When it comes to being a photographer, our overall mission is to create consistently incredible imagery. But to become a successful photographer in business, there are four key skills you must acquire. We’ll put these four skills into two primary categories: hard skills versus soft skills. The hard skills are the technical ones that come from being able to use your gear creatively, come up with new ideas, and know how to find and create light, post processing, etc.  The soft skills involve the ability to properly communicate with your clients and understand what they want and need. If you’ve ever wondered “what skills do you need to be a photographer?” then this article is for you.
I would argue that MOST successful photographers (in business) aren’t necessarily the best artists in our industry. They have however mastered the soft skills that enables them to deliver an incredible client experience.
I’d say that you need a balance here. It’s important to have all four skills. But once a basic level of mastery is achieved in the technical/artistic side, I usually lean toward soft skills as having the greater importance as far as being the difference maker.
THE Hard Skills (25%)
The hard skills needed to be a photographer can be referred to as internal skills because you can improve on these skills by simply studying and practicing on your own. These are very important but they’re not the sole means to success. Hard skills encompass technical and artistic mastery, and should make up about 25% of a successful photographer.
1. Technical (Hard Skill)
As stated above, hard skills are relatively easy to teach and learn. Our numerous workshops cover the many aspects of the technical side. On the technical side, there is camera, composition, and exposure control. This is all Photography 101 course content. Then there’s mastery of lighting and light modification from our Lighting workshops. You’ll need post production skills and for this we’ve created three entire courses on Lightroom editing in the Lightroom Workshop Collection. And then there’s posing, which is one part hard skill, one part soft skill, both of which is taught through various workshops including the Complete Posing Workshop.
2. Artistic (Hard Skill)
The artistic side covers artistic camera, composition, and exposure control which is, again, discussed in all of the courses listed above. Technical and artistic are two very different hard skills needed to be a photographer. Think about some of the photographers that you know, or even yourself. Would you classify yourself as a technical photographer or as an artistic photographer? There are so many incredible photographers who are absolutely amazing artistically; they can create images that are breathtaking, yet they don’t really know much about the technical components of what they’re doing.
On the flip side, do you know photographers that are incredibly technical? They know their lighting ratios, everything there is to know about aperture, maximum dynamic range, about optimal shutter speeds, etcetera, yet there’s always seems to be something missing from their photographs? These are technical photographers. Generally, most of us are going to have a balance between these two but it might be weighted on one side depending on our personalities/experience.
A Â photographer should strive to have a good balance of both technical and artistic mastery. From experience, it’s common to see photographers have good technical mastery while lacking artistic development. So if you find yourself naturally leaning toward one side, then focus on balancing by learning the other.
That said, this is only a small fraction of what it takes to be a successful photographer. The bulk of comes from our soft skills.
THE Soft Skills (75%)
The soft skills needed to be a photographer are labeled, “external skills” because these need to be practiced with people. Because photography as a business is a client-serving field, this is the more significant skillset when trying to become a successful photographer.
3. Communication (Soft Skill)
Communication is key to building a relationship. Being able to communicate with people and discuss their interests, backgrounds, and anything other than photography is an extremely important soft skill. It involves smiling, being genuine, and being interested in what others have to say. You’d be surprised how much this could do for you. It’s the ability to use positive and reinforcing words as well as provide positive solutions to your client’s sometimes random requests.
When it comes to posing, as we mentioned above, there’s a technical side but much of posing comes down to communication and how you guide and direct your clients. You can have the know-how of what makes a good pose, but you need to have the ability to communicate and guide your clients through it.
For this reason, all of our coursework and education has a big emphasis on HOW you communicate with your clients. From directing/posing in the Complete Posing Workshop to learning how to communicate and plan a wedding within the Wedding Series. One of my early mentors said it best when he said, “Photographers don’t need more photography school, they need charm school!”
4. Understanding (Soft Skill)
Being able to ask targeted questions is part of communication, but a major component for the soft skill of understanding. While communication is about your words, how you speak them and how you communicate your vision to your clients is critical. And understanding involves talking less, listening more and asking targeted questions so you know what their vision is. Another way of framing this idea would be understanding = empathy.
As a photographer, you must seek to understand your clients’ wants, needs, and concerns. You not only need to be able to emphasize, you must have the ability to address and resolve those concerns.
Having the ability to communicate clearly and understand people makes you an empathetic communicator, able to understand their vision and share your own vision effectively.
External Soft Skills vs. Internal Hard Skills
In short, the combination of being a skilled photographer and empathic communicator is what makes a successful photographer.
Throughout the entire process, almost every touchpoint will draw on your external soft skills. From understanding the vision, tailoring expectations, proper planning, and exceeding expectations, communication and understanding are required. Only when you get to the shoot execution do you use those external hard skills, but even then on shoot day, both soft and hard skills are incorporated.
In the process of creating consistently incredible images with every single client, the vast majority of your interaction and the process itself relies on your soft skills and your ability to communicate and understand, versus your technical and artistic ability. You need both sides, and all four skill sets to succeed.
You can learn more on developing and using these skills in part 1 of the Wedding Workshop. Gain access to the workshop and so much more by becoming an SLR Lounge Premium Member here.
