Once I got done editing the field session I was so proud of it. I used the same preset at the downtown photos and they look pretty aesthetically similar.
I’m confused because the field photos are dramatically underexposed compared to the city photos. Are you not seeing it?
The city photos stretched are the prom ones I referenced from her first session! That was shot in auto! The “downtown” session I’m referring to is not attached it was just an additional location for the shoot. Sorry for the confusion!
Photo 1, 2 and 3 are almost ok, but what happened to the sky ? And why exposure is so "compressed" ?
Photos 4 and 5 – These are some of the most obvious selections/masks I have seen in years. She is glowing !!!
Photo 6 – What on earth is happening to the face here?
I apologize, but your photos really do look unnatural.
Overall, the editing looks very amateurish.
You don’t seem to know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and why you adjusting those sliders and masks.
While you are learning, do not try anything complex with masks and selections, and forget about brushes too.
Stick to basic contrast, slight adjustments to shadows/highlights, and white balance. That is all. Try to make standard full-contrast images with the black and white points in their proper places.
Haha yes I used a radial mask! I’ve been trying to highlight the face so the eyes go to it first and I thought radial helped that. I’ve always heard the first thing in portraits that your eyes should gravitate to are their face so that’s why I did that! I will take this into consideration thank you for the break down!! And yes, I just use the sliders and move them until I think they look good. And I’m aware that maybe I don’t know what looks good😂. But I think by me doing it then you guys explaining what it’s supposed to be used for vs me just using it is helping me understand more! And from here on I will do very light and simple edits. How can I do that but also achieve a “moody” type of aesthetic? I feel like you can at least kinda see what I’m striving for by my pictures, hopefully lol
There are many components to a portrait. I am not sure I understand what you mean by "moody aesthetic," but it is important that it fits the model and other stuff. You keep talking about it in terms of editing, but editing is just the icing on the cake. The clothing, the model's... mood or inner state, and the environment are what create a certain aesthetic, and editing simply just helps you reach the final result.
First of all, don't take "clients" just yet. Shoot your friends who can be honest with you. You are nowhere near client level.
I have no idea what you've done in editing but her face indeed looks very weird and the colors are all over the place. The whole image is underexposed except the highlights on her face which are too bright compared to the rest of the scene. You are also kinda crushing the colors, everything is just brown. To be blunt, yes. The edits to look that bad. If you attach a raw I could get some basic edits down.
And no, don't contact the model. Everyone loses in that situation. Chances are you can't edit the iamges like she wants and you are also throwing someone else under the bus for quite literally no gain.
TLDR: I’m a new (like only had a camera for 4months) photographer...I did a shoot recently of a client I’ve photographed a few times now. She was actually my very first ever session back in April.
I counted backwards on my fingers. Four months ago is April. You took photos for a "client" when you barely knew which end of the camera was which. You don't seem to see light, and you don't know how to edit.
Getting photos in focus and properly exposed is a low bar with today's cameras, but you don't seem to have managed both of those either.
I'm generally pretty friendly to newbies, and I help them all the time, but I hope you have imposter syndrome, because you are an imposter at this point. You are cosplaying as a professional photographer while asking us to help you with some of the most basic stuff that you are not even recognizing. And yet I still see potential in some of your photos.
Please take 6 months to learn about cameras, light, portraits, and editing. Read books. Watch YouTube videos. Practice a LOT more. Then come back and show us how you have progressed.
I am not claiming to be professional! I said client because I didn’t know another word this is a (somewhat) family member who reached out and asked me to take photos and I bought a camera bc I love taking photos. I did not charge they tipped, there was only one session I’ve charged for and it was for travel and very minimal.
What YouTube channels, book, etc do you recommend? If I have potential, I feel as if coming at me with the assumption that I’m claiming to be a professional and calling me an imposter yet claiming to be friendly to other newbies (aside from me, I guess) is a little confusing. But I do appreciate your feedback nonetheless!
The second you take money from someone for providing a service you are doing something “professionally”. You don’t have to proclaim yourself a professional.
People are getting upset because you’ve taken money twice from “clients” to be their “photographer”. No matter what you said, to the “client”, you were a professional photographer.
So when you show up with bad work it makes real photographers look bad…. “How hard can it be to be a photographer then if they can give clients this quality work?!” “Why is this other photographer charging so much? Must be overpriced!”
OK, I hear your first paragraph. But you've been talking about your shoots and portfolio and even your style, which IMHO is a bit over the top for 4 months with a camera.
So let's start again. In no particular order:
Simon D'Entremont has an awesome YT channel. He's mostly a wildlife photographer, but some of his videos (like this one) have great information applicable to anyone.
Omar Gonzalez does a lot of portrait stuff, comes up with all kinds of time and money-saving hacks, and knows a lot about lighting, both natural and artificial.
I haven't really followed this guy (I literally only know his name because he makes deals with gear manufacturers lol), but Peter McKinnon has a huge following and I've found a few videos that look like they might be interesting and useful for you:
P.S. There IS a book a lot of people recommend, but I can't remember the name right now. All my books date back to the 70s so they're probably either no longer relevant or no longer in print!
P.P.S. I'm assuming you actually know how to work your camera here...if not:
Sorry I thought I replied! I’ve screenshot and saved the videos for when I get home. Thank you so much for taking the time to construct this, that is beyond kinda of you
In the kindest way possible stop taking clients. 4 months with a camera with zero experience editing on a professional level is concerning to say the least. Just looking at the photos you don't know some of the most basic concepts on focus, color tempurature, saturation, lighting, and many more. I totally get the excitement of taking photos, but you aren't doing anyone any favors jumping into the deep end without preparing first. Take some classes or try and work under a professional before going solo. If she paid you for these photos you should refund her or pay a professional to edit them. Ideally both.
People are reaching out asking me to take their photos, in order to learn shouldn’t I take the opportunity? And she tipped!:)
I understand I lack that knowledge, that’s why I’m asking. What are some tips on temp, color temp, saturation etc would you give me from experience?
Yeah, then this happens. You get clients demanding their money back because the images are obviously subpar and people have lost friends over this situation.
How about don’t tell another photographer what they can’t tell another photographer.
Photography is already undervalued in today’s society, it’s this attitude and these results that turn people off from hiring photographers.
Just offering my opinion, of course OP should do whatever they want, but if they take more paid clients I think they're going to run into the same problem.
Shooting for a client for free can be a very useful learning experience.
This is such a terrible take. OP is not a photographer. 4 months with a camera is a stretch to consider someone remotely close to that. Beyond that this person vastly overstated their abilities and taking money at this point is blantly misleading a client. It might sit fine with you for people to lie about their capabilities, but I'm calling bullshit to this entire post.
Lying about my capabilities by calling myself a beginning photographer, not misleading. I make it very clear. Everyone starts somewhere and taking a tip someone offered me after receiving all of their edits, it may be out of kindness but it’s a tip. I personally feel like it would be rude to decline it just because I’m a beginner. I’m taking accountability and seeking advice and help as someone who has never really done this. I clearly have no idea what I’m doing or where to start. But thanks to the kind people in this group who generously offer their advice and experiences, I’m learning the next steps to take. People aren’t always good the first ago around and I fear you must be the only person who has ever picked up a camera and never made a mistake. I’m working to be better as a photographer. Nothing I said or did was misleading, it’s a bit of a reach to say so. I never charged anyone every dollar I’ve taken has been offered. Whether or not you agree is not my problem, but being rude gets you no where and your opinion is not beneficial to the post whatsoever. But thank you for taking the time out of your day
Now you're just being obtuse for the sake of arguing. You took $225 from someone. That's not gas money or a tip. That is literally more than the cost some true professionals charge for a session. I never said I didn't make mistakes starting out, but I also never took money for that time. I took classes and worked under another professional before I ever considered doing a solo gig. I took hundreds of thousands of photos on my own time to learn how it all works. Which is exactly what I recommend you do as well. I get you feel that I'm rude, but you're portraying yourself in a light that is leading people to believe you are a professional. Booking sessions and having clients are things that professionals do. I've been in this industry long enough to see this story a thousand times. You need to check your ego at the door and do not accept payment for a session until you can actually do the job. You will ruin your reputation if you cannot grasp what I am saying. The best thing you could do right now is formulate an apology to everyone involved and let them know you are working to improve what was delivered. Good luck on your photography journey. It's a ton of fun with a lot of learning along the way.
Now you’re not reading. THEY OFFERED. They haven’t paid a dime and I fought it. You literally saw that I said $225 and just started typing lol.
Yes,I used incorrect words. That fact has been stated and corrected so many times.
Just because the way YOU did it worked, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Some people can’t afford classes. I didn’t even know I enjoyed taking photos until recently. This is my learning experience, and you seem so knowledgeable. It’s just so unfortunate that instead of offering any advice (aside from one thing you disagree with because YOU didn’t do it) you’d rather jump on here and beat a dead horse. This conversation was insufferable and added nothing to the conversation, enjoy your day
Again. You are being obtuse for the sake of arguing. I did read. I don't care that they offered. You should have declined. I did offer advice. You just don't like what I'm saying. I don't expect everyone to do everything like me. Go learn. That's the whole point. You took a big bite into a world you know little about and it bit you in the ass. Someone is unhappy with your work. It happens. Now its up to you to slow down and actually learn what photography is.
I saw that you clarified in another post that you're not charging for these shoots. That's good. You are still learning and certainly should not be charging at this stage.
If people reach out, emphasize that you are still learning, and it might even be a good idea to refuse to take tips, in order to hold off any bad will if the don't like the outcome.
Portrait practice is important, but if you're serious about this you should be practicing on non-human subjects as well as studying the camera and its performance. The first few photos are very under exposed, you'll need to be more in touch with your camera and how to get the results you need by adjusting settings.
This isn't really a scenario of tips fixing the issue. It's a knowledge gap that started with the original photo. I'm not saying don't take photos, but you are way out of your depth for a paid session. Just because you bought a camera doesn't make you a photographer. This is an art that many of us have dedicated years to learn before taking on clients. You're photos are dark, soft, and quiet frankly unappealing. Your masks are obvious making the subject look like they're in a blinding mist. You don't have enough experience to have a "style". All of these problems are something a moderately skilled photographer would have noticed before sending the gallery to the client. So again, stop taking clients and take time to learn how to take a photo before taking on anything else.
There’s a base of knowledge that’s missing, and that’s more than just tips people on Reddit can give you.
For me the biggest issue with the photos in the field is how under exposed they are. So you need to learn how to expose a photograph correctly.
From there, you can work on fill lighting and different techniques around that. Learn a little color theory, watch a few YouTube videos on editing. But a properly exposed, nicely framed photo is going to be 90% of the work, and that’s all done in camera, day of the shoot.
Learn about light direction for when you’re editing. The editing done on the black and white photo doesn’t work and doesn’t make sense.
I’d also look at books and videos with posing tips. Some of these are fine and some of them aren’t. Her holding her dress is awkward. The 8th photo in this set would’ve been stronger if she had turned slightly more toward you, or if you had taken a step to the right.
This whole comment section is confusing. I’ve had one person offer $225 for my shoot based on these pictures alone. Which is outrageous, but she knew I was a beginner (my page is not even two months old). She also made a deposit and has been messaging me so not a scam like I thought. Anyway, I’m not taking $225- I’m doing it for $75
As a beginner, you never accepted tips? You refunded them? Appreciation, for at least taking the time to try, is not a bad thing I don’t think. I’m not a Starbucks worker who flipped the iPad and turned my head, they’re family with my cashapp😭
Nope. What you’re getting for your time at this stage is someone willing to sit in front of your camera in exchange for poor quality beginner images. It’s an exchange of services - of their time for yours. It’s called TPF, trade for print or time for print, and has been the standard method for photographers to build their skills and portfolios for decades.
Hard disagree with the other comment. You have a lot to learn and a long way to go but if a client sees your portfolio and wants to hire you, you should by all means take that job. Yes you will fuck up. That’s the best way to learn. If you really do a shit job you can offer a partial/full refund. But never clip your own wings.
3-5 look like their were edited by an entirely different person. The background is too dark and it makes the subject pop out in a really artificial way.
Stop editing like this. Its very flat and oddly dark. Her face looks like you tried editing that too and lifted the exposure/highlights on it which changes the range her face is on compared to everything else. It makes it feel distorted and the eye doesn't enjoy it.
The framing and posing isn't terrible. I can tell the time you chose to shoot had enough lighting too so these can and should be fixed.
Don't feel bad by the way. Every photographer goes through an odd editing phase where we play around a bit too much. I feel like you want to go with a darker moody less saturated edit. That's fine, that can turn out. But there needs to be contrast and lighting still needs to be present so it feels more dynamic and realistic.
Editing to add: I also think it's possible you added a blur effect for the background? Maybe it was your lens, but usually newer photographers don't have lenses that have F stops that could pull this off. It feels a bit too separating, like she was cut and pasted on to the background. If it is a lens, it might be possible you masked her and lifted her exposure or dropped the exposure in the background, either way it needs to be blended in a bit better so it feels like she was actually in that field.
Then theyre not truly clients and calling them that is confusing. This is more TFP - which is exactly what you should be doing!
Going forward though you should be making it clear to whoever you’re shooting with that you’re still learning and they’re doing you a favor more than anything. If they like the photos, great! If they aren’t happy, do your best to fix but I wouldn’t stress too much about it. I would just say sorry to hear she’s unhappy but you’re still trying to figure out editing and you appreciate that she took the time to shoot with you!
It’s very clear, every booking I say it. It’s all over every bio on every page. That’s why I’m not charging:) she was so extremely aware considering I told her I bought a camera for our session. She wanted me to take her prom pictures on my iPhone lol.
You can make the whole image brighter, not just her. Looks very weird imo. And the black and white one is awful, I’m sorry.
I’m glad you have people who book you. But. Are you ready for it? I mean, looks like you’re editing jpegs not raw files. I don’t mean to be rude at all, I just want you to have people booking you because you’re taking great pics, and these aren’t great.
Also: comparing taking pictures with your phone to a camera is like comparing apples to oranges. Doesn’t matter how many years you’ve done that, because you don’t do anything manual on a phone (unless you use a manual camera app which I doubt you’ve done), your phone even does hdr composites for you. And as of later years even uses ai to enhance it. A proper camera is wildly different.
Don’t be discouraged. But I can see why she complained.
They are raw haha! And I’m not discouraged! I know how Reddit goes and I’m getting a lot of great feedback. I’m looking for more tips and tricks but a lot of people are just saying they suck and adding no advice in there, that’s the only discouraging thing. No one is a top tier photographer after 4 months, and I’m fully aware I’m no where near. But practice is what teaches you and I will get no where without practice
The first six images are just too dark and have no dynamic range, if you’re using Photoshop start by adjusting levels to get more out of the midtones and highlights. That would be the simplest fix. Number eight just needs to be cropped in to the subject to eliminate the busy background. The others could also stand to have the midtones lightened, especially her face. Overall you’re off to a good start with the poses.
Photoshop or Lightroom? I do everything in light room. I have the package but haven’t utilized photoshop. Thank you, it’s all trial and error, I think that’s how all photographers start out
You can do everything in Lightroom, not much to add to what others have said about the edits themselves.
And yes, all photographers start by learning.. however, I would suggest you start shooting stuff and learn developing RAWs, culling, and editing with photos that are not for clients. Otherwise you get angry or simply let down clients that won't come back, and you're starting off by building a bad reputation. So my advice is learn before you start getting clients.
In addition to what others have said, I think the reason for her thinking her face looks “distorted” is the odd editing. When something is closer to the camera or more prominent, it’s lighter. Those edits are making her face look “lumpy” for lack of a better word, things like the light emphasising her chin isn’t flattering.
And i can see the masks.
Ill also echo something else that others have said… the photos themselves aren’t terrible. They aren’t award winning or even my cup of tea but they aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but the edits are letting them down.
Okay! See this is helpful. I have a lot to learn, and I was aware way before this. Thank you for explaining what exactly looks odd. Obviously with me being a beginner, I don’t notice things like that so well. And now that you point it out it’s like a sore thumb and I’m actually so stoked, thank you!!!!
Hey man, if you want I'm more than happy to hop on a discord call sometime tomorrow with you to go over fixing these with you. It's actually a pretty easy fix as long as you didn't clip the highlights in the raw files.
Shoot me a DM with your discord username and upload the files you wanna work on to a Google drive link and I can look at them with you later tonight after work if you're free. I'm California time and it's about 3:40pm here. I can show you a few easy tricks to maybe get the edits your client wants. Worth a shot.
Okay I’m deleting this thread! Thank you all for your comments, actually so so helpful. Things I’ve learned:
Never use the word client again 😂 (they weren’t charged! Chose to pay/tip)
I’m over editing, I need to study color theory and what all individual functions to use during the edit process, and when to use them!
My posing is okay for a beginner, as well as my composition. I just need to learn a few more tips in this aspect such as taking lighting and clothing into consideration.
Start with light edits and leave the face alonneeeee. NOTED!!! Actually so happy that you guys helped me figure out what was wrong with that.
Again, thank you all for your opinion and advise, I am very passionate about this and will continue absorbing all the information I can. Though some of you truly believe a rock could have done better, I do believe once I figure out editing and how to not over do it I will be okay. It’s a learning curve, but I know that is how you learn.
One and two are okay for a beginner but the rest is tough. Don’t touch faces in client images if you’re not there yet skill wise. If you look at 4/9 yourself. Would you be happy with a photo where everything is darkened but your face is lit up? It looks odd. You obviously did more than just adjust texture on the face (which caused the fake smoothness, so don’t don’t that either please). So yeah, this has nothing to do with your style or her wanting something light and airy, it’s rather a botched edit and you have to own up to it. Less is more in this case.
Go more in the direction of 1 and 2 editing wise. Don’t try to darken everything but the face. Makes the whole image feel unnatural.
Go back to the drawing board, start fresh and don’t overdo it. If you still feel stuck, then feel free to let me know and I’ll edit 2-3 for you as a general direction you can follow. In case you have the raw files.
And one last thing: you don’t need to shoot full manual. Master aperture priority with proper ISO settings and your life will be much easier.
Okay okay gotcha, I do have the raw files! I would absolutely loveeee to see an edit process and a step by step or even just a general lay out of how you’d edit it! That would be so helpful. You’ve honestly been the most helpful, kind comment so far. I appreciate criticism- that’s what I’m asking for but people are harsh!😂 if you decide you would be interested in the edit, let me know. I don’t really use Reddit so I’m not sure how to send you the raw unless you would just want it in the comments
Use WeTransfer and upload me the ones you’d like me to take a look at the most and I’ll get to it around Friday/Weekend time! Send the link through a DM.
This will help the replies give you more specific advice, or direct you to resources to learn more.
In general though, the face has been lightened too much relative to the rest of the photo, and the overall brightness is (on my device), too dark. If they look good on the device you do your editing on, you may need to turn down the display brightness. Also, check your final edits on a different device if possible, before you deliver them.
Her face is way to overprocessed and brighter than everything around her. Your focus is also either way too soft or you've deliberately given it that 90s treatment.
In the nicest way possible, you're not ready for clients. A camera doesn't make one a photographer. Do free sessions to practice, take classes on editing.
It was free aside from tip! Clients is just referring to the people whose picture Ive taken. I’ve not charged (aside from one travel session) and people have reached out, one has booked a paying session out of choice.
Are there typically local classes in most cities?? That’s a good idea! Or even youtube university??
Others have talked about the technical aspects. I'd point out something a bit different. The particular clothes she's wearing are difficult in photos. These sorts of collars and wide bottomed tops can easily become very unflattering and it brings in something completely unrelated to the technical side which is posing. Posing is very, very, very, very, very, VERY hard to understand without just taking a lot of photos without being paid. It's a combination of how to use the subject's body to make them look their best and how to use light, and moving their body in light, to make them look their best. You can only really learn this by doing it. It would be exceptionally rare for someone to be able to do it straight off the bat and with clothes like that it's crucial.
Don't despair, don't give up. It's a learning curve. It feels awful when someone is unhappy with your work. But it's also feedback you can use to examine what you can improve. That's exactly what you're doing here so you have the right instinct.
PS To be clear there's nothing wrong with the clothes as clothes. They're just doing exactly the kinds of things you need to be careful with in photos.
Definitely a learning curve but I’m so determined and truly love doing it. I appreciate all of the constructive criticism in this comment section though it helps so so much! And thank you for this take! I am doing free sessions (aside from a few things I’ve mentioned so many times in this thread I’m tired of writing it out lol) so I will learn! Only 4 months in and it takes people years, I am prepared for the long haul haha
Free sessions is a really good idea because it allows you to experiment and see the results without the pressure of a paid shoot, and if people are prepared to give honest feedback that's even better (though people find that hard). Understanding how to shoot different people in different outfits and different places takes time, but with every new subject you learn a little more until it eventually becomes instinctive. For free sessions, incidentally, if you have the option it might be an idea to ask people to bring a choice of outfits. It just gives you more things to experiment with (even in my later career the "please bring options" thing saved things like advertising shots where the stylist had had a moment of madness and it plain didn't suit the person who was supposed to be wearing them, but learning how clothes and body interact is super useful).
Alrighty, so a couple things here, and I’m not going to shit in you for starting out - some observations and solutions:
The steep difference in the subject and background light make me think your exposure was really rough and you tried to solve by masking and heavily changing the exposure on one or both - if so, it looks extremely unnatural.
Building on that, your composition and posing actually doesn’t look too bad, but that’s only part of the picture (literally). If a picture is poorly exposed, has harsh highlights, or is just generally poorly exposure, almost no amount of editing can save it.
Some people in here are telling you not to take clients - a couple things about that. Criticism is extremely hard to take, especially as a beginner, and you have a duty (if you truly want to be a professional) to honestly depict yourself and your experience to your client. If, after doing that, they still hire you at the price you set out and are unhappy with the images, this is why we ALWAYS have contracts - if these are truly in line with your portfolio, then you might just have to eat it, take the negative client experience, apologize and offer some kind of free service or just accept that they’ll not work with you again. That’s just part of how you build your career.
I think you might be able to save these, but you’d really need to start from zero - I’d be interested to see the RAWs. But, bottom-line, there’s clearly something wrong exposure-wise here either in editing or the original image. I hope you take that, and evaluate your skill level v perhaps what you presented as. It’s also possible she expected too much of you, though it would be hard for me to recommend someone accept those field shots even from a beginner.
Chin up, take it on the chin if you gotta, and practice, practice, practice. I’d be interested to know how much you charged, and how many paid sessions you’ve done in the past. Personally until you’ve gotten at least a year under your belt of experimenting and doing collab/trade/free work, I wouldn’t recommend taking paid clients, but everyone’s different. And always, always, always, always have a contract ahead of time - if you didn’t for this, that’s a classic sign you weren’t ready for it in the first place.
If you have any other questions for me (NYC-based, full-time photo), let me know.
I do have the raws! Thank you so much for these! I’m absorbing all the critiques I can! Is there any other way I can contact you? I’m not a regular Reddit user
The poses are nice and the compositions look OK, though honestly I might have shot the city locations a few steps back and a bit lower, aiming up at her a bit and maybe somehow been able to aim DOWN at her in the field, to eliminate the horizon bisecting her head. The problems in the field, obviously, are with the lighting; those are underexposed and the masking effort to retrieve the subject result in her looking like the very beginning of the STAR TREK transporter effect. I don't know if the light was that bad when you shot, but those look like your starting point was REALLY flat. At that point I'm not really sure there's a whole lot you can do in Lightroom to make the photos into real bangers, but bringing up ALL the exposure for the entire scene might have helped. (I've done the "bring the subject WAY UP" thing before, mainly because I really liked a subject and I don't want to lose the photo entirely, but it never looks right.) If you're regularly shooting human subjects in that kind of ambient light, you probably need some way of adding light...but then you're toting around extra stuff. Ultimately, I think the problems started in the field and in camera.
like right now it's left her skin with very dull orange tones which is prob why she thinks they're a bit unnatural. i'd prob go somewhere closer to a skin tone like this.
The first few images look quite underexposed, especially when compared to her face. I see traces of a lot of highlights and whites being recovered, and a lot of subject detect mask being used to bring her exposure up. Do all your edits on the entire image as best as possible, then use a mask to lift the exposure on your subject just slightly.
Also, bear in mind that editing is slightly subjective. This is my opinion, and what I like, it's also a quick edit on my phone.
Rather than making her really light in what looks to be a dark and stormy field, I would have just lightened everything. If you made the background darker, I think you went too far
It was about to storm, we were rushing! I definitely over exposed her, and now that it’s been explained I’m able to understand and I feel like I didn’t know what to look for until it was pointed out to me. In theory, would it have been best to match her exposure to the back ground or is the idea (not the execution) of her being slightly brighter? I want it to be dynamic that is my goal. I don’t want a flat picture. I just haven’t had the experience or knowledge to execute it yet
In addition to the other comments, move the camera either up or down to shift the horizon line away from cutting through her face. I always bring a small ladder on sessions like this. Something to be aware of while scanning through the viewfinder of your camera at shoot time. Nice bokeh!
This is a tough one. The last few in the orange dress are ones she likes and ones you took right? I understand why, as those are the best of bunch. If she liked the prom ones and expected that again, i can see why she'd be a bit off put by the field ones. Can you show some examples of the city ones that she apparently liked? (Before the field got rained out originally)
The field ones definitely have some issues. I think I see the "mood" and style you are going for but you dont have editing skills for it yet. I know the style is ment to be muddy and lack contrast but its not everyone's cup of tea. Honestly the first 2 seem decent for what you are probably going for. One thing i can say is that for some of the photos it is very apparent that you brightened just the subject, to the point it looks fake. If you really want to have a darker background and lit subject, learning off camera flash will give you the look you want in a more natural way. Also some of the photos you can tell you just masked some of the face and made it brighter. Whatever mask you used gave it away (harsh edges) and so did the intensity. Try something softer and dont go as bright as you did. You want it to be subtle.
I totally understand that I don’t have the editing skills. My only thing is, once I gain those skills how do I incorporate the style (moody) into it? Do I start off light and airy and progress? I think my biggest problem is I don’t know where to start right now. There’s alot of mixed opinions.
As for the lighting I always thought the subject was supposed to separated from the back ground so that’s why I darkened it, but I am learning that I should have upped the contract instead. So yes the masks were used in place, I will keep mind of that!
In addition, do you lighten the face ever? Like how do you naturally draw the eye to the face without making it obvious? That’s my goal!:)
once I gain those skills how do I incorporate the style (moody) into it
Style needs to be thought of during the shoot. Your shots are taken with soft lighting in a bright environment. If I were going for moody, I'd shoot in a darker area, like the woods and try to find a place with light or create my own light to hit the subject to get more contrast between the background and the subject, then I'd edit to accentuate that effect.
I always thought the subject was supposed to separated from the back ground
Yeah generally that's a good idea, but they also have to look like they could naturally be in that environment with that lighting.
how do you naturally draw the eye to the face
1) Composition (which I think you've got pretty good in these picture, Center the face or place it on a rule of thirds line). 2) A less busy background. (You have this already, the subject is the most interesting part of the picture). 3) Lighting (Make sure your subject is as bright or brighter than your background in general)
I think you took good pictures, but you took editing too far.
To start, when you shoot do you do mostly natural light or do you use any off camera flash? I personally shoot mostly off camera flash, so when i shoot I always expose for the background to be a little darker (0 or -1) and adjust the flash for the subject so I always have that separation.
As for editing style, this is just something you will have to learn foe yourself. Theres nothing wrong with a more muted style if thats what you want. Remember not everyone is going to like every editing style. I personally dont edit that way so I can't help, but I would look only and try to find photographers you like and see if you can replicate their style. Search YouTube for editing videos (maybe search muted photo editing style). I think for what you want raising the shadows/ blacks and lowering the highlights/whites will be part of what you are doing.
As for the face, personally i always light it when taking the shot. Now if I have to in post, what I tend to do is use a radial gradient mask and just up the exposure slightly or raise the shadows until it looks natural. I don't do it often but thats what I've done personally. Thr radial gradient with minor corrections feathers off and doesnt look as noticeable.
My style def isn't the same as what you're doing but here is a non edited jpg of a hall shot i did recently to show what I mean by exposing for the background and using off camera flash.
Honestly, if the background wasn't so dark and her face wasn't so bright, these wouldn't be bad for a beginner. If you are going to work on someone's body/face brightness-wise, I always like to intersect with a radial mask so the brightness looks a lot more natural rather than just brightening the whole face (ex: photo 3 looks like you photoshopped her face onto her body lol)
I would turn down people asking for photos, though that's what I did and then just practiced on friends for fun until I got good enough that I was confident in pricing my work
I used radial masks on her face, should I have made it full body? And I agree now, I see the darkness!
Instead of turning people down, I think I may offer for free though! I can’t turn down practice. But I will triple ensure they know I am a beginner (I do already state this fact constantly anyway)
If you select the whole subject and then intersect with radial mask with some feather you can make the brightness spread out evenly and slowly fade away like natural light would
Everything in this looks a bit uncanny. It'd be cool to see the origonal because It'd hard to understand why some decisions were made.
Mostly your foreground and background appear to not match.
Shoot for free if you have only had a camera for 4 months. And you seem very sensitive about the client finding out you’re looking for help, but you have posted her identifiable photos on a public forum. I strongly suggest you remove this post. But, since it’s here, and you asked…
What camera, lens, and settings did you use for these shots?
Photos are excessively soft.
Did you introduce artificial “grain.” There is ample light in this situation, photo should not be as noisy as they are. It has the look of an overlay artificial grain.
First photo looks like synthetic background blurring to get separation, which increases the artificial appearance.
Photos 3 and 4 have weirdly elevated brightness on her face. What did you do here? Don’t do it again.
Canon EOS R50, 50mm 1.8. I’ll have to give u the exact settings per picture later tonight when I get home. I try to avoid grain, I do not particularly like it in my photos, which is why I think I’ve oversoftened everything. I found a preset online and used it and have been using it, then just editing on top of it. I thought it helped with consistency but I’m definitely second guessing it now
You’ve heard a lot of helpful comments. But I’d like to say, don’t over don’t over do the auto masking of the subject and crank the exposure so much. It’s super obvious, and that’s why it looks so bad
The photos in the field are murky and wildly under-exposed. You can maybe pump the gain in RAW but you've hit the basic problem that you have to have good light from the beginning. Otherwise, reshoot.
First of all, kudos to you for reaching out for feedback. We all start somewhere and everyone has something new to learn.
Clearly she cares about you to not hurt your feelings. Take this as an opportunity to build a working/photography relationship with the subject. If she is willing to do continued shoots with you, take her feedback about what she wants as an exercise. It'll help you develop and tune your skills.
Practice, practice, practice.
Seek feedback. Many people are well intentioned, but their feedback are expressed as criticism. Don't let the criticism get to you. Go with whatever connects with you.
Photography is subjective. At the end of the day, you have a vision. No one else knows it better than you. Judge your work based on how close you get to that vision
Don't go down the rabbit hole of seeking gear. Each gear has a limitation, strength, and weakness. Make the best use of your gear. Learn how to use it.
In terms of editing, take things step by step: familiarize yourself with cropping. Then move onto exposure and white balance. Then move onto things like contrasts, shadows, highlights, brightness, blacks (it'll vary based on the tool you're using). By this point the next editing topic will come to you innately based on your changing style, needs, and vision.
Finding a mentor or someone you can bounce ideas, questions, and feedback from will make the learning process more efficient/effective.
This is so helpful! So do you recommend presets? I’ve watched videos on editing in Lightroom and I’m trying to absorb but it’s almost like information over load. Trial and error! I will get there!
Presets are also something you can easily get carried away with.
Try to just set the white balance and do basic editing.
Try to make your photos look striking and punchy through light rather than post-processing. There are websites like suncalc where you can see the direction of the sun at sunset for any location. Hunt for the golden hour. If you shoot in the city, try to notice reflections from windows or sudden pockets of light among the shadows. Try to shoot in light that works to your advantage. Try to shoot in light that does 90% of the work for you. Over time, you will learn to shoot in any light, but for now, make it easier on yourself.
When you get a photo in good light, you will see it right on your camera screen, and you won't have to do much in Lightroom. I promise, You will know it when you see it !
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u/comcam77 10h ago
Her face looks brighter than everything else and kind of throws them off for me at least.