Are my photos good enough to start charging for sessions?

thereyougo! · Feb 21, 2017

The thing about advice is that people don't always practise what they preach - and it goes both ways. Sometimes people's work is better than their advice, sometimes people's advice is better than their work. It's a minefield, and as a photographer in training (and I think pretty much every photographer is a photographer in training) you have to have thick skin and as little stubbornness as you can muster. There will be times when you think you have it right, when you haven't and vice versa.

You learn little by making no mistakes. The best lessons are the ones that you learn from mistakes. Don't be afraid of making them.

Designer · Feb 21, 2017

You're doing fine.

vintagesnaps · Feb 21, 2017

What pixmedic said about the business aspects, and try ASMP or PPA for resources. Along with that you'll need to bring up your skill level to be competitive.

beccaf91 · Feb 22, 2017

You guys... the 7D Mark II that I'm getting has a dual axis level in the viewfinder and gridlines. I think this will help me a ton compositionally. I know that's the easy way out but I understand that will only go so far if I don't already have a firm grasp of composition, aspect ratio, acceptable backgrounds, etc. But I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

Designer · Feb 23, 2017

Good for you!

Derrel · Feb 23, 2017

A guy who I read regularly when I was first learning about photography, was David Vestal. This article details some things about Vestal and his writings. David Vestal: A Wonderful Life

An excerpt of something important from the article,

"Look through the viewfinder at anything you want to photograph, then move around until you like the way your picture fits in the finder's rectangle."

"Get close enough to fill up the picture with what's most important. Get far enough away to include everything you need in the picture. What's important? You decide. It's your picture; you're the photographer. No one else can say what's important to you."

"If your seeing is good, your pictures should be good, even if they are slightly overexposed or out of focus. If they are lively or pertinent, and worth seeing, that is what matters. Only weak pictures need perfection. Strong ones can survive considerable faults."

—From "David Vestal's Book of Craft," Chapter 1: How the Tools of Photography Evolved, Camera 35, March 1972"

Designer · Feb 23, 2017

Derrel said:
A guy who I read regularly when I was first learning about photography, was David Vestal.

I owned his book; "The Craft of Photography". Probably the best book about film, developing, printing that I have ever read.

vintagesnaps · Feb 23, 2017

That first quote is a winner. If only people would learn to do that.

And isn't that part of the enjoyment of photography? Looking thru the viewfinder and seeing when you've got a good photograph? Seeing when it's a good moment to release the shutter? I take satisfaction in that as a photographer.