Please help! Thanks!

[Amerino28]

thanks for the help

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by Amerino28

I am considering selling my photography skills, but first I'd like to know if I have skills! LOL, I feel I have extreme potential. I do not have a portfolio just yet, but recently just placed a local ad for subjects. PLease let me know if the composition is correct, also provided is a link to a few other photos from my Flikr account. I used a Nikon D60 & D300s with 18-55 and 50mm 1.4






Flickr: amerino28's Photostream

After looking at your very limited pool of photos, I could not honestly say that you are ready, or not ready to sell your services. To me, I don't see anything unique about your photos that would qualify, or indicate to me that you are truly ready to be considered a professional photographer. Maybe we'd need to see more of your work.

[megkunert]

I like the beach one with the sun flare in the background, but the collage of B&W newborn photos don't cut it for me. The photos look out of focus or overly processed with a blur.

The other photos are good, but your subject is not looking directly at the camera (something that bothers me). On photo DSC_0817, the boys head and feet are cut off... was that intentional? DSC_0814 is cute and has good lighting (for a sunny day), but again, he's not looking at the camera and that kind of bothers me.

I think you should consider asking your friends and family if they'd like photos done, just to gain more experience. The more you shoot, the better you get. Are these photos of your son? I personally can NOT photograph my own child. She gets hyper in front of the camera and won't sit still, nor look directly at the camera - hardly ever! (see avatar, haaaa). So I find other subjects and go at it! They get some decent shots, and I gain experience. I still do not charge for my photos because I don't feel I am experienced enough.

Question - when you shoot, do you come back with 300 photos on your SD card, and 10 "keepers"? If so, you are probably not ready to charge. I like to try and pretend I only have 50 exposures, which really makes me think about the lighting, composition, etc before I click the shutter.

Overall, though, you have a good eye and some pretty decent shots. Keep trying, you'll get there! I am still working on it myself.

[kristenh]

well, selling your photos is all about whether you can find folks who are willing to pay, so there's no way to predict that. i looked at your flickr stream and, keeping in mind i'm only at this less than a year myself, i picked out quite a few sort of newby errors that would certainly get you nailed in any kind of photo competition judging- like the crooked horizon and cut off foot in the first, the poor focus in the newborn photos, what looks like use of on camera flash with resultant harsh shadows in the photos of the baby. in many of them, you should be taking a much closer look at the background- you've got lines going across heads or distracting from the subject (last one).

take a look at what professional photographers are doing- there's a gal on this site called ruthie mae- she's got a website- and she does a lot of kids- and see if you can pick out what makes her a pro. or look at what susanh posts. anyway, there's always more to learn and it makes sense to read up and keep practicing. good luck!

[cherrygirl]

Don't think you are ready to charge for photography yet...Most of your photos look out of focus and the head shot of the little boy is what I call a candid since you hit him with a flash straight on....it's too harsh.

I do think you have potential but you need to keep working on it...learn to work with your flash, work on posing and shooting at different angles.

I agree with a previous poster...you need to showcase something different about your skills...otherwise your photos look like everyone else out there with a digital camera who thinks they are a photographer.

[RuthieMae]

You're not there yet but don't give up. Learn one thing at a time (exposure, then move on to learning how to nail your focus, then composition..etc) One you get all the basics down pat and you start getting consistent results you can start portfolio building. Portfolio building is free sessions to gain experience and build up your portfolio. Don't start charging until you are 100% ready. When you're ready, you will know it and won't have to ask anyone. You're off to a good start...just keep going. We are all still learning every day!

[Smallfish]

Originally Posted by RuthieMae

You're not there yet but don't give up. Learn one thing at a time (exposure, then move on to learning how to nail your focus, then composition..etc) One you get all the basics down pat and you start getting consistent results you can start portfolio building. Portfolio building is free sessions to gain experience and build up your portfolio. Don't start charging until you are 100% ready. When you're ready, you will know it and won't have to ask anyone. You're off to a good start...just keep going. We are all still learning every day!

+1, I don't think you'll get a better reply than that.

[katieglenn]

This is likely not to be popular to say, but here's how I see it...there's a wide variety of skill level out there among "professional" photographers. My neighborhood friends all use a gal to take their family photos and, quite frankly, I think 1 in 10 shots are worthy of being purchased. Nonetheless, my friends love them and post them all over their Facebook pages and hang them on every available wall space in their living rooms. And that's really all that matters. If you have found a market willing to buy your work, then it's your right to sell it. It's a personal decision and it's up to both you and your potential clients to decide whether you are ready. If you are in doubt, which I think you are, you could always tell everyone you know that, say, through the end of the summer you are offering to take photos for free and give them CD's of the work. You'll know by then if you have a market.

[autofocus]

Nonetheless, my friends love them and post them all over their Facebook pages and hang them on every available wall space in their living rooms. And that's really all that matters.

In that regard you do make a valid point. Sometimes a photographer, regardless of skill level, will capture something in a photograph that possibly, only the buyer sees, or would want to buy...maybe it's nothing more than a look on their child's face that so typifies that child. However, compositionally and technically, the image may be a complete train wreck to the more trained eye and not even seen or noticed as such by the parent.


... you could always tell everyone you know that, say, through the end of the summer you are offering to take photos for free and give them CD's of the work. You'll know by then if you have a market.

I guess what you are saying here is practice, practice, practice. That's fine, but don't try to portray yourself as a professional while doing so. Doing work for free can be a difficult precedent to overcome once you do decide you are ready to be considered a professional.

[RuthieMae]

Originally Posted by katieglenn

This is likely not to be popular to say, but here's how I see it...there's a wide variety of skill level out there among "professional" photographers. My neighborhood friends all use a gal to take their family photos and, quite frankly, I think 1 in 10 shots are worthy of being purchased. Nonetheless, my friends love them and post them all over their Facebook pages and hang them on every available wall space in their living rooms. And that's really all that matters. If you have found a market willing to buy your work, then it's your right to sell it. It's a personal decision and it's up to both you and your potential clients to decide whether you are ready. If you are in doubt, which I think you are, you could always tell everyone you know that, say, through the end of the summer you are offering to take photos for free and give them CD's of the work. You'll know by then if you have a market.

This is the exact way NOT to do it! That unprofessional work will come back to haunt you once you do learn the correct way. There are many people that can see the difference between technically correct photography and bad photography. If you put start delivering a product that is technically bad, the people that do see the difference and see these images on their friends walls will NEVER be a client of yours. They will judge you by that work. Learn what you're doing first and then you can deliver a product that you're proud of and won't embarrass you later down the road.