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Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

New Member, New Photographer, Any Tips????

I just started getting serious about photography. I also just started on this site haha. If anyone can let me know what this site is all about and what groups to get into, that would be great!!

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Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Keep your horizons perfectly straight. Got a couple of crooked ones there.
Develop a style. Right now, these are just photographs.
Art Prints

This doesn't work. The grass blurred in the front is a distraction. Try to avoid things that have nothing to do with your subject or distract from it. Stomp down grass if you have to to get the shot.

Nothing is "Wow!" worthy right now. Everyone shoots flowers and rocks and reflections in water. It's HOW they're shot and processed that sets the really good ones apart from the rest.

 

Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

Thanks for the honesty.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

groups aren't as important as advertising and quality of images. you want more keywords and descriptions. the groups are just a place to store images. they aren't your buyers. and though you didn't ask for a critique, what was said above is true. beyond that read the forum and the faqs, and you'll find everything you'll need to know.

---Mike Savad

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

Was the OP edited? Thought help for everything was asked.
I don't find groups help a LOT unless you're featured, then it can be within the links on the homepage under "comments" or something.

 

Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

Like I said, just starting out. So thank you for the critique. I don't really have the money to spend on fancy lenses or photo shop right now to I am just putting up images for fun until I can save up enough to get to the level of talent on this site.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

i only read it the once so it could have been... it would come up sooner or later, better to find out now then later on. just don't erase your account....

the groups add another link and a chance at being seen. but it's like wearing a flashy hat in the city. you might be seen but that's about it.


---Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

for good photos a phone will do. a fancy camera and such won't give you artistic results, you have to be in control either way. like pushing the brush aside and shooting a little bit darker, or putting a polarizer on the camera (even if you have to hold it by hand), to help with glare. to find a vantage that doesn't have the debris in the way, etc. you can get gimp for free, that edits photos pretty well.

---Mike Savad

 

Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

hahaha well that turtle photo was taken while holding my dog back so he wouldn't kill the poor thing. But no, thank you for your help. I am so happy you guys are giving me tips! i will check out gimp. thank you for that! and next time maybe i will leave my dog in the car hahaha

 

Rich Franco

9 Years Ago

Dawn,

Welcome! Here are 2 groups that will help you and your questions about your photography. They will be honest and sometimes blunt,which you may find discouraging. Look them over and see which one sounds like what you think you'd like to join or join both.

I admin both.

You have to remember that this isn't a site, for freinds and family to leave nice comments on, like FB or Instagram,Flickr,etc. If you ask for advice, you'll get it. I'll start!

You have some nice images, but nice here won't sell usually,since the professionals here have the advantage of top quality and also sales, which helps in any search function. The people that have sold images will be to the front of the search and those images that have never sold or worse, have no "likes" or comments or bad keywords,will be at the end of the search. Try it out yourself. Try "River Rock" and see what comes up. Even if you restrict the search to only "photography" there are 10,000+ images,so that's what happens here.

Hope this helps,

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/photo-critique-one-on-one-.html

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/raw-critique.html

Rich

 

C Husted

9 Years Ago

I also appreciate the help the members offer to others, as that is most often the way the ‘newbies’ tend to learn. So, as being new to FAA myself, thank you.

The title of the thread: “New Member, New Photographer, Any Tips????” does not necessarily restrain the type of tips offered, so the critiquing that Louise offered seems just.

Each artist, no matter the genre, style, and medium, has a certain style and a certain quality of work they present to others. You (Dawn) would do well to build upon your own personal style and try to venture away from the ‘snapshot’ look; even done with intention, it often fails, horribly in most cases. Taking up a seriousness of photography, as with anything else, suggests that you're ready and willing to read the books, articles, and many a How-To in order to learn the efforts needed to create beautiful photos, whatever level of creativity you choose with your personal style.

“I just started getting serious about photography” suggests that you've not been serious prior to a recent point in time. In the short amount of time that I've been here, I can and will say that many members of FAA take their medium of artistry very seriously, even if they offer a light-hearted playfulness.

“Spring is Here” — I love the vibrancy and colors. The centered subject is a bit cliché, but it works well enough while you spend time building up your personal style. The keywords I noticed are rather lacking; I'm learning that it's an art form in itself. Do the research needed to find out what type of flower, and include that in keywords/tags, as well. Someone searching for ‘flower’ may eventually find you, but when you include the type of flower, those who search specifically for the plant name will have a better chance of finding you.

“Drip Drip” — The use of patterns is rather appropriate in all mediums, and it's a nice view into the workings of the grate. DoF and detail are nice. The keywords, specifically ‘nature,’ is questionable. Keep an eye on your subject and what you're trying to convey. Keywords, tags, and descriptions need to be considered with care since many people tend to expect honesty.

I hope that I haven't offended or confused with a blunt and quick explanation, and I hope that you're able to build upon what's been offered in this thread and use it as a starting point to build your personal style to the best of your ability. Being active on the site also helps; participating in conversations, discussions, and offering help to others where you're able is a good way to build your knowledge.

 

Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

Wow I'm on the wrong site.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

it's not the wrong site. this is a store. if your planning on hanging out where sales aren't the thing then Flickr.com may be the thing for you. while this site has a forum and such, it's still a store.


---Mike Savad

 

James B Toy

9 Years Ago

If you can't afford Photoshop (which I think is overrated, anyway) there are a couple of excellent photo editing software programs that are completely free. My preferred program is called Paint.net, which is a Microsoft product. You can download it here: http://www.getpaint.net/ It's fairly easy to use, but some knowledge of how to make digital photo manipulation work for you is helpful. Experiment with it, play with it, and you'll learn a lot. Just don't manipulate your original file. Make a copy of each file and work on that, so you'll always have your original to go back to if you screw up.

Another excellent free program is called GIMP. GIMP is an open-source program that is quite a bit more sophisticated than Paint.net, and a bit more challenging to learn. But it has some advantages over Paint.net for advanced users. http://www.gimp.org/

 

Walter Holland

9 Years Ago

Welcome, Dawn.

 

John Crothers

9 Years Ago

If I may be Frank (that's not my name but a figure of speech)

You came to a POD site. This is not a photo-sharing site. This is not a pat-on-the-back site. This is the ugly world of art sales and this world is harsh at times.

You can get down and discouraged with negative comments or you can use them to learn. If you are going to get discouraged, you might as well just hang up your camera right now.

If you want to take pictures "for fun" put them on Facebook.

Did you expect people to gush about how great your work was? If so, why did you think people would do that? Did your friends and family tell you that your work was great? Ignore them. You won't learn much from friends and family. Strangers are better for honest critiques. If that's what you REALLY want.

You just need to decide if you are serious about sales or not. There is no right answer. Do what you want.

 

Dawn McDevitt

9 Years Ago

just saying im not doing it for money right now, that would be stupid, im not good enough. i thought this was an online gallery, i was wrong. maybe next year.

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

I am popping in here to say that most of you owe this young lady an apology

She did NOT ask for critique at all and because of this it is misplaced here

Answer what is asked, do NOT give critique either technical or any other type if not expressly asked to. It is not up to anyone here to belittle another member and it is becoming much too regular an occurrence

Dawn, take away with you what you want from this but, they are your images and everyone is different. Do not take any notice if you do not want to

You have as Much right to be here as anyone else in this thread.

 

This discussion is closed.