You’ve heard me talk about David Ziser countless times on this blog, and he is one of my favorite Wedding photographers, a gifted instructor, and an amazing blogger to boot. One of the things I admire most about David is that he’s not afraid to take a stance or make a statement about a photography technique, or the photography business, that sometimes flies in the face of the status quo.
Well, I was on David’s site yesterday (DigitalProTalk.com), and I watched a video he did back in October of last year, that detailed a back-lighting problem he was having on location, where he wanted the bride and groom backlit with flash while standing in the shadowy entry way of an elegant home (as seen above—photo by David Ziser). During this video, David said something that really stood out to me—so much so that it’s my “Quote of the Week.” In talking about his lighting challenge he said:
“The fact of the matter is, it’s so easy these days to go ahead and take a photograph with that [fixing it in Photoshop] in mind. Some people say “Oh my gosh; If you don’t get it right in the camera, don’t even bother pressing the button!” but I’m going to disagree with that, because I think we can fuss and fiddle with it out on location, and do everything we can do from having to go into Photoshop or Lightroom, (and I’m going to use Lightroom in this case here). My point is, “Why fuss for 10 minutes” on the job when you can fuss for one minute in Lightroom and basically get the shot that you want?” — David Ziser
Why this struck such a chord with me is that maybe my pendulum has swung too far the other way. I really bend over backwards to get the shot right in the camera, and I probably do spend too much time sometimes on location tweaking a light, or a reflector, or a scrim, because I know I shouldn’t have to fix it in Photoshop. Anyway, it’s some great food for though from someone whose photography and photo editing skills I admire very much. Thanks David, for giving me something to think about this weekend.
Here’s the link to David’s video, which includes his quote: Bridal Location Shoot with David Ziser