This is a story from the founders of Relonch, Inc., who on average have been married for 6 years and have 1.5 children (you will find out why this is important later on).
In reading various articles like “10 Things That Ruin A Relationship”, we noticed the absence of the most important point:
11. Ask him to take a great photo
You remember? It’s when she hands you smartphone and says those devastating words: “Hey, take a perfect photo of me here”. And that’s when all the nonsense begins… She doesn’t know how to sit/stand/lie down/where to look and you don’t know how you should capture this: from below/from the side/come closer/step back. After the first attempt you hear: “Not quite. Too cliche. Let’s try another way.” After the second attempt you hear:
“Not quite. Boring. Let’s try something else.”
And after the tenth attempt you’re not speaking to each other anymore :) We regularly have this problem while on trips, taking a walk with the kids, when we need to take a nice family photo or take a picture of our loved one next to something or other.
Focus on results
It turns out then that the biggest problem is not what to use to take a picture, not what filter to apply, but HOW to take a perfect photo.
- What is the subject and composition of the shot?
- How should the photo look?
- What should the picture contain and in what layout?
That is the reason we decided to focus on the result, so she could say:
“Perfect! That’s a great picture!”
Pro Photographer in your pocket
What we essentially need is a “pocket pro photographer” who we would always have with us, who has a bunch of photo ideas for various occasions and who would direct us: on the one hand, how to correctly sit/lie down/look and on the other hand, how to properly shoot it (from below, above, further away), so that the “artless” husband, friend or even a random passerby could capture it just as it was imagined.
Photo Stencils
That’s how the idea of photo-stencils was born (Patent Pending by the way). It’s sort of a catalog of photo ideas, complete with instructions and a stencil outline, into which you simply fit your subject.
And we thought that it would be really cool if professional photographers’ mini-secrets were all in one place in a simple, accessible and convenient format for the average smartphone user.
Now, my wife hands me a phone with the stencil selected in Relonch, I simply get in the necessary position and press the shutter!
Everyone’s happy. The relationship is alright. The wife is satisfied! Now we can ask any passerby to take a picture of us and get a perfect photo!
One more problem…
However… we didn’t dance for long :) We began testing shooting through a stencil and ran into a new phrase:
“Not bad, but we can’t see the face here. Too dark”.
We’ve all seen this: when shooting against a window, towards the sun, or when on a cloudy day the skin in the photo looks bluish and unnatural. Filters cannot deal with this problem, as they simply “pretty up” a photo, and do not always make it better.
No filters. Lighting Condition Adjustments.
Each shot is made under unique lighting conditions. And each shot must be “salvaged” (so the face can be seen, for example) in its own unique way. During our practical research we have identified three lighting categories: cloudy, sunny, indoors, and each one has 4 modes.
For each of the twelve lighting conditions we created its own unique adjustment. Over the course of several months we ran through our settings thousands of shots made under each of the twelve lighting conditions. And each time we “filed the edges” of each setting, so it would work the best it can for each one of these photos.
Now, instead of trying to correct each photo in apps, studying settings, you simply specify the current lighting conditions and voila: the wife’s satisfied in one click.
Different View on Consumer Photography
This is a different view of photography. A different approach. A view not from the viewpoint of megapixels and image-capturing technology, but from the viewpoint of the consumer. We “heard” what is lacking and created a technology that can help us solve this problem.
We are a small team. We have an ambition and women we love, who know what they need in a photo and that, in turn, is what the product needs.
Don’t ruin relationships over nothing :) Shoot with Relonch! :)
To be continued…
That’s one aspect of photography. When you want to take a perfect photo and you’re prepared to get into the right position to get it right. There is another aspect: documenting. That’s when you can’t control the subject of the shot. Like the child’s performance at a school drama show or a sports match. What’s important there are the emotional moments and accent is on the subject. But that’s a whole different story.
To be continued…
