here

[no one special]

is a nice place for you to bash me if you wish. I take pictures for me to enjoy. Some of my friends like them as well, so I post some for them see. One day I may become good enough to make a living at this, but making money is not my goal and I don’t try to sell my pictures.

I had lots more on Facebook, but took most stuff off once I looked closer at their Terms of Service.
https://www.facebook.com/T3HeavyShop
http://t3heavyshop.smugmug.com/

[dicksforeyes]

One day I may become good enough to make a living at this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishful_thinking

[no one special]

Are you saying that quote is me expressing wishful thinking? Or that I will never be good enough to make a living at photography?

[dicksforeyes]

Yes.

[sailgal625]

Question, since you suggest others don’t learn manual.. have you?

[dicksforeyes]

Are you talking to me? If so, learn English and reread what I said.

[stef]

If you don’t try to sell your pictures, it’s a lot harder to bash you for being a fauxtographer. Some of your event shots were okay, and concerts and such are difficult enough to shoot and get position if you don’t have a guaranteed press spot that you get a pass on those.

 

So I checked your portraits album, and you need a lot of practice posing people. The album with Kimberly Dawn was sub-par mostly due to poor posing and poor composition. The first dozen shots are primarily watermarked nostrils and armpits. The thing is, even with a couple good shots in there, I can’t get past your watermark. For instance, is this shot too close and heavily distorting her nose, or is it just the watermark making her nose stick out? http://t3heavyshop.smugmug.com/Portraits/Kimberly-Dawn/i-QWzd7DN/1/M/IMG2117-M.jpg Unwatermarked, that looks like a good shot. A 2/3 mask with butterfly lighting is very becoming on that girl. Even the tonality looks good. But I can’t be sure because it’s too distracting.

 

A better idea is to use a less obtrusive watermark and just limit the filesize that can be viewed. There’s no reason anyone would want a 5000 pixel wide image with a huge watermark anyway, so why make that available? Another way is to use a watermark that has no obvious curves, unlike letters. The brain can filter out lines that cut across it, and it’ll only be as annoying as a telephone wire.

 

I liked some of your landscapes, but it was hit or miss, again due to composition. For the most part, you need to learn to actively look at the image and consciously think “where is my eye drawn with this composition?” It’s clear you’re starting to think about composition, and I urge you to actually get a book on it. Many used bookstores carry old college photography textbooks, and you could really use a beginning one right about now before you start going down the dark paths of HDR and florabella. Right now, your photography has a basic honesty to it, but it’s missing good composition.

One of your compositions was pretty good, and even more notable because it also ignored the “rule of thirds”. http://t3heavyshop.smugmug.com/Nature/Garden-of-the-Gods/i-4Z6jKj3/1/M/IMG0750-M.jpg

 

If you were charging for this, then I’d vote fauxtographer. But since you’re just doing it for fun, then I think you should keep on having fun and get a book, and when someone asks you to shoot a wedding, tell them “No, please hire a pro.”

[no one special]

sailgal625: yes I do know about M, but my execution is often wrong.

Stef: thanks for the input. I felt I should offer my stuff up for this if I was going to comment on others. Offering advise isn’t really that different than charging money when it comes to this site.

I had a local small band use one of my concert pics without letting me know and my knee-jerk reaction was a blanket obstructive watermark. Thanks for the idea on limiting the size.

I’m going to defend some HDR use for anyone else that may read this, since you brought it up. I turn a vast amount of things I take into HDR, but I don’t post many of them. Not because I like it, or I think I’m good at it, but the exact opposite. I recognize how valuable a tool it can be, and need to be able to ignore the “That looks cool” feeling you get sometimes, so I can apply that tool where it works best.

That’s her nose…mostly.

I have told people “No, hire _______” for that. One thing I will beat myself up on is only put out your good stuff. I put out some stuff that know isn’t good, but there is something in it or about it that I like.
Example: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=414555888573584&set=a.414555685240271.112622.245289475500227&type=3
This picture is Horrible! And I know it is. But for some reason, that brown leaf that is not much bigger than that water drop makes me want to wave this picture around and yell “Look at this!”

[doisuck]

Wait a minute you are not a professional? You do not make money from your work? Yet you are on here giving advice to people?

Well IMHO you need to lay off the HDR you over do it. It’s very noticeable.  A good photographer shouldn’t have to edit their photos much.

Maybe you should shoot in M some learn your camera a little better..just saying.

 

[IHF]

Doisuck,

I’m not a professional photographer, I give advice and comment on what I can here.  Just because I don’t make a living at photography doesn’t make me blind, or make my opinion or advice less credible.  And if I am ever blatantly wrong, or if any pros on the forum disagree with me, I’d sure hope they would set me straight and educate me.  But I don’t talk about things I am unsure of or don’t have much knowledge in (unless it’s to learn), so I doubt  I’ll ever have to get reprimanded.

There are plenty of knowledgable photographers out there that aren’t in business and don’t ever really even want to be.  They just love photography and respect the medium and the industry.

No one special has every right to be here and learn/comment/and even be wrong every once in a while 😉

[sailgal625]

If you cannot reliably use your camera in manual, perhaps you shouldn’t tell others not to learn it, but instead spend time on consistency yourself. And yes, I shoot full manual- have since two months after getting my camera. And can, two years later, walk into a room and adjust my camera without even needing to look at the light meter to be pretty dead on exposure. While there are many important aspects to photography, you cannot neglect the technical ones either- and knowing your camera well enough to get a picture in whatever situation you are in, IMO, is the first step.

[Author]

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