A photography project is not something you should take lightly, it is not a task that you can improvise, much less a task that you can jump into blindly. Well that’s what I did. And I made one mistake after another. Because I did not know the steps to follow to carry out a photographic project, in fact I did not even know that it was necessary to have a “plan” to carry it out, because I had never done one. But an issue arose that motivated me a lot and without thinking I jumped, it was not premeditated, he came to take a photo of me and I jumped into the pool. So I was able to check one by one all the mistakes that can be made when you don’t have a “plan. ” Also, some of these mistakes can even be made if you have them, there are details that can be overlooked. That is why I want to share my experience, so that what happens to me does not happen to you, so that you anticipate the smallest detail and that your photographic project is a success. Do you want to know them?
My idea was to photograph my baby in his first 12 months of life, I had thought of many photos to take before he was born, but I do not think I have found anything like this in the long term. You will understand, I was motivated, it was my baby, I took a photo that inspired me, I was all postpartum with revolutionized hormones and full of love and I said, well he left!
- And I was wrong.
- Finally.
- Not quite.
- Because I have the memory.
- The experience too (and above all I can share it with you).
- But if you intend to carry out a photographic project you have to go further and not wait to keep the memory and a potato of photos if you look at them together.
- And I’m not saying that the photos of this-my-project are.
- Because I find them wonderful.
- Not because I made them.
- But because my little girl comes out and they’re made so fondly that I can’t see them as a pope.
- Now.
- If I put on the glasses of an external and objective person.
- I recognize that from a photographic point of view.
- They leave a lot to be desired Where was I wrong?Well.
- Here are my flaws.
I’ve said before that it’s a little impulsive and that it’s my biggest mistake, from start to finish. Number one is the most serious. If I had planned it, I could have avoided other mistakes. The truth is that I am impulsive, I like to act and have quick results, sometimes it works for me, but it is a “defect” of birth that I have and that I have to improve if I want to carry out a photographic project that is worth the detour or the show. Plan, plan and plan. Even the stupidest details you can imagine.
Of course, I was there to think about these things, with a baby in high demand, practically unans helpless, having to work, etc. , was cleaning up the sensor the least of my worries?Error! Too bad the photos are so “dirty” (snif). Please, doesn’t that happen to you? It doesn’t matter what you’re photographing or what your project is all about.
I am a lover of natural light, you will have been able to see it if you have been here for a while. But it is a mistake to ignore the flash for occasions like this, that is, indoors, in the same place (whatever the day it is), away from the window and having to photograph on a specific day (your birthday, day after day) or day. down). Everything was getting complicated for me, winter in this city is not as bright as in the south (where I am from) and there were days when it was so cloudy that the photos were quite dark. Come open the diaphragm, so much that I couldn’t focus because of course you had to shoot fast in case you decided to launch comfortably. I also increased the ISO, but did they come out loud? I could have used a diffuser flash, light window, or anything else to help me light up without damaging my baby’s eyesight and scaring him of course. But no, I thought I was superwoman-of-the-light and that, sorry, was I wrong? Moral: when planning your project, very important, take into account the light! If you anticipate that you may not receive enough natural light, use artificial light from the beginning, mixing the two is not very good (depending on each project, of course).
Basic, before you start a project you have to put a title on it, it is not enough to say that I will photograph the evolution of my baby and call the file in the same way, Adriana evolution, no, it should not work like this. A project must have a title, it will be part of the topic, part of the project. This will also give you some ideas when planning. He could have called it at least “12 months, 12 smiles”, or I don’t have it now it costs me a lot more and I lack motivation, total, if it’s already done?And for what, with the guilt you have?
Oh, since sometimes I’m chaotic, especially when I don’t have time, it’s just that I thought a baby was just sleeping (another mistake you only know if you had one) and of course, he uploaded the pictures as he could, when he could and where he could. That’s a big problem. This happened to me because I didn’t have Workflow (I went into modern mode), that is, because I didn’t have workflow, if you don’t have it, think about it or at least save all the photos in the project in the same folder (and on the same computer). This will make it easier to work with them later and you won’t lose any images.
Taking photos always vertically or always horizontally is something to keep in mind from the beginning, especially if you want to make a montage with all the photos at the end, ideally there is an aesthetic unit and it should be part of it, unless it is your project. requires something else. Now you see all my daughter’s photos vertically, but some had to be cropped because I didn’t take that detail into account either.
A photographic project involves, in addition to a narrative unit, an aesthetic unit, if you edit each photo on one side, especially with a lot of time in between, you will fail or later you will have to recover the originals and repeat all the work. If you look at my photographs, is there any difference between the two in terms of color temperature, contrast, lighting?Be careful with this if you don’t want to spoil the project or duplicate the work.
Shooting in RAW format has its pros and cons, here I think it has more advantages. This would have saved me more than a head warm-up in the end if I had done it in every session and not just in some. Another option is to use RAW JPG.
My little one is over two years old and I have not yet revealed these paper photos, this will seem crazy, I know, that these are, with the lack of planning, the most serious mistakes. It saddens me so much, to write and recognize this that before I turn off the computer, now that I have all the photos together (I did it to write the article, that’s fine) I’ll transfer them to a USB stick and tomorrow I’ll even take a copy at 10-15, nothing to keep overestimating the time it will take me to make a disk or an extension. The day has come.
As you can see, I put a lot of love on him, little technique, a lot of mistakes. At least I have the memory, because my beautiful Adriana will never have between 0 and 12 months, and I have apprenticeships too. I wish I’d learned it before I was born! Now it’s up to you to take note of these errors and take a look at the 9 steps to perform your photo project.
Did it at least help you? If so, I ask you to share it. Would I have liked to find an article like that some time ago?Thank you and soon!