Photography website

[sarahhearn]

Hey all! I am trying to get my photography out there and not sure where to begin... so i figured I would start here. If you could please look at my website, let me know your thoughts and pass the website along? I plan on more in the future with the web site so there will be more (like a store, etc).

Thanks

My Photography - Home


let me know your thoughts!


~Sarah

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Oh sure, we'll just pass the website along because we care so much about you.

How about you introduce yourself and contribute to this forum before you come blatantly plugging yourself? There's an idea.

In the meantime, I Can't stress this point enough: Some people care.

Que countdown to thread removal....

 

[janineh]

Maybe start with learning how to take professional photos...

 

[sarahhearn]

Oh sure, we'll just pass the website along because we care so much about you.

How about you introduce yourself and contribute to this forum before you come blatantly plugging yourself? There's an idea.

In the meantime, I Can't stress this point enough: No one cares.

Que countdown to thread removal....

Well, maybe if you looked to see that i JUST JOINED... that I haven't even had a few minutes to join in and talk with everyone. I didnt know that this site was filled with a bunch of rude people. MY MISTAKE. I guess maybe i will need to be rude to all of your posts to work my way in... monkey see monkey do...
PS: nice big words, just so you know (and I can't stress this enough) NO ONE CARES.

oh and before you make yourself look like a douche, maybe give people a chance to join in... you know... longer than an hour. People do sleep and people are busy. Maybe I had time to post real quick and then come back later in the day to make time for everyone else. Nice going.

Oh and if you couldn't tell... my name introduces itself.

 

[sarahhearn]

Maybe start with learning how to take professional photos...

Nice constructive criticism.

 

[ronlane]

let me know your thoughts and pass the website along?

Sarah,

You did say ask for people's thoughts, you got it. Also, pass the website along is something that is a little pushy for someone that is new here. You come to a forum about photography to market yourself and your website. May I ask who you think hangs out at this forum? Without knowing you they are not going to recommend you to someone. That doesn't even count the fact or the number of photographers on this forum that don't have enough time to market their own business and website.

Sorry if it seems rude but those are the facts.

 

[rexbobcat]

I do have to agree in a less snarky way.

Your photos are average.

I'm confused as whether you are marketing yourself as a photograph enthusiast or a professional.you talk about selling your photos but then you go on to say you're a beginner...

 

[SCraig]

Sorry but we see this every day or so. Someone joins, their first (and sometimes last) post is something along the lines of "Please look at / "Like" my web site / Facebook page and tell me how great I am!" And then there are the once-weekly "I just entered a contest and would appreciate it if you would vote for me" first posts. After a while it really starts to wear thin and you were the victim of today.

Another thought, this area of the forum is called the "Professional Gallery". Don't you think that perhaps it's just a little bit pretentious for a beginning photographer to put their first post in a forum area entitled "Professional Gallery"?

Take it easy. Make yourself at home, but at the same time try to blend in before throwing another forum at us.

Oh, and I did look at your photos. My advice would be to learn a LOT about light, shadow, and composition.

 

[gsgary]

I had a quick look and i was not blown away, portraits very badly lite, landscapes were just mountains with trees in front, i'm sorry but you have a long way to go before
"You are out there"

 

[sapper6fd]

Another warm welcome for a new member who is a soon to be member of another forum.... Some times the level of arrogance here makes me shake my head.

How about some constructive criticism? How about not blasting someone on their first post to the point where they feel like they have been raped for asking a question. They don’t know what the forums are like here, nor do they know how many posts like this come from new members.

Why not just bypass the thread if you don’t like what has been posted?

 

[cgipson1]

If you want to improve.. you should post some photos here for C&C.

This one for instance...

http://www.sarahhearnphotography.com/uploads/1/3/4/3/13439492/3169616_orig.jpg

Excessively YELLOW.. the contrasty lighting looks terrible, The highlights are totally blown out in several places, DOF should have been deeper, You should NEVER shoot down on a subject as it implies domination / submissiveness... get on their level, and a ugly contrasty background. It is also too tightly framed resulting in a unattractive cropping of head and arms.

 

[tirediron]

Okay, to start with, WHERE ARE YOU? On the off chance I did want to hire you, I have no idea if you're in Tennessee or Timbuctou! Next, you need to get a "real" website. Nothing screams "Wannabe" like a free website. They're cheap, spend the <$10/month. Now, on to the important stuff... the pictures. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion your "About me" shot was taken by you holding a camera? It's noisy, the WB is off and it looks like you put NO thought into it. This is the single most important picture on your website. You need to project to potential clients, a confindent, skilled and professional manner. If you cant' do a good self-port, spend the $200 a professional will charge and get one taken.

Your image galleries in general seem weak to me. They're not bad, but they're not where they need to be. You have lots of centred compositions, tilted horizons, WB in general seems wayyy off... few, stronger images are much better than a flood of mediocre or poor images.

 

[tirediron]

Maybe start with learning how to take professional photos...

If you're going to make a statement like, then please back it up with some guidance on how to acheive the recommended goal. There's NO VALUE in telling someone to improve without telling them how to do it.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Do not put the cart before the horse. Learn to take quality photos before trying to expand and make money. You will get a lot further that way. In this day and age, it is very easy to have lofty dreams and attain all sorts of easy tech goodies. (a website, a twitter, a facebook, an etsy page selling your art etc. ) At the end of the day, if your images are rubbish, you are just fooling yourself as well as any potential customers.

"The difference between a professional photographer and an amateur photographer is the size of the their waste basket."

Don't confuse this quote to mean that the amateur has more crap to throw away. It is in fact the opposite. The professional has the larger waste basket because they know when a shot is crap as opposed to when a shot is actually worth something.

 

[pixmedic]

I don't generally click on links to view peoples pictures, but given the quick and visceral reaction to this post, I decided to take a look.
Your portraits need a lot of work. i noticed on most of them you have very harsh shadowing and need fill flash, or more even lighting conditions, the exposure on most of them is poor. there are a lot of highlights blown out, and the composition seems a bit haphazard on many of them, like they are just random snapshots of people wherever they just happened to be. Your wildlife shots appeared to be much better than your people shots, and I saw much better lighting in that area.
Iphone shots? not sure what the market is for that on a page you wish to market on a professional level. but if you can sell them, go for it.
definitely get a better "about me" picture taken. the one you have appears to be an Iphone self portrait with harsh flash lighting, and you are far too pretty to be represented as a professional (or at all) by such a poor photo. your landscape section seemed a little bland, like they were just random shots of places with very few actually catching my attention, but again, they were better exposed than your people portraits. the Yosemite shots were much more compelling to me, and seemed well exposed, and well picked locations. I didn't care much for the flower shots, but thats just my personal taste. I didn't see much in the way of focus issues, so that's a good start.