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Critiques - Part 1

Lesson 20 from: Foundations of a Working Photographer

Zack Arias

Critiques - Part 1

Lesson 20 from: Foundations of a Working Photographer

Zack Arias

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Lesson Info

20. Critiques - Part 1

Next Lesson: Critiques - Part 2

Lesson Info

Critiques - Part 1

So we do these web critiques normally it's like one o'clock in the morning your midnight when we finally sit down to do this quiet house uh we have a drink um and the rules that we do is I look through the web sites first she's looking at them for the first time um and the viewpoint I bring to it as as a photographer meg's viewpoint is um as just kind of a consumer is just like she's going to react to the pictures not as in oh I don't like the depth of field you used but does she like that right right so when we are critiquing we're not critiquing you is a person this is the tough part that you have to separate yourself from because your photography is you write it is such a personal thing um like if you have to write a tps reports for your boss and your boss doesn't like tps reports you like I don't care I don't care about tps reports but this is my photography is my arts what it do and so as I go by I don't you know this picture needs to like go like wait you don't understand how har...

d I worked for that picture you don't understand like how difficult it was for me to get that picture of this that or the other at the end of the day if the picture is like it's a photo no matter how hard you worked for it you know I've photographed um I once had the opportunity tio get a portrait of the strokes right before a show and I shot this portrait had no time to set up for it and I shot a portrait of them um it was really a pretty bad portrait of this band it just kind of sucked but you know they're higher level band I could put them in my portfolio just going hey I photographed portrait the strokes but I'm putting a bad portrait up I'd rather put a good portrait of a band you've never heard of that bad portrait of a band you may have heard I think so don't take this stuff personally um don't if we kind of laugh at the subject material in front of us we're not laughing at the subject we're trying not to make fun of the subject but we do this lighthearted this is not academic this is not well the rule of thirds was not quite met here very well and your depth of field needs to increase by one and a half stop right we're just having a conversation now meg you are you've had a tough morning yes yeah you had like um hawk has his terrible twos full force and so you've dealt with a bag of cereal on the floor this morning um waiting in the shower to pay myself hey pulled all the tote paper off the role and the interaction tell room threw a bag of cereal on the floor of your pajamas in the toilet smeared of banana on the carpet what else? D'oh he's probably really loud. Yeah so anyway but I'm here now and I think that it's afternoon georgian I'm allowed to have beer wait have a beer on all right uh yeah it's before it's afternoon in georgia so let's start drinking all right? So hearing of carolina um all right carolina I'm taking a look at your website here and I'm seeing uh see some people kind of show obviously the back of a person but I see uh more things than I see people so, um I'm kind of thinking that you're like a street nature photographer or something. Um I'm not quite sure uh what you photograph other than well here's important people but on there's cat um so you're signaling that looked like that? Um, yeah see that's where we like to have fun looking at pictures, we're not making fun of you. We probably are making fun of the cat way where they're making fun of all right so let's go to the galleries and seeks I I'm not quite sure who you are is a photographer all right, so uh we have portrait urban uh nature and pro bono I'm pro but I love I love you too yeah I'm pro bono to all right so I always went when I'm looking at a photographer side I just go to the portrait section line I'm important she write that's that's what I do I I just go straight to portray it's so let's go to the market let's go to it now we have individuals groups in weddings all right, so let's go right on into individuals and what I like to do first is I like to go through um I like to just uh go through the pictures and see what's there hey who's got my mouth all right now can I stop this if you click the some nails at the bottom it will just bring the picture of it. Uh if I click the picture well in advance it will ok, I don't like websites that, um sort of take over or start into a slide show because I want to be in charge of that kind of thing all right, now another thing we're looking at a really contrast the screen we're not looking at best screen in the world tio view pictures so something looks like well, that's really over exposure that's to contrast t I'm kind of staying away from that because it's probably the screen what what's the name of this gallery individuals right this is the individual's gallery and its portrait it's there really candid um already I don't know why that is in there right um so it's it's a portrait uh this is a portrait of you know, someone's rear in but I can't go I thought portrait just posted me aboutthe person the person right? And so there are there are technically people in these shots and forty nine tonight a portrait doesn't have to be there looking at you but some of these just found like, feel like, uh like ok, I can say that supported all right um and the next one of her I love that one that's a cute shot she's got this little stuff around. Yes, a few things growing out of the back of her head. I wish this little thing right here it's kind of given her horns um was not there, but the light on her is really nice. I like this going out of focus back here. She sharp she that's really good coffee I want like I dig this picture. All right, I am imagining these air your feet. All right? I don't really I'm not going to call this a portrait, all right? I'm not going to put it in a portrait gallery I'm not going to hire you to photograph your own feet um or from the viewpoint of of you know, for you to shoot this of a portrait of someone else they've got to be on a swing set and you've got to be hanging out over top of them, okay just stay still um so I'm not going to put this in a portrait gallery at all um I don't I don't I could I could take that picture with mine, all right you know, saying that god with sunglasses and this is probably the same girl that we're seeing the back end up here we look at her back in I'm not the same girl again these don't feel like portrait's necessarily um so you've got some like adults and then you've got this one kid and in your shoes and I'm just not feeling this gallery right now okay? All right, so galleries um portrait uh group let's look bad. I like your website think way only have two pictures in this gallery. Yeah, yeah that's got to go if you don't have it, don't show it okay, you only have your calling it a group you know, portrait gallery and ok, I need to hire you to shoot a group family or real issue I think of we know more than two people which is a couple right, okay, no or is it a few no it's happening you know we're not getting into that a couple is to a few is three or more that I would like I would like all of this the galleries to somehow you can if you click on one of the galleries like open a gallery on then it's left or right yeah you can go to the next thing that is it is that the tension here explaining it to us that's great but if it's someone else coming it's not immediately understandable that's no problem right now we're in a portrait gallery that's not a portrait right? Our weaknesses wedding okay, what isn't under the headings of portrait stuff yeah it's under portrait in the way so if you were shooting weddings weddings needs to be its phone thing right cause I'm saying well I'm trying t judge you as a portrait photographer my going to hire you as a portrait photographer I pull up weddings and that's a portrait right um and these air all portrait's the's air more group portrait it's um you could have put those in your group right but it's all from the same one wedding kind of thing and that is not a portrait right and it's fortunate to get a painting of a peacock it is a portrait of a painting of it right? Your lovely alliteration rob thank you, meghan my okay, so uh these air not portrait's right, ok, so we do have a portrait here was kind of dark, right? This is one of those situations where, like, dark, his eyes are need a little light, little fill flash reflector. Uh, don't be afraid to take a, you know, fill flash or reflector out on a wedding is you get into situations where you need extra light, you gotta have it with you. I know a lot of wedding photographers just want to run and gun, keep it as simple as possible, um, and not have any extra gear to worry about. So either a you get yourself into a place where you have great light and that is where you shoot or you get yourself to where you want to shoot, and then you might have to supplement the light there, and if that means you're running around with a light stand, that means you're running around with light stand all right? Um, yeah, I don't I'm not feeling like there's a whole ton of weddings here. I sort of have a feeling like you've been the one wedding, right? Yeah, yeah, you've been the one wedding. Um, so it's, not time to build a wedding gallery yet. Okay, now you could have this off to the side somewhere, like a separate leak or a separate gallery that as you might get a call like hey, could you shoot a wedding? Could I see some pictures you've shot you could say well shot one wedding and here's a little gallery of it but as your website goes forward like if you don't have it, don't show it all right so I go back to galleries didn't do um so is this the urban is the heading so we have urban buildings, urban food, urban urban escapes and urban urban urban skate let's says and then you should shoot keith urban, urban, urban, urban right urban, urban urban um so my I'm looking at your website it's it's a nice website the pictures air you know they're nice pictures I don't know what you do like I have no clue where you're going like I don't know how to hire you your portrait sar really portrait's you don't have enough wedding work um it's going to be a very small clientele that needs you to go out and shoot cats you know, unless you're a pet portrait photographer right here's someone like ah and hamilton in san francisco pets you know and that's what she does and she does a very good job at it you go to our website and its pets right um and pets and people and things like that so yeah, you want to take over here, so um I don't know what she I don't know it on and and I can't quite look at this and go oh, yeah, you can shoot my family portrait because I like the picture of apples, you know? Um, I know we'll get into a lot of yeah, well, yeah, I love the colors in your shop of wire, the water bottles, right? You know, I think if you hadn't moved that that that would have been I don't know it's a cool picture, um, but it's like, ok, do you want to do magazine travel assignment? You know, so you want to do travel photography for magazines, you would have to shoot these kind of details of the food and the spaces and the places and you've got to shoot people and you've got to shoot things kind of, um, is that what you want to do? Right? But as just joe public showing up your web site, I have no idea what you want and that that's the thing is that I'm looking through and look a comment online, for instance, again, I can tell by the screen, but for instance, I'm that picture does nothing for me. I got I don't know when that's there it feels like a drop shot or something, and yet you have some really cool perspectives on things but I love that it's almost like you could hang it on your wall almost like more but then and that's cool kind of it is a cool because it's graffiti or is it is it cool because it's actually good shot looks like it was shot through a chain link fence yeah which makes it kind of interesting but remember this when you are photographing artwork, graffiti sculptures, paintings, whatever you are photographing somebody else's hart said I love that by the way I like that too yes that brings me into a story of some kind but I think they were asking saying is because we're not sure what it is exactly that you want to say it feels like there's so much here it's hard to go through and say well you could take these shots out and just focus on this until we know what it is you want focus from my perspective it feels like a person not a photographer but I hang out with a lot of them and way went on the internet a place I should have my phone um I'm glad she's not a starter she's better than me I mean astronaut ask dot um you have you have a really interesting perspective on things that's a cool shot of where is that that iss in uh mary cathedral in san francisco alice I don't have enough ask you technically is carolina technically I say you know, here's what I want to say I'm going to say you're far more comfortable shooting this kind of stuff, right? Um because watching you photograph today you go quiet and when you're dealing with a person like I feel like your comfort zone is you don't have to talk to anyone you could just walk around, you could take pictures that draw your eye and as soon as people get in front of your camera you start sweating and you start going and you just sort of shut down and if you could just be let alone to just kind of rome through a city, you are much happier, right? So that is your comfort zone you want if you want to do this as a business, you have to figure out what kind of client what I are you to roam through cities and shoot architectural details and food and things like that and there's totally photographer to do this, you know, travel photographers do this. Architectural photographers have to go and photograph buildings and, um and you know and things like that and you know what? A lot of times you do need to still a little bit of some support network, they're all right so it's going to be harder to find clients you have, you have us much, much, much, much smaller client base who's going to just want you to rome and just shoot pictures right? Or maybe it's stock photography that that kind of thing um show yeah and I totally know what it's like to have people in front of my camera and I don't know what to say to them or that I'm just sweating and does that mean I that's where I started um and it was I had I had to just figure out how to talk I had to learn I was off and again it goes back to just just ask questions you know, explain what you're doing kind of thing all right around yeah I just publishing is gone but you're you by a force to be reckoned with I love your about section school yeah, I like this web site looks good all right, next here we go you stirred great moment of truth for a change. Okay, so um got this opening I hate these huge watermarks is just so distracting. Um I water mark my pictures you know, I want to put something something on my photo that sort of identifies it usually I hide it and I put it and it's it's there somewhere but they're just really up by am copyright like it's distract them trying to judge you as a photographer am I going to hire you and there's this big lake because I bull's eye all over the pictures like you know, minimize that people don't know what people will steal it they'll take it off and put on their facebook yeah, you know, I can actually see it a lot more on this screen then I can't at home right? And I have it like three percent right so what probably using happen is make a smaller put it in a corner make a small put it recorded you have marked it have peed on your tree and said this is mine yeah right now I feel like they could smell it over the internet I'd be great may I can't wait till the internet brings smell so the television and you know people like well I you know is this flash it is flash and I know some people like well I only use flash people can't just steal it screen cap a man shift three done I have that picture right it's done you know command shift f or I just want that picture and boom I haven't thank you very much. Great. Yep. So she people want it they're gonna take it they want it all right let's get into this collection's hopefully I did everything that is uh not pg thirteen. Okay, um s o uh taking a look at this this I'm not really digging the site too much it has it feels like it's one of those freebie template site um it almost feels like I'm looking at like light rumor bridge or something not not so much a here we go um kind of shot so let's go right into portfolio and let's just take a look through these there's just all this crap all a share slide show comments featured products you know, add comment I just I just want to look at your pictures right now if this was a proofing site for your client and they're trying to make a decision on you know if they're going to buy pictures or whatever I think that's fine that is yeah as a going forward this is my portfolio um it's just kind of all busy and all over the place, right? Right? So let's just look through these really quick so um kind of a sniper shot here I like what's going on with the light but um I don't I don't know that's the most flattering pose for her um or not and so we've got, um this shot we have some stuff in the air I would probably go remove those I don't know I like you like old and I I would like more of it than it's like we did I don't know and it can't just be on the screen they really are popping out more than others no there there there there's that big ok to me I'd take him out like unless there were more of them that I don't I don't know to me they're just a little distracting but you know we're going you like it I don't who do you listen to nobody um I don't know I mean I'm not a big in the maternity photos um and I think that that's a lovely shot it's not the whole like the light is high but I think you're not doing the heart over the she asked for that until her no you know okay really good for you yeah or here's how little my critiques here's how you handle that um your client really wants it your crowd client really wanted I want that picture I want that expert you shoot it give it to them but you don't ever have to show it yourself you're right it never has to do I need to put your name on this when I put on facebook no no don't put my name on it at all as you like I love the light is nice lovely at the lights nice all right. Um all right stainer portrait right? See that that one to me looks like a bunker that you know I don't like that yeah, I mean it's a soft you know, depth of field, shallow depth of field and their infield very inter field uh but it's not highly dynamic right um, this is kind of interesting. I want to stop and take a look at this, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on with this picture and, um, it's fairly clean photo, it seems like every all of his subjects are like, right in the middle of right all the compositions air very much the same. Yeah, I would agree with that the compositions really don't vary that much at all. You see that see where your subject is, where your subject is, where your subject is, where subject is where your subject is for your subject is subject is where your subject is alright, tio, I'm not I'm not seeing much variance from that, and this is a weird crop unless that goes black on the side, it goes back on the side, okay, goes black on the side. See, I went I was like, see that picture with their black on this side and like, showing I don't like putting that off to the left or something, you know, saying, yeah, I have some of those, but the I was like, I'm nervous, I'm nervous and, you know, and so I talked myself out of hosting anything. But I have a ton from that but I just don't see again all night okay I can see that the composition and all of these is all that valuable having all the nice mean isis stars being shot him on white is there specific story behind all of these people uh it was like it seems like a theater is if it was for a particular project yeah and that project was about the clothing and what they were doing and it's false just laid out and like a little portfolio okay, I will and I wasn't about that'll that yeah title that something x y z clothing company project or something just titling it clean but when it seems like there's a definite thing behind all the photos then um all right so the black and white um we're seeing just variations of the same um I'm kind like whoa if I walk out all out of my hotel room and I see that I'm not we'll be real happy right right same girl I think I liked the other shot better no no no I have mercy help us on right it's that's a moment that needs to be kept between them yeah I don't know it's just part of it's like it's too emo um and then he's really pressing up against your boobs there and it's just kind of it's like a mammogram or something you know going on that's marking well then it's a mammogram about mammograms thing on and this one this one disturbed like I'm going what the all right so you've got this girl and maybe all she's wearing his stockings right um and it kind of feels like she's in like, you know, like I would take a live web cam yeah like here it is the web cam show and that's very much got like teenage girl kind of bedroom with all the stuff kind of stuck on the walls and all of that that's not your wife is it no okay good I don't want to be saying anything without your wife all right, wait that's not your wife that is not my way so I feel that that either so yeah it's this like kind of web cam shot and if I'm like ok when we look at your work and see what you're doing and stuff and um if I need a family portrait photographer and I come across this picture and like what do you what do you want to know what kind of working? Once again between this picture in this picture I'm likely okay, yeah I don't know who you are and I'm not bringing around my family what is what like one wanted for now if you're like I want to do boudoir I want to do I don't I don't know this doesn't really fall into a particular genre other than one model place or model mayhem half asked boudoir at eight fashion it's not boudoir and call me old fashioned but I don't think men should do bhutto are for women if they're married I don't know yeah I mean that's totally an opinion and I know somebody needs to do boudoir and they're married um uh I I believe that that women do bhutto our best and they also do maternity photos best because they understand the subject best I kind of think this is just another one of those shots from from before right? All right. So, um families right um what do you do? You don't wear it so she's okay, huh? Yes. All right. Okay. All right. So it's got like, this shot now it's all dead center again look she's sniper great there and that water might doesn't help to these are the very people from before. Yeah, but the light is gorgeous but I want to see them see how they make this nice shape like that. We can make a triangle right there with them and if you put them off over here on the third and you have this nice negative space there's a nice balance there they're not just dead center you're dead center everything's in the middle of your compositions they're not changing in the middle in the middle in the middle in the middle middle, middle well kind of that started to change it and he's here in the middle again. Um so, uh your compositions need to change you you need to figure out who is that I'm going after this thiss background is just here's the deal with this shot right here on by said this recently in a critique wal mart can take this picture for me why in the heck should I pay you any more money than wal mart to shoot the same picture of wall market shooting? Right? Um, well, you took you took a beautiful portrait of gabby earlier against just a plane, a white sheet rock wall you didn't have to set up seamless you didn't have to set up anything like that and just to set up a little run of seamless, this is a very short run of seamless she's only what three feet tops away from the back um is probably covering up a fine white wall um or something and you could just give me a white wall and let me take just a simple, beautiful portrait of someone um and you don't need to set up a paper background um, this shadow here uh, it doesn't help the composition it's sort of distracting in some ways um uh and and I can get this for nine bucks at the box story right, the box store won't shoot this picture from right. Exactly right. And that's a beautiful that that's like so far that's your best portrait you I've seen because everyone looks great. The light is really nice. I like the shallow depth of field that late afternoon sun it's it's a nice a za group. They look great as a group. Um, and I cannot get that picture anywhere but hiring you to take me on location to shoot that photo. And that is worth more money then this shot or this shot? Heaven forbid. Right? Hardwood floor. What do you want? I'm great, no! And then not show that picture. Don't show those pictures. Cute kid. Yeah, unless the parents say we really see pictures of our children way want a really bad gray background where we can see the wrinkles in the paper? Um, and put them on an ugly little throw a blanket you could call them, throw up like it. You might as well write. So, like you've shot these pictures, everyone has to shoot these again. At some point in your life, you shot him. Now you don't have to shoot them any more. Awesome e think for, like, starting six months ago, like these are my least. Favorite but I left them up there doesn't like it. I like to be able to see the group the ones out in the field I've done more recently than those ones I can actually I can see where I'm going. I'm not there yet, but I didn't see you. Yeah, it's fine. You know, I'm not sitting here going. You suck. Go give up your cameras and leads where that where the carolina you're still it's still morning. I think, for me, looking at work is one nebulous as far as I'm not sure what you thought of it. Like I would know what to hire you for. For you, it's obviously, people is your strong point there? Just make sure that you're showing what you want to shoot. All right? When we see that all the time that it takes but, um, envision ok, full screen? Um, no, like, you know, it's, maybe kind of personal work or whatever. Um, I would I would call it personal. Yeah. And I just I'd throw it in flicker for right now. You know, until you have a really just laser focused vision of who you are is a photographer, what issue and that's some time to come, right, but you have to keep working at it, working at working at it but until you say I am uh this photographer and this is my subject material these are the kind of clients that I shoot and this is my work and here's a body of it and then you know, I like this kind of personal stuff off here over the side is that life for someone you had your personal stuff on my website and you have all your other stuff on another like there may be a link on there right? Fourth it was like what I'm trying to do with my work now is I'm trying to make my personal work commercially sellable and what's so funny is I talkto you know, photographers like cower and joey l and they show their personal work to people and they're hired to shoot people on seamless I love your personal work I love what you did there in africa I love this this is so great I love this personal work that they're doing that they're pouring themselves into in their own personal money into oh great I want to hire you for this job what we're gonna do is we're gonna stand people in front of a white seamless you need to take a photo you know they're getting hired to shoot those kind of jobs off of their personal work right? But their personal work has a very determined vision and if this is personal work it's a missing cat poster it's a spot like like dude like you know like ago flicker spider web how many of these pictures and you gonna find I don't even look good gillian yeah uh you're going to find a good gillian a billion billion of that picture now you go shoot spiderwebs lit and do something different like I've never seen a spiderweb photographed like that in my life and you should right here in that pink and then light it set it on fires I know what I'm doing I get home right like it's the moon uh with big copyright logo the moon has been copy written like a zoo uh you know that's kind of interesting you know I mean ok so so dad I don't have a billion pictures of on flicker necessarily it's the cloud that's on instagram every three seconds it's a nice picture of the clouds I would probably take that myself I don't know what I'd do with it but I probably shoot it and it just sitting a folder somewhere until I needed if for some reason and find never be seen again that's a cool texture like that's interesting um but how do you take this personal work and related to your commercially viable hey hire me work I noticed that he hasn't for sale down there yeah I have for sale and no one I've sold across one but none of them like I don't even worry about it you know, like, don't even don't just take this off, like when you got, like, you know, it's, right? No one's going to pay this five grand for that what you will that's for one year, commercial royalty used if you were to go to someone site and see that would I be off putting to you? Or would you like other trying to sell it or like you said, I'm saying, like, trying to approach your website as if you were coming to it by making it I understand you're saying, but I don't know if I can, which is why you guys looking at it now because I can't look at my work objectively. Well, even the website, though, like all of this extra stuff, yeah. It's so distracting that yeah, I mean, let's, we need to be moving on. So, here's, what you need to do, um, you need to say that this is what I want to be working on right now and let's just call it portrait because that seems to be the vast majority of what you're watching, right? Work on. I want to work on portrait. So you know what? This kind of stuff like spider webs and the moon and all that that just goes away you want to start a flicker, you know, account and just dump that stuff over there. You want to put it on your facebook fan page and just say, this is just me running around with camera, not thinking about things, just stuff for me, I this kind of like I'm drawn to that I'd take a picture of it, but it go on instagram and I'd have this in scream and I'm actually going to make in the instagram gallery once I finished my website, um, I'll probably have an instagram gallery, but I'm going to be like here's, my portrait's here's. My commercial work here is when you look at my portraiture work, that's what it is, and then down off over here somewhere I like sheet with instagram, right? Um but I want my instagram guy, I'm going to say end, you know, spent a couple days figuring which instagram's go in that gallery and I may even decide, you know what? It's too distracting for the rest of my work? I'm not going to the instagram like jarvis does with his iphone thing, you know, right, you go to his site, you know what he does. You know what his style is? You know you you can figure out what he does it's not confusing, but he does have this interesting iphone gallery and that's kind of interesting, but he has a laser vision on what he's doing and it's easy to see that I don't see a laser vision on what you're doing so what you're going to do is you're going to get rid of this gallery um you're going tio you might as well take these galleries is here and somehow combined them, but if you want to shoot families, you've got to get rid of the you know, devin porn webcam if you want to shoot teen porn webcam, then get rid of the family stuff like tomatoes to clients like, don't they don't make that mix very well and if you do find those clients together, you probably would want to run away in the opposite, right? Yeah, no okay there's much take your family portrait that could you get around the bed? You know, you know mtv sick off, right six show you can take credit for that, you know, you're you're an emerging star, very young photographer you're trying to figure it out um and that you need this kind of routine and the problem with being a photographer is, uh, who was it was blogging about it it was a daphne you're blogging about it like the thing. One reason you like coming to these kind of things is because you're usually just this solitary person alone and you don't have other people to talk to you about what's going on in the industry or about photography and and when we get to spend time together three days photographers hanging out it's like there's, more people like me in the world, right? Right? And and when you're just getting started and you, you're on a niland or you're on an island with a hole of a bunch of people just getting started, and you're also were all undecided. Where do we go on what you don't know? You know, um, it's been rain because I just started watching lost? Yeah, like who's going to be jack he's, charlie who's on hair when all right, uh, mchale, like I said, go to porches now, where we have some other pictures of years to look at that you wanted to look at some things on here here, maybe mostly from the surface to be another folder. Yeah, um, I'm probably going to pull your website back up later again when I talk about, uh, branding and things like that because it's twelve fifteen all right, it's, because it's just keep it clean keep it simple clean and simple and I let it be about the photography here yeah so looking at the portrait so we had like a band over here easy nice navigation uh works quickly keep show the kids so let me just kind of look at our faces well if you want okay I can use the arrows seriously look through everything first so overall like like I like this really ok first of all your stuff just clean second involved there's there's just I'm I'm feeling like I I see the people more than I see the photography like um you know I'm just are anything about some of those photos is just great moments from people all right now it's kind of hard to like stick a band in a baby like in the same gallery but like it's a really cute baby um he's a little too centered and he's cutting off a hand but the light is nice bands like babies bands like um it looks like the girl from the weather yeah, probably center of such great video now this is a dipstick. All right? So we're taking two photographs of the same person putting together a wish her head was a little over here. This is distracting right here this piece right here and the other thing is these are very kind of straight symmetrical shots and the horizon lines air just ever so slightly off straight nose up a bit and I'd love I'd love it if this white was gone and that was solid there, I would not say it's so critical of a picture that you need to go re touch that in but that that's not head in a clean spot and even if you put her head here, it's not a clean spot but it's a it's a least a solid pattern, right? Actually like the idea that I love the clouds and it's very I don't know, right? I respond I like this picture here, so so I could see this is a commercial application, right? And what I'm liking about this let's say I'm a photo editor art director coming to you is you're going to get the tight shot and you're going to get something kind of wide for me. I may need to go with this picture because I gotta drop text above it or I may need to go with this picture on one page in this picture on another page or this might be the little square picture in the table of contents and this is thing uh, shot that kind of comes along with it uh in the main article, right? Your work and already has a very kind of commercial lifestyle sort of feel I'm not a fan of this one so much yeah and I don't like that till you get guilty guilty on some of these pictures that we just don't need to be right um that's beautiful I love it I love it and see I don't know I'm just seeing her like you know crooked kid tooth smile um and the sparkler I love the colors the light is really nice and then you've got a dipstick here with two kids together sisters when it's colorful and they look great um we probably don't need these two together at all it's one or the other this is kind of today it's got a different feel and mood about it and what happens here is we're going to talk about this coming up is it breaks the flow yeah because you have these skeptics and around and then you have that one picture right so there needs to be a flow to your portfolio all right there's colorful it's happy it's like uh it's you know hanging out at the beach and it's nice light and she's happy and then it's this I think you had everything in my life everything and nothing at all so much is happening to me my neck hurts I slept right moment and we're back to the happy minniti like front visually it just like what the heck just happened there right so while I like this picture of responding to it it breaks the flow of your of your book so far all right, if you have more stuff like this, you either have to sort of transition into that where you have to separate it off you've got your bright, colorful lifestyle worked a bad mix tape someone's like doing these crazy like rock and song that drops down to like, you know, love batted like yeah it's back up like a techno saying that there's no it's the same thing visually you know what I think about it that way but these people into something and see that horizon line of years it's not quite that is one of your leg shorter because it makes the horses there were a number of the problem we're like realized I felt my camera votes actually me once that when I press the shutter I don't actually I wish my camera so he's moves whole camera right? Seven sit there like for hours when they just doing this just trying to just put a finger just further that's beautiful that's a hundred something about it and you sit there for hours just trying to like it's to say if you were doing target practice with a rifle or something in you poll if you pull that trigger too hard you're raising the barrel of the gun right? I'm from the south was done metaphor example you see she'd get in my life man I'm gonna take you to the firing range uh that's a nice like your dip ticks you away you put things together is nice and it shows me it shows me okay here's my one subject of photographing and here's a variation of the pictures I can create what I like is we don't see this girl's the first picture than four pictures later she shows up again and then eight pictures later there she is again you know like oh, wait a minute I've already seen pictures from the shoot five pictures ago like you take two pictures from that shoe put him together so here's what I do all right um you see I think that's the same girl and that one while the moments nice I don't know I feel it's she's kind of getting lost so visually, so much happening maybe if he had dropped out lows right or two hundred millimeter lin's compress all of that in take it out of focus where she sharp get let all these trees right uh just be a blur back there so she's sharp off of it compressed in and then she's framed in by these two trees and you dropped lower to put her head out of that horizon line yeah lens now it's nice light um it's ice like something about it so I just I'm not it's not like your other word is missing that other something that you have but it's good for what it wanted in all right, so see this still here? Like what the hell right? Like why is that tilt that why why is that tilted? Does that need to be tilted? No, because what I want to do is the viewers go like this. It doesn't make it a more creative picture, you know, like oh, here's a boring subject let me tell you that's gonna make you do that that's the thing it's like, you know, dealing again just getting but like, I just feel like you're saying, I guess I actually until his sort of contradict myself I somehow some melting so maybe it's my trigger finger just told to care of things take a picture of butter shot by just just bring him back, right? You know, I see that obviously, that as we're talking about, it looks interesting high has, you know, it's kind of going this way on the right and then this way on the left or is it is an optical illusion because this one it's an optical this looks pretty straight right here. That looks pretty stick straight, but this was just hurry. Okay, also, this because of this now here's what I'd be working for, you nearly have his head framed exactly in the square, not quite and it looks like just looking at it go he should be framed exactly in that square but he's just off a bit like you missed the details that much I want to go. Oh, I'll check that out he perfectly put his head in that square. So it's an all ed yeah, now that's another thing you have to watch out any time there are letters or words and pictures people are immediately want to go read that right? What's it say like we just as people were just drawn to words letters we want to see that we're going to read it so I'm being distracted like, get read? Yeah, um so I'm trying to read before I'm looking at pictures, which is different for me because normally I just looked at pictures all right, uh, nice, but this is brighter than your subject. Another thing your eyes going to do is a viewer is go to the brightest part of the subject. So what you're saying is the most important thing I need you to see in this picture is this corner down here, right? And not this and it looks like she's holding a very long they smoke or a chopstick, it was informal shots she's a conductor, yeah, she had that out there and prefer to that same time however that doesn't either there's that's completely lost that doesn't read it looks like she's got a chopstick yeah right and she's just kind of always so silly I lost my other chopstick write something silly I'm just spear race you know and since I don't have another chopstick please look at this section of all right now you could use this let's say you like the shape that that's great because that is creating a shape going back to composition creating a shape so you put that shape you put her over in the light and you still use that shape and maybe the negative space you put her in the light and you have the dark negative shape well the darks not going to really draw my eye away from the subject you want you're subject to be typically the brightest part of the subject's unless it's a pure white background then it's just pure white background and they're popping off of that right all right uh cute kids um I like this shot if you took the other three dudes out yeah um or at least it looks like a sign of twins but there's like yeah the face I like I like the light I kind of like the idea like dudes having tea you know that's kind of a girl I liked so I should be looking for the poor the whisky bottle of whiskey right way ski team yeah um michael have a list party yeah thiss little dots bugging me I would in photo shop I'd take that out and I take this little line out that's kind of bugging me but it's really bugging me that this guy's faces melding into the other guys because he's the subject he's the one that's lit um it's like he's the lead singer and these are the disposable band members that just since they aren't engaged in the portrait it's all about him he well something's going on behind it we're all looking over here that's where the girl is of course that's what it is it's a funny picture that's a good family man is I everyone's eyes are just dark yeah, but it's you know it's a nice moment that's cute so you've got kids and bands having whisky tea parties I don't think they all kind of fit in the same gallery. Yeah, the lifestyle stuff is nice and dip ticks and you're doing are nice. Um I love a good take a look back this also I will say that when I launched this site this is all the work previous smoke so much I haven't updated photo that gave you is actually all the work from let's say low on that real quick um but uh where you go all right so we're just going to look at a few more here that you've given us um and then we need to get moving along alright heading a clean spot all you've got to do like I like this shot I like the surf I like you know I like the moment I just would love that horizon line to drop maybe here and that's from you going from here two there and it's done and she's framed within that sky and there you go. All right, maybe you need to put a counterweight on one side of your can start working out just one yeah and it's one that horizon lines going but I don't I don't see it so much so out of focus and she's straight in the shot um your light is good now all right, look at this one that is creating such a symmetrical pattern behind them. You need to build that shot he's the center of this picture put him right here and then build that shot as some metrical of a background as you possibly can here, it's, you almost got it, but not quite. Um yeah, almost, uh it's almost like I was there they almost there they were over if you somehow dropped lower got them into the sky that's a great moment it is, but this is so distracting and this building is distracting I'm losing my darling I'm going to carry off public parking yes and arson manservant here will we'll keep the rain off it's almost there if but there's just some distracting elements going on I mean great candid moment and see again that old magical thing it's tilted it if he had been over you know where that circle are between them was in between them right because that distracts me from he didn't say he's got the thing run out of there why is this where you go? I didn't say uh we're not looking wedding nevermind uh forces that next yeah I like the pot's right opposing looks good but while she's being very you know modest which is good that's good uh this that our line here and keep this line here is not smiling because I need you on upper echelon bite your neck vampire leading I'll see I want them I want them right here so they're just framed very cleanly in the sand yeah their heads just tryinto get lost right there just just all they have to do or you have to take your sex your instincts are right you know sand like here that's clean it's simple here's one of those lake I've got to shoot a porch of the groom really quick step into the shade from just a very simple clean background and haven't looked towards the light eyes the light click that's simple it's clean isn't the most creative are stranger technically difficult lighting situation the world no step in here just inside the shade look this way towards the light source simple clean background and click and done like at a wedding you you have to just work that fast it's kind of a funny moment blawg but not that great composition it's really going in that immediately that's nice and if if this had to turn into a thank you card or save the date card or your own um you know you put your logo or your name right here on your website like it's suddenly a business card or leave behind or you've shot a picture that you can already drop artwork on to its hacking back for a second seeing my imagination, I imagine like I want a probable killings buying their head like that's a that's, a big bed and this that's nice that's nice moment and we have this nice interaction remember hands or anchor points faces or anchor points and there's this nice kind of closed um circle of, you know and the backgrounds out of focus it's all about them it's very nice and clean tilting healthy yeah um so yeah, I really like your technical is good, you're available like photographer for the most part I don't really see any flashing there, but you're rocking available like like you're finding good available, like good times of day or wherever you are, you're finding good light. I'm not like, oh gosh, that light sucks, it's, just you, you're guilty too much, and then now and then, and I would start going until tv details. Yes, I would start to say that your style is bubbling to the top, but you have it in sort of your, you know, your people photography, that seems very editorial kind of magazine. Then you have kids and family, then you have weddings and those air, definitely three genres of work that I see in their work. Yeah, and so what I'm saying, details, I mean, like, when so when you're framing something up, I just noticed the circle or notice where there had two great to be and yet and listen, any, like, you know, because I shoot so much.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

creativeLIVE-Zack01.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Ivan
 

Outstanding! There are so many gems, any photographer aspiring to venture into business will gain much from this course. There are plenty of technical how-to's with superb examples, from choosing the right lens for a given situation, to learning about reciprocals, expressed in Zack's warm and fun style. He's a joy to watch. But, this class is much more than that. Zack is extremely generous in sharing very personal experiences and insight, on how he began from early days of struggling, to current projects, how he built his portfolio, and looking ahead to the future. And, in the final discussion with his wife Meghan, they open up and share their personal struggles balancing work and family life, and their strong support of each other. We can all relate to this. This class is a great guide on what it takes to start and become a successful pro photographer, and pulls no punches. It's not easy to do, but with some creativity and an insane amount of hard work, is doable and very rewarding!

a Creativelive Student
 

Zack's always been one of my favorite photographers and when I think about why he is, it isn't even his work that comes to mind. Zack's technical knowledge and ability to pull off really stunning images is reason enough to check out this course. While he does a good job at teaching the fundamentals, he even better job at explaining why he makes the choices he does. Anyone can tell you what "rules" to follow and what you should and shouldn't do but Zack does a good job explaining why those guidelines are JUST guidelines and shouldn't be taken as law, which can be limiting. I highly recommended this for anyone who has an interest in becoming a better photographer.

a Creativelive Student
 

I haven't finished the course yet either but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I love Zacks work I think he is an amazing teacher and a very funny man. I loved one light and I'm looking forward to finishing this and starting the his studio lighting course also.

Student Work

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