Today I photographed an opera singer. Actually, today I made a video of an opera singer performing, and I seized the opportunity to photograph him too. His name is Jermaine Smith, and he is amazing.
If you have the opportunity to stand five feet in front of a tenor while he sings full throated into your face, I highly recommend it. Goosebumpinducing.
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Recently there’s been some hubbub about a cover photograph of Kelly Clarkson for Self magazine. You can read about the controversy here, or I can sum it up for you: Kelly Clarkson is bigger than the average magazine cover model, and she was retouched to “make her look her personal best” on the cover of Self, and some people say that since Self is all about women being proud of who they are and accepting their bodies without subscribing to the “thin is in” mentality, Self is being hypocritical by retouching the photo of Kelly Clarkson.
But what everyone’s forgetting is, Kelly Clarkson was first photographed by a professional for the cover of the magazine. That professional photographer used his/her knowledge of posing and lighting to accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives, along with professional clothing, hair and makeup styling, to create an already beautiful shot of this beautiful woman. THEN the post-production happened to put the finishing touches on the image and “make her look her personal best.” Photographer and Photoshop guru Scott Kelby does a wonderful job of explaining this on his blog.
It seems to me that too many folks outside of the photo world–and surprisingly many inside it as well–are under the impression that Photoshop is some sort of magic ring, and that if only they invested the $700 in the software they, too, would be able to make magic.
What those people are forgetting is that Photoshop, while certainly an amazing and powerful tool, is just a tool! It’s like a lawn mower or a monkey wrench or a deep fat fryer. It can do some really tremendous things–but only in the hands of a skilled technician.
As Kelly Clarkson’s Self case illustrates, even top-notch photo retouching is no substitute for the expertise of a professional photographer when it comes to styling, posing and lighting a portrait to ensure it’s most flattering for the subject. I wouldn’t trust my professional image to “Bob from accounting” because he knows how to use Photoshop. Neither should you.
Remember, professional photographers aren’t just people who happen to have digital cameras and computer programs. They have experience, and skills, and the expertise–old fashioned EXPERTISE–to make you look your personal best.
I see lots of nervous people step into my studio for portraits; I can tell how important it is to them that they look their personal best. They shouldn’t trust that to someone who doesn’t really know what they’re doing–even if that someone does have Photoshop.
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