Waiting for the right moment can have a huge impact upon the quality of your images.
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Let’s talk about some key requirements to get good photos. Without sounding trite, first off you need a camera. Attached to it, it’s essential you have a lens. To record the image, you need a memory card or film. Obviously, you didn’t need to read the above to know it’s ridiculous to think you’re going to get good images without the above items. But I want to make a point in that along with the obvious items I just listed, included in the same category is the concept of having patience. Photographer “A” can have $50,000.00 worth of equipment, but unless he or she is willing to wait for a perfect expression, for the perfect light, for the perfect head angle, etc, photographer “B” with the $500.00 point and shoot who commits the time will shoot rings around the big spender.
Patience is a virtue. Whether I’m shooting a portrait or someone’s favorite pet, I wait for the moment when all falls into place. Sometimes it’s quick, but the norm is the situation needs to be worked. When I run my nature photo tours, it’s essential we wait for the light to be just right or for a bedded down moose to get up and display some behavior. I tell my participants that at times I get very impatient and if the action doesn’t happen within six hours, I’m outta there! The point here is that waiting for all the pieces to fall into place is as essential as having a lens attached to the camera.
The more times your patience rewards you, the more frequently you’ll be willing to wait. Will it always pan out? Absolutely not, but the guarantee is, if you don’t, you’ll miss it if it does. Do I sometimes question my decision to wait as I stand there hoping for the events to unfold? Absolutely, but in that I’ve often been rewarded in the past, it encourages me to persevere. Think back to when you were young. It seemed that it took forever for Christmas or your next birthday to arrive, but when it did, it was worth the wait. When a situation of special light opens up or something magical happens after you’ve waited for a long period, view it as a gift. It will keep you coming back for more.
To learn more about this topic, join me on one of my Photographic Nature Tours. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com and click on the NATURE TOURS button for more information. Also, pick up a copy of my new book, Amphoto’s Complete Book of Photography. You can purchase a signed copy directly from me or visit your local book store or Amazon. Contact me at rburden@ecentral.com to order your signed copy.
