[Sarahbell]

I'm know this is long, but I REALLY need help! And as quick as possible. I'm really upset about how my first photo shoot went last sat. I work for an apartment community and we advertise in For Rent nmagazine. Our rep, Jenn, came in recently to see how things were going and we somehow got on the subject of her kids fall photos. (she's a very talkative person) I told her that I hope to start my own photography business and I'd love to shoot her kids when I do. Well, she wanted me to do them now. I was excited to have the opportunity and said I would do it for free for the experience. She insisited on giving me $30 for driving out to her town which is 45 min away from mine. Well, the shoot was at the pumpkin patch at 9am. I thought the lighting would be good at that time. I even said to them "this is good lighting"/ I was soooooo wrong. Here is a list of everything I have realized over the last week that I did wrong. I'm glad I'm able to acknowledge and learn from my mistakes, but I'm at a loss as what to do about it. I'm wondering, honestly, if I did ANYTHING right!

1. The stupidest thing goes first! I forgot to "fix" my external flash in place and at the end of the shoot it fell off my camera! I never realized I didn't have it locked! (how retarted am I?) I also haven't learned any of the functions of my flash yet ( A Pentax Af-540fgz, I have a Pentax K10D). I just got it a week before and just slapped it on thinking it would do what it needed to do. Wrong...

2. The lighting was "strong and direct overhead sunlight" Which I know now you should try to avoid. It created harsh shadows that I couldn't seem to get away from or fill with my flash.

3. Since the sun was so high and so strong I faced them away from it which created strong backlight which I also now hear is something to try to avoid.

4. I bought a UV filter for my 18-55mm and never put it on! (once again, how retarded am I?!)

5. I had no reflector which I know would have helped tremendously with the type of lighting I was dealing with.

6. Last, but definitely not least!.... I had my focus set to AFC (autofocus continous) instead of AFS (autofocus single). My kit lens is 18-55mm and I knew I needed more of a zoom for portraits so I got a 28-105mm lens. I used it at a family bbq before this shoot and noticed I couldn't get my focus to lock when I tried to recompose my frame. I, for some reason, thought it was the new lens! For this reason, some of my pics from the bbq and pumpkin patch are not well focused b/c the kids are so fast.

I know after reading this horror story you're probably thinking I have no place in the photography business or I had no good reason to accept this shoot thinking I could do it right when all reality I didn't know if I could or not. Believe it or not I am a very competent woman! And I have been practicing a lot since I got my camera a montha ago. I am a single parent and I work full time, but I try to use what little time I have wisely. Learning my camera's specifics and my photoshop elements 5.0. I have been up every night until 2 or 3am trying to fix these images and to get my photoshop fixed (it's horribly slow causing me to not be as productive as I'd like to be). Then I'm up again at 7 for work. So I'm exhausted to say the least... I told the woman the pics would be ready (giving her a cd) by this weekend. (1 week turn around) Well, that's not going to happen now. I know I need to call her and tell her I need more time, but my ultimate worry is that when they are done she won't be happy with them. She saw the brochure my sister made up for me and my portfolio and liked my work. (the stuff in portfolio is from when I had a Canon Xt and didn't know anywhere near all I know now) so, I have a feeling she's expecting great results and I don't want to dissapoint her. You only get one chance to make a first impression... I also just scheduled a shoot for my boss's son and his family for next sun, nov 4th, to do at my home in my basement studio. A friend of mine brought over her strobe light and we're going to share the space. Unfounately I don't even know how to use them yet! I'm kind of freaking out. I have a wedding to do on Nov. 11th (friends of mine) and I am sooooo nervous about it. I do have a photographer friend who is going to be there with me so I feel comfortable knowing things will turn out well with that, but I need tolearn how to get my lighting right before then. I know we can use his images if mine turn out terrible, but the point is I want them to have MINE. I want mine to be good enough for them to love... And I'd really like to build my portfolio.

I'm at work now, but I'll post a few of these images later tonight when I get home so you can see what I'm talking about. I'm just soooo upset.... Am I in over my head? Should I cancel my studio shoot for next week? Should I try to process the images from the pumpkin patch in a way that she won't have to know how bad I screwed up? or should I tell her so she knows I can do better? Also, I don't think she should pay me a dime...do you? Thank you sooooo much for taking your time to read this. I'm really quite embarrased, but I know this is one of the kinder forums and I could really use all the help I can get at this point. I know I can do better. I have the motivation and imagination.

Thanks a lot,

Sarah

P.S. I'm attending the Open house for Alive magazine on Nov 10th. I met with someone there previously who aslo liked the few images I have in my portfolio. There were no internship openings at the time so I was told to come to the next open house Nov 10th. In your opinion am I in over my head on that too???

[rutster]

First off, i think your being a little hard on yourself. The big thing to ask is how are you "selling yourself"? If your selling yourself as a "pro" and make the customer think that you have done it all and can do much more, I think you might be in over you head a little. The customer is going to expect pro results.
Now, if you tell them that you are just starting out, or you haven't tried that type of shooting yet, but are willing to try, then I would think they would be happy with any results.

The big "W" word.. weddings.... I would be very carefull here. Seeing that i just got married and was on the customer end of a wedding photographer. Don't over-sell yourself. tell them exactly what your comfortable with and what your not. A wedding is a one day thing, there are no retakes. And there's a ballance with a wedding photographer (in my mind). You have to let the day happen, but know when to jump in and take control in order to get the best shots. I've seen some that try and take over the wedding, telling everybody how to do everything, and i've seen the exact reverse, a photographer that didn't even want to stand in front of the bride to get a shot of her walking down the isle.

I'd like to take a look at some of the photos from the pumpkin patch to see if they are savable in photoshop. (which they most likely are). Keep in mind, they didn't pay you to take the pictures, they payed your gas money to come out. I would see if they want to do it again, with the cold snap we have had here in St. Louis the leaves are really changing. One good outdoor "family" shot will be all it takes to win them over. (may i suggest forest park late in the afternoon)

Sorry that i'm going on and on.. but i think most potographers feel the same way that you do. they want to do the best they can, and get mad at theirselves when it doesn't go as planned. all i can say is... learn from it and continue on...


Rutster
Rutster.com Live Digital Photography

[m8o]

At the moment I'm simply a 'newb / amateur'. I'm not striving to be anything more then an advanced amateur with good equipment and a good eye... (I have the 1st part covered now! ) So I won't presume to have any of the answers that will do you good. I do however see questions like this crop up every now and then, so can provide a link to some that may be discussions to help you out. Just be committed to read some long threads or big posts (just as I read yours... and I thought I could write longs posts! )

What comes to mind is a post I read about of a woman who's making a living @ photography, had her own website, and was trying to hone her skillz. She was getting a lot of criticism about her photos on another board, but not a lot of help. Here, she was getting help. It was a great thread. I can't find it however. I thought I posted in the thread, but maybe I didn't; in which case I doubt I'll ever find it.

But here's a great discussion otherwise. Having not yet seen the pics you are referring to, (I'm sure we will) I don't know if the issues you cite are due to inexperience with the technology and settings of the camera (I gather already there's some of that), or due to composition and technique. But in either case, you might appreciate...
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/9416-how-does-one-devolpe-eye.html

Another:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/general-pentax-photography/12316-i-suck.html

From one of our well respected professionals who frequent this board:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/everything-else/6678-frustrated-final-out...uggestion.html

[ChrisA]

I thought I posted in the thread, but maybe I didn't; in which case I doubt I'll ever find it.

It was this one.

[m8o]

It was this one.

Awesome, Thanx! I was hoping someone would recognize the post I was looking for by my description!
[insert :thumbsup: simley here]

[Photo Tramp]

Hi Sara:
First off I think it's excitement and a little being unprepared on your part. I think we all have been in your place. I know the first wedding I did for a friend I forgot to bring my SD card. Had to stop at Wal-mart before the wedding. The day turned out to be very overcast, but I was able to make the best of it. I got the important shots and that was a good thing.
Lighting can be your best friend and your worst enemy. You should be able to judge the way the light is shadowing your subject and change locations not just poses if need be. For starters I would be honest with this woman and offer to do a retake in the studio. (But first learn how the lighting works it should only take a few shots to find out and fix your settings)try your very best with the bosses son and take more shots than needed. Last but not least DON"T DO WEDDINGS EVER. these shoots are nothing but trouble. I will never do another one for friends or anyone.
We all have our trials but take your time and plan out the entire shoot and i know it's hard but follow the plan.

[Arpe]

I'm confused - how come you had "strong and direct overhead sunlight" at 9am? It was a good idea to shoot not in the middle of the day though, but heng, your sun get up early!

[Timbuctoo]

Everybody is nervous about their first shoot. The second one is always better and why? Because you seem to have worked out most of your mistakes. If you think you had a nervous start think about me. My first shoot was a wedding, a Greek wedding probably second only to Indian weddings in the big factor. This couples wedding photographer pulled out 2 days before their big day and they called me after seeing some nice landscape shots I've done. People that no nothing about photography think it's all the same whether it's a landscape or a portrait. After being pressured by the groom who sounded like he was about to be killed by the bride if he didn't find a photographer I said yes. I didn't even get to meet the bride until the getting ready shots at the hotel just before the ceremony. I said to her that we won't have time to discuss all the poses she wanted and that I would be taking a wedding photojounalistic approach with a few poses thrown in. Anyway after all was said and done they were happy with the results even although some didn't turn out great. I shot the whole thing in RAW so that if adjustments needed to be made I had more latitude to correct exposure. In the end just remember to learn from your errors and enjoy yourself. If you don't enjoy yourself don't do it because it'll show up in the final results. I'm now waiting for my new camera to arrive from Canada because my first camera is dead. I have to shoot a wedding in 2 weeks and I can't do that without a camera. Once again, there are issues and there always are when you're dealing with humans, lol.

Tim H

[Sarahbell]

You people have such wonderful advice! I can't tell you how much it means to have you all take your time to help me. And you don't even know me. Good souls... Here is a gallery of the "Horror pics" Lol! Sorry for sending a link to them all. I've just beenhaving trouble converting my images to a small enough jpeg for sharing on web. Please let me know if you think they're savable. THANKS!!!

Welcome to Adobe Photoshop Showcase

[LeGoGubbe]

I liked the one with the little pigs sleeping

[and]

Always better to show the actual shots so we can identify problems. And there are a lot of things that can be improved here, you seem to have had a big range of different problems during the shoot. I just looked quickly on the first 3 pages of shots, clicking at some shots to view them bigger. Here are some tips, these are tips for future shooting, not for PP rescue, as I am not a PP guru.

1. Color Problems > Get some kind of WhiteBalance tool. Look at shots 65 and 66, looks like its taken at the same location but the colors are different. If you are going to shoot for money then get the colors right, a WB tool means you wont have to be guessing and that the colors will stay consistent throughout the shoot. Some people swear by coffe filters, others by plastic contraptions to hold in front of the lenses, I use a WhiBal card, get whichever tool works best for you and your budget. (a note> I think the expensive ExpoDisc is not worth all the money).

2. Exposure Problems > A lot of the shots look overexposed, I am thinking its the flash that is too strong, if that is the case, and if you want to use p-ttl then dial it down if overexposure is occuring. flash is a very important tool to get good results, even outdoors in sunlight, and I encourage you to learn about and use your flash, it does have a learning curve. My general tip is that default&auto are not good for flash. Manual mode is the best to use when using flash. Some of the shots are obviously overexposed, but also be aware that slight overexposure may produce shots that look ok, but have low contrast and dull colors. meaning sometimes perhaps you dont realize that its overexposed. exposing properly is a whole subject by itself I dont have any quick tips for you there, except that if you are not sure, and you really want to get that shot right, then you can play it safe by bracketing your shots.

3. Composition > The composition is not good, people will not want to pay money for those kinds of shots. I realize you put in some shots there that were taken during the process of moving the kids into position but still there is a lot of improvement to be had there. and once you get the composition right, posing will be a whole new topic. you know you can have the best pro take a portrait of a kid but if the kid is just standing straight up and down, sholders facing straight to the camera and with a dull look then its not going to be great. some other tips>
- avoid busy backgrounds!! pay attention to your background! if its a portrait then the background should not attract any attention at all, in fact it can be pure white or pitch black. if you are want to capture soemeone in a setting then then ok but dont overdo the background so that it takes attention away from the subject.
- portrait orientation is called portrait orientation for a reason, dont shoot head and sholders portraits in landscape.... if you are capturing someone in a setting or if its two or more people in a group shot then you can use landscape. and dont be afraid to go tight, although you can have comfortable space and then crop tight later if you want more control

4. focus > some of these look either not in focus, or using the wrong aperture (sometimes using something like f11 or higher is not good). make sure the focus is correct, if the focus point is off center is better to use the selectable focus points than to center focus and recompose. dont use auto select af point mode, use either center or SEL (I use SEL).

5. light > your subject should be the brightest point in the image, or, at least as bright as the background, dont make your subject be in the darker parts of the image, for instance capturing someone who is in the shade when the background is in sunlight. or someone with their back facing the sun and not using flash. you can have someone backlit by the sun, then underexpose the sun by 1 stop and exposing that subject properly with the flash, preferably the flash should be off camera if its the main source of light. you can use your 540 wirelessly and if there are other people there you can use them as voice activated lightstands (ie> tell them to hold the flash for you).

Any light (be it sunlight or flash) shining directly at your lens will give you flare, very clear example in image nr 117.

6. interaction > related to posing, in a lot of the shots, the kids are not looking at the camera when they are supposed to. I am not sying they have to look into the camera in every shot, if that is not your intention, but in a lot of these they were clearly intended to be looking into the lens but were not. you need to grab their attention and work with them to make them look at you, having some humor and making it fun will give you more natural smiles as well. in the shots where the parents are not in the shot you can use them. dont have the parents walking around all over the place when you are shooting, especially not with small childeren as they will be looking around at those people instead of looking into the camera, also having a circle of people standing around you when someone is photographing you can feel embarrasing and make some kids uncomfortable.

finally, you should have rough sorted these pictures before you put them up, there are 117 of them and clearly a lot of these are out-takes that you should not post, you could easilly cut it down to max 30 that you thought were of the better ones.

seems like you jumped straight into the the deep end here, well there are a lot of improvements that can be done, you have the equipment ready though, you just need to learn from your mistakes and understand what was wrong and what you could do different and then try it out.

[and]

I forgot to add about composition> using a tripod (even if you dont need to) and a prime lens, can be tools to force you to think more about the composition.

oh and yea, nice baby bigs, they could be good props...

[Timbuctoo]

Good advice that is about the Prime Lenses. Sometimes if your lucky you can pick them up cheap to. The Pentax A versions are good because you have to focus manually to!

Tim H

[Mike Cash]

And's advice about paying careful attention to the background is very valuable. Very often the difference between a snapshot and a portrait (even if one was not consciously trying for a portrait at the time) boils down to the background.

You have to be aware of the lighting, color, lines, objects, etc that will be surrounding your subject. Some things can be cleverly and carefully removed or altered in post-processing, but it is better not to have them there to begin with if at all possible.

Please note that the above is mentioned as a "just in general" observation and not as an observation based on viewing the photos (which I haven't done yet).

[m8o]

I know a photographer I respect a lot who is on a few automotive boards that I also frequent, and I found a link in his sig to an interesting article. I thought you might like to read this perspective... "Having a style". I guess it should be intuitively obvious, but it's worth reading in the way put there.

Otherwise I looked at your photos, and a -lot- of them that could have been great candids if it wasn't for the exposure, can be recovered very well in a decent post processing program made specifically just for digital photographs, like Adobe Lightroom. I will mention, I find it pretty easy to use, however I've been using graphics manipulation programs for a decade and a half, so I'm really comfortable with them. I've come to read it can be daunting and counter-intuitive to many other people; you may want to pick-up book on it if you wre to go with it (and don't do computer graphis already). I highly recommend shooting RAW also, to allow for much higher quality and flexibility in your post processing. As much as I hate to say it, sometimes with digital, you need to be a computer / image processing expert too. ...unless you're able to nail the exposure perfrectly every time!

Also, I noticed you had a lot of lens flare. I've recently come to read that's a common occurance with the kit lens, even with the hood (which I've read usually almost eliminates the liklihood of it). Unless you're always going to be really careful with the direction you point in relation to the sun, the only anser for that is a better lens. A fantastic fast affordable zoom lens is the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 (long name), that I, and a bunch of people I know all have, and all equally hold in high regard. It's not the greatest, but for the mid $300 street price range, it can't be beat IMO. (the whole name of it is "Tamron SP AF28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro")

Good luck!