[Flea]

Thanks everyone for your nice words and helpful tips.

I’m glad that for the most part this forum provides constructive feedback and ways to improve your skill, not simply to shut down and ridicule. After all, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be better.

Thanks Cass for knowing where I’m coming from.

Cheers again all, I will hold off from doing any more paid shoots, which I’ve not really done in while anyway as I don’t pursue it regularly, until I can improve my skill. I’ll stick to being a hobbyist for now, and shoot for friends & family, or volunteer like I do for the Mud Run events and other fundraisers.

😀

[Flea]

quick addition to ask you to look at:

this picture was requested by the couple, as they wanted the flowers atop the hedge and the gazebo they got married under in the distance.

I had to edit out a crowd of people over the groom’s right shoulder as it was a busy botanical garden, and if I moved the frame any further left an array of people (not in the bridal party or attendees, but the public) would be in frame.

Other than the fact that I overlooked the grooms tie not being placed nicely in front of him, I really like this picture. The only thing I’d have liked would be if we could get rid of the bench, but due to the limits of the space it was either bench or people.

[Flea]

Thanks guys, some great advice here. Thankyou for taking the time to take everything in rather than glossing over it.
I think you’re spot-on IHF re: not using FB as a gallery, but as a first stop directing to their galleries elsewhere.

The booth at the green-curtain house was actually a friend’s bday party so I didn’t charge them: it was literally a fun testing ground with a house full of performers so I knew it’d be a fun activity for them. But it was well received so I thought it was something I could develop, especially since the other side of my ‘business’ is networking entertainment/music/DJs for events etc, so it fits well when we’re at family fun days etc. I’m looking at purchasing software that will allow for the booth side of things to be automatic (press a button on the screen and it counts down, takes the photo, then displays it etc). What do you think?

Thanks CC for the advice re: posing changes that work better, and technical pointers too.

Having too-soft images has been frustrating me for some time. Sometimes I feel like I got better pics from my old Canon Powershot A20 than my EOS 60D, which shouldn’t be the case, so I know I’m doing something that’s off. Like the photog’s version of PEBCAK. 😛

[Flea]

Increasing sharpness won’t help pics that are not in focus.

I’m not asking as a post-process, I did ask about focussing/lens tips… in order to get focussed shots in the first place.

[Flea]

No sorry, of course they get JPGs too, I meant I make them smaller file jpg to go on FB so I’m not using a lot of data uploading. I’m guessing that compressing would reduce the quality?

And most of Alisa’s photos that were uploaded are actually her own boxes and stuff, like the parasol and her shoes – those were mum’s ideas, I just know how to arrange them rather than dump them on the kid. I do get what you’re saying, but I want to point out that, in this instance, the mother was right behind me telling me what she wanted next.

[Flea]

Been a long time since I was on Flickr, my how it’s changed – for the better! Will have to dust off my old account.

Just grabbed some from one of the wedding albums, I can already see some more technical ickiness: over editing. Apparently I liked to blur the edges a lot. Face palm.

Sigh.

Here is the Flickr link

[Flea]

Thanks WCS

Well yes this is were a lot of images end up, as noted this is not a portfolio but more of way for folk to access their photographs. Especially the events pictures to allow for folk to tag/share etc. So other than giving you the link to the albums so as not to bombard anyone with ALL  pics of the all-day events like Mud Run etc, I can’t really help that in this instance.

Also, exporting to JPG is a necessity for uploading on FB, so the client’s disc thankfully contain better quality.
What would you recommend increasing sharpness? I try to stay away from AF as much as possible, but sometimes I need the speed, are there better functions/types of lens that can help here?

The People Booth are indeed snap shots, they’re not portraits. They’re literally a camera, flash head and a table of hats and props etc and people get snapped being silly at a party. I’m not too fussed on the styling on these. If you have any technical feedback on them though I’d like to hear it.

The Alisa shoot that was done recently, I gave the parents the option of ‘natural’ or ‘prop/setup’ shots. I have a big selection of ‘scenes’ and props as this is what the company I was trained by was famous for, so prop-shots are in the options. In this case, her family chose props.

I have a few here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.253087008074207.62386.164976076885301&type=3 that are without props, just baby, but again still in keeping with the way I was drilled by the corporates.
I.e anyone from the same day of shooting with that co would get almost identical images as the family prior if they were the same ages/genders etc.

I need to gain some more technical knowledge I think, as (like above) we would just have the same settings and controlled environment in our little shopping mall studios, I never learnt to be able to quickly change things as needed on the fly and expand out of this flipbook of standard poses.

Do you (or readers to come) have any notes regarding the poses/composition of the portraits, including the above and what has already been noted as too-dark wedding portraits in the later photos of these albums?

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.356548051061435.80827.164976076885301&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.293252410724333.69600.164976076885301&type=3

 

[Flea]

Not sure what happened there.
URL is https://www.facebook.com/mediaflea/photos_albums

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