A self described Editorial Wedding Photographer, Phil Chester has always been one of those photographers whose style has stood out against the others. Unique and instantly recognisable, his work has constantly impressed everyone at Unscripted HQ. So, we chatted with him about being our feature photographer and when he willingly obliged, we thought “Great! We get to put some of Phil’s photos on the app and show his work on our socials.” But, when the quick questionnaire that we sent him turned into an elaborate exploration of his photography knowledge we knew this nugget of gold had to be turned into a blog.
What's your top tip for new photographers?
Above all things, focus primarily on your photography. It seems almost too basic and too vague but with all the pressure to be an Instagram and TikTok comedian nowadays I think its easy to lose focus of the thing you're trying to promote, your photography. Make mood boards, constantly re-curate your taste, analyze your favorite images and try to take steps to work towards closing the gap. The gap between the work youre making and the work you aspire to make. Look at work outside of your field for inspiration. Set short term goals, set up as many test shoots as you can mentally handle, try using strobes or light modifiers. Stay inspired. Make work you're excited about and promote the crap out of it.
What's your fav camera body?
Digital: Canon R5 for sure. Although I really love the Sony A7 series.
Film: Currently its the Contax T2. OBSESSED.
What's your fav lens?
The Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L. I was a prime boy for so long, I think primarily because I used to shoot a lot more wide open. A couple years ago I went back to zoom lenses and haven’t looked back. They're just so convenient!
Tell us about your presets
Well, its like our seasoning/spice blend we put on all the food we make. The finishing touch. Taking the tones from work we're inspired by, be it film or editorial or commercial work, we end up building a fairly large collection of our own personal presets. That over time gets whittled down to our top 15 presets we use on everything we shoot. So we make them for ourselves first. We have 3 different packs, each with a unique vibe. The Essential Pack is our cleanest, most versatile, works on everything pack. It's what we're currently editing everything with. Really gorgeous subtle toning that polishes the photo without that "there's a preset on that image" look. A few of them really give me that beautiful Portra 400 color profile look, our favorite film stock. We also threw in a couple disposable camera presets for fun :) Our Editorial Pack is stronger in the toning department but still gives a really clean feel to the image, inspired from work we see in editorial and fashion campaigns. Our PS Pack are our most toned presets that pay tribute to more analog/vintage vibes. The PS07 Vintage preset is one of our most popular and lends itself to all things retro.
For a 10% discount on Phil’s presets use the code Unscripted10 on his website www.philchesterpresets.com
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