When you look through a photographer’s portfolio or see their website, it’s sometimes easy to forget that what you’re seeing is their best work. Every photo is polished, honed and a shining example of what happens with Everything Goes To Plan.
A lot of people don’t realise is that photographers – even the top shooters – don’t take a ‘winning’ photo every time they press the shutter. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that the hit rate of the uber-photographers is actually lower than average, because they’re the ones trying the new techniques, taking risks and trying for that AMAZING shot that has a 10% chance of working. What you don’t see on people’s websites (often, although this is now changing with the advent of ‘behind the scenes’ photo shoot mini docos) is the hard work and various less-than-successful attempts to get that perfect image.
The two videos below are a great illustration of the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into making an effort-less looking image. While Joel Sartore is shooting video here and not stills, the principle is entirely the same.
Watch the first video – the polished finished result – then watch the second video to see what he went through to get there 
RARE from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.
RARE: Behind the Scenes from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.
About the Author
