CC Please

[One Sister]

Although we bill ourselves as pet and family photographers we predominantly shoot pets with their families...except around Christmas. During the summer months we do not do much business and are trying to find ways to rectify that. Some parents of children we photographed have asked us to show our work to their day care center in the hopes that we could visit one morning.

This sounds like a good way to do some drumming so I'm going to take a few photos around to some of the smaller schools. These are six examples that I thought I could show. I don't have a lot of choices...I'm a pet photographer...but I'm thinking these might work. What do you think?

#1 - I'm holding the print in my hand and it has no artifacts. None. But I see them here after posting. It must be because of the jpg squash and save. I've had this problem with solid color backgrounds before since posting to this forum. Just forget that as a criticism because I know not to show photos with artifacts. You'll also notice that #3, #5 & #6 show artifacts in the background...I know that, but the tiffs are clean. Please critique these 6 photos aside from the obvious artifacts. Thanks.

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

 

[DRoberts]

Very nice shots. Did you increase the saturation in your PP? That's what it looks like to me rather than jpg issues. Try saving them as a gif and see if it turns out the same.

 

[JackCooper92]

Nice, not really a fan of studio work though.
#4- Am I seeing double? They look like twins, lol

#5 - I love chubby babies, He's beautiful.

 

[One Sister]

Very nice shots. Did you increase the saturation in your PP? That's what it looks like to me rather than jpg issues. Try saving them as a gif and see if it turns out the same.

Hmmm. I may have bumped the saturation slightly in camera raw...but ever so slightly. I'll do some experimenting with the saturation, because the prints and the tiffs on my screen do not have any artifacts, it's just after I've saved them as a 150K jpg. Also, it only happens with solid backgrounds.

Thanks for looking and for your comments, I appreciate it.

Nice, not really a fan of studio work though.
#4- Am I seeing double? They look like twins, lol

#5 - I love chubby babies, He's beautiful.

I'll let you in on a little secret. #1 and #2 are the same child and #5 and #6 are the same child, but no, #4 is just a sweet little girl with the love of her life.

When we first opened our studio 3 years ago I had no idea how many repeat customers we'd have. We work 18 hour days during the months of Oct, Nov and Dec because they all come back. It's just that biz falls off in the summer months so we really need to do something.

Thanks for viewing and reviewing...anyone else?

 

[One Sister]

Bump for more cc. TIA.

 

[One Sister]

I appreciate the two folks who took the time to view and review these images but I'm really hoping to get more honest critiques so here's one more shameless bump.

 

[invisible]

I think your winners in this series are #5 and #6, due to the sheer spontaneity of the kid. #1 might make this winners group too. (It's not that I don't like the others, but to be honest I have never been a fan of portraits that are obviously set up –but that's just me.)

If you pressed me to nitpick, I'd tell you that #2 seems a bit dark, and that the left side of the dog's snout in #4 is overexposed a bit. That being said, I would have done a much, much worse job (much worse as in ten times worse).

 

[One Sister]

Thank you, thank you, invisible (and of course you too, JackCooper92 and DRoberts), for viewing and reviewing! I'm out here begging for reviews now because I really need to finalize a small portfolio to show possible venues. I realize that staged and propped studio shots are not a favorite around here so I really, really appreciate you looking and trying to give a fair and honest critique regardless.

We are just providing what our customers want. They come to us for this stuff. Having said that, it's important to note that we need to open up a little and show some different examples. I've looked at the children's photos on this forum and most people seem to like either shooting outside or with white or light backgrounds inside. I must add that to my portfolio, for sure, but in the meantime I must try to show the best of what I have so that I may get the opportunity to shoot more.

Invisible, as you have provided a pic-by-pic review, I would ask you if you were me, would drop #4 from my example pack? If I lightened #2 would you go with just the five photos? I wish I had more, but as I've said...I'm a pet photographer...I'm just trying to expand.

And gosh, thank you again for the review, I was beginning to think that *I* was invisible.

 

[invisible]

Invisible, as you have provided a pic-by-pic review, I would ask you if you were me, would drop #4 from my example pack? If I lightened #2 would you go with just the five photos?

Even when 99.9% of the people don't pay attention to technical details such as slight overexposure, I think that keeping #4 (as is) in your portfolio might be a disservice to you. Maybe you have another pic from that same set that's exposed correctly (or at least one that you can fix in post-processing)? And yeah, definitely keep #2!

And gosh, thank you again for the review, I was beginning to think that *I* was invisible.

Don't we all?

 

[One Sister]

Even when 99.9% of the people don't pay attention to technical details such as slight overexposure, I think that keeping #4 (as is) in your portfolio might be a disservice to you. Maybe you have another pic from that same set that's exposed correctly (or at least one that you can fix in post-processing)? And yeah, definitely keep #2!

You're absolutely right. I knew this was the weakest of the small bunch, but I threw it in because it was an example of a different background. I believe I will drop it from the group.

Thanks again for all your help, invisible .

Of course, I'm still soliciting more critiques...anyone else???

 

[Tennessee Landscape]

these are some very nice shot here. I'm no pro, but these look pretty good......

 

[One Sister]

these are some very nice shot here. I'm no pro, but these look pretty good......

Thanks for looking and for your comments, Tennessee, I appreciate it!