Every person has their own style that is unique to them. If you hear Phil Collins on the radio, you do not need to wait for the radio personality to tell you it is Phil Collins, you know just like if you see an Ansel Adams print in a gallery. You do not need to read his name underneath it, you just know.
I have had several remarks on my photographic style recently. So I took a moment to think about what my style is. Recently? It has been dark, and dramatic. Case in Point:
Billiardess:
I shot this last night after the model and I had finished our fifth or sixth game of pool. I rarely meet a girl who is good at pool (although I'm not great myself), so when she beat me 3 out of 5 games, I decided it was time for a picture that could do her skills some justice.
But holy cow, that picture is dark. Surprisingly it is very close to the picture I had in my head, but only after taking it and retouching it a bit in photoshop did I realize how very dark and indeed, dramatic the picture (and my style) is.
Tech: D300 ISO 1000 (oops!) Vivid PC with saturation and contrast both at +1. 18-55mm at 22mm. F16 at 1/10th sec. I am handholding the SB600 (1/6.4 power, 24mm zoom) camera right about 6 feet away from her.
I really will be starting a new project sometime soon, and it will be decidedly less dark, although likely very contrasty.
-Matt
