A Journey from Forensic to Family Photography.
“Grab whatever equipment you can stuff in a 3-day pack and take a bird to the FOB, pack light.” This was a common phrase I heard during my tours overseas. I became very accustomed to bringing my handy-dandy point-and-shoot camera, as a DSLR was just too bulky (not to mention lenses). At first, it was hard to adapt to. I had to get used to the difference between conducting forensic photography in a forward deployed environment as compared to the stateside investigations I was originally trained for. There were unique challenges when it came to trying to capture forensically sound pictures, especially in poorly lit locations. Yet, there was something fun about the challenge. The art of precision photography became a passion of mine, as I tried to capture the best pictures possible with limited time and equipment.
After my second deployment, I decided I wanted to use photography for more than just forensics. I was big into hiking and hunting, at the time, and was tired of seeing beautiful landscapes or interesting sights and trying to “do them justice” with my cell phone. I figured, “hey, I know how to work a camera like the back of my hand, how different could nature photography be from forensic photography?” As it turns out, the answer to that question is: very different. The first mountain I had to overcome was what I affectionately call “The Fear of ISO”.
The Fear of ISO
One of the things that was hounded into us during our forensic photography courses was the need to shoot with a low ISO. Because of the nature of forensic photography, which typically should involve using a tripod, the aim (pun intended) was always to have a very low shutter-speed and ISO. This was a very difficult mentality to break out of. When I got my hands on my first personal Canon Rebel t3 and an EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM lens, I assumed I was going to be a creative photography master… boy was I wrong. I was severely disappointed in the way my pictures were looking. I would have a vision of how the pictures should look, yet I could never get them to come out the way I wanted. They always seemed flat and soft rather than crisp or having any depth. My biggest enemy was exposure, which was almost always way too high, or not enough. I would try to bring it out in post processing, but I always felt some form of guilt about it. After all, with forensic photography, there were very few approved means by which pictures could be edited and remain forensically sound. Which brings me to my second big hurtle: “creating” a picture.
“Creating” a Picture
I started off as a picture “purist”. I was frustrated at seeing pictures that looked “too perfect” and, having enough photography experience, I could tell they likely had hours of post processing work done on them to get them that way. What little editing I did felt as though it needed strictly to draw out the natural colors and themes that were already in a picture. If I adjusted any colors, it was with the intention of making those colors look exactly as they did when I was looking at them through the viewfinder. Yet, even at this, I became frustrated. Trying to use layer masks to adjust the sky and the landscape only left me with pictures that looked uneven (a super blue sky with disgustingly saturated grass, or too much contrast between colors). I am not exaggerating when I say it was an uphill battle for at least 2 years, where I really struggled to be able to “diagnose” a picture’s postproduction needs and be able to transform it from the camera into the image I was imagining it to be. Yet none of these problems compared to the biggest struggle I faced as I moved from forensic photography into the creative world: conducting a photo session.
Conducting a Photo Session
In the world of forensic photography, you don’t have to be spunky or peppy when you are capturing your scenes. In fact, it would be pretty weird if you were. The goal of conducting that form of photography is far different, you want things to look exactly as they are when you find them. This requires a huge amount of technical skill and very little imagination. Fast forward to the first photo session I conducted… man was I nervous. For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with something to say. Of course, I had researched poses and showed them to the couple I was working with, but I felt extremely awkward giving them directions as to how to best capture the pose. I spent the majority of the session feeling pressured to come up with ideas and feeling completely insecure about all of them. Thankfully, they were good friends of mine, and they came into the session with the understanding that it was mostly for me to learn.
By the grace of God, I have come a long way since those days. I am now at a point in my photography career where I can tell what editing I’ll need to do to a picture prior to pressing the shutter button. Still, I am thankful for the path that got me where I am today. And yes, I continue to see some of my original training playing out as I edit my shoots. I still prioritize a low ISO and typically air on the side of natural looking pictures rather than trying to make dramatic changes, but I know the elements that make a well composed picture and there’s nothing I love more than seeing a picture turn out exactly… well, exactly as I pictured it.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my experiences. I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories as to how you have gotten to where you are, today. Please feel free to reach out to me here.
