the ramblings of a sane man

VENT:

As a photographer of 25+ years, and seeing years of clients images and other photographers images, I find something a little disturbing. I find the quality of shots of fashion/glamour by some "Professional" photographers rather appalling. I'm in several photography groups on FB and some have very quality work. But some of them, when posing the female body (and some male body), I see bad poses, bad lighting, bad composition.... and lack of detail when it comes to angle of shot. I see crap in the background (trash, pop bottles, etc) that should not be there.

There is no art. I find it difficult when I have to judge or critique another's work, and I see uncontrolled shadows, bad angle (looking up models noses, etc), and rough lighting (on camera direct flash). You need to see the shot before any images are taken... not just take the shot because you have a pretty half naked girl or guy in front of your camera. Some of the shots even make it "into a magazine" which is nothing but an online, made up magazine that has nothing but bad soft porn.

You want to be a professional photographer, fine, I get it. But do me a favor..

1. Learn posing and corrective posing (yes its a thing!)

2. Learn lighting (strobes vs constant, gels, grids, softbox vs umbrella)

3. If your a pro, your not using the $75 "kit" lens, you don't have to use the best stuff or the newest stuff, but upgrade from the kit lenses.

4. Learn rules of composition (take an art class like drawing, painting, etc)

5. If your going to break a rule of composition, fine, but break only 1 at a time. If you break several, your shot looks like a snapshot, not a professional shot.

6, Don't get caught up in being a gear head (I need the latest Nikon/Canon/Sony camera or lens). I've been shooting with a Pentax for 18 years and have 3 older lenses (10 yr old or older, and only 1 current lens)

Sigh....

End Rant

Model: Peyton