[Bill]

I could not agree more CC.  Though she is finding some decent sunset scenes, and as pretty as they are, there are about a million of them out there.

As thumbnails, they are not that bad, some need more work than others and I think that they are definitely lacking subject matter.  Clouds and sunsets are fine, but you need something to say “but mine is different”.

I have been pointing out that these would be nice if the sunset was just a backer to the main subject, like a silhouette of a fisherman casting out on the shore or of strange looking tree leaning out over the waters edge.  I think you get what I am thinking.

[Bill]

I agree with you CC on the DOF at close range for most current cell phones. For their size and what they go through on a daily basis, they do take great macro photos and photos in general.
I had an Android Samsung Galaxy S4, but dropped in into a pond with no waterproof case, it took wonderful pictures. I currently have an iPhone 5 and the default app is basically full auto with no option to take control of the settings. I like Apple, but I don’t need Apple to tell me how to take a photo.

I would give her one of my backup cameras that is fully capable of performing what she requires, but she happens to live on the East Coast and I here on the West. I could ship it, but I’m not quite 100% sure how serious she is or if this is just that money making scheme that Friend “X” has planted in her head.

Until I get more of a feel for her full intentions, I will continue to just try to guide her from not being a typical “faux on the street” selling crappy artwork next to the velvet Elvis paintings.
True on the statement that upgrading to a much larger sensor will indeed result in better photos, less grain, but since she shoots in full auto not even nighttime scene mode, I don’t see her photos getting better due to just a gear upgrade.

Hopefully these will appear as I screen grabbed a few photos of hers for reference. Now these I grabbed are not the best ones I have seen of hers, needs a lot of work on the composure among other things, but just to give a f=reference. They are on my flickr page if they do not appear here.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/101608681@N05/15105212844/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/101608681@N05/15539268959/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/101608681@N05/15726718562/in/photostream/

[Bill]

CC – well put.

If you don’t mind, I would like to use your analogy to better explain to some of my borderline reluctant newlyweds-to-be. I don’t do many weddings, but I get several requests for them and I think I scare the couples when I start on my soapbox and try to explain the value of photographs over other aspects of the wedding.

[Bill]

Just wing it EyeDoc, you’ll be fine. Focus on your shooting and composition, don’t over think it and you’ll be fine.

[Bill]

Philip – your post reads like an infomercial, but I’ll bite.

I use both an aluminum compact tripod for those travel shots, a carbon fiber for my main tripod and an aluminum monopod for shooting with my big lens and camera combo.

I prefer my carbon fiber tripod, due to the fact that carbon fiber reduces vibration through the body of the tripod where steel and aluminum. That and the fact that it is light as hell and I don’t mind carrying it, some of the times.
When I’m doing my sports action shots, I have a full panning gimbal I use that more than makes up the weight savings. Combine that with my big lens and the big camera, the aluminum tripods don’t come close enough to the weight ratings I need.

Next time, no spam, just ask.

UPDATE: Looking at that Proaim, does not very practical unless you are in a strict studio environment. And since I don’t do video, completely useless to me, maybe not to anyone else, but for me it is.

[Bill]

ErikC – I am glad to hear that you are understanding. Most people that come asking for critiques get uber-offended when people start pointing out certain flaws that others see in their work. It is sometimes hard to take but like you stated in your original post, friends and family opinions should be taken with a grain of salt.

Glad to hear about the babies safety, I was hoping that all the pit crew just just out of frame, but we have seen some real winners when it comes to babies. Don’t get some of the others stated on that topic.

For your watermark, I would use a much smaller watermark that does not divert your attention from the main subject, hard to do when it is right smack in the middle. A smaller watermark is fine and can be placed somewhere outside the main subject area but close enough to prevent people from cropping it out if they were to download it.
If you have a web site platform that allows you to disable the “right-click” then that is an option. I use Zenfolio for my site, and it has a photo asset manager built in to allow or prevent downloading images. It does a lot more, but I don’t want to sound like a sales pitch.

For the image displaying the photos, If you have the option to control the look and feel of the way the images are presented, then it is best to try to take full control of that for your benefit. Only show your best!.
If you do a session and it has a progressive flow that tells a story, that works. Your using the images to convey to your audience what has transpired. You heard that a picture is worth a 1000 words? that is what you are trying to do with your images, not just “here are some pics of this guy and girl with their baby.”

As for the skin tone and color correction, these are 2 different aspects that share a common relation. Color correction is best done when your monitor has been calibrated with your X-rite or other device. This way, you see your blacks as blacks and your whites as whites. Without a calibrated monitor, you may be able to get close, but you will most likely has variances when it comes to certain things, like skin tone. And this is where they are related.
A person’s skin tone can change with many situations, but you want to convey their best skin tone (color) based on your exposure and lighting conditions. Their skin color may look different from if they were posed in direct sunlight as to posed under a tree in shade.
With Adobe Camera Raw, (part of Photoshop) and many other applications, you can adjust the temperature of your photos. For your direct sunlight photo, you can add more blue (Daylight = 5500K) to counter act the bright sun. For your shade you can add more yellow (shade = 7500K) to add more yellow to warm the photo up, this counter-acts the lack of sunlight.
To do this without a calibrated monitor is tricky, because you have no basis of what true black and true white actually are. This is why you will see photos where people have blueish, green or pink tints to their skin color.
Babies are very susceptible to being very cold, so they naturally look blue. You would normally use a heater to keep baby warm, but if they have a blue tint, you can correct that in post by adjusting the temperature. Not too much, because they will look like an ummpah loompah.

The X-rite does not fix anything, it just allows you to adjust your monitor to provide the truest color profile so that what you see on your monitor is as true as it can get. Without being adjusted and calibrated, what you see as green may be actually more blue.

[Bill]

okay so none of the linked photos I posted are popping up….Nice

Image #1
Image #2
Image #3

[Bill]

Okay, 1st off, I want to say that none of what I say is meant to be hurtful or mean, but instead truthful and hopefully helpful criticism.
I don’t do newborn photography,and I give you credit for taking on such a challenging task, but I do see issues that I need to point out.

1st thing is the safety of the baby.

I’m not sure what is going on during the session, but from the resulting photos, it doesn’t look too safe, but that is me. I hope that is not what is going on, but I have to call it as I see it. Also, the photos are crooked, adding to the look of unsafe-ness.

The exposure levels are high and low, not something you want to see in a portfolio. You want to see a flow and consistency, evenness across the same series of photos. These you can fix easily in LR or PS.

colors are way off, inconsistent and over softened. Take the screenshot I grabbed and you can see a side by side directly from your portfolio. The only difference I see, is that she is standing in the sun on one frame and partially shaded in the other, but a dramatic difference in lighting and appearance.

 

 

The one thing that I really don’t like and it will greatly affect how others see your work, is the annoying watermark.

Don’t get me wrong, watermarking is fine, except when it intrudes on getting a full vibe of your work.  As you see hear, it does not stop people from screen-grabbing, but is severely affects the impression of your photos.  I would suggest a smaller watermark or maybe hide something in the background like I do.

I feel that you are straying down the path of being a “fauxtographer.” You have cliche poses, aka hand of hearts, but I know some like that stuff, your color balance and skin tones needs attention and photos need to be straighten (leveled). These are fundamental mistakes, that if you don’t correct, you are doing your craft a disservice. The gear can help, but not using it correctly hurts.

Okay, so your probably pissed at me, but I am trying to be 100% honest with you. You have potential, but from what your are displaying, you’re going to wind up as one of our forum posts under “Am I a Fauxtog”.
I don’t want to see that happen to you.
You say you have invested tons of time and money into workshops and gear, maybe try another approach. Maybe the workshops are the cause? I always feel it is better to get advice from multiple sources and average them out. I would suggest places like “Meet Up.com” or some local photo group, many you can find are free or very cheap.
Most of these local groups you can get a better understanding and more personal tips and training over a workshop that makes their money filling seats and moving on.

I use a iDisplay Pro from X-Rite for my color management, but they have others like the Color Munki. They are similar products that work pretty much the same, but you can find others as well, but X-Rite is probably the most widely used.

Anyway, I will let the others chime in for other perspectives on your work. Don’t take it personally, it is not meant to be that way. Take it and use it constructively and better yourself, it will pay off in spades.

Good Luck!

[Bill]

Thanks for the correction CC. It’s been a while since I used Elements, I must admit.

[Bill]

Tirandia – if you can afford it, do yourself a favor and get the 2.8.

I have had both versions of the f/4 and both versions of the 2.8, I know currently have the 2.8 II with the IS.

The advantages of the f/4 are the weight savings, portability, and image quality. If you do any kind of action photography, the IS will come in handy more than you’ll know. The good thing is that it is very fast and very responsive, but will drain the camera battery down a bit whenIS is used.

The 2.8 is a far better lens, but it does come at a substantial cost in both $$ and weight. Now in comparison, the cheaper of the bunch is the non-IS f/4 but you also save because it has the fewest elements of the 70-200mm group, only 16. The IS f/4 version has 4 additional elements, 20, so your not only paying for the IS but some additional glass.
The f/2.8 versions also differ slightly between the IS and non-IS versions. The non-IS f/2.8 has 18 elements where the IS version has 23 but also has a fluorite front element.

In my opinion the Mark II version of the f/2.8 with IS is the best of the bunch, but it comes at that added price. I understand, if your on a budget, the f/4 is fine, I had one and the images are excellent from it. The f/2.8 will allow you that extra stop of light which will help in those lower light situations, just like CC stated.

I loved my f/4, but wanted something better, so I got the 2.8 and kept the f/4 for a backup and those shots where the 2.8 was just too big and heavy to use.
Good Luck and if you get the 2.8, you won’t regret it.

[Bill]

Photoshop can, for some have a steep learning curve.  With all the potential power within the application, most only use a small fraction of what it can really do.

I would suggest starting to work with RAW files if your not already.  It’s best to capture the best that you can in camera, but RAW allows you some flexibility in saving or enhancing photos that if shot in jpg would be tossed.

With that said, I would start out with Elements or Lightroom, but that is just my opinion.  The good thing about Elements, is that is closely follows the workflow of Photoshop, so making the transition would not be hard.  The real drawback is no RAW file support.

Lightroom on the otherhand, does have RAW file support but the workflow is nothing like any of the other Adobe products.

Maybe you can use a slightly older version of PS that you can get for cheap, just make sure it is not pirated.

Lynda.com is a good resource for learning PhotoShop, Lightroom and I believe Elements or you can go to YouTube and find tons of tutorials.

Photoshop can be expensive, the cloud option is good, but not if you are first learning it. Remember, the cost of photoshop does not include the plugins or actions or anything else that adds functionality to the app.

[Bill]

IHF, I emailed Erika Thomas, the photographer of the 2 little girls on the beach with the balloon, so she is aware.  What she does with it, is on her.

As for the Google+ thingy, not sure, I really don’t use it and most of the people I know don’t use it.  I have a +page, but it’s just a means of  obscure exposure.  Even if you did join and post something on there, he most likely has the control to delete your post.  Some may see it, but as Google does not have the market share in social media, it is probably futile.

[Bill]

I wonder if he researched this site any before posting on here.  After looking at his gallery, I don’t think that one single photo is actually his, well at least none of the ones on 500px are.

Photo Trim, there is this thing, it’s new, not everyone has heard of it, but it is called the internet.  It’s like a bunch of tubes that connect a lot of computers together.  Don’t ask me how it works, I’m sure that there is some pact with the devil or ancient voodoo action at stake, but it does allow people like IHF and myself to see that all the posted photos, with the exception of your  “selfie”are not yours.

If your going to use someone else’s work give them credit for it at least, but actually don’t.  I am sure that many of us would not want you to “render” our work as “you” see fit.  There are plenty of up-n-coming photographers out there that you can offer your services to and gain “legal” use of the images for promotional use.  Try it, you may just like it, Mikey did.  Oh wait, your from Bangladesh, you probably won’t get that reference.

 

[Bill]

Rise, I feel for you and after reading some of the other stories here, you’re not alone.
I felt the some way with some clients after submitting a quote to them. Sometimes I get that “look” that I must be joking or that I am out of my mind or something or that I am trying to rob them at gunpoint or something to that nature.

You have to stick to your guns and try to enlighten your clients to the quality of your service and product. Try equating it to that of other professions so that maybe it put’s your price in better perspective. Everybody wants to save money, that’s just human nature, but equating a value to a better service, especially one that they can see, can sometimes smooth it over.

You will get some clients that do not have that vision, but want it.

From my own experience, I had a client, who I will not name, that was wanting some good headshots and portraits done for promotional use. He wanted high quality portraits so that he could make promo posters for his entertainment business.
He was a sort of Frank Sinatra type of lounge singer, from what I gathered.

I gave him a quote and broke it down so that he could see what everything cost in an itemized format. I had studio rental, [I have no studio at the time], HAMU for the hours that he needed, even catering if he should so need or want it.
On his end, he wanted several poses, and a few close-ups for use with posters and playbills and some others for his website.
The quote I gave him even included several sized prints.
I was going to forgo any licensing for the images for future use, something I usually don’t do much, if at all, Now I do a standard licensing agreement for any “future” usage.
Well anyway, the quote I gave for a full day of shooting was around $4500, for all that was entailed. My cost, including profit, was about $1800, everything else was what he requested.

He replied, via email, that I was trying to bankrupt him and that I was crazy for “asking” that price.

I politely replied, that these were going to be high quality headshots and closeups for promoting his business and that I was not “asking”, but stating a price. I tried to gently school him that this was something that you don’t go down to Sears Photo Studio to have done and that in promoting your business, you need good quality images, especially ones that were to be used for posters.

Anyway, I did not get the job. After seeing his website some time afterward, I can see that he did not think that he needed “high-quality” images to promote himself. I also see that some time after that, his website was no longer there, I assume his business took the hit.
In show business, you need to dazzle your clients, I guess he thought his talent was enough.

[Bill]

EyeDoc, you never stated whether you are charging for these services or not.

I think CC & Cassie are right on track, church groups and community service centers like YMCA may be a big help. I would keep it as grassroots as possible, it will go over better as parents of special needs kids are always on guard and very protective.

– I have tried the Google Adwords but it was mainly to drive traffic to my website, not a full fledged method for getting customers for pay services, so I wouldn’t recommend that for your needs.

Facebook is good if you already have some photos that you can share and maybe encourage some of your photo clients to share them with special needs group pages and sites, but most will usually get looked over.
If you are using FB for your prime advertising, try using the hashtags to better spread the word of your services. Don’t expect a major wave of traffic, but it may help slowly.
Pintrest is great for sharing photos, but again, not great for drawing in customers.

Believe it or not, Yelp may be a good alternative for you as you can add a specialty for your services. The good thing is that it’s free and you can add specials if you are charging a fee.
I don’t use Yelp for myself, but I have a friend that has a service business and 90% of his business comes from Yelp. Once you get a few positive reviews, then the”word” just gets out all by itself.

Good Luck!

[Author]

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