Home made Boudoir

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Marcella

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Marcella
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My name is Marcella, I am not a photographer just an ordinary women trying to help women with self confidence issues through my site. Last July I took my first ever photograph using a basic Kodak C310 digital camera on a 10 second self timer, I had never posed before and it's very hard running back and forwards in high heels. I put the photo's through a photo editing program which was already on the computer for some lights and colour enhancements, frames and softening etc. The photos have not been touched up by airbrushing or stretching etc as then they become not really me. The idea is to get women who have low self esteem but some basic equipment at home to photograph themselves if they are too embarassed to go to a studio. What I am asking all you professionals is could I have done any better with the limited equipment and inexperience that I have bearing in mind other women (or men) may only have the same equipment and knowledge as myself.
I have only managed to get 3 on my gallery as this is all new to me but am working on some more. I hear this is a friendly site so am hoping you won't be too cruel and take them for what they are:)
 
And this would not happen to be your site?
*link to commercial site removed as the whole point was NOT to have it*

EDIT* Sorry Matty but I had not seen the first thread so don't have a clue what you and Rob are on about! lol*

Where you are selling a guide of how to do it?
And by selling a guide at £2.99 on how to do it at home yourself you are doing what to the professionals marketplace? And you want the same professionals to tell you how to do it better so you can kill their market even more?

Hmmm, let me think about than for a nanosecond......while I consider the money I spent going to Scotland on a specialist training course and while I consider the money I spend on a pro spec camera and good lighting, oh and a model and make up artist to shoot my marketing material.....

While I can very much appreciate the approach with body issues I do have an issue with you selling a guide on how to do it on the cheap off the back of the people who's business you are setting out to effect.
 
Weren't you here yesterday touting your website...?
A thread which got deleted, i think...lol
 
marcella wants some advice on how to improve her photography skills, which is why its reposted without the link...Rather than rip her a new one, we could try helping her out with her togging skills?
 
Hi Marcella and welcome to the forum.
I guess you will get many agreeing with Ali on here, which is understandable.

I guess yout intention is to help women with self-esteem and confidence rather than producing the type of photography that pros do.

Look at Trevor and Faye Yerbury's work for some inspiration.

I think photography wise you have the potential to do this, but you will need to get some training under your belt and invest into some pro gear. Of course you will find this expensive and understand more where AliB is coming from.
 
if there were no link to her site, there would be no problem, no?
 
No, Matty, you're right. But then now that we know her intentions, well, I feel less inclined to help her.

That's like you buying a moisturiser and using it, and then finding out it's tested on thousands of animals, some of which die. You shouldn't carry on using it on the basis that you used it before you knew about the animal testing.
 
Marcella murders animals...?

OK fair enough - there are loads of people here who came on TP as hobbyists and improved to the level where they now go off and earn a crust - either fully or partially from photography...

Marcella's just done it the other way round, so I think now that things have been explained to her (I'm assuming a gentle nudge by Admin...?)...we should pony-up and help...
We are the Friendly Forum, after all...and if Matty says we're cool...then we're cool...
 
marcella.
personally i would ditch all the spcial filters etc you have used in the photo editing program and focus on getting the picture right using the timer etc if that is the way you want to take the pictures.

I think its quite a cool idea. With some clever lighting you could produce some good shots.
I just find all the vines and other bits in the pictures too distracting.
 
foodpoison said:
No, Matty, you're right. But then now that we know her intentions, well, I feel less inclined to help her.

That's like you buying a moisturiser and using it, and then finding out it's tested on thousands of animals, some of which die. You shouldn't carry on using it on the basis that you used it before you knew about the animal testing.
Click to expand...

im fairly sure there are a lot of people here making money from photography after taking the advice given here for free. I dont think we should stone people who ask for advice, marcella apologised to us via email for breaking the rules and promised no link..

Arkady said:
Marcella murders animals...?

OK fair enough - there are loads of people here who came on TP as hobbyists and improved to the level where they now go off and earn a crust - either fully or partially from photography...

Marcella's just done it the other way round, so I think now that things have been explained to her (I'm assuming a gentle nudge by Admin...?)...we should pony-up and help...
We are the Friendly Forum, after all...and if Matty says we're cool...then we're cool...
Click to expand...

I think we can agree, the photography needs some help...:|
 
matty said:
im fairly sure there are a lot of people here making money from photography after taking the advice given here for free.
Click to expand...

I can see your point Matty but look at it from where I'm standing for a moment. I pay £400 to go and see Trevor and Faye Yerbury for a specialist training day on shooting Boudoir. Yes, I learned a lot and it is something I will be actively marketing.

Marcella comes along asking people like me to share that knowledge. All fine and dandy and I hope you realise by now that I am not adverse to sharing.

My aversion is that she then takes that knowledge and instead of applying it and going off to do things better (we all want to do that hopefully) She distills all the info and sells it for financial gain while at the same time affecting the marketplace I operate in.

Forgive me for declining.:nono:
 
OK, regarding your photos.........lose the page curls, vines and any strange processing. The glamour glow processing is OK but perhaps could be more subtle. Of course lighting and better processing, poses etc etc would need to be improved vastly if it was for a Professional Photography business, but if it is just to help women with their confidence etc fine.

Who knows once they have gained some confidence they may seek a pro to have some professional images done.
 
AliB said:
I can see your point Matty but look at it from where I'm standing for a moment. I pay £400 to go and see Trevor and Faye Yerbury for a specialist training day on shooting Boudoir. Yes, I learned a lot and it is something I will be actively marketing.

Marcella comes along asking people like me to share that knowledge. All fine and dandy and I hope you realise by now that I am not adverse to sharing.

My aversion is that she then takes that knowledge and instead of applying it and going off to do things better (we all want to do that hopefully) She distills all the info and sells it for financial gain while at the same time affecting the marketplace I operate in.

Forgive me for declining.:nono:
Click to expand...

its not any different to the countless wedding threads we get, and this one looks like its going in the same direction.
 
matty said:
im fairly sure there are a lot of people here making money from photography after taking the advice given here for free. I dont think we should stone people who ask for advice, marcella apologised to us via email for breaking the rules and promised no link..



I think we can agree, the photography needs some help...:|
Click to expand...

oh yes...

AliB - I totally get where you're coming from on this, but in the same way that I'd hope you'd assist me if I asked for advice with Wedding set-ups in the full knowledge that I'm going to try and make a living from it, I'd hope you could bury your indignation a bit and offer something - just keep the good bits to yourself...

Like the man in a movie once said: "I taught him everything he knows - fortunately, I didn't teach him everything I know..."
 
Absolutely Rob, if someone asks me a question about lighting etc I'll always answer it and I'm fine with passing on knowledge, just not for it to be sold. :)
 
Thank you nigel paul, but I didn't want to be a pro, just to be able to achieve the best with what you've got at home. I appreciate your imput. To Ali I would liketo say I am not trying to steal pro,s work as what I have achieved is nothing compared to your standards and I appreciate that and there are thousans of women who have the confidence to go to your studio anyway, so i'm hardly a threat to anyone. To anyone else, I was not trying to tout my business as why would any of you need to buy an amatuer guide when you are so professional already?, excuse my innocence but I didn't know how to show my gallery to you all until I figured it out last night and I havn't photoshopped my bum crack as someone said, thats where the covers come up. I only asked you all if I could have done any better with the basic equipment I was using. I apologise if you have all taken this the wrong way, I thought you where here to help each other. My mistake
 
do you have the unprocessed pictures?
I would suggest posting them up for crit rather than the ones with the vines etc as the image is quite distorted with all this going on...
 
also, to add an image to a post, just above where you type are a bunch of icons.
A B I U etc... there is a little pic of a mountain, click that and you can put the web address of the image in and it will show in this page.
 
If you tell us what equipment you're using that would help as well...
I'm assuming some kind of point-and-shoot camera?
Describe for us the lighting and other details and we can take it from there...

We are here to help, it's just that you came in with a slightly contentious first post and it got peoples' backs-up...
We may be Pro's (some of us) but we're just as precious and insecure as everyone else about our work...
 
NigelPaul said:
OK, regarding your photos.........lose the page curls, vines and any strange processing. The glamour glow processing is OK but perhaps could be more subtle. Of course lighting and better processing, poses etc etc would need to be improved vastly if it was for a Professional Photography business, but if it is just to help women with their confidence etc fine.

Who knows once they have gained some confidence they may seek a pro to have some professional images done.
Click to expand...

Thank you again Nigelpaul, it is as you say confidence building for many women. Thanks for your constructive comments:)
 
Arkady, I don't murder animals, I love animals but in answer to your question I use a KodakC310 camera in general picture taking mode I am not using any lighting apart from the flash on my camera, as I don't know about lighting and tech stuff. I shoot them in a darkish room, then any extra features are put on with the photo editing, lights, colour etc thats it really.
evilonion, thank you for the constructive comments, I can see how the vines and extras can be distracting, and thank you for the help on how to post photos. I only ever intend to use this camera as ordinary people don't have special gear and I can't start using better equipment and then try and fool women thinking they can get the same result with basic stuff. As nigelpaul said if women can build their confidence up at home they might feel more inclined to go to a pro studio and have some really amazing pictures taken
 
As has been posted a few times in threads on this forum, you don't have to have full professional equipment to get good pictures.

think back to just 15-20 years ago when a lot of people worked with cameras we consider ancient with manual focus and no gadgets and gizmo's.

I cant remember which camera i had for film photography, i think it was an old olympus and i had a darkroom and used that to learn photography... went on a few courses, did a gcse in it and then followed it up by adding it into my uni projects.

Its more about the composition and the lighting than the camera your taking the picture with.

Im 100% sure that if arkady/rob took my equipment and took a series of modelling photo's they would come out much better than what i could produce using his better equipment. (i have a budget setup)
 
Thank you evilonion, Arkady and nigelpaul for the helpful comments and the constructive critism, I appreciate it.
I still feel I need to set the record straight with some people who feel my reason for asking in the first place was dubious. I wasn't asking for technical knowledge to pass on and sell in a guide, the guide is already done and simply tells a story on what I done at the time with what I had and being a complete novice, because many women of a certain age have not grown up with computers etc, theyve been looking after the kids for years, so the rest of it covered more to do with womens issues and how to get around them, you have to appreciate that still many people wouldn't know how to use the printer or connect their camera to it, so that is who my work was aimed at, so there is no point giving them technical knowledge on lighting etc, when they don't have it anyway. The only reason I told everyone who I was and what I had done, was to be upfront with nothing to hide. The question I asked was not for knowledge gain for a business, as I have already achieved what I set out to do on that score, it was purely on a personal level, I asked the question after instead of before, if I had asked first I could have been accused of gaining knowledge first then using it. I asked on a personal level from you guys because as you know, the people who love you, always think what you've produced is great, because love is blind, I needed to ask you all because you don't know me, therefore could criticise in an unbiased way and it was simply that. I totally get what u are saying about page curls, vines and too much filter etc thats something my family and friends wouldn't have told me. I have been looking at a lot of the work done by you all and am amazed at the talent on here. Thank you again Marcella.
 
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