Your honest opinion please....

[Sonja Smedley]

...I like to make pics all the time in SL and i edit them with an online program.

Would like to work as a photographer but I am not really sure If my pics are good enough... so I would need some

honest opinions please, thank you:-)

Here are some examples :

[Dora Gustafson]

I like your pictures well and I can see you put a lot of work in them

I don't know why it is that SL avatars always look like... SL avatars, no matter what you do
One of the reasons, I guess, is their expressions. They look stoned, show no expressions.
Another reason is that nobody cares to change the face measures,
all people care about is to put different make-up on standard doll faces

You used a kiss expression in the last picture in the series. I like that:)

Using facial expressions and making the model look at something, provides good means to make an interesting photo

Lighting is always of most importance. It looks like you are sensing that

Your pictures are more than good enough to sell, but pictures alone doesn't do it
You need to promote yourself, make yourself known as a great photographer
A marketplace store and maybe an in world store will get you started

:smileysurprised::smileyvery-happy:

[Tari Landar]

I happen to like your pictures too and I think anyone who is determined enough can easily make a name for themselves in sl(at whatever they want).

But I will say, when I am looking at photography work, the post processing means very little to me. While I know it takes time and talent to do a lot of the things some people do in their post processing....there are also many programs that do all of the steps for you. So determining where the program's work begins, and yours ends, can be difficult when you focus your work entirely around the after-effects and post processing.

Your pictures are beautiful and I can tell you love what you do. That's a very good first step. Your nest step should be to play around in world with difference scenes. Lose the photo studio look. Create your own scenes with exisiting backdrops within sl. Random sims are perfect for this. You don't need a million poses, gadgets, lights and other things in world. So please don't let anyone tell you that you do. All the lighting you could possibly need can be found within your own viewer...absolutely free. You're really only limited by your abilties and the graphics your pc can handle.

Go around and have fun with your photos. Take random shots, not just planned sessions. When you enjoy what you're doing it'll reflect in your work. Don't worry so much about touching the photos up in any external program for now. You should focus more(I think this of all photographers, not just you, please don't think I am being judgmental, far from it) on being able to capture the essence of your surroundings and your subject, without needing an external source to create it,  when you first start out. Then, when you've got a good handle on that, you can start to focus a little more on post processing, having special poses, creating a specific scene with props and whatnot. Post process, to me, is overdone in most cases. It should be used to touch up, not create the image you're going for. If you can create the image you're looking for, with perhaps minor flaws without needing all that extra work, you'll get much further.

Anyone can make an ugly pic look good in post processing. It takes talent to take a beautiful pic and make it amazing with little to no touchup work. That's what every good photographer needs to aim for, imo.

I think everyone has the potential to be great. It's whether or not they're willing to put the footwork in that will determine if they actually do or not.

[Tamara Artis]

Today anyone can pump up their graphics and use any of the free programs to touch up the raw shots so what makes the difference between people who do it just because they like it and ones who do it for lindens? I am guessing your goal is the second thing because you say "work" as a photographer.. This is the question you have to answer for yourself, if you would hire a person (and pay them) to make you a photo, what amount of work do you expect? 

There are soooo many styles and levels of editing and each can find their own "place" to grow and evolve, each can find clients and enjoy what they do. Your photos are lovely, and the fact that you did "something" with them makes it good enough to start and search for clients. I could name you tons of things that can be changed, fixed etc. but thats me and I can't and don't want to start because honestly, 3 years ago when I started to take clients I didn't do half of things in my photos that you already do now. But I got clients and they were happy with what I did so I don't see a reason you can't do same!

I will try to name few things that will, IMHO, spare you some headache and help you "get there"; 

• use the highest graphics you can, avoid jagged edges, if you can't take pics on ultra settings go high and bump up the object and avatar quality, reduce the DD
• learn everything you can about windlights, light sources and how to manipulate them
• if you can't take photos with shadows learn how to draw them
• don't waste time on picky people, ones who ask too much of you or ones who make your head hurt, do only what you like
• continue to use Flickr but get involved with the community there, it will be your best help! 
• use pile up photos to practice and promote yourself
• use Google and Youtube, search for different photography and post processing tutorials and learn
• play around, try different things, go nuts in your photos, break your own creative limits!
• once you start to accept clients treat each of them like its your first and last one, if you can't then don't take the work asked 

I wish you luck in your adventure and hope at least some of my words will help you a bit

 

[Sonja Smedley]

Thank you all for your opinions...I am happy you gave me many tips here I have to check out.

Well, I do not have photoshop I only edit with online programs and so far it worked really good with them.

 

But yes as someone said here...I have to get used to the features of my viewer and get to know how this all works with shadows and windlights and all this stuff..high quality for the pics is right now a problem cause I still use XP and my computer is not the newest..actually an older one and I can only use middle quality settings, also I found out that making pics with singularity is not that good as If I do them with firestorm.The problem is that singularity is more stable for me...still have problems with firestorm cause it gets frozen very often and SL viewer does not work at all for me -.-!

 

But I hope I can upgrade my PC soon and then I will put much more work in it.

Thank you all again for your help :0)