Sydney Photoart owner, Carsten Burmeister describes himself as an “urban photographer”, preferring Sydney’s cityscape to the traditional “outback” panoramic landscapes. A digital photographer since 1998 his style of photography, uses “light to the maximum”, composition and attention to detail. With digital tools available for the finishing touches, Carsten produces “evocative photoart” like the black and white images above.

When designing a new brochure or website, the right images are very important. Some business owners prefer to shoot their own photos and can do a great job if they have a background or interest in photography. Others, shoot images with no thought about composition, lighting or resolution creating headaches for graphic and web designers who end up spending time and money trying to fix the images up in Photoshop. The results can be “good” and sometimes “not so good”.

Photolibraries can be very cost effective with usually a wide variety of professional photographers’ images to choose from. However that doesn’t always suit a business who wants to display images of their Yoga centre or hotel or restaurant. For personalised images you need a professional photographer.

So do happy snaps qualify as good content? Absolutely. They are great for blogs and news posts online and can be absolute gems when treated and cropped. Some may even qualify as “hero” shots remaining as more permanent fixtures on a website.

As for print, well… print does demand high resolution images and a more professional approach. Generally happy snaps can work if you don’t expect too much from them (eg. not to be used as a hero shot) and if they are kept relatively small and compact. The reason being printed brochures and magazines are not as forgiving as a website and will show up a photo’s flaws immediately.

In conclusion, yes a happy snap can qualify as good content! But… usually that happy snap relies on professional art direction, good design and retouching expertise to make it just right! In other words, a good photo is art!