Can of Worms: newbie mistakes
It seems that a number of people have been trying out some new and inexperienced photographers and getting very mixed results. While many show great potential, the majority fall into the same pitfalls I think most of us do when we first start out. So I wanted to put together a list of what I think are three of the most common DOs and DON'Ts but I am welcoming other photographers to expand and add to this list, based on your own mistakes or observations. Remember folks - this isn't about beating down newbies, but giving them a little perspective from where we are at down the road from them.
PRICING
DO: expect to get paid less than someone with 10 years of experience and over $10,000 worth of equipment in their camera bag and price yourself to be competitive and fair while leaving enough room to grow.
DON'T: expect to get paid a reasonable amount, because pricing yourself ridiculously low to build (or outright steal) clients will bite you in the bum when you try and raise your prices. Not sure what a good place to start is? Well, maybe you aren't ready to charge $500 for a family sitting or $5000 for a wedding package, but it's pretty safe to say that $100 for a family session including the disc and $500 for a full-day wedding is lowballing it - show some respect for not only yourself and other photographers, but your clients as well. If nothing else, list the price you *want* to charge and offer a lower "limited time only" introductory price. Do you REALLY want to win clients and get referrals because you're the "cheapest?" I didn't think so. Especially since those of us who know you are intentionally undercutting send all the clients we don't like or don't want to deal with to you... MUAH hahahahaaa!!!!
POST-PROCESSING
DO: try out new trends and experiment with your image processing software, and mix it up a LOT. Not unlike developing a signature pose, the way you post-process your images is a huge part of your style, and practice makes perfect.
DON'T: use post-processing as a means of making your technically imperfect images look like you "meant to do that on purpose" or get suckered into a style rut and a false sense of security by relying on presets, actions, and flash-in-the-pan trends exclusively. Start by spending the time to learn how to take a clean, sharp, usable image that would technically be fine without you touching it instead of thinking, oh, I can just fix it later... No, you can't - all the soft blur, texture, and glow you can muster won't hide the fact you underexposed an image and didn't discover you let your autofocus pick up on the tree being leaned upon instead of the subject's eyes until you lightened it in Photoshop. While fashion still plays the primary factor in 'dating' images, the era of digital post-processing has created a new way of making your images look 'dated.' Examples of trends that have come on strong, and have faded from glory but left a lasting mark on the genre are heavy use of textures and frames, colour washes (often called "cross-processing" based on the pre-digital technique of using the wrong chemicals to develop film to get a funky effect - I've seen entire websites with nothing but the pinky-yellow tinted version of this...), and of course that old favourite, spot- or selective-colouring, which is where everything is black & white except for the baby's hat, or the bride's bouquet, or the child's eyes.
I know there are a tonne of things you'll need to figure out as you go along, but these are some pretty common pitfalls that are made by most photographers when they first start out. I'm pretty sure each of my colleagues who have been in the industry for enough years all have horror stories about pricing, post-processing, and posing in the early days... ask, an they'll probably share :)
Happy shootin', newbies!!!
PRICING
DO: expect to get paid less than someone with 10 years of experience and over $10,000 worth of equipment in their camera bag and price yourself to be competitive and fair while leaving enough room to grow.
DON'T: expect to get paid a reasonable amount, because pricing yourself ridiculously low to build (or outright steal) clients will bite you in the bum when you try and raise your prices. Not sure what a good place to start is? Well, maybe you aren't ready to charge $500 for a family sitting or $5000 for a wedding package, but it's pretty safe to say that $100 for a family session including the disc and $500 for a full-day wedding is lowballing it - show some respect for not only yourself and other photographers, but your clients as well. If nothing else, list the price you *want* to charge and offer a lower "limited time only" introductory price. Do you REALLY want to win clients and get referrals because you're the "cheapest?" I didn't think so. Especially since those of us who know you are intentionally undercutting send all the clients we don't like or don't want to deal with to you... MUAH hahahahaaa!!!!
POSING
DO: take inspiration from standard "classic" poses as well as some successful fun poses of other photographers' work that you've seen, and try to incorporate props or gestures or some other small (or large) element that make the images unique and totally your own.
DON'T: Get into a rut taking the same successful yet boring pose again and again or copy other photographer's "signature" poses. If you really want all your portraits to look like a) they were done at a department store or b) like another photographer's work, then you should a) go work at a department store or b) ask permission to use that shot. We all know it can be tough coming up with creative ideas on the fly, but the more you push yourself, the faster you'll develop your style and stumble upon your own 'signature' poses, which are the shots you can (and should!) repeat time and time again. I mean, would you rather have someone say, "That's so much like so-and-so's work!" or, "Wow - this is unlike anything I've seen before!" I think we all know the answer to that.
POST-PROCESSING
DO: try out new trends and experiment with your image processing software, and mix it up a LOT. Not unlike developing a signature pose, the way you post-process your images is a huge part of your style, and practice makes perfect.
DON'T: use post-processing as a means of making your technically imperfect images look like you "meant to do that on purpose" or get suckered into a style rut and a false sense of security by relying on presets, actions, and flash-in-the-pan trends exclusively. Start by spending the time to learn how to take a clean, sharp, usable image that would technically be fine without you touching it instead of thinking, oh, I can just fix it later... No, you can't - all the soft blur, texture, and glow you can muster won't hide the fact you underexposed an image and didn't discover you let your autofocus pick up on the tree being leaned upon instead of the subject's eyes until you lightened it in Photoshop. While fashion still plays the primary factor in 'dating' images, the era of digital post-processing has created a new way of making your images look 'dated.' Examples of trends that have come on strong, and have faded from glory but left a lasting mark on the genre are heavy use of textures and frames, colour washes (often called "cross-processing" based on the pre-digital technique of using the wrong chemicals to develop film to get a funky effect - I've seen entire websites with nothing but the pinky-yellow tinted version of this...), and of course that old favourite, spot- or selective-colouring, which is where everything is black & white except for the baby's hat, or the bride's bouquet, or the child's eyes.
I know there are a tonne of things you'll need to figure out as you go along, but these are some pretty common pitfalls that are made by most photographers when they first start out. I'm pretty sure each of my colleagues who have been in the industry for enough years all have horror stories about pricing, post-processing, and posing in the early days... ask, an they'll probably share :)
Happy shootin', newbies!!!
Comments
And, going to go look at the other link! :D