JoeyBalls

What is it about the lighting, or what effect in CS4 makes this guy so kick ass? Maybe its the noob in me, but maybe he just is really good and not doing anything other then using his equipment and knowledge?


http://www.nickcoronaphotography.com/blog/?m=200901

VisualEchos

He's a processor, meaning, he knows how to process his pictures very well. Don't get me wrong, he's a good photographer, but what makes his photo's pop is the processing, and he uses a myriad of different techniques.

zzziippyyy

Photoshop But hey make an observation. All his shots connect you to the subject. They show emotion and tell a story. Photography is storytelling and he is doing well at it.

VisualEchos

Which isn't such an easy thing to do with people...

NFRs2000NYC

Ehhh...nothing special. Amateur filter use. Sorry brotha.

To explain a bit better.....

The photos themselves are not that great from a technical standpoint, so he isn't that great of a photographer.

The editing itself isn't great either, and is just basically a lomo style filter, so again, he's not a great processor.

Whats left?

Photos look fake, posed, lack ANY emotion, etc. If he was my wedding photographer, I would be pissed.

You want to see wedding photos? Look up David Jay. One of the top 5 wedding photographers in the world. Besides his interpersonal skills, his photos have TONS of emotion, and he got to the top by getting the shot that in 20 years, you still want to look at.
http://www.davidjay.com/#/amalfi-coast/

When I am asked to do an event, his style photography is what I strive for. Journalistic with absolutely no posing crap. Capture the moment as it happens, because THATS whats interesting. Posed photos get stuck in an album, and forgotten forever. 40 years, when you are old and gray, you want to be able to crack open an album, look at a photo, and say "remember when....."

The photographer you posted has 0 of that.

VisualEchos

Man, I hate to disagree, but not everyone can be Jordan. Wanna' see the best car photography in the world, look up Romer, but does that mean I need to stop shooting? I hope not.

zzziippyyy

Also, being a former wedding photographer myself trust me 99 out of 100 clients could not give a poop about technically great photos. I started out making sure every shot was perfect until the clients used to ask hey where is this shot where is that shot. They want the shot regardless of whether you as a photographer think its is perfect or not. And if anyone thinks they can get every shot perfect in a 12 hour wedding day than is what I say. They want to see connections and family interaction and people, weddings are about people. They mostly do not care about processing most don't have a clue. But when grandma passes away a month after a wedding you better make damm sure her picture is in those wedding shots blown out,overexposed or blurry it wont matter trust me on this one I did wedding for years. The secret to being a wedding pro is to build and show the rapport and the personality of your clients thru the shots.

Now sure you as a pro want to give them some of those magazine cover shots but the reality of the situation is you better be able to deliver ALL the shots not just what you think is cover worthy.

NFRs2000NYC

What David Jay does it's not "Jordan." It's what makes a photograph.

You guys are putting the OPs link on some sort of pedestal, a pedestal that I don't think he belongs on. Blah photos with blah processing.

JonBoy

In my opinion (for whatever it's worth), the photographer in the OP's link is decent but not great. I don't particularly find his editing to be great. However, I did find some of his pictures to be very good while others were merely fine/decent/okay. All in all, I think I'd be fine with him shooting a wedding or something for me but I wouldn't pay him as well as some of the others I've seen in places like POTN and such.