Art & Photography — Let’s Talk About Consistency

Creating consistency is an important skill that every photographer should master. In this story, I will share with you a few things I do to create consistency in my photos.

Photo by author. Shot in Pittsburgh.

One of the things that differentiate amateur and experienced photographers is whether there is consistency in their photos. In this story, I would like to share with you what I do to create a flow of consistency in my photography works.

Photo by author. Shot in Pittsburgh.

#1 — Keep consistency in mind when choosing subjects and themes.

Photo by author. Shot in Pittsburgh.

Let’s start with an extreme case — say I am a photographer who only shoots apples. When you look at my photos, you would think “Wow, this guy’s works are very consistent, they are all… apples…”. To be consistent as a beginner photographer, it is a good idea to start with a narrow selection of subjects, but you need to strike the right balance, otherwise, your works would be boring, because they are all just… apples.

Take the kinds of subjects I shoot in my street works as an example. When I shoot street photos, I look for people and their genuine interaction with their surroundings. This selection of subjects is very focused because I am shooting nothing but people, but at the same time not too narrow, because there is a lot of dynamics when it comes to people and the candid moments they create. In my opinion, having the right choice of subject is the starting point of creating consistency.

To take it to the next level, I will keep a theme in mind when I shoot my chosen subjects. For example, in my latest project “In the Times of Covid”, the theme I chose was uncertainly and gloominess. When I use this theme to drive my shooting and editing, it would come out consistently throughout the photos I come up with.