How did a photography assistant become a photographer?

What exactly is the job of a photography assistant?

The occupation of a photographer's assistant is to help the photographer who is officially shooting complete the shooting work.

And even in the same photography job, there may be many photography assistants with different division of labor, such as portrait wedding photos, portraits and other indoor photography jobs. Generally, there are three photography assistants, specifically lighting photography assistant and modeling photography assistant, and the other one is responsible for some assistant work except lighting and modeling.

Outdoor photography assistants do many kinds of work, such as landscape photography. Some big professional photographers will invite many assistants, and there are also many specific types of work, such as equipment assistants, who are responsible for the management of equipment, or the equipment in the trek, as well as photometric assistants. You can also find other job assistants if necessary. Of course, these complicated tasks can be done by many people or by one person.

In fact, the photography assistant is the photographer's reserve team. Being a good photographer will help you understand the profession of photographer. You must first know your photographer's shooting style. If a photographer's shooting style is decided, he will like his assistant to set the lighting and modeling according to his style. If you have your opinions, you can communicate with your photographer in private. The photographer doesn't like his assistant interrupting his thinking when shooting.

In addition, the photography assistant should know the performance of the equipment you use. Just like a photographer, you should have an effect picture in your mind before you use the light. Even in digital photography, you should repeatedly study and measure the position and index of the light, so as to ensure that your photographer has a high success rate of pressing the shutter. Don't ask questions such as "Is the lighting position ok" and "Is the indicator appropriate" at work. These questions are all done by the photography assistant for the photographer.

In fact, the job of photography assistant is very complicated and involves a wide range of contents, but it can be simply described in one sentence, which is to relieve all the "worries" of photographers, including some technical work of photography, such as the erection of on-site equipment and the configuration of lighting. Or something trivial, such as finding a way to install an ashtray on a tripod, so that photographers can put their unfinished cigarettes at any time.

Collecting and sharing experiences, they have done the following work:

Camera operation, mainly parameter setting, occasionally have the opportunity to press the shutter.

Installation of lighting and background. Make tea and coffee.

Processing raw materials.

Buy food for the staff and help the photographer walk the dog.

Ensure site safety and facilitate emergency rescue.

Order or lease related equipment.

Arrange the photographer's daily housework, including going to the mailbox to get the bill.

Clean up the on-site equipment after the shooting.

Act as a lamp holder.

Repair the equipment on the plane.

Hold a reflector in the strong wind, light a lamp in the pool, and hang it at a high place for lighting.

Like the photographer's personal secretary and housekeeper, okay! Maybe some friends will feel strange when they see this kind of work. Where on earth are we going to practice our photography skills, and what good will it do to our photography career? Let's keep watching.

The real practice of theory, the crazy accumulation of experience value

The photography scene is the photographer's first battlefield. As the photographer's assistant, you get the opportunity to join the front line. No matter what you learn at school or learn by yourself, you will practice by participating in real shooting and truly turn theory into ability. If you are lucky enough to be an assistant to a famous photographer and work as an intern in a more professional photography field, you will gain experience that many people can't buy.

Understand the workflow of photography industry.

In the front line of photography, you can not only exercise your own photography skills and the speed of handling things, but also understand the workflow of the whole industry as quickly as possible, including how photographers receive cases, how to communicate with guests, what the people in the photography team are responsible for, what the site resources are, and how to process pictures before printing them. Instead of getting familiar with these things after entering the photographer, it is better to start observing while working as a photography assistant to lay the foundation for becoming a professional photographer.