[fstopper89]

Yes thank you creyeyes. When I use the actions, I make tons of adjustments and usually to several layers of each action, some actions I only set at 12% opacity and use multiple actions. I’ve always been a very detail-oriented person so if I see fit I tend to tweak my edits quite a bit until it feels perfect to me. I know this tends to make me slower at editing (and I procrastinate a lot, unless I have set deadlines!) I am really working on getting better and better SOOC shots so that I don’t have to do much editing. Some of my more recent work I was quite happy with the SOOC, and only did a little editing to give it that extra oomph. I don’t think I’ll ever have a perfect SOOC. Some photographers do, especially I think older photographers who’ve been in the business since film days, since you had to rely on getting the shot right in the first place MUCH more (besides using some filters and dodging/burning in the darkroom- yes I’ve had minimal experience in darkrooms before while in college). I highly commend those photographers. Most of us would not have survived in a business sense in the film days, at least not without several years of practice. Digital cameras and software HAVE truly made it easier for “anyone” to be a photographer but there’s such a spectrum of what you can call good photography because of this. In the old days it was either good or terrible, IMO. I have a few great older books on photography that were all down to the basics such as getting exposure right on black and white film. I’ve read some here and there, and it does help. I would suggest any photographer read some old books and really get down to the basics. When I think back on my first photography courses in college and realize how shitty of work I put out, I am also happy I had that experience. At the time I thought “oh, I totally get this… but wait, I forget, when you have a lower f-stop are you supposed to speed up the shutter or slow it down? Wait, let me refer to my notes again…” LOL, seriously, I thought that. I didn’t know the technical aspects of photography at all, all I knew is that I loved taking pictures and I thought I had a good eye for things.

This photograph was my “pride and joy” of my first photography course. It was I think, supposed to be a portrait showing emotion without showing someone’s face. We had to wind and develop the film itself, then dry it, then take it in the darkroom and make prints and develop them in the chemical baths. Out of all my final images for this course this was by far my best- sharpest, best contrast, best texture, most emotion. The original print I made in the darkroom had some dust specks and was a bit lower in contrast, this is the high-resolution scan/slightly photoshopped version. I entered this photo in the fair and received a merit award on it. > http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/6796932042/in/set-72157628691483073

I want to try to justify tilt. Yes now I see I probably use it too much, but I do think it looks artful/tasteful in this situation: Let’s say you have a person doing a subtle chin tilt in a photo. If you tilt the entire image the opposite direction so their eyes are now on a straight plane (not so far where the image is tilted more than about 25 degrees-ish) would that look more pleasing? I think so, in some cases at least. I’ve seen people do complete 45 degree tilts in situations where I don’t see it’s warranted, and those make me want to turn my head sideways. I’m sure I’ve done that before. I’ll have to scour through my porftolio, I’m sure I could find some bad examples. Another situation (this was mentioned by another poster here) is that when you have an object where you want to get the tip of a sailboat and there would be too much negative space if you photographed it straight-on, giving it some tilt minimizes the negative space and fills the frame better.

Here’s an example of keeping the eyes on a straight plane, while tilting the background. Does it work for this image? http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/7634074040/in/set-72157628691483073

Another of tilting to keep the female’s eyes on the straight plane. This one’s probably a little too tilted, but I didn’t want the door of the fire truck to be vertical. http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/8220486458/in/photostream

Here’s an example of filling the frame and eliminating negative space by tilting. (This is admittedly a horrible photo, I was hiking through the woods so I took my lens that is NOT a good portrait lens as it’s never sharp, I wanted to get his expression and hands in the frame while still being very close up) > http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/8220486458/in/photostream

Another of filling the frame by tilting.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/7990811322/in/photostream

Please give feedback if this use of tilting is good. I promise I’m going to think more now when I use tilt!

 

[fstopper89]

Nitpick much? I was referring to lowest f-stop. Yes, should have said fastest.  Sorry for my complete disregard for the correct term.

A lot has to do with the focal length, subject-to-background distance, and subject-to-camera distance.

[fstopper89]

I certainly don’t think I know it all and never portrayed that, at all, in fact, I’ve stated that I’m always trying to learn new things. Honestly I think you have me mixed up with someone else because I was not the person who posted on a photo “did you use an instagram filter?” That comment was on a photo, but someone else posted it, not me. And yes, there’s a huge difference between using auto on the camera and an action as one of the last steps in post- I do a clean edit first on all my shots, and then if I feel it needs something more that an action or a few actions together may provide, I use them, in varying opacities and layers. I know there are some people out there who just run an action and call it good. No way have I ever done that. And actually I took the lens flare answers to heart, (did I not respond? my bad) I had posted the question in multiple places (FB, Flickr, and here) There have been times where I was trying to get a lens flare in the photo, like in some of the nature shots I posted and I’ve tried experimenting in portraits with it. That particular shot was an accident, and at first I thought it looked interesting, but the general consensus was that it detracted from the image and people liked the one where I edited it out. I probably should be using the lens hood more.

Like I said, I’m always open to learning new things. Photography is always changing as technology changes and in order to be successful you must be able to learn the new things as they come along. I’ve posted a link before to my work, but I’ll do it again. Of course I’m not perfect and after going over my photos several times I see more of what I could have done differently. I constantly look at other great work and get ideas and compare myself (usually beat myself up over how to get an image that good).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxanne_elise_photography/

[fstopper89]

The lowest I own is a 35 f/2.0. I feel I get my best images when I’m a few feet away (for a single person, so that their facial features are all sharp) and at the same time get a nice soft background blur. But for something I want more a “macro” of (it’s not truly a macro lens, but I can get quite close and isolate other objects in the image) I generally move in much closer. My friend has a 50 1.8 and she can get such nice portraits of multiple people (with being a bit further away in distance) yet still achieve the shallow DOF. Previously I was shooting on a crop-sensor (Rebel T2i and 40D) but recently got a 5D Mark II, so it’s now a true wide-angle on the full frame (my 35mm) which at the same time, renders it a bit less accurate for portraits as it distorts close-ups a bit.

f/1.2 would be a challenge to shoot with I think, though I bet when you nail it you can get amazing shots.

[fstopper89]

I ended up finding the person who stole the advertising template via the original photog’s FB page. Some people had posted the info to Daly Moment’s page. I also did not see the ad, she must have taken it down by the time I saw her FB page. She has over 600 likes on her page but it’s all quite amateur. There are a few good ones here and there, but I’d definitely consider her a fauxtog.

MJWC1 explained it very well.

When searching again for Ashley’s business page I came across her personal page (which is viewable to me) and she posted “selling my camera because apparently I don’t know how to use it!” lots of comments questioning it and telling her everyone must be jealous because she does amazing work. I think all her friends are lamebrains if they sincerely believe that!

[fstopper89]

A million other photographers use actions, including lots of those who post on here.

I said somewhere I was going to try to watch the tilt more, didn’t remember brushing that off… though I don’t think I tilt nearly as much as many.

The illustration I was trying to get at with iso and a cloudy day was merely a bad wording of trying to ask someone what ISO is. I was basing it off of the correlation between lower light and bringing the ISO up higher (depending of course on aperture and shutter speed, which I should have mentioned to better prove my point) It’s pretty obvious that I know what ISO, shutter speed, and aperture are.

It’s extremely obvious Ashley is ignorant. She’s been shooting on auto since 2009 and making all the faux mistakes since then and just avoiding people who try to help her.

[fstopper89]

@lifeskills13- Were you saying the original photos from a template used by another photographer were photographed by dalyMoments, or was dalyMoments the one who stole an image? I’m confused. The link you posted comes up as unavailable for me. Who’s page is it? After reading the posts in this thread over a few times I’m guessing dalyMoments was the original one and that the other person stole it from her (which would make sense, since dalyMoments seems very professional and has a lot of beautiful images, and totally does not look like someone who’d steal an image)

HAHA! Ashley also has blocked me from her business page after also trying to help her. There are no words. I only got a little harsh with her at the end of my messages (I copied/pasted the entire message thread on a different thread on here, if anyone cares to read it). She is extremely unprofessional, made up excuses for everything such as “the lady at the college told me it wasn’t worth it [to take classes in photography]. and “I like my style and dont wanna change” etc. I could hardly get past her horrible spelling and grammar (She’s from Canada, possibly spoke French natively, though her misspellings and mistakes didn’t look like that of a French-speaking person, so who the heck knows). She said she’s been doing photography since 2009. It’s very apparent she will never be a good photographer if she’s still taking out-of-focus images and everything else.  I’m kind of sad I can’t see it anymore, my “favorite” was the huge, yellow, hairy pregnant belly photographed straight-on with flash and written in huge letters in black marker across her belly was “This is what happens when mommy wants a back rub.”

[fstopper89]

This is the series of messages with this girl (originally her work was posted by someone else one of the other threads on here) and when I scanned her FB page, she had a post saying that “People have nothing better to do that criticize my work.” I wrote a comment something along the lines of, “It’s not that they have nothing better to do, if you are getting criticism, it’s a sign that you need to change or grow. Take some courses or workshops in photography. Invest in some good cameras and lenses and editing software. It’s not cheap, it’s not instant, but if you are really passionate about what you do, you need to learn. I can give you some advice if you’d like.” blah blah blah. She deleted the whole post and sent me a message:

Ashley: I have been doing it for years…and the only reason that chick had ride comments was because she was put up to it….but that doesnt matter….I have taken.course and dont like them…i dont want my style of taking photos change…i ike and love doing it and theres always going to be an ass out there

Me: Taken classes and don’t like them? That is a very ignorant statement. I don’t know you, don’t even live in the same country as you, but I guess I was trying to help you out. But you don’t want the help, and those who never accept advice will never improve. It has nothing to do with your “style” of taking photos. Most of what I have seen are out of focus images, graininess, high saturation and contrast, orange skin, spot-color, and the use of on-camera flash which causes horrible shadows and odd lighting on the skin. You can keep getting clients who want a major bargain, shooting and giving them a disk of mediocre photos and not really caring about your work. And I can tell you those clients will not frame those photos for their home. I guess not all photographers take their work seriously like I do. Do you even shoot with a DSLR camera? Do you shoot in RAW? Do you own Photoshop or Lightroom? Do you know what f-stop, focal length, shutter speed, ISO, wide-open, fast lenses, crop sensor vs. full frame, shoe-mount flash, al servo vs. one shot focusing, all means and how they all relate? Shooting with your camera on auto and over-editing an out-of-focus image is not a style, it’s laziness. I’ve been doing photography seriously for about 2 years now (part of that, working for another photographer who later moved away). I also took college courses in photography. I’ve nearly gone broke buying equipment, a new hard drive for my computer, and paying for file backup services to ensure my clients’ photos will be safe. I have a 2-page contract. I care about my work and my future.

Ashley: I was talking to the lady at the college and shes says its not worth it

Me: Well that lady sounds pretty ignorant herself. I don’t have a degree in photography. Having an art degree often doesn’t lead to a job. But classes themselves lead to a wealth of knowledge, experience, and ability to take critique.

Ashley: Havent had any customers complaine yet

Me: Alright then…. guess I’m done trying to help. Let’s just say you need A LOT of help. And I’m speaking from the viewpoint of a consumer as well as a semi-professional photographer. The worst mistake any artist or aspiring artist can make is to say they are perfectly satisfied producing mediocre work and that they just don’t need to learn anything new. Therefore, you will always produce mediocre work.

(FB said she saw that last message) Was it wrong of me to go at her like that? I guess I didn’t care that much, but it irked me so much to hear someone say those things I couldn’t just leave it alone. I was prepared to actually help the girl out if she asked though I suspected from the beginning that she wouldn’t want to hear it. She said she’s been doing this since 2009. Obviously, she has not improved and probably won’t. And I could not get over her grammatical errors all over the place and even on her business page. She must have also turned off comments on her images because yesterday the comment box was available to me and it no longer is… lol.

[fstopper89]

Wow- his work is crap. Why would you take a wedding photo of the groom stepping on the bride’s dress, preventing her from walking away? Degrading much? And the girl standing on the horse crap (no pun intended) Great job photoshopping her on, I mean I guess relative size doesn’t matter anyway right? She looks bigger than the horse! I wish I could read Spanish but from my limited (ok, trying to read the words that look somewhat English) does it say “No experience necessary?” lol. Probably not since I can’t read Spanish…

[fstopper89]

Honestly, Priscilla has some very nice work. I think she has a knack for posing her models well. A little too much dutch angle but I do it it too (and am going to try to do it less after realizing how it can be too much at times). Almost every photo I saw of hers was sharp and in focus. Most are exposed well, some could stand some better exposure and/or upping the center exposure in post processing. A few looked over-edited and a few others looked like they could have used better editing. But she is in no way a fauxtog. She’s better than a lot of the people posting on this thread. I saw a few wedding photos though that didn’t stand out as that good, but she seems to do a lot more model photography than anything else. Her studio work looks nice though with the white background she should have kept the angle straight or it looks like they’re floating oddly in space, and a few have harsh shadows behind them, but they are really not terrible. Possibly she misunderstood or mistyped her response to the camera question, because from her work, it looks like she knows and understands her equipment just fine. And yeah, her album organization is really lacking, but that doesn’t really reflect on her talent in photography at all. We can all get nitpicky with any photographer but her stuff isn’t bad.

[fstopper89]

Ugh, nice- after I posted on this girl’s page that she should invest in real cameras and lenses and take some courses and told her I could give some advice, this is the message I received!

>Ashley Ann Adey

I have been doing it for years…and the only reason that chick had ride comments was because she was put up to it….but that doesnt matter….I have taken.course and dont like them…i dont want my style of taking photos change…i ike and love doing it and theres always going to be an ass out there

<

Point proven.

[fstopper89]

It’s a bit validating on a personal level that we are not THAT bad and we care about our work. And, the advice from fellow togs is nice too. Yeah I see a lot of that crap like “like my page and I’ll like yours.” My page has likes from a lot of family/friends but also clients and their friends who have seen the images. I ask a simple caption on my albums- “If you like this image, please like my page.”

@ lolkat- that poor infant obviously has a serious eye infection!

[fstopper89]

The only things my LCD is there for are to show a large view of my camera settings (though on my 40D and 5DII it’s also on the top LCD) and to review photos. The LCD is never to trust when taking the photo, because the brightness is often not accurate, especially if you’re trying to view it in a sunny environment.

[fstopper89]

While my computer was getting a new HDD put in, I saved a bunch of recent stuff to a flash drive, but it took FOREVER to write to it… is that normal? It was a cheaper drive and was only used for temporary storage, so maybe quality changes depending on brand. It just didn’t seem like it would hold much either. I had a 16gb flash drive. I’ll have to rethink that someday.

With DVDs too, I heard that their projected lifespan for data storage could be as little as 10 years, and much less when exposed to heat or sun. When I give a client a DVD of their images I tell them it’s their responsibility to save them to their computer. (In my contract, I state that I am guaranteed to keep their images for 6 months from the time of the shoot, though I do keep all my stuff, I just say that to cover my butt if 3 years from now they say they lost their disk and I don’t have the photos anymore.)

[fstopper89]

Shooting a wedding is only fun at the end of the day when you kick off your shoes and watch your computer download over 1000 RAW images and have to decide which couple to post right away as sneak peeks.

The last wedding I did was for my friend’s sister though, so I knew most of the family, so it actually was a very fun weekend.

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