i'm finally ready for some critique..

hey, friends.. i discovered these forums about a week ago. i'm a big fan of bryan's site, so i was quite pleased to see an area to converse with people that i can learn from.


i've been shooting for about two years now-- beginning in feb. '07 with a rebel xti and absolutely no knowledge of anything other than how to set the camera to "auto" and squeeze the shutter release. in that time, i've absorbed all knowledge that i can. i've read countless books, magazines, websites, and have tried exceedingly hard to put together a basic portfolio that i'm proud of (presented in the form of a smugmug website).


i very much wish to build a career out of this, so i would deeply, deeply appreciate it if you, the pros, would give me some feedback-- tell me what you like, what you dislike, strengths i should capitalize on, and weaknesses i should improve on.


www.frantzphoto.net


thank you very much for your time :)

Dan, just visited your site and you have some really good pics there. I'm not a pro myself and only really started shooting seriously about 4 years ago. You have a nice assortment of photos and it's clear that you definately have been reading up quite a bit on photography if you just started shooting just 2 years ago.


Just a few quick observations--in your inanimate objects section, I noticed that most of the photos are shot with some rotation, which is a great way to add some instant dynamic to a picture. Too much of a good thing may not always be the best thing though. There are some photos, like the license plate photo, that appear to be a little bit too rotated. But I guess that is just personal preference anyway. I'm sure there are real pros on this site that can give you better critiques. I do like that bee picture that you took.


As a matter of ease, if you have certain photos you want opinions on, you may have more responses if you directly post them to this site, rather than having everyone go to a separate website.


I think that it's great that you are trying to pursue photography as a career, I would love to if I had more time...best of luck to you!


Bill

well first off I want to state that i'm no pro either, but I'm a designer that works quite extensively with photo. so from what I see you get pass a lot of the technical issues, and got a few images that are quite good. As far as photography as a career, I'drecommendthat you think about what you meant as career, for a lot of us, career= making a living, and yet there are some of us just love what we do regardless of how much we pull in(within reasonable amount of course). But I do see you have lots ofpotential, keep at it.. the only difference between pro andamateuris.. usamateurmakes great shot once every few images, and the pro nails it every time. Well at least from the design perspective, from what I know, the pro studio photographer still take hundreds of shots before they get the one they wanted, but they know what they want and how to make it, one shot or many.





just my 2cents.

Thought I'd clarify myself, I didn't make a point that your photographs are good or bad, just meant if photography is your hobby, why think about if you shouldperuseit as career or not, just go at it, and if you make money that's great, if you don't what a heck you love what you do, and if you love what you do eventually you'll become great.


keep shooting so you can learn to produce great photo all the time. Again, it is a encouragement and compliment. keep at it.

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thanks guys! i appreciate the time and support!


right now i'm just trying to find arenas to hone my skills. i'd say my "event" section is the weakest right now.. primarily because aside from parties and social events with my friends, i'm having trouble finding events that i can shoot, where i won't be up a creek if the photos don't turn out ace..


i definitely hear what greg was saying about shooting with a narrower aperture.. my primary reason for shooting so wide is that i hadn't studied lighting theory well enough to produce a good flash picture on the spot, so i leaned heavily on natural lighting. that's my current undertaking. that carries into what ultima was saying about being able to "nail it every time".


anyways, thanks again for the help!
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Oh, your story sounds so much like mine (same time, same camera, same reading, same amount of knowledge and, I hope - for me, at least - same enthusiasm). I came across this quote from Edward Weston:


<span style="float: right;"] http://community.the-digital-picture.com/i/sq/3star.gif http://community.the-digital-picture...q/ThumbsUp.gifhttp://community.the-digital-picture.../ThumbsDwn.gif<span class="sqq"]&ldquo;Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it my be.&rdquo;


Every time I think about jacking in my dull job and striking out in photography, I take a walk in front of professional photography studios showcasing christening and wedding shots. Hmmm.