New Photographer Tips

Published by hexfire on November 22, 2007

One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple of portrait sessions that I’ve shot outside is that the Cannon systems I work with do not particularly handle super dark shadows particularly well. I mention this in regards to portraits only because in recent testing with shooting in RAW mode, that this particular downfall of the cannon processor can actually make an interesting effect. When utilizing the RAW import function in Photoshop you can manually tweak a lot of the settings, much more so then you would be able to in some of the other preset filters of Photoshop.

This can work both for and against you. If you are a studio photographer and have a lot of time to sit down and tweak individual images, you can take the time and make some more artisitic type of shots. If you are the type of photographer that is starting out and looking to make your break, I still suggest you do quantity over quality at this point in the game. That is not to say produce crap. You should always aim to have a high quality of image, but if you are looking to get more clients and make the big bucks you need to get out there and shoot shoot shoot.

If you’re shooting in any system that is producing a lot of chunky dark spaces, instead of trying to hide it in post processing, why not work with it some and exploit it. Giving a photo some distress or artistic flavor can always be a good thing. Most clients are open to seeing different ideas and concepts of their images. One of the best ways I’ve found so far to create an interesting effect is to really play with the saturation and curves of the shadows within images. Now be careful with this tip, you can blow out the image in a hurry.

New photographers or those trying to get there work out to the public to generate some more sales, I would suggest postponing some of the more intense and time consuming artistic design photographs and concentrate on the more boring, yet usually more profitable portrait and session photography. Doing this will build up your portfolio more quickly and in turn hopefully give you some of that extra money that artists are always striving to have.