Fauxtog Horror Stories

[shhhitsasecret]

@browneyedgirl  I do agree that there is potential there, but focus has to be the number one thing you get right. You can fix poor lighting but you cannot fix a badly focused photo.

@stef  totally agreed!

[fstopper89]

I agree. Everyone gets out of focus images sometimes, but those should never end up as an example of someone’s work. You can’t really fix poor lighting though, I mean you can to some degree, but you really need to get it pretty close to right to begin with.

[ggjo1972]

@browneyedgirl89 Yep same one.  For some reason she just drives me crazy.  I cannot believe she has paying clients.  It is so frustrating to think that this is the quality of work that people expect.  Good Lord!!  My kids can even see the difference between good/bad work.  They’re only 13 and 15.

Do you think that they keep getting clients because it’s what people are accepting it as norm nowadays because no one wants to offend them and say, “your pictures are crap!”?   I just don’t get it.  Even $20 for some of the bad pictures is a waste of $20.

[AbsyntheGreene]

I attended a very artsy high school that included dance classes, which I took and adored. At the end of every term there would be a performance showcase, and the school would hire a photographer to document the dress rehearsal. My last year, they changed from the person who had been shooting the rehearsals for several years to a new (cheaper) photographer. And it showed. Almost every image was blurred, often there didn’t seem to be a single thing or person in focus. It was like this person had never tried to photograph moving people before. Many of the shots seemed to be trying to capture the entire stage, resulting in everyone looking like unidentifiable dots in a vast black space. The photographer also brought his apprentice with him, who was just as bad, and creepy to boot. He took 85 photos of one girl, and almost nothing of anybody else. In some of them he was obviously trying to look up her skirt or down her front. He also had no idea how to work with the lighting, so many of his pictures were extremely dark.

The photographer the school used to use was very skilled. I myself once bought a print of a girl I didn’t even know because it was such a good image, and I know other people who did the same. The new guy, ugh, I only bought a print because it was my last show. I heard through the alumni grapevine they went back to the first photographer the following year.

[cameraclicker]

The little guy at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=284038668365656&set=a.246731822096341.34218.226986970737493&type=1&theater is kinda cute.  Too bad the post processing is so bad!  Have a look at this, I don’t think he is out of focus, just poorly processed.  Even from that crummy photo it is possible to get him back.

[jenz0587]

I don’t know how I even stumbled upon here, I was looking for pictures by chell’s website and this popped up….wow is all I can say…
Whoever you may be that posted about pictures by chell….apparently you haven’t seen much of her work, and her pics are amazing. I had her do my daughters 3rd birthday pictures and my newborns pictures also! They were absolutely amazing. I understand you trying to help others out and call out bad photographers but Michelle did an amazing job on my photos so whoever you may be is just jealous! Also the fact that your lashing out on grammar is absolutely ridiculous….isn’t this about fotografy and not grama website ….I say yew needa getta a life and an a knew hoby…Haha now you can freak out about my grama…. 😉

[dont.care]

Nothing says poser like selective color. I find it absolutely horrid to use grey babies in colorful worlds.. A tribute to the dead? No…

Black and white is one of the most appealing forms of photography (to me).. but they are extremely easy to make look like an In Memory Of type of thing .. (in reference to: http://www.facebook.com/PicturesByChell?ref=ts&fref=ts)  but, yea.. =D those suck.

 

 

[Intuition]

Jenz, honey -_- Chell is not good. She’s not burn your eyes out bad, but not good either. This is for you: http://www.takeoffyourmommygoggles.com/   Read that article thoroughly. It’s important. This sets you up for the next assignment.

Now do one or both of two things ( woo bad grammar there, but I don’t feel well so meh): google Children photography, click images. Compare any of those to Chells. With the exception of 5 or so they are all brilliant. If for some reason that doesn’t work, here : http://confessionsofapropjunkie.com/  Prop junkie links and advertises tons and tons of small business photographers who are worlds above your friend.

 

Now, before you get all mad, do me a favor and actually look through what I gave you here. I’m not saying she should hang up her hat or whatever. I am saying she needs some help, and some honest people to help her out. Her black and whites are soo…. flat o.o You honestly don’t see just how they feel like a newspaper printing? eh.

 

I also can’t make active links -_- I hit add link like 12 times and it just sits there and mocks me o.o

[Intuition]

Oh ignore the non linking thing. >.>;;;

[fstopper89]

@Jenz… no, definitely not jealous. If I wanted to resort to setting my camera on auto and charging people for it, maybe I’d fit in the class with Chell. I looked again at her albums and can’t seem to figure out what you mean by “good.” Take off your mommy goggles. Of course you’re going to love the photos of your own kids. The few images that look somewhat redeeming all have technical failures. Really overexposed, bad color casts or white balance issues, grainy, over-softened, or out of focus. Clearly using on-camera flash which creates washed-out faces and dark shadows. And most of them exhibit poor attention to composition. Saw many trees growing out of peoples’ heads. And ugh! What is with all the selective color! Why does anyone think that looks good? It does nothing but take the attention away from the subject. She does not know how to properly use her equipment, or her editing software.

There is more to photography than taking pictures of cute kids.

Sorry, if someone is using consistently terrible grammar on a business page, I’m not going to take them seriously. Maybe they should revisit fourth grade.

[stef]

Sorry, if someone is using consistently terrible grammar on a business page, I’m not going to take them seriously. Maybe they should revisit fourth grade.

This bears repeating. Or does it bare repeating? Or Bayer repeating?

Seriously, the same thing is true even on forum posts, although I’m a lot more forgiving for poor grammar. Nevertheless, people will post something nigh incomprehensible in a wall of run-on text and when you ask for a better description with punctuation and paragraphs, they get annoyed with their inability to communicate. I generally respond that if one can’t take time to compose their question properly, I won’t take time helping out. It’s just a selfish attitude to expect otherwise.

 

[CoastalTog]

I used to let the whole Facebook “Mom With A Camera” irk me but then I realized they are catering to an economic status that I don’t want to deal with.  Cheap people demand more for lesser value.  People paying a higher price leave you alone because they are paying you to know your shit and value your work.

If these MWAC’s who charge $25 for a disc full of images with full copyright are taking business away from you then it’s time to re-evaluate your branding and marketing.

[fstopper89]

I do understand what you mean @CoastalTog. Some of my “entry” marketing is on the local buy/sell FB group I’m part of, because of the high volume of members and exposure, and it’s all local. But the vast majority of those people are single moms, to be honest. No no no, not all of them, but 75% of the time when a member posts “looking for a photographer” it’s some lady with a couple of kids who also states she just wants “cheap” and “full copyright release.” (However I have gotten a few of these to come to me, as they saved up a little money because they saw the difference). I hope to market more to the more affluent part of my town and I have gotten a few, and it’s helped me grow a bit in my client base. Those people truly do see the value in having good portraits done. It’s just slower-going.

[CoastalTog]

@browneyedgirl- have you ever read any of  “…a man to fish…”?  It’s a great blog about the business side of photography.  I saw him speak last year and it really changed the way I do things.  I saw your Flickr.  You can definitely charge more.  All you have to do is rebrand and network with social groups such as the local small business owners association and chamber of commerce.  Those people have the cash and chutzpah to get you in the right social circle.

[cameraclicker]

http://www.amantofish.com/ is off-line!  I will try to check it again later as it sounds interesting.

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