Just started my photography Biz need C&C PLEASE!

[GnipGnop]

It looks like you've spent more time on your watermark than your composition.

1. Nothing is in focus and not much to redeem it in terms of content. It looks like a filler photograph you get in a frame. I doesn't seem to capture any traits or character of the child. A bit boring.

2. Her ass is in focus, but her face isn't? I think she should be looking the other way, as it gives the picture an awkward feeling as is. The composition is technically correct, but from where she's looking it sort of ruins it. It seems a bit warm and over-saturated as well.

3. The grass is in focus, but the girl isnt. Also, I don't like how she's jammed at the top of the picture and her face is half faded out from the white haze.

4. Why is the focal point of the photo a camera? Think about this, would you rather have a photo of a childs face, or of a toy camera blocking your child's face?

I think your photos show some good examples of getting some things right, but getting the actual content of the photos completely wrong.

Sorry to sound harsh.

 

[cgipson1]

just like anyplace online you will find a good selection of self righteous idiots.

Yea.. sure... we are self righteous idiots... and shouldn't critique SH***y photos with the truth, right?

Ive spent a few days trying to get a picture of this cat or his little orange friend, I thought it was hard enough getting my hound to stop trying to knock the camera out of my hand for kisses but cats just don't stop moving, try getting close and they move to be pet, god forbid they notice you have legs lol.

 

[Elizabeth30]

I commend you for sticking around and taking some of the crap you have gotten, just like anyplace online you will find a good selection of self righteous idiots. Especially in photography where people have forgotten it's still an art, and art is destroyed if treated like it's something "proper" because it's not, and never should be. That's why you have so many people who say "anyone can be a photographer", it isn't true, sure anyone can learn how to mimic other shots, but that makes it crap in my opinion, you want to do something that has never been done that's how art evolves, that means braking the rules, if you aren't willing to do that you won't get anything special in the long run, and where is the fun in that? Also don't forget plenty of the heavy hearted lads who don't understand the concept of constructive criticism throw out plenty of crap, they just don't make it obvious, but there will never be an artist who takes hundreds of "perfect" shots in a few shoots. It also seems they sometimes don't understand that if someone had the perfect shot they would have to be a complete idiot to post looking for cc for it, regardless if they have a business or not.

with that being said there are some issues in the original post that have already been mentioned and I see you working on (which is another wonderful trait of yours). Overall focus is your biggest issue, white balance maybe second, composition is the lesser. Make sure to always take these things into the next level, a lot of which can be fixed by better understanding your camera, read your manual, study different techniques and then practice practice practice. I don't care how much you read up on (which you should do), things are different when you actually work with the camera in the field, learn how to compensate for lighting changes, less then perfect conditions and most annoyingly white balance changes (get a grey card if you can, I don't have one but it will save you time, I heard you can print them out at 18% grey but you are better off just buying one).

To be honest I really like the third one, it can be improved but I love the color to it. Just watch out for obstructions, or use them to your advantage.

Most importantly always push yourself. If you have something you love more then you could love anything, go back and do it better.

One hint to white balance, reflective surfaces and shadows can change the over all color scheme, there is so much lying in photography, cloning and what not, I think it's an ugly thing to do, don't ever rely 100 percent on hardcore pp (lol), it's counter-productive (just my opinion), so don't fake it unless you are going for that desired effect (I do it a lot with saturation, because it's my art, and I love leaving a small amount of color in black and white transitions, I just love the effect it gives off). If you start faking everything in pp (I understand there are situations where that's a must, and contrast sort of stuff almost always helps the transition between camera to computer) you aren't going to learn to become a better photographer, just a better editor.

Thank you so much! You have very encouraging words and I truley appreciate you taking the time to read the posts and give me a heart felt response!! I don't know anything about grey cards but I will look into it so thank you for that.
I do want my own style and it's funny you should say you like number 3 because I have had more people in his thread tell me how that one is the worse because the light is blowing out her face but that's the point! I like having the light straight into the camera. It gives the photo something different, something I really like. The composition is not great and focus is off but I love the light!!

 

[MWC2]

Elizabeth, I was very much like you when I first posted here (the only difference was I was not and still am not in business), I thought I was amazing after all my family and friends told me so. Now I can say I have SOOOOO much to learn, and I look forward to it. Looking back at the photos I first posted, I am so embarrassed to claim them as mine. Thanks to the people here that have taken time out of their day to point out my mistakes and link me to many great resources, my photography has grown by leaps and bounds (don't get me wrong, I still have a long, long way to go). I can now look at images posted by "professionals" on FB and giggle to myself and have pride knowing that this Mom happy snapping away and getting better results than some of facebook photographers.

Keep your chin up, take the C&C, work on your photography and take what people here offer freely and try their advise out, you don't have to apply it to your photography but at least give it a try, who knows you might like the results!

 

[MTVision]

Thank you so much! You have very encouraging words and I truley appreciate you taking the time to read the posts and give me a heart felt response!! I don't know anything about grey cards but I will look into it so thank you for that.
I do want my own style and it's funny you should say you like number 3 because I have had more people in his thread tell me how that one is the worse because the light is blowing out her face but that's the point! I like having the light straight into the camera. It gives the photo something different, something I really like. The composition is not great and focus is off but I love the light!!

Backlighting can be gorgeous in photography (like in #3) but in yours it's just too overpowering. If you had metered for her face - she still would've had the beautiful backlighting but the sun wouldn't be over powering her face so much. Positioning her differently would have helped as well so that she wouldn't just have this huge blown out area behind her. Do a google search or search on Flickr for backlighting. Check out www.megbitton.com - she has some beautiful backlit portaits.

 

[LightSpeed]

There is no way you should be charging for this sort of quality, i wouldn't pay for any you have posted, did you get the camera for Christmas

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
gsgary - Tells it like it is.

 

[HowlingWolf]

just like anyplace online you will find a good selection of self righteous idiots.

Yea.. sure... we are self righteous idiots... and shouldn't critique SH***y photos with the truth, right?

Ive spent a few days trying to get a picture of this cat or his little orange friend, I thought it was hard enough getting my hound to stop trying to knock the camera out of my hand for kisses but cats just don't stop moving, try getting close and they move to be pet, god forbid they notice you have legs lol.

someone thinks he's a self righteous idiot lmao

way to turn a generalization into a personal thing, I love that picture so you don't really win at anything dude. Other then making an ass out of yourself lol good job.

By the way if you took the time to clip that over here you would be smart enough to have read that I already pointed out major flaws in this photo myself. You might not think of yourself in a very high, or too high, light (I mean, how you turned what I said about no one in-particular into an insult to you obviously means you think you are rude enough for someone to think of you negatively. But I hope to god you are smart enough to realize I wouldn't OP something I think is great anyway.

And yes I see you take awesome shots of cats, good job, but one or two of them looks just like the shots I see at the shelter on their info-sheets, nothing special, though I do seriously love the expression on that one cat.

Loosen the hell up bud, I don't care how good you are your attitude will lose costumers too you know, I wouldn't be caught dead in a room near you if you where the last good photographer and I think anyone else with enough self respect would do the same if you are the kind of person to go out of your way to point out a bad photo to a remark that for all you know had nothing to do with you.

Sense I have already had paying clients come to me with some of my work I haven't posted and other clients on the way, I'm not gonna get too upset about this, in fact I don't give to licks about the above photo itself other then the super duper awesome pawsome coloration of it.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Hi. Just tagging the thread so I can watch.

 

[LightSpeed]

Gipson?? Did you see what HowlingWolf said?
Are you just going to take that?

 

[Diver_matt]

People that merely ***** about your photos without constructive criticism should simply be ignored as unhappy in life. For all you know, they might be horrible photographers and awesome photo editors. Back in dad's day, a computer took up the space of a house. What he took is what he got. Not only that, cameras didn't have "auto" settings. Somehow he managed to take some awesome photos. So many people on here claim to be awesome photographers but they edit the hell out of them before posting on here. There's a handful I've noticed in my short time here that truly seem to enjoy helping people learn something. I tend to scroll to their posts and ignore the awesome editors' posts. "If you have to tell someone how great you are, you're not that great." DISCLAIMER: Not referring to anyone in particular here and haven't read all the posts.

For all that are suggesting she not be in business yet, perhaps an economics class would help you out. I'm starting a photography business this year. Do I expect to make money? Nope. What I will do is use tax write offs for all my camera and software expenses along with a chunk for "home office". Additionally, for the first couple years, I'll show a loss which offsets my primary income's taxes.

 

[MTVision]

People that merely ***** about your photos without constructive criticism should simply be ignored as unhappy in life. For all you know, they might be horrible photographers and awesome photo editors. Back in dad's day, a computer took up the space of a house. What he took is what he got. Not only that, cameras didn't have "auto" settings. Somehow he managed to take some awesome photos. So many people on here claim to be awesome photographers but they edit the hell out of them before posting on here. There's a handful I've noticed in my short time here that truly seem to enjoy helping people learn something. I tend to scroll to their posts and ignore the awesome editors' posts. "If you have to tell someone how great you are, you're not that great." DISCLAIMER: Not referring to anyone in particular here and haven't read all the posts.

For all that are suggesting she not be in business yet, perhaps an economics class would help you out. I'm starting a photography business this year. Do I expect to make money? Nope. What I will do is use tax write offs for all my camera and software expenses along with a chunk for "home office". Additionally, for the first couple years, I'll show a loss which offsets my primary income's taxes.

Just playing devils advocate - those awesome photos taken by your dad back in the day was still edited/processed. Just not done in photoshop - the lab did it.

I do agree that some people edit the hell out their photos - don't see too many regulars doing that here - but all raw files need to be developed/edited just like all negatives had to developed.

 

[Skinnifatkid]

Elizabeth30, thanks for having the balls to stick around after your initial post!

Having just finished reading this, your post helped me learn some stuff. I am learning constantly and my daughter and wife are getting tired of flashes and camera clicks as I try new stuff. I've rolled the counter on my old camera 2.5 times and close to rolling it on my new one now. I've realized that the pictures I took before were no more than well framed "Snaps" and since have been working diligently at being better all around. Every opportunity to improve or practice, I take.

Keep working at getting better and like many have said already, learn the camera functions. I did reading this thread, Back button AF as well as a few other things. Knew it was there, didn't read that far into my manual or I did read it and forgot about it.

In the end, the snaps you take of your family and friends are yours. If you are happy with them, that's all that matters. By reading the C&C posts of other members, I see things differently now and have improved also.

Good luck! :thumbup:

 

[Ms.Nash]

Elizabeth30, thanks for having the balls to stick around after your initial post!

Having just finished reading this, your post helped me learn some stuff. I am learning constantly and my daughter and wife are getting tired of flashes and camera clicks as I try new stuff. I've rolled the counter on my old camera 2.5 times and close to rolling it on my new one now. I've realized that the pictures I took before were no more than well framed "Snaps" and since have been working diligently at being better all around. Every opportunity to improve or practice, I take.

Keep working at getting better and like many have said already, learn the camera functions. I did reading this thread, Back button AF as well as a few other things. Knew it was there, didn't read that far into my manual or I did read it and forgot about it.

In the end, the snaps you take of your family and friends are yours. If you are happy with them, that's all that matters. By reading the C&C posts of other members, I see things differently now and have improved also.

Good luck! :thumbup:

Ditto

 

[onelove]

I commend you for sticking around and taking some of the crap you have gotten, just like anyplace online you will find a good selection of self righteous idiots. Especially in photography where people have forgotten it's still an art, and art is destroyed if treated like it's something "proper" because it's not, and never should be. That's why you have so many people who say "anyone can be a photographer", it isn't true, sure anyone can learn how to mimic other shots, but that makes it crap in my opinion, you want to do something that has never been done that's how art evolves, that means braking the rules, if you aren't willing to do that you won't get anything special in the long run, and where is the fun in that?

In spirit I do agree that breaking rules is a necessary step in the evolution of art but it must have one very important caveat:

You must master the rules first!

Even the most innovative and accomplished artists have learned and practiced the basics. When I was a music student I took private lessons from a member of the Chicago Symphony. My lesson was at 7AM. I would arrive at 6 and sit outside his studio to listen to him warm up. All he did was practice scales and arpeggios, just like a first year student. But his absolute mastery of those basic lessons was awe inspiring!

Becoming knowledgeable and competent in the basics will give you the freedom to innovate without worrying about technique. The technique will be there automatically without thought. It is at that point that creativity can take over completely.

onelove

 

[gerardo2068]

Photography is really confusing at first. I'm not a pro by any means. But I spent a lot of time reading and watching videos tutorial and it help a lot. Don't worry is gonna take time but as you learn new things you will notice that your learning will actually speed up as times go. One thing I highly recommend is spend some money on a good monitor calibrating tool! It's a must. If you don't calibrate your monitor it will be harder to get a consistent result on your photos and photos may show with bad color cast when you share them or post them online.