Luck or Skill?

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Hiekel Essterol

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Paul
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When shooting fast paced photography like dance or sports are shots weighted heavier towards luck than skill/experience?

Obviously skill and experience will get a photographer in the right position for a perfect shot but is the shot itself more down to luck?
 
It can be luck... if you're unskilled :)
 
Luck always plays a part.
The skill is in knowing what to expect; where, and then pre-visualizing the image you want to capture. And, of course, the skill of how to use your gear to best capture the image.

The "luck" is in it actually occurring as visualized/planned. That almost never happens "exactly," but it's quite often close enough.
 
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more skill than luck...with dance in particular, you can get lucky in the beginning but if you want consistently good results, skill is a requirement.
 
You have left out perhaps the most important... Understanding the subject.
The better you understand it the more chance you have to make the best use of your skills.

A Professional can not rely on luck for his income.

Even sports Photographers specialise.

Truly "Magic" shots are rare, even for the knowledgeable professional
but the more skilled and knowledgeable they get, the luckier they become.
 
^ What Terry said ^

An understanding and a clear approach is fundamental, luck comes along when you're in a position where you're caught off guard i.e. one of those moments that you have to run to the car to get the camera out of the boot to capture a 1 in a million shot :)
 
The more skilled one is, the better one finds one's luck!
 
There's a degree of luck with sport, but knowing when and where things that are dramatic shots will happen and being ready for them is where the skill or rather experience comes in.
 
Thanks for all the responses. Its been interesting reading the different view points.

I can understand experience and skill getting you into the right position, the right part of the corner etc. and knowing what CAN possibly happen next.

I was invited to photograph a dance performance for a local school without having seen any of the performances in advance so everything was very much down to luck. I've included a link to a small selection of the images if anyone fancies taking a look at them and trek me what you think from a timing etc perspective.

Cheers

Paul

Flickr set: http://biSPAM/12n9Riz
 
I shoot live music.

The skill is in ensuring you are as prepared as possible for those once in a show moments.

The luck is when those moments happen in the first three songs.
 
As an unskilled photographer who has watched skilled friends work I'd put it like this: luck (assuming you know the very basics) will get you 5-10, give or take, keepers out of 100. Skill will get you 30-50.
 
Hiekel Essterol said:
Thanks for all the responses. Its been interesting reading the different view points.

I can understand experience and skill getting you into the right position, the right part of the corner etc. and knowing what CAN possibly happen next.

I was invited to photograph a dance performance for a local school without having seen any of the performances in advance so everything was very much down to luck. I've included a link to a small selection of the images if anyone fancies taking a look at them and trek me what you think from a timing etc perspective.

Cheers

Paul

Flickr set: http://biSPAM/12n9Riz
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The timing looks okay so lucky there but the lack of skill is showing I would say. Composition could be better (framing of person and position of them to background - for example picture of boy between two girls has a flower and light switch stuck between them and then a curtain) and lighting is poor but not sure you could do much about that?
 
Thanks for the responses and feedback. Yes, the lighting in that room is poor at best.

Points taken about the composition. Unfortunately in this scenario I had no idea what was coming up next and the audience proximity to the dancers made positioning difficult.

I would much have preferred to see the dances performed in rehearsals to better plan positioning for shots at the sexual performance.

Thanks for the feedback and I look forward to progressing further, taking your comments on board.

Thanks for your time.

Paul
 
Hiekel Essterol said:
Thanks for all the responses. Its been interesting reading the different view points.

I can understand experience and skill getting you into the right position, the right part of the corner etc. and knowing what CAN possibly happen next.

I was invited to photograph a dance performance for a local school without having seen any of the performances in advance so everything was very much down to luck. I've included a link to a small selection of the images if anyone fancies taking a look at them and trek me what you think from a timing etc perspective.

Cheers

Paul

Flickr set: http://biSPAM/12n9Riz
Click to expand...

For a first stab at it, you did OK. The location didn't help you aesthetically! You caught the two jump shots quite well although at 1/160th you aren't going to freeze that kind of movement. Generally speaking, with those kind of shots, if you have seen it in the viewfinder, you have most likely missed it, so you must have anticipated or at least pressed the shutter as they were on the way up. Maybe a bit of skill developing and a bit of luck.

The first shot here was a bit like that...I hadn't seen the performance before and therefore didn't know the dancer was going to do this but the build up to it was obvious, so I knew something was going to happen. I guess experience comes into it a bit here but I think there was a little bit of luck involved too. This is 1/500th @ f2.8 ISO 1600.



For this one, there was no luck involved at all. This is what i asked her to do and she did about 6, one after the other and each frame was almost identical. This is 1/160th @ f8 ISO100 and as it's in the studio, it's the flash that is freezing the movement.



If you can, get one or two of the dancers to collaborate with you so that you can practice and experiment. Your skill level will go up and you'll need less luck. Have fun ! :)
 
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Nod said:
The more skilled one is, the better one finds one's luck!
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(y)

Gary Player the great South African golfer, was known for his hours of practice and fitness regime (something unheard of in golf at that time), and he was quoted as saying to a member of the media:

"You know, the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get";)
 
That's the one! I couldn't remember who had said exactly what so I paraphrased what I could.

In the OP's case, next time, try to see another run through so you know what's likely to happen and when in the performance it'll be. Looking at his set of pictures, I agree that the setting did him no favours! However, in a rehearsal setting, I would at least have asked if I could use flash. It's been many years since I shot any performances on stage (and they were usually slow moving plays) but back then I was shooting on film and from a distance using just the stage lighting. I was pushing the film to 800 ASA (same as ISO but an older standard) but any further and the grain was a problem!

More experience, more practise and luck will improve! ;)

In essence, experience and practise will help you be in the right place and when to expect the right time but luck will always have some part in the equation - even in Drew's example above, he shot several near identical shots to achieve what he wanted - experience told him when to shoot and how to set up the lighting but luck brought all the elements together to get the end result.
 
Norman Parkinson had a lucky hat that he insisted helped him.

I've been looking for one on ebay but haven't found one yet.
 
Steve said:
Norman Parkinson had a lucky hat that he insisted helped him.

I've been looking for one on ebay but haven't found one yet.
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Don't worry, you probably couldn't carry it off :)
although not sure he could either!
 
ernesto said:
Don't worry, you probably couldn't carry it off :)
although not sure he could either!
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:LOL::LOL:

It's all luck, I'd be a brilliant photographer if I could remember to chuck salt over my shoulder and not walk under ladders:(.

Off to put my lucky socks on to buy my lottery ticket;).
 
sk66 said:
and then pre-visualizing the image you want to capture.
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Just a pedantic point of order. There's no such thing as pre-visualisation. Visualisation without the pre is all that's needed.

A phrase I read in Rick Wakeman's autobiography: 'luck is where preparation meets opportunity'.


Steve.
 
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I seem to recall "the more I practice, the luckier I get", which seems to hold true. Know your sport, anticipate the action, understand your camera, get the shots.
 
ernesto said:
Don't worry, you probably couldn't carry it off :)
although not sure he could either!
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lol....yep, I would have no chance of carrying it off at all.

But I might get the right exposure once in a while :)
 
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