Photography is a continuous decision-making exercise. From the moment we mentally imagine a shot until we leave it captured on the sensor of our SLR camera, our brain has to make a series of decisions, all of which influence the final photo result. If you push me, these decisions are much more important even than the price that the camera has cost us or the technical possibilities that it offers.
In today’s article I would like to list 7 of these “key” decisions that you will have to make before shooting a photo, and that will irreversibly condition your photographic results (especially the last point as you will see).
The 7 most important decisions of a photographer before shooting a photo
1- Shot in RAW or JPG
Although experts on the subject obviously recommend ALWAYS shooting in RAW, I have to say that this is a decision that everyone has to make depending on the photo they are going to shoot. The RAW mode has some magnificent advantages, no one disputes that, but it is also very laborious, it requires a detailed and long post-processing work and therefore not all photos are good candidates for this format. Sometimes it is convenient to shoot in JPG given how light and practical this format is. You have to make the decision based on each situation. (More on shooting RAW here.)
2- Manual or Automatic Focus
Focusing manually or automatically is another important decision that should not be underestimated. Depending on the context, the type of photography we want to achieve, as well as the nature of the subject, we will be interested in one option or another.
Autofocus is recommended for situations where we don’t have much time and for static subjects (or at most with slight and more or less predictable movements). Manual focus, on the other hand, is ideal for contexts in which the camera cannot automatically focus on its own: for example, for a portrait on the street in the middle of a lot of people, the camera may have a hard time guessing “who” of all it is. our subject to focus on; also if we try to photograph through the glass of a window, it is most likely that the autofocus will be confused and focus on the window glass instead of the outside scene.
In short, it is convenient to know in advance which situations require manual focus and which ones work better with automatic. You don’t find this knowledge in books but you get it by messing with your camera and learning its reactions over time.
3- With or without Flash
The use of flash determines the success of a photo. There are photos in which it is necessary to shoot with a flash and others that precisely the flash is what can spoil them. In this, you are the one who has to weigh, measure, assess and decide if you need to shoot with or without a flash. It is something very personal. In my case I have a rule that usually works very well for me, and that may surprise you at first: I use the flash mainly for my photos during the day, at night I hardly ever use it. 😛
The thing is like this: if you fire the flash of your camera at night, you will most likely get an ugly photo, with very aggressive light on the subject (sometimes the subject looks very sweaty, you show him the photo and the poor thing thinks “How awful! How can I be so ugly?). For that, it is best to use a more stable lighting source, something that can be adjusted (zoom in, zoom out), a spotlight, for example, may be fine. Having a lens with a wide aperture in this case would make life easier too 🙂 (Do you know the King of Lenses by the way?)
On the other hand, during the day, I like to shoot with a flash, especially in portrait photography, since the light from the flash serves as a “filler” and allows me to obtain brighter portraits.
In the end, in each situation there are different rules that govern and what it is about is that, before shooting, you make the best decision: “Should I shoot with or without a flash?”
(More on the use of flashes here, and if you need to get a good flash, read this).
4- With or without Image Stabilizer
I have an entire article dedicated to Image Stabilization so I won’t go into too much detail (you can read more about Image Stabilization here). In summary you have to keep the following: the image stabilizer is only necessary in certain situations, which are those in which the photo is at greater risk of leaving us “moved”. This is more likely to happen if for example we are shooting with a relatively long focal length (over 70mm) or when there is not enough light. If you don’t find yourself in any of these situations, I recommend that you deactivate the Image Stabilizer because you probably won’t need it.
5- With or without Tripod
Obviously, a photo taken with a tripod will always be a little more stable and somewhat sharper than the same photo taken without it. But it happens that the tripod is also a “toston”, you have to carry it around, sometimes it weighs a lot, it gets in the way, there are even people who have even canceled an entire photographic excursion for not having to go with a tripod on top 🙂
We have to rationalize the matter a bit: there are contexts in which using the tripod is something complementary and totally dispensable, and others in which shooting without it would guarantee the failure of our photo.
As a general rule you need to shoot with a tripod in the following situations:
6- Single or Burst Shot
It may seem silly to you, but sometimes burst shooting can mean the difference between a successful photo and a failed one. You know, it’s one of those insignificant details on which the success of a good photo depends.
Shooting in burst has many advantages: it allows you to get several shots almost at the same time so you can decide which one to stick with. Maybe you don’t always need to shoot in a burst, but given the choice, why not have several shots of each shot and thus be able to choose the best one?
I use it especially in situations of lack of light or when I use long focal lengths, because when I “feel” that the photo is in danger of being blurred, I activate it, so I make sure that having several shots I can calmly choose the one that is least move of all 🙂
I also find it especially useful when taking group photos. I don’t know about you, but group photos always resist me: the more people there are in the frame, the more likely it is that someone will come out with their eyes closed or yawning. So I shot in burst and solved. In a single long shot I get 7 or 10 photos among which I can always find a decent one.
7- To get up early or not to get up early
Getting to find that photo with which you dream so much sometimes implies having to make decisions as difficult as: «It’s 5 in the morning and it’s inhumanly cold outside. I have my backpack and tripod ready and everything is ready to go out and watch the sunrise and take a picture of it with my camera. What do I do? Do I go out to chase that photo I wanted so much, or do I stay here enjoying the softness of the blanket and the irreplaceable warmth of my bed?
If you decide not to get up early, a very valid and respectable decision, by the way, you can’t later complain about why you can’t take a cool photo of the sunrise 🙂 Understand me, who says sunrise says stars, moon, landscapes, waterfalls, rivers, roads, or any time or place that is not within your daily photographic reach. The first days after buying your SLR camera you can entertain yourself by taking pictures of friends, grandmother, dog, or a water fountain in the park next door, but after the “novelty” effect you will begin to realize that, to imitate the work of the great photographers you admire, you will have to start moving, visiting new places, shooting photos at odd hours. In short, you have to take some trouble. They are part of the job, they are part of the game and the passion of being a photographer.
How far are you willing to “bother” to get that photo?
Think about it