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Photographers who are hell bent on perfectionism?

Eishwaneeren

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Sep 4, 2025
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Location
India
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Digital
Hello, I suffer from perfectionism and am yet to find a photographer, amateur and famed who is a perfectionist, I assume such people are rare in this practice. I also don't know many famous photographers, which is why I asked.
 
Welcome to Photrio @Eishwaneeren !

Please define 'perfection'? I think there are plenty of examples that qualify. How many tries did Weston do to get the perfect pepper? How much time did Adams spend on perfecting the Zone System to get as close as possible to his artistic vision? How strict were Cartier-Bresson's philosophy and discipline in nailing the 'decisive moment'?

I think in photography, and especially amateur photography, it's relatively easy to find perfectionists. Whether they actually yield perfect results - probably not by their own definition, as that would be antithetical to being a perfectionist!
 
“Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.”

Voltaire.

@Eishwaneeren If you say "I suffer from perfectionism" then you have identified the fact that your work suffers because your expectations are hampering your creativity. Perhaps it's time to consider loosening your definition of what makes for good output.
 
My philosophy is that it is never good enough.
Students, when showing me there work would often ask me, is this good enough? I would look at them, and say nothing, because they knew what I would say!
 
Perfectionism is one of the characteristics of the Procrastinator.
 
Eishwaneeren said:
Hello, I suffer from perfectionism and am yet to find a photographer, amateur and famed who is a perfectionist, I assume such people are rare in this practice. I also don't know many famous photographers, which is why I asked.
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Can you define what you mean by perfectionism as a photographer?
 
I believe there are several kinds of photographers. Of course, just by looking around, someone realizes very quickly the perfectionist ones are the most frequent.
I am no perfectionist because I don't torture myself with photography. I look forward to have "fun" somehow. I could walk a lot, though, in order to find a nice scene to shoot, also I could do some acrobatics to compose a close-up.
But I am not someone being immobile for hours trying to catch a specific shot. Neither at analysing for hours a scene to shoot.
In other words, if I had to qualify myself as a photographer I could say "photo reporter". As a pro I would have had satisfaction to be in the beat of news [which is not the case coz I am just an amateur].
It is a excellent topic of reflection.
 
Eishwaneeren said:
Hello, I suffer from perfectionism and am yet to find a photographer, amateur and famed who is a perfectionist, I assume such people are rare in this practice. I also don't know many famous photographers, which is why I asked.
Click to expand...

Perfectionist fine art photographers probably don't take as many photographs as those who are more liberal with their choices. In the end, who has the greatest work? Those with a few photographs that are mostly really good, or those with more photographs that are pretty good and about the same number of really good. We all need to be learning our processes, so with more experimenting, I believe we're better off than with less provided we really do learn from our mistakes. Perfectionists may make fewer mistakes, but do they learn as much? This is a tough call. I keep telling myself to stop taking photos that I know are not that great, but I go ahead anyway. I like having a variety.

It's good to take classes in the history of photography to gain perspective on what's already been done. Through learning, we can understand famous photographers to some degree but still we don't really know them personally. I would suggest joining some photo group over there in India. I believe you have more English style hobby groups or societies than we here in the US, so that may be helpful.
 
Perfectionism is what made me quit my initial years of photography in frustration. When I began again ten years later I dropped the perfectionism.
 
Pieter12 said:
I still don't know what anyone means by perfectionism in photography...can someone cite an example?
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Maybe product photography. Getting exactly the perfect photo of the glistening, steaming hamburger.

Perfection is for idealists and the otherwise naive.
 
The photographers I know who tend toward perfectionism tend to be extraordinarily strong in matters of technology and technique.
A lot of them gravitate toward the lab side of things.
That doesn't exclude vision, artistry, and inventiveness.
On the other hand, I've known a few people who are amazing artists, but who you wouldn't want to go to for help with the technical stuff EVER!
 
Perfection is a false idyll.
You can set and reach the bar — surprise yourself over and over again, but then find a perverse need to exceed it, and on and on and on.
Where does perfection start and end? When is is perfect, how is it quantified and measured? You may consider something perfect, but will others? It's a very, very subjective thing.
 
Pieter12 said:
I still don't know what anyone means by perfectionism in photography...can someone cite an example?
Click to expand...
It is called Chronic Worry, a condition of OCD.

"Perfect is the enemy of good"

The only person ever known to be perfect was Nadia Comaneci.
No photographer has come close


 

A photographer with artistic vision can always hire a crew with technical expertise, for printing/post production as well. A technical perfectionist can't farm out the vision part. Plus so much of what might be considered perfection can be happenstance, depend on talent in front of the lens, and the artistic values of the time.
 
True
snusmumriken said:
That's very un-sympathetic! I think it is the other way round: procrastination is often a symptom of those afflicted by crippling perfectionism.
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True, but not all procrastinators are perfectionists.

I suppose perfection is an imaginary goal. It probably has no place in legal discourse. One person’s good enough can be someone else’s perfection. And there are cases where what would commonly be held as perfect printing technique would just get in the way of the message the print/photographer is trying to convey.

Perfection is learning something.
 
Expectation and reality are like two squirrels chasing each other around the yard. Maybe perfection is possible, but arresting, controlling, or possessing the moment it happens is laughably improbable. I think it is fine to have lofty goals but some slice of reality will always be an accident.
 
As long as you don't have an all-or-nothing approach. A goal is good - quitting because you never reach it is not.
 
I couldn't take it any longer - the perfectionist in me had to edit the thread title by adding the missing "are".
 
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