What am I doing wrong

After going through your post history then looking at your website, it seems like you don't really have a firm grasp on the technical aspects of photography yet and just jumped right into doing business with just rudimentary knowledge. Your presentation, technique, and post processing appear to be sloppy and all over the place and clients can see that and be discouraged, even if its free.

You need take it easy and slow down a bit and tackle the many questions and issues you've posted in your threads. Master your craft before you can even think about charging people for it. Ask yourself if you would hire you to photograph an important part of you life.

I appreciate all the direction from your posts. All of you are right in your assessment of my photography and website. Although I feel a bit better this morning I am still in the dumps over this. I am going to think about this for a few days and see if I feel any better or any more hope than today. Maybe its time for me to retire. Again thanks for your suggestions and feedback.

I'm confused, is it Michael G Photography or Clinton Photography?

You have no style. Why would anyone hire you? They have NO IDEA what kind of photos they might get.

Your editing is all over the place with seemingly random types of editing.

Tedder wrote in post #17224580
If you had 30 photographs of pets on furniture that matched the quality of the shot of the dachshund on the sofa, I'd consider buying a dog and hiring you to photograph it.

This reminds me of something I thought of posting last night. It was bedtime and I stopped.

I liked the dog-on-sofa photo, too. It's too dark, but that can be changed. Clinton is a small town in a rural area (from Wikipedia). Average income is low; the poverty level is high. There are remarkably few men for the number of women. (Where did the guys go? Are they away in the military? In jail? Did they have to leave town to find work?) So there may be a high proportion of widows and single mothers. The area looks to be economically depressed. People are struggling. I wouldn't think this would be much of a market for paid portraits, not enough to sustain many photography businesses, even part-time. Buying food and fuel comes first in the household budget.

Have you considered specializing in animals? If you have a lot of rapport with them (important for posing), it could be a good area. The clients would be ranchers and pet owners. Ranchers tend to have more money. Are there any livestock breeders nearby? Is there a rodeo? A feed store where you can put up a poster?

And way too many of the same photos with just different post processing.

Stop using on-board flash. Get speedlight and learn to bounce or if outdoors learn to use off-camera flash.

Get prime lens and open it up so you get separation from subject and background. Shoot when sun is coming up or going down or on overcast days (no harsh shadows).

Learn rule of thirds. And watch your backgrounds, too many shots of telephone wires popping out of people heads.

Post processing: Keep it simple. Adjust curves, shadows, highlights, vibrance. Add some vignetting (especially for portraits). Don't go crazy trying to get "instagram" look. That will come later.

These rules aren't set in stone but for a beginner it is helpful to follow them.

These are basics to start with and for now yes only post your best shots on your site.

OhLook wrote in post #17225221
This reminds me of something I thought of posting last night. It was bedtime and I stopped.

I liked the dog-on-sofa photo, too. It's too dark, but that can be changed. Clinton is a small town in a rural area (from Wikipedia). Average income is low; the poverty level is high. There are remarkably few men for the number of women. (Where did the guys go? Are they away in the military? In jail? Did they have to leave town to find work?) So there may be a high proportion of widows and single mothers. The area looks to be economically depressed. People are struggling. I wouldn't think this would be much of a market for paid portraits, not enough to sustain many photography businesses, even part-time. Buying food and fuel comes first in the household budget.

Have you considered specializing in animals? If you have a lot of rapport with them (important for posing), it could be a good area. The clients would be ranchers and pet owners. Ranchers tend to have more money. Are there any livestock breeders nearby? Is there a rodeo? A feed store where you can put up a poster?

Our area depends on Hogs & Chickens producers. There is some photography business here but the ratio of photographers to people is high. There is 20 or more in my town that are offering services. I know its hard to compete with this but I didn't want that to be an excuse. I don't mind shooting animals but I prefer people. That dog in the image is mine. He was laying there while I was playing around with my Photogenic lights so I took his picture for practice.

Home page gieves little idea what you are about - I'd have a few prominent words to explain what you do for a client.

I'd ditch the filter effect images especially the HDR like ones - looks too obvious - "anyone" can apply a filter. Some wonkey horizons sin #2 after bad focus. Focus seems OK, but DOF so large they would be. Given camera phones exist I think (sadly!) that you probably need a few shallow DOF images to show you have, and can use, decent lenses.

Martin Dixon wrote in post #17225244
Home page gieves little idea what you are about - I'd have a few prominent words to explain what you do for a client.

I'd ditch the filter effect images especially the HDR like ones - looks too obvious - "anyone" can apply a filter. Some wonkey horizons sin #2 after bad focus. Focus seems OK, but DOF so large they would be. Given camera phones exist I think (sadly!) that you probably need a few shallow DOF images to show you have, and can use, decent lenses.

So at this point I will most likely dump everything on website and look to take some better images.

Numenorean wrote in post #17225150
You have no style. Why would anyone hire you? They have NO IDEA what kind of photos they might get.

Your editing is all over the place with seemingly random types of editing.

Is this meant to be constructive or are you just that clueless?

riveragaryj@juno.com wrote in post #17225257
Is this meant to be constructive or are you just that clueless?

Sorry, do you not understand what I typed?

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #17225241
There is some photography business here but the ratio of photographers to people is high. There is 20 or more in my town that are offering services. I know its hard to compete with this but I didn't want that to be an excuse.

Whether a market is saturated would enter into a rational business decision about what services to offer and where to offer them. "Excuse" doesn't really apply.

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #17225251
So at this point I will most likely dump everything on website and look to take some better images.

Dumping everything isn't being selective.

Numenorean wrote in post #17225266
Sorry, do you not understand what I typed?

Everyone understands what you typed. One might wish you had typed nicer.

OhLook wrote in post #17225316
Everyone understands what you typed. One might wish you had typed nicer.

So he asks for an opinion on what he is doing wrong, and I give him a reason why people may not choose him and I'm not being nice?

Should I tell him that everything is wonderful with his photography and everyone that is going elsewhere just can't discern how awesome he is and it's their fault? How exactly is that helping anyone?

Numenorean wrote in post #17225331
Should I tell him that everything is wonderful with his photography and everyone that is going elsewhere just can't discern how awesome he is and it's their fault? How exactly is that helping anyone?

Since you responded with questions, I'll ask some myself. Where did you get the idea that reality consists of pairs of opposites, with nothing in the middle? How exactly is that helping you?

I'll show you how a constructive comment might be made. The original:

Numenorean wrote in post #17225150
You have no style. Why would anyone hire you? They have NO IDEA what kind of photos they might get.

Your editing is all over the place with seemingly random types of editing.

One possible rewrite: "People who want photography will browse websites looking for a style they like. Your photos are so diverse, with many types of editing, that there's no consistent style there. These samples wouldn't tell potential clients what they might get. I suggest developing a single style that you think you can deliver consistently so that your site will be a reliable guide for viewers' expectations."

OP, you're home page doesn't even load on my mac. safari browser.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #17224313
You don't know what you want to sell. Your website is a mismatch of all sorts and everything image wise rolled into one. To be perfectly honest many of the wedding shots would have been taken better on a phone. You have no clear direction with your processing either. The front page of the site more resembles a bunch of photographs taken by several different photographers. The quality and processing varies that much.

Your website doesn't look like a business. Be honest with yourself and browse your Facebook friends pages... and any of their friends too if you can. Look at the photos people have taken themselves and ask yourself honestly whether yours stand out in anyway as being different. If your answer is "yes" then you are lying to yourself.

Before you start selling a product you need to know what the product is and be able to produce it first. Again being perfectly honest I don't see your luck changing unless you find what your product is and figure out how to produce it consistently.

Numenorean wrote in post #17225150
You have no style. Why would anyone hire you? They have NO IDEA what kind of photos they might get.

Your editing is all over the place with seemingly random types of editing.

Numenorean, do you understand that you and memories are saying the same thing?

can you see that the tone of each post is vastly different?

That's what folks are talking about. Constructive criticism offers solutions, what you are giving is straight criticism, and it's seen as poor form because you are kicking a guy when he's already down. It may not have been intentional, but that's the way it looks from this side of the internet.