Reply To: Please Critique

[IHF]

Samantha,  I’m going to work backwards, in hopes you get a better understanding.  First read this

http://www.themoderntog.com/affordable-profitable-photographer and any other links within the article and what ever else business related that you google.  Soak it all in.

When you get your estimated numbers figured out, I want you to ask yourself if you could in good conscience charge people what you would need to charge to be profitable.  Are you offering something that they are unable to do themselves, or have Aunt Sue do for them?  Keep in mind that the average in home, legit part time, just starting out in business photographer, has to charge around $200 plus print sales per session and about $2,000 per wedding (yes, it varies from photographer to photographer.  That’s why you need to do the math for yourself) just to make as much as they would working at McDonalds and continue to grow their business from there.  Until you can say with confidence that your photography services are worth $$$ so that you can earn minimum wage part time from it and start growing a business that can provide for you, stay out of business.

Now get on google and look at some of the educators out there.  You know, the ones that give tips and tricks they’ve learned through experience.  Ask yourself if you should be teaching others, or if you should be implementing what you have learned into your own photography.

Now I want you to take some pressure off of yourself, help your possible future business tremendiously and ask you to stop soliciting your services for free or otherwise.  Take the time to revamp your site and your Facebook, and be honest with your audience as you were here with us.  This will serve you better, and any future clientele as well.  You need to be clear with people what your intentions are.

Right now I really don’t see any need for any sort of clientele, business cards, marketing, posting “Just had a lovely shoot with an adorable couple today” and yadda yaddda.  Friends and family are all you need to learn the basics of photography, and you already got them hook line and sinker to practice on all you want.  I think this may have been what went wrong with your photography to start with.  Skipping right to photographing for others, when you should have been shooting for yourself.  It happens.  It’s a very very very common mistake.  You need to work on how to use your camera before getting into posing and props and cute ideas and all the fun creative stuff.  Learn how to photograph and THEN you’ll be able to get creative.  Get out your manual and learn about your AF settings and what they can do for you, how to select your focus, lock your focus and recompose if necessary, learn about depth of field and how it works, learn about color managing and setting white balance.  PRINT YOUR WORK!  Find a lab/printing company and Get those shots finished.  This process alone will teach you so very much and will possibly change the way you shoot and give you a much clearer understanding.  Then move on to learning the basics about light, and how to use it, manipulate it and enhance it to flatter your subjects (wether people or still life or nature, you need to work on understanding light) Leave the editing alone while you work on getting good straight out of the camera shots constantly and purposefully.

Slow down, back up, and start at the beginning if you want this to really work for you.  Get those basics down, and make the foundation you need to make this work for you.  Good luck