What is challenging for one person is effortless for another.
Repeatability and consistency shooting sports can be very difficult. There are no "do-overs" in most competitions. A game winning outfield baseball catch can't really be re-enacted. But most players come up to bat multiple times in a game. So you should have more than one opportunity to get a shot of everyone swinging the bat. Sliding into a base requires someone actually hitting the ball while your subject is at least on base. Those shots are less repeatable. Technology has lowered the bar dramatically. Anyone can blast away at 30fps with face tracking AF and get shots that are usable enough for typical media consumption. Hence the decimation of most media staff sports photo departments.
Weddings are choreographed. The decisive moments come at planned times which often have literal countdowns. As long as you're prepared in that moment you can get the expected shots. If you do somehow miss a critical image, it is not out of the question to ask people to go for a second take. The biggest challenges here are dealing with the people and the physical demands to staying on task for hours at a time.
Wildlife is physically and monetarily difficult. Getting to the right location with the right gear is 90% of the battle. It can be mentally challenging when you go through the first steps and still don't come away with any images because your intended subject didn't show up on queue.
Product, still life and macro shooting is technically challenging. But your subjects generally don't complain even if you leave them standing in the same position under hot lights all day.
Street shooting (however you decide to interpret that phrase) can be nearly effortless for someone with the right attitude and impossible for others. It can be as frustrating as chasing wildlife if you spend all day stalking the urban jungle but come back with no satisfying images. Great "street" images are often fleeting moments that the photographer realized could happen only a few seconds in advance and was prepared to get the shot. You need to be in a near constant state of hyper-awareness to visualize moments just before things all magically fall into place.
Diver88 wrote:
Underwater photography is the most difficult.
Having done both I’d say Astro is more technically difficult. Both from a gear, technique and post processing perspective. A single shot can take days to do. Underwater is really a set of environmental challenges to overcome come. Astro has this and massive technical requirements to get to the pinnacle of the gene. I’m just starting my Astro journey but I have good friends who are really good and it’s staggering the technical knowledge and hoops they jump through.
What is challenging for one person is effortless for another.
Short version of a long story…
I took a conflict photographer to a wedding shoot as he was considering a career shift. 12 hours later he simply said it was the most stressful day of his life.
Repeatability and consistency shooting sports can be very difficult. There are no "do-overs" in most competitions. A game winning outfield baseball catch can't really be re-enacted. But most players come up to bat multiple times in a game. So you should have more than one opportunity to get a shot of everyone swinging the bat. Sliding into a base requires someone actually hitting the ball while your subject is at least on base. Those shots are less repeatable. Technology has lowered the bar dramatically. Anyone can blast away at 30fps with face tracking AF and get shots that are usable enough for typical media consumption. Hence the decimation of most media staff sports photo departments.
Weddings are choreographed. The decisive moments come at planned times which often have literal countdowns. As long as you're prepared in that moment you can get the expected shots. If you do somehow miss a critical image, it is not out of the question to ask people to go for a second take. The biggest challenges here are dealing with the people and the physical demands to staying on task for hours at a time.
Wildlife is physically and monetarily difficult. Getting to the right location with the right gear is 90% of the battle. It can be mentally challenging when you go through the first steps and still don't come away with any images because your intended subject didn't show up on queue.
Product, still life and macro shooting is technically challenging. But your subjects generally don't complain even if you leave them standing in the same position under hot lights all day.
Street shooting (however you decide to interpret that phrase) can be nearly effortless for someone with the right attitude and impossible for others. It can be as frustrating as chasing wildlife if you spend all day stalking the urban jungle but come back with no satisfying images. Great "street" images are often fleeting moments that the photographer realized could happen only a few seconds in advance and was prepared to get the shot. You need to be in a near constant state of hyper-awareness to visualize moments just before things all magically fall into place....Show more →
Will disagree on the wedding thing. It’s not the choreographed moments or the one on time lines, although those aren’t as easy as many think. You don’t know when the father of the bride will give his daughter *that* look. Or when the tears will flow. You’re constantly waiting for dozens of moments that are far more powerful than things like the *first* kiss etc. If you come away with a set of carefully manicured moments that ran on schedule you’ve already failed as a wedding shooter. I shot 2000 weddings over 30 years and every one was different.
I had to shoot horses recently, I've never shot horses before, it took 14 hours starting very early in the morning and finishing at sundown and I achieved four deliverables that are outstanding, but only four out of thousands of exposures.
Even with professional handlers and some amount of controlled lighting, the animals are so erratic.
I was sure the ratio of keepers was due to my lack of experience but the handlers said I achieved what many other photographers who specialise in animal photography also did, the four I chose were of the same quality and in the range of the hit rate the market experienced photographers achieve.
Of course they could be lying to be nice, they were lovely people to spend a day with.
flash wrote:
I took a conflict photographer to a wedding shoot as he was considering a career shift. 12 hours later he simply said it was the most stressful day of his life.
Gordon
I don't think there are a lot of wedding photographers with serious cases of PTSD, or is there? I believe most anyone who has ever been in direct combat will say it is the most stressful experience of their life.
1bwana1 wrote:
I don't think there are a lot of wedding photographers with serious cases of PTSD, or is there? I believe most anyone who has ever been in direct combat will say it is the most stressful experience of their life.
I said pretty much this earlier in the thread. Of course he was putting it in the context of him being out of his element. Hence the smiley. He admitted he’d underestimated what it took to be a wedding photographer and that day showed that it wasn’t for him. But my previous comment was basically his exact words. I didn’t take them as literal then, or now.
gdanmitchell wrote:
Underwater combat wildlife portrait sports large format pinhole photography at night.
I did underwater wildlife at night with a manual focus lens on the Big Island...and that presented plenty of challenges. Adding the remainder on your list would definitely bring additional obstacles.
1bwana1 wrote:
Been there, done that, have the T-shirt. Easy stuff compared to trying to capture a compelling image of a house cat with a brand new camera or lens.
To make it more challenging, put a brick wall behind that cat.
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BobSac wrote:
I had to shoot horses recently,
The potential jokes here almost write themselves.
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Nifty Fifty wrote:
The most challenging is 3D pop photography without a Thypoch.😄
I've been told that it is actually impossible.
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1bwana1 wrote:
I don't think there are a lot of wedding photographers with serious cases of PTSD, or is there? I believe most anyone who has ever been in direct combat will say it is the most stressful experience of their life.
I would not demean the challenges of combat/war photography (seriously). But the consequences you mention aren't due to the photography, but the underlying circumstances. It is kind of like answering the question, "What is the most difficult kind of food preparation?" by saying "combat food preparation," right?
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gocolts wrote:
did underwater wildlife at night with a manual focus lens on the Big Island...and that presented plenty of challenges. Adding the remainder on your list would definitely bring additional obstacles.
I think Wildlife would be in the “harder than others” category maybe. I envision it being a dedicated person lying in wait for skittish animals to present themselves, maybe even dangerously so. The really dedicated do so in frigid temperatures. At least that’s my assumption. Now, maybe those individuals
Really enjoy that, so they’d disagree to its difficulty. For me, hard pass.
I find sports quite easy to shoot. I mean, focus and shoot a burst, hard to miss a good moment. Family portraits, oye, the older I get the less I wanna do.
I mostly shoot weddings, which I have a love/hate relationship with but I’m able to turn it on and do a good job.
I’m rambling, happy new year.
