amyebr3

how in the world do you get the solid white backgrounds in a photo. I have tried

many different things but they always have a gray or pink tint. I have tried different

materials too! Any help is greatly appreciated!

amy

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing you around the net!

amy

Hi Lindell,

Steve is being a little brutal. I think that your photos are nice for that type of thing. I do agree that you could use some lighting and posing work. That is not meant as a criticism just some help on the areas you could work on. I am always working on my lighting and I study on that all the time and still don't think I get it dead on right very often. Photography is very technical and it takes much time and practice to learn these things. It is a constant study for me. I think Steve is right but a little too abrupt in the advice giving.

In my opinion, the poses you are employing do look like an Olan Mills photo. They are very static, posed and quite frankly boring. I like when the photographer brings out the personality of the subjects and try to photograph them just being themselves. Unless these photos are for a school or church they are just too posed. There is no personality in them. While they make a nice picture they say nothing about who these people are or what they are like. You may try just talking to them and shooting them while they are being natural. I find my best photos are when they are just kind of "hanging out". I often try to let the children interact with each other and shoot them (with the camera of course...LOL) when they are not aware I am there. People naturally fall into some nice poses on their own.

Perhaps if you pulled them further from the background then they wouldn't be such a part of it. The backgrounds are dark and busy but would fade out and separate from them if you pulled them further away. Also your DOF would help with this.

I am just beginning myself and have much to learn. These are just some tips that I have picked up along my journey and thought I would share them with you. The fact that you open yourself up to critiques and suggestions tells me that you do really want to improve and this always helps to form a good photographer.

Wishing you much luck!

amy

I thought the photos were very good. What about cropping in tighter on the one where her forehead looks big. I liked the unusual angle and perhaps a tight crop w/o the forehead may work?

amy

Oh the baby problem!! LOL...I just had one come to the studio. I always tell the parents to think about the photo they want the most so we can shoot those first. This one's daddy was an avid golfer so she wanted shots with the golf club first. Things went great until we tried to take the gold club away. The child screamed and cried so needless to say....she has alot of great golfing shots! LOL...

Lesson Learned- Don't give them anything that you may have to take away after the shots! lol

Hi! Okay, I know that this style can be trendy but I love it and there are people making an absolute killing doing it! I try to incorporate this and normal portrait work in my portfolio. This way the customer can choose the style that they want. I think that you have a great eye. I do agree that some of them are oversaturated but the photos themselves are great!

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I also wish people would explain why they give threes. I am new at photography too and how can I hope to improve if I do not know what I am doing wrong. There have been many times someone has pointed out a problem in my pictures that I did not see before but is then so glaringly obvious it is embarrassing. I can promise you that I always look for that mistake in the next series of pictures that I take. Furthermore I find the advice (when given) to be extremely helpful in my journey to becoming a photographer. Just to say someone's picture is not good does nothing toward helping them grow. Just my humble opinion of course.

amy

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