Home Forums Am I a Fauxtog? Not A Fauxtog (I hope), Not Yet A Pro

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  • #9672
    ssphoto
    Participant

    Hello! I have been taking photos as a hobby for there to four years, and in the last year expanded to portraits. Most of my photos are not charged, but the few sessions that are don’t cost too much. I need a lot of practice if I intend to make a business out of this. So, I would appreciate feedback! Compared to what I see on the main page, I know I’m not that bad, but I don’t always say “Wow!” at my photos. Everyone who has used me is happy though.

    Here are some more casual shots: http://shawna-lately.tumblr.com/tagged/photography

    Portrait Examples and More: http://www.facebook.com/shawnasullivanphotography

    Thanks!!

    #9673
    ssphoto
    Participant

    You aren’t going to hurt my feelings, I am my toughest critic.

    #9686
    tealgreen1985
    Participant

    I am still learning also so I can’t give too much knowledge but I can share my opinion as an outsider 🙂 I like some of your stuff. A lot of the newer stuff on your facebook page looks very “instagram-ish”, which doesn’t set you apart from just some Joe with an iphone. Your portraits are nice, I like the ones of the guy in the field the most.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=517737668244637&set=pb.127313180620423.-2207520000.1368601818.&type=3&theater that one is my favorite but it could be brightened up a bit so you can see his face a bit clearer.

    You need to watch your horizons there are some photos that would be much better if you straightened them out a bit. Example.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=506640249354379&set=pb.127313180620423.-2207520000.1368601838.&type=3&theater

    Like I said I am still new to this too but that’s just my opinion 🙂 Keep shooting and keep practicing, even for veteran photogs that’s the best advice 🙂

    #9687
    Worst Case Scenario
    Participant

    It seems that you have the same problem as most of the people that post here. Your pics are mostly sharp and well exposed ( possibly because your camera does it all for you ) But you need to point it at some more interesting subjects. The Tumblr page has a couple of okay portraits, but it also has shots of  path, some trees, the ocean, which anyone stood there could have taken. They mean nothing to us and they have nothing that makes us want to look at them.The face book page is much more interesting, but it could well be that it’s just the filters making it look better. As tealgreen said they all look a bit instagram and the will probably look very dated in a few years, if not weeks. Find some people with interesting faces and do more portraits.

    PS thank god for computers, as I managed to type ” Find some people with interesting faeces” before spell check!

    #9691
    ssphoto
    Participant

    @tealgreen1985: Thanks for your positive notes on my portraits. I do agree though, that I need to watch the horizon line. Sometimes I am very OCD about that, but unfortunately not on the photos I posted. And I am guilty of instagramming – the sunset photos and dog photos on my timeline are all from instagram. I have always liked filters like that, though. But I don’t want to be a fad photographer, so maybe I will tone it down.

    @@Worst Case: I do shoot manually, and sometimes on aperture priority as well! Perhaps I need to work harder though. It never occurred to me that my photos were so…vanilla and heavily filtered. And I do get into ruts every once in a while, so I will definitely take your advice and find more interesting people and subjects to photograph! I like my style, but I think I need to branch out.

    Thank you both for the feedback. You made me think and consider my style. I am going to start being more selective of what I post and focus more on my work first, photoshop actions second (they’re my addiction). I started out using photoshop long before I got into photography, so I can see how I have been getting carried away. There is nothing better than a great photo SOOC.

    #11720
    jackd
    Participant

    You said you were going to work on the filters, but the last x pages worth of scroll on your page are all filtered to death. Make a rule..no filters.

     

    #11722
    ssphoto
    Participant

    I did say I would tone it down, and I actually have. I only import maybe 1/4th of my Instagram photos now. When I made this topic, I was grateful for feedback, but also a bit too eager to agree with everyone’s opinions. I like Instagram, and as long as I am posting snapshots, not actual photo sessions on Instagram, I don’t see an issue. I have three to four sessions I haven’t posted yet, and they are quality. They won’t be filtered. Honestly, I have taken a break this summer from my camera a bit and mainly used my phone. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but since you said my page is filtered to death, perhaps I should ask some friends if it is.

    #11723
    ssphoto
    Participant

    Even if I didn’t use Instagram, I would still post “filtered” photos that I edited in Photoshop. I don’t do selective b&w, but I do like dreamy and pastel. Is that a no-no for a professional photographer? Just for daily still life and whatnot? I will make a reply here when I get my sessions posted, and you can judge my actual work. Thanks!

    #11740
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    One of your sunset photos is up side down.  I suppose that is “different”, but I would probably choose a different word ;o)

    Following this site for many months, it is clear that anything will sell if given a low enough price and the right marketing.  Dreamy and pastel can be beautiful if it is done well.  I agree with the others.  I will go a bit further and say a page with a lot of filtered/actioned photos and clip art looks like it was made by a teenage girl with a camera.

    #11742
    cameraclicker
    Participant

    Pro dreamy and pastel:  http://art-dept.com/10/warren-du-preez-nick-thorntonjones/portfolio#/page/6 , still not my thing, but I suspect the photographer is successful.

    #11748
    iliketag
    Participant

    You have to think about your audience and subjects; a senior boy probably doesn’t want vintage, dreamy pastels. A family with all boys – Mom might adore the softer look, but odds are Dad wants something a little more rough and tumble with his rugrats. It’s important to have a “Clean Edit” as well as your more creative one. Again, it comes to guaging your client and discussing these things prior to the shoot. It will also help you break out of your comfort zone and aspire to try and get an image just right SOOC to cut down on time spent editing.

    Also, the context of your image really makes a difference. Certain portraits and creative sessions look wonderful with actions applied. Others really don’t fit the bill. Think of the tone you want to convey with your finished product.
    I’ve used Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro for a couple years now – I go back and look at some of my edits and think about how my tastes have changed and how having a cleaner edit would look better in a portfolio.

    #11749
    ebi
    Participant

    A quick look at your tumblr says you have some raw talent. Moving over to your facebook page tells a different story. You have so much stuff on there that it’s just waters down the good. You need to delete every image on there, go through your stuff and find just a few good images from each session that work. You should start thinking of images in different looks. So skinny boy walking through a field is one look. if you’ve got other images of him in different situations, a close up portrait, that could be another look. I don’t need to see 10 different photos with different color temperature variations and black and white. I just need to see one good image. ONE, not two, not three, just ONE. Your best image and that is it.

    So:
    – Choose your best image
    – get rid of all the horseplay. So get rid of all the shots of your coffee cups and weird self portrait vignettes with logo designs and flower shots and random instagram snaps and focus. You can use tumblr or some other service for the random shit, but your facebook page that says FIRST NAME LAST NAME PHOTOGRAPHY should be a concise representation about what you do.
    -organize your shit. Portraits together, scenic shots together, you can even have a place for random instagram stuff, but again, keep it concise.
    -stop charging $50 for senior portraits, approach the pretty boys and pretty girls in your school and offer to do their photos for free. Photos of your friends are nice, but you need to be more selective about the people you use in your portfolio. I have tons of shots of portraits that I got paid for, but they aren’t in my portfolio because they don’t really look all that great.

    Do all this and then come back and we can take a more serious look at your work and give you a better critique. But I’m not going to sort through this mess b/c I have no idea what kind of photographer you are with all this clutter.

    #11751
    ebi
    Participant

    i’ll rephrase the pretty boy and pretty girl thing and simply say you need to fine people with interesting looks. Just b/c they are pretty doesn’t necessarily mean that have a great style. So focus on that.

    #11843
    cassie
    Participant

    so I’m new here and really haven’t said anything yet, but I’ll add this.

     

    Pay attention to your subject and focal length. I have horses and tons of horrible pictures of horses and until I knew about focal lengths never knew why they were horrible. Horses look funny if you take a picture of them with a focal length less than 80mm, a lot of them look like they were with a 50 but a 50 is still too short.

    #11845
    ssphoto
    Participant

    Thank you, that is interesting.

    Thanks everyone for the constructive criticism. Just out of curiosity, is there anything purely positive about my photos? Are there any that you fancy?

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