EDIT: I know 77 is a lot, and I'm not asking for individual feedback on specific images. I want to know what you think about the shoot AS A WHOLE.

Can I ask if anyone thinks this set would be acceptable as an entire shoot? I just want to know if what I offered with this shoot is even relevant. I'll take any comments, up to and including, "Sell your camera." I'm not going to be offended by anything other than a lack of feedback. I'm tired of hearing how talented I am, then no one buys pictures. If you genuinely think these suck, say so, I will most definitely appreciate you for your honesty.

These were all shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 70-200 2.8 IS II. Editing was with CS5 and Nik Color/Silver Efex

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take it from me. no one wants to or will look at 77 images. ive been flamed on several times for posting 20 images much less 77 lol. Try smaller batches and you will get some C&C.

Be a little more selective too, for instance 76 is not very flattering and could probably be left out. On the other hand 70 is awesome.

Thanks for sharing.

misternikko wrote:
take it from me. no one wants to or will look at 77 images. ive been flamed on several times for posting 20 images much less 77 lol. Try smaller batches and you will get some C&C.

Be a little more selective too, for instance 76 is not very flattering and could probably be left out. On the other hand 70 is awesome.

Thanks for sharing.


This - some of them look decent, but I just get overwhelmed. Pick your favorite 15 or so and repost!

I think they are a fair amount are good and they will be pleased. There are certainly some major winners like 14 which may be the best of the lot. You have a variety of PP and lots of shots that are out of focus which could be culled out. Shots like 3 & 7 need to be scrapped more from the viewpoint of "what was the woman thinking, dressing like that", those shots are absolutely awful but not entirely your fault. The ratio of winners to neutral and losers is about 50/50, cull your work out some more would be my parting advice.

The whole point of my post is to get feedback on the shoot as a whole. I never see what other photographers would present to the client, I just see a few they thought were realy good. I don't want to ask anyone to give specific feedback on individual images. Altho, I do appreciate yours! If these 77 images were all the remotely acceptable shots you got from just under an hour's worth of shooting, would that be considered a success?

In an hour, if you got six images that had nice light, expressions, focus and presented the child/family in a flattering light, I'd say you done good.

duronboy wrote:
The whole point of my post is to get feedback on the shoot as a whole. I never see what other photographers would present to the client, I just see a few they thought were realy good. I don't want to ask anyone to give specific feedback on individual images. Altho, I do appreciate yours! If these 77 images were all the remotely acceptable shots you got from just under an hour's worth of shooting, would that be considered a success?

I guess, but its your job to sift through the "remotely acceptable" shots and present a digestible amount to the client (and FM!). 77 is way too many. I'd say give the clients between 20-30 edited images and you've got plenty!

duronboy wrote:
... I never see what other photographers would present to the client, I just see a few they thought were realy good...


The few really good images should be the only ones shown to the client. They are paying not only for your photography but your editing skills as well. I think showing only 15-20 images from a short photo shoot should be fine as long as you explain that to them beforehand.

Also, try to be more consistent in your post-processing and maybe scale it back a little. And try to match the processing to the mood of the scene. The coloring on 62 and 70 are beautiful but I don't think the gritty B&W fit with a baby on a sunny day.

As a whole, my opinion is a lot of images with problems are taking away from the handful of good ones. But as someone else mentioned, i'd be happy with a few good ones in an hour shoot.
I'd like to see your list of say.....your 10 favorites

On this forum I might look at 4-6. 77? No way!

I sense some frustration on the OP's part with their professional progress. But I think that the above advice has been very valuable to more people than the OP. It seems like a good afternoon shoot with this kind of family would be a success with 6 to 10 really strong pictures. Throw the rest away and concentrate less on trying to snag 60 good pictures and shoot for 6 great pictures.

I will admit that I only made it through the first few pictures, but a couple were pretty nice. One family shot in the middle somewhere jumped out at me. I don't care for PP much past reality, so I didn't like the heavy PP stuff, but if done with more moderation it may appeal to parents of little kids.

I'm seeing red x's ....did you take them down?

I didn't even look. Too many.

You should filter out your pics and post SOME of them.

You can always leave a link to "more pics" for those who might want to wade through the larger numbers.

Final note - "Only post your best" This advice came from someone on this forum. Good advice, IMO.

What people post here are what they would present the client. A client will get overwhelmed if to many images are presented. Pick your best 30 for them. For us your 10 best would suffice. Overall the shoot looks successful.

Good snapshots with decent PP, did you do these for free or are they for a family member? I would be stoked if someone did this for me for free.

As the others have mentioned, there are far too many to look at. I started and gave up around 20-something. What I'm seeing on a whole is some good images mixed in with a lot of snapshots. Things to work on (just a general trend I noticed) would be good lighting (having half the face blown isn't working for me), post-processing (less is sometimes more), and white balance among other things. I do like a lot of the emotions and expressions you captured.

I try to stick around 20ish, 30 tops when I deliver to clients.

You've got several shots that are near duplicates of each other (some of the swing shots, for example). Pick the best one and toss the others, unless you wanted to do a triptych showing the movement of the swing or something like that.

You also have a range of treatments all next to each other. Regular color, desaturated, B&W, whatever the current low contrast fad is, etc. Pick one or two processing styles and stick with it. Having that many styles in a set looks like you are processing them inconsistently.

Holy images Batman!!!! Cut down the amount of images and link to the rest. I would post 7-8 at most of the best ones.

That being said, and this is a generalization. Some could be culled from the list. I love 73. And there are a lot of different treatments applied to different images, pick one or two processing styles and stick with them.

Well, they dont suck, but they arent good either. The biggest issue I see with these is that it seemed like you were not in charge of the shoot, meaning, there isnt really a clearly defined vision for the set. Its one thing to tell the client 'lets go to the playground and we'll just hang out and take photos', but you have to have a cohesive vision. This issue is exacerbated by the inconsistent processing. Its like you literally tried every kind of editing possible on these.

My advice would be to determine what you want your photographs to look like and try to hone in on that vision rather than throwing a bunch of shit against the wall and hoping it sticks!

Good luck. With time, passion, and patience you can be great!

i think the saying "Quality over Quantity" holds very true with this post.