Originally posted by gaweidert reh321 - No offense taken. My liking the K1 images best is just what it is. No logical explanation for it at all.
panoski - After almost 50 years of doing film and image evaluations, I look at images different than most people. Overall technical quality is what I see first. Even on LeRolls glamour shots. I can even see things in his shots that some art directors would want fixed. A small shadow on the forehead, a freckle or a few hairs out of place etc.
The first time you see an image rejected by an art director, you just sit and scratch your head. But they rule the roost in the publishing and advertising world so you have to make them happy if you want a repeat customer. Sadly I have not yet figured out how to turn this habit off and it has cost me a lot of money these last 6 years.
But hey, I would just wind up leaving it to my kids and they all make a lot more money than I ever did so they don't need it.
That's just sad. You really can't enjoy photography like that. My wife is like you, a perfection hunter. Before I print anything I pass it on to her to clean it up. And when we sit and watch digital slide shows she makes me take out images I like, because she can't bear to look at them. (Usually not more than 2 or 3 per 500, but hey, it's still pain.)
I feel the same way about proof readers, you have to have them, but they often don't enjoy the writing the way the rest of us do. Your talent is a curse.
Most of us don't consider art directors in our process. That's whole different level, and you get paid. I get annoyed with people commenting on my PP> I often do 30 images in an hour and a half sitting, and if there's going to be a pay check when I'm done, that's one thing, but people who want to apply art director standards to the forum, and some do, I have no use for that. It's a volunteer activity done for my own enjoyment. I can do the other thing, but why would I? It's work, and it's my time. If I don't needt art director standards to enjoy the work, anyone who doesn't like it can buzz off. I'm not being paid. I have to live with my expectations, others should live with theirs.
But if anyone wants to point out where I can make more money meeting art directors expectations, who will pay me more than the guys who just buy my stuff the way I print it, I'll be happy to comply. Those of us who have received offers from galleries , Art Wholesalers etc. know we can make money without going that route, should we choose to do so. So the big question satisfying art director standards would be what's in it for me? More work for me, for the same level of enjoyment boils down to wasted time.