[Pelham]

Hey IHF,

No prob, I like to see talent out there and try to help develop it.  You can join as a registered user (free) if you don’t want to pony up the membership fee just yet.   Even if you are away from your fave toys, you can still read the posts and look at many,  many awesome pics.   Also, if you want, you could register and enter this month’s Free Study with an Orb shot – just so long as it was shot during this September.   DPC voters seem to like round shiny things.  Finally….look for snaffles! 🙂

[Pelham]

Hey IHF, I went through your work and you definitely have an eye. DPChallenge will push you an encourage you to try new techniques, styles, subject matter etc. Just make sure you read the site rules (esp for things like submission dates, amount of editing allowed, image size etc) then go and have fun.  Your orbs in particular are very DPC-friendly.  Hope to see you there! 🙂

[Pelham]

Hey IHF,

 

No, no offense taken, and you’re right, I should have edited the comment about shooting clients for free.  But what I mean is, basically, get out there and shoot.  There is no other way to learn photography.

I see no harm done by shooting clients (or potential) *clients* for free, both to gain experience AND learn your camera and setup.  I can and have done it, and usually share the best of that particular session with the people involved; however I was careful to explain that I am doing it for fun or experience with a certain lighting situation, trying out a new lens or technique, whatever the case may be.  So I didn’t give them any idea whatsoever that I was planning to go pro.

But then, if they were to contact me now, as my skills have improved considerably, and expect a freebie or cheap session I would say no, this is my rate now.  And I could show them my current work as proof that I can get much better shots of them than I did 2-3 years ago, when I was still shooting random strangers.  Sometimes I’ll use strangers for a challenge, and send them the link to the page with the entry so they can see how I did.  And if they want prints of it, they pay the going rate.

If I can pimp DPC once again…everyone here could learn a ton about photography just from reading the forums there and entering challenges.  Hell I entered a lot of crappy pics my first couple of years there, but at least I requested critiques and learned how to fix my weak areas.  I still have some weak areas, but at least now I know enough about photography to be writing critiques on that site.

 

[Pelham]

I side with IHF.  The fauxtog oversaturates like crazy, but otherwise there is precious little separating you.  I saw the larger gallery of images you have up and the pic of the mom against a concrete wall, doing her best to keep her eye open (the sun was hitting her at a really bad angle) and wearing a huge forced smile…painful.  Lots of missing limbs and shots that most photogs would immediately delete.  Shooting on a sunny day between the hours of 11 am and 3 pm?  Very bad call.  And if you don’t know why, then you must definitely NOT charge.  Not for a long, long time.

You need to learn about lighting, composition, exposure, cropping, keeping your horizons level (or learning how to fix it in post without screwing up the pic) etc etc.  You should be offering to shoot for free in order to gain experience working with real clients.

You should be shooting in Manual mode, and be able to adjust your settings without stopping to look down at the camera.  When you have a free moment you should go through some of what you’ve just shot and chimp.  And if you don’t know what chimping is…there is NFW you should be charging anything.  And you should learn to pp with a light hand – poor pp will ruin even a good photo, and make a crappy photo look even worse.

And yes all of what I’ve just told you definitely applies to the fauxtog, too.  But then, if these people expect great images in return for some likker  or $20 a session, then they can’t have very high expectations.

[Pelham]

FWIW…if you look at a pic and see the pp first, then the image, then there is far too much pp being used.  It never hurts to scale it down.  I’ve had people sit next to me and watch me while I worked on an image, and they still had trouble seeing the difference between the original and the final version.  As someone said, ‘It’s like the original only better’.

Also, if your skin tones are whacky in camera, then that won’t change unless you go crazy with the RAWs  (I also shoot Manual in RAW and work in PS CS5). Try to get your wb right straight off the bat.  In cases of mixed lighting,try wb on auto.  Hope this helps.

[Pelham]

Lovely work, Ken, though assuming you want some nitpicking, I’m not too crazy about the shots of the blonde in the meadow.  I don’t know, just not enough contrast and the stalk right in the middle of her face in the 2nd shot.   Love the studio stuff though.

You have a very impressive client list too.   And you’re in NYC?  And making a living?  Dude, you are so not a fauxtog, it’s not even funny.

Curious – what on earth are you doing here?!  If you want validation for your work, there are far better sites than YANAP.

[Pelham]

I never attacked you personally, btw, with the remark about people spending way too much time here.  However you chose to read into it that I meant you.  That’s your problem, not mine.

Yes, I agree that you have very impressive real life creds.  No, I am not a world-famous expert or participated in international tribunals. Again, tremendous kudos to you on that front.  Mind, I am an Army brat, and have plenty of friends in the military, from former Marines to some who are very high up in DND, so rest assured that I’m going to be checking out your creds.

But have you never noticed that the main raison d’etre behind this site is pretty much nothing but to take a run at fauxtogs?  Am I the only one doing any kind of trash talking?  And usually any comments I make are pretty modest by comparison to the usual ‘OMFG what the hell were they thinking’ comments.

Anyway I sense that my words are falling on deaf ears, and I have better things to do.  And I can back up my words anytime.  But on this site, that would be pointless, so I’m not going to bother.

[Pelham]

*shrugs* I shoot sporting events and a lot of wildlife, food, and similar images for stock.  You want to evaluate or criticize a photo of some ears of corn?

Didn’t think so.

And frankly, compared to DPC, where there are several active forums covering every aspect of photography, YANAP is kinda narrow in its focus and scope.  Think I’ll go back to wasting what precious little free time I have there.  Seeya.

[Pelham]

So Al, I take it you want me to put up or shut up?  Why? As I have made clear repeatedly, I do not shoot the kind of stuff seen on here so it’s more than somewhat pointless.

Furthermore, I do have a life and am not tethered to the net for most of my waking hours.  Some people seem to spend the bulk of their time here and I have a lot going on at the moment.

Now, if anyone here wants to see killer images, here’s the magick linky: http://www.dpchallenge.com.

Now go join.  Read and understand the rules, then start shooting for and entering challenges.  And though I haven’t written many critiques lately, I have been publicly thanked by at least two other DPCers who have won ribbons, because my critiques helped them take their photography in the right direction.  So I do know how to write useful critiques and comments.   That’s all I’m going to say.

[Author]

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