If this belongs in IMHO please kick me, but I think this is still General enough.
So how do you do it? Do you have to go to photograpghy school do work at Like a sears photocenter? Or is it something you can get on the job training as? I know that you can take photography classes in college, but is that where you would get training to do family portraits?
to focus things - are you after
fine art
pay the bills
portrait work is a most competitive, capital-intensive divisiom of
commercial photography.
Experience with Sears, et, al, (set up at the mall for a week or two, and strip-mine the local photo work) will get you points with the minimum-wage set, but will probably harm you re. professional shops,
Hint:
if there is a mini-lab in back, you are NOT dealing with a “real” photographer".
For pactice, try to shoot your mother to look like the hottest thing in town - that is what expected of ‘real’ photogs…
p.s. - which is a better lense for portrait work - 100mm or 135mm?
I asked my wife this question; she used to work in a photo lab and worked with photographers. She says there are three important things: education, experience, and talent.
Education: college photography classes will give you a basic understanding of technique and lighting, and this may be all you need to get your foot in the door. There are also photography schools that will give you considerably more preparation, but I don’t know how much it increases your odds.
Experience: practice, practice, practice. Digital cameras will help you to practice composition without spending a fortune on film, but you need to work with film, too. Having a good-looking portfolio will help you look ofr a job.
Talent: All the classes and practice in the world won’t help if you don’t have the knack, but I don’t know how much knack you need to work at Sears. You’re still taking people’s money, though, so be honest with them and yourself.
The best people to approach are (1) photo labs that do portraits; here, you promise to do photo developing and other scut work in exchange for training, experience, and résumé fodder. Or (2) commercial portrait companies that have “student picture” contracts with schools, and the like; these guys will have you do scut work like changing backdrops, combing kids’ hair, moving lights, etc., in exchange for training, experience, and résumé fodder. Sears may fall into this category, but I don’t know if they even hire help.
One thing’s for sure: no one’s going to hire you as a photographer if you haven’t already worked as a photographer.
I knew a girl who worked as a portrait photographer. I only knew her for a short time, so I didn’t get a fully detailed account of how she got into it though. She’s only 21 now, and has been doing it for a few years - I don’t think she took any college. It’s just a small studio, and the wages matched the size of the business. As with many professions, this is one where you can get into it if you simply have a friend or relative already there; you can learn it on the job, and some talent can keep you there… unlike other professions like law or engineering for which you simply gotta spend a lot of time in a classroom.
Becoming a high-end or really good portrait photographer, well, that’s probably another story.
Nah, I really just want to work at Sears or walmart doing photo’s, I am a classic underachiever :P, I am going to take a photography class in the fall however, That way maybe I can work on learning which film is better- My guess is 100 LOL
I do practice with a digital camera though, I enjoy taking pictures. I never really thought about doing it past a job at walmart or kmart, Now I have something new to think about
Trick question. What format? :)My sister has just finished 4 years of studying photography at college, so this is based on what she’s told me over that time, and applies to more serious professional work. The normal way to get working as a portrait photographer would be to first study at college and then get work as a photographer’s assistant. With an ever-increasing number of photography graduates, and more and more people taking their own photos rather than hiring a professional, there is a lot of competition for work.
You just might be able to get work without a college education, but going does teach you a lot not only about technical things but about how the industry works, all the terms you need to know to work with other photographers, and lets you meet lots of potential contacts. Also many photography courses now include modules on running a small business, etc (which the photography students routinely ignore/skip).
Alternatively, you may be able to get work as a freelance (doing weddings and that sort of thing without a studio) by starting with people you know and building up a portfolio and expertise.
I have two photographer friends in New York (I’ve used them both for author’s photos). They scramble for a living, have no benefits or regular paychecks, have to overcharge hugely to pay their studio rent (they both live in their studios), constantly have to upgrade camera equipment, lights, darkroom materials—and now, they are having to learn computer retouching and buy the necessary computer equipment! It can be a very rewarding career, artistically; but as far as finanicially . . . you might as well be a painter or a poet.
If you want to work at Sears, I dunno. If you want to work at JCPenny or Target, contact Lifetouch.
For the kind of work that these studios produce, they aren’t looking for photographers as much as they’re looking for groomers with good personalities.
They put out beautiful prints, but these studios used specialized cameras that you’ve got to work at to screw up. Creative types are usually steered towards other parts of this company. I wanted to be a school portrait photographer, for example, they wouldn’t even consider it. Which is just as well, I’d’ve gone nuts inside of a week. Instead, I do candid and sport photography for the school yearbooks.
format: 35mm. Discuss, and explain.
and don’t suggest hassy gear to a newbie 
Well, I would probably go with the 100mm. It would flatten out the subject a little, without distancing the photographer too much from the subject. Also you could use it in tighter situations, which can come up sometimes. OTOH longer situations can come up too, in which case the 135mm would be good…
I don't think that it's necessary to start on 35mm. An old medium format camera isn't all that expensive (most TLRs and some SLRs), and can be good to learn on. I wouldn't suggest Hasselblad to a newbie, but I wouldn't suggest Leica either, know what I'm saying?Postcards is pretty much on the money. I worked at a Sears portrait studio right out of high school and all I did was go in and fill out an application. When I worked there the focus was not so much on taking the pictures, as SELLING the pictures. To get people in they’d advertise the package with so many wallets, etc but you’d actually sit for like 6 poses. When the pictures came back you had to set up all the prints and try to convince people to buy expensive pictures (and frames, “photo jewelry,” and other dreck) in addition to their original $12.99 package. It really really sucked, and at the time the way it worked was all the photos were printed up, held in massive file cabinets for a year, then destroyed; a monumental waste of money and resources. Having seen a couple commercials recently I’m under the impression that all the images are stored digitally, viewed on a screen and the customer pre-orders an exact package, which is then printed up as requested.
The photography itself was dead easy. You did the same 6 poses for everyone and pretty much only varied it for large groups or something. The camera was already mounted in the most flattering position and all you did was zoom it in to fill the frame and add a filter for one of the shots (Victorian oval effect).
If you’re interested in working with people and learning how to capture their best smile, etc I’d say the Sears job will give you pretty valuable training, but if you want to actually learn about cameras and photography you pretty much won’t learn anything there.
Love it. My portrait lens of choice has always been a 135. I recently tried out a 70-210 lens. It came with a doubler, but that wasn’t workable. 210 mm just feels wrong. Unless I’m in bright sunlight ( and, who the heck takes a portrait in bright light?? ), the dept of focus is atrocious.
I wound up shooting around 135 again. It seems to me that it feels right. I dunno if that is what I now expect to see, and need and so I shoot at that length, or if it’s truly a reasonable middle point, length-wise.
Find a used Twin-Lens Reflex. I agree that a medium format is a great way to learn. A Yashica can be found at used camera stores, or on the Net no doubt for not a lot of money. The typical taking lens is an 80mm lens ( which always felt like a 40mm, not a 50mm if one were to do the analogy to a 35mm format camera ).
One can never shoot enough photographs, and digital cameras take away all of the cost of processing, and let you teach your eye. Even a cheap basic digital will allow you to shoot a hundred shots a day, just to teach your eye how to compose properly.
My suggestion? Get both. Find a Twin Lens Reflex, and a cheap digital camera.
Cartooniverse
Thanks for all the replies, you all have given me much to think about!
For 35mm I find 85mm to be sufficiently long for face portraits. 70mm is adequate for full body shots but in face closeups the close shooting distance doesn’t give a flattering perspective. I haven’t ditched my film cameras now but shoot much more digital, with a Minolta Dimage 7. Getting started in a serious digital is pricey but not having to pay for film and processing can make up for it. 5 megapixels makes outstanding 11x14s and respectable 16x20s and with some photoghop wizardry you can print bigger.
Photography is easy, lighting is hard. I haven’t seen anyone mention that. I use Alien Bees monolight strobes. I’ve got two 160ws units along with a 300ws Novatron monolight I started with. They give me all the performance of much more expensive systems with a lot more flexibility. They have a much wider power range than other strobes - 5 stops or from full to 1/32 power - which makes them particularly suitable for digicams which don’t have as wide an aperture range as film cameras. It’s a reasonably flexible setup though I’ll probably trade the Novatron for an Alien Bees 320ws unit and get one of the others upgraded that power. I’ve also got a pile of bogen light and background stands and a few umbrellas and am looking into a large softbox or halo. Add to that a flash meter, a couple of heavy duty tripods (I also ahve a 4x5 camera) and you’ve got an expensive mountain of crap.
Basic lighting techniques aren’t difficult to learn but You’ll need adequate equipment. Trying to make good potraits with window light or floodlamps can be an exercise in futility.