Reply To: Hmmm…. this may be scary

[MBChamberlain]

All in all, not too bad. You have a very good eye and you get really good emotions out of your subjects, which is great. On the other hand, your technical skills are definitely not up to pro level yet and your decision to go into business was a very hasty one. You are just making far too many mistakes to have the consistency to be charging.

Judging by the progress you’ve made in the last year, I’d say that if you buckle down and really learn to make the environment work for you instead of against you you’ll be up to that level in a year-18 months though.

The biggest things to work on:

Lighting: Your in studio is a little weak but coming along, Unfortunately, when you shoot outside, it looks like you just sort of put the people where you want them and pray the lighting goes your way. Sometimes it is really nice, sometimes it is downright terrible. Almost anything you can do in the studio can be done outside with nothing but the big light source in the sky, a reflector, and a little planning and ingenuity. That is how I do 99% of my outdoor work, it is limiting, but worth the effort.

Composition: in particular posing, You are not alone in this, but you can’t pose guys the same way you pose women. For example, in this photo
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/66106_10151296421853714_1600870109_n.jpg
you’ve got him posed with a feminine head tilt and her posed with a masculine one. This is an incredibly common problem that I run into when I work with female photographers, they are just not sensitive to issues involving masculinity because men and women look at it differently. Guys should always be presented in a masculine way. There are degrees of this, when I work with male models who are naturally more feminine, I have to strike a balance between the two.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/432016_10151183426813714_1015714436_n.jpg
This image is a good example of this, it is an extremely feminine pose. This compounds the fact that the model is already skinny and is young enough that his features are still very soft. A lot of this you just have to use your best judgement on, but this is a common problem in your work. Also, generally speaking, no crotchflashing in photos either.

Railroad tracks: It is a violation of federal law to shoot on the railroad tracks. I know a photographer currently doing time for this offense. Please stop doing it

Color: This is all over the place. It isn’t the mix of warm and cool that you normally get in a good portfolio, it is just all over the place with the color not really complementing the subject matter, you have muted colors in happy shots, bright colors in serious shots, with no rhyme nor reason to it.

Work on those things and you’ll see a lot of improvement in very short order. You’re close enough to being there, I wouldn’t close up shop, instead I’d recommend you tell your clients that you’re going on sabbatical for a year while you take the time off to learn. Also find a high-end pro and volunteer for him or her. This will help you a lot because you’ll get regular one on one feedback from someone who can help you along.

Also read this: http://chamberlaindigital.com/bwadjustment.pdf