Photography/ what can I improve on?

[Natasha]

It's been a good 2 years since I lasted asked and I think I've gotten a little better... Some people just catch on right away, not in my case I learn for slowly. IF you remember my photography from years ago when I asked let me know how I've improved. I'd mostly like you to critique specific albums: "Portfolio 2013" and one of your choice from 2013. Here's the link to my FB PHOTOG PAGE https://www.facebook.com/NveMePhotography Let me know what I can make improvements on, but PLEASE be polite not too harsh. I accept constructive criticism, not bullying. THANK YOU in advance!
Last* asked.

*Very slowly

[hawtgirl00]

you're really talented. i would just work on the focus a little bit. but you cant really judge very well with facebook quality lol. also i would stay away from flash because it makes the photos come out really harsh looking. love your work though!

[MADLUV]

Most of your images capture a personality that is great.
Some of your images i could see in print.
a lot of your images seem to say the same thing and the shot themselves are not bad but it seems like your taking the same photo over and over again with slight differences.
i think for you to take it up a step. try this challenge.

get one item. something basic like a cup.. and photograph it for 1 month nothing else just that.
i think you need to start looking at different perspectives. and watch your lighting i know on most of them your going for that dark ambiance but don't get to carried away they will look over processed.

over all your work is great. keep it up

[Mark]

Good that someone knows how to ask respectfully and be modest about their skills.

Let's have a look. I'll take some of the more interesting shots.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

Interesting pose. The photo seems underexposed and rather lacking in contrast, and her face (which should be the focal point) is dark. The eyes will see her elbows first, which probably isn't what you had in mind!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

The white balance here seems rather yellowish. Set the camera to the suitable WB setting when shooting, or shoot RAW and adjust it afterwards. It is an interesting idea for a pose, although
I think it needs refining.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

Side pose makes a change. Looks like the focus is off or blurred. Make sure the camera is stable before shooting. Also watch out for distracting elements in the background: it looks like she's smoking a pipe :-)


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

This one works because of the light top she's wearing. It draws the eye to the subject immediately. The arrow and the two poles are used well to frame the subject. If you re-took this with a better camera, you could have a really interesting shot. It looks like it was shot with an iPhone or a very basic camera.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

The hidden eye is interesting, and I like the way this one is composed. It might not have been intentional, but it's essentially composed in a diagonal, which is one way of making a strong composition. Only issue: the light at the top left is distracting. I would darken it a bit and lighten up the subject's face to make it clearer what we're looking at.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater

I like this one. You moved the subject off the center, the direction of her gaze gives it a slightly mysterious feel. It seems to be much higher in image quality too. Good stuff.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...=3&theater


Good idea with the light. Two issues: it's not straight, and there is something blurry in the front right side of the picture which is distracting.


What you need next is the skill of editing. By this I mean learning to tell your good shots from your bad shots. While there are some promising pictures in there, there are also pictures which should have been deleted as soon as you took them - blurred, out of focus, meaningless pictures.

One of the best rules to live by, photographically speaking, is "only show your best stuff". At the moment, you are showing everything, and the bad stuff drags down the overall level. It also takes longer to find the good pictures in among the bad ones.

Keep shooting and aim at higher image quality, if you're using a phone, stop and get a proper camera. Practice, learn, and be tough on yourself when you choose which pictures to keep an d which to delete. And enjoy the process of taking pictures. If it isn't fun, don't do it.

[Chuck]

Mark gave you a great critique of key images. I won't belabor those points by repeating that process, but big kudos the Mark for taking the time to write that out.

I would strongly emphasize one point Mark brought up -- Show ONLY your best work.

Self-edit, self-edit and then self-edit again. Show ONLY your best work. When in doubt, show ONLY your best work.

Do you think every single exposure a "really great" photographer makes is actually "really great"? They are really great photographers because they show only the really great images. Now, it's not fair to take that kind of reasoning to the extreme and support "spray and pray" kind of shooting, and obviously you need "really great" photos to pick from in the first place... But the fundamental point boils down to (I'll say it yet again) - Show ONLY your best work.

As Mark mentions, you have a lot of cruft online you really should throw out.

As a related point, Facebook is not a portfolio service. Facebook (as well as other social media sites) should be "leads" into your primary web presence (your own site, or at least a specialized portfolio/sales site, but not a social media platform). Use social media to direct clients to that site. Show your portfolio there. Convert visits into booking and sales there. Drive your business from there

[B K]

They're OK, but not fabulous, and you do far too much post processing for my taste. Sorry by the washed out low contrast look isn't doing anything for me. And your composition techniques need a lot of work. Most of your images have the subject's face dead centre, and far too much space at the top of the shot.

For example this one: https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...4693_n.jpg - which also has a distracting white thing in the background.

Also facebook is not the best place to show off your images.