I'm 15 Years Old need advice on my photography?

[maldonadophoto]

<p>Hi, like i said I'm 15 years old and I am looking for some profecional help from photographers arround here, or anyone who knows what they are doing. I need some advice on what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong on some of my pictures. Also need a little bit of explination on what photo proofs mean, and a tip on how to prepare for a wedding. Thank you so much.</p>

<p>by the way I dont know if Photo. net allows links to my website? <br>

Hope not- Maldonadophoto dot webs dot com. Just click on the "New Link" link.</p>

[betty_lowrey]

<p>Hello Carlos,<br>

First off, I am impressed that you have such drive at the age of 15. Good for you!<br>

I checked out your site. It's a little difficult to navigate, I wasn't sure if I had to click or scroll or what. From what I see you have some good "snapshots", but need to take it up a notch. Before focusing on "effects", nail your composition and focus first. Think of what you're taking a picture of, not how you can tweak it later.</p>

 

[picturesque]

<p>You have a good eye, but you need to sharpen up your technique and flashwork. For flashwork, read everything of the articles at planetneil.com about using on camera flash. Mr. Van Niekirk is coming out with a book soon, so I'd get it as soon as it comes out. For the rest of it, you are going to have to ask specific questions, as you don't have a lot of wedding samples on your site, so it is hard to say what you need in the way of people management and wedding coverage.</p>

<p>You are also going to have to explain your question on photo proofs. Are you asking what they are or how one works with them? Many wedding photographers don't use them anymore, but put everything online.</p>

<p>As for preparing for a wedding, beyond having 2 of every important piece of gear, do you mean with equipment, with ideas, with organization and mangement of people? If you need help on 'everything', I'd recommend reading as much as you can stand every day of the previous posts here on this forum.</p>

<p>And trying to find a mentor--experienced, pro wedding photographer to help you along. This is the best way of starting but not always possible. If not, read everything you can get your hands on. And ask specific questions.</p>

[savagesax]

I like your excitement and passion for photography. Good for you. I also like your site, the music you chose fits. Who is the artist?

 

I don't think you are ready yet, at a professional level, to take on the business of wedding photography. However, you do have some talent, which is a gift, so find a professional photographer that is interested in taking you under his or her wings that can help bring out this creative talent. For now spend a lot of time learning about posing, lighting, how to handle bounced light, how to use fill light, practice looking at your backgrounds to enhance the subjects.

 

Keep posting some of your selected images for advice and ask a lot of questions.

[mgk1966]

<p>Besides all the technical stuff others will tell you about, you can start marketing for your future career now. If you go to high school with 500 other kids, that's hundreds of potential weddings over the next 10 years after you graduate. And by that time most of the technical stuff will have fallen into place. So let everybody know what you're doing and that you're good at it. Keep them posted on facebook, myspace, twitter, blogs, whatever. When the time comes choose a wedding photographer, one person will come to mind - you. Good luck.</p>

<p> </p>

[jimmckinnon]

<p>Carlos,</p>

<p>Welcome to PN! Sensing your spirit, looking at your work, I can't help but feel you have the potoential for a brillliant career.</p>

<p>Betty mentioned trouble with navigating your website. I found some of the same issues. Continue to work on this. Perhaps sit with someone on his/her first visit to your site. Observe the ease of navigation, and note any stumbling points. The site is good-looking, but a bit confusing. Links to your website <strong>are </strong>allowed, and I'm going to jump in and <a href="http://www.wix.com/maldonadophoto/maldonadophoto">post your link </a>in an easier to find manner, in hopes that others will take a look. <a href="http://www.wix.com/maldonadophoto/maldonadophoto">http://www.wix.com/maldonadophoto/maldonadophoto</a> I'd also suggest that you direct people to you website, rather than the link which transfers them to your "new" website. Just eliminating a bit of the clumsiness which may deter people.</p>

<p>I'm not a "pro" by any definition; please remember that when deciding how much weight to place on my opinions. With that in mind, I would suggest the following:</p>

<p>1. Read, read, read; everything you can get you hands on. Photo.net is a perfect place to do a bunch of your reading. Don't forget your library. Other websites, particularlly some devoted to lighting, such as strobist.com (others will post links). Look at other people's pictures, such as wedding albums.</p>

<p>2. Shot, shoot, shoot; Every day! Every thing. Study your own shots. Ask yourself what you like, and what you would like to see different. Figure out how to achieve the differences you want to see.</p>

<p>3. Ask for critique. Friends, family, strangers, and forums here at PN. Friends and family will offer a lot of simple praise. ("That looks great. You're wonderful. You are a phenom, and God's gift to photography.") Nothing wrong with some of that stroking to keep you encouraged, but explain to them that you will learn more, and not be offended, by their telling every little thing that they feel isn't perfect about you images. Never argue with a criticism. Thank the viewer and learn from their comments.</p>

<p>4. Repeat. Everything.</p>

<p>You will get plenty of comments here about your preparedness for shooting weddings. Pay heed to these. Make certain that you are keeping in mind what an important day this is to the couple, and especially to the bride. If you shoot a portrait or a flower, and something isn't quite right, you simply re-shoot. Not so with a wedding. This is one-chance-only to preserve some of the most important memories these people will every have. Don't take such an awesome responsibility lightly. That said, I can't help but feel that there is a potential for a niche here. The perspectives that could be provided by a competent 15-year-old, added to the images captured by an experienced pro. I hope some of the great wedding pro's here will think about this, and run with it.</p>

<p>I could open up a whole new can of worms by saying that i think there is a fine line between good "snapshots" and the currently popular "photo-journalistic style" of wedding photography. I could say that, but it wouldn't be appropriate. Oops, I said it and my "delete" key is broken. What do i do now? ;-)</p>

<p>You have come across a terrific site here at PN. Stay with us. I, for one, look forward to seeing lots of posts, comments, questions, and work from you here. Good luck in the future!</p>

[cathy_and_david_bock]

<p>Keep up the great work first and foremost! :) </p>

<p>Secondly, definitely get to work on your flash. You need to either get an external flash and start bouncing the light off walls etc, or disable your pop-up flash. Other than that you're off to a great start.</p>

<p>Secondly. You need to charge more and do a couple of things with your packages. Most importantly, get rid of prints etc from your packages as brides really could care less about those and it's hard to see value in them. I would start at $500 and perhaps range your packages up to $1500. You could really use this as a great way to save for college etc but charging $235 is really undercutting yourself as you're not even paying yourself for your own time and labor let alone the cost of materials. You're at a point where you could easily start charging for your work and making a profit. GO FOR IT. :)</p>

[maldonadophoto]

<p>Thank you all for your great advices!! It is really helping, i tried reading almost all of them before my wedding event this past Saturday. I took the advice about composition and lighting. It helped alot! Thank you for all your great advices again and about the site confusement I tried adding little notes I dont know if that could help?</p>

<p>Also I was thinking of a new site where it is much easyer to follow, I made a new package to where it reaches 1.200 dollars, I hope customers will want to buy this package. I know I may be charging too low right now so i might need an advice on how to bring prices up with out getting customers saying "hey your website said this last time i checked"<br>

also About getting prepared for a wedding as in how to think of what picture to take in a rushfull time.<br>

On the website i do have a few pictures up of weddings for now since it is the only one i have done. But I recently took new ones fom this weekend of course and hopefully theyll be up soon, when they are I will say.<br>

OH! and I dont know how I would tell all those old customers about the new link since its soooo long " wix.com/maldonadophoto/maldonadophoto" Ive given out thousands of cards saying my site is maldonadophoto.webs.com and so i am linking them from there but how do I do it to those who have that card and i have not contact of? A tip or advice?</p>

<p>This website is being very helpful and thank you all again! =]</p>

[jimmckinnon]

<p>Good to hear from you again, Carlos. For some great ideas on remembering what pictures to take, try googling the words "wedding photo checklist." You'll get several good lists. You may choose to use one as a basis for your own reminder list, modifying it as needed for your own use. </p>

<p>The "webs.com" address works fine as a transfer link. I wouldn't print new business cards right away just to eliminate the transfer. When giving people a 'clickable link,' such as in an e-mail, I'd take them directly to the wix.com site.</p>

<p>I think it might be a good idea for you to put up some of your wedding photos in your PN portfolio so that direct critique/ideas can be provided. <a href="../photodb">Here </a>is the page which will tell you about creating your portfolio.</p>

<p>Some very good, highly successful wedding pro's have already contributed to this thread, and I'm sure they'll be back to assist you with your package price questions.</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Carlos:</p>

<p>I would suggest buying your own domain hosting instead of using a free site with ads.</p>

<p>If I were your customer, I would not like to have the distracting animated ads playing over my proofs as I looked at them. If you are charging money for your services, pay for a professional web site.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I made a new package to where it reaches 1.200 dollars, I hope customers will want to buy this package.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Adding a new package doesn't mean people will flock to hand their hard-earned money over to you. You have to earn it. I would not be comfortable hiring you for $1200 based on your web site. The impression you make on your potential clients is as important as the quality of your photos.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[cathy_and_david_bock]

<p>Carlos:</p>

<p>People expect prices to go up for vendors. Don't apologize for it! If someone contacted you before your prices went up give them 30 days to take advantage of the old pricing, otherwise, them's the breaks. Don't be afraid to charge what you are worth. :)</p>