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EyeDocPhotog
ParticipantAs a casual observer, it is my experience that the market has shifted. I’m a hobbyist, i but it is patently clear that since everyone today owns a camera (at least in their phone) coupled with the overwhelming abundance of sites offering free editing with sepia filters and bold vignettes, standards of “photography” have come down dramatically. Typical consumers today will not pony up for perfect exposures or L glass gear in a dark church if they are barely used to any images better than an iphone.
They don’t see the value.
Come talk to me in 10 years and tell me that you haven’t given into the vignettes and the sepias because that’s what most of your clients want and you can’t sell what you are touting on this site as “talent” because, sadly, no one cares any longer.
Photographer as a career reached it’s peak years back, and now is on the down-swing. That’s why I say get what you can from client now because that’s all you’re going to see. Sad, but true.
Participantare your clients paying you, miss? If so, it’s completely irrelevant what anyone else thinks.
ParticipantIMHO, Scott Kelby is the Carleton Sheets of photography. Nothing wrong with that either, I’m all for making money.
Participantif you’re not already doing so, shoot raw & edit in lightroom instead of letting the camera process the photo for you. You have FAR more control over your work.
There is a time and place for off-angle horizon line shots, but I’m not sure portraits of children is where is works best. Instead, watch a few videos on cropping using Golden Ratio or Rule of Thirds or Fibonacci Spiral to really draw the viewer in.
I LOVE your FB cover shot! 🙂
Participant“But I also believe that in many ways, digital has ruined the art behind the craft of creating good photos. Film forced photographers to get it right the first time – bad images cost money.”
Well said.
There was a challenge posted on another forum to which I belong with simple rules – cover the LCD on the back of your DSLR and shoot only 36 images in full Manual mode (including no autofocus). It was on your honor that what you submit had not been edited or re-shot. I and quite a few signed up. After 2 weeks, there were NO SUBMISSIONS. Everyone probably thought the same as me – two thirds of my captures were hideous. I usually shoot action shots of kids, and there was not one I could honestly say was a good photo. And I’m not paid either.
Sure, there were those who argued that such a challenge was nonsequitor because not embracing technological advances renders us an arrested culture. BUT, one thing I learned in med school is a quote from long ago “A clinician who has not hypothesized his patient’s ailment by the end of the medical history, has not taken an effective history.” Many doctors today turn mostly to objective measures to diagnose and would argue that the technology is so advanced that it is silly not to do so. Fair enough. But history is a fundamental part of medicine, and is slowly becoming a lost art, to the detriment of patients everywhere.
I for one believe I could learn a thing or two from you, sir, about photography.
ParticipantBrian,
If clients are paying you, they like what they see. Photography is an art form. Your clients like your art. This is all that counts.
If you were fixing CARS without the proper training something may be legitimately said about your lack of skill and disapproval of charging customers. But you’re not.
Good luck, and keep shooting. 🙂
Participant@browneyedgirl – the biggest insult was posing the daughter with MARY KAY cosmetics….
Participantwhy post this here?
ParticipantI agree with your title.
You have a few nice shots, but are “artsy” and lack a clear focal point to draw me in. Also, most have been over-processed with Ps filters or lack clarity.
They remind me of my early years experimenting with everything from light painting and long exposures with a zoom ring to applications of Topaz Perfect Effects without knowing what I was doing, just to experiment until something looked cool.
Keep shooting! 🙂
Participantno doubt you have keen photographic technical skills.
But if I were a potential customer of yours, and navigated to your site from a search engine my first thought would be “What is this site? Photography’s good, but are they offering what I need?”
That’s what not clear…
ParticipantI said the rainbow shot was tilted counter clockwise… it’s the reverse, sorry.
Participantalso, you say…
“Also does anyone else here not believe in using photoshop? I am not trying to belittle people who do I just am not into it.”
If you plan on shooting semi-pro shots, you at least need to shoot raw and edit the images in Lightroom to adjust white balance, tonal shades, cropping, shadows, midtone contrast – a whole host of things that a pro does once he / she sees the composition is correct and the image is sharp. That’s you’re foundation. You can’t fix an out-of-focus bad subject pose in Ps.
ParticipantI had a good look through the photos.
One question – what story are you trying to tell with these images?
In the mouse shots, neither subject is in focus and the light seems to be from straight above with glare off the Jorde Laforge statue (I guess to cancel the shadows?) but remember that photography is meany times an interplay of lighting and shadows to create character.
The 2 train shots – I get what you were trying to do, but the eye is drawn to the overpowering horizontal blur of the train. Unflattering to the subjects.
Nothing is in focus in the puppet shot.
In the Gulfoss image, it looks like you applied some gradiant blur going from the middle towards the sides. The very bottom center the least out of focus, but I don’t see a focal point here…
The rainbow shot is tilted 5-8 degrees of so counter clockwise. It appears your hiked up the curves in post also. Again, not seeing a focal point that’s drawing me in.
Overall, I’m just not sure what your goal was with any of these images…? Maybe some background on each could help?
Participantsorry, no suggestions for a book. Just realized you were asking for book SUGGESTIONS and not what everyone has already, sorry…. 🙁
Participantno coffee table, our house is not configured in this fashion. The central locus is our kitchen. Our fridge, walls – just about any free blank space – is covered with coloring pages from my 6yr old daughter, almost exclusively from the movie Cars (the first one, before she was born. She likes that one best) 🙂
If this counts, I do have a copy of “The man who mistook his wife for a hat” (Oliver Sacks) on my nightstand.
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