Multiple Streams Lack Intensity

Choosing a style is one of the hardest things a photographer has to do...and that's probably why so few photographers actually do it.

I took a course in the business side of photography once and the first thing we were taught was "multiple streams lack intensity." In photographer terms, you make less of an impact on the viewer if you have several different styles of photography in your portfolio than you do if you only have one. For example, if someone's portfolio includes people, food and architecture, it will make less of an impact than if it were just architecture. And those pictures should really look like they were all taken by the same photographer. Any professional photographer who has been in the business for several years will tell you that in order to be successful you must find a style.

My goal is not only to have one style, but a style I know I can do in a unique way. People ask me all the time why I have no color photographs in my portfolio. I just keep repeating my mantra, multiple streams lack intensity. My style is black and white, with a lot of emphasis on detail in the darks and lights. Not too contrasty, but it has to be real black and white. My current portfolio isn't quite there, but the pictures I've been working on for my updated portfolio are definitely a step closer.

The picture above is a pretty good example. This is Kayla again, obviously taken outdoors. The refection of the sky in the pond is in a sort of backwards S shape and leads the eye down to where she's sitting. The color of the black and white is what I'm going for...nothing too dark or bright where detail is lost. Compressing it down to a jpeg to post here definitely strips away some of the detail, but you get the idea.

This was shot pretty wide at 18mm, 1/60 sec, f3.5 for the shallow depth of field.