Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page…

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I love neon glow, when it’s a neon sign.  To each their own and when you’re doing “out of the box” photo shoots, I guess it’s sort of part of the schtick.  However, does it really belong (neon glow) when you’re doing portraits?…

https://www.facebook.com/258341594288579/photos/a.596467890475946.1073741972.258341594288579/596468333809235/?type=3&theater

I guess when it’s all you know, you use it and overuse it.

And it’s all great to have a genre that you love but if you’re going to do more than shoot fairy tale figures, you ought to learn how to pose people cause this, along with the lighting of course, is not the worst in the world but sure isn’t flattering at all….

https://www.facebook.com/258341594288579/photos/a.592819514174117.1073741967.258341594288579/592819530840782/?type=3&theater

And more along the lines of something other than fictional characters, and of the “learn how to pose” and a little of “use better equipment that doesn’t have so much CA it’s all I can look at” and a dash of “find Waldo…I mean, find the focus”…..

https://www.facebook.com/258341594288579/photos/a.596377220485013.1073741971.258341594288579/596418107147591/?type=3&theater

And then there is the “wow, this almost works”.  As usual, another faux just about gets there but has to ruin it.  A decent pic not quite in focus.  I know some blur has been added but I suspect it was never really sharp anyway.  I know you don’t want sharp pores but she appears to have nice glowing skin and I don’t think there was too much reason just to gauss blur it all out.  But of course, what really ruins it is the typical faux habit of not paying attention to the background.  The frames on the wall is an interesting idea, however, did the faux not notice the corner of the frame cutting through her head?

https://www.facebook.com/258341594288579/photos/a.533962426726493.1073741906.258341594288579/533962460059823/?type=3&theater

Geesh, I could go on all day here but among all the nuclear glow, poor composition, crap lighting and just plain so-so stuff, let’s finish off with a typical faux fail…..OUT OF FOCUS so why the heck are you posting it!?!?

https://www.facebook.com/258341594288579/photos/a.483687205087349.1073741886.258341594288579/483687248420678/?type=3&theater

 

[IHF]

She probably turned all these in for a school assignments and got a 98.  My friend who attends the AI turned in an out of focus still life that looked to be taken with a cell phone, with a color filter applied, even though she shoots with a full frame, and got a 98 and a wonderful critique to go along with it.  I’m telling you this poor faux has no idea that there is anything at all wrong with what she posts.  She’s just supplying the school with money and they supply the praise and encouragement to keep paying.

[bananaslugs]

I can’t get over it. Do people like your friend ever look at the work of real photographers? I’ll admit, when I first got my Rebel xti, the praise from my friends did get to my head, even to the point where I started to think, “Hmmmm maybe I could make some money from this.” However, that idea prompted me to actually LEARN more about photography. Therefore I started going to local photography events, looking at photographer blogs etc. It took me about two seconds of looking at some photos at a local photog exhibit to for me to realize, “OHMYGOD my work is awful what the F**K was I thinking????!!!!!” I immediately felt extremely EMBARRASSED for thinking that I was actually good enough to go into business. How can these fauxtogs look at a photographer’s pictures and their own pictures without noticing the stark difference? I don’t get it. How does this happen when you have two fully functioning eyeballs?

[bananaslugs]

And this is probably petty of me but I get so annoyed when I see people who have never studied photography buying a full frame as their first camera. It just seems so spoiled and entitled to me. I don’t know maybe I’m just jealous because I’m not wealthy enough to buy expensive gear lol.

[seth]

Even so…  even without comparing themselves to seasoned photographers, how do they look at their work and say “it is finished” when the sky is purple and the grass is a neon green?  How do they think that it’s ok to add huge vignette with everything oof, etc.  I mean, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the sky is not purple and the clouds do not have a bright blue outline to them.  Just, what the heck!?

[IHF]

Just replace the people he’s referring to, to the people we are referring to, and you have your answer

[IHF]

Most think while looking at good photography, “if I had THAT camera! If only I had THAT lighting equipment! If I just had enough money to take their workshop! If only I could take a class! If my clients were just more photogenic! If only I had that lens! I wish I lived or could travel to interesting places like that. If only I had THAT software! If I had those actions!” Etc…
That why so many are in the business of selling TO photographers.
My fauxtographer friend has everything under the sun that any photographer would ever need to shoot multiple things in any genre, and she keeps buying, and buying, and buying. Meanwhile, her photography isn’t improving at all.
She used to ask me what to buy, and “what do you use?” And “how did you do that?” But I ended up boring her. I don’t even have a camera bag or cover. (That’s next on my list. I’m only $20 away from getting a camera cover. When I make one more sell, and it’s mine) I got my first tripod about a year ago. I have two small continuous lights, and one LED and some flash lights, homemade reflectors and back drops, two lenses, one camera (not counting my cell phone) one software program that’s being discontinued and nobody uses any more. I have a camera, I have a 35mm, two feet, one eye, an Internet connection, imagination, and some light. I have everything I need.

[zaps]

Hi guys i’m a newbie. I know a bunch of so called “professional photographers”, but since i don’t know everything about photography i would like to hear what you think about some of them. http://www.ishelvphotography.com/, http://pinkblossomphotography.com/

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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.

 

[emf]

Her work is quite cliched and there are errors but I don’t think she’s a faux. The bubble gum boy or girl one was quite original though, at least I haven’t seen it before.

 

[seth]

Here’s one.  Not the worst by any means but someone on my feed liked one of the photos and I went to the page only to cringe at seeing neon green grass right away.  Case in point:

https://www.facebook.com/alainakristinephoto/photos/pcb.376328142532709/376327895866067/?type=1&theater

Is it REALLY all that difficult to just bump down the green saturation a bit?  She seems to have a handle on editing for the most part otherwise, she should know how to do this.

The huge logo/watermark also turns me off.  But go to the website and you’ll see that sessions are “100 dollars” (not $100, I dunno, could be me but just seems unprofessional) and “wedding shoots” are “1000 dollars” but you can secure your date with a $50 deposit, yay!

Adorable kids but the skin tones make me want to shield my eyes.  https://www.facebook.com/alainakristinephoto/photos/pcb.383943741771149/383943608437829/?type=1&theater

[IHF]

lol Seth, you’d really hate my Facebook feed!  It’s full of half ass crap like that.  I understand it, because I struggle with color too and my processing leaves me lost sometimes.  Difference is… I know this of myself, and I’m not out there saying “look what I can do for you.  Pay me”.  lol

and why is it that these tog friends of mine have their business pages up and going, but still share all their crap on their personal accounts?  I didn’t like their pages for a reason, as Im sure their other friends on their personal account who haven’t liked their page, but we get banged over the head anyway.  What?! do they think it was a mistake that some of their friends don’t like their photography page?  That we somehow don’t understand how to work the like button?!  NOPE

oh geeze!  And don’t get me started on all the non tog friends I have who get ripped off by bad photographers.  I may have to quit Facebook for my own sanity.

[fstopper89]

My take on Pink Blossom: She seems to have a handle on her equipment and for the most part in posing and composition. Definitely not a faux, but I think she is not consistent in her editing style and using actions a bit too much. when I first started I was like “Ooooh! Actions! Everyone is doing this!” and I fell into doing too much trendy editing. Don’t get me wrong I like the look still quite a bit, but considering it is a trend and it doesn’t work with every kind of photo, I do it more sparingly and ALWAYS provide a clean/classic edit of everything with different style edits as an additional photo. Would I hire Pink Blossom? Prob not- at least yet. I think she has a lot of potential if she is willing to work and learn more.

Here’s one I found in my state. https://www.facebook.com/eve.photo.graphy2012

She had a “cutest kid contest” with the winner receiving a cash prize, trophy, and a free shoot. Ok, so losing money??!! And her “shoots” are $15-$20! She is surprisingly slightly better than the local lady in my town who offers blurry $20 mini sessions, but this girl’s photos all seem really noisy like they were taken with a cheap point and shoot. I don’t know what she is thinking.

[picstop]

Eve is interesting.  There definitely is a lot of noise as if it’s a small sensor.  There seems to be a reflection of her in this shot,

https://www.facebook.com/eve.photo.graphy2012/photos/a.643534329020287.1073741832.415556208484768/839053936134991/?type=3&theater

but maybe it’s a bridge camera and not an slr.  Odd because it’s not high iso noise and really seems like tiny sensor noise.  Oh well.

Anyway, it sure would be nice if “clients” would not encourage bad photography by “liking” it though (not just Eve but any who took a shot so oof and has the gall to post it) like this one,

https://www.facebook.com/eve.photo.graphy2012/photos/a.771754552864930.1073741841.415556208484768/771754649531587/?type=3&theater

All I can say, Eve, is enjoy working your butt off for $20 + $10 for cd with printing rights.  I guess it’s probably just a hobby and you’ve got a real job elsewhere that pays the bills and that’s fine but eventually you will tire of running around for peanuts.  Time will tell if you do raise them and if your skills and output will rise along with them.

 

[fstopper89]

For those of you who remember Justine (Sweet Monkeying Around Photography) looks like she’s still at it- now with “new equipment.” https://www.facebook.com/483534371731386/photos/pb.483534371731386.-2207520000.1415754753./615275875223901/?type=3&theater

She’s not shooting on auto, but she is shooting on “portrait” mode. Sigh.

[Author]

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