All new to me.

[callalily]

I have just gotten back to my passion (and man was it missed!). In my early 20's I was film all the way...then life and technology came along and I was more focused on parenting and quick photos so I mostly relied on my phone and normal everyday point and shoots. I am now getting back into the grove of things. Bought a Nikon D3200 and not only stepped into the world of real digital photography but photo editing as well. I am currently using Lightroom. I am working hard to build up clientele as well as start all over again as a beginner. I am having a blast learning and look forward to any advice you can throw my way.

I struggle like most I supposed. I completely love the photo, may love the editing too, the client proofs and loves it, send them to print and done. Then 2 weeks later...look at the same picture on FB and HATE everything about it. I am the most critical when it comes to my work. I think my sureness or lack thereof in myself is what does that to me, so I welcome the constrictive criticism.

I don't have many that wouldn't expose my clients, but I do have one from a prom shoot.

Also a few favorites of my own children.

 

[shadowlands]

Nice captures! Digital SLR's are awesome! Hey, what glass are you using?
If you have the Nikon 18-55 and or 18-55 & 55-200, that's great for general work.
But if you truly want to see your camera shine... look at the Nikon 35mm f1.8G or 50mm f1.8G. Both are affordable, but will give you a new world of creativity.

 

[callalily]

I have the 18-55 and I usually keep it in 55. I will definitely look into the others! Thanks!

 

[shadowlands]

I have the 18-55 and I usually keep it in 55. I will definitely look into the others! Thanks!

With that being said, check out the Nikon AF-S 50mm f1.8G. It's pretty affordable, and it's awesome.
Having f1.8 in your arsenal would make life grand.

 

[Derrel]

The giant lily is intrusive and looks very low-end; I would suggest thinking very seriously about having a real graphic artist design a log for your beginning business. Keep studying and learning. On the B&W shot of the kids--that looks very much like a simple "Convert to grayscale" type of B&W look...it has so little contrast, such weak tone differentiation, it's just not good: look at the Lightroom B&W options, such as the color filters, like the green and yellow filters, but also OTHER B&W filters which would be combined with exposure correction (almost always adding MINUS exposure comp).

I think Lightroom's B&W options, used intelligently and with some practice and experience, are the fastest, easiest, best way to do a LOT of images, fast, repeatably, and with good success....ignore the "Channel mixer in Photoshop" crowd....yah, that's fine to do one shot, or two, or three, but what about 150? Experiment with Lightroom's filter and pre-set B&W effects, so yourt B&W images look distinctive.

Facebook images look bad? You need to make the FB uploads either small, or around 1900 pixels, and make sure to check High Quality when uploading the shots to FB. Full-sized JPEGs uploaded to FB will often be crushed by their resizing routines.

 

[callalily]

Thanks shadowlands!!!! Will check it out as well!

Thanks Derrel, if I remember correctly that was a preset, but with low contrast. I tried the other presets and just couldn't get the exposure quite right. Thanks, and yes, I know it will take a lot of practice. Also, thanks for the FB tip. I will definitely try that next time.

As for the lily...it has already been removed and I am working on something new. I thought the same thing, but was trying to play around with things myself before resorting to a real graphic artist.

Thanks for all the critique! I appreciate it all!

 

[shadowlands]

Callalily,
Also, try shooting "RAW". You can correct exposure settings/adjustments in post processing. Pretty darn cool with portraits, etc....

 

[callalily]

Thanks again shadowlands! I have starting shooting in RAW...and yes, I have noticed the difference in editing. The kids weren't done in RAW, but the prom pic was.

Loving the advice!!!!