WILD IMAG(E) IN A(C)TION: III – The Photographic Process

In this series, I discuss briefly a few ideas and my own thoughts on the subject of photography (particularly, but not limited to, of fauna, flora and the environment). This is the third instalment in the series and deals with aspects of the photographic process.

4.         The image is king, technique just a pawn

Once you know what you wish to express about a particular subject or scene, once your observation is ready to be transformed into a photograph, then, and only then, should technique take over. Of course, beforehand you need to become competent with any techniques you will be using; you will have to know and understand too any and all of your camera’s settings (and how to change and select them). However, any decision about the appropriate camera-lens combination, your intended viewpoint selection, the appropriate ISO (ASA) rating of the camera’s sensor (film type selection if you are using film), the appropriate f-stop and the appropriate exposure time for your final intended image can only be taken once you can envisage, ‘see’, the final image in your mind.

For the vast majority of images you wish to capture, your interpretation does not require more than the correct use of the appropriate equipment and camera settings. Always remember that YOU are the visionary; a camera does not see, it has no vision of its own, it can not compose an image. Gadgets and tricks rarely enhance the visual communication in my opinion. Does your interpretation really require the use of a filter? (It may – then use it knowledgeably.) Does your intended final image require fill-in flash or the use of a strobe, or can you rely solely on the existing natural light? (Invariably I pose this question when I am busy with macrophotography.) Does the way you are using your drone, your miniature action-camera, your radio-controlled camera-buggy enhance your photographic communication, or are you using them simply because you have seen other photographers use such equipment?

Of special relevance here is digital post-processing and photo-manipulation. “Shoot in RAW and you can complete the photographic process, fix the image later,” is an oft quoted adage. You can then delete what should not be there, add in what should have been included, change the lighting and the background; you can even combine species together that would not normally interact – a polar bear hunting a penguin, let us say – and, voila, you have an image that simply blooms. Alternatively, you can just download images from the web and use those; you then save yourself the hassle of all that travel, the sweat and the tears, the hard work. This has happened and does happen still.

Do not misunderstand; all digital images have to be processed, more or less so, after capture. With digital files, the amount of post-processing depends on your interpretation of the subject and on your intentions that you wish to communicate through the photograph. Used to these ends, digital processing is no less necessary than the chemical development of film (which process is also manipulated to achieve specific, enhanced qualities in the negative for printing of the final image). Moreover, digital manipulation allows for easy access to processes that in the past were difficult to achieve, for example, black-and-white processing and printing, the use of bas-relief, solarisation and other (formerly) darkroom techniques.

Nevertheless, whatever manipulation you intend to perform after releasing the shutter should have been considered and should be part of your initial previsualisation. All manipulation should remain part of the process of communication and must enhance the final image and the resulting stimulation that it will provide the viewer’s imagination. So your digital file (or film negative), captured at the moment you released the shutter, should be as close to the final, imagined image as it can possibly be. Manipulation alone can not create a more polished product from a badly conceived, poorly executed picture file or negative.

A further possible hick-up in your voyage as a photographer concerns whether and how much of the information provided by others you wish to incorporate into your own technique and style. Reading about another photographer's techniques is fun and can provide you with valuable clues for use in your own photo-interpretation. You may discover new ways of doing things technically. While reading you may suddenly think of a simple way to tweak your own photography. However, this information alone, taken on board willy-nilly without careful consideration, will not make you a better photographer. What works well for others may not work for you. The great danger in adopting technique as gospel is, of course, that it will set you firmly on the road to simple copying (and frustration – you may never possess that lens, that camera, that gadget!).

Nothing beats previsualisation. Nothing beats your own attempt at interpretation. If you are serious about the process of photography, nothing beats your own (limited, exciting, hampered, excellent, inadequate, competent, disillusioning, emotionally satisfying, challenging, sensational) stimulation of the imagination to seek out and capture good photographs.

5.         It was the hammer!

Competent photographers will create exciting images with homemade cereal-box pinhole cameras. So do not blame your tools – ever. Granted, if you do not possess long glass you will never get an image of a leopard's eye on free range, but you might get the eye of a Leopard Toad. This may equally fulfil your needs and your intention. Know your equipment, both its limitations and its strengths, and shape or adapt your vision accordingly. Use your equipment’s strengths and your own to maximum effect; explore and find ways to lessen the limitations. If necessary, hire equipment and rather spend your hard-earned cash on memory cards (or film), extra batteries and, most importantly, more regular opportunities to create photographs.

If you really find yourself in a situation where you consider a specific piece of equipment to be indispensable (and you simply do not have access to it), re-visualise, re-compose, but do not walk away from the possible subject or opportunity. You may not be able to capture the image you initially intended to take, but you may get a dozen or more photographs that are equally exciting simply by changing your attitude and motivation. So often photographers miss opportunities. Been there!

6.         Twenty metres back and six steps left

If you embrace photography as a form of visual communication, you will develop your own personal style. Your own vision depends not on how different you can make your photographs, but rather on how you feel about and approach your subject matter differently. Your imagination is not the consequence of your photographs; imagination precedes expression and so your personal style develops from, and is the consequence of, your own, unique imagination. (In the mind of the audience, the process is reversed, of course, as your style and your images elicit novel responses in the viewer's imagination.)

How many photographs of lion (closely cropped, side-on, glint in the eye, four feet visible, tail up, background blurred to non-existence) can you recall? Thousands, if you could remember them all. What do all these images express? This is a lion, full stop! Sadly, however, the being itself – the majesty, the power, the hunger in the hunter – has been left behind in the veld. Know what you want to express. Change your point of view, try a different angle, a different perspective and, above all, change your interpretation. Then you will begin to communicate by way of your images.

Back off! Including the environment and incorporating some of its elements (lines, shapes, rhythms, textures) in the composition, will invariably make for a more interesting interpretation of the subject. Isolating your subject from the background by using a long focal length and choosing a shallow depth-of-field is not the only way to give it pre-eminence in your image. Similarly, landscapes do not need to be crisp front-to-back, nor do they have to be captured with a wide-angle lens. Often an intimate glimpse of a part of the landscape reveals so much more than the wider panoramic view would do. Experiment, maximise your expressive communication and satisfy your individual vision.