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500 On Sale Milestone - Critique please


Jools Devon

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Hi All

 

I started submitting around the start of the year, and have now reached 500 images that are "On Sale"

 

I've been reading the forums, and added a few comments.... Trying to change my style to include some of the tips - like featuring more of "people doing things"

 

I would welcome your feedback on my portfolio so far, and my keywording - which is seeing views, and a few zooms.

 

I have sold one image that I uploaded via S*****imo - but I'm still waiting for my first Alamy sale!

 

 

Cheers

Jools

Edited by Jools Devon
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Your part of the world is so different than mine but we both seem drawn to boats & beaches (ignore the 30 illustrations on p1 of my portfolio. The upload had stopped & I only thought I'd sent about a dozen. Good thing I have some more beach scenes to overrun them. But at least I got some zooms on my digital art). I like that you interspersed shopfronts & those surfers. Most of my stock sales here & elsewhere editorial or not are taken by the sea. A few seem a bit redundant maybe because the similar ones aren't grouped together to show different angles. Get some closeups of those boats & folks working on them. And surfers in their element of you have a long lens. Typing on my Kindle with one thumb -  left thumb is hmmm ....trying to find a pc word. It's typographically challenged. Right thumb is fast but Mrs Amazon Siri has a mind of her own. You were taking pix of people & I thought it was good  "Thatcher"  (that they were were) shooting  with beers - huh???my initial paragraph never mentioned those surfers & boats at all.  I'm a Mac girl. Hey when I wrote I'm It filled in "Marianne." Not my intention but better than praising your photos of inebriated shooters. It kept changing" SIRI" to " auto". Not "automaton," which would still be non-PC for a friendly AI but at least accurate.

Never tried the forum this way it's tough but I can still manage my usual novel but if I'm not careful Next you'll get my Amazon wish list lol. I am not technically challenged but I don't trust Amanda is it? I here she's sneaky. 

  back to your question: The day  -ugh!  never thought I'd miss SIRI  THEY SAY subsets don't sell who knows but sunsets certainly do. 

even a small player like me sells quite a few.  You just need the perfect water background. Ask Keith, he's made it an art form. Love his pix it might be the same pier but very (EVERY) day is differ dnt. FACE PALM WHERE IS THAT GIRL? 

BACK TO YOUR PIX  NICE mix more people in the water active in the beach. Trade a print for a model release a those surfers. Maybe one close shot of store one showing the block? 4 of the same seems like a lot but it could help with Alamy roulette? Good 🌟start 

📷🌇🌄🌃 try some night shots then post an & well have a look. 

Hope you can Dr up her. My hieroglyphs (omg I can't t stop....not Dr pepper spray its decipher. Have a good 🌙

 

 

 

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Hello Julian,

There's the makings of a mixed portfolio there, keep looking for variety.

It's a crowded market, so your pictures  have to pop out at the editors eyes.  Some of them  have a natural look to them, I think it's time to play with

post processing  a bit and wind up the saturation, and brightness a bit. Just turn it up to a level you are still happy with, your local subjects are always in the papers so there is plenty to compare with, and these are pictures that have sold.

James

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I agree that they could be brightened a bit more in post processing with some color vibrance. The credit line for the Johnny Depp images says "Alamo Live News". When the red arrows fly it does seem a bit like the Alamo but better correct that. There is a rather mature woman drinking cider that you have captioned with "girl" and no "woman" in keywords. Do you mean Conwall or Cornwall? You have Conwall in some image tags. Maybe check your spelling. Nice varied portfolio.

 

Paulette

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I don’t know if you use Photoshop to develop, but if you do.....

Make a brightness/contrast layer and turn up the brightness until the image pleases you in the main subject.  Look at any whites or sky that may have become blown out by the adjustment. Take your brush, size it, make sure it’s set to black, and brush out the blown areas back to what they were before the adjustment. Or change the opacity and brush the area partly back.

Your images may seem a bit dark because you’re protecting the whites, but you can fix them. Just watch out for introduced noise by the process.

Betty

 

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10 hours ago, Inchiquin said:

I could do with some of whatever you were on last night Marianne ;);)

 

Alan

 

Me too. ...It's called not having slept the night before.   Much easier to type in my tablet today 🃏

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I would love to live in Devon! Dartmouth in-particular is a place I will always cherish as I always used to go there on holiday with my family when I was a child.

 

I agree with what has been said by others.. you have good photos but you just need to find a way to make them 'pop' a little more. Try and make some of the blue skies bluer (without making them look artificial or over-processed). Perhaps lift the shadows a little more in some cases. Otherwise, keep doing what you are doing!

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Thanks everyone for your feedback!

 

Cornwall is now spelt correctly, but I'm not sure if I will get away with tagging my wife as "rather mature woman"! 😉

 

Alamo must have been an iPhone autocorrect induced error as I was trying out ShutterSnitch for the first time last weekend! - The good news was that I did manage to upload some reportage shots directly from the field shortly after they were taken! Now that I've proved that works, in case I ever need it.....  I will normally spend some time to edit and upload normally from home!

 

I do shoot in RAW and mainly use lightroom - I'll start looking at using a bit of saturation to brighten the images up.

 

Its the Devon County Show this weekend - should make a good day out tomorrow!

 

Jools

Edited by Jools Devon
added a bit!
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I think there is a demand for images of us older ladies enjoying ourselves. Since you know the woman you will know her age and can at least put an age range in the keywords. Honestly, I think she would probably be OK with being called a woman. If it was me I'd be OK with mature, senior, pensioner or anything else that would promote sales. But then I'm only 78. By the way, I find Vibrance is a more subtle effect than Saturation in Lightroom.

 

Paulette

Edited by NYCat
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