Question by Love Spell: My photography/Ideas etc?
Easy 10 point. My photography is either gonna stay LKM or Scarletts Photography. Its on facebook if you search up LiSaundra. Are they ok, any ideas? Any advice? If you go onto my INFO it will say the prices and my services. Photography is a passion of mine and those are OK to me, I have a kodak eassyshare but I am looking to buy a nikon or so. Please let me know what you think ideas on prices or if it ok. Im trying to build up my portfolio but also charge SOMETIMES if I need to. Thank yoou.
Facebook
Scarletts Photography, it has a little girl playing wit butterflies in black and white
local business hobart, Indiana
10 points best ideas, advice feel free to even
comment on the page or anything
Best answer:
Answer by Akuseru
You should not be charging for photos AT ALL.
The Damaris & Alex wedding album is horrible. I sincerely hope you weren’t the only photographer there, because you obviously have no idea what you’re doing with a camera. Your first mistake was using a Kodak Easyshare, a camera which has a fixed lens and no way to manually control exposure. Your photos are underexposed, badly focused, poorly framed (WHY would you shoot from here and not move to get that person in the foreground out of the frame??? http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=174284245961713&set=a.174283355961802.45671.163821090341362&type=1 )… GAH.
Do yourself a favor and take a class, or at the very least look up some tutorials on how to compose a photo and expose it correctly. “Don’t Let the Cost come between You and Your Memories.” *snerk* What a joke. You should change your tagline to “Don’t let an incompetent photographer come between you and your memories.”
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As far as your photography goes, you have a lot to learn and a long ways to go. I wouldn’t recommend charging anyone anything for your photos until you have a better camera, a better grasp on composition, and a better understanding on your use of filters in your pictures.
I’m pretty much agreeing with what Akuseru said, take classes and look at tutorials. You have a lot of work to do.
My first bit of advice is DO NOT do another wedding until you know what you are doing.
Those wedding pictures are some of the worst I have seen for a while.
Firstly your equipment is not up to scratch to produce good enough quality, secondly you don’t know how to use what you have and thirdly, you have no idea of composition or lighting.
Same for the baptism.
Your portraits are slightly better but still show you have little or no idea about composition and lighting.
If you find people willing to pay you for what you can do then fine but you really do need to learn the basics.
I hate to say it, but I agree with everything that’s already been said. You really do need to learn more about photography before you even consider taking photos for profit… and upgrade to a DSLR. Kodak’s Easyshare cameras are okay, but they are not adequate for portrait and wedding photography. You really need a camera that will allow you to manually adjust the aperture and shutter speed, and which can be used with off-camera flashes for the best lighting.
Every single photo in the Greener wedding album is noisy. The little girl with the butterflies is overexposed, the sepia toned portrait of the bride is terribly blurry, and the vignette effects that have been added to the photos really don’t add to them at all.
Here are a few links that can help you overcome those problems in your photography, as well as one that explains the differences between compact point-and-shoot cameras and DSLRs:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/compact-vs-digital-slr-cameras.htm
Another one that might help you covers depth of field, something that is a key part of portrait and wedding photography: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
As Andy mentioned, your photos show that you don’t really know how to compose a good image. Ken Rockwell’s got some good tutorials on his site, including these two:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/composition.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fart.htm
You’d really do well to get a manually adjustable camera and take a photography class (or three) to help you build your skills and your portfolio.
You asked if it is OK, so here goes…
Pretty dismal snapshots for the most part in all the events albums, both in quality and execution. The portraits are marginally better, mainly because they were shot in better lighting. Having a bunch of mediocre snaps is OK for a beginner who understands they are not yet good at the craft and are doing them for their own scrapbook or for fun. You’re charging people for work like that? Really?? And they’re paying??? Unbelievable. Look at some good portrait and wedding work and then take a critical look at your own. Sorry to be harsh, I’m sure you’re a nice enough person. Just not a good enough photographer to be charging quite yet.
The best idea would be to learn some basics about photography, exposure and composition. Then continue to learn and practice. Take classes. Educate yourself by reading, learning and doing. Especially before shooting important events (weddings, for instance) build good skills, get better equipment and work under a mentor as an assistant for a while.
As for the name, I prefer LKM.
Good luck.