To The Photographers... Opinions Please

Good and bad? (if any)

I like what you have up here so far, Jolene. You seem to have a good eye for composition and your exposure seems right on to me. I don't see an image I don't like so far. Keep them coming.....

I agree with Mary, but as Mike will tell you sooner or later .... you need more keywords.
angel oak,angel,oak,live oak,charleston, is not enough.

your photography is amazing. So good!

You've got some excellent photographs. Savannah area? I'm from further up the coast (Delaware) but Savannah is one of my favorite southern cities.

Actually, I almost "have to" like your work because I seem to enjoy the same subjects as you. Give me a good sunset, sunrise, landscape, beach/seascape or some flowers/plants any day - and I'm ready to shoot. :)

The only change I would suggest is to include more of a description of each of your images. Some of them have "None" as a description. The description is a chance to add unique narrative to each page which can help with being discovered by search engines. Try to write one or two descriptive sentences about each image.

There was a pro photographer who posted some photos of his he did not like but though oh well
then along comes one of the worlds biggest insurance companies and buys the photo with a licensing deal and everything.....

i guess i mean to say what one loves another dislikes

what matters is do you like.
it is your art, do with it as you please

if a musician can yell through a whole entire song, i mean come on.... hahaha

do what you LOVE and have fun and most of all, break a leg !!!!!!!

Pay heed to what David just posted. He is exactly on target. You've got the quality nailed down - beyond that, do what YOU like.

Isabella, yes good and bad. :)

Bill, I am in the Carolinas. Charleston is my favorite place to photograph. Savannah is nice too!

Christine, thank you for the tip. Sometimes I feel as though I am putting too many keywords in. Good to know I'm not.

Thank you to everyone else, I appreciate the encouragement!

Use as many keywords as you can, Jolene, as long as they are fitting the images. The more - the merrier, so people can find your work.

Hello Jolene..

I will add a few things that get mentioned quite often when new members ask what you have asked.

Do a search here for flowers, or sunsets, or seascapes... you will find that you have a lot of completion.. at least you don't have puppies and kittens ;O) there are a lot of them.
If flowers and sunsets are your passion that's great. Only to get noticed in the crowd you will have find a way to make yours stand out. How.. I don't know LOL
Some ideas might be shoot from low down, or long exposures [as in your fireflies ], or something done in post processing. Not sure if what kind of photographer you put your self in. What I mean how do you fell about post processing? Do your want your images to be just what the camera sees? Or would you be ok with say removing distracting objects from your image, or changing the lighting etc..

You have chosen to show the watermark on your images.. be sure to add to your descriptions that the watermark will not appear on the purchased product. Some customers are confused by that.

Good luck ;O)

bob

Jolene,

It is your art, your expressions. Pay no attention to the Mike's of the art world who may point out some detail of your art that they do not like, while creating art that is all of the same color tone, showing their own vulnerabilities. Your photographs are great and and foremost an expression of your art. Do what you do and ignore them, art is an expression and should be honored. As a photographer and musician I have had to learn to filter these sort of people out.

For me, I would be happy to have your art on the walls of my home. Great work, keep going!

Learn to not shoot in any "auto" mode; know what shutter speed and aperture can do for you.
Your photos are good but I see tilted horizons. Learn about straightening and cropping. Understand terms like "rule of thirds" and shooting in quadrants. Then ignore the "rule of thirds" ;)
Never put a horizon dead center; either keep an interesting sky large or the landscape larger.
Never take just one shot of anything. Move left or right a little, change settings, shoot again; learn about bracketing. If there's a rock or a blade of grass in the frame, move.
Always shoot more than you need within a frame. You can always crop inwards, you can't crop outwards.It also gives you choices.

Contrary to the above, listen to the Mike's. The successful ones who, while they may not sugarcoat, they will be honest.

At a glance you have some beautiful images. Listen to all the advice and take from it what you need.

Pats on the back and encouragement is great but having the 'sugarfree' (Louise!) versions of critiques is as much a part of the process as 'great stuff' you got there"! One cannot improve if you don't know what to look for, which sounds like what you are interested in. If you don't know what the reference is above, they are talking about Mike Savad, who is great at picking up on things you may not have seen...he is honest but does not give pats on the back. So DO listen to the Mike's and Louise's of the world in addition to the others. I'm so glad I did :o)

What you've posted so far looks completely sellable to me - unless it's completely unprintable (blurry, too much noise), keep them up... I made a couple sales last week of stuff I posted in 2011 that I thought were good at the time, think they look awful now and my 2014 self would have never put them up, but they sold. You never know.

Just keep shooting any and everything at different depths, settings, angles... you'll develop your eye for what works and what doesn't, when to break the rules and how.

And to Louise's "never put a horizon dead center" tip... never say never.

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/red-white-and-blue-heather-applegate.html

There are many examples where it works brilliantly. Just make sure they are straight.

at a glance the images look nice, though you don't have that many posted. you need more keywords and descriptions.


i'd drop this one, if that guy wasn't there - who looks like a giant seed pod, it would be a bit better you want to make sure horizons are straight. without a description i don't know if this is more about the birds or that guy standing there. a bit camera shy.

start people off in the galleries, and add a little more content to your bio, it's a bit short.

in any case i don't see too many bad shots, they don't look like snap shots either with the exception of the above one, that looks more like a photo bomb. the rest seem ok. you might want to shoot earlier in the day or later when you on the beach to add color.


---Mike Savad

i'm 9 hours late, but it seems i've not only been summoned, but warned about... nice. thanks tim.


---Mike Savad

Lots of nice stuff. Just took a quick glance. Here is one that isn't up to snuff IMO - http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-end-of-folly-manda-.html - what the subject? The waves or the tiny lighthouse in the distance? Could use some cropping, get closer.

Too much boring sky ain't good. Choose where you want your horizon. Low to emphasis the sky, or high to emphasis the waves.

@Heather - IMO the composition of with the red barn would have been a lot stronger it it wasn't dead center. My eyes go ping ponging from the sky to the field. I need a place to rest my eyes.

I like this one a lot as far as framing, composition and subject matter. The comptuer I am on is no good for judging technical aspects of the shot though, but everything looks good.



To my naked eye, this one appears to be leaning ever so slightly clock-wise.



You have some good stuff overall on your page. I see you're already on the South Carolina Artists group, which I admin, as well as one of my favorite groups which I'm not an admin, the Southern Photographers page. Here's another one I admin --

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/the-american-southeast.html

And a few which I am a member of --

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/south-carolina-photographers-.html?tab=overview

http://fineartamerica.com/groups/1-north-carolina-photography.html?tab=overview

Edward - luckily my customers at shows don't agree with you :)

If there is any consistency here on FAA its that every artist does their own thing, what works for them. With that said, of the great artists I have met most of them consistently feel they fall short of the mark ... I would put you in this category, Jolene, though all I know about you is your OP statement and the work you have posted here. The buyer is the final critic, and one thing I have learned selling online is that what I think is my best work the buyers don't always agree. Watch closely your visitor stats ( if you can figure out what are the bots and not ) and post on your front page what people are looking at and not what you think is your best work, unless that is what they are looking at.

Hi Mike, I would take your advice any time! Better to have an honor teacher than have a teacher that always complement you to let you feel good eventhough it is wrong. I just get my Nikon D5200 last week and will ask all the Pro for the help in the future.

Thanks, To-Tam

Mike, I didn't even know I could start people off in galleries... shows how much I know at this point. :)

Edward, I will take that into consideration for the lighthouse pic and see what I can do with it!

Joseph, thanks, I will definitely check those other groups out.

And I guess I need to go back to editing and fixing some horizons!

Thank you again to everyone, I appreciate all of the encouragement, tips, and feedback!

Go to your Behind the Scenes area and get familiar with it - its the brains of the operation. In the defaults section is where you choose if you want people to see the galleries or images tab first. As well as default prices, medium and other stuff that speeds up the upload process.

1) Don't quit your dayjob...
2) There are literally tens of thousands of photographers trying to sell tens of millions of photographers on line.
3) See your photography as a hobby...
4) Compare your photographs by looking at all the great photographs on line (not here/altho there are many great photographs here also)...
5) Do you know the great photographers who do what you do whatever it is you do (like)? If not, find out who they are and study their images and compare your images with their images..
6) Very few fine art photographers earn some money, even fewer make a living by it.
7) You have to market your work. FAA is not going to do that for you.

If all this is too much for you, then you are not ready for prime time. So enjoy your hobby.

@Heather, thank so much for the information of "defaults section". I am learning from reading Jolene's thread.


To-Tam

As far as the advice above from everyone, even me, you have to run it through your own filter and decide what makes sense to you and what does not. Some advice is meant to be ignored. I personally ignore advice that tells me I can't do something or that I shouldn't do it. For example, "You have to market your work. FAA is not going to do that for you." is probably the best advice you can get on this post. The other six from the same post are useless, in my own opinion.

Above all, have fun with it.

rob she was asking for tips, not a depressing list of things. she also said it was a hobby. and #6 you need to back your statements up with facts.

---Mike Savad

Does a sale mean that a composition is as strong as it could be? Hmmm. At what point does the artist give over control of their vision to the customer? I've sold images that I consider weak while some of my best work goes unsold. Do I start making the weaker stuff?

You have excellent images, as good as most here and a lot better then some that are selling all the time.

The difference between a professional and an amateur is NOT quality, it is only money.

There are professionals here not making a dime and amateur here that sell all the time.

One of the biggest keys to selling anything and especially your own art is confidence. Never apologize for or put your own art down.

Take the attitude that your work is the best there is. If you do not reflect that in you attitude others will sense it. But at the same time always strive to improve, learn news things.

NEVER listen to people that tell you always do this, never do that... try everything for yourself. You will not only learn it better that way but you just may break one of those "never" or "must do" rules and create something incredible. Chances are you will not, but you need to learn that for yourself.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes, in fact you will lean nothing unless you do make mistakes and a lot of them!

Don't worry about how good everyone or anyone else is. That has no bearing on your own success. The successful ones will not share their money and the failures don't have any money to share. You have to create you own success.


I don't know if you play or follow golf, but on Thursday morning of nearly every week 125 golfers tee up the ball and every single one of them know they have the talent to win. But only one does. Some of them will never win an event, never finish number one. But when their career is over with they will look back and say, well I never won, but I gave it my best. And I made a ton of money and had a ball doing it!

You do not have to be the best... you only have to give it your best and a good amount of sucess will be yours.

Edited, so now the two post below will make no sense... lol

Edward -- "A painter is a man who paints what he sells; an artist, on the other hand, is a man who sells what he paints."
~ Pablo Picasso

I would take the water mark off your images. You will lose a low resolution image once in a will but in the long run the water mark will cost you a lot more in lost revenues then the loss of a low res image.

sorry gotta laugh at calling amateurs armatures... awesome typo.

Ya, some one needs to come out with a spell check for the spell checker. lol

Yogi Berra has noting over on me!

I have a hunch most folks come here with the expectation of earning money by way of their photographs. This simply is NOT going to happen. Some few here make good money. Some few here make a little money. Most photographers here make NO money or very very little.

If this is too depressing for a newbie, so be it.

Also, a newbie should learn that selling your images is ALL about marketing your images. FAA and some folks here do a good job at telling this to those who ask. Also, marketing your images can be learned from the many excellent YouTube classes on that topic.

I believe in Floyd Snyder.

Robert- I do appreciate your input. I will still love photography, even if I never sell a thing. I figure I should at least try. But I am realistic in that it may never happen, and that's okay too. It will not stop me from doing what I love. And I will not quit my day job, don't worry. :)

Floyd, Frank, Heather, and Mike, thank you.

Do most of you not use the watermark? Or would it suffice to just mention that the watermark would not be included? And how do most of you market your own work- word of mouth, your own local business, or what? Besides family, friends, and this site, I've not shared my work with anyone... I am curious which ways you have found successful.

i don't like watermarks, not only do they make the image ugly looking - it brands it to this site. but not to you. so even if its taken, and it will with or without, it doesn't help anyone find you later on.

i constantly post new things. tweet it, facebook, get your links out. friends and family - in general - don't buy your work. strangers are who you want to go for. for now you want to keep taking images, develop a style or the things you like to shoo the most. there is no one way that works, advertising is constant, just look at all the ways coke advertises their things - you see it everywhere, and that's the main key to selling it. when people ignore one method, they hit you with another.

you also might want a face and not a quadrant of your head. people remember that better.


---Mike Savad

Jolene -- do what you want with the watermark ... go with your gut. FAA is the only place I use a watermark, however, on my blog and on Flickr and my online portfolio, etc. I use Right-Click disable.

I don't watermark - I just don't like how it looks and I'd rather any buyers not have any distractions that might make them hesitate buying.

My mom was my first buyer. A few friends have bought from me as well, but now I sell quite regularly to total strangers. Market however and wherever you can.

Joleen, first of all you have an amazing attitude about this, and that will only help you. I applaud you for that. Keep your head in the game and become your own worst critic.

From my perspective you have alot of good to average photographs. You are a good photographer, and that is something to be proud of.

Sadly, to make consistent money selling your art online, you have to be more than good, and I think you can get there if you keep going, and keep pushing.

The #1 thing I see holding your photos back is the light and the skies. Landscape photography is unique in art as you can only capture the light as its given to you (or as you create it yourself). Learn to recognize, be present for, and to shoot with pleasing and amazing light. The golden hour, and the blue hour is a great place to start, but really the correct light for a scene and for your vision can happen at any time, but the key is being there for it and knowing how to capture it. Alot of your work is in high harsh sun, and with little to no drama in the skies. This, as a general rule, leaves scenes without the best color, contrast, and visual drama. Learn to seek the light, its a missing piece for you IMO. Go through your port image by image, look at the light, look at the skies, and think how it could be improved. Go look at similar shots by photographers you admire..... You will either see what I am talking about, or not, but I think you will see it.

Your floral work, as a rule, also is not up to snuff to sell consistently. Search in general for any flowers, see the level of work is out there, you are consistently below the bar there.

Good luck, keep improving, and I wish you the best.

"NEVER listen to people that tell you always do this, never do that."


Well, there ya go! LOL

"Do most of you not use the watermark? Or would it suffice to just mention that the watermark would not be included?"

The problem is, a lot of people are going to be turned off by the watermark before they see the disclaimer saying it won't be on the image they get.

I also agree on the the full face avatar.

The thing is Robert, you have no idea what you are talking about. You make claims like you have some sort of inside knowledge that we all know you do not have.

You have no idea how many people are or are not making money on FAA. NONE!

You are getting that from you own experience an from reading these threads. The problem witht this is only about 1% of the members even read the threads let alone make posts, if that many.

So, yes, I will continue to be optimistic and positive. Clouding up and raining all over people is not my style. I will leave that to you pessimists and doomsdayers.

Some people, including some of the new ones, are going to do okay here. YOU nor I know who that will be. So pardon me if I don't I want to be discouraging to those people.that are just getting started.

If you prefer to wallow around in negativity, that is your choice. Did you ever stop to think that with most of the world preaching the value and benefits of a positive attitude that they just may be on to something?

Maybe you should give it a try.

I think your portfolio shows competence, but it cannot be stressed the importance of marketing. A great portfolio that is never seen will never sell. An average portfolio that has high visibility has a better chance of making a sale.

You asked which images might not be strong enough? I am concerned about Waterfront Park and Rainy Night in Charlotte. The dark areas seem very dark and lack much detail hiding in those areas. Lots of negative space which really doesn't add to the story of the image.

As for the keepers, I would keep all others. You can never tell what will appeal to a buyer and if you are already a premium member, there is little downside to having more images.

Good luck to you.

I would echo what Thomas Zimmerman has to say. Good photographers are a dime a dozen. Great photographers are much less common.

And, welcome to the club! I also started my photography journey about five years ago. And, like you, I will continue to do this even if nobody ever buys anything from me again. As I continue to learn and grow and get better at this, my sales increase. No secret to quick success. Same as everything, you have to work at it.

As far as the watermark goes, I agree with Mike. I leave it off because even if the low-res image gets taken, it only says FineArtAmerica--not me. So what help is that? Let them take the 900px image if that's what they're into. I'm into selling 48" prints. And you won't get that from a low-res preview.

And lastly, my advice about advice. Take a few minutes to go look at the work of the people telling you what to do. You will quickly see who might be worth listening to and who might not. :-)

Best in your journey!

Thomas, thank you. I do know exactly what you mean. I think a lot of my images are sentimental ones, that are probably not of the best quality. They have meaning to me, but to others they will not be up to par. I will work on my lighting... I have recently gotten a new camera, and will be going at it again soon in the next few weeks. :)

Thanks Loree and David!

And to everyone else, I feel as though I have had a "Fine Art America Makeover." I have plenty of tips and feedback to keep myself busy for the foreseeable future. Thanks again!

sentimental can hurt you in the long run, especially if someone doesn't like it. for me, when i take a shot, i forget that i took that shot. i'm at the point where i have to review images to remember what i took. in the business like this, you have to look at your own images as a buyer would, unless you can pick up the emotion and convey it, we probably won't "get it". often its better to shoot now and wait for a month before you edit them.

even if you have a bad trip and all you got was X, unless the images are good, don't show them. i know i dropped and broke my camera one vacation. i couldn't see what i was shooting because the mirror broke. and it effected focusing as well. most of the shots were scrappers at that point. but if it's a weather related disaster, just try to make the best use out of it if you can.


---Mike Savad

the first 5 galleries are great! I can def see them on someones wall in there homes!! You do good work