[Life] PokéCommunity's Photography Club

[Ho-Oh]

Welcome, guys! :) This club is dedicated to people that want to take photographs and are at ANY skill level! This club will have weekly fun challenges, info days - basically tips and tricks to help you, an overall monthly contest, aaaaannnnddddd FUN!

So what is photography?
For the purpose of this club we're going to go with the basic definition as any photo you take on a camera or an iPhone... or a Google Phone... or an iPad... or a Samsung... or anything along those lines!

Why should you join?
Because photography is awesome and imma help you be awesome! I'm going to offer suggestions to improve the images you take as really really simple constructive criticism. Simple things you could do to improve the shot. Nothing full on... unless you want it! Every Thursday there will be a new weekly challenge for you to join. It's not super serious but it's for fun and if you ARE interested in a career in photography in the future & want technical help on your skills I can help. But if not - totally okay! I just want you to have fun ok. :)

My qualifications for running this club are basically:
I run my own photography business effectively full time now. I have completed a Diploma course at The Photography Institute and at fully professional level... about a year and a half's experience. Amateur for multiple years before that. I specialise in portraiture but I do other things as well. Attachments of my work are below. If you'd like a link to my more specialised work directly I'm happy to provide it for you via Discord or PM.

How do I sign up?????? / Weekly Challenge #1​

Simple! I'd like you to post a photo here that you've taken & you think is pretty decent... and tell us what equipment you'll be using (iphone, camera, etc... just so I have a rough idea!!) Now, join the club.

 

[Miss Wendighost]

Picture of John Reynolds Monument at Gettysburg (Highest ranking Union Soldier killed) taken with my iPhone 6. Date: 27 April 2018 (Touched up because of darkening caused by recent rain).

 

[VisionofMilotic]

Wow, what a cool thread. All of the glamorous attached photos and the memorial are amazing. I wish I could take photos like that. Oh well, I will still enjoy being in the club. This is a picture I snapped with my canon of a quiet, brook on an Cherokee Indian reservation I travelled to during summer vacation. I'm not a photographer but I still like capturing a lovely landscape every now and then when I walk by. I want to show people my photos, but never know who to show them to. It looks like I have come to the right place

 

[Caite-chan]

It was hard to pick just one.

This was a picture I had taken at the Detroit Zoo as the Peacocks wander freely within the zoo. I know a few kids were trying to mess with the peacock and then he flared his tail feathers out and I was able to snap this of him.

FUJIFILM FinePix AX300

 

[Fairy]

I'd like to join! :)

Took a picture of some of the flowers I planted this year on my phone!

 

[Miss Wendighost]

Wow, what a cool thread. All of the glamorous attached photos and the memorial are amazing. I wish I could take photos like that. Oh well, I will still enjoy being in the club. This is a picture I snapped with my canon of a quiet, brook on an Cherokee Indian reservation I travelled to during summer vacation. I'm not a photographer but I still like capturing a lovely landscape every now and then when I walk by. I want to show people my photos, but never know who to show them to. It looks like I have come to the right place

Thanks! I have a bunch of other pictures available, if you want to see them.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Welcome everyone!!! C&C will be juuuust below!

But first? Our first challenge! I mean aside from the welcome challenge, that is.

This week -

Animals. I want you to take a black and white photo of an animal. Black and white images are really powerful - if used in the right circumstances. When contrasted against something bright your subject stands out so much more. Attached is a sample of what I'm talking about. The best way to achieve this is at sunset. Make sure the animal is directly in front of you with the sun behind it. It's a nice fun beginning challenge to get your creativity pumping!! Please keep in mind that with the sample - yes, my framing was off. The dog wouldn't turn but it's the ideal example of how you can utilise black and white to make a subject stand out.

No - you don't need flash for this. The sample was taken without flash.

Also - definitely still welcoming more members so everyone else please feel free to sign on up!!!

And everyone who I quoted - I'm sorry if I came off as too harsh in the C&C, I tried to be as helpful as possible, but if I am let me know and I can tone it back!

View attachment 86050

Picture of John Reynolds Monument at Gettysburg (Highest ranking Union Soldier killed) taken with my iPhone 6. Date: 27 April 2018 (Touched up because of darkening caused by recent rain).

Great start! I love the sort of natural leading lines at the front there however I think it would look great if you cropped it in a little. I love the background and the foreground, I just think for a sense of understanding of what it's really about a crop (either zoom or moving in closer) could really work wonders. You'll then clearly see the little flags (I think?) right near the Monument so you could get a better picture of the purpose of it instead of just a creepy tombstone vibe (which is what it's giving off now). Even going from a low angle with the side of the flags in the shot and pointed up at the Monument would make it stand out way more.

Wow, what a cool thread. All of the glamorous attached photos and the memorial are amazing. I wish I could take photos like that. Oh well, I will still enjoy being in the club. This is a picture I snapped with my canon of a quiet, brook on an Cherokee Indian reservation I travelled to during summer vacation. I'm not a photographer but I still like capturing a lovely landscape every now and then when I walk by. I want to show people my photos, but never know who to show them to. It looks like I have come to the right place

Hey girl! I definitely agree that the landscape is interesting - makes me think of a Pokemon game! As you see there's a LOT of harsh light there. My best tip would be to go there later in the day - at sunset or early in the morning so you can capture it in a not so harsh light. Most photographers avoid shooting that time of the day because the sun is annoying to deal with without the proper equipment so for that I'd definitely suggest going back later on in the day, or instead capturing an area without the harsh light there!

It was hard to pick just one.

This was a picture I had taken at the Detroit Zoo as the Peacocks wander freely within the zoo. I know a few kids were trying to mess with the peacock and then he flared his tail feathers out and I was able to snap this of him.

FUJIFILM FinePix AX300

Okay, I LOVE peacocks. But with that said there's not much I can really suggest that you could change given the circumstances. Ideally you'd want the peacock to be as far away from the background as possible so it stands out more - so that's what I would have done, but given the circumstances... of you being unable to control the peacock it's totally fine as it is!

I'd like to join! :)

Took a picture of some of the flowers I planted this year on my phone!

Hey Fairy!!! Pretty flowers! Okay, so first thing that comes to mind here is this shot is very busy! Your eyes are drawn to a bunch of different areas (including the stork without a flower on it) and there's no real...central point of interest. I'd have instead isolated the flowers in the top left and just concentrated on them instead as it would make them stand out more and not overload the eye when trying to figure out the central point of focus, if you get what I mean! Great job though!

 

[Miss Wendighost]

Better picture from Gettysburg Trip (4/27). View of Little Round Top and Devil's Den in the distance (Sorry about the sideways angle and random people in frame).

 

[Incineroar]

About time I posted here. Been wanting to post here because I got a phone with a wicked camera. Here's probably one of my favorite photos so far, and it's in spoilers because it's FREAKING MASSIVE:

Spoiler:

Taken with a Huawei P20 Pro back in early July. No special filters were used besides what the camera automatically applied. No follow-up work was done either.

 

[Fairy]

Hey Fairy!!! Pretty flowers! Okay, so first thing that comes to mind here is this shot is very busy! Your eyes are drawn to a bunch of different areas (including the stork without a flower on it) and there's no real...central point of interest. I'd have instead isolated the flowers in the top left and just concentrated on them instead as it would make them stand out more and not overload the eye when trying to figure out the central point of focus, if you get what I mean! Great job though!

Thank you very much! I didn't think I'd be getting a whole critique from you! I'll make sure to do much better next time. xoxo

 

[Ho-Oh]

I will post C&C once people post entries for this weeks theme!! Come on guys, post a B/W animal ;)

 

[moon]

Hi, I'd like to join! I'll just be posting catpics, honestly. I really love this one I took long time ago of my precious persian princess:

Spoiler:

 

[Ho-Oh]

Gooo take a black and white one to enter our theme so I can give critique!!! ;)

 

[Kai]

I took this picture with my phone during Summer vacation.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Moar BW animals guyssss?

I took this picture with my phone during Summer vacation.

Ook belated review as I'm still waiting on more BW animals :)

For me I don't think black and white really suits it. Pure white animals slight grey tend to look dirty if given the BW treatment. It's best to add some contrast in camera or in post and tend to stick to one subject animal (and not overcrowd the image with too many additional elements).

The angle also isn't straight- make sure you double check your horizons are straight where possible!

With that said - great first try I'm looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Kieran]

Dinosaur advertising event for the Jurassic Park movie in Singapore's shopping mall.

Tsum Tsum Lunar Festival decoration in Singapore.

Singapore $1.

Plushie lambs from Candylicious Singapore.

My entries for the B/W animals uhh...

Taken w/ iPhone.

 

[Neb]

I'm using an IPhone 7 and took this picture in Newport recently:
https://imgur.com/mDoZTWd

Hope to get a digital camera one of these days.

 

[Miss Wendighost]

Thought I might share a spooky pic for Halloween. I took this on an iPod while on a ghost tour in Pittsburgh. I don't remember the story of the building where this was taken, but I do remember our guide stating that supposedly that if you took a picture of a mirror in the establishment, which we weren't allowed inside, a figure would look back at the camera. Seeing as I couldn't go inside, I had put my iPod close to the door with the zoom on, snapped the pic and the next thing you know, this was the result.

The black bars on the bottom are the panes on the door window and I know that the image is low quality, but I was a thirteen year old at the time who knew nothing about photography.

 

[icycatelf]

If we sign up, do we have to participate in the weekly challenges? Because I have a feeling I won't be participating that much. I'm not a serious photographer, but I have taken a digital photography course and enjoy taking pictures of interesting or new-to-me insects (especially moths). It's not too often that I take a photo that I feel looks "artistic," but I wouldn't mind sharing some of those that I feel are to at least some degree. Here's one of my favorites:

Spotted Apatelodes (aka "dragon moth")​

I use a Fujifilm FinePix S4500 (I know there are better options out there for macro photography, but I'm not about to break the bank for a mere hobby). I usually just use Auto mode, setting it to macro/super macro as needed, but I'd love to hear if there's a way to use the manual modes to improve my macros (preferably without using a tripod).

 

[Ho-Oh]

Time to share what I've been working on! BUMPBUMPBUMP.
Over the next few weeks I'll be spreading tidbits here (no challenges needed!). Just post what you've taken and I'll critique it from now on. As simple as that!

A brief look into what I'm covering...

1. Owning a photography business
2. Canon specific stuff (sorry y'all but I know Canon)
3. ...and more! It's tough because I really want to just drop all the information but it's really really hard to break it into points so I'm starting with the basics of owning a business and I'd love for all the group members to chime in & ask questions!! C:

On your standard DSLR (digital single lens reflex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera) you have the option to export images as RAW files. These are larger files than your standard JPEG and allow you to edit your images without removing the quality of the original. It's a bit hard to explain but imagine that you are baking a cake. The cake mix is like the RAW file. You can do whatever you want with the cake mix and make as many changes to it as you go. A baked cake is a standard JPEG. You can make changes to it but it might get a bit messy and won't look as nice as having gotten the cake mix set in stone from the start.

Your final exported file (if you edit with Lightroom/Photoshop) will be JPEG... but you've created the beautiful cake from the cake mix so it's all good! But yeah. So basically if you own a photography business people are going to want the beautiful edited JPEGs (Digital Files aka the finished cake) ... but some will ask for RAWs because they feel like they need it ALL. Giving people RAWs is like a baker giving them the cake mix. They're not going to know what they're going to do with it and they'll probably make a mess of it.

But yeah! Moving on. In the photography industry there are two different types of businesses: IPS and Non-IPS (or S+B). IPS = in person sales. Their whole business structure is centred around meeting the client in person as much as possible and then selling them prints and digitals right while the clients are in front of them. So when they get an enquiry... they'll ask to call them on the phone... they'll meet them for a coffee... they'll invite them back to their studio for them to pick their images and prints. Please note that the IPS model is for those that like to sell. If you're no good at selling then IPS ain't for you. IPS models are based mainly around prints... printed items such as wall art (large canvas prints for example: so large images on the wall, little images in frames for their coffee tables, that sort of thing). Non-IPS GENERALLY concentrates on selling digital files (the finished cake). Sometimes prints is their priority but they care more about selling large galleries and digital files. People can still make a lot of money that way but the big money makers generally use IPS to create "the experience" for clients. Shoot and burn (S+B) are those that take photos for cheap, send the photos and move on. S+B photographers are not really liked by the industry because... they convince clients that they need cheap photos and that what we do isn't valuable.

...let's talk about why a proper legal insured photographer is pretty much the only way! Insurance in any industry is important, as is paying taxes and I'm not going to explain why that's important because I feel that is something that should hopefully be general knowledge. Let's say you get paid to photograph a five wedding. That's at least five hours you're being paid for. At least two hours CULLING the gallery down to only the best usable images so that the bride doesn't... potentially one hour travel in total... then you're looking at a minimum of three hours editing... and in addition to that you're also looking at communicating with the client back and forth, potentially meeting with them if you are IPS... so really in reality? That's potentially 13 hours work (but you're only being PAID for five hours in the client eyes).

So... charging a profitable rate teaches clients that yeah photography is a LOT more work than just what is seen. It's complicated y'all!

Okayyyyyyy... I think that's enough for stage #1! Prepare for stage #2 in a few days! I figured that if I go over everything with photography it can be really useful to y'all! Do you guys have any questions?? :)

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