[Jones]

I am by no means a master of anything, and I’m still in high school myself… but I seem to have the opposite problem you do with portraits — got the technical side down, struggle with other things. For what it’s worth, I’d definitely say you have the better problem to fix, because people seem to be comfortable around you, etc. etc.

There aren’t a whole lot of portraits to go on, though I’d love to see some more, but the girl lying in the flowers is certainly my favorite. The only thing I wish is that the flowers and entirety of her face were all completely sharp… Maybe her face could be a tad bit warmer for the overall feel of the image, but that’s just me splitting hairs.

I like the one of the girl in front of the mountains, like she’s getting ready to go on a journey. I wish she were lighter, but that would be pretty hard to accomplish unless you had someone near her with a reflector, an off-camera flash, or you’re just throwing an on-camera flash a ridiculous amount for fill. I like the backlight on her, though. Splitting hairs again, I wish we could see what the image would have looked like if she were more to the left and then higher or lower. It seems too close to the middle horizontally now… now that it’s wrong, just that I’d like to see what it would have looked like differently.

The wedding shot is excellent, and weddings are the one thing I refuse to even look at so nicely done. There is some distracting CA on the edges of her dress, but I don’t know if you tried to do anything with that in post. It’d be worth a shot, if anything. My mentor, who was a 35-year veteran wedding photographer, would have been able to tell you a lot more things and what to do… she might have suggested a little fill on the face. That’s tough to get on the fly (for me, at least) though. Same thing with the kid and the baseball… wish he were a bit brighter, but that’s after the fact and not a ton you could do on it at the time (maybe try moving spots or something). But it is an emotional picture.

The man in the jacket is a nice expression, but for some reason feels a little teeny “snapshotty” and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s a little tiny blurry? Or too much noise?
Unclebob pretty much said it all… It can be tough trying to constantly meter on the fly, but especially if you are shooting one person in similar locations you should be able to get it down and keep it relatively in check throughout the shoot. Sears is out of business now, so don’t worry about them. 😛

Keep it up… enjoy your work.

[Jones]

I wasnt precomposing for any kind of watermark- just poorly composing on the fly. You give me too much credit. 😛

 

thanms for the kind thoughts and words of advice. 🙂

[Jones]

Wow, thanks! That is a true compliment, if I’ve ever received one. Thanks so much for the Flickr add; I’ll be sure to post more sports for you at some point too.

[Jones]

True that, Rizzo. An interesting tidbit: Jenny was perhaps the best photographer in our area; I would have apprenticed under her in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, now that she is gone, a good majority of clients have moved to one of the other two I mentioned- talk about a downgrade. 🙁

thanks for the drive-bys. 😛

[Jones]

Thank you, Browneyedgirl. Your words are very thoughtful. I don’t plan on going into business with anyone except myself someday. I appreciate your thoughts, and I agree that sports are definitely my strongpoint and what I enjoy the most, perhaps also along with portraits. In the age of digital, I think it’s imperative to respect the art and the veterans of it, so thank you for seeing that.

I appreciate the thoughtfulness of everybody here.

[Jones]

 

After Jenny’s passing, I am looking for a professional or … something around to apprentice under, but it is proving difficult. Many around aren’t willing to share.

Here are some links to various images by local professionals.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/943379_535789256462498_1084752850_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/400689_535788073129283_1185033183_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/297139_3251147976755_57214831_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/12716_3251149056782_102068645_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559586_519248368103965_1732074937_n.jpg

Now, it’s not to say that any of those photos are necessarily BAD, because they are by local photogs who are being handsomely paid for what they do, but they are just not the kind of style that I LIKE or want to create, so any kind of apprenticeship under them may simply be a waste of energy for both parties.

 

Now comparing that to some of Jenny’s past work:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/577547_465568203459053_101533585_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/521327_465567850125755_519026356_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/556758_465567276792479_366230205_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/27108_101072386602036_6639261_n.jpg — her own self-portrait. She is, literally, the ONLY person I know that could pull off that backdrop for ANYTHING, photographer or subject-wise.

That is the kind of style I am trying to lean towards. I find the other two photographers’ work too oversaturated/bright, and then too … “instagram.” Each to their own, of course, but it is not the direction I want to go someday. It is easy enough to self-teach technical things, but I’m finding it much harder to learn “styles” without any sort of direction. It is tough to lose your teacher when there was still so much to learn, but I am thankful for the things I did gain. Keep learning and pressing, I suppose.

Thank you all so much for the advice so far. 

 

I was going to edit this in, but then a couple of posts went by and I figured to make it visible it’d be easier just to post again… 😛

[Jones]

Oh, sorry I didn’t see your post before, Nesgran. I didn’t mean it as badmouthing my friends; they are great people and I enjoy spending time with both, but I get upset when they pull the “I could do that for lots less than [professional in area] and I’ll give you a disc, too.”

Sorry if I seemed as badmouthing them. That wasn’t what I meant at all.

I will narrow down what I do someday, but since I’m still in high school as apart of our yearbook staff, it means I am pretty much forced to do lots of everything. I know that I will never touch a landscape, though. 😛

I was lots too close to those cheerleaders. I admit that entirely, and there’s no way to defend it other than I was up against the wall.

For the graduation, I wish I would have had some different equipment to use, too, something in the 24-70 range because the 70-200 was just not cutting it for keeping things in focus. That’ll be next on my list. Something wider than a 50. I am looking at some local college classes and that sort of thing, as well as some types of workshops around the area… I live in a pretty bad place for anything related to photography (nearest camera shop is about 50 miles.)

Agreed on the sports lighting too, but I wouldn’t know how to solve that, so if anyone has suggestions please chime in. For that gym, there are varying temperatures of lights (for the bulbs that do work) that are seriously awful. I measured, and one end of the gym is a 2000K difference in color than the other end. I used my expodisc and gave it my best shot, but I still wasn’t happy with it. Flash isn’t allowed, otherwise I would set up remotes. 🙁 If there’s any way to get around the white balance issues, I’m happy to take any advice. 🙂
Thanks everyone for your critiques… it’s been really helpful.

 

—

 

Didn’t see the edit button til after this post. 🙁

After Jenny’s passing, I am looking for a professional or … something around to apprentice under, but it is proving difficult. Many around aren’t willing to share.

Here are some links to various images by local professionals.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/943379_535789256462498_1084752850_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/400689_535788073129283_1185033183_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/297139_3251147976755_57214831_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/12716_3251149056782_102068645_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559586_519248368103965_1732074937_n.jpg

Now, it’s not to say that any of those photos are necessarily BAD, because they are by local photogs who are being handsomely paid for what they do, but they are just not the kind of style that I LIKE or want to create, so any kind of apprenticeship under them may simply be a waste of energy for both parties.

 

Now comparing that to some of Jenny’s past work:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/577547_465568203459053_101533585_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/521327_465567850125755_519026356_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/556758_465567276792479_366230205_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/27108_101072386602036_6639261_n.jpg — her own self-portrait. She is, literally, the ONLY person I know that could pull off that backdrop for ANYTHING, photographer or subject-wise.

That is the kind of style I am trying to lean towards. I find the other two photographers’ work too oversaturated/bright, and then too … “instagram.” Each to their own, of course, but it is not the direction I want to go someday. It is easy enough to self-teach technical things, but I’m finding it much harder to learn “styles” without any sort of direction. It is tough to lose your teacher when there was still so much to learn, but I am thankful for the things I did gain. Keep learning and pressing, I suppose.

Thank you all so much for the advice so far. 🙂

[Jones]

He did say he was a grammar freak. He might be figuratively miles ahead, but it’s highly unlikely he’s literally miles ahead in a photography race.

 

ROFL! 😀

[Jones]

Thanks. All of the comments were useful! Oddly enough, the eyes in the photo you mentioned werent edited color-wise. Especially the second person in left, I didn’t touch eyes. Shockingly enough, it is unusual but that how her eyes truly were.  I did brighten the whites of the eyes, and did a general contrast boost as well as removing an…offensive photobomber which I think was removed well, but that’s just me because I don’t usually do those things. I was using a flash, but it was more difficult than I thought it wwould be because of the varying distances. Auto wasnt working for me there, and I’m sure there is a better way to do it, but I don’t have the experience to do that. I agree with the starting dialogues with other people. Unfortunately, the majority of people around here are of the ‘secret curtain’ type, and the professionals don’t seem that open.

 

The soccer was a bit if a fluke, and I agree with you. Our school has nothing for photo equipment besides a rebel and a 18-55 kit lens, because the photo department is poor and without help. Instead, I’m left using all my own equipment. The referees at the soccer game gave me a designated spot I could sit, which was upsetting but also not convenient for photos. now that I think about it, the final photos were cropped in the end, but the soccer photos that are there were at a surprising 400mm anyway, even though it doesn’t look like it. That’s not to defend the pictures, but instead to just explain because I know it doesn’t look like a 400mm lens. Thanks for the comments about the munchkin too. The actress who played the part of the witch did that once in the dress rehearsal, and it was a quick snap and grab. I was lucky I got focus (I know, no excuse but it is what It is. :p)

you didn’t talk too long at all, and I appreciate the thoughts. 🙂

[Jones]

Thank you for the more than kind words. No going to my head here; I admit we are all still learning, and I embrace the fact there’s places to go.

 

Jenny was a remarkable teacher — I will look for some of her work and post a couple examples here, (that i have permission to!) just to show. Thanks so much again for your thoughts and advice.

[Jones]

Many thanks, Rizzo. 🙂 I appreciate the words. If you do have the opportunity to look more in depth, I’d really value that too. I see what you mean when you mention the shadows, but for the most part I didn’t see anything ‘wrong’ with them (not saying that they couldn’t be improved upon, of course), so I appreciate the experienced eye to provide feedback on those sorts of things. Of course, as we are all learning, I suppose the next step I should take comes down to practice, practice, practice, and making sure I can get the basis of things right.

 

II see what you meant with the shadows on the graduation. I was trying to fill them without being tacky about it, but tougher than I thought it would be for me with a single on-camera flash in broad daylight. Some, as you can see, were definitely done better than the others, but it was definitely more hit and miss than I would have liked…live and learn, I suppose. Need to find some sort of middle ground where I can retain some run-and-gun maneuverability without sacrificing quality, but that’s just me rambling. Thanks once again for your advice; I’d love to hear anything you and anyone else has to say. 🙂

[Author]

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