Reply To: Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page…

[fstopper89]

Again with the adventures of my local buy/sell group. This time a young woman posted looking for a photographer for her child. A few people commented and then this guy David wrote something about all those cheap photographers who don’t really know what they’re doing and he has many years experience, etc. I kind of chimed in with “I agree” and then the entire thing turned into a huge discussion. I maintained respectability by not calling out any photographer in particular or criticizing the plethora of horrible fauxtography people were posting as examples of “great but cheap photos they took.” It was downright hilarious. One of the best is this girl saying how she is a great photographer and knows what she’s doing and shoots in RAW. I looked at her work and while it looks like she does have an idea about it, it was all very underexposed, bad white balance (everything was sort of green), major focusing issues like focusing on the tree instead of the kid’s face who was sitting in it, way to shallow DOF for a family shot, and distracting/blah backgrounds. She kept agreeing with all my posts though so I didn’t personally call her out. One woman posted that professionals just get really posed shots and fake smiles. She then posted this “amazing” photo of her kid that a local fauxtog took, and said it was so awesome and the editing was the best. A few people criticized it for the neon green grass and heavy black vignette. The kid’s face was way over-softened too. It was funny because some of the fauxtographers kept liking my comments and others that were basically bashing fauxtographers. I guess they don’t realize they’re fauxtographers.

Some examples:

<a href=”http://tinypic.com?ref=15eyce0&#8243; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i58.tinypic.com/15eyce0.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Image and video hosting by TinyPic”></a>

Quote: “Just cuz ppl r cheap doesnt mean they do not have good quality photos. For instance this one.” ^

<a href=”http://tinypic.com?ref=vrvc61&#8243; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i61.tinypic.com/vrvc61.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Image and video hosting by TinyPic”></a>

<a href=”http://tinypic.com?ref=29zc6za&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i60.tinypic.com/29zc6za.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Image and video hosting by TinyPic”></a>

^ This girl shoots in RAW and was talking about how great she is… nothing to back it up though.

<a href=”http://tinypic.com?ref=23tgzg3&#8243; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i57.tinypic.com/23tgzg3.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Image and video hosting by TinyPic”></a>

^ This one said she can do the session for $15.

<a href=”http://tinypic.com?ref=259bgvn&#8221; target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i61.tinypic.com/259bgvn.jpg&#8221; border=”0″ alt=”Image and video hosting by TinyPic”></a>

^ A grandma was raving about these “amazing” photos the $20 session lady took. Yes, all her shots seem to be green in color like this.