Shooting more "creative or artistic" photos

[melissapapajphotography]

Whenever I post engagement, wedding or bridal pictures the most common

comments I get are that they are not creative or atistic enough. What can I

do to better improve artisticly, but still have the customer like what they

get.Does anyone have suggestions for poses. backdrops, etc?

[john falkenstine]

Are the people for whom you're taking the pictures satisfied? If yes, ignore all other suggestions and critiques. Here are some excellent wedding photographers:

http://www.jcsphoto.com/ and Mike Colon: http://www.mikecolon.net/?page=articles&articleID=13

[darrin ballman www.crossl]

Melissa,

Of course if your clients are happy with the results - always be thankful for that. That being said, naturally we want to always be improving as well. Personally the two most important things you can do is look at as many other photographer's work as you can, and second is shoot as much as possible. As a result of the process you will get a better feel for your own personal style. When you start to feel that then stay true to it but always keep experimenting. It comes easier to some than others to be sure. It doesn't mean that you have to mimmick anyone else's style pose for pose - just use it as a springboard for your own work. It will come in time.

[colleendonovan]

Dang! I wish people posted my site as much as they do Jessica Claire's!! :) Look around here. Marc Williams has wonderful pictures, as does a ton of people in the wedding forum. You should be hanging out over there! :)

[darrin ballman www.crossl]

"Dang! I wish people posted my site as much as they do Jessica Claire's!! :)" - Colleen

 

PS - and be sure to check out Colleen's work at http://www.colleendonovan.com , she does an excellent job! Really! There you go Colleen, I'll help out when I can...:)

 

and Melissa...Colleen is absolutely right....hang out in the Wedding forum - there's a lot of excellent photographers over there.

[kim long- cincinnati, ohio]

Well, I agree that you have to keep in mind who your clients are and what they want. After all, you're being paid to provide a service and product and there is a "customer satisfaction" element not to be ignored. What is artistic to one person's taste to another person's taste may be nothing but an unappealing departure from tradition. In the same vein, what I or someone else might consider totally hackneyed might be exactly what a certain kind of client wants and expects (no more, no less). If you're willing to adapt your style to cater to a broad range of tastes, fine. If you have a style of your own then you have to find the best market for that style. At any rate, no one else can tell you what is "artistic enough" for you or your client.

 

If you yourself are looking to push your photography to a more creative level, this is going to sound really trite, but it's all inside you. You can look to others for inspiration, but think of "inspriation" as a richly textured patchwork of ideas that get your own creative juices flowing and compel you to experiment. Use those combinations of ideas as a springboard, not a blueprint. Simply re-creating shots you've seen elsewhere isn't going to help you tap into your own style.

 

I myself find valuable information, resources, and occasionally artistic inspriation at sites like this, for example, but I will never be one to concern myself with "matching" any one person's ideal or standard for what makes a good photograph. I want to find and set my own standard.

 

Just my two cents.