From the course: The Practicing Photographer

Unlock this course with a free trial

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts.

On time and in tune

On time and in tune

- I have a friend who's an accomplished jazz musician, and anytime that he and I have been to a concert together, I've always been surprised that even with his Grammy nominations and Guggenheim Fellowships and whatnot, when I ask him what he thought of the performance, the most he ever says, if he liked the show, is, "Yeah, it was good. They kept good time and played in tune." Now, this is a guy with a deep understanding of music theory and a massive knowledge of music history, but the most I've ever heard from him about a show is, "Kept good time and played in tune." I asked him about this once and he said, "If you're not doing those things, it doesn't matter what else you put on top of it." Over the years, I've come to realize that I have similar feelings about photography. There are some things that you simply have to get right. If you don't, then it doesn't matter if you have had a grand conceptual idea or pulled off a difficult technical edit or were shooting with a spectacular…

Contents