Imitating the greats

JamesMichael

JamesMichael

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Jamie
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Hi everyone

Anyone here try imitating the work of some renowned photographer in order to learn? I hear it can be a good method. To try a style that is maybe unusual to you, to see if it fits or is this a bit artificial? Should style just come out naturally? (deep question :))
 
It's natural to be influenced by the great photographers. Initially our photos resemble theirs but eventually our own way of making photos comes out (see Helsinki Bus Station Theory).
 
My standard technique when I see a picture I particularly like is to endeavour to recreate it. So, yes, I think it is a good way of learning, so long as once you have learnt you carry on with your own style with one more technique available.
 
It's a great way of learning.

Amongst the best ways of learning imho.

I find it bizarre when fairly experienced photographers ask for help to create a particular composition / lighting technique etc, as I learned to 'read' an image fairly early on and it's by building on this that I have developed.

As for a 'style' just keep shooting and one day, someone else will tell you that you have a style.
 
I've found this business of "finding my style" rather bothersome. I've been taking photographs on and off for more than sixty years. I've learnt how to do a good handful of the styles you find in textbooks. But a style of my own still shows no sign of emerging. It seems to me that a style requires a particular kind of subject. If I developed, say, a high key portrait style with nice smooth bokeh backgrounds with discernible contextual details, how could I apply that to a sunset? Or a moonlit landscape? Or a macro photo of a beetle? And if I developed a style for my sunsets, how would it be appropriate to apply that style to photographs of building sites? How could a flower portrait style be appropriately applied to a mountain landscape?

On the other hand if I concentrated on taking photographs of cats faces with an 85mm f1.4 lens always wide open then people would instantly recognise my style -- but it wouldn't be a style, would it? It would be cat's faces shot with an 85mm lens at f1.4.
 
Painters often reinterpret great paintings as way of understanding them. It's harder with photography, or at least with some forms of photography. But studying great photos is always worthwhile.

Personal style doesn't come from techniques or subjects, it comes from how you look at things. And as Phil says, it creeps up on you without you realising.
 
I think looking at how others view the world is essential to a beginning photographic journey. Imitating how they did it puts that research into action and also helps to a point. Obligatory Helsinki Bus Station Link

@Ed Sutton has it spot on with it being about how you look at things. That's something you can only discover by looking at yourself. Yes - it may gradually evolve (and change as you get older/wiser) but recognising it makes your photographs better because you know what you're seeing rather than what you're looking at. Research & imitation helps to tease that out - well - it did for me anyway.
 
I don't know that it's necessary to have an individual style - and Chris (post #5), I don't think that it's something to worry about. But a style could come about naturally, rather than from conscious endeavour. As said, it can be about how you look, and see, rather than a mechanically-imposed construct.
 
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I was on a post processing training course last Saturday. The guy first took me through the processing of one of his photos slowly step by step. Next we went through how he would process one of my photos step by step. Finally I processed that same photo following his procedure but making my own choices and so ending up in a different place. The next day I processed one of my own shots on my own but I chose one that was very similar to one of his so I could see where we both ended up. Yesterday I processed another three of my own shots and found I was already slightly altering the procedure I used, losing one of his steps, adding a couple of my own. Without his initial helping hand though I don't think I could have got anywhere near where I am now.
 
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