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Focus is for amateurs! and subtle saturation? hell no th1s one goes to 11! I do agree on the watermark however, she should consider upping the size because at that little tiny size anyone could clone it out and steal her work!!

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Just ordered two. OMG the lines, the vignette, color saturation… Its all perfect! The super sharp shadows on the wall, the use of on-camera flash…GENIUS!

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@Lauryn Cute kid,  The spot coloring is terribly done, but the low contrast meh B&W conversion may be the bigger offender there for me 8)

@-stills- At least the glass was reasonably clean on that second shot 8) Nothing warms the heart more than a cheesy glass shot with a spotty streaky glass!

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@Garrahmarie I guess it kind of depends on what your definition of Photographer is. I have friends that have a daughter that went through cooking vocational school in High School and refer to her constantly as a Chef. Maybe it was a loose definition 8)

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Just out of curiosity, why flash? From experience the quickest way to get someone to not look at your page is to make it load slow the second way is to have it running on a technology that is not widely supported. Regardless of who you believe for the actual numbers of non-flash supported devices surfing the web, its a massive percentage of traffic. Why limit the number of people who can see your work?  The inclusion of music is a completely different soapbox and makes your page feel like something out of 1999.  Two considerations, 1. your work should stand on its own without gimmicks and 2. if your customers cant see your page they are going to pass you by.

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I too am in line with the reactions here. The example tog isn’t worthy of being on this site. Not awesome but not terrible by any means. There is something also to be said for consistency. If the level of editing and the placing subjects on other backgrounds whether straight or not is a consistent theme throughout the portfolio, then this gives a potential customer something to be fairly assured of as far as the level of quality and intent for delivered images from the photographer.  I think some photographers use colored vignette for no other reason than to be different, rather than making a conscious decision to match the vignette to the composition or color of the image.

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There are some nice landscapes there a good mixture. I do like natural HDR not the Harry Potter grunge scary stuff lol. I shoot  mainly landscapes and studio stuff and have just recently started shooting people. I find them somewhat of a mystery lol, they move and can be tough to light. I of course do not charge for my services as I am a student still in the learning process.

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@browneyedgirl89 I completely agree with your assessment of photographers (or artists) needing the critique experience. Its great to be taken down a few notches when you walk into that first Crit lol. Its how you use the critique information that matters in the end. I have seen students take things completely personally like its an attack o their very being that someone would criticize their work. The critique process can be a humbling and valuable tool to grow as an artist if you let it.  I always take critique with a serious ear, but a grain of salt. I want to do my thing my way, but I like to hear what others think I can do to take it to the next level and I always take this to heart. In some situations suggestions have worked for me and in others not this is the process of getting better at what your working towards.

As an aside I’m not a photographer whos got an axe to grind with anyone just someone whos been a fan of the site for a while and started to add my 2 cents 8)

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@Gnork I am currently finishing a photo degree (2 classes left) and I could not agree with you more.  While I do believe that taking a class for the basics is a good thing, and in a class it kinda forces you to learn the basics in a defined direction rather than haphazardly, the teachers do tend to vary wildly in their opinions and skillsets. That being said, teachers with vastly different criteria for what makes a good shot is a lot like a customer right? sometimes your going to get the ones who know their stuff and others who like dreadfully underexposed superb HDR.

As for what I love about photography, I love the challenge and the excitement of getting a useable shot.  I shoot landscapes and studio work and both take time and patience to get a useable shot (notice I didn’t say good lol).

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I like it too. The shot is decently lit,  kind of dreamy focus and has an interesting concept.

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Might want to check out http://peterhurley.com/ Peter Hurley for some good Headshot inspiration. His shots can be a bit repetitive, but they are consistent and decently lit for a true headshot. With the Headshot style, so much of the frames filled with the subject you as the photographer have to work very hard to get the emotion and comfort out of your subjects because you cant rely on body language as much in the composition.

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Ok, long time lurker first time poster here lol. Some of the stuff on the forums here is just amazing and I feel I have to chime in.

@theflyingkitty When I read your #2 above the first thing that popped into my mind was who in the world would ever buy a thousand dollar camera then let someone else shoot with it. It was then that I remembered a softball game I went to for my niece, the “team tog” had just bought a Canon 7d and was shooting on high speed mode in auto because he wanted to catch the ball leaving the pitcher’s hand.  It was pretty apparent that he had gotten the shot he was after because of his chimping. Come to find out that he spent the entire week before the game uploading 17gb of .jpg photos he had taken the week before where he almost got the shot. It was at this point that I realized that there are people that buy the big cameras and just don’t have a clue.

Sorry its kind of a pointless story for my first post but there ya go I suppose 8)

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