Stephany G.

This young lady was just married this past weekend. Prior to the wedding her parent hired me to take some traditional portraits of their lovely daughter. Image #1 was chosen for a 16x20 inch print for their house. They bought every image that I took in 4x6 size. Your comments and critique will be appreciated.

NIKON D2H    ---    82mm    f/2.8    1/640s    ISO 200

There are more images on my website. Thanks for looking.

 

Thanks Vince and Joe. She is beautiful and was fairly easy to photograph, lighting of course is key.

 

Thanks Clive, I like that one also. Her eyes really make that image.

 

Mike and Steve, thanks for your comments and critique. Steve, #1 and #3 are different images not just a closer crop. I didn't mean to post them at the smaller size so will have to look into that. As to the "dead sticks" on #3, it was a conscious decision to let them show vs. using DOF to obscure (see #1). I kind of liked them like that but do understand your comments. Normally I would throw the background out of focus with a wide open lens. It was a pleasant assignment to take pictures of this lovely young lady.

 

It was an overcast day and so a diffuser was not needed but did use a reflector on several of the shots. The 70-200mm was the best for controling DOF.

 

Thanks biggstr6, Panos, and Jeff for your very nice comments. Panos, she did look like an angel and I appreciate you recognizing that in her.

 

Hi Joe,

First of all Diana is my daughter and I had suggested to her that we do such a photo shoot on her next visit. From that shoot we produced a bound book of the shots which I show to other prospective clients. Each one that I do my client base grows. This is word of mouth advertising. I have completed four photo shoots in the last week and continue to get referrals. Several more have been booked for later this month and next.

Another avenue is church. I did some free shots of youth events and from that came other paid referrals. One of them was the shoot for the Heritage Choir here in St. George and I made a lot of money on that one. From that shoot came a wedding and some other individual shots. Right now I have more work than I really want to do and it seems to be growing exponentially.

A couple of Realators stopped by my house one day and indicated that they were putting together a business directory and would I like a listing. I told them I was a professional photographer and would like to do the images for their directory. To make a long story short I got a free listing and the cover image for the business directory. I guess what I am saying is you just have to sell yourself and I had a lot of experience as a business exec. with a fortune 500 company prior to my retirement. My impetus was to make my photography purchases free to me and I have been able to do that.

Now as to places to shoot, they are ubiquitious. Every where you go opportunities abound. Photography teaches you to see the beauty that lies all around you. Many people think that you have to go to Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Tetons or some other fantastic place when in reality photo ops. are all around you, your yard, house, children, church, bar, inner city, the ground under your feet, etc., etc.

Now to reflectors, yes I do have someone help me. I usually ask a neighborhood boy, a family member, etc., to help me. I never ask my wife as she does not grasp the concept of bounced light and where it comes from. It is just way to frustrating for me. Now don't you ladies that read this take that personal as this is just pertinent to my wife who by her own admission, is not mechanical. That is an understatement to the extreem.

One more example: While practicing my photography at a local soccer match I saw a young boy clinging to his mothers pantleg. I asked her if she would mind if I took a picture of them. I told her I would put the image on my website and gave her my business card. I got a fairly large order for that one shot and also some referrals by the mother. Again, you sell yourself by the work that you turn out.