Quick way to tell if your photographer is "Any Good"

SO here is a quick way to tell if your photographer is any good or not.... wait for it.... its mind blowing.... LIGHT.

What? now you confused, well a quick way to telling if your photographer is any good or not, is by the way they use light. There is 2 main styles, but the principle is the same. We have natural light photographers, these amazing photographers use the sun as their main light source and a selection of modifiers to manipulate the sun around them. This helps them get dynamic photographs with out all the bits and pieces Stobists use.

Stobists are the others that use artificial light to enhance their photographs and subject via varioues different lights and modifiers,

In most cases, your professional photographers are well versed in both ways of lighting their subject to get the absolutely best photograph.

So you asking, that still doesn't help me in any way? Well, true. But the proof is in the pudding... the photographs they produce. You may not be able to see their equipment before you hire them, but you can see their photos, and this is were the secrete comes in. The important thing to remember is that professional photographer use light to add shape and dimension to their subject and light and shadow area's. The below image is a prime example of a simple sphere, without being lit, then with being lit.

Now, using that basic principle here are 2 examples I took, See if you can spot the one that has had more light added.

Well Im hoping you chose the bottom image, you can see the top image has light, but is wasn't used properly. In the bottom image we added artificial light to make the model pop and add that shape and dimension.

Let me just say that I am not having a dig at other photographers. I started from the bottom and worked hard to get to where I am, and I will be the first to tell you I have SOOOOO much more to learn. But if you want to spend a lot of money on a photographer, you need to check their work, and now you can tell the difference just that bit better.

www.cc-photography.co.za