Reply To: Critique | You Are Not a Photographer

March 6, 2014 at 10:07 am #17683

Participant

Honestly d4, we are back to putting that cart before the horse.
Next step, get calibrated and learn good color managing. Part of that process is finishing. Take nesgans advice and shop for a lab. Yes, it’s good to be able to print yourself, but economically, it makes more sense to use a lab when in this genre. Two of my favorites are WHCC and prodpi. Millers is good too. I personally don’t care for millers and also ran into some customer service issues with them, but a lot of photographers use them religiously. There! 3 labs to try. Each lab has their own profiles and directions for optimizing your files for print and for their different papers/products so read carefully, and follow their directions. Other than getting through this process, keep all your money in your pocket as far as your photography is concerned. Like CC said it’s not really cost effective to only print yourself in this genre of photography, and I think it would serve your clients better to start with a reliable lab.
Meanwhile, you need to back up and work on your photography with the goal of getting consistently/reliably good SOOC shots to work with.
Get your manual out and learn about setting and customizing white balance. Learn and master selecting your focus. It looks to me like you are letting the cameras AF select where to focus, instead of selecting your focal point/points. This takes some practice. Don’t use clients. Get that focus nailed before any clients get in the mix (along with exposure, and color and a good grasp of how DOF works). Learn how to read histograms. Then study lighting. Work with still life first and work your way up to moving subjects. Learn how to push that iso up to acceptable levels in low light, and how to compensate without losing quaility. Once you get a good handle on these basics, then move on to posing. And never stop learning lighting and posing. Don’t take your book’s advice and go ahead and get on the Internet and study posing, and put what you learn into practice. When it’s time to market and sell again, Please do so honestly.

I stand by what I said earlier. You’ve jumped in too fast, now it’s time to back up, slow down and learn how to photograph. You really shouldn’t sell or solicit your photography services until you have mastered at least the basics. And you defiantly have no place teaching others. I’m sorry but, you are pretty much textbook for what NOT to do, and why this site was created in the first place. Time to get on the ball and change that. Honestly d4, we are back to putting that cart before the horse.
Next step, get calibrated and learn good color managing. Part of that process is finishing. Take nesgans advice and shop for a lab. Yes, it’s good to be able to print yourself, but economically, it makes more sense to use a lab when in this genre. Two of my favorites are WHCC and prodpi. Millers is good too. I personally don’t care for millers and also ran into some customer service issues with them, but a lot of photographers use them religiously. There! 3 labs to try. Each lab has their own profiles and directions for optimizing your files for print and for their different papers/products so read carefully, and follow their directions. Other than getting through this process, keep all your money in your pocket as far as your photography is concerned. Like CC said it’s not really cost effective to only print yourself in this genre of photography, and I think it would serve your clients better to start with a reliable lab.
Meanwhile, you need to back up and work on your photography with the goal of getting consistently/reliably good SOOC shots to work with.
Get your manual out and learn about setting and customizing white balance. Learn and master selecting your focus. It looks to me like you are letting the cameras AF select where to focus, instead of selecting your focal point/points. This takes some practice. Don’t use clients. Get that focus nailed before any clients get in the mix (along with exposure, and color and a good grasp of how DOF works). Learn how to read histograms. Then study lighting. Work with still life first and work your way up to moving subjects. Learn how to push that iso up to acceptable levels in low light, and how to compensate without losing quaility. Once you get a good handle on these basics, then move on to posing. And never stop learning lighting and posing. Don’t take your book’s advice and go ahead and get on the Internet and study posing, and put what you learn into practice. When it’s time to market and sell again, Please do so honestly.