Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda

New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site

New Feature: SMS Notification alert

New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist

FM Forums | People Photography | Join Upload & Sell

2 3 end

Archive 2013 · Does consistency = Boring?

Lisa_Holloway
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Does consistency = Boring?

Discuss.

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:08 PM

Sunny Sra
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Does consistency = Boring?

Consistency in what? processing? posing? style?

you can take 1 pose and process is 10 different ways...

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:14 PM

hatch1921
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Does consistency = Boring?

Good question

For clients... nope... with consistency you show you can produce a certain style or look to your work IMO. It's why clients seek you out or they go to someone else as the work could be consistently bad as well.

When I see your shots for example... I do not need to see your name in the post... I just know it's Lisa's work. Same goes for a number of other photographers I follow.

Personal growth? It doesn't hurt to try new things and work them in to your client sessions... but it still comes back to being consistent. Can you end up doing the same thing over and over.. sure.. it's easy to fall back on things that work and what you know you can do. Stepping outside the comfort zone helps at times.

Just my $.02
Hatch

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:16 PM

friscoron
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Does consistency = Boring?

Is success boring?

Clients hire us for the look we produce in our shots. Some of us have refined our look so well that we can reproduce it over and over and over again. And that results in happy, satisfied clients.

I agree with Hatch that we should try new things and add different looks to our arsenal. But the ability to produce your look with consistency is to me a professional quality. Some people capture a look and can't consistently reproduce it. Client wants that look, doesn't get it. Interaction between dissatisfied client and photographer then becomes anything but boring.

I'll take "boring" (as in consistently good) any day.

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:27 PM

M Lucca
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Does consistency = Boring?

Sears and Walmart photography are both awesome at consistency.

I think I know where Lisa wants to go with this topic. Look, I think you take fab photos. Clean crisp dreamlike under consistent light. I often think of those same poses and style from the above outfit but at an outdoor location. Good repeatable styles. It works. Why change?

But I guess it comes down to appeal. If I want consistency I'd head over to a franchise restaurant for burgers. But I want my burger flavourful. Pizzaz. Surprise me. Excite me. Give me that extra oomph baby!

Successful businesses are the ones that find good repeatable methodologies.
Artists are those that push boundaries of creativity at the risk of losing it all.

Edited on Aug 23, 2013 at 02:03 PM · View previous versions

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:48 PM

Ian Boys
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Does consistency = Boring?

Sue Bryce emphasised consistency in her talks, because you find a successful look then market that. It still evolves over time but not shoot to shoot, more year to year. I think that is the right approach.

Aug 23, 2013 at 01:51 PM

canerino
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Does consistency = Boring?

Consistency doesn't have to equate to repetitious.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:06 PM

Lisa_Holloway
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Does consistency = Boring?

What would you consider the difference between being consistent and being repetitious?

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:11 PM

gregfixit
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Does consistency = Boring?

I don't know if consistency=boring but it seems the more consistent I become technically, the more I find my work boring, artistically. It has taken me years to learn how to get the camera to give me a visually appealing photograph. I suspect it may take many more years to 'create' an artistically appealing photo on purpose. (As much as I hate to admit it, my best work came about through sheer accident. Or possibly by sheer volume?) All to often I look at a set and am dissapointed with the lack of creativity.

I will say that the time I spend here in FM is certainly accelerating the learning process for me.

I have come to realize that some people are born artists, and others must put in a great deal of time to become one.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:14 PM

GCasey
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Does consistency = Boring?

80-85% of our work (day job) comes from repeats for or referrals by our clients. That's been true for 107 years. Will we change? No! We will not experiment on when clients pay for a service they expect.

And, no, it is not boring to us, for we work primarily with people, and each client is unique.

One could easily think, after seeing our client list, that what worked in South Carolina would work in Oregon or in Seattle. No. It does not work that way for us.

Basic principles do not change. Methods do.

Comments on another FM forum posting today pointed out that one photographer's images were not consistent. Clients usually look over a photographer's work and get a feel for what their wedding might look like. The delivered product needs to match that vision.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:16 PM

friscoron
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Does consistency = Boring?

M Lucca wrote:
Sears and Walmart photography are both awesome at consistency.

Hate to say it, but while we as a group may not necessarily like Sears and Walmart studio's flat-lighting photography, their clients want that. I'd be willing to bet that if their client showed up for a shoot and then got the prints with some gorgeous artistic lighting, the client would be peeved, upset, dissatisfied. They came there expecting and wanting that flat lighting.

So whether you're consistently good, or consistently bad -- depending on who is doing the judging -- it's the consistency that counts.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:26 PM

Wrei
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Does consistency = Boring?

Consistency without accuracy is missing the target. Meaning, you can be consistent, but not hit the target and you cannot be accurate without consistency (imagine consistently hitting the bullseye in a target). Consistency means repeatable, while accuracy demonstrates the capability for meeting your customers needs. Of course, you have to define who your customer is. The customer may be you, your client, or your client's customer.

Therefore, you cannot be accurate if you are not consistent. If you find consistency or accuracy boring, you may not need to worry about customers.

Since all customers are not the same, we need to be able to challenge ourselves to understand their needs to satisfy them, otherwise, we will have a very narrow customer base. This causes us to add new photographic capabilities (skills) through experimentation, which may cause our consistency and accuracy to vary, motivating us to improve to achieve the consistency and accuracy our customers demand. This was demonstrated when Lisa added OCF to her capabilities.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:37 PM

Access
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Does consistency = Boring?

I've always tried to do both, some of my basic style and some experimentation. If the experimentation didn't work out, it just gets edited out.

Aug 23, 2013 at 02:59 PM

Lisa_Holloway
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Does consistency = Boring?

I'm the same Access - I strive for consistency to give my clients what they expect after viewing my website, but I do experiment a lot also. I taught myself OCF and have now incorporated that into some of my shoots as well. I think it's always good to push the limits and strive to learn something new, but consistency is good as well. I would never hire someone if their work was all over the place as I wouldn't have any idea what to expect when I hired them.

Aug 23, 2013 at 03:02 PM

Gary Schmeidle
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Does consistency = Boring?

Consistency in most any profession could be boring. To me consistency is being able to produce the same caliber of work over and over again, a very simple concept. If you are a professional photographer that means covering all the technical aspects on a consistent repeatable basis ( focus, exposure etc.) If this is all you did, it probably would get boring or routine.

What makes professional photography to me to be not boring is the artistic or style element. The great photographers here on this forum all have an artistic or style element to their work. They will tweak that artistic style over time with the use of new gear, software, knowledge etc. but can still incorporate that element into their work also on a repeatable consistent basis. It to me is what makes their work not boring and also what sells their work in most cases.

But because this element is artistic in nature it is subjective and is why we and the customers will prefer someone's work over anothers.

Aug 23, 2013 at 03:41 PM

Lisa_Holloway
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Does consistency = Boring?

ITA Gary!

Aug 23, 2013 at 03:45 PM

airfrogusmc
Online
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Does consistency = Boring?

No, if done in the right way it can = a style.

In what I do for a living I have clients search me out partially because of a consistent look. That doesn't mean boring it just means my work looks certain way and it looks like my work. That is also evolving over time. To deliever a product that consistently exceeds the clients expectations = success.

My personal work also has a look to it and that comes from the way I compose, the type of visual language I use, the type of equipment I use and the type of processing I use.

I also don't think one should confuse whats done commercially (and I say that to apply to any photography that has the sole purpose to make money) is art. Its very rare that anything done for commercial purposes is art.

The reason for that is that you have to satisfy someone else with the final product. With your personal work you are the one that calls all the shots and you should be doing that for only the right reasons.

It was this that conflict caused Weston to say this;
"When money enters in, - then, for a price, I become a liar, - and a good one I can be whether with pencil or subtle lighting or viewpoint. I hate it all, but so do I support not only my family, but my own work." - Edward Weston

I agree only I don't hate shooting commercially.

Aug 23, 2013 at 03:51 PM

Lisa_Holloway
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Does consistency = Boring?

Well said airfrogusmc! I enjoy my paid sessions but really love doing personal work and having full creative and artistic control over the end result. That said, a lot of my creative work still falls in line with the style I present to my clients.

Aug 23, 2013 at 04:11 PM

airfrogusmc
Online
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Does consistency = Boring?

I enjoy collaborating working with art directors, graphic designers and account managers and other visual professionals but ultimately it's the client that has to be satisfied. My work is all mine and my professional work give me the freedom to create exactly what I feel.

Aug 23, 2013 at 04:18 PM

Access
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Does consistency = Boring?

Consistency isn't just technical, for pros, many clients expect consistency in artistic vision also when they hire someone.

When it comes to style, I don't know how common it is but I have a few different styles (three main ones) depending on the circumstance and expectations. Like I use a certain style for macro, another for macabre/dark type, and another for portraiture or any other photography. I know I don't post my photography here that much, but I know I've posted all three of those over the years.

Aug 23, 2013 at 04:18 PM

1 2 3 end
FM Forums \| People Photography \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 3 end

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.