The most challenging subject?

[sharky]

I went to the Avalon airshow on the weekend and took a few hundred shots, adding to the few hundred I took a couple of weeks ago at the Australian F1 GP (I LOVE living in Melbourne). I really love shooting stuff like this because capturing someting moving that fast really pushes my skills and my gear to their limits, and it got me thinking about the challenges various subjects present. Landscape requires patience, portrait requires good social skills, action needs reflexes and timing, and they all need a great understanding of the equipment and its limits.

So, fellow forum followers, what do you consider to be the most challenging photographic subject?

[djkk9]

Portraits of people! Anything moving is better than getting someone to sit still and pose.

[mikesd]

Brides, no one has higher expectations, nor demands more.

[sharky]

I have to agree with the brides comment. I was once asked to shoot a wedding and replied that I avoid photographing anything moving at less that 300 kilometers per hour.

[michael.luczkow]

agreed.
Although I think the most dificult thing to capture is a "moment", not a person.

[DocFrankenstein]

For me it was jewelry. Hard to get the stone to shine while getting metal nicely exposed.

But I've never done portraits with serious demands and deadlines.

[Jackal]

Animals.

Especially when you only have a 55mm. You pretty much need cloaking abilities to get close enough :D

[mikesd]

For me it was jewelry. Hard to get the stone to shine while getting metal nicely exposed.

But I've never done portraits with serious demands and deadlines.



Agree Doc, jewelry is also tough, my wife dabbles selling antique jewelry on e-bay and getting good shots is quite a challenge.

[Moments]

This is a real toss up.
I used to shoot a lot of advertising /catalog photography, and jewelry was always a demanding shoot. I could spend from an hour to a few hours on set with a large shot, which most were on 8x10 film. Up and down ladders, making very very small moves so the spacing of each piece is perfect, getting the metal and stones to look right, and believe it or not a DOF of a few inches is very hard at life size.
A few years ago I made a complete switch to wedding / portrait photography and I find myself sometimes wishing for the solitude of a darkened quite studio. (The demands are still there, but it's different.)
This week was one of those times. Thursday was a daycare shoot of 30 kids between 18 months and 4 years old, Saturday was 24 portraits and assorted fun photos of my 12 year old daughters friends at her birthday party at my studio. 3 hours to shoot and print a 5x7 of each was fun but I was exhausted at the end. And today was an engagement shoot.

So I would say that jewelry, wedding, and kids have been the most challenging that I have done over the years.

Pete
www.memorablemoments.net

[eosster]

My kid, LOL.

[RJSorensen]

Buffalo . . . they just are tough.

[tommykjensen]

Animals that live inside an enclosure with double fences. One with small masks to keep the animals from escaping and one to keep people from getting too close to the first.

Birds in flight. I have not been lucky with those with my 300 f/4 IS yet.

[robertwgross]

The most challenging subject is the one that you have never successfully shot before.

---Bob Gross---

[PhotosGuy]

I can think of two.
1. Cars, 'cause they are curved mirrors that reflect everything. Add models, & you've increased the degree of difficulty by the square of the numbers of models present. (And the cube of the number of ADs present!)

2. I once worked for ANR, a company that produced & delivered natural gas which can't be photographed, right? So you had to find ways to "Illustrate" it. That meant making a bunch of equipment look "romantic" & "environmentally friendly", even when they were digging up the landscape to lay a pipeline. :D
And, you'd get requests like, "The CEO wants a shot of coal along with molecules of sulphur, phenol, ammonia, and napthalene for the cover next month!" (Put that one in your monthly contest!) ;)
Actually, it was a great job 'cause I covered 18 states & the Gulf of Mexico, kept me out of the office a lot, & cell phones hadn't been invented yet! :D:D:D

[booggerg]

Taking pictures of random people in the streets. I'm very self conscious when it comes to that... any tips?

[Sam]

Food is tough to photograph. The colors are tough to bring out correctly for me.

[Longwatcher]

So far the toughest thing for me to photograph is a rocket truck that was operating during an airshow. It is moving at random speeds (faster and faster) and as the rocket ignites my exposure setting get shot to H*** and it takes one or two to get them right again and in the meantime the truck is moving closer chaging everything all over again.
And then the flames go down, exposure gets messed up again but the truck is still coming ever closer. Not to mention all the smoke generated also messing up exposure. And you have about 30-45 seconds and one chance that day to get a decent shot.

What a pain, I got one okay shot out of about 20. The jets at the airshow were a lot easier. Have not tried yet with my 1DsMkII, airshow being in Late April time frame.

And capturing the right moment with a model is always a challenge, but take enough pictures and you will get a good one eventually. The better the model, the less you need to take. But then I usually work with "some-work" models as opposed to "experienced".

But that rocket truck still wins for most difficult subject.

My other annoyance is seagulls as they have a habit of passing directly overhead.

[BayAreaPhotog]

I have shot non-televised pro billiard tournaments. No flash is allowed, only the table is lit and from directly above. It's like golf, when the player is ready to shoot, you can't be moving around. Also, like many sports shots, the best shots are usually the reactions to the shot . . . unfortunately in pool, their reaction is out of the light. I'd be interested in hearing from any pros who have photographed billiards.

[BrianM65]

My kid, LOL.

Same here... :D

[RockOne]

Seabirds in flight...from the deck of a moving boat in a heavy swell...with a 300mm lens (non IS)....and using one hand to hold on to the deck railing :-).

[musthavemuzk]

interesting question indeed.
have not been in the game long enough to pic anything in particular.
i have noticed that moving objects and low light shooting have caused me the most grief so far. then again i was using a P&S digital camera. now i have a 20D so i hope to change the story a bit.

some good info in here to give a person a heads up should they decide to tackle one of the types of photography.

Monty

[new2photo]

The subject I most want to capture and has been the most challenging is basketball action shots. My children play in high school and D1 college. All I want is a few of those great action shots. None of the 400+ that I have taken so far qualify. Any tips?

[max101]

Anything underwater - not only is the subject moving, but you are too. The colours are weird - the gear is cumbersome and you always need to look out for that shark :-)