What should your photo look like?

Sunday 7 September 2025, 13:13 by Nando Harmsen | 2,433 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Anyone can take a photo. With an expensive mirrorless or DSLR camera, a compact camera or a smartphone. It doesn't matter how you do it. What should your photo look like? What kind of image do you want to create?

Apart from photographing on assignment, where the objective is clearly defined, the purpose of your photography can vary greatly. It comes down to the fact that the photos you take depend on the desired look.

It is not about the subject you most like to photograph, but about the appearance of the photo. Do you want it to be highly detailed, more realistic, atmospheric or artistic? I believe there is a place in this world for all of these types.

Are you the photographer who wants to photograph the world as the camera sees it? Preferably straight out of the camera, without editing on a computer. Accepting the camera's limitations?

Are you a photographer who wants to show the world in a photo as you see it with your eyes? With editing that ensures all details in the dark and light areas are retained? So that everything in the image is recognisable?

Do you prefer to photograph the moment? Using editing to bring back the feeling and atmosphere? Even if this means losing detail in the light or dark areas?

Are you an artist who uses the photo to fully bring out the atmosphere? Where some exaggeration of the atmosphere further emphasises the moment? On the condition that the physical location is not changed.

Are you going to create images based on a photo of reality? With adjustments and changes that alter this reality into a desired image? A photo edited so extensively that it shows something you would have liked to find there.

Or are you the artist who uses a photo as the basis for a manipulated image? The photographer who is not afraid to completely change reality? With the aim of transforming a photo into a digital painting?

I want to emphasise once again that this is not an article intended to call you to account. There is enough room for every kind of photographer or artist. Everyone should do what they want to do.

I am very curious what kind of photographer you are. What should your photo look like? Let us know in a comment below this post.

The images are for illustration purposes and do not necessarily reflect the descriptions in the text.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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1 comment

Donald Willemsen wrote on Sunday 7 September 2025 at 15:28 | reply
Nando, I read this article with pleasure. It invites you to think about what you want with your (my) photography. Besides portrait and model photography, I am a lover of landscape photography in the broadest sense. I find it important that a photo radiates a certain atmosphere and that certain character traits of the person being portrayed come forward in portrait photography.
Honestly, I find that quite difficult. Of course, you can apply all kinds of digital tricks (I am convinced that this often happens), but that also gives me a bit of a feeling of unease. An example: This year I went to Oradour sur Glane. I took many photos there about what happened on June 10, 1944. When I was there, it was a sunny day with a bright blue sky. I had already decided to render the photos in b&w and also tried to bring the atmosphere of that time into them. I don't feel that I succeeded in that.
Nevertheless, I find atmosphere in a photo important. I often struggle with the question: How far can you go in using digital and AI tools?
Translated from Dutch.

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