Reply To: Feel free to turn your critical eye my way

[OldClicks]

@nesgran – thank you for the insight. You are correct about the color. I didn’t realize until I viewed some images on my laptop just how off the colors are on my monitors. I have plans to upgrade them, and do some sort of calibration. Although the blue skin tones seem to be limited to the images shot in front of the green screen, rather than using a backdrop.

As for the headshots, that’s always been my preference. Since I was taking the images for myself, I cropped tight. One group of photos was taken under terrible lighting conditions, at a cemetery. So a long lens was used to keep background distractions to a minimum. I don’t like the fact that my sync speed is limited to 1/200 or 1/250, when I could go to 1/400 or 1/500 with film, depending on the camera.

Not sure which photo of Sharon you’re referring to.

@Rpg Valentine – I don’t see a link to your photos, and your comments are of zero value, making you an ineffective armchair critic, at best. It’s ironic that we can say possession of a camera doesn’t automatically grant a person the title “photographer”, but having nothing more than a computer can certainly turn someone such as yourself into a douchebag. In all fairness, I suspect you would be one without a computer as well, if the above is your idea of constructive criticism.

But I will still answer your questions. Yes, I studied lighting, posing, the importance of lens selection, flash, mixed lighting, and printing. Lots of printing. I even took an offset printing course to get a better understanding of shooting for publication. And I spent a lot of time doing something you’re probably not familiar with – actual printing from negatives. It’s a great way to learn about exposure, composition, contrast range, and the differences between portrait work and commercial work for publication. I have not spent much time using Photoshop, other than minor adjustments. I used to have an assistant who was also the printer at a professional photo lab, back when I shot film. She was there when I took the photos, and knew exactly what I expected of my prints. I suppose now I will have to spend more time at the computer, and less time behind my camera. The other point that you got completely wrong, poor grammar aside, was that I “do it for the money”. I’m at an age where my job affords me the luxury of pursuing hobbies, so I can take photos because I enjoy photography, not because I need to make money. Yes, I may charge people as I see fit, but I could just as easily work for free.