One of my favorite parts of just about every shoot I do is that moment when I first show my client an image on the back of my camera (or on the computer I am tethered to, if I'm shooting a studio session).  They are always shocked by what they see!  Because I am shooting with studio strobe lights, my camera captures an image that is lit very differently from what my clients are seeing with the naked eye.  Take, for example, this shoot with a Portland, CT police officer and his K9 partner.  The first image below is a behind-the-scenes image taken with an iPhone by my assistant.  It's a very fair representation of what we all were seeing with our own eyes.

Pretty flat natural light.  Nothing special.  But here's the image I'm capturing in my camera the very same moment....

Suffice to say, a lot more dramatic!  That's an image that is "epic."

While clients are shocked by the difference, I am not.  I've done this long enough that I "see" the final image in my own eyes before I actually take the image.  In fact, it's hard for me NOT to see the image this way.  In a typical day, as I walk around I am constantly envisioning what I'm seeing lit the way my final images are lit.  I'll be honest, it's a bit of a curse.  I am always looking at the world through a camera, with studio strobe light added!

Some people may want a more naturally lit image, and that's their prerogative.  But those images can be made with an iPhone these days.  Personally, I prefer to make dramatic, memorable, "epic" images for my clients.