ModelMayhem.com - What am I doing here???

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Photographer

Posts: 763

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

I recently browsed the forum section in search for inspiration, hints, tips and tricks. No question that thereâs a lot of it in there â but somehow I feel a little overwhelmed hereâ¦

I stated earlier, that I am just a regular GWC, since I donât make any money out of my pictures. I do this for fun and art reasons, but everybody want to improve himself or at least keep the status quo. To do that you have to know where you are in the business and where you want to be or heading to. I thought I new that pretty wellâ¦

I read here about the importance of changing backgrounds and not doing the same thing over and over again. Shooting on location shows really what it takes to deal with light etcâ¦ - I only have three background from which the black one is my favorite. Very rarely I shoot on location.

Then I have to read, that this airbrush style to âcleanâ? the skin of the model or the pic itself is âhorribleâ? and you should âdo it rightâ? the first timeâ¦ Photoshop or Computer in general should left outside at itâs bestâ¦
But when it comes to pictures - the computer is my best friend.

To make it worse I do weddings and some portraits and children photography. Itâs not the stuff I love to do or want to do the rest of my life, but somehow I can use some money from time to timeâ¦

And then the experience discussion, where I have to see â I am not experienced at all. I might even not be ever. On which I have to agree a little, but only in terms that you never can be experienced â it means to stand stillâ¦

Furthermore I see awesome profiles and ports here â I mean AWESOME!
OK â there are a few really crappy ones, but I donât think these people have an honest attempt in photography. Then I found almost any pose is already done, better than I might be able to â everâ¦

So the point is, where am I standing. Normally I was thinking: âHey, Iâm not that bad. Actually Iâm good..â? but I kind of doubt that now. Should I better hide under the stone I crawled from under and do a few years more on practice?? This is not fishing for compliments or so. I really would like to know whatâs wrong or maybe not wrong with my work â hard, simple and constructive. Furthermore: Are these thought common among this industry? Have you ever doubt yourself in this business?

Jul 25 05 03:13 am Link

Photographer

Columbus Photo

Posts: 2318

Columbus, Georgia, US

IMO, your pictures are way too contrasty; blown out whites and no detail in the shadow areas. Other than that they're fine. Are you scanning prints or negs?

Paul

Jul 25 05 03:18 am Link

Photographer

Hugh Jorgen

Posts: 2850

Ashland, Oregon, US

Its not that your whites are blowen out i think your usin a little to much diffuse glow on all your photos..
Photoshop and puters are the shite but just dont over do it!
I think your photos are very good composition wise

Jul 25 05 03:51 am Link

Photographer

Michael Gundelach

Posts: 763

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Paul: I scan the prints, since I want to blow them up larger than lifesize. I can't get the scan depth with the negatives. I agree that it is much more work to erase the scan lines or dust on print-scans...

But you both are right - I'll rework on some of the pictures to clean up the glow on it. The glow takes a lot of the sharpness away too...
Anyway - I think the pics became a little blurry due to heavy downsizing too...

Thanks for your compliments too.

Jul 26 05 04:18 am Link

Photographer

LongWindFPV Visuals

Posts: 7052

Las Vegas, Nevada, US

Posted by Hartsoe:
...snip...I read here about the importance of changing backgrounds and not doing the same thing over and over again. Shooting on location shows really what it takes to deal with light etcâ¦ - I only have three background from which the black one is my favorite. Very rarely I shoot on location.

Then I have to read, that this airbrush style to âcleanâ? the skin of the model or the pic itself is âhorribleâ? and you should âdo it rightâ? the first timeâ¦ Photoshop or Computer in general should left outside at itâs bestâ¦
...snip

To make it worse I do weddings and some portraits and children photography. Itâs not the stuff I love to do or want to do the rest of my life, but somehow I can use some money from time to timeâ¦

..snip..

...Have you ever doubt yourself in this business?

Dood. For anyone starting out as a photographer, I highly recommend that the first important thing you do is get to know your equipment. That's the number one thing. Know everything. Read the manual once, twice, three times until you memorized everything there is to know about your equipment.

Then practice, practice, practice. You'll eventually forget most of what you read in the manuals and will start shooting instinctively. You'll even begin to memorize what settings worked best in certain lighting conditions, etc.

Once the technicality of using a camera becomes second nature to you, then focus on your images. Composition, model posing, location, near and far objects, use of props, angles, etc.

Once you've got that down pat, then understand and learn how to use software to package and present your final images to the Internet world.

Finally, learn about the business. Everything from how traditional portrait studios operate, do business, market and advertise to how newspapers use images, to how magazines use and accept images to how agencies work with clients, to how clients engage media firms who in turn engage agencies, and how the freelance world and the Internet world operates.

That's a lot to learn! But, none of it means a whole lot of jack cheese until you've mastered the things I covered in the first four paragraphs.

It's good to doubt yourself in the beginning stages. Use it to fuel your desire to do better!

Jul 26 05 04:29 am Link

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