[Mrs Woo]

I created a Flickr account and put old pictures taken with a 7.2MP point and shoot (Samsung, I think).  Just so I had something to put here.  Since people are so focused on portraiture here and I don’t do much of it (have to get this year’s free shoot done soon though!) I don’t even feel like asking for critiques… all of my pictures are landscapes, wildlife or pets and livestock…  😛

Would love to see your ferris wheel picture.  Sometimes those night time carnival pictures can be so cool.  What I struggle with now, too – is trying to see something completely differently?  How do I make it new again?  I know all the ways it is supposed to be done and how it will look (one book I read about composition pointed out that when you go to famous landmarks, you are unlikely to find anything better than the most famous pictures, because they fulfill our mind’s eye’s expectation for balance and composition.  You might try different lighting or seasons, but in the end your pictures will look mostly like those who have been taken before).

Maybe I belong on a different forum… where is the ‘encouraging new perspectives in photography’ group?   LOL

[Mrs Woo]

Actually, sharing someone’s work for informational or educational purposes, if done with restraint (you can’t link every photo in their portfolio, for example), falls within fair use in copyright law without any release by the creator/copyright holder.

I think most of us are defensive when we’re confronted with what we might be not doing well, and even moreso when the tone (like here) is kind of mocking and confrontational.  The first (and it is logical and definitely easiest) excuse would be, “That was older stuff and I am improving.”

Though they might be over-estimating their abilities, most people starting out as photographers (by the way, I’ve read there is a very high failure rate in photography studios – a lot of these people never make enough money to afford to stay in business, and part is their instinctive low-balling on their pricing – they KNOW, in their hearts, they aren’t ‘worth’ really high fees) aren’t actually thinking, “I suck but I’m gonna take people’s money anyhow.”  They think, “I’m learning and I’ll be honest that I don’t have a whole lot of experience and my rates will show that.”

If they are good at marketing (another very needed skill for a photography business), they can actually get a lot of sales and end up (hopefully) improving as photographers as they go.  And hey, if they suck as photographers but their marketing keeps them in business, maybe a more competent photographer has something they can learn from the bad photographer?

No one wants to be accused of defrauding people, and sometimes YANAP and Facebook sites like it, etc., actually insinuate and some posters will even insist that customers are being defrauded.  So a knee-jerk defensiveness is to be expected when they are confronted.   

[Mrs Woo]

I’m not sure if she’s advanced enough to notice differences in the autofocus.  I was assuming (I know that’s a bad idea, but sometimes you can’t help it) that this is a fairly early/beginning photography class and that they were probably trying to demonstrate motion blur and how it changes with shutter speed.  Since she decided to take pictures of a car driving towards her, I would guess it wouldn’t be going very fast (I hope not ), so I don’t know that say 1/100, 1/250 and 1/500 would show her enough difference in the images with a slow moving car coming at her for her to ‘get’ the point.

I’ll have to ask her how it went if we go visit over there today.

I think I need to embark on one of those ‘picture a day’ journeys and really try to stretch what I do.  I hate every picture I take lately.  SMH

[Mrs Woo]

Well, I opened this assuming that this is about bashing a specific photographer.  It sounds like an ad placed by an experienced and frustrated photographer who gets the calls afterwards to have the really bad results from the cheaper photographer “fixed in Photoshop.”  We know that happens to a lot of pros.

“Fauxotgraphy” as it is called around here, has become common enough that it is something that many non-photographers are aware of.  This photographer is attempting to capitalize on that awareness and get an opportunity to at least market themselves against less experienced photographers and/or make possible customers aware that not everyone who has “a nice camera” is necessarily someone who can use it to produce exceptional images.

I don’t think this is all that terrible.  A lot of what is shared here is harsher than that ad.

[Mrs Woo]

Why is it the worst of them seem to struggle so much with white balance?  You can’t tell me badly tinted people are a good idea?

[Mrs Woo]

@camera clicker – I think that she applied for college with photography/journalism as her major and this is her first photography class.  When she described the assignment I had to laugh, because the way she was doing it made it unlikely that what was to be demonstrated to her would make its point.  She said she had an assignment where they had to take pictures of a moving object at different shutter speeds.  I know that that is to demonstrate motion blur and how it is affected by shutter speed.  She asked me for a short cut to make it easier to switch the shutter speed, which is why I asked her if it had to be manual or if she could use shutter priority and if she knew how to use her camera’s built-in light meter.

What made me laugh?  She decided to take pictures of a car driving towards her.  She will not notice that drastic of a change from that perspective.

I guess I can hope she is a fast learner?  We all began sometime.  My father was sent to photography courses for his job and brought home all the lessons and taught them to me, then I learned developing and printing (film days here) from a wedding photographer.  If I had had the option of starting with something like a Canon Rebel, which gives you automated modes where you don’t have to understand the relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture, I might have spent quite a long time in those modes myself.  Instead, my dad started me on a Pentax K1000.  Except for its TTL light meter, it really didn’t offer any assistance whatsoever acquiring an adequate exposure.

[Mrs Woo]

@I hate Fauxtography – you made my day!  Thank you!  I love to encourage people in any way.

Also – yes, you CAN replace the focusing screen in the 7D, but only aftermarket.  It voids your warranty, so you might not want to do it until you have owned your 7D for at least a year, and it isn’t designed for replaceable screens like some because of integrated functions with the screen it has.  When Canon designed the 5DIII, they did the same integrated screen of the 7D, which is why the 5DII has replaceable screens from Canon and 5DIII doesn’t.

@Gerbles – yes I read up on them and have gone back and forth on that a lot.  When I talk about it on the Canon forums there are lovers and haters.  Usually discomfort about possibly permanently damaging my camera doing something it wasn’t designed for makes me decide to spend the money for the screen on another accessory, or hold onto the money to buy another lens…

[Mrs Woo]

Some of you are making me think it WOULD be worth it to go back to school for a degree that included photography and my other creative interests.  I really hesitate on that, though, because I would be taking up a space that a much younger person (i.e., one who might have a family to support, etc., – I’m in my ‘waning’ years of productivity, so to speak) could use much more effectively.  I asked about just auditing courses – the college I used to work for let older people audit all the courses they wanted as long as they weren’t disruptive – and the college said it ‘wasn’t part of their policies.’  Since I have no intention of really using the degree I would acquire for anything, it’s frustrating not to be able to sit in on some courses that I might find inspiring or helpful.

I was frustrated to run into someone who is heading down the fauxtog path the other day.  They still lack even a tripod, do not know how to adjust the shutter speed on their camera, and created their Facebook business page and announced a ‘special’ for their first five customers.

When attempting to take a picture of our kids together in shutter priority mode, she couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working (it was indoors, badly lit and she had the ISO set for 100).  She has no clue and since she is in college, is all about ‘helping me learn all the stuff they are teaching her,’ since obviously my lack of college education in photography (I do have courses in creative writing, chemistry, French, calculus, speech, etc.) means that she already knows more than I do.  SMH

I just hope that people who hire her realize early on that she isn’t ready for this and don’t have high expectations.

I do know about tethering and have tried to figure out if I want to try it with my laptop or if it is too much bother.  I have tried live view focusing with mixed results.  Unfortunately, I do hope to at least sell images as microstock from time to time, and pixel perfection is mandatory, so I can get really frustrated when my macro images do not meet the mark I had hoped for with them.

Browneyed Girl – have you GUESSED that I am a gear head?  I love spending bored moments on Amazon and various review sites planning the last few pieces of my ‘perfect’ camera gear collection.  🙂

Thank you I hate fauxtography – I really want to create the breath-taking, heart-stilling shots.  I’m still looking for them and working on it.  One of these days, eh?  🙂

[Mrs Woo]

You know, I read and tried that and was still frustrated.  I had a cheap tripod at the time, though, and it wasn’t rock-solid.  Maybe I should give live view focusing another try with the new tripod.  For some reason, I found live view didn’t ‘blow up’ large enough to suit me, if I am remembering correctly (it’s sad to get old and have your eyes so dim – must be time to use the reading glasses with my photography!).

Possibly slowing down and using the back screen to focus everything would end many of my problems, but as an old fuddy-duddy, I like using my view finder.  It’s what feels ‘right’.  Guess even us old folks gotta change with the times.  I thought about getting a 5DII because I can swap out the screen on those, but the 5DIII has controls closer to my 7D.

Are you  satisfied with all of your work?  When you take pictures of whatever you take pictures of, do they make your heart stop?  I keep being told my pictures bring a sense of peace, etc., but I want more.  I want breath-taking, and I am not sure if it’s a matter of lighting and mood that is off, or if my composition would need tweaking.  I have been focusing a lot on composition lately, actually, when I am being serious.  Sadly, there are a lot of life changes going on right now, so I am ‘wasting images’ on what is snapshot photography.  I might actually still be using my Rebel for throwaway shots if I had it.  🙁

Darn teenagers, rafting, and the Current River anyhow…LOL

[Mrs Woo]

A photography student that didn’t understand what aperture priority and shutter priority were, assured me they always shot in manual but then asked me to show them how to adjust shutter speed and aperture….  SMH

(okay, that isn’t so bad, except they just announced the opening of their own studio on Facebook)

[Mrs Woo]

And maybe someone should delete and start a new “Fauxtographers who belong on our front page” thread since the other one seems to be kind of seriously derailed at this point?

Granted, I was OT too asking how people go about recommending people – do they know them?  Followed by trying to explain that ‘amateurs with point and shoots’ do exist and can be very disappointing for the people who hire them… 😛

[Mrs Woo]

@Cam – I agree with that, though anyone can take a ‘pretty picture’ if they are at the right place.  If they were perfectionists, or even educated in the craft, though, they would also consider the way time of day, weather and season would affect light (a la the repeated trips of Ansel Adams).  In the end camera doesn’t have as much to do with how good a picture is when you look at some parts (lighting, mood, composition), but a lot to do with others (i.e., image quality is much better the better the sensor and lens).  An image from a typical consumer point-and-shoot usually can’t look quite as good as an image taken by a an experienced camera user with a DSLR.  There are just too many things they can address in manual settings that aren’t as easily addressed by choosing ‘smart auto’ on your average point and shoot (was surprised at how obvious that became to me on my computer when I bought a new waterproof/shock proof point and shoot after shooting mostly DSLR for a year!).

I know there are pros who use Holgas or who use their iPhones.  I also know that higher end point and shoots can actually get image quality close to or equal to APS-C DSLRs now because some are even made with the same sensors.

One of the issues with the ‘amateur with a point and shoot’ is that those people do exist, and when you hire someone for money to do your family photo shoot and they show up with a Canon digital Elph, you’re going to hesitate a moment.  If the finished images don’t look any better than your sister’s snapshots, you’re going to definitely feel ‘taken.’  If they are a master photographer with an Elph, they might do something amazing.  Unfortunately, though, there are a lot more people who ‘love photography’ and would ‘love to be a photographer one day’ with point and shoot cameras than there are pros who have abandoned their interchangeable lens cameras for a point and shoot because its outstanding image quality makes them comfortable as a professional selling the images that it captures.

I agree though (except for a balance and comfort perspective – a 7D/5D/1D series feels much better with a pro-level lens on it than a Rebel – Rebels begin feeling front-heavy with most of the better lenses on them) that you can take a Rebel and put a great lens on it and get beautiful images.  I have some images that people love that were taken with my Rebel and the kit lens, even.  You have to know your lens’s sweet spots, and they’re usually a little smaller on the consumer grade lenses, but even a consumer quality lens, in the right conditions, can do beautiful work, and a better engineered lens (inexpensive primes are a way to get better image quality cheaply because they do not require the complex engineering of pro-level zoom lenses) gives you a lot more room to work in, with sharper images covering a broader part corner to corner earlier and longer than consumer lenses.

If you’re going to be wise in investment, it’s glass first.  After a few years under your belt you discover that it’s a constant churn on the body side, but often good glass will get you through several bodies before upgrades are around and then the upgrades might not be too tempting.  I only have $5000 in equipment left to get my ‘usually will need this for something I shoot’ list done.  ~sigh~

(no – I am not a gear addict.  I refuse to admit I have a problem until my collection is finished, because then I might have to stop!)

[Mrs Woo]

On the ‘amateur with a point and shoot’ – I know one of those who has a professional photography page on Facebook and sells her images.  I kind of end up astonished by that, to be honest.  I wish I could afford her vacations.  🙁

[Mrs Woo]

I noticed this went crazy, and had gotten tired of the same complaints the same … type of images, and even in a way how it sometimes seemed like people were finding their competition’s least impressive images and pasted them in here and laughed at them.  Hadn’t realized where it went.  Kind of fascinating.

How do you guys find some of these people?  I’m curious because someone who ‘loved’ a seriously bad family photo session has now put out their own shingle (they are just starting a photography degree at the local college, but don’t know how to set their own shutter speed or aperture yet).  I’m afraid to post them here because I don’t want to upset them, but they so fit what people are frustrated with here.

[Mrs Woo]

Well… I created a photography page that one might expect is ‘professional,’ but I created it because my profile on Facebook is not searchable and I didn’t want people who barely know me to have to friend me to see pictures of their kids playing middle school football.  I would LOVE to do some photography for pay, but hubby insists I’m not healthy enough (I argue if I would get help with livestock and household chores I could focus what energy I do have on other activities – hello?).  So my page is photography, but… well, I’ve never been paid and probably never will be.

I guess I should keep hanging out -sooner or later you all are bound to find it and have tons of fun laughing at me.  LOL   🙂

[Author]

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