Richard McPeak Photography

technique

I think it is important to talk about technique for a minute. As a professional, my work has to rise above camera phones and snapshots. That is accomplished entirely through technique.

Although I shot with film most of my life, I now use digital cameras and digital processing almost exclusively.

My choice of camera today is a Nikon digital SLR. It produces a very large file from a large sensor, with an in-camera processor that is true genius. The little rose on this page is from that camera (as are all the flowers on the other pages, many of the portraits, and other samples.)

But the choice of camera is only the beginning. Many years ago, one of my mentors said to me, "You can take a picture like an amateur or like a professional. Take it like a professional." He meant things like using the largest practical format, choosing the best shutter speed-f/stop combination. Getting exposure and focus exactly right. Using a tripod more often than not.

And, he meant seeing the end result before you trip the shutter. There is kind of vision, or pre-visualization, that photographers can use to predict pretty accurately what the final print will look like. That eliminates wasted shots and increases the likelihood that the client will like the result. It can often happen that the picture we finally choose is actually the first exposure we make, not the last.

These ideas form a work ethic for a photographer. That ethic, or approach, most often results in pictures that people will enjoy and value. To me, that is what gives technique its real meaning -- it's not about gadgets, it's about creating the image, and how that image then touches you, the client.