What Makes A Shot - Professional?

This is a photo of guitar legend Doyle Dykes. You may remember him from one of the first posts I did back in October 2005.

Is this a professional shot? Or is it a snapshot?

Defining a professional shot isn't easy. I suppose if you wanted to get technical about it, you'd have to ask, "Was I PAID to take this shot? Afterall, once you get paid for your work, aren't you then a professional?

In this case, I wasn't paid for this shot. But I am a paid professional photographer as far as weddings are concerned. Does that make this photo any less professional?

On the other hand, does the shot look professional? Or does it look like a typical snapshot?

Let me give you some specifics about how this shot was taken. The lighting is from a colored spotlight that was being projected onto Doyle. It was fairly bright, so a flash was definitely not necesary. But the light had a red gel on it causing any photo taken to have a reddish tone to it (by the way, Doyle's guitar is orange... that's how it is even without the red light. Chet Atkins had orange guitars too and this color was chosen by Doyle as a tribute to his late friend Chet.) Concert lighting isn't all that flattering sometimes, but it IS dramatic.

To get this shot back into a usable image, the color was corrected in Photoshop. Is this something that the average person can do? Sure, if you own a copy of Photoshop!

So is this image a professional shot?

To the casual viewer, they might say this is a professional shot. It took some knowledge of photography and some fairly expensive equipment to get this shot. The average person could not have taken it with his "point and shoot" camera because certain camera settings were necessary to get the photo to "record" properly on the camera. And, manipulation in post production was necessary to correct the color.

But to me, this is a snapshot. Why? Because it was just a series of photos I took quickly at one of Doyle's concerts. I take photos of Doyle all the time when he comes to town. (I think Doyle expects it now!) And, I always use my digital SLR cameras and long telephoto lenses to take these photos because I'm often farther away than I'd like to be. Plus, I always correct my images in Photoshop. So really, nothing out of the ordinary was done to this image that I wouldn't have done to any other image I take.

Now you may argue that you can't take a photo that looks like this and that the fact that I am a paid photographer by profession makes the photo "professional." It does have a certain "professional" look to it, doesn't it?

So is it a professional shot?

I think a shot is a professional shot if you want to call it a professional shot. It really doesn't matter! If you like a photo, that's all that counts. That's what makes it professional.

:)