How a Nat Geo Photographer Selects the Best Images from a Shoot | Whittle Down | WIRED
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
- Steve Winter has been a contributing wildlife photographer with National Geographic for over 20 years. As a wildlife photographer, Steve always has tons of photographs to sift through, and eventually whittle down. Watch as Steve lays out how he actually goes about choosing the perfect photograph.
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How a Nat Geo Photographer Selects the Best Images from a Shoot | Whittle Down | WIRED
A lot of comments seem to mention keeping over exposed/under exposed photos. While yes, these can be fixed in post, the wildlife photography (and sometimes even other professional photography competitions) have a no-editing policy, making it about the photographer in the field rather than the editor and post processing. That is why his first round is eliminating technically faulty pictures.
The photographer can be the editor as well. It's only a purist perspective. Putting restrictions when they are not necessary. To some this is commendable to others is just dumb. Both are right.
You know what I say about stupid policies? -- Screw them.
Adjusting the exposure is allowed. It is not really altering the photo. Many photos on nat geo have the shadows pushed. Those photos under or over exposed were pretty close to a correct exposure
You can't really exclude editing nowadays. If you shoot raw photo's there's already going to be a difference if you open in Lightroom or another app like Capture One, both programs have their own interpretation of what the colors and contrast should look like. This makes it basically impossible to get the perfect realistic colors out of camera, as even capturing as a jpeg is the camera brand their interpretation of the color and contrast.
No editing doesn't mean no processing!
Wired stays answering the questions I didn’t know I needed the answers to
I just love it! I need to meet the people that come up with the videos’ idea
Fr
I’m surprised and intrigued by his method. Sometimes an over/underexposed shot has great framing. I often will keep it based on that alone. If you’re shooting in the right digital format, you can do a lot in Lightroom to fix it.
Yeah. I was thinking the same. It so often happens that I shoot something and it's not well exposed as I had the settings for previous frame/place but looks good so often I quickly edit all ok looking photos first before going to another round of pruning.
wanted to say exactly the same, wtf this pictures taken with a moderately new camera are more than workable and I would rather take one of this if the composition and moment is good than just look at the technical „perfect“ ones…
Yeah, my first pass is exposure correction.
I think they do it like that just for the show or something
Maybe it's all an early April fools
It’s so much simpler for me. If I take 112 photos, 105 of them are absolutely worthless. The other seven are usually varying degrees mediocre, and I just choose the least embarrassing one. If all else feels, I leave the whole pile on a hard drive and never look at them again.
Wisdom leaks out of you
My story exactly. I keep 10% of my shots. My keep ratio was higher when it comes to film photography.
I feel seen.
I feel you, sincerely
I think the city one is a better story...but he's right photographically the one he chose is best. Great to see his process!
I agree with both of you. Sometimes there is something there but is not 100% there. I think the photo you’re talking about was almost the perfect shot, but I understand that stubbornness when you realize that something is off. I have a feeling he explained his feelings much more than was shown in this video. Editors seemed to cut a lot.
Yet in the city one I like how the darker city colors give better contrast to the cat's light coloring. In the chosen one the cat almost blends with the background.
He really had me in the first half with that final choice.
I love this video. It perfectly demonstrates that what makes a good photographer isn’t just what they can do with a camera but how they analyse their images after the shoot and being able to identify the good images.
I wonder if his decision would have been different if the assignment was portraiture and not wildlife photography
I'm the same but given the length of his career I think his instincts aren't going to lean that way.
I would have gone the other way, the all white photo doesn't have enough contrast and the cat gets lost, the building one tells more of a story and the cat feels like a part of it.
Yeah that was the biggest issue for me through the whole thing. Some of those might have been way better with contrast, but the white fur against a white background seemed to be asking for trouble.
@@aboucher0319 As someone who loves minimalistic high key photography I loved all of the photos framing the cat mostly with the white wall. There's less clutter to the eye so you can spot the subject quite quickly.
@@colette8022 admittedly, I'd like to see them up close and in person. Blown up, would also likely make a difference. Without contrast between subject and background, and in small format, there's less distraction for the viewer, but I also just get less context and detail in the subject. On the UA-cam video, it just makes a less compelling photo in my opinion. At a bigger print size in person, though, I can see this being quite stunning.
That's really interesting and not at all what I expected him to pick. I like how much thought and explanation each decision has.
I love the overall minimalist feel in the final photo and appreciate the subtle details in the light pouring in through the windows. Great choice and great video!
I'm glad this video isn't underexposed.
Great topic. Whoever came up with this one deserves a lil bonus.
Very interesting for me as an amateur photograph..
Would’ve picked the other one though..
Couldn't agree more. Monotone background has no dialogue with the chromatic persona, besides, it's a tad sloppy dynamically.
Could say that about literally anything he picked. We're not looking at the same picture after all😂
@@ulyaniv im pretty sure he was thinking about some sort of high key idea, gives the impression of a "out of this world" or "godly" feel to the thing photographed
This content is golden. Too many times I go through photography albums and find loads of identical shots
"And I don't like the look on its face it's kinda evil". What. Evil resting face is one of the best features of the average cat!
I could see Mr.Steve saying "bye-bye" to all the images in my camera right now... His criteria for good images is excellent.
Maybe it has to do with video compression or the brightness of the video, but it seemed to me the the photographer got rid of some over or under exposed photos in the first 'round', but later in the culling process still had images on the board that could just as well be considered over or under exposed as the ones he got rid of in the first 'round'.
This was really enlightening! I think he made the right choice in the end. It still tells plenty of story, just not the one we were primed for.
I've been in this situation many many times! It's interesting to see how an actual professional deals with the issue.
One thing's for sure, analog photography makes this a lot easier on me!! 🤣
“I don’t like the look on it’s face. It looks evil.” - That’s called a cat.
Cats are evil
One of your best videos yet. Very nice
10:16 loved the above picture, i think the pose of the cat, the shadow on the wall, the tail constrasting with the background, the lightning, everything is spot on. The only think i can argue is the lack of a history, but the prettiest one is this one imo
Edit: I thought about it, and the lack of a history really affects the overall product, is it pretty? Yes. Is it appealing? No. So yeah, after deeply analyzing I agree with him. What do you think?
Yeah, I like more the first one, but imo the cat is too much close to the frame, so idk
We actually just saw a television program with a competition between 10 famous dutch persons. It was about photography and the winner will have a photoshoot for a National Geographics magazine, really cool
Interesting I would have chosen the other image because I think the white of the cat blends into the white background
Same
I smoke weed everyday so I decided to make my habit into something productive so now i smoke weed on my UA-cam channel xD #beproductive
I love the one he chose- definetly my favourite out of all the ones we were shown.
Aww I thought he was going to pick the one I liked the most! Mine was the one not chosen in the last 2.
Composition is first criteria for my eliminations. Then capturing the moment that was a chance or rare event if the exposure could be improved in post. It then becomes subjective of course; I would have tried to shoot a back view of the cat looking out the window at the city like he's trapped or its his domain - both final images are great but for me, his final one has distracting leaning vertical lines on the right ( my ocd would want them more vertically straight ) and the cat is lost in the white environment, but I do love the asymmetry. The city backdrop would be my choice...but would have to 'content aware' fill to remove the reflection of the light...or rather look out for it in the view finder and move it for another shot. But I'm just another armchair critic - each to their own, its what makes everyone's artistic expressions valid. Great video and I learnt some things.
Interesting perspective to see which one is a keeper out of all the shots taken. Never thought of it that way, but I suppose since I mostly shoot in digital cameras, a lot of the flaws on exposure and framing can be fixed with digital editing and cropping somehow.
I agree, it has a wonderful graphical feel and movement.
Why was this so exciting aaaAA I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! so cool hearing his thought process behind everything (I can be such a hoarder when it comes to selecting photos HAHAH so this was really insightful!)
Now do "How a video editor edits wired videos".
Bye Bye
first ask the dipshit director who said "let's fix it at post", transcode footages to DNXHQ or ProRes codec, make proxies and do the editing there
As a photographer I find this super informative and fascinating.
These videos put a smile on my face every day! :D
I have so much more respect for wildlife photopragphers after watching his thought process 🙏🏼
And to think that he started on analog camera, i'm so awed!
As an mateur photograher this was so interesting to watch. Thank you Steve for taking the time to show us your thoughtful process.
So good! Keep it coming 🙌🙏🇧🇷
Really cool concept!
I'm surprised by the winning picture. The all white background causes the cat to almost get lost in the picture. There's no definition or separation of the subject and background. This surely could've been fixed with some rim lighting etc / better flash setup... but if you have to go off what pics he took, I think his second pic was better.
Very cool to hear his reasoning!
Very interesting! Good learning opportunity! Thanks for taking me along!
I really liked that picture as well. I learned so much!
man's last 8 photos are better than anything I've ever even shot
Excellent Choice........wonderful processing .
This is super great info.
this was great
oooo great video!! please do some more edit type videos with say landscape or street/portraits 🙏
When I was young I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic. This was fascinating, thank you
Good to see you Steve. Keep the magic going, release the wonder 🫡
Wow! Editing is one of the most important parts of creating an image and perhaps the toughest.
Awesome video 📹
That satisfaction when he picks the same one you did haha
Interesting to see how he select the photos! Thank you
I just had a photo shoot lecture😄thanks
"You don't want to look down on an animal unless you're admiring it's paws."
Gracias!
An amazing masterclass 👊🏻😎
he was a master on his own field truly a professional
Thank you Mr. Winter
super intresting!
At the moment in which the last image showed up on the wall with other 6-7 images i knew that it will be the keeper nice one.
Love him!
Catto! 0:59 I love the last picture that he took down more than his final choice. The hard edges of the cityscapes against the softness of the flufffloofy cat and the rounded cushion it is sitting on. The lighting of that second to last picture is great too.
This was kind of odd.
When you have the chance to create your own lighting, which they were doing, you have control over: (1) balancing foreground to background to whatever degree you desire, and (2) separation of subject and background however you like.
Not much explanation for exposures (which are easily fixed anyway) to be all over the place or for a final image with so little separation for the subject.
Totally agree - perhaps it's because he's not used to working in a studio. And I've found certain photographers tends to be a bit old skool in avoiding editing software - maybe he's one of them. I don't think this is very useful advice for digital photography, though, given that it's so easy to fix exposure. Saying that, his photos were great, and I did find the final choice was an interesting composition.
Honestly, I was surprised he only had 124 photos out of a professional shoot. That's about 15 minutes of shooting?
@@polygoncoco I tend to agree. For demonstrational purposes you do need a variety to show a culling process. Still, not sure why the final images weren't a little "different". That would not have negated the culling demonstration at all. And I am sure whoever loaned them the cat would not have minded.
But also at the end of the day that is another important lesson. If the cat is 100% happy with the results and the cat owner is 100% happy with the results then the shoot goes down as a winner.
I think you missed the point.
He was demonstrating being a *wildlife photographer* which is entirely different than a portraiture photographer.
In the savannah or jungle you have no control over light, or what the animal will do. You just hope for the best and keep shooting.
Yeah, they were in a photo studio… but that’s not where he normally works. That was just the shooting location for this video and not a representation of his typical shoots.
This was all just an example to show how to deal with a very unpredictable and uncontrollable situation, nature and animals combined is just mayhem for a photographer trying to capture still images.
@@DanteYewToob @danteelite That is not even close to being true.
If he wanted to "demonstrate being a wildlife photographer" then he would have just done that. Outside.
The video was about establishing a culling process on a group of images.
Culling is one of the things I struggle with because I like so much. It’s interesting to see his process and explanation. In the end he did not pick what I would have though.
Great vid
It's Steve Winter, baby! Nice!
"Every day is a school day." Well said.
great video
7:52 my favorite
me choosing a selfie to post:
Love the whole concept of this video! Great information in a silly setting, and who doesn't love cats!
*I think the finalist is the best.* 👍🏻
I thought the first filter would be the focus. It tells the story more than other elements and it can't (or at least is hard to) be fixed
Evil little kitty going in for a kill🤣🤣🤣
Now I don’t feel bad for taking a lot of under/over exposed pics lmaoo
With lightroom, under/over exposure is easily fixed. No need to throw out the whole picture.
Nat Geo is very weird in that they won’t edit photos ever. Compositional or lighting problems that can be easily fixed in lightroom arent, as well as all the other things you can do in lightroom with colour grading and mix, grain, texture vignette etc…
This is most likely because they take these photos as JPEG and so there's minimal change that can be made to expose after shooting
@@bradley9856 even amateur photographers are taking photographs in raw, no way professionals are using jpeg
@@suan_pan There's a strong possibility he was using jpeg
@@suan_pan A lot of photo journalists do. Its that kind of industry where you're not intending to edit afterwards, and jpeg quality is more than fine.
in the era of selfies and smartphone cameras we take tons of pictures. but the storage is limited so now i start to select better pictures. and my main consideration is always story (lighting etc, that's an additional things). like is the picture telling me a story? will it spark conversation/recall with my loved ones when we go back to it again?
The second last image was better in my opinion. The white cat blends in with the white background on the one he chose, and there’s too much empty space on the left, and the cat is on the right and looking out of the frame. I’m a photographer.
The only thing that woulda made me pick the other of the last two images is how dirty the edges of the white boxes are; I love the shadows, geometry, and expression, but if I couldn't clean those edges up in editing, I'd definitely choose the other one.
He is so good that one of his last two photos had the flash reflection in the window. LOL
I like both photos, but to choose I'd need to do some cropping of both photos to eliminate the unnecessary and distracting elements.
cat having the time of its life
I would have picked the same one between the last two but I might be biased, haha
He talked like a pro for 12 minutes and at the end chose the image that is kind of empty. I liked the image number 2 (which he threw at the end) and the image where he compares the initials to.
the one he threw at the end has many elements, the buildings are distracting. the one he picked will most likely photographers' choice. It is minimalistic and intriguing. I would have picked that too if I were to chose.
Lovely 😍
There is nothing easier to fix than exposure, in fact +/-1 stop is trivial.
Think about how YOU would select an image OUT OF CAMERA if you were not allowed to edit it after ;) That has been the thought process shown by this man; not the thought process of ‘which photo shows the most potential that I can edit later.’
Why? Well Remember, he is not young: he would have been learning his craft 50+ years back when-as he says-cropping wasn’t really possible; and certainly the digital tools available today to help the under/over exposed areas, magic wands etc etc we’re not available to him!
i cosign. he shoot as the same mindset in films era.
yes! i picked the 'right' one!
for me is the hardest thing in photography. Being a photographer for 13 years and is where i struggle the most.
he said “we don’t know what it’s doing or where it’s at” exactly what he said he was looking for the whole time lol 🤦♂️
Gut instinct!!! 🤣🤣🤣 I can relate to that!!
Why the miniature shows 124 pics XD
Amazing. The master is always a student. Everyday.
That's how I kinda cull my RAW photos at Lightroom.
Wowo, this session gave me meal for midn
i love how he talks lol
More or less how I select which of my own photos to share with friends, family, & social media.
I use the same process but start with 36 pics.
Pretty much the process i go through when posting a pic of my cat
yay, piecked the same 😎