Good honest feedback

Its alot of work freelancing and going job to job. Make sure you are giving your client what they want and showing them what your skill level is. There is nothing wrong with the skill level you have currently.

Genaral advice I give out alot is: Alot of photographers hide behind "Im a natural light shooter because natural light is organic and beautiful" which in my mind equals "Im scared of flash". Natural light is asweome but you really need to master your flash. Without it you will get into major jams. Learn bounce flash and off camera techniques.


Also try not to bite off more then you can chew with gigs.

DThriller wrote in post #17855816
Its alot of work freelancing and going job to job. Make sure you are giving your client what they want and showing them what your skill level is. There is nothing wrong with the skill level you have currently.

Genaral advice I give out alot is: Alot of photographers hide behind "Im a natural light shooter because natural light is organic and beautiful" which in my mind equals "Im scared of flash". Natural light is asweome but you really need to master your flash. Without it you will get into major jams. Learn bounce flash and off camera techniques.


Also try not to bite off more then you can chew with gigs.

Thank Dan, I appreciate your advice. I had my wife read this and she immediately said that a co-worker of hers mentioned that their photographer was scheduled to take photos of their child. Well it was raining and the photographer said they couldn't take photos inside because they were a "natural light photographer". So, this came at the correct time!

Thanks again for your feedback!

Its a big red flag but they get away with it bc "natural" is such a buzz word right now.

I'm an available light photographer. My flashes are always available.

Well you got it right ^^^^

Out of curiosity if a client asked you "Im really into natural light and I see you're an available light photographer why do you have flashes?"

DThriller wrote in post #17857131
Well you got it right ^^^^

Out of curiosity if a client asked you "Im really into natural light and I see you're an available light photographer why do you have flashes?"

I would say unless " natural" light is superior to that I can create by supplementing existing I hold open the option to use fill flash. Then I would show the client samples of properly balanced fill light. If they insisted no flash be used I would wish them well with their new photographer because I've spent 35 years learning my craft and don't need to have my technique dictated by someone who doesn't have a clue. But honestly its never come up.

Haha nice

Im glad it dosnt come up alot! Every so often Ill get a wedding couple that says they dont want any posing and I always think: so you just walk around totally photogenic all the time? Everyone need a few posing tips

gonzogolf wrote in post #17857173
I would say unless " natural" light is superior to that I can create by supplementing existing I hold open the option to use fill flash. Then I would show the client samples of properly balanced fill light. If they insisted no flash be used I would wish them well with their new photographer because I've spent 35 years learning my craft and don't need to have my technique dictated by someone who doesn't have a clue. But honestly its never come up.

Great answer! I wish I had gotten into photography 35 years ago. I've always had an interest and I really don't know what kept me from delving into it before I did. I guess the major benefit for me now is I have so many great folks like yourself to offer advice. I do feel like I will never fully understand photography as I've missed out on working with film. Who knows, maybe some day I'll attempt to do that as well!

bsiegler wrote in post #17857190
Great answer! I wish I had gotten into photography 35 years ago. I've always had an interest and I really don't know what kept me from delving into it before I did. I guess the major benefit for me now is I have so many great folks like yourself to offer advice. I do feel like I will never fully understand photography as I've missed out on working with film. Who knows, maybe some day I'll attempt to do that as well!

I was lucky enough to go to a small rural school that for cost reasons did all of their yearbook, class photos, and public relations photos in house by students. We had a teacher who taught english but was also a successful wedding photographer. Learning on film was a mixed blessing. It required that you learn to get exposures rigjt as you didnt get second chances. Developing film made you feel like a wizard doing alchemy and it was a badge of honor to have mastered a process that baffled the public. It also cut down on the competition for jobs. But the learning curve can be so much quicker with digital. You can see your results immediately. We maxed out on ISO 800 when I first started unless you were making small prints and you were stuck with the entire roll. Look at wedding photos from the 80s noring lighting, dark backgrounds, multiple flashes were rare on location. Now off camera flash is easy, multiple flash is easy and in a half hour anyone can learn how to master balancing flash with ambient.

So dont worry about missing film. Its just something for us old guys to reminisce about the good old days that in reality werent all that good.

One question asked earlier, that I didn't see addressed yet, is whether you could still get blurred backgrounds while shooting at smaller apertures. You can, but it is done by changing the distance between your subject(s) and the background. The more distance between the subject and background (vs distance from subject to camera) the greater the blur that will happen. Much better explanation can be had by reading through this rather thorough thread: https://photography-on-the.net …hread.php?t=672​913&page=1

That goes into quite a bit of detail on perspective, but delves into the relation of background > subject distance later on. It's quite a good read and I highly recommend it.

Also, about +1000 to most everything that's been said about learning flash so far. There are plenty of tools available to allow flash color to match ambient light fairly well and still give you the flexibility that a good flash gives for shooting various situations and conditions.

Snydremark wrote in post #17857307
One question asked earlier, that I didn't see addressed yet, is whether you could still get blurred backgrounds while shooting at smaller apertures. You can, but it is done by changing the distance between your subject(s) and the background. The more distance between the subject and background (vs distance from subject to camera) the greater the blur that will happen. Much better explanation can be had by reading through this rather thorough thread: https://photography-on-the.net …hread.php?t=672​913&page=1

That goes into quite a bit of detail on perspective, but delves into the relation of background > subject distance later on. It's quite a good read and I highly recommend it.

Also, about +1000 to most everything that's been said about learning flash so far. There are plenty of tools available to allow flash color to match ambient light fairly well and still give you the flexibility that a good flash gives for shooting various situations and conditions.

Thanks for the reply Eric! I will be sure to check out this thread!

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17855114
if you are using ETTL, FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation) for on camera work will allow you to strike a better balance between ambient and flash. You can add to that by also pointing the flash in different directions other than just straight up.

this guy has a ton of info you should look over http://neilvn.com pay particular interest to the BFT.

If you have the means and desire, off camera flash with softboxes will open up a lot of possibilities. It isn't always practical or necessary though.

I've been doing lots of reading neilvn.com what an awesome resource of info! I'll be purchasing the items to make my BFT this weekend!