[JanJan]

The original SOOC image was way overexposed. Funny thing is that in Lightroom, I clicked on auto and and it came out perfectly! I only adjusted the exposure a tad bit after that. I took the color-corrected image into Photoshop and eliminated the power lines by doing a clone stamp.

http://www.janjanspage.com/images/JaeBeforeandAfter.jpg

[JanJan]

This is my portfolio. Feel free to give me any critiques or suggestions:
http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/

My favorite places are Nelson and the dry lake bed near Nelson

[JanJan]

Hey Jeremy! Nice to see a fellow Vegas person on these boards! May I ask, what’s your favorite place to shoot in the Vegas area and why?

[JanJan]

I think there is a saying that actions with the best intentions don’t always result in a good thing, and this is the case.

I feel really bad for bringing up to Shelby’s attention on her FB page that one of her photos landed on the main page. I didn’t expect it to cause this much chaos to the point where OnePissedOffMomma wants to move out of her small town. I’m hoping that there are other reasons why she wants to move out and not just this one alone. I apologize to the webmaster that this one little action caused the boards to be out of control.

Posting the link on Shelby’s FB was a way to give her feedback on her photos. It was not my intention to be mean or vicious. I know that if one of my photos landed on the main page, I surely would want someone to tell me. Ever since I found out about this site, I’ve been very neurotic of doing a good job on my pictures that it will never land on the main page.

Her father responded to my posting and obviously, he took it personal. He thought it was a personal attack on him and his daughter, and explained to me that she loves photography, and it gets her out of the streets, out of doing drugs, etc. and basically said that who posted it was “just jealous”. In response, I complimented his daughter that it’s great she’s doing something she loves and she should continue at it, and complimented him on supporting it. I told him he was a great father. But I also told him that one should NOT take the site personally if their photography ends up on the website. I told him along the lines of “as a new photographer, if my picture ends up on that site, it tells me I need to improve.” But unfortunately, her family didn’t listen to reason and logic and chaos ensued.

YANAP was not wrong for posting her photo, because I’m sorry to say, it’s atrocious, along with her other work. I honestly don’t see anything visually appealing to her work, but I say that with no offense to her personally. I was hoping that it would bring her back into reality and show her that if she continues this path of photography, she will not be successful.

However, it didn’t help that when her and her family members went on this site, they saw people shit-talking about where they come from, how they talk, and the comments about subject in the photo. I know many of you found their responses to your critiques appalling and rude, but talking shit about their education level and constantly calling them rednecks and inbreeders on the forums was stooping to their level. You have to remember that regardless if I have brought it to their attention or not, they probably would have found out about it anyway!

I sincerely apologize to OnePissedOffMomma that this site and my action has brought any grief.

[JanJan]

I brought it to Shelby’s attention that one of photos made it to the main page. I told her as an FYI and to not kill the messenger. Let’s see the responses.

https://www.youarenotaphotographer.com/sideways-tracks/

[JanJan]

This is an example of someone “using your work” aka stealing, when someone takes your pictures and puts their watermark on it

http://carusophotography.com/blog/photographers-stealing/

Your work, on the other hand, is so bad that it mostly serves as a reference or even a cautionary tale of a “fauxtographer”. As an aspiring and new photographer, I go to far lengths to make sure my pictures does not look similar to yours! I’m surprised none of your pictures ended up on the front page.

For the wedding pictures, I hope you were a family friend, relative, or 2nd shooter. If you were the primary shooter, I’m surprised you haven’t gotten sued yet or ended up on Judge Joe Brown – http://youtu.be/4Lz-07D5KoE.

[JanJan]

I think you were referring to this post – https://youarenotaphotographer.com/forums/topic/have-fun/ where Rachel was bashing you, but it actually backfired on her BIG time, especially when she showed her OWN work. You are light years away and I think she’s just jealous and wants to be like you. Keep shooting! Your work is great for someone who hasn’t done this for a long time. My only critiques are that the pictures on your Facebook cover is a bit overexposed and that it looks like you went too much on the clarity on this picture, because it’s a bit soft (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=481766661876981&set=pb.229987970388186.-2207520000.1366097952&type=3&theater). Don’t let someone like Rachel bring you down.

[JanJan]

The weird masked picture is supposed to be a botanical garden at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. They change the themes and arrangements seasonally, and that was from last year (I know because I took similar pictures). I don’t understand why he had to mask the background, because it would have been a nice landscape shot. That round clear ball in the middle is supposed to be a fountain/waterfall. Here it is my shot of it close-up:

The picture on Richard’s home page is part of the ceiling of Bellagio’s lobby. I took a similar picture of it too last year, and yes, his version is way too dark.

I know that Richard and Francis + Francis take different genres of photography, but I would expect Richard’s portfolio would somewhat match Francis + Francis quality of work. Or maybe Richard was a better film photographer back in the days (he posted some older pictures), and is not good with the current digital stuff. Either way, I think he’s doing a disservice to people if they’re paying a lot of money for a photographer whose work does not showcase his 30+ years of experience well.

This one is pretty bad too:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/QJs-Imaging/101597513224342
http://www.qjsimaging.com/

 

[JanJan]

I found this guy on Craig’s List, under the listing “Best in the West”

http://www.richardaklein.com

Supposedly, he’s had over 35 years of experience!

This is supposed to be a headshot!
http://www.richardaklein.com/images/img_2937.gif

This is awful masking!
http://www.richardaklein.com/images/zzzza.gif

What the hell is this?
http://www.richardaklein.com/images/img_2606.gif

He’s been doing this for 35 years and produces crap like this?
http://www.richardaklein.com/Portfolio_Jenny.html

If I have been a photographer for over 30 years, wouldn’t my work look like this?
http://www.francisx2.com/
(My company hired this photographer to take lifestyle pictures.)

I may not have been in the game long enough to be technical, but I would think there will be similarities in quality between these 30+ year veterans.

[JanJan]

In Vegas, where I live, it seems like my favorite places are more and more stringent on permits. I understand that if it’s on a private property, the owners can do whatever they want on their property. When my favorite graffiti art area in the Arts District started charging $25 per hour for photo shoots, I wasn’t upset because it’s private property. Of course, I was bummed when they started charging because it used to be open for photography, but I was more understanding.  And of course,  commercial photography of any kind is prohibited inside the casinos unless you get permission from marketing or PR. This is why you will see more exterior shots of The Strip.

The Vegas area has 2 locations that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is Red Rock Canyon and Jean Dry Lake Bed. The BLM is a branch of the US Department of Interior, and is funded by my tax dollars. I don’t understand why I will need to request for a permit that requires 14 days advanced notice, at least $100 (I’m thinking $250), and insurance to be shooting in a wide-open area like Red Rock and the dry lake bed. It’s not like I’m blocking off sections for my photo shoot for regular visitors. I heard that at Red Rock, anyone can be viewed as a “model”. If the rangers see a family who is obviously taking “professional” pictures (ie. the family is dressed alike or in clothing not comfortable for hiking), they can get fined $400! I had to warn a girl and her female cousin (who was wearing a nice dress and cowboy boots as opposed to jeans and tennis shoes) to watch out for the ranger who was a few hundred feet away because she taking “modeling” pictures. Even though the girl was doing it for free and having fun, they don’t care, her cousin was a “model”.

The same goes for the Jean Dry Lake bed. If you bust out a reflector and a model, you can get fined if the ranger catches you. I think this is more ridiculous because it’s an open area that is out in the middle of nowhere and not easily accessible. They allow people to go dirt biking or riding their ATV’s, which does more damage to the area, but they don’t allow “commercial-like” photography.

It just basically boils down to money!

[JanJan]

Thanks for all your responses! I agree with Andre about the keeping the original crop, but I do agree it’s a tad bit overexposed. Here is the image again, lowering the exposure from +.10 to -.30. (I’m not sure if that is 1/2 stop down or not).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjanette_ablis/8623767338/

I uploaded this in my Flickr account this time because I think my website (which is a WordPress website that I built) somewhat alters the image colors upon uploading. I programed it where it adds a watermark to any images automatically, and I think in the process, it modifies the colors. The Flickr upload showed its true colors.

I guess I revealed my age when I mentioned how long it has been since high school! LOL

I know I need to work on lighting (especially with a fill flash) and posing. I basically let her pose how she wanted, but I gave some directions here and there. I need to work on posing for people who does not know what they’re doing. I really need to work on my flashes. I’ve been more of a natural light shooter, but I need to work on the flashes more.

Because I started off as a landscape photographer, I tend to look at the “bigger picture” in photos, and now I need to start looking at the little details.

[JanJan]

My original photo was a bit under-exposed and had some shadows, so the original edit was done in Lightroom. I’m new to Lightroom, but I’m proficient with Photoshop because of my full-time profession as a graphic/web designer. What I have been doing with Lightroom is just color-correcting, and then additional retouching in Photoshop (like removing items, trimming bodies, removing blemishes, stitching panoramas, etc).

So I pretty much already knew about masking, but I was hoping for a Lightroom “easy button”. LOL. I had other projects going on at the same time I was editing those pictures and just didn’t want to bother with Photoshop. I guess I was being lazy too. LOL. Here is the picture with an adjustment layer added in Photoshop, with the rocks saturated only: http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/santosfamily2.jpg

My objective for photography is different. I am hoping to do this as a service for money someday, and I need to find an efficient way for production. I can go into a couple images  and edit them in Photoshop the way I did for this picture, but it’s not very efficient down the line if I have more clients. With that said, I try to make sure I compose my shots well enough where I don’t have to heavily rely on editing.

Take these examples, for instance. For this one of the girl in front of the Las Vegas sign (http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jae2.jpg), I only had to click on the Auto link to achieve this look, plus with very little tweaks.

For this picture (http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/marc_anjanette_graffiti.jpg), I wasn’t allowed to do any heavy editing at all and just only subtle color corrections because it was for a photography class.

 

[JanJan]

I’m glad you continued to keep on shooting, because your work is actually good. It would have been bad if you stopped, especially since it apparently makes you really happy. The sunset picture is beautiful. I would edit it in a similar fashion.

Saturation really works in your sunset picture, but saturation doesn’t work in other cases. For instance on this picture, because I am huge fan of vibrant colors, I REALLY wanted to make this more orange-red. The area is called Valley of Fire, and I really wanted a richer orange-red to represent the area’s name.  But it would have been bad for skin-tones,  especially on the girl, so ::sigh:: I had to desaturated it a little and cool down the tint. (http://www.photosbyanjanette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/santosfamily2.jpg)

I’m all for a clean slate, and since we’re on the same boat, perhaps we can help each other out.

[JanJan]

Having depression doesn’t excuse you for your poor attitude and your bad reaction to people who are spending their time to help you build a skill that has so much potential. I have depression too, but I don’t go off on people who criticize my work, especially work that I consider my best.

Just keep on shooting. Don’t put that camera away because it obviously puts you in a happier place.

[JanJan]

Well, I’m a beginner too, like I mentioned in a previous post, and I’m on the same boat as you as well. I would expect and even welcome straight-forward critiques like Brownie’s, because for me, it helps me grow into a better photographer. I rather have someone spout out “pro-like” jargon so I can research it and apply it to my own stuff. What kind of critiques or “criticism” would you expect? Bottom line, you were just pissed off because everyone was not fully agreeable with your work and you didn’t get the response you wanted.

If you already knew you’re not good with people, especially with people on the internet, you should have thought twice about posting something on here for feedback on your work. Depression aside, your attitude is really taking away from your photography, which like I mentioned in a previous post, is great for someone who has been doing this for 5 months. Many others have also said the same thing, but obviously it seems like in Simon’s world that it’s all or nothing…everyone has to be agreeable with your work.

Like you have said many, many times,  you shoot for yourself, so go ahead and continue to do that. No one but yourself is stopping you. Myself and others will not lose any sleep if you stop or continue shooting. We were trying to help when asked, and you just basically spit in everyone’s face. Just do everyone in your area a favor and please not even think of doing this as a service for money based on your attitude alone. And don’t even bother going on digital-photography-school.com for feedback on your work because there are moderators who screens everything and will not even post your thread with your attitude.

[Author]

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