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Amateur Photoshoots
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I’ve been doing some amateur photoshoots for friends, family etc lately, and i’ve been coming out with around 150-200 pictures a go, but only finding that a small percentage, maybe 8-10% are up to a standard where i’ll edit and upload and share them.
I got some grief off a friend about not editing the pictures they’d picked, and when i said to them i didnt think they were good enough they said
“They look fine to me.”
Im not sure if maybe im expecting to much from my gear or people just dont care about the quality, but am i wrong to hold back editing pictures i dont think are great, bad lighting, misflash, bad exposure etc, or should i just give them what they want?I think i need to keep myself up to a certain standard or ill get lazy because people will say, “they look fine.”
You have to trust your own view. To many people, what looks fine or good, to someone with photographic knowledge will need some minor adjustments.
I think you’re doing the right thing by editing before handing them over.
I agree with Paul.
They’re your photos and you decide which are good enough at the end of the day.
Perhaps if you’re not happy with a photo you shouldn’t show them to the customer at all ?
Just a thought, might prevent those type of discussions in the future for you :)Thats a good idea, not showing til i have them done would help alot, but when their friends/family they tend to expect to look through them once your done. I usually dont mind but lately its started bothering me that they assume you can fix anything just because you know how to use photoshop.
Last one i did i came out with just over 250pictures, mostly portrait, and i’d have to say 75% were ruined by people having their eyes closed, and i was told “well you can photoshop them in from one where i have them open.” its frustrating.Though its good to know that I was in the right to go with my gut and only edit the ones i chose. I spoke to some others pro amateurs who do weddings and they say they send out cd’s/dvds with the pictures on them before they edit anything and let the couples pick their photos, which is fine, but when you dont have the gear or photographic knowledge yet to get 1 out of 3 shots perfect then its a little stressful. Ive gotten about 12 pictures which im happy with from my last shoot, and im pretty sure i’ll leave it at that. I shoot in bursts especially when the people tend to close their eyes, so i get 5 shots and 1 good one but then flash cant keep up with the bursts either, everyone assumes after seeing your work that you can get every shot perfect no matter what.
I wont give up on it, its alot better then first time i did anything like this, but keeping the pictures from people til i’ve them chosen and edited is probably a good idea in the long term, for my own sanity especially!
thanks for the feedback guys! very much appreciated!
Always remember we are our own harshest critics. I heard about someone who took a photo of a bride and groom, nice use of depth of field, background beautifully blurred, and had to listen heavy bitching from the bride’s mother, because she couldn’t make out the background. Closer to home, I took a photo of my 18 month old grand-daughter dressed in a tutu. I had used a white sheet as a back-drop and wasn’t 100% happy with it, so I made a selection round the ba and blurred the sheet behind her. I didn’t like the final result, but both Mum and Granny raved about it, so it’s been printed a few times at various sizes and it’s on view in 3 or 4 houses now! I’m only the photographer, what do I know! Most people don’t know the first thing about photography. As long as they can recognise the subject, they’re happy. Which, of course, doesn’t answer your question. I let my objections be over-ruled on the picture of my grand-daughter as that photo is for family only (and it’s cute!) but generally speaking I’d say don’t let anyone get a glimpse of anything you’re not happy with. Other photographers will gleefully point out everything that’s wrong with it!
No no man, thats exactly how i feel to! You’ve put into words what i was to tired to explain properly last night when i wrote the topic.
thats exactly the problem i had. I even added DoF because i’d some amazing pictures but i’d been set to auto mode accidentally after packing up the camera and the pictures were nice but were taken at f8 and the whole thing was in focus, so i used Bokeh to insert a nice 50mm DoF and i thought it looked great, but when they seen it they couldnt understand why the background was blurred and not sharp like them, i tried to explain why its more important to have them sharp but sometimes people just dont wanna listen. I did it again with another picture but i blurred the arm by accident, and forgot to fix it and it was pointed out, but i still liked it but they didnt. I usually save everything as DDS and store them layered so i can go back but it’d be the one time i didnt! (well not one time i tend to forget)
But yeah you make a great point, sometimes you bow to pressure and you kick yourself after it, but if they people see what they like thats all they care about. Sometimes i wonder if its even worth bothering for family pictures with DoF. Why have a 1000+euro camera if they’d be happy with what a 75euro one out of Aldi could do? Ah the mind boggles! Worst part, since its family/friends you dont get paid, especially if your amateur like me. I do it to try and get better but people think your gunna come out with 100 great pictures at the end of it.
Photographers will always poke holes in it, pointing out whats wrong, but Mr. Average wont care about DoF or sharpness long as they can make out a face.
Guys, very interesting post and responses.
I too suffer from a similar problem. At the weekend, I was asked to take some photos at a family christening. I do not have an external flash unit and my best photos have all been outdoors with natural, scenic backgrounds. However, this time, everyone who wanted photos taken wanted the pictures taken inside where I find the lighting was difficult to get a shot that I was happy with. In the hotel, I had to take photos near a very bright window that brought in light from the side, the unnatural light came from above and the backgrounds were hard to find distraction free. I know I should have been more forceful but it was their day so I was happy to go along with what they wanted whilst explaining that the pictures would be sufficiently more impressive if I got to take them where I wanted.
I know that if it was not a family event, then the subjects would have happy to go along with what I suggested. I know they will be happy with the results but my worry is that they will show other people with more knowledge of photography who will then think it is my best work and its not a good idea to have a poor reputation before I even get started!
Great topic and some great points. I tend to shy away from doing photographs for family and friends and its for all the reasons discussed above especially the fat that if you take shots for a paying couple you will tell them what location to go to and everything is perfect but family if they moan or say look just take it here its easier to give in and just take it. I have learned that when i take pictures no matter who it is for paying couple or family friends I never let anyone see the results on the camera and i load all the photographs onto the computer and only give the client the photographs that i am happy with. it will cut out a lot of hassle for you and make things easier.
Don’t worry about taking 5 shots and just getting 1 good shot especially when you have a few people in the shot because you will always get people blinking at different times so best to take 5 shots then when you edit it you see the shot with all eyes open.
Well thats what I’m going to start doing, only showing what I feel are best and edit them.
I’ve no problem with people giving their impressions or telling me what they think, but if they chose a picture that i’ve done and plan on uploading it before i’ve edited it, or even approved of it being good enough i tend to get a little annoyed. Especially since its usually converted from RAW to JPEG with some free (excuse the french) shitty raw-to-jpeg converter. So from now on i’ll be choosing the pictures before anyone sees them. Then i’ll edited them when they chose them. Expecting me to edit 20-50 shots is insanity, but the expect it sometimes.My main reason for posting was sheer frustration the other night as i was given out to for not editing all i was asked to edit. The original list i was given had nearly 30 pictures on it, and that was only from only one of the parties involved. I’d edited 12 pictures now from it and im pretty sure im done with them. Rest all seem to have a major imperfection im not willing to attempt to edit out as to do so would ruin the picture and make it look artificial.
The general feedback seems to be dont show your pictures til you’ve chosen them. I usually dont get to view them til i get home and they’ve chosen them from the camera screen or converted jpeg files run off a ps3.
Anyway guys thanks so much for the feedback, helped me a great deal! Glad to see im not the only one with these problems :)
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