Is it magic?

Have you ever wondered how photographers manage to get the light to fall on one area of an image and not another? Or how they can light three people in different areas of the image without lighting the whole scene (like the image above).

I’d like to say it’s with magic, but that’s not quite true.

You see, a skilled photographer is no different to any other skilled tradesperson. They can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and make it look easy, even when it’s not.

To achieve this illusion we spend years honing our craft, studying the work of other photographers and working with mentors who are keen to share their knowledge.

Our spare time is spent reading about photography, gear and techniques and then practicing what we’ve learnt.

And when we get together with other photographers we will talk about the art of photography for hours and put together images like this one.

So how was it done?

This second image shows some of the behind the scenes action, with each of us lit individually by an assistant.

Although in this case we were each other’s assistant and, remarkably, we are all nicely lit as well.

So maybe it is magic… or just some great planning, imagination, a bit of post processing and a lot of skill.

And that is the difference between commissioning a skilled photographer to capture your next images and getting Jimmy from the mail room with the nice camera to take a couple of quick snaps.

At the end of the day you will always get the result you paid for.