There was an article in The New Yorker recently about the guy who does almost all the retouching work for the major fashion magazines. In one recent issue of Vogue, he had done almost all the editorial photos and something like 124 of the 140 ad photos.
a lot of photographers simply blow the highlights out to mask flaws in skin toneOriginally Posted by PViapiano
If I had that much work I'd hire an assistant ... they can batch process images as efficiently regardless of location ... I recently FTP'd 400M of files and it took several hours, it's faster than mail but it's not instant like your desktop and data traffic isn't free
Sounds like there are one hell of a lot a useless photographers out there if they need to rely on someone else to make their images look good. Time was, when the photographer was expected to get it right on film. Now you just send out anyone who can point a camera and then let someone else waste their time fixing bad photography.
Won't be long before they let the retouching guys draw the photographs from scratch and do away with the photograper. They might as well since the end result bears no resemblance to the subject.
Hate to tell you but most pros relied on guys like me to do their finishing work. Been doing it for almost 40 years now.30 years in a wet lab and for the last 10 with wide format digital printing.
(One of the nice things about going digital is that I don't have to deal with pin head photographers that need only one image.)
Greg Lockrey
Wealth is a state of mind.
Money is just a tool.
Happiness is pedaling +25mph on a smooth road.
maybe the useless photographers are out of touch with reality ... from what I understand even playboy 8x10 spreads were airbrushed ...
Com'on Annie Leibowitz is supposedly the greatest photographer of our time and she hasn't made a print since art school and she hires people to do her lighting and tech because she doesn't know how.
Stephen Miesel makes millions shooting Fashion, including 8x10 Polaroids, and doesn't own a camera -- he simply rents everything including techs to do all the set-up, settings, etc. He simply looks through the viewfinder -- he even has a tech focus I bet.
I'm not saying that those examples are the right way to be -- but it's common practice on the high end these days.
I bet Avedon and Penn laughed at them.
I have been making a pretty good living for the last 30 years as well. There are some things that we do better as professional printers.
Even today , I spent an hour bailing out a bad shoot with specific PS tools. 24 more hours booked at a good rate.
Some of our clients prefer to spend all their time behind the camera, and pass the printing to us, as we spend all our time making prints.
Greg you have hit it on the head.
Hate to tell you but most pros relied on guys like me to do their finishing work. Been doing it for almost 40 years now.
(One of the nice things about going digital is that I don't have to deal with pin head photographers that need only one image.)
This thread is quite eye-opening.
Until moments ago, I never considered myself a useless photographer, never contemplated that I outsourced my creativity. Yes, I am someone who sends out ("outsources") development, post production and printing. Given the prevalence of the many service agencys that I do not use, I must not be alone.
Someone posted, specific to black and white development, asking why. In part I have made a resource decision, largely relating to resource (time) and skill. Having other interests besides that which occurs after the cable release is pushed, I have chosen to utilize a well known service agency to develop the black and white neg, color neg and slides I shoot. Certainly I could develop the black and white film, but because I so value every moment leading up to pushing the cable release, and the fact that I have not fully committed to spending the time and monetary resource to develop the black and white, and do it well, it accompanies the color work to be processed.
Frankly, I must admit that I do not feel like a lesser person having made this decision. I have previously processed black and white film up through and including printing (35 years ago) and loved it immensely. It was a magical process, and I will no doubt do it again in the future. But right now, I'm happy with what I am doing.
Another apparent sacrilege on my part is that I do not photoshop. Yes, I admit it, I "outsource" photoshop work. I simply have yet to take the time to learn it. Will I in the future, I don't know. At this point in my life, and where I am in enjoying the hobby of photography, I am willing to be considered less than a real photographer as I do not post process. Perhaps in the future I will take the time to learn photoshop, but it has yet to happen.
Nor do I print. I work with an excellent printer, who over time has begun to understand what I look for in an image, and has translated my "vision" into nice prints. We discuss what I want through an iterative process, which I am quite happy with at this point. Perhaps I will over time become expert in printing.
Thus, I am someone who immensely enjoys making images, at least the front end of the process. I utilize others, who are all outstanding at what they do, to develop, scan, post-process and print my images. Despite my particular workflow, or the lack thereof, I enjoy what I do, and the resultant images.
Notwithstanding my enjoyment and my passion for what I do, it apparently is worthy of disparagement and derision. Fair enough, because I do what I do because I enjoy it. I hope in the future to get to a higher level of involvement in the craft of photography, but am presently able to sleep at night despite it all.
Rick Russell
richardrussell-1@ca.rr.com
The nice thing about renting gear is it is location specific ... and I'd enjoy immensely a day or two with either of these photographers ... the one who does it all may not be taking advantage of their inherent talents ... unless that talent is doing it all
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