The Story Behind That Picture 208

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- The Photographer as Storyteller

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The Story Behind That Picture: "The Final Image"

By: Thorsten Overgaard. October 19, 2019.
(This article is an excerpt from my book "Composition in Photography - The Photographer as Storyteller").

Add to Flipboard Magazine.

The term final image is one I use to describe the images that you have finalized for use in print and for use on screens.

I photograph somewhat 45,000 images a year, and from those I finalize about 10-15% into final images that are ready for print and web.

From a portrait session where the magazine uses three photos I might deliver the magazine 10-20 photographs. So I have made 10-20 final images from 200 pictures I took. A great one, three very good ones and fifteen or so “almost as great” ones. And then maybe alternative ones that could be useful. One might be an artistic detail of nicely decorated table, which could be used another day, in another context.

In doing street photography, I might have three final images of the same scene. I have one that I selected as the best one. But I might still have edited three different ones as final images, ready for print.

Leica M10 wirth Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. © Thorsten Overgaard 2017-2019.

Often I will make a color and a black & white edition of the same image.

The important thing is that they are selected and ready for use. It’s not enough that you took the photo, it has to be selected and made ready for use.

Final images are all we live and photograph for.

Everything else you do doesn’t count. I don’t regard you a better photographer if you can make final images out of 80% of your photographs, or if you can only make 2% of your photographs into final images.

It’s the number of final images you produce over a year that is your statistic. The ones that can be used for print and web.

You don’t care how many scripts and notes, Hemingway produced. The only thing you care about, is how many books and novels, he finished. Final books, ready to be published and read.

In photographing children, people are often concerned about the focus, so they buy an AF camera to get focus on those fast-moving children.

The point of children photography is not to have 200 photographs in focus. The point is to preserve a moment, an expression, a time of childhood. One final image of a child where you see the personality.

One final image that makes the parents proud and will be an invaluable photograph of that person now, in their life, and in 50 years. That’s why you photograph.

Photography is not a test of your focusing skills or ‘hit rate’.

If the photo is also of value for others, who doesn’t know this specific child, that’s even greater.

The expression, the cuteness, the colors, the aesthetics … all these things makes it valuable for a broader audience than the closest family.

When I photograph children, I might do 300 photographs in half an hour in their home. 40-50 of them are good; and I will finalize those in a format ready for use.

Hopefully one or two of them are classics. The other 250 I took, are out of focus, without a child in them (because they run so fast you sometimes miss them)
… It doesn’t matter. I got the good ones, and those I made ready for use.

Final images, that’s all that counts.

You make final images, you share them and people think you’re a genius because they see only the great final images – and never know how many photos it took to get them.

More to come...

I hope you enjoyed today's Story Behind That Picture which was an excerpt from my 860-page book "Composition in Photography - The Photographer as Storyteller". As always, feel free to email me with questions, ideas and suggestions.