Looking for some C&C on a potential commercial portfolio

greggphoto · Mar 18, 2015

Commercial Photography - Album on Imgur -- that is my hopeful initial commercial portfolio.

Most of the work I have done has been in the events world. Lots of weddings, bar mitzvahs, social functions, benefit shows, and some light corporate work. I have done business portraits, some jewelry photography and some stuff for businesses that needed pics for their brochures or websites. Apart from that, that is about it.

I was asked by a friend to put together a quick 15-20 picture portfolio of things I could consider to be "commercial" photography. I am looking for some honest critique and commenting on this. Need to know what sorts of things to include, exclude, fix, change, etc etc. I posted this in the commercial thread, but that doesn't seem to be quite as busy as some of the others so I am looking for a bit wider of an audience.

Thanks everyone!

Derrel · Mar 18, 2015

I tried looking at it...the images will not display or download. The shot in the upper right, of the kid at the track in orange jacket--that's got to be eliminated. The server hosting the gallery totally blows...I wasted three or four minutes and not a single image will expand. FIX that, first off...get a host that can serve images. The images appear to be very diverse, almost scattershot...the thumbnails are not big enough to tell much.

greggphoto · Mar 19, 2015

Thanks for letting me know, Derrel --- maybe thats why I've had 30 views and 1 reply...
RE-uploaded to photobucket, perhaps that will help.

greggphotography s Library Photobucket

Now then - to address some points you made. Kid at the track was a shoot I did for Under Armour. They were trying to get action shots of kids participating in their "search for a new action star" promotion of some sort to include it in their new promo pieces.

Definitely scattershot for SURE. I do not do very much commercial stuff at all, I am mostly an events and portrait guy. Weddings and Bar Mitzvahs are my bread and butter. So definitely looking for some feedback on maybe more things to include and things to exclude or change in this gallery.

Now that you can get a better look, can you gimme some more? Thanks man, appreciate it!

Derrel · Mar 19, 2015

I would eliminate the script watermarking, which is the antithesis of commercial photography, and merely distracts from the image content. Honestly, these don't feel very commercial to me. A number of these have very plain processing, like the three shoes, which just seems dull. The Abercrombie and Fitch yellow look is not appealing. On the executive guy seated, the background furniture not being square is very noticeable, as is the left wall in the dining room shot. The restaurant ceiling light blow-out looks bad. There are several images where there's a large expanse of background that does not seem to advance the photo. Overall, these photos lack art direction, they lack specific focus and tight composition.

Austin Greene · Mar 19, 2015

Ok, so here are my thoughts coming from someone who hasn't been in commercial work for too long, but has been fortunate enough to get in with one of the biggest companies out there (job satisfaction aside).

1. You need to nail down your market. Do they want products, or lifestyle? Portraits are rarely considered "commercial" unless you're looking to work at Macy's. If you're doing head shots, you'll make more doing it privately.

2. You're product photography, to be blunt, needs work. Your food shots aren't level, and the lighting needs some work. The editing on almost all of these images is identical, with tons of contrast to the point of it being repetitive. A good general rule is to take things like that to what you think looks good, then back it off by 30-50%. It's subjective, but it also speaks volumes about a photographer's ability when they need boosted contrast to enhance a subject. Unless you want that to be the message you send, change it up a bit.

3. Your building-interior work is good. Not great, but you have a good eye for well-illuminated areas. The rest of the images, portrait or otherwise, need some direction and practice. Being blunt again, I wouldn't hire you for anything but interior shots, and even there I think you have room to grow. Break a flash out, get creative.

4. I'll stop here, but it is a big one. The biggest. LOSE THE WATERMARK. Not only is it poorly blended onto many of the images, it simply doesn't belong in a portfolio at all. Seeing a watermark in a portfolio (especially one that is placed differently from image to image) instantly tells me that you lack confidence in your work. It's up to you to have one on your web-distributed images, but it by no means belongs in a professional portfolio. I'd also suggest a redesign of it in general, it's a bit garish.

Get some direction on what you want to shoot specifically, and aim your portfolio on that. My suggestion would be interiors, perhaps with a bit more work on your lighting. A general purpose portfolio is useless. A product photographer doesn't care if you shoot landscapes, and a portrait client doesn't care if you can light a wine glass.

greggphoto · Mar 20, 2015

Thanks Austin -- I appreciate the comments. Yeah -- never been hired for "true commercial" work so I basically had to figure something out for a last minute portfolio to put together. Definitely agree that is lacks direction as I have nothing cohesive to show.

Most of these shots (with the exception of the portraits) were done "on the fly" so to speak at whatever event I happen to be doing at the time. Perhaps I really need to stage a few things for my own benefit and create some commercial stuff in studio and just drop all the rest of this stuff.

I never considered that the watermark may be taking away from the images themselves. I am used to putting it on there for my web-distributed images and figured this was like anything else. Real commercial stuff is clearly a vastly different animal than the weddings and events I am used to doing.

Thank you so much for your thoughts. I got my work cut out for me. HAH.

greggphoto · Mar 20, 2015

In what I hope would be some stark contrast --- here's the events portfolio.

Weddings - Events By Greg G Photos by greggphotography Photobucket

greggphoto · Mar 20, 2015

Thanks for the feedback Derrel. I will try getting some tighter composition going. Definitely getting rid of the watermark. And yeah, I agree--- few if any of these feel really commercial to me.

tirediron · Mar 20, 2015

Now that I can actually see the images, my thoughts:

1. Conference center: mixed lighting and too many off-level images. Tilt adds tension. Bin/reshoot
2. Brumark tearsheet: Nice!
3. Dining room. Awkward angle, exposures is hosed. Bin/reshoot
4. USAA table(?): Not bad, but I'm not really sure the point is. I would eliminate it.
5. Stair heater: Not bad, good exposure, but I think a coloured background would have worked better here. Even though you've got white dialed in, white on white is still hard on the eyes.
6. Orange shirt: WHY is he wearing "crocs" and sunglasses? All I get from that is "faked". If you're going to do a product shot of this nature, the branding is critical. You needed to be further left so you could see the whole "Under armour" logo, and waited 'til he was on the opposite stride. Bin/reshoot
7. Router: Undecided. Needs to be leveled, and ideally some exposure correction.
8. Man grinding. Not bad, a higher angle looking a bit more down on the subject would have helped. YOu've also got a nasty reflection on his face shield.
9. Stock racks: Good except you hosed the exposure on the overhead lights. Bin/reshoot
10. "Woman in red": NO idea why this would appear in a commercial portfolio, but.. Gawd-awful reflections on her glasses, hair light needed, pose is awkward, and she looks VERY uncomfortable. Bin/reshoot
11. Dancers: Not relevant. Remove.
12. Lox(?) cones: nice idea, but you need to put some effort into making sure the cones all sit correctly. Every one is at a different angle. I think a little more DoF would have helped, and I would frame so the empty holes aren't visible. Lose the red thing back, upper left. Bin/reshoot

Austin Greene · Mar 20, 2015

greggphoto said:
In what I hope would be some stark contrast --- here's the events portfolio.

Weddings - Events By Greg G Photos by greggphotography Photobucket

Screw commercial work and waiting for your next paycheck. Go into weddings full-time.

Seriously, there might be some technical aspects of these I'm not fond of, but in 90% your composition is solid. More importantly, they all show "moments". I think if you really applied yourself you're in a position to do far better in weddings than in commercial based on what you've shown us.

astroNikon · Mar 20, 2015

I'm not a pro, but I'll add one thing because it really bugged me.

Your Tom's bacon Fries photo.

It looks like someone simply plopped a bag of chips on a whiteboard and took a photo.
- you have to present the item much more than it is. Square up the corners to make the bag look "sharp" If you watch Doritos commercials you'll always see the bags with crisp edges and sides even if someone is holding it. Create a prop behind it to stand up the bag straight (book end, etc). This presents the marketing of the bag greatly and doesn't distract from the food itself.
- there's also ton of reflections / hot spots. Flash/light placement and diffusers.

go practice on items from around the house. Get the lighting correct, item placement, etc. I did this with watches, and other items from around the house. It takes a lot of time to prep & adjust for one shot to make it look half decent.