

No Such Thing as Quality Standards or Rules in the Photography World?

Many photographers think there are no rules or quality standards in photography... DEAD WRONG! Here is the only few exceptions...

  1. You are a fine art photographer
    • Not all of the time and depends on what kind of fine art photographer, are you a fine art photographer trying to appeal to specific type of audiences? If not and you just want to do your own thing then don't worry about any rules or set quality standards.
  2. You are a student or in the early learning stages of your photography journey
    • If you yet to understand and master your camera this means you're still in this stage.
    • If your goals is to be only a hobbyist.
  3. You are serious/advanced Hobbyist
    • And with no goals in the future to become a professional/open a photography business.

So this rule only applies to those who want to start their own photography business of any sorts.

Why there are standards and What are the standards..? e.g.



If you want to be a wedding photographer here is your standards... your top competition sets the standards, if they're getting over 20-30 weddings a year that clearly means they're doing something right. Look at their work; see what they're doing right in their finalized photos. Now I'm not saying copy/paste their style, no... just observe the competition and see what ideas you can come up with raising your level of quality in your photos. If you think your work is very good quality and are not meeting the same levels of business as your competition then compare the quality differences.

Now I'll tell you now, I'm not a wedding photographer nor I have much interests in them, but this was only an example of what I'm trying to say. What I'm saying is look at your target audiences... see what they all like and love. Generally speaking they will all like a set style... they set the standards, especially targeted audiences that are high end clients.

Here's another example, you want to get into Maxim, or FHM, or other fashion or glamour magazines as a photographer, fine... But look at the work that is displayed in those magazines. They all seem pretty consistent correct? Yes (at least for glamour [guy] magazines). Why does it look consistent you may ask? Because the audience is demanding that style of photography, and who knows the audience best generally? The publishing editor.... Look at the magazines you want to get into and understand that market very well before ever contacting the editor. Now I'm not saying they'll accept your photos, heck I have yet to been published, but researching the magazine you want your work published in will give you a leg up on the competition. I know marketing very well, and I know an editor will never accept anything that isn't near it's targeted audiences, so sending in garden photos to a Maxim editor, won't work, no matter how good the photos are to anyone it will just rejected.

2 comments:

  1. I really don't know why you posted this!
    I will be blunt and say I have not read this much rubbish on a blog since I read some of Ken Rockwells rubbish.

    Please mate, until you have some experience of the professional world yourself then stick to taking your snapshots of girls and leave the professional comments to the professionals.

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  2. I have experience in marketing and this is about marketing but towards photographers who want to publish their own work. To those photographers who does not want to get published into a print publication then cool, do your own thing with your own standards. But thanks for your input.

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