Does Equipment Matter?

The most common photography question I get is: "do I need better equipment to make better photos?". It's probably one of the most loaded questions you can ask about photography. Those with really expensive equipment will say yes; those with inexpensive equipment will say no.

As a studio owner, I spend a lot of time viewing all sources of photography. Along the way, I have seen photos taken with a free cell phone that I would hang in my home. Of course the opposite is true where I've seen photos taken with a $10,000 camera body that made me cringe. The key is to separate art from technical capabilities.

Anyone can go to a camera store and buy a 70-300mm zoom lens for $200 and take great photos. But most are puzzled when they look at the 70-200mm lens next to it on the shelf and see that it costs $2,500. Why is this the case? After all, the cheaper lens goes up to 300mm and brings subjects closer. Isn't that "better"?

The quick answer is no. The pro level lens can handle many situation that the other can't. In simple terms it comes down to the light it can take in, the speed at which it can focus, and the sharpness it can produce (there are, of course, many other technical reasons I won't bore you with).

The same can be said for a camera body. High end bodies have so many bells and whistles that the average person would never need to use. But when the time comes where I need that certain bell or whistle, I am VERY happy that it's there. The situations we encounter as a studio sometimes call for specialized equipment. Shooting a wedding from a back of a dark cathedral, or maybe a product shot with a very tight focus, or even a baseball player swinging a bat will have very different results depending on the equipment we use.

So what do we say when people ask for advice? Start slow. Don't spend a lot of money on a camera or lens because you think you will be a better photographer. As you travel down the road, one of two things will happen: You will either have that camera forever and create art that you love, or you will slowly start to find yourself in situations where your equipment can't handle what you want to do. Only then do you need to consider better equipment. Most importantly, if the 1975 Polaroid camera you use produces photos that make you or someone else smile, then it is doing its job. Art is only about emotion. It is not technical. It is not about equipment. It has nothing to do with megapixels, f-stops or frames per second.

One of my favorite photographers is not a photographer by trade, and the only work I've ever seen from her is through Instagram (@aliciacraw). Why do I like her work? For the simple reason that it makes me smile. That has nothing to do with equipment.

So...does equipment matter? Only from a very technical point of view. In terms of art...nope.

We are proud of our seniors!

Every year about this time we start to finalize orders for many of the seniors we photographed as far back as last summer. The process we follow is pretty standard: we shoot the pictures in the summer or fall, followed by a quick selection for the yearbook photo, and then nothing much happens before spring.

When we process the print orders we start to see a funny thing with parents (usually moms), where they realize this is really happening! Their once little baby is going out into the real world. Of course this depends on whether it is their first child or, say, their 12th child!

One of our favorite items to do for seniors is invitations and announcements. Gone (or at least minimized) are the days of the overly formal announcement where you have to open three envelopes to figure out what it is. We take a lot of pride in trying to capture a look with announcements that brings out the grad's personality.

Whether we photographed your senior or not, if you would like to learn more about our offerings, just email us by clicking here, or visit our design gallery here.

Here are a couple examples (personal info intentionally blurred):

What Should I do?

There's a fine line between a truly candid photo and one that is carefully composed. In the end, both should convey the same feeling of being natural and "real". Whether we are shooting a wedding, a senior portrait or a commercial head shot, our subjects regularly ask the question, "what should I do?". The answer is quite simple. If were not giving you direction at that moment, you are doing exactly the right thing.

The first advice we give to our clients is to stop thinking about the fact that you are being photographed. If we are taking a photo of you looking at flowers, you will always look more relaxed and natural if you are thinking about the flowers more than you are about the camera. When it comes to a wedding day, it really is a small portion of your day where you need to focus on us. More often than not, we find ourselves saying "just ignore me".

This same concept holds for all types of photo sessions. Many times we will tell a senior photo client to just hang out and look around while we take some test shots that "don't count". They truly are test shots, but more times than not, one of those test shots has such a real expression or a natural look that it ends up being the one selected as their favorite.

With many clients it's as easy as telling them to ignore us, which will cause them to relax for the entire day. Others will get more self conscious every time we speak. This is the key reason we make sure we know our clients very well before we ever start shooting pictures.

Four Noun Brides

There is one thing we do not take lightly here at Noun Studios, and that is the honor we feel when a past bride refers her friends. The four brides pictured above fall into that category. Spanning just over a year, we shot each of their weddings, and grew to know them all very well. They have since passed our name onto other friends for not only weddings, but for family and baby photos as well.

On an evening in May of 2012, they all came to our studio for this very special photo shoot. They happily took their dresses out of storage and put them on again. It was really the coolest thing we've experienced as a photo studio. We owe so much of our recent success to these beautiful women, and their families. We at Noun Studios are proud to call them our friends.

(From left to right: Ashley - Sept 2011, Kate - Oct 2011, Tiffany - Nov 2010, Alisha - Oct 2010)

Noun Studios currently has 22 weddings booked for 2012. Please feel free to share this post with anyone who may enjoy reading it! 

Why Noun?

We are often asked why we are called Noun Studios. As a matter of fact, many people assume "Noun" is our last name. Every so often we get a call and are asked, "Can I speak to Mr. or Mrs. Noun please?". Sometimes we just go with it and say, "speaking!", but the reality is it's very simple; we named our business Noun Studios because we shoot people, places and things...or...nouns.

People are certainly the largest part of our business, but we shoot both interiors and exteriors of many places and do a fair amount of product photography. So after a very unscientific brainstorming session, we looked at the board and saw the obvious...everything we shoot is a noun. And so the company name was born.

On a side note, we have been asked to shoot adjectives, verbs, participles and conjunctions. And although we weren't too sure we remembered what a participle was, we were pretty sure we couldn't photograph it!

What Your Uncle Louie Will Forget

When we aren't awarded a wedding, we always ask what made the bride and groom go another way. Very often the answer is "our uncle is going to shoot it for us" or "my friend has a great camera and is shooting it for us as a gift". In most of these cases, their relative or friend is not a professional photographer.

Shooting weddings is so much more than taking great pictures. It is a well choreographed, day long event where simple decisions can have major effects on the things that follow. Many of these decisions are made weeks or months in advance and if Uncle Louie doesn't plan accordingly things will not go smoothly. Decisions such as:

• Taking pictures before or after the ceremony
• Whether or not to have a receiving line (and where)
• A served meal versus a buffet
• Limo for the bridal party or separate cars
• Indoor versus outdoor ceremony and reception

This list is just the tip of the iceberg, but they have a huge impact on the photography. After all, the photographer is the only service provider (short of a wedding planner) that will be effected by every other service provider at your wedding. That's why we also consider ourselves wedding coordinators. We absolutely make sure we know what everyone else is doing.

So...how does this relate to Uncle Louie? Well, if he hasn't shot AT LEAST DOZENS of weddings, he will simply miss major parts of your day. Or at the least, cause a great deal of angst trying to piece it all together. And if there's one thing that causes tension at a wedding, it is indecision or lack of a solid plan. Beyond that, the other thing that will happen is he will be distracted by people he knows at your wedding. After all, it will likely be months or years since he's seen some of the guests and he will simply not have the focus that is needed to maintain an enjoyable flow FOR YOU.

In our travels we survey many, many married people (most of which were NOT our clients) and ask them what went well with their wedding and what didn't. In almost every case, the people who didn't hire a professional photographer were unhappy with the results.

-Mike
[Mike Moloney is the owner of Noun Studios and welcomes your input].

Why we have no rules...

Over the years we've noticed a pattern when it comes to our clients initial expectations. Whether it be a future bride or someone needing a Web page, the pattern showed that almost all of them expected us to tell them first what we WOULDN'T do for them. Meaning the lasting impressions they were left with by our competitors is centered around their restrictions. Our clients all but apologized when telling us what they wanted for their projects.

As we gathered info from clients over the years, we've noted these restrictions and made a point to simply go the other way. What does that mean? Well, for example, our seniors can wear, bring, and do anything they want for their photo session. If they want to bring their entire wardrobe to the park, they can! If they want a friend in the picture with them, they can!

Some photographers will say we are giving too much, but the reality is for the rare person that actually pulls up to the park with a van full of clothes there are a dozen that don't. And when it comes to guys, they want even less (sorry guys!). So we say, go for it! In the end, it all evens out!

Another restriction we charge against is those who don't allow "piling on". This is when, for example, we are shooting a baby photo session on a beach and the mother asks if we could also shoot a quick photo of the whole family. Absolutely we can! Our motto in these instances is..."if we're already there, then we don't care!" As a matter of fact, not only do we allow this, we will usually suggest the shot before the mother even asks! And the price to do this? Zero dollars! To us, one place = one price. Plain and simple.

Thanks for stopping by! We'll have more articles posted soon!

Our Blog is Back!

This blog is here to offer specific ideas and notes to our clients to think about before, during and after our projects. For instance, what to expect from us on your wedding day. Or how to prepare for your product shoot. Maybe you have senior pictures coming up and want to know what our rules are (hint: we have none). Essentially, we've taken the questions and feedback we receive from our clients and try to make it simpler for future clients.

Thanks for stopping by!