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Nightrose
ParticipantI encountered a genuine “Uncle Bob” at a wedding I went to a few weeks ago. I was a guest so I was able to relax and watch everyone else taking “photos”. The professional the couple hired was great, and did all the right things that one would expect from a wedding photographer. At the reception I noticed another gentleman with his giant DSLR (fitted with a battery grip, nice prime lens and a mid-level body) taking photos of people at the tables. All well and good except for the fact that he was using the camera’s built-in pop-up flash, lol!
ParticipantAd on Gumtree today:
“Need pictures of your favorite pet, a shutterbug for your birthday celebration, glamour/fashion shots for your portfolio? Babies, products, profile shots for facebook? Dont pay an overpriced ‘professional’ photographer, when you can get quality pictures for a fraction of the price!!
$30 per hour*”Overpriced professional huh? Oh how that grinds my gears! Also, further into the ad this individual grants full copyright of their images to the clients, and of course all photos are put on disk. Yeah, you’re going to last a LONG time in this business, mate!
ParticipantHi Mrs Woo, thank you for your thoughtful comments on my Facebook page – feedback is much appreciated! I’ve written a few replies there 🙂
As for the chillies – they’re definately not as crisp as I’d like. It is amazing how difficult macro photography actually is – it’s all about getting in enough light in order to get the desired depth of field, and as you can see, it isn’t a craft that I have fully mastered yet, lol. I certainly hope to work away at it and get some much better photos in the future.
I’m quite excited, I have people coming to the studio this week to pose for me, so I hope to get some good shots for my portfolio. Fingers crossed that I don’t screw up and produce Fauxtog-worthy dreck (I had a nightmare about this the other night, argh!).
ParticipantIt is definately still happening. There is one spam post at the moment which is on practically all of the forum categories – so annoying!
ParticipantIn short: yes it costs a lot to be a pro.
That blog may not have the exact numbers that every pro photographer will have, but included are many of the costs that do happen, such as gear, web hosting, insurance and whatnot.
I’ve just built a studio. Costs included: Arctic white paint for the walls and ceiling. Blackout curtains for the windows in my room. A large piece of seamless vinyl laid on the floor after having to rip the carpet up (try putting backdrop paper on a soft surface – ugh!). Two large pieces of wood screwed into the wall to provide a strong support for the backdrop brackets. Two rolls of backdrop paper – black and white. Chains to lift and drop the paper easily, thus eliminating the need to schelp the bloody things up onto the brackets all the time.
Gear: Three head studio lighting kit. Cable to set off the lights from the camera (Pocketwizards are going to have to wait as they cost way too much), gizmo to remotely trigger the camera shutter, props for posing, like a funky chair and a beanbag.
And I still want a beauty dish, grids, continuous light, softboxes of various sizes and all sorts of bits and pieces which will have to be purchased somewhere down the track.
And that’s not counting all the actual camera gear I have – bodies, lenses, cards, bags, insurance….blah blah blah.
But hey, it’s only money 😉
ParticipantGood on you for giving it a go and taking the photos for your family and friends! At this stage I would advise against trying to go into business, BUT this does not mean you can’t ever do so, you just need a bit more time and practise. Also, starting a photography business is really difficult and takes a lot of time, dedication and start-up money. I know because I have been going through it for a while now!
Now for your photos. I like the ones of the Andrade Maternity session in that you have focussed on taking natural shots rather than a lot of gimmickery that one often sees with maternity shoots. If nitpicking I could say that some of the backgrounds are overexposed and a few photos have funny colours (calibrating your monitor will fix this!). I do like the photo of the baby boots with the couple in soft focus. A lot of this sort of thing looks really lame, but I think your photo works quite well.
The ones of the baby in the santa suit are pretty darn cute! What an adorable bubba! Watch the backgrounds, and as you pointed out, the creases don’t work too well. As an alternative, a seamless paper backdrop always looks good, and maybe you could lay the baby on a rug or posing beanbag. A few of the photos in this series look a little blurry or maybe you’ve over-edited them. Just try to keep things simple, and be ruthless when culling the duds. Anything that is only half-decent should be left out of your main portfolio.
The quinceanera photos: As a group of shots they are just ok, in that they feel more like everyday snapshots rather than those a professional would take. Event photography is actually really difficult, as there will almost always be at least ten other people with camera phones and P&S cameras all jostling to get the same photo. Also, things happen very quickly and there is usually very little to no time to plan and set up your next photo, so it is pretty hard to always be in the right place at the right time, shooting at the right exposure and ISO! I personally hate photographing events like birthday parties and engagements because I get frustrated with other people getting in the way and the lack of control when it comes to organising large groups of drunk guests. Ironically, I don’t mind weddings as much, although they are an entirely different bundle of stress, lol!
A quick tip: in one photo, you have the girl in the pink dress posing for you with the reception tables in the background, and what looks to be a column right behind her head. Try to keep in mind what is in the background, and avoid placing objects directly behind your subject, like poles or trees or signs. Do this by moving around a little to a different angle. It isn’t a huge thing but it makes quite a difference.
And no, I don’t think you are a fauxtog, just a beginner who is making the same mistakes that most of us make when we are first starting out. Why don’t you spend a bit more time taking photos for family and friends, and see how you improve. Finding a niche is also a nice thing to do, such as being a baby or event photographer. At this stage your baby photos are better so maybe you could try to do more in this area.
Best of luck to you, and remember to have fun and enjoy photography!
ParticipantLooking at their high priced packages, they are including an album and slip in proof books, which can be pretty costly if you get them through the pro places like Seldex or Nulab. I live in Melbourne too so I am familiar with album pricing in our neck of the woods.
That aside, their prices are way too high due to the serious amount of fauxtoggery afoot here, and I am curious to know how there can be so many amateurish mistakes for someone who has been in “business since 1998”. The first page alone on the baby portfolio has some really dodgy spot colouring going on.
Someone also needs to proof read their site, as there are loads of grammatical and spelling errors. What a find!
ParticipantAlas, there really isn’t any way to stop people taking photos and posting them up, it seems to go with the territory these days. I’ve done as the poster above suggested and asked everyone to take their photos after I’ve taken mine. It even works sometimes! The rest of the time people will look at me like I have three heads, and take their photos anyway.
As for your situation, your version of the photo is by far superior to the other one, and despite them being taken at roughly the same time, I think yours looks totally different to theirs, with the angle, the lighting, the colours and the fact that the bridal party are all looking at you. Once you release your photos, the bride et al will be able to easily see how much better your pro shots are. I understand your frustration with the other ones being posted up, as that sort of thing annoys me as well. It’s just one of those things which cannot be controlled, and when it comes down to it, as long as I’ve been paid, then I’ll deal with it, lol!
ParticipantIn a follow up to my recent Christening debacle story, I posted up some of the photos that I took onto private online gallery for my cousin-in-law to look at, and last week received a text saying “We love your photos, can we have them?”…..*twitch*.
Apparently the brother only took a few photos of the Godparent with the baby but none of the parents or anyone else! Then I was informed that they were so thankful I’d been there to take some photos as well. Cue effusive and embarrasingly over the top praise from them. Me: head repeatedly connecting with wall, mixed with tongue biting so as not to say “I told you so!”.
Will they learn from this? Yeah – nah!
(I ended up selling them a DVD of the photos for a nominal fee – since I refused to give them away but am not so vindictive as to charge full price, much as I wanted to 😉 )
ParticipantWow, I didn’t even notice the date! Not paying someone for that length of time is pretty lame….
I’ve been not paid before and it really hurts! Definately now I won’t release photos until I receive payment in advance. But then I have a contract which states this, so clients are happy to pay beforehand knowing they have a serious legal document they can chase me with should I not come up with the goods (not that I would ever dream of doing such a thing, lol).
ParticipantThey’re pretty good for a start, just keep practising and you’ll continue to improve, as we all do!
A 50mm 1.8 lens is a good one to begin with, as it works well in low light, and for the low price you really can’t go wrong. The D90 is a solid body and should do you well until such time as you can afford to upgrade.
Good lenses are worth their weight in gold, but they also cost a LOT. The lens I get the most use out of is the Nikon f/2.8 24-70mm. It is fantastic! I also have the 70-200mm lens which is also beautiful, but both of these are really expensive so they would have to be something you’d look at getting later on. They’re also FX lenses, and the D90 only requires DX (though you can use full frame ones too).
For something that is more of an all-rounder, plus is quite a lot cheaper, how about the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. This would give you a great variety in zoom range, from wide angle to really close-up. Obviously this lens isn’t going to work as well in low light, but for general outdoor photography and travel it would be useful.
ParticipantSoaringturkeys is pretty much bang on here. If the agreement was verbal, then technically the photographer has kept their end of the bargain by spending the time taking photos on your wedding day and providing four disks of images for you. I do think you should voice your displeasure though if you really aren’t happy with them, and perhaps you can work out a fair payment then. It doesn’t sound like you are paying them a lot anyway?
A written contract should have been signed before the wedding, to cover for eventualities such as these. I’m guessing you didn’t sign anything, which unfortunately means there isn’t a lot you can do legally, I don’t think. Others on the forum might know more about this!
ParticipantIt doesn’t help when people post ads like this: ” Hi, i’m looking for a not professional photographer but still good and loves to take pictures for my wedding in february, and who wants to have a fun.” This sort of thing brings the fauxtogs out in their droves!
Also, anyone who has photographed a wedding knows just how exhausting and decidedly un-fun they are.
ParticipantI really like this photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=534872783193138&set=a.534872419859841.134400.368612416485843&type=3&theater
The colouring is a bit too warm (too pinky yellow?), but the actual composition of the shot with the branch to one side and both people looking off in the same direction works really well.
ParticipantCreyes is right…lose the tilt and your photos will be great. Tilting hurts my eyes (and neck!).
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