It’s difficult to explain the perfect shot. You can setup and prepare but even with the most careful planning that perfect shot sometimes eludes you. This doesn’t appear to be the case for Peter Tran, the artist behind iconsphotography.com. Through his artistic eye, he has been able to capture incredibly well composed shots that almost seemed preplanned. His use of natural lighting to give his subject that added touch can often times frustrate most photographers that have been doing this longer than Peter has been alive.

By: Peter Tran
Contributing Writer & Photographer

Once he has captured the raw images he then proceeds to improves upon what some would say is already a great shot. Some may view his work as being merely slight of hand through the artful use of Adobe’s program suite. We strongly disagree because in order to have a beautiful final product, you still need a good base to start with. The post-production work merely enhances what’s already there. Like a sculpture looking at a raw piece of marble, he sees the finished product.It is the painstaking process of capturing the moment and enhancing it to convey the final piece.

It truly is amazing to view some of his raw images get transformed into what you see posted on his website and what is released to his excited clients. Doing modeling shoots, Peter often finds himself shooting in excess of 400 shots. From that lot of 400, he is able to find 20 to 30 acceptable shots that he can work with. The more shots you take, the better the odds you will catch that one “money shot”. It seems to all come so easy for him as Peter can take those 20 to 30 shots and spend an additional couple of hours on the post-production work to bring out those that shine. 15 years of Adobe experience can make easy work out of his passion.

When asked what subject matter is the most difficult to shoot, after a moment of reflection, Peter replies back “humans”. He further explains the challenge of getting the subject to be comfortable around the camera so that they can be more at ease and relaxed in front of the camera. Nothing is worse than a forced smile. But to him, shooting humans is the most rewarding, especially when you present them the final product and he experiences their excitement. Like all artists, Peter is never happy. There is always something to be improved upon. There is always a better shot, angle or light setting.

If you are interested in commissioning Peter to perform his magic at an event or just want to capture a moment in your life, you can contact him via email at Peter@iconsphotography.com and can also be reached at 949-378-4056. You can visit Peter’s site at www.iconsphotography.com