starmag

If you want photography advice, I'd look somewhere else. The people on this forum are snobby opinionists who seem to have been blighted by every misfortune under the sun. There is never anything constructive or in any way useful, so try a proper photography forum (google it) and above all, keep your mind as open as possible, unlike some of the SF members. Shooting film is wonderful and shooting digital is just amazing...try both.

I personally don't like the composition. I know its courses for horses, but its really unbalanced and quite boring. would you be happy to re crop it? or does it have to be landscape? How about something like this? i quickly replaced the sky too

ah, mulitple choice and photography! Just what the world needs....you've just put the nail in the coffin of this forum for me. I just don't think I get it anymore.....

Green!! HA HA!! I love it! wear your hat with pride! I've never worn a woolly hat but if I knew that it annoyed you pathetic, narrow minded fascists so much, I definitely would!! HA you're all ridiculous! You belong in the dark ages, or in a cellar somewhere. I cant wait for your breed to die out... you should all check out The Chief's rant on students...its JUST as good!

If someonone asked me if I wanted to go out with a bunch of students dressed in fancy dress or with some old, miserable tosser who'd moan and complain about everything...It wouldn't be a difficult decision. Maybe this is why you're on Sheff forum so much and why everyone hates you.

thats much better. I hope everyone at the Kennel Club comes and orders and some photos from you!!! Well done!

If you think customers get bored with people doing the same old thing, then you should check this place out: http://www.thisisventure.co.uk/ I worked there for a while and people parted with thousands of pounds in cash every day for photos that all looked like every other photo on the walls. It sometimes took about 15 minutes to 'edit' the pictures, and an hour to take over 100 tried and tested shots....you'd be surprised what the public are after... I like Crayfish's idea..you could even overlap them a little to add a bit of depth?...you could crop in closer and lose some of the background too? Looking forward to your results!

Its all well and good having your own personal taste and 'not following the rule book' but if you want to make money taking professional photos of other people pets, then your own taste sometimes has to take a back seat. By all means stamp your photos with your own style but if someone is paying you for some photos, they don't necessarily have to float YOUR boat. In order to break the rules, you have to understand them. a little like Les Dawson playing the piano!!

They'll love it, because its their dogs, but personally I wouldnt buy it as it is. In terms of visual language, it isnt very engaging. They're both looking outside the frame which immediately takes your eyes away from the photo. The leading lines just don't compute. There is nothing more engaging than someone (or a dog) looking straight at the camera (or at least looking pensive off centre). It just doesnt draw me in. It may work better if they were side by side looking towards each other as you have a lot of empty space around the subjects, they look a little lost. Not to mention that they just look like headless dogs...I'd maybe include a little more of the necks and shoulders if possible.. The background is far too light around the top dog, it's getting lost in there. I'd maybe put some drop shadow or a gradient of darker colour around the image to make it stand out...it also needs to be straightened up, its a little jaunty. Its a lovely first effort, and like I say, the owners will be over the moon with it. From a professional point of view (and where you want to make money) it's still great but not quite professional enough. Its all a matter of practice and we all have to start somewhere... good job HarryMac

Students are tossers?!! ! I love that, The Chief!!! I love it!! I'm a mature student, and I have a job, and I dont go out in fancy dress and I work my arse off so that when I leave I can get a great job.....but obviously I'm a tosser. Students are people who a) want to have a good time and b) want to make a better life for themselves and give them a chance of making some money. It sounds like you have a MASSIVE chip on your shoulder, maybe because you think you're too stupid to learn anything...but whatever your problem is, your narrow-mindedness will only lead you down a path of misery for the rest of your life. You are doomed to spend your time on internet forums bitching and moaning about things you have no idea about. Your attitude stinks. It stinks worse than the behaviour of some of the people you are referring to...You're one step away from being a fascist/racist/supremacist (delete as applicable). People with jobs are tossers.

What about hiring something like the Hugger studio? Its open 24 hours a day and they're rates are 'semi' reasonable. Then you could shoot something really simple using the lights and hook up a laptop to their monitors? The owner is a really reasonable guy and if you told him what you were doing he'd probably come to some sort of agreement (given the amount of advertising he'd receieve from a gaggle of photographers...They have a kitchen too, for making tea and coffee....

I'm a photoshopaholic I'm afraid. I like removing things that I dont like, or adding new things in but hopefully you'll never notice where I did it...but if you want more advanced photoshop stuff, I like to produce some more 'hyper real' images and some that are just plain over the top (there's a thread on here arguing whether or not this sort of thing is really photography but I've chosen to ignore it!! - too heated)... This is one of the first online tutorials I did self portrait! This one is obviously heavily processed, but not so obviously is the fact that it was a sunny but the sky was full of rain clouds. The car in the background was actually blue and there was a man in the shot on the right hand side who magically disappeared...but his shadow didnt! I think a PS and LR meet would be brilliant! I'd love to see other peoples work flows and sharpening methods etc etc... There could even be a 'processing page'..with tips and advice?...I'm constantly searching for new things... I'd be happy to help anyone that needed a few pointers

I never said that I didnt care about the thread, quite the opposite. and I'm in a fantastic mood...you read my post in the tone that you wanted to hear.... and it wasnt a rant, it was an affirmation. i suppose some people are only happy when they're saying bad things about stuff....reaffirms their own personal status in the great order of things. hats off to you if this is what you're into....I'm not judging.

What are you hoping to achieve with this post? What a negative approach to watching films. Pirates of the Carribean is loved by kids and adults who just want some escapism, not realism....why would the hammy acting ruin it? Its based on a Disney ride in America...not a documentary. Citizen Kane is treated as if it is a modern film when it SOOO bloody old. In that sense, it is genius. to have achieved that level of quality in a film so long ago is amazing. It was a different world, so the person who thought the acting was crap should watch more old films to see that it was quite above the norm of its time. To the person who hates Donnie Darko because they didnt get it!!!! Why do you HAVE to get a film to enjoy it? there are some people who need to be led by the hand all the time and there are others who are quite happy to use their imaginations to answer the questions. those people shouldnt be judged for it... why dont you try something more positive, like 'Films that changed your life' 'Films that never fail to cheer you up'.....this world is depressing enough already without picking out the worst bits of it. and for the record....I also hope that Mama Mia gets forgotten about soon....

There isnt enough of a range of tones for the HDR treatment, so you're merely increasing the contrast. The same effect can be achieved in LR. Personally, I prefer the black and white image...but with the empty foreground cropped off and the right hand third....so it shows just the immense clouds and a nice horizon for scale and the lovely refelctions. Maybe thats just because I'm a sucker for black and white images though....especially clouds. great stuff though. always enjoy seeing your work.