Is a lot of effort worth it for a good picture?

Taking mediocre photos is very easy. Modern cameras do most of the work for you. To take outstanding photographs, there's much more to consider.

What constitutes "a good photograph"?

There are thousands of different opinions about every single photograph. If you've ever had the opportunity to discuss a photograph with a group of experts, you'll know that photography is about more than just finding a suitable subject.

For any given subject, photographers have a range of different perspectives, compositions, and settings to choose from. However, there is no single "right" or "wrong" decision. Every choice you make as a photographer will alter the image in a particular direction. It will lead the viewer to interpret your image in one way or another. Nevertheless, you cannot control everything. All your efforts can still be in vain if your audience doesn't understand your point of view or simply doesn't find the image aesthetically pleasing.

Technology isn't everything

So what makes a good photo? If it's all about personal taste, does what you actually do even matter? Taste can vary, but it often follows a certain pattern. The quality of a photo is highly subjective, but that doesn't mean you can't use your skills to improve the quality of your pictures. Of course, if you only photograph for yourself and have very limited taste, you can certainly declare every snapshot a masterpiece. Sometimes others might even agree. Often, however, they won't.

Modern smartphones have made photography easier than ever before. The technology has become so intelligent that we hardly have to make any decisions about our camera settings anymore. This leads us to rely on technology and become lazy.

The most important ingredient is... work.

Sometimes we might stumble upon a great composition or encounter amazing and unusual lighting conditions. In these cases, a fast camera with a high dynamic range and an excellent automatic mode could make us the happiest photographer in the world, if only for a moment.

However, we mustn't rely solely on luck and technology. Great photographers increase their chances of taking an outstanding photo by making the most of every situation. Landscape photographers far too often lack the right light. Even then, it's still their skill and creativity that create the best possible photograph. Even in a studio with artificial light, a great team, and a talented model, the final image won't come about through technique alone. It's the photographer's job to bring everything together in one picture.

Consequently, the only way to obtain a breathtaking image is through the hard work involved in creating the image, even before pressing the shutter. This doesn't necessarily mean strenuous physical labor (although outdoor, adventure, and landscape photographers often push their bodies to the limit). A good image requires mental effort: focusing on the subject, adjusting the composition until it suits you, imagining different perspectives and the effect a different exposure might have. In simple terms: create an image, don't just take a photo. There's so much more to it than clicking and shooting.

How to make things work

The most important thing is to take your time! Especially when traveling, I've often seen people grab their 4,000-franc camera in front of a beautiful scene and snap a bunch of pictures. The whole photographic adventure lasted 10 seconds. Back home, these ambitious travel photographers probably asked their bored family and friends to appreciate the gorgeous bokeh. After all, the camera could take beautiful photos. And indeed, it could. If they had worked harder, thought things through, or been a little better prepared—for example, by choosing the right time of day or changing their location slightly—people might have been amazed even without bokeh and the latest camera model. A truly great landscape photograph requires a high degree of concentration, freedom to experiment, time to wait for the right light, and preparation. It's not a side activity at all, but very time-consuming. You have to scout, plan, hike, photograph, and often photograph again.

Work means developing a concept.

Whenever I'm aiming to take great pictures, I take my time and force myself to critically examine the photo: Is this really the best angle? What could be improved? I check every setting and consider the effect of every turn of my dials. Only when I'm certain I've done the best possible job do I move on—at least that's the theory. Admittedly, in practice, I often leave the shooting location without having given it enough thought. Then, at home in front of my laptop, I regret the lack of effort I put into the photo. "I'll fix it in post-processing" has become my number one mistake.

If I stick to this, photography works the way it should. It's also the only way to satisfy myself when I edit the images. I don't need the best picture in the world to be happy. I just need to know that I did the best I could under the given circumstances. I need to feel that I worked hard.