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

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Well, zaps, when a person starts off with “Photography has always been a passion of mine since I could remember and I decided to venture it into a career in 2013”, that tells me two things.  One, the word “passion” makes me gag and tells me the person is lazy.  There are 44 different words you can use for “passion” but everyone (oddly mostly amateurs and fauxs) seems to use it to the point it’s pretty meaningless.  Interestingly, I just spent the last few days on a pro photographer thread with a fellow being told the main thing he needs to enter a career is passion.  Well, passion is for sex, and chocolate.  Indeed, a career in photography is hard work and even with (ugh) passion, you need gear, the ability to use it, and lots and lots of business sense unless you like being a bg wannabe making a few bucks with the occasional shoot.  Some do and good for them.  You do need to take some satisfaction away from it or you’ll find an easier way to make a living.  Call it passion if you like but this person’s sentence is just a cut and paste from thousands of other’s pages.  Please be original and tell people about your zeal, joy, dedication, ardor or zest about your work.  Secondly, she’s always been “passionate” but of course only now (when she figures she can jump onto the fb faux bandwagon and make a few extra bucks to feed her kids) decided to do something about her “passion”.  Everyone’s live take them down different paths but usually passion leads you to follow your heart sooner than later.  In any case….

I don’t see a lot on her site that’s really bad but neither do I see anything to jump and down about.  What I’ll highlight is first, just a peeve of mine and that’s all and this style of processing.  I’m just not a fan but a lot seem to be doing it.  Fads come and go but people get tired of the same old so fb photogs are usually the first to pick up on this sort of stuff to make a quick (few) dollars…

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p415609100/hb8578d5#hb8578d5

But then she dabbles (just three shots) in “adults/models”.  I think she has a way to go with this in terms of right from equipment to lighting to processing.

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p363888400/h12fb8202#h12fb8202

And then while there are some shots that aren’t horror stories, we get to something that (another peeve of mine) COULD HAVE been a decent shot.  But, as a faux, you don’t pay attention to your surroundings.  Sometimes as a photographer, we don’t have the luxury of choosing our photo site.  We still try to work with what we have and pull it off as best as possible.  This shot was completely under the control of the photographer and a slight change of angle or complete change of positioning on her and/or the subjects part could have avoided the horrific blown out flowers which completely ruin the shot.  What a shame.

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p28749769/h1661d590#h1661d590

And then with a change up for the mom and daughter, again not great but not bad but really, do we have to loose feet?  Move in for a tighter crop (would probably be nicer) if you want but do we need to cut feet in half or toes off?  So why mention it?  It’s about being aware of what you’re looking at through the viewfinder and more importantly, what you wanted before you even looked.  Through the viewfinder is just confirmation of what you pictured in your mind.  But new photogs and fauxtogs get all excited and lose track of what they’re doing.

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p28749769/h1661d590#hb257998

Then finally, not too bad at all but relying too much on natural light with no regard for the inventions called fill flash (off camera please) or reflectors.  The blown parts and slightly missed focus doesn’t help.

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p415609100/h2287d5fd#h2287d5fd

Back in the studio, ok-ish but the lighting is again flat.

http://pinkblossomphotography.com/p415609100/h4b4d48b#h1ea3fade

Now, I’m not trying to be all negative on this passionate lady but she has a lot to learn, if she wants to improve.  Photography is light.  Learn how to light your shots better and you’ll even wow yourself.  Be aware of your surroundings!  Picture your photo in your head and even before you look through the viewfinder, LOOK!  Then and only then look through the viewfinder but never stop looking.  Too many fixate on their subject.  A good photog will spend time looking around first and realize that great shot he/she wants just sadly won’t work in one spot so create a different shot or move to where it will work.  Don’t shoot willy-nilly.  This goes for fore-ground, back-ground and your subject’s limbs.

All in all, passion won’t make a great shot.  You’ll enjoy your job more if you like your job (and yes, it’s a job and it’s hard work) if you are dedicated.  You may even get a better shot if you’re dedicated but you need far far more than that to get the shot.  Training and ability and plain hard work will make a great shot.  You also need the motivation to seek out the training.  Many think that since they are getting a few bucks for the drivel they dish out means they are either great (dreamer) or at the best, “good enough” so why bother wasting time and money to get better.  Well, it’s usually about the satisfaction of producing a great shot instead of mediocre along with being able to get more money.  Her choice.