How Long to Wait for the Decisive Moment? Ten minutes, tops.
For those of you that want a crisp, clear guideline on how long you should wait to make a photograph, there’s your answer.
For the rest of us, the correct answer is, “It depends.” Are you on vacation with a limited number of days you can devote to photography or are you on a long term assignment from a big budget client who expects “the shot” and is willing to both wait and pay for you to bring it back then you can afford to wait it out. If you’re fortunate enough to have a client with deep pockets and lots of time, you can sit down, put up your feet and wait for that cloud to move into the exact spot you need.
When on vacation, I go by the ten-minute rule because that’s enough time to figure out if something is going to happen in your scene, or I have to come back later for a better picture. I might make a record shot to remind of the place, or to help me refine the composition for later. Then again, I just might make the photograph and move that cloud into the proper position with a little nudge in photoshop. (I added this thought after the final draft. Isn’t it amazing how we sometimes don’t give up on four decades of ingrained analog photographic behavior?)
The vacationer also has a value judgement to make. Waiting on one photograph means you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to find another subject to photograph. So, it is a gamble we willingly take when we choose to wait or move on to the next opportunity. As it is with gambling, you make a choice and take a chance.
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