Lesson #16: Be a Director

On a movie set, the director is the person who tells everyone where to stand, when to move, when to speak, what to say, how to say it and when to exit the scene. He or she is the one with the overall vision of how they want the film to look. They know how they want each scene shot, what type of lens the camera operator should use, how they want the light to look and they're the one who waits until just the right moment before saying "Action!"

Good photographs are artistic creations rather than mere happenstance, and since nearly all great photographs are made with at least some production value, whether they requre elaborate setups, or slight adjustments to the light or subject matter, they require a director. When you return to a scene under better lighting conditions, tell your subjects where they should stand in the frame, or when you simply frame the scene a certain way, then you are acting like a director.

Unless you shoot in a pure journalistsic style, then embrace your role as director and work towards getting that image just right. Tell your subjects where you want them and what to do, and if you don't get the shot the first time, ask them to do whatever they were doing again. And again if needed. Make sure that the scene looks exactly the way you want and don't hesitate to do whatever you need in order to make the final image match the one that exists in your mind.