Pro Photographers - STOP Learning THIS! 

If you want to learn how commercial photographers do marketing then head over to here www.tinhouse-studio.com/product/photography-marketing-101/

Well said ! This is something only a professional photographer would know and say, and about time ! When we worked with film you didn’t expect photographers to do their own E6 processing, or C41 set build, hair and makeup. I try to remind photographers that photography is a collaborative profession. This is by far the most useful of Channels on RU-vid for up and coming amateurs/ professionals.

All good points, but I will say that my experience in computer repair/IT has helped me immensely in my photography career. To your credit, I know this video is aimed at working PROS, and everyone will eventually reach a certain point where outsourcing makes more sense. But to the people just starting out: learning the basics of maintaining your own gear, especially when you're still at a point where you have more time than money on your hands, is never a bad skill to acquire.

I once worked for some professional photographers. Just like you, composition and lighting were the only things they really knew. My job as their assistant was to do everything else if it was out of their wheelhouse. Thankfully I learned a lot and I am finding that lighting and composition are the only things I know as well. After that if I need help I find someone else as well. After being an assistant for years it's important to know your limits as an assistant, but even more important to know your limits as a photographer

Really appreciate your transparency here, I feel like there is this strange idea in the community that as a photographer you have to do everything yourself and that if you do not know absolutely everything, you're no good! It's nice to see such an amazing and talented photographer admit that you do not need to know everything.

I usually find myself smiling in agreement with you on pretty much every topic you make a video on. However this one is where I'd like to politely push back a bit. Knowing what matters and what your own limits and expertise should be focused on is totally right. It's also very true of people who are well established and have successful marketing to book consistent work. For aspiring professionals though, the marketplace can be quite different. You're totally right to say, don't spend your money on gear, spend it on production value for your work, on new test shoots, booking better talent etc etc. But when someone is first booking jobs and their production budgets are small, outsourcing might not be that much of an option. In good faith though, you're also going to want to get out of that price band of work as soon as your portfolio and marketing can support better opportunities. There's just a bit of a catch 22 at the start of your career for a lot of young photographers. You are right on the basic principle of, if you want to be great and not just good, you will have to find your niche and specialise, which applies to your own skillset not just the kind of work you produce.

I'm reading about the life of Einstein at the moment, here's a few quotes attributed to him; "imagination is more important than knowledge", I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious:, "never memorise something you can look up". Thanks for another interesting post.

Love this. It reminds me of guitarists focusing so much on getting technical stuff down they forget how to write a good song. That’s what makes the money. 😊

I’ve assisted photographers who didn’t know how to change auto focus points on their own camera they brought. How to turn on a pocket wizard, much less how to program it. The interaction with client and the creative is literally the only thing that matters to be a photographer, the rest is just noise that distracts from the job.

I find your honesty a real breath of fresh air and an inspiration for many others I am sure.

All true. When I was an assistant, I did everything. Setting up the equipment, building and dressing the set, and even developing in the darkroom. The 'photographer' wandered in after lunch at the pub with the client, twiddled with a few lights, focus, frame, and press the cable release. Photography as a pastime and as a profession are two entirely different animals. The former is about enjoying all the cool stuff, and the latter is about earning a living and getting shit done.

Thx for this video! I’m studying photography and wanting to start a business but fear of not knowing what I’m doing is holding me back. You’ve just given me proof that I have enough knowledge, now to beat the fear itself!! Thx ❤

You've literally blown my mind. I'm on the other side and can admit I spend too much time learning too many things. Sometimes there's a benefit, many times there is not.

I can relate to this. As the son of a photographer, there are things at this stage in my career that I don't care to explain, they just happen (for me), they are imbedded in my sight. I know what I want before the shoot happens and I create how I want to light it in my mind before it begins. They call this "creative visualization". Here in LA, I too can dial up anything I want for a shoot, it's what brought me here, and has sustained me for years.

You are one of the most open photographers on RU-vid. Love it.

My first assisting jobs were at the old Holborn Studio in the mid 80s. I got to work with the legendary Chalkie White on a number of jobs for the then new Face magazine. I learnt an awful lot about priorities. Chalkie didn't handle strobes or tripods - he came in with a fully designed concept for the shot of whichever rock star we were working with and his time was spent getting what he needed out of them (not always easy with a battle of egos). I pushed lights around, burned holes in the armpits of my shirts developing the polaroids and gave him as much space as possible to do his job. Now I mainly work as a cinematographer and if anybody wants to see the power of collaboration and delegation, visit a well run film set. Totally agree with all you said. Just discovered your channel and thoroughly enjoying it, thanks.

I think it takes a lot of guts to tell everybody you don’t know about how to do certain things but on the other hand if you do know how to to do some of these things you don’t have to keep asking people to help you I also find that when I do know how to do these things I can designate knowing what they’re supposed to be doing! I enjoy knowing how it’s all done which helps me be the best of what I do. Run a successful business!

Your BEST video ever, Thanks for being honest + open, saying what most people do not even dare to mention...

When I first stated doing studio work I just adjusted the light. I would see peeps using a meter. I saw they were a bit pricey so I didn't get one. I finally learned after a years to simply turn the light all the way down, bring it up until things look right. Ratios? What are those? I only use one light now. Two sit on a shelf, sometimes some fill but rarely. 5D3 (5D2 backup) is all I use and it works. Same 100 macro lens and an 85. I am a techy but don't know all the numbers for lighting turn it up turn it down. Yes, mirror lock up and a trigger. Still using Big Sur 2015 iMac.

What a brilliantly honest and truthful video😁👍

Outsourcing is great, if you already have build a solid foundation as a commercial photographer. If not, you have to choose to learn it by yourself, by investing time and only learning, what really matters for your business. If you dont wanna be a commercial/pro photographer, i agree completely with the technical fuzz etc. altought if your passionte enough, you will learn it anyway with time. I was also not a big fan of photoshop, marketing, accounting, or graphic design, but step by step i learned to do it by myself investing personal time and it works for me and my business now. best example are the new a.i. tools in photoshop. I can now edit my pictures in half the time, which gives me time, for other more important things like watching your videos and learning new stuff :D I also learned to be a better salesman and how to make a legal contract for a big enterprise. would you outsource that? you can't at the beginning of your carrer, when you get that first big job. You need to learn it, right when you need it. Managing time and learning to set your priorities are the key as a pro. Most important thing i learned as a pro photographer, is to be flexible to a certain point and open to learn new stuff at the right time, because the market and demands change and when you sleep on that change (specially when youre older) then you will start to have problems doing it yourself. But if you have the money at that time, its easy to outsource it, because you already have built your foundation, but don't sleep please!👋

To ask a very simple question: I have heard experienced photographers suggest to people entering the industry to do whatever it takes to gain experience. If this means working for free for some gigs, or offering to be a assistant etc. This poses a problem with what is being said here. The earlier advice demonstrates knowing these aspects is advised. I believe it would be a death knell for the aspiring photographer acting as an assistant to finally get a placement and be asked do perform a task which they don't know how to do. They are in a position now where they can't really say, "A more experienced photographer advised me I don't need to know all this stuff." Can you see the conflict I'm illustrating?

More and more, step by step, I am outsourcing essentially all the editing of my work because I have a guy who can do it better than I can, pretty quickly. The first time I had them edit something for me, when they pinged me about a day later and said it was done, it felt like magic. Work had been finished, and I hadn’t thought about it. It was incredible. I intend to keep outsourcing, and increase outsourcing as much as I can afford to.

This is a good channel. It's impressive to carve out a unique and informative niche for yourself in a pretty saturated market. Saying that, nobody has done more to convince me I wouldn't cut it as a "pro" though hearing you say that you haven't learned Photoshop and have no intention of doing so was a lovely tonic.

I can't afford to rent gear, and having an assistant to help me is a luxury.

Oh boy. This is one of the biggest things I tend to have a problem with, letting go of things I don't know. I tend to try to learn and research everything without asking people. And I do feel like it over fills my head often times

I've always been an intuitive photographer rather than a technical one. I know what I want the final image to be in my head and prepare/set up what I'm good at (lighting, basic camera settings and composition). Anything else I have to look it up, ask a technical colleague or hire an assistant if the budget allows. I'm also a graphic designer so my skill with photoshop is advanced but even here, I don't know everything, just what I need to know to get the job done.

Spot on, develop your skills that express your own style and go from there. I've been doing this for nearly thirty years and I've only developed basic skill on Photoshop but am pleased with my images. I started my career shooting E6 film and I know how to light, expose and process it to get my preferred look. I shoot digital like it's E6 and it seems to work for me and my clients. This career is about collaboration between you and a team and your client, so don't think that it's all about you. Odds are, the other contribute more to the images than you.

Very well said and thank you!!!! Whenever I tell people I don't know PS or any software for that matter, they look at me like I fell from the sky. As with you, my mind is fixated on the lighting setup and the composition. People always comment on my black on black photography or monochromatic styles, often saying they like how I edited in the details.....These are all straight forward concepts when you understand light and how to use textures to separate. Didn't have PS when I was shooting Kodachrome! It seems like a photographer knowing software intimately is some kind of right of passage nowdays, my fear is it will ultimately dumb down the art. Know how to get at least 90% of the way there with lighting and camera, put the polish on at the end. The photo will be mathematically better with the least amount of editing, especially in this age of extreme high res cameras.

Thank you for this, Scott! Emphasizing creativity and taste is something that is so easy to forget when you're deep in the job and working alone freelance.

Thank you, a very eye opening perspective. It comforting to realize that I know too much and I have not come to the point of brain overload.

I never knew I needed this good Sir. This has relieved a lot of pressure. Keep doing what you're doing 😊

I feel it is worthwhile to explore the settings of a camera and read the manual. If I did not read the manual, how would I know about the long exposure noise reduction function? I was not even aware it was possible at all. Save you a lot of retouching with long exposures. At the least have a look at all the menu options. Then select what you really need.

Your honesty is refreshing and hilarious 😂

I totally get what you mean, but I think it depends on the type of person. For example, I always felt bad for not being a "specialist" of anything in particular, and I have met people that excel im very specific stuff, it comes natural to them. But I recently learnt that I have been thriving by learning something new and adapting to my different jobs. Seriously, I have done field work, college teaching (to my country standards, mind you, not nearly the same as the level of developed countries), office work and currently work at home as software QA. And starting this year with my journey into Photography and videography I want to learn everything from how camera settings work, color grading and digital retouch. I hope that eventually I can excel at one thing and most likely realize that I will not be so good in other areas, but I like to work alone so I want to be as self-suficient as possible. I do agree with you about the most essential skills for photography.

This is a good life lesson! Focus on what is important to you, outsource the rest!

I appreciate the honesty and humility in this video. Although, some of the advantages you may have aren't really options for those of us just starting out (i.e. having an assistant) Also- any advice on how to get better at lighting?

I was a very keen cyclist/bike racer who went on to work in a bike shop. I thought I really knew my shiz... only to discover the "encyclopedia" customers who knew way way way more than me It shattered my confidence for a while until I started acknowledging, I dont know everything, I dont need to know everything. But I can find out whatever the customer needed to know and I was happy to help. Research ability was my weapon

Oh this makes me feel so much better! Terrible at retouching, so I try damned hard to get it right in camera.

refreshing and keeping it real, cracking bloke and a great photographer

I have to say this is a wonderful video. I often feel quite a bit like an idiot trying to find menu items or why Photoshop isn't doing what I thought it would do when i press that button. Thank you i feel a bit better about not knowing everything

100% agree and appreciate your transparency! For me, I'm a complete tech nerd and I like to know I'm making good decisions for my business, so when I am looking at new equipment, I don't mind making a large investment in a new camera or lens, as long as I have done the research and know that it is going to serve the purpose it needs to for the work I do (and I'll pay extra $ if the gear will last long, too, as I am frugal like you). But, I love to know the ins and outs of my equipment. I love to know how to use my Canon Mark iii (which has been my flagship for over 8 years) and the photos look way better than my friends with R5s... lol because I know the ins and outs of the camera - I know how to produce the images I want and need and I know what other equipment pairs the best with it. But, I love NOT knowing things, too, and outsourcing when I can.

Its refreshing to hear this honest to goodness perspective on how to focus on what matters. Current trends tend to place a premium on a person who can do it all...and it drains time and effort... But for a small fish like me, its more economical to do everything...

I totally get it, as often we clutter ourselves with too much crap in the pursuit of saving a few bob, or making ourselves seem important. I used to write and direct rather large TVCs Internationally. I relied on the crew all doing their job, and even though I had everything spelled out in case I got killed on the way to a shoot, I didn't want to know that the 8k Epic had an upgrade so I could more easily move around inside the frame in post. I only became unstuck when my VFX team fc--kd up ( even though they said they had worked on LOTR and Independence Day), I knew something was amiss, and had to fly to another country to try and fix it. It's a double-edged sword at times, and we ALL have to find our own way and navigate through the swamp. Keep the videos coming, you're a natural!!!

Great to hear such honesty. You certainly know lighting, as evidenced in your stunning work.

This is truly fascinating to me. Some of the most successful people I've met could not even update MacOS themselves...

Reminds me of a speech by Quentin Tarantino, like directors, the job of a photographer is to have a vision and to be able to express it clearly to the team so they can translate it with the technical aspects of lighting, camera, clothing, building the set etc.

l Love your honesty which is why I only subscribe to, 2 Photographic channels yours & Martin Castein, if both of you don't understand something, I don't need to.

If Scott ever sells merch, I would buy a shirt that says “Mr. Light”

Holy cow! This video just made my day! Needed to hear this.

When you live and work where technical help is either non-existent or uninterested, you learn all that stuff, AND you retain it the best you can. Think of it like the medical GP in a town too far out of reach from major markets. You just figure it out. But, if you're in the 'big smoke' or have access to such skills, agreed, leverage it, as long as you can make it work. But for me, to not have the ability to handle all the 'MacGyver' stuff is to be unprepared to deliver what my client is paying me for. In short, geography, matters.

Thank you. Thank you so much for this advice. I needed to hear this today.

I'm glad it's not just me! Every RU-vid video I watch makes me feel more and more inadequate and wonder why I'm trying to make a living at this. I'm confident I've got the basics down so my tactic is to blag my way through it and learn as I go. Which I suspect is how most of us get through life.

great advice, how we all worry, fret about and are held back what we don' know or havn't learnt, rather than focusing on what we're good at and can do. thank you

Thank you !! This one hits the mark with me.

I love this. Made me feel better.

I was DOPing a short film in January and they gave me a Blackmagic 6K to shoot with the day before shooting started... and had exactly the same problem you did! Worked it out on the second day fortunately🤣 What you're talking about is the Sherlock Holmes theory of knowledge. “I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

Bravo! Informative, useful, impactive.

The bottom line is as you said ‘know what matters’ thank you.

Another great video! Gonna have to look up that ping pong lighting haha

Great insight, there is a tendency to feel you should know it all but at what cost? We only have so many PIN numbers we can forget.

Ooh I am in Leicester. Same as you btw I have no clue about kit and gear and I have a degree in photography. I use my eyes. I learnt analogue anyway.

Love this video 😂 great photos in the video too.

Love this I could relate

Very reassuring, thanks for being human!

Watched a video of a presentation given by David Yarrow where he looked around the audience and said "most of you are better photographers than me - most of the time". Salutary lesson to coincentration on what you REALLY need to know.

Great points as usual!… And for your information, as a multiplemediaman, GodZilla is important to know about, if you're an infant, the Warner Bros, or King Kong!… 🙏🏿

I love this... It's funny though me and my wife joke about how i can basically learn and do anything. Can make anything... accept money on my own. Im a skilled tradesman 17 years of welding, plus other trades and such. i just cant quite hit the photography market to make a decent living. Mainly cause right now im, trying to be responsible and pay bills and keep the family eating and the lights on and not chase my dream of not breathing smoke all day.

Love the candour.

I like taking bird photos recently as I got a new 200-600. I have no clue what's the birds names are :)

It's definitely interesting to hear about this side of photography. One of the reasons I appreciate your videos so much is that they shed light on a side of photography that I don't have any exposure to. I'm quite the opposite in that I post process my own photos as for me that's a part of the art. I don't want anyone else touching my image before it's final rendition. If there's something I don't know how to do I take great pleasure in learning how to do it. I love knowing the ins and outs of my equipment to include the dumb details as well as understanding the limits whether that's my computer/software or my camera and lenses. But then I'm not shooting for someone else where they have the final say in how my image is portrayed in THEIR ad, magazine, or whatever the case may be. Also, my aspirations with photography don't extend beyond being a side income and a very enjoyable hobby. As I go deeper into photography I do find that most studio photographers tend to only be versed on composition and lighting which to me is baffling but I understand the idea of being a master at one instead of a jack of all trades! Great video!!!

Yes, you are absolutely right, most of those things are a waste of time, for 99,9 % of all photographers. However... there's still 0,1 % of the rest of us. Now please keep in mind that I like you and I love your content, course is true, and I don't intend to say anything in any derogatory way. But dude, you wouldn't last a 5 freaking seconds in my line of work. After you frame you picture and shoot it, not only that you need to know Ps, Lr or C1 and PhotoMechanic, you need to know how at least basics on how to fix your computer and even your cameras and lenses course you are maybe working in the middle of nowhere. And than you gotta be able to find a connection to the internet to deliver those photos, no matter what. On top of that you gotta be almost a Lewis Hamilton level of driver, course not only that you have to get somewhere in time, but there are instances where you gotta avoid a hale of bullets or bricks, for a start. Just another day in the office...

Brilliant!

this is a really great video, I'm glad you made it. It makes the digital arts much more approachable!

Thanks for this video. This is refreshing :)

Very refreshing video 👍

I’m not a pro photographer at all. I’m a computer programmer who loves photography so, obviously, I know a lot of the nerdy stuff 😀 But it’s so nice to see someone who’s really good at photography tell people you don’t need that knowledge at all to be a brilliant photographer. There’s way too much focus on the tech! 👌💜

I am shocked you don't know how to use Photoshop, Scott! 😲 That's something we have in common, then! 😉Any time I DO learn something, they change it and I'm lost again. Another great video. 👏

Great video on #photography #education !!! So much for educators and students to unpack in those 8 minutes!!!

I am with you I have been a pro from the age of 17 now 62! So much BS out there when it comes to photography. Let’s have a chat sometime?

Ha! You just reminded me that every time I have to fold a reflector I have to go and watch a video on how to do it! The guy who made the video has tons of views and partly because of me 😂 Same story when I have to change battery in the remote for my car. Or set the time on my oven when we switch to daylight savings 🤣 Thank you 🙏🏻 for this video- I feel much better now 🙂

Oh! I know this one! Shutter delay is in the shooting modes. It’s one of the few settings I know how to change when I’m switching from mounted to handheld 🤣 But thanks for taking the pressure off to learn PS, I’m sending some stuff to a retoucher this week and I feel guilty about it, but you’re right I need to focus on what I’m good at.

Decades ago one of the requirements of a college course, I had to learn how to type. Never expecting how important it would be as a skill. I also don't know how to Photoshop and have just learnt the bare basics of photo editing. Sadly my assistant is me, so half your luck with that.

I have watched a lot of your videos, and I get the impression you should really be describing yourself more as a "creative director" than a photgrapher! :)

Ηallelujah !!! Someone finally said it !!!

I’ve had a few get pissed off at me because I didn’t know the max aperture of a pricey lens, or for that matter, even all of the lenses I owned. So childish. As far as skill stuff, as video came along for product shoots, I contracted that out. Like you, I sort of had to give myself a mini-refresher course almost every time it came to shooting proper video. I find that when you come across a stumbling block, it’s important that you know how to find the way to the correct answer if you are ultimately saddled with that task. If that path though comes at the cost of severe workflow disruption or total loss of efficiency, call someone in. That’s what those people are there for.

😂😂 loving your honesty

To be a good photographer you only need to know 2 things, composition, and lighting. An old geezer like me learned to get it right in camera back in the film days when mistakes were costly (film and processing).The only software I use is what came with my computer, and it's suits me just fine, crop and adjust exposure. What I love about photography is working with a camera not fixing errors on a computer.

Hehe, great video. It is like that in the upper echelons of the pro market, true. If you swim around in the dreggs where I thrive, knowing a lot, helps a lot... BUT, 23 years of being pro, I also had to draw a line. Animation? Suck at it. There is a bunch of other stuff. I couldn't care about the latest camera specs, apart from instances where it relates to my own usage. I am more interested in vintage camera specs than anything else now. I don't use 1/100 of the custom functions in my camera. My lights are all blue tooth enabled and whatnot... I don't care, as long as they are accurate.

I never do the firmware updates on my Leicas. No idea. They work fine anyway.

This video is *awesome* :) Kinda like people I've worked with, project managers and consultants, that have spent the last 10-15 years making documents in Word and Excel daily, but still don't know Excel has tabs you can use to segment information and create summaries, and don't know that Word has a Titles-function for labeling titles and autogenerate Tables of Content :D The still get the job done, and they're good at it, but they work ooooh sooo slooooow using their computer as an electric typewriter ;)

Haha, brilliant... Thank you

you dont need to know all.... when I get out on a race, just walk on the race course and I look for THE BACKGROUND because you can't have a great photo/memory from that race without a background. when the races are coming in ... i get in to my world and start creating unforgivable memories. thanks for all!

Love it, facts🎉🎉❤

Quite right. I used to try to keep up with it all… then I stopped because they’re going to change it all in 6 months. I’ve watched it happen, it’s ridiculous.

I'm the other end of the spectrum. I feel compelled to learn everything about everything. That way, I can authoritatively complain about someone not doing it right. All joking aside, my brain collects too much information in terms of the texhnical aspects of photography, most of which i never use or have any use for, or is useless in practical application. That, and I'm usually too cheap to hire a techie.

The reality of most people is that they cannot afford retouch guy, tech guy, renting, etc. I do myself some light retouch, and I know basics of tech and I never need a tech guy. I reckon that if you know something it helps your workflow. I got your point, this is not a critique. Use your actual camera and shoot.

I have tons of know-how and very little drive.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH, I had to stop the video cause I was laughing so much. "I know how to use the jesus tool to make everything disappear, if it doesn't work I don't know how to fix that."

Yes I’m trying learn video , but I’m forgetting anniversaries lol