tana_minnick

I agree with Ryan. Unless you can consistently turn out well exposed, stock worthy photos on a daily basis, you'd be lucky if you make enough every week to buy a pack of gum.

 

Some of the big stock agencies want you to have dozens of stock ready photos before they'll accept you. With the smaller ones, you seriously need more than a handful of photos to make ANY money. My advice is to invest your time in studying photography. Even if you do get in with an agency, all photos must be examined and approved before they're accepted. Some of those that you submit may not make the cut, even if they accept you based on those photos.

Hah! I work in a hospital, in the newborn nursery, and if flash is harmful to babies' eyes we'd ALL be blind by now. Everybody and their brother takes pictures of the new baby, multiple family members over multiple days. If the flash was harmful to the babies' eyes, I'm sure the pediatricians would ban it. So far they haven't.

I'm so glad you posted this question - I was going through the exact same dilemma. I have a showing of 15 photos coming up in March and didn't know whether to go the cheapie route and mount them on some kind of board, or go for the quality and therefore expensive route and just frame them. I'm scrapping the cheapie route because I want my photography to be perceived as quality, plus it just looks so much better. I called Helricks, and they have pretty reasonable prices (I was surprised)and great customer service. I'm going to check into the other places mentioned, too. I figure one booking will just about cover the costs of the framing- it's a photo showing to promote my portrait business. Thanks everyone! Tana

Cindy,

Did you mount your photos yourself, or did a lab do them? If you did it yourself, where did you get the foamcore? I have a photo showing coming up, and can't decide whether to spend big $$ on nice frames and mattes (15 in all), or mounting them on some kind of board. Thanks!

Beautiful. Great expressions, emotions. And I LOVED the music! In fact, I played the slidewhow twice just to listen to the music.

It looks like a peacock feather.

You need to have two photos to get a passport. I've always seen identical photos, but if they are taken back to back and look identitical, I don't see a problem with that. Just stick them in an envelope and the client will need to take them to a passport office. At Costco they are about $7 for two, I believe.

I don't care for the font, it looks really dated. I also don't care for the fade out roses, it makes it look cluttered and harder to read. How about just black?

Beau, that's a great idea. There's a music store right down the road from me, I'll have to check out the drummer stools. I've been looking for one too.

Doh! Didn't see that part at the bottom, thanks.

Dumb question - So it is a replacement of sorts for Photoshop? I thought it was some kind of image management/organizer program.

I have no idea about Steven Spielbergs's lighting director, but one thing that continues to amaze me is how similiar cinematography and still photography is. We just rewatched LOTR over Thanksgiving break, and one thing I kept noticing is lighting, composition, colors, etc. I love watching a beautifully filmed.

I'm interested in the responses also. I'm never completely happy with my skin tones. When I do a custom white balance (using white posterboard)for some reason the pictures seem a bit too cool. I'm considering the Expodisc and would love to hear more opinions about it. Thanks.

I hate calling someone to find out a price. If it's not listed, I move on. Too much trouble. I also hate when you do call and they want to know everything about you and try to reel you in. I always think - oh shut up and give me the price already. There are plenty of other photographers who do have their prices online. That's what I think.

fiberbaseprints.com

Either could cause damage. I'm a nurse and have seen people killed or injured from things flying around in a car that weren't secured. In one instance a family was moving and had their tv in the back of the car, got into an accident, and the tv flew forward and hit the father in the back of the head killing him. I took care of a kid once that had his eye damaged by a seat belt buckle that flew up and hit him when they were in an accident. He was wearing a seat belt, and it was a minor accident, but seat belt buckles are hard and heavy. Needless to say, any unused seat belts are always buckled in our car, and my camera is always in the bag, closed up, and then seat belted.

Have you considered setting your camera's white balance to Kelvin? I have hot lights I use at home, and the other day was experimenting with white balance. When I do a custom, you can't tell that hot lights were used at all, which is what I want sometimes. I tried setting the camera to 3200 K (I think), and it neutralized the tungsten coloring alot, but still had a bit of warmth to the pictures - which is what I wanted.

I forgot to say, it looks like it was composed like this on purpose, good composition by the way.

That portrait is great! There is nothing wrong with "cutting off" the tops of heads in an intimate/closeup shot. Just look through some baby/parenting magazines, you'll find tons of photos done this way.

 

And as a side note, she did say the colorization effect was specifically requested.

Welcome to infant photography. When I first started photographing infants I thought it would be easy, after all, all they do is sleep, right? Hah!

 

I get ideas/inspiration from browsing other websites. If you'd like to check it out, my website is tanaminnick.com. Nothing spectacular, but I think you might find some ideas. I haven't been doing it very long professionaly.

 

As far as trying to get a 4 week old to look in any direction, forget it. You get what you get, and some of the most endearing pics are of them sleeping, as the above posters said.

Hi Kaileen! I just wanted to say I love your work, you really have an eye for photography.

 

Unfortunately, not being an established photographer, I really can't answer your question. It does seem to me that a portrait photographer would be reluctant to take on a mentor. Especially if they specialize in the same area (kids)and live in close proximity.

 

Having said that, I would be interested in networking. (I am in Richmond, VA - too far away to be competition, haha)I think it would be great to share ideas and things that have worked or not worked. If you're interested, drop me a line. My website is tanaminnick.com

If a woman feels comfortable and confident in a strapless, sleeveless gown, more power to her.

 

But personaly, all I think when I see bulges and fat hanging and spilling over is "what were they thinking, did they not look in the mirror?" and "how did they possibly think that that looked good?" Sorry, but I can't help think it. Of course, I never say it. I saw pictures a friend of mine took of a 200 lb bride in a strapless. Not the most flattering, but she did look happy and radiant. Still, though, how much better would she have looked in something a little more covering.

 

And I do blame the bride magazines for the trend. Open one up and at least 75% plus of the dresses are strapless.

 

It takes a tall slim woman to make a dress like that look good. I definitly don't have a model body, and try to wear things that flatter rather than emphasize things I don't want emphasized.

Find out if they are wearing white or not, and if they are don't use a white background. When I graduated from nursing school we wore white nursing dresses at our graduation. I hated them, they were so dated and old fashioned looking.

 

I would stick with solids. Can't go wrong with blue/gray.

Maybe it's the 28-70 I was think of. Anyone?

I thought that lens was supposed to be a great lens! Very sharp with fast focusing? I was going to buy it soon. Can someone tell me why it's crappy?