First couple of paid photoshoots

hmmmmm........ not the best but if you are paying £50 would you expect david bailey-esque.....photo's....

some seriously good comments crit and advice.........i can imagine a few "short breaks" coming this way soon as well...
 
joescrivens said:
hmmm, must have come across differently to how i meant that. i meant if you have siblings you learn very quickly to not make a big deal about the things that bug you, because your siblings then go all out to keep doing them to wind you up.

did that not translate?
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Tell that to my kids! :LOL: Sorry Joe, didn't come across as being helpful as the thread was heating up a bit.

Whatever the case, I think Andrew is a great contributor on the forums, even if you disagree with his comments on this thread. Let's not lose him as a contributer. Matty, can we forgive and forget? Is it worth losing a good contributer over the Victor thing? I know it's probably tongue-in-cheek..but...share some love.(y)
 
Oh Dear, this is turning into a camera club thread, just what I hate about photography, I prefer to enjoy my photography and get on with it!!!

Joe don't bother getting sucked in.

What some people tend to forget is not all families can afford to pay pros for a set of images let alone one print. Please remember that some people saw his images on Facebook and asked him to take some, so presumably had seen his standard of work. Give the guy a break if the client is happy then good for him. It is a case in life that you can buy a Rolls Royce or a Ford both do the same job and get you from A to B, not everyone can afford a Rolls.
 
Excellent stuff, #2 is my fave, it just glows!

#3 made me laugh, I can imagine you having to explain to the sister at the back the merits of Bokkeh, and that she isn't OOF!!

Great sets, what gear do you use?
 
The photos in this thread were posted for some C&C and some excellent tips / information have been provided to the OP, if the OP takes this into consideration I'm sure they will see an improvement in their future photos.

I think it is important that people are encouraged to provide honest criticism on how they see something thats been posted in a C&C forum, A poster must be prepared for their photo to be judged and opinions expressed.

I think that the discussions around charging and 'was the client happy' up to pro standard etc should discouraged from the 'Photo Crit' areas of the forum.
 
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^^Agreed.

Nothing has to be perfect, I have photos that are flawed, yet make me smile every time I see them! Some people on here take it all too seriously...

Anyway, I like the photos...and if the client was happy with them, there isn't much to worry about.
 
Not helpful critique I know, but the baby in shot 2 looks crazy!!!
 
duplicate account for coaster. pro level trolling!
 
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joescrivens said:
The first thing thats really interesting in this thread is how much crit you have received, lots of it very useful but it's interesting how much of it you have compared with other photos you've posted. Because the thread title says first paid work - people have decided to be more frank and respond more than your normal shots.

My advice to you is to selectively listen to the crit, everyone has their opinion of course but doesn't mean they are right or wrong, I'd be valuing the opinions of the people who have critiqued whose work you admire. Not everyone's thoughts are as valid as others if you know what I mean, including my own :)

1. I agree with the dof thing others mentioned, but your background and the expression on the babies face is excellent. I also love the light in the background falling on the trees. If mum had been smiling and leaning her head onto the baby I think this shot would have been perfect.

2. You could probably fix the housing estate bit from this shot with some clever cloning and a bit of a crop. I think the babies expression and the colour in her eyes is worth keeping and fixing the background - again I love the light falling behind. I would imagine this shot shows the personality of this little un to the parents. The leaves to the right? clone them out easily, also looks like a bit of lens flare bottom left which you could fix.

3. I like this one a lot, I think the dof effect works well. Others disagree but opinions differ. Love the expression on the first girls face and he bokeh is really dreamy. The fence is fine in my opinion, if it wasn't there by the looks of the exposure you'd have a a white mess of a background of blown highlights.

4. This one is lovely too. Agree with the comment about the clipping of the foot and knee though - if this is a crop you can fix that though. Again, I don't have a problem with the background.

5. Love this one, great expressions, sharp focus and good background and bokeh. Top shot

6. Really like this one too. It is almost impossible to get that many people smiling at the right time when the little boy does, having tried this many times with my 14 month old I know how hard that is. My advice would be to put your camera on a tripod, use a remote release and have some toys, balloons, bubbles jumping around and laughing whatever it takes to get that kid to look and smile and you'd have nailed this one. I don't think you have to have their feet in it, you've cropped it high enough for this to be deliberate

7. same as above - tough job getting the baby to smile - she may not even smile yet? tripod and toys etc. God background and great focus and exposure

8. This is kind of the pose i meant for one but because baby isn't looking and her right hand side is cut off I don't think this one is great.

9. Love this one.

10. The wide angle thing definitely ruined this one, and look the baby is looking right down the barrell!! should have gone with more dof and this could have been a winner - looks like you went higher to avoid the distractions in the background which was a good choice

11. I think we either need to see more of mums face and body or none of it - could have been a nice dad shot.

12. This is superb and my fav of the lot. Love the expressions and the way the family are all interacting. very natural.

As for the comments on these being good instead of great or not pro standard, pretty sure you aren't claiming they are pro standard. And I would imagine the customer does think they are great and has been wowed by them. If they were then job done (y)
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Could not agree more!

If I'd had these photo's done, I'd have been incredibly happy.
I love the lighting and editing, definitely some of my fave shots on here.
(y)
 
Before this derails any further...
They may not be of top proffesional standard but they are also not terrible, the OP is not saying they are an experienced photographer and surely everyone has a learning curve? I doubt everyone here started shooting photos as good as they do now.

If the photographer was saying that these were her lifes work and the best she's ever taken then this would be a different issue, instead they are taking advice on board and will probably do a better job next time.
 
DekHog said:
Yes, ALL of them aren't great - 1, 2, 3, 10 & 11 I would have rejected instantly had I taken, them, but the remainder are more than acceptable to a family looking for some decent pictures of themselves..... the other option was probably going to a studio and being talked into shelling out the best part of £500 or so....
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completely agree, there are different markets, why should a family not get some pictures which are, although faulted in our eyes, way better than they can take on there phone or compact camera at a reasonable price ? I do not agree it brings the profession down, if people are paying £50 for a shoot they do not expect David Bailey to be popping round. That does not mean David's reputation has been tarnished.
If I buy a TATA car and its a bag of *****, that does not effect Hondas reputation :shrug:
 
What the ones moaning doin't seem to get is that they would not take these photo's for £50 and the clients would not want to pay professional prices, so the OP does not affect "the profession".
 
thread clean to follow folks.
 
there is a little bit too much use of DoF in a few shots, to carry the focus from the mum to the baby needed to be more f4 than f2 (guessing but you get the drift)

think when processing about making them feel like a set too as some have different looks
 
i'd just like to say thanks again to everyone for their feedback and critique. i had some time yesterday to go through them again, and, i probably would have excluded a few images and swapped them for others which i didn't end up giving the family but it's true none of them were perfect and the ones i didn't give them i had rejected for other reasons.

i have learnt some good lessons from this experience and the crit on this board, some things i knew about, other things i hadn't spotted - i definitely went a bit overkill with the dof stuff and i will deliver a better product next time.

i think part of the problem with the first shoot is perhaps not using the correct tool for the job; for the shoot with the young baby i actually used my 24-70. there was a good reason for this: there was a good chance that i would have needed to take the photos indoors (due to weather + light) and this lens is the best i have for setting. i also took it because of the much closer mfd - great for catching all the detail on the babies face. i think i would have got better results with my 70-200 and is was the lens i used for the other shoot.

but thanks guys, i do appreciate all your feedback and the time you've taken and it's certainly made me look at my own work in a critical way.

for those of you that asked, the first shoot (with the baby) was taken with the canon ef 24-70 2.8 and the second (family) with the 70-200 f2.8 (non is). both lenses certainly have their uses in this field, but i think i'll probably go with the 70-200 for outdoor stuff now - it's a near perfect lens for outdoor portraits (weight aside!).
 
The ones I like most are 4, 5 and 6. On a few of them with more than one subject, the focus was too concentrated on only one of them which was the only spoiler on those. Would have been far better had both subjects been in sharp focus.

I feel that on the shot with the baby and both parents the lighting was perhaps a little too harsh and thus is a bit blown.
 
:shrug:

It's a good set... your client was happy... you never claimed to be a pro tog whose shots are worth £hundreds and yes there is room for improvement but like anything, no matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement :)
 
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