Modern technology has changed the world of photography. With smartphones, computers, photo-apps, and photo-sharing websites such as Instagram, millions of images are taken and shared on a daily basis. The most popular genre of photography is the selfie, which accounts for almost a third of all photographs taken. So with all these images — why would you want to have your photographs taken in a professional photographic studio?
The Selfie — A Brief History
The history of portraiture and self-portraiture is fascinating. Having your image captured by an artist was, in the past, a rare experience and mostly the preserve of the upper classes. Although probably an apocryphal story, it is said that the first photographic portrait ever taken was a self-portrait recorded by Robert Cornelius in 1839.
Of course, there are big differences between Cornelius' first ever selfie and those taken today on smartphones. Today they are taken prolifically by ordinary folk, celebrities, politicians and world leaders alike — even the Pope takes them. It is estimated that the typical Millennial will take around 45,000 selfies during their lifetime.
Selfies are fun and tell many stories of where we have been and what we have done. However, even if we manipulate them before sharing them, they rarely make us look our best. Distorted by the wide-angle camera phone lens and limited by the arm's length framing, they fall hugely short of the quality we would expect from a proper photographic portrait.
The Professional Studio Photoshoot
While the useful lifetime of a selfie is short — each selfie will soon be replaced by another — the useful lifetime of a studio photographic portrait can be a lifetime and even longer.
A studio photoshoot will make you look your best and, with the right photographer, will also tell your story more effectively than any selfie ever could. A professional photographer is able to employ a wide range of skills and use highly sophisticated camera and lighting equipment along with post-processing in order to create a high level of artistry that you would be proud to hang on your wall.
In our Edinburgh studio, we also have a stylist, a make-up artist, a nail technician, and a retouch specialist who all work together with our professional photographers to make sure that you really do look your best.
Finally
We say long live the selfie — it has an important role to play. But if you want a portrait to be proud of, then you can't do better than enjoy a photoshoot experience at our Edinburgh studio.
