[Jones]

If you don’t know of them already, check out the work of Frank Doorhof and Calvin Hollywood. I think you’d really enjoy it. Calvin does a lot of photoshop stuff very similar to what you’re doing. Doorhof does so much of that surreal, edgy location kind of stuff like the image you showed (but it’s not composite). If you can find it, definitely check out his stuff  about locations.

[Jones]

Thanks, Bill! The top one was shot with a Paul buff plm with the white diffusion over it. Kind of like an umbrella, but find it behaves more softbox/octa-ish. Can’t beat it for the price, and I definitely swear by mine.Love the near-round catchlights from it. Because I don’t have PCB lights though I have to get the umbrella version and it’s reflected. Still think it looks nice. I got to talk with the mother of the boy, and she said the casting director actually wanted a few that were serious/tough. Glad to know I pulled it off! Haha. Thank you for the feedback.

[Jones]

Well, it seems like wildlife/landscapes/nature is certainly your area and what you feel comfortable with. Some of the nature shots just seem like high-ISO evening shots instead of actual planned landscapes with a tripod, long exposure, etc. Long exposures will make your water have that silky smooth texture and then you can use your base ISO to get clean shots.

 

“All of the prints are for sale. […]I shoot for the love of it and not the money.” That’s probably not necessary. If you have an ‘official’ photography page, it’s probably implied somewhere that you are shooting for the money, to some extent. But you should love what you’re doing anyway, so no need to mention it. It doesn’t tell me anything about YOU. So, you shoot for the love of photography. Cool — you and every other photographer on the planet do, too. Put something there that will make people read and care about what you have to say.

 

An incredible photographer told me recently — Just because you’re shooting something [to pay the bills] doesn’t mean you’ve got to tell everyone else that’s what you do. Some of the photos of the girl with the wine glasses look a little… “what’s the point?” https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/859893_478668795515483_2046203372_o.jpg looks like it had off camera flash, but it’s not particularly nice off camera flash.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=478668532182176&set=a.478667662182263.105762.160417077340658&type=1&theater is very much out of focus. Not sure how that happened. Even her arm looks a little soft. Separate the personal projects from the “business” projects. Just because a photo was taken, does not mean it has to go on the business page. That only gets your BEST stuff.

 

The wedding stuff needs some work if you plan on doing that and marketing it as “something you do.” If not, then shoot the weddings when they come up and don’t advertise on your page that you do them regularly. Again, back to that whole “shoot what you need to pay the bills. Doesn’t mean you have to tell people that.” The wedding shots aren’t bad. However, it seems that you have snapshots mixed in with nice moments. Weddings take a special breed of person. I was originally trained on wedding photography, and it’s still something I try to avoid. I will try and go more in depth for the wedding stuff because I know a little more about weddings and portraits and I know nothing about landscapes so that’s been touched on.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/p206x206/946878_519249694790726_1584653286_n.jpg His eyes are closed and the body position is looking off camera. She’s looking at the camera. As the wedding photographer, you have to take charge to make sure that people aren’t looking all in different directions. Make sure your camera is what people are looking at. You are the most important camera at that event. I always tell people to let me get my shots first and they can shoot the large group at the end for a few minutes. Same with https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/464654_519249688124060_367162806_o.jpg. There are random eyes shut and people facing off you.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519250898123939&set=a.519249644790731.1073741833.160417077340658&type=3&theater Split lighting does not look good on brides in this situation, with her facial structure and teeth. Her eye has a catchlight, and is lost to an extent that it looks unflattering.

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/469267_519250791457283_1031844952_o.jpg is rather nice. I would remove whatever is on the window there. It does nothing for the photo and distracts. It’s a very easy removal.

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/474351_519250824790613_1506032946_o.jpg is also nice. It may be a tad warm for my tastes, but that’s personal preference. Looks a little grainy. See if some noise reduction could help it if better gear is not an option. Could also be facebook ruining your photos.

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/981676_519250921457270_1191261377_o.jpg You caught yourself in the mirror. Big no no. That can (read: should) be easily cropped in any wedding photos.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=519251011457261&set=a.519249644790731.1073741833.160417077340658&type=3&theater I know she is crying, but these are not flattering bride tears. The direct flash does nothing for her. Rent, beg, borrow, or steal some kind of speedlight for your weddings. You can’t afford NOT to have one. Bounce it, diffuse it. Put it on a paint pole and throw a zumbrella over it. Something. If weddings is something you want to do, learn the light.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/474348_519251201457242_1312617134_o.jpg does nothing for *you* without context. The first thing I thought when I saw it was “family feud. Bride dad and father in law hate one another and don’t want the wedding.” Doesn’t work for your album in this case.

There should be no reason for any out of focus wedding shot to ever be delivered to a client, and ESPECIALLY not put on your facebook page. If it’s a wonderful moment and it’s slightly soft, do what you can and deliver it to Mom anyway because she’ll love it. But everyone else does NOT need to know you let an out of focus shot through you. DON’T put it on your page. Same goes for brides and beer. That’s fine if that’s the wedding, but it doesn’t need to be on your page. Potential clients will not be impressed.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/468416_519249931457369_993068298_o.jpg Powerlines are running through heads. That’s a 10 second removal in photoshop.

Something is seriously wrong with the exposure. One shot to a next and there has to be at least a 3-4 stop difference in exposure. Check your metering or something.

 

Your own comments on your gallery — “In a few of them you look fully retarded…….LOL” Probably not the best thing to say. Comment on your page as your personal self, or private message friendly comments like that. People browsing aren’t going to know the difference of who is your friend’s wedding and who was your paid wedding, and they don’t want to be called looking fully retarded.

Watch out for things like the plants in https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/464517_519249694790726_1584653286_o.jpg. things like that pop up a lot in your photos. They aren’t needed, and when you can you should do a quick eye border check and take out anything that shouldn’t be there in camera.

 

That’s what I have for now. Keep working at it. If you have any questions on what was said, I would be happy to try and go into more depth.

[Jones]

Just a note — for some reason, it would seem that on my iphone, the colors look really unattractive: desaturated and not at all how it looks on the computer. I have no idea why, but check on a computer if possible.

[Jones]

Oh — that makes more sense. Phew. I was getting ready to yank out the aspirin. Talk about a heart attack. 🙂

[Jones]

The sad thing is her photos have the occasional good composition or whatever going on… then the editing comes in and massacres anything good that may have ever been.

 

The sadder thing is how many people liked her page… 1100?!

[Jones]

She and her business just relocated to my hometown, a few miles from my house and workplace, in fact!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandi-Anstey-Photography/286390201479709?hc_location=stream

[Jones]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that the images I do for online-only are not set at enough resolution to print.

I know how you feel on the other comments. I die a little inside every time I’m told “Wow! Your camera takes really nice pictures!” and I just feel like firing back something along the lines of “Wow! This is really good food — you must have a wonderful stove.”

It shocks me at the absurdity that seems normal in photography when applied to other professions — people don’t have problems paying for similar beliefs that they suddenly toss up for photography. I mean, you’re probably going to be willing to pay for a dentist, instead of having a friend go at your mouth with a syringe instead? Of course, photography isn’t usually life or death, but it comes as a shock to some people the cost to be in business, because it just isn’t the same as the places with hundreds of studios that can get away with charging 20 bucks for a disc. People think that we’re charging outrageously for that new yacht we’ve been dying to go out and write a check for! 😛

[Jones]

It depends what kind of reprinting rights (if any) that people are asking me for… when I’ve done it previously, I’ve always done 10, 15, 30, whatever images, etc. with reprinting rights on a disc. I, personally, like other photographers I’ve seen and worked with, NEVER offer a flat “you can have the entire session on a disc for this and that;” it feels too mass-market portrait studio, and then people will go get prints done at Walmart or wherever and they will look terrible, and then the client blames the photographer because their prints don’t look like what they expect because they don’t use an actual decent lab.

The mass majority of all my “disc” purchases are online-only use rights, because people want things for their facebook, websites, whatever. That way, they don’t get them printed so they can look original quality, and they can use them as many times as they want — send to grandma, whatever. I think it’s the best of both worlds because people aren’t disappointed and they can still have files. But that’s not to say it’s even necessarily “right” or “wrong.”

[Jones]

ROFL Rizzo! I totally thought that… man. I wonder what the bride thought of that.

[Jones]

saycheezebyjenna.webs.com

”
Some of the pictures have been intentionally blurred a little.
This is for my safety and the clients safety for copyright protection.

Blurring the image while on the website insures that the photo will not be copied or printed without permission.

I know that sounds a little mean, as sad as it is, some folks will take and try and pass it off as there own, so I put some added protection for you and I =)

Your CD will have the bright crisp clear images print ready and beautiful for you =)”

 

This one did it for me:

 

“Often, people ask, where do we print the photos after recieving our disc?   I always suggest Wal-Mart  they have great prices & can do it right online as a one hour and pick up a the store later, as well as Snapfish.com, they let you upload the photos you want, you choose your sizes and they ship right to your home, they even offer the first 20+prints free for new members.  Another option is CVS or WALGREENS, if you choose the 1 hour prints they tend to be cheaper, and the more you print, the less you pay.  Walgreens & CVS constantly have specials!!  Their are so many options.”

[Jones]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/401121_413164915457503_1017279569_n.jpg

Yikes…

I’m scared!!! And on that album, folks are “BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS!!!” etc. “Do you do baby pics?” — NO! She does NOT! Not if you want your baby safe!

I am truly tempted on some of these people’s pages to post very respectfully that they should NOT be doing their clients such a disservice!

[Jones]

^ THE BABY IS RADIOACTIVE!

[Jones]

Shame, really. The befores aren’t even half bad! :p

[Jones]

Thank you so much, JimC. That is incredibly appreciated, and I will be sure to take your advice directly to heart. I’d love to see some of your work someday, or even some video productions you worked on, so be sure to point me to ’em when you post. 😀

[Author]

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