Please support/help me with my photography? No mean comments.?

Question

my name is Sara, & I am 17 years old. I have been on here before when I started out and people were very, very rude to me. Hopefully I have improved though. No rude comments, please. I don't tolerate that. But constructive criticism is great, just don't be rude. :)
I would really appreciate support. I career in this is my dream, but I've never had professional help and am hoping to get some lessons so I can improve, so don't be too hard on me.
This is my facebook page- http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.343044582430547.76728.272374592830880&type=3#!/pages/Sara-C-J-Photography/272374592830880

thank you!! :) x

Answer 1

1- Break up your "portfolio" by category or shoot or something ... right now it's just a huge mess of random pictures,



You have pictures of flowers mixed in with animals and portraits ... you should build your portfolio (or portfolios) in terms of the interests of potential clients.



It's also difficult for me to determine what is older and newer so it's difficult for me to tell if you;ve improved.



2- Get a proper website. Facebook does horrible things to your pictures when you upload them.



This is a perfect example of what I am talking about ...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=343086495759689&set=a.343044582430547.76728.272374592830880&type=3&theater



This picture looks like it has tons of digital noise usually created by high ISO but look at your logo ... facebook destroyed it. The noise is far greater because of the processing facebook did to your image when you uploaded it.



Wne uploading pictures to facebook, it's best to resize the images FOR facebook ahead of time instead of letting facebook do it for you to help minimize the ammount of work that facebook needs to do on your images.



Here is a really good post on how to do this.

http://www.robandrewphoto.com/blog/portraits/optimizing-your-photos-for-facebook



3- Your pictures lack contrast ... they all look very blah in terms of color and contrast, they all feel washed out.



This picture is a great example of what I'm talking about.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=344968725571466&set=a.343044582430547.76728.272374592830880&type=3&theater



Here is what it could have looked like:

http://flic.kr/p/c9ghjJ



I had to do this in Photoshop (editing a jpeg and not the RAW is not ideal either) but you could have achieved this in camera.



4- There's no real composition to your shots.



Again, in this leopard shot, what does the negative space at the bottom of the frame bring to the picture?



You might want to pick up a book on composition like:

Photographic Composition by Tom Grill and Mark Scanlon

http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Composition-Tom-Grill/dp/0817454276



Have I seen improvement in your work? Not really. It looks like you are trying to improve by doing the same thing you did before and that is the path to failure. I strongly suggest you pick up some photography books (Understanding Exposure and Photographic Composition are two great books) and maybe join a photography club.

Answer 2

Hi Sara - You are 17 and just getting started. Do not take to heart what people on this site say. You need to go out and learn and practice more. I've been a pro for a long time and If I were to pull out my pictures that I shot when I was 17, I'd laugh hard. You have time to progress and if you want to improve you will. What I can see from your pictures is that you have a good sense of composition. This is great to see because that is not something that comes naturally to people. Take the time to understand photography technically so that you can take an idea from your head and create it with a camera. Pay much closer attention to light. Think about what message you are trying to convey in your pictures. It helps to make a list of words and then create photos that say those words. You can start with, love, fear, happiness, anticipation, wet, dry and so on. Take classes and workshops if you can and also try to find very good photographers that will let you tag along on your shoots. I am always glad to have teens along on shoots. An extra set of hands is a plus. You can make it a career if you really want to do it. Good luck!

Answer 3

Very often "mean" comments are not rude, but simply perceived that way by youngsters who have never asked for nor received any real critique. But sometimes here on Y!A, people can be rude as well. Don't let it get to you. There are internet winners and losers just as there are in real life. But to advance in any art, you must open yourself to real criticism, even if it is not what you want to hear. And it won't always be couched in gentle terms to spare your tender feelings!



FB is not a good place to display your work. Too many to look through aside from the bad quality due to the FB upload. In a glance here are my initial thoughts:



Your pet photos are weak overall because of lighting, composition and PoV. Some of the zoo photos were better, there is a closeup of some kind of light colored primate that I liked initially, and one of the water buffalo, although both are washed out and lacking contrast. The primate is not in focus when viewed larger than thumbnail. I am not a fan of zoo photos that show hand of man. Either blur the background to where it is not recognizable or carefully pick your view and composition to exclude man-made features.



The closeup work is simply not sharp enough. I looked at 5 different bugs, none of them were crisp. Also in a bug shot, like a people or pet shot, the eyes should be visible and in focus. In fact, I almost wonder if the entire sharpness issue is related to the FB upload, because you had quite a few that look like they have been "glazed" with a semi-transparent softness filter, for lack of better terminology. That look can also be caused by having a low quality filter on the front of your lens, or shooting through a dirty lens, or shooting through a window. If you have a protective filter on your lens, be sure it is very clean and of high quality. The lens hood will do just as much to protect your lens, and has an added advantage of helping control glare and increase contrast naturally.



Your people shots are capturing good expressions. The child in the blue hoodie is very nice. Some are framed oddly. Generally speaking, it is good to leave room in front of where the gaze is directed rather than behind. Your B&W conversions are very flat, by that I mean they are all dull grey. A good B&W needs areas that are black and highlights that are white. Not every photo is suited to be B&W, look for good contrast in the lighting to help bring out tone. I think those of us who grew up with B&W TV probably have a better eye for seeing tone in a B&W conversion. (I still vividly remember the first time I saw Star Trek in color, LOL!)



I think taking lessons is a good step for you to take. There are also lots of ways to learn on your own. You don't say what you are already doing to learn and improve. The library and bookstore have many books on beginning photography and composition, and more advanced books on whatever genres that interest you. There are also lots of good websites that can help you advance. I am not a supporter of the "shoot thousands of pictures and change settings until you get it right" method of learning photography. Yes, you should shoot a lot and practice. But you need a firm grounding in understanding the technical and artistic sides of the craft so those settings and why you change them will mean something to you. Otherwise, you won't be able to repeat your successes and you will lack understanding behind the failures and near-misses.



Continue your journey, and best wishes in your future. You are young and have lots of time ahead along the road to your dreams.

Answer 4

Sorry, but you have a collection of random snapshots, several of which are out of focus. Judging from your attitude with this question and your post about pulling down all your photos on your Site, you have a real problem accepting criticism. If this is the case, you will never improve past the beginner stage and should forget photography as a career. Good photographers recognized critique as such, and not rude comments. They welcome and learn from criticism, not forbid it.

Answer 5

what kind of photography career do you foresee??? unless you are going into forensic photography, you are kind of stuck being self-employed/freelance...



because your photography doesn't show anything exceptional about it... they are kind of flat... don't you use any filters???



you need to learn to use your camera a little better... and work with the settings...



maybe add some image editing in, using GIMP... and bring out the colours...

Answer 6

Great work...keep shooting