[Visionthing]

Hi Felix,

I agree with the others, being a professional photographer is 10% shooting and 90% business. So learning how business works is a huge part of being a viable photography business. On the shooting end I thought on your Pintrest board you had some interesting images. I can see that you are well versed in technique. The one thing I would say is what you need to work on is developing your own unique visual voice.

This comes with you continuing to go out and shoot subject matter that speaks to you. The only issue I see on your Pintrest board is although your images are interesting, your subject matter is ALL over the board. Bodies of work on a given subject matter are much more an indicator of your ability as a photographer. Is somewhat easier to take your “Best Of” images than producing a cohesive body of work. This is what professionals do.

I am going to recommend 2 really great books. They are both from authors in the UK and both deal with creating bodies of work.

 

Creative Exposures 23 Photographers Discuss Art & Technique by Eddie Ephraums

Photo Projects Plan & Publish Your Photography in Print & on the Internet by Chris Dickie

 

Keep shooting, if this is what you want I say go for it just be prepared to work hard!

[Visionthing]

I know I just responded to you on another thread but anyway…

Post processing is definitely an import part of the photographic process. Back in the day either you sent your film into a lab who made those adjustments, unknown to most people, or you were more knowledgeable and hands on and did the developing and process in the darkroom yourself.

So the processing of one’s digital images is still an important part of the process and aesthetic decision making photographers do but…

I always tell my students: Don’t just shoot and expect to take a ho hum image or an image that has lots of technical problems [which you failed to address while you were shooting] and expect to process it not a master piece.

You still need to understand how to see photographically and be able to shoot the technical things [either pushing your creativity by playing with the tools of your camera or solving a technical problem] before you press the shutter. Hoping that a bad image will be made good in Photoshop or Lightroom is frankly being lazy as a photographer.

Get it right as much as you can in camera while you’re shooting. This saves you time in post -production and forces you to be a more conscious photographer at the moment of capture which will turn you in to a better photographer…the longer you do that.

[Visionthing]

Hi Sharra,

Obviously I’m one of the 2 people who gave a critique. I understand what your saying. I think it’s important to say what you think though.

Right, wrong or indifferent I feel people learn from it all as I have in the past. I went to the WPPI convention in Vegas and there were many differing opinions and styles of photographers there. At first I was insistent on only listening to those whom I agreed with photographically but then I realized there was a benefit to being exposed to both. I learned more as a result.

 

That being said be brave, I’d love to know what your option is and why you feel the way you do.

I try to take every opportunity to do better at what I do.

Hope to here your opinion soon.

[Visionthing]

I know I’m a bit late to this reply but….as a portrait photographer I’m always being directed by the client, relatives of the client, photo enthusiast friend or relative of the client. So here is what I do.

If they have an idea I let them do it even if it’s ridiculous. After I spend 5 mins letting them getting it out of their system, I go on to do what I want. They came to you because supposedly they liked the look of your work.

Once the images are done and they are back looking at all the photos from the shoot, they inevitably like the shots I produced better [cause my ideas are better since this is what I do] but their ideas were honored, so they feel listened to as a consumer.

[Visionthing]

Maybe you should take the pressure off of yourself and go find work as an assistant to a commercial photographer.

Most photographers are not ready and don’t have enough experience straight out of school to start their own business.

The other thing they don’t tell you in school is as a photographer you will spend 10% of your time shooting and 90%

running your business and marketing. You need to fully understand the business side especially if you are dong

comercial work.

For now keep shooting and adding to your portfolio, and learn from someone who’s been there.

It takes time.

[Visionthing]

Hi Aaron,

Pretty impressive for your age! I have some suggestions:

–  You need to edit the images you show. When you clump portraiture and landscape together in a quantity

that is visually overwhelming for the viewer, ALL your photos become less interesting. It’s hard to concentrate

on your stand out images because the others are competing for my eye.

–  If you’re able put your portrait in one category [folder] and landscapes in another that would be better.

–   You have mastered keeping your images simple.

–   Be careful how much you pump up the color, too much and it starts

looking too candy coated. And as impressive as your images are, you

still need to work on finding your OWN voice, your own style. The

images you show look too much like so many other people’s images.

This is probably the hardest and longest part of one’s photography to

develop. We ALL start out copying those we admire, but you need to

develop your own unique voice as a photographer.

 

There are photographers who’s work are completely recognizable as their own:

Richard Avedon, Peter Beard, Annie Leibowitz, Sally Mann, Elizabeth Messina, Frank Ockenfels to name a few.

 

Keep looking at work from a variety of not only photographers but artist of all sorts.

Film makers, artists,  musicians etc…

You can find inspiration and ideas almost anywhere. One photographer I know was fascinated by an American artist named Joseph Cornell. Cornell’s most characteristic art works were boxed assemblages created from found objects. These are simple shadow boxes, usually fronted with a glass pane, in which he arranged eclectic fragments of photographs or Victorian bric a brac. Check out his work.

Anyway this photographer loved these boxes and Cornell as an artist. He looked up where Cornell lived trying to understand where his creativity came from. He found he lived in an ordinary house on a street called Utopia Parkway in Flushings New York. Well Utopia parkway makes you think he was surrounded by a fantasy world from which to draw from, that’s what the photographer assumed.

Once he saw that location was ordinary at best he asked himself,  ‘Wow, Utopia Parkway. What would life look like if one was to live on a street called Utopia Parkway?”

That one question sent this photographer on a 2 year project shooting images that he felt expressed what living on a road like that

would look like.

My point is you never know where your inspiration will come from. Keep looking, keep shooting, carry a notebook to jot down ideas to try.

I love going to art museums pick out art I love, then I take 1 or 2 elements from the art work and try to use it in photographic work.

Your unique voice will come but you need to keep shooting!

Good Luck.

 

[Visionthing]

Hi,

 

This is what I do portraits. With that said…I love your first image.

 

#1 Your composition of the 4 family members is spot on

and the little boy looking at the camera is sweet. Good job.

 

#2 I see where you were going with this. I don’t think it works though. He is starring off into space [I realize we are dealing with an infant, you can’t cue an infant]. You could keep the shallow depth of field you are after, but I think you would have been better off filling the frame with his face from a different angle. Although you can’t cue the baby, I will have a mother just off the edge of the frame talk or sing to the baby. Babies respond to their mother’s voice. Just a thought.

 

#3 Again I see where you were going but the baby’s fuzed out head at the bottom takes up too much of the frame, it’s visually distracting. Maybe you could have found another angle from which to shoot and concentrated on the babies hands together, putting just enough of their faces in to put context to who’s hands they were.

 

#4 I love you shot it on a quilt, smart choice. I like the kids are bare skinned, it’s sweet the older bro is looking and smiling at the baby, but again I would keep shooting and patiently wait till either the baby noticed the other kid or I might ask the older boy to tell the baby a joke, give a kiss, tell him a secret and then you would have some interaction between them that would look natural.

 

#5 Here I might have swaddled the baby, or have someone hold the baby and focus close on his face. Kids at that age are always making weird gestures. I have had 3!

 

#6 Sweet. Looking off camera is fine. Just keep working it though. Kids in action or absorbed in something that holds their attention is the way to go. As far as cut off body parts. I have no problem with that but remember you should always cut off a body part anywhere but at any joint otherwise they can look amputated.

 

#7 Mom & Baby, Sweet. I like the fact the background is the fence. You do have to be careful in contrasty light. If you are going to do that make sure it looks like it was a creative choice and not that you didn’t see it and failed to move your subject into better light.

I don’t know if anyone is there when you’re shooting cause a diffuser disc or something as simple as a bed sheet blocking that light would have evened the light out. Keep waiting for the moments of calm on the baby’s face. When you see a baby reacting it can feel a little disconcerting to the viewer. [One time I had to wait 2 hours before my client’s baby stopped crying]

 

#8 This shot I don’t see enough of the baby and Dad’s expression is a bit flat. I’m not being mean to him, just truthful. This is [without a doubt] the hardest part of being a portrait photographer. Getting your subject to truly emote in front of a lens they are uncomfortable in front of. What I do is talk to my subject. I might just ask the guy:” What are your dreams for this baby”? I might even tell him, “Don’t tell me just think about that question”. Inevitably he will start showing emotion without realizing it.

 

#9 I have no critique on this one. Adorable and spot on!

 

#10 I know what you were trying to do but there are way too many elements in this shot to work.

What was your visual goal? The baby’s feet?, his future in baseball?, the mom’s touch? It too much of a mash up. I think here you needed to pick one of those and drop the rest. And then play with the others separately.

 

I hope I gave you some things to think about. Keep going, keep shooting, keep working. Really look back at your images and try to figure out what worked, what didn’t and why. If you do that with each shoot, you’ll continue to improve.

 

Good Luck!

[Visionthing]

I think your photos aren’t bad. I mean that your shots are better than a lot of the stuff you see on here. The questions I would have you ask yourself are: Why am I taking this picture and what do I want my subject to look like? I know this sounds ridiculously simplistic but that should be your first question before pressing the shutter. Why? Because your answers will dictate all your aesthetic choices such as….the location where you shoot, what you include in the frame and what you exclude in the frame, how far away you are from your subject, how much of your subject is in the frame, where you stand in relation to your subject, what lens length to use, what type of light will help with the type of mood I’m after etc…

You are doing a pretty good job of keeping your compositions clean. That is a lot of the battle with people starting out. One suggestion would be to move around, try shooting from a variety of perspectives. Most of your subjects are dead center in the frame. This has a tendency to make the image too static. I’m not saying never do that but as the saying goes;”Learn all the rules of photography, then break them”.

My last suggestion is never underestimate the drama and emotion that different light can have on a subject. Think of how filmmakers in Hollywood [who make the BIG bucks] use lighting to change the way you feel about a subject. Would a guy running at you with a chainsaw be scary if he did it in broad daylight? Try reshooting [if it’s possible] some of your same shots but shoot them in morning light, at dusk, contrasty light, light filtered through a window or a screen door, candle light etc… each of these will make your image feel completely different.

Actually this is my last suggestion: Look at other professional photographer’s work you like. Ask yourself what choices did the photographer make [look at the list above] and how did those choices enhance the look, feeling and meaning [to you]. You can always borrow an element you liked in their work and try to use it in yours. I don’t mean literally copy every part of their image just one element, like the way they used the light. Once you do this you will start to ask yourself these kinds of questions and when you start to find the answers….you will be on your way to being a more conscious photographer!

Two photographers to look at would be; Frank W. Ockenfels and Sam Jones   I know there are a million more but you gotta start somewhere.

[Visionthing]

I know I’ll get pounced on for saying this but…unless you care ultimately it  really doesn’t matter. Sincerely what do you want the end result to look like and how are you going to use the image? I know photographers [professional ones] who purposely use noise as an aesthetic choice. Not on every image mind you, but noise can add mood to your image, so it entirely depends on what your goal is.

Grainy and/or out of focus images can work but it depends on a lot of other elements as well. Keith Carter is one of my favorite fine art photographers and very little in his images are in focus, but he personally happens to like no grain in his images. What matters to me is the emotional impact of an image, I’d take that over digital perfection any day and that is the harder skill to develop!

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