Here are a few more from that sequence. These photos are the only staged ones I’ve ever attempted, all the others were snapshots. Unfortunately, at three days old he really didn’t have much in the way of interesting expressions. Next time I see them I’ll try again.
As for focus issues, yes on some of them, but some look considerably sharper on my photo editor at home than they appear online, for some reason. The birth room ones were dimly lit and everyone was running around half panicked (it was a home birth and there were some complications at the end), a situation I clearly don’t have the equipment or skill to deal with as well as I’d like to.
Baal Houtham, I got my lens last night (this one)! I proceeded to go around the house taking photos of anything remotely interesting. Here are a few of them (the livestock photos are from the fair a couple of weeks ago, using my old 18-55 lens). I’m not saying they’re great, but I’m pretty happy with them and love the lens. Thanks for the recommendation.
I appreciate everyone’s contribution to this thread. I’ll look into the other recommended lenses once I’ve got a bit more cash to play with.
Yeah, newborns don’t do much of anything. You generally want to catch them after they’ve woken up and have a little activity to them–it seems like you did this.
In that sequence, I like the simplicity of #3 and #4. These would look great in black-and-white. I think that’s the most successful composition, but you’re still cropping a hair too tight. #3 I would give more room on the left, and cut the leg out on the right (the mother’s finger in the corner bugs me and that portion of a leg isn’t necessary.) In #4, once again, a little more room on the left, and a little bit more room on the bottom. The lighting on these two is nice, the composition is clean, there are no distracting backgrounds. Those, in my opinion, look like professional baby shots if you cropped them just a hair looser. Try them in black-and-white, too.
The one I originally commented on, in comparison, looks a bit busy and cluttered.
Still, is that your whole take from that sequence? Everybody has a bit of a different style, but you should be shooting through that a bit more aggressively, in my opinion. Like in the setup of photos #3 and #4, I’d probably have shot 20-40 photos, making minor adjustments, waiting for an interesting expression, etc. You don’t have to do it that way but, in my opinion, you had a nice, clean, simple composition with good lighting during that sequence, and it would have been worth exploring it and “sketching” around it a little more, to develop your ideas.
Perhaps that’s true, but they’re still soft. In the “Minutes after birth” photo, I can see you have considerable motion blur (look at the hair especially). I guessed you shot at 1/15 second, but it looks like you left your EXIF in the file, so I can see you shot 1/10 second. The general rule-of-thumb is you can hand-hold 1/focal length of the lens. You were at 39mm, which is just over 60mm in 35mm equivalent (you have to multiply by 1.6 for your sensor to get the 35mm equivalent). That means you should be able to comfortably hand hold at 1/60 second. With a little practice and concentration, 1/30 is easy, and even 1/15 (or below) is doable. However, also, remember that if your subject moves, it doesn’t matter how rock steady you are, there’s going to be some motion blur.
Same issue with the photo afterwards: 1/6 sec and moving subjects to boot. Everything is soft in this photo.
Those are the only two photos I see sharpness issues on, so I should have been more careful in calling them “focus issues” but rather shutter speed/motion blur issues. That “nifty fifty” 50mm f/1.8 should help you out in situations like this.
I agree it’s hard to do it as a full time business, but what you need to do is find a niche market.
First of all get a bottom line. This is the absolute lowest cost you can do this for. Do not include your time and/labor. Just actual cost of materials.
Then add in cost of postage, shipping, taxes etc
This is your absolute minimum
This is how you want to start. Undercut everyone. Don’t charge for your time. You will do this eventually, but you need to get started and a reputation. Nothing sells better than to say “If you’d like, please contact my other clients.” (Of course getting their permission first)
Then you build from there. You can then start to add in your time and labor and do it slowly, use the minimum amount then increase it.
This is a recession, people are looking for the minimum acceptable. So they find those who provide the minimum and go with the cheapest.
Once you get this going, network. Find organizations that may need a photographer. A catering manager at a hotel, always looks for help. I can tell you most people will take the reccomend of a manager, it may not get you the final job, but it’ll get you a chance to bid on it.
Here is my feedback. The picts look to great. You seem to have a gift for natural settings or when natural elements are included (flowers, animals).
My other suggestion is get you heart right in this, it the reason you want to pursue it is because it’s a gift you wish to share with people - this to me would be a definite yes follow it, is it something you wish to explore in terms of self discovery - also a pursue it. It’s it to make money, I’d be looking at other things that satisfy my heart.
I somewhat agree with Markxxx and somewhat don’t. Yes, you do need to build up a portfolio and a client list. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing a few freebies to start with to get your feet wet. I’m a photojournalist and wedding photographer, and I’ve recently started getting into doing family shots, kids, and that sort of thing. When I started doing kids, I basically did a few freebies for friends to get started. And then a few for former wedding clients for a relatively nominal amount of money ($100), because I was still in portfolio building mode.
What I don’t agree with is this:
They want quality and a decent price, but most clients (in my experience) are willing to pay a little bit more for better quality. Even in a recession, people will pay for good photographs of their kids, for their weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc. I haven’t had to lower my wedding rates at all these last few years (which range from the $2000s to over $7000, depending on the package) and clients, for the most part, haven’t tried to bargain me down. People are a little tighter with their pursestrings, but they are not reflexively going to go for the cheapest option.
I somewhat agree with Markxxx and somewhat don’t. Yes, you do need to build up a portfolio and a client list. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing a few freebies to start with to get your feet wet. I’m a photojournalist and wedding photographer, and I’ve recently started getting into doing family shots, kids, and that sort of thing. When I started doing kids, I basically did a few freebies for friends to get started. And then a few for former wedding clients for a relatively nominal amount of money ($100), because I was still in portfolio building mode.
What I don’t quite agree with is this:
They want quality and a decent price, but most clients (in my experience) are willing to pay a little bit more for better quality. Even in a recession, people will pay for good photographs of their kids, for their weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc. I haven’t had to lower my wedding rates at all these last few years (which range from the $2000s to over $7000, depending on the package) and clients, for the most part, haven’t tried to bargain me down. People are a little tighter with their pursestrings, but they are not reflexively going to go for the cheapest option.
There’s also, I don’t know how to put it, a perception of value, or a perception of fairness as to the price you charge, that has more to do with price structure than price per se. For example, when I was planning my wedding, there was a person in my price range that I didn’t book, because he wanted me to pay additional for the right to the digital pictures of me AND required me to pay for an album he would put together. Another photographer included the rights in his price, and didn’t require me to buy the album. The price for photog 1 was somewhat lower for the time & skill of the photographer. The one who tried to hold my photos hostage in order to shove add-ons down my throat didn’t get my business. The one who didn’t, got my business AND three referrals.
If you wanted a book recommendation, I’d go with this one on Amazon by Kirk Tuck. I haven’t read it, but I have another of his books and read his blog regularly. That should talk you out of it, or at least forewarn and inform you to the point that it doesn’t come as a complete surprise if you hate the actuality (should you still go there).
I think freelancing would suck mightily compared to doing your own stuff for fun, but everyone’s different.
I will chime in with a minority opinion. I liked “Just Born” a lot. The composition, with the woman’s (pretty) face filling the upper right portion, and her mostly naked body swooping down through the photo to the lower left, adds some dynamic. Her hair is natural and realistic, and suggests a physical struggle has just occured (hasn’t it?). Between the body and the maroon chair, the newborn stands out as the object of desire. Even the slightly blurred focus adds a sense of activity to the scene. I can practically smell her perspiration.
