Ethics, and pro portrait photogs

[JSPhoto]

The more I deal with so called professional portrait photogs the more I dislike them and here is just one example of why.
Apparently this guy thinks the only way to get the "perfect" photo is to block the decorations! The guy calls himself a pro, yet uses very old (by todays standards) digital body and no backup body. He also has a studio.
Anyway he sets this umbrella up blocking the decorations, and this in my opinion is unexceptable, especially for someone who calls himself a "pro" which he made sure to tell me at least 20 times in the 5 minutes I talked to him. Before next years graduation I'll be talking to to some of the school board members about this, although it may not be needed as the photos in the paper may show you don't need this umbrella to get excellent results without blocking the decorations.
This photo is not one the paper used, it was just a test shot from a different area and I had the flash off, but it shows how bad this umbrella crap messed up the photos.

JS

[livin4lax09]

technically a pro is defined by making more than 50% of your income through photography. unfortunately it has nothing to do with skill level. But having an old digital body and no backup is no way to judge his skill or his professionalism. But that umbrella, on the other hand, is. It's completely unacceptable and enexcusable. I can't believe the school board/people in charge of graduation allowed it. Besides, it's a horrible placement for photos as well. The shot that you took would look awful with that strobe going off.

As you said, it's honestly not hard to light a graduation without putting a giant umbrella on the grad platform. You can easily just bounce it off the ceiling or the giant white wall behind the grad platform. This way actually probably yielded worse results than bouncing it would have. But as I said, the term professional only applies to income, and unfortunately not skill.

did you shoot with on-camera or ambient light? and can you show your photos? I'm interested in seeing.

[JSPhoto]

No, this photo was just ambient light. I took it for two reasons, the one being the dang umbrella blocking the decorations, the other just as a test shot without flash.
The other photos all went to the paper so I can't post them. One of those was used in a second paper this morning, cute shot of a girl heading up to get her diploma and her 2 year old niece trying to go with her

I forgot too mention below that this guy "claims" to use top of the line gear, which is why I mentioned the fact he has very outdated gear and no backup gear. Considering he has a studio and does this for a living he should have better gear and common sense. I have seen some of his "studio" work and it was horribly noisy. I ended up redoing one girls pictures at a park because his studio stuff looked so bad.
I'll be on the schoolboard about this umbrella business though...thats just outrageous, there was nothing proffessional about the way this guy worked last night, even his assistant was dressed like she was going to a baseball game, not a graduation.

[Alison]

technically a pro is defined by making more than 50% of your income through photography. unfortunately it has nothing to do with skill level.

That's for sure! Wish I was earning mega bucks from my photography!
I dunno about JS's pics, I'd love to see the so-called pro's pics haha!

[JSPhoto]

I dunno about JS's pics,

Hey Now!

According to the papers they liked what I got for them......although they really liked the ones of the girl going to get her diploma and her little niece trying to go with her. I was hoping shed just pick her up and take her with....later she admitted she was tempted to do just that.

JS

[Alison]

Hey Now!

Funnily enough I'm not doubting your photography. I am curious to see what the so-called pro produced

[JSPhoto]

Funnily enough I'm not doubting your photography. I am curious to see what the so-called pro produced

I too am curious, he wouldn't show me, but I did hear him rambling about other photogs flash messing a couple of HIS pictures up.....

JS

[Frog]

Probably somebody's uncle or something.
If there's a link to the paper, maybe we could see some of your shots.

Just a thought.

[JSPhoto]

Probably somebody's uncle or something.
If there's a link to the paper, maybe we could see some of your shots.

Just a thought.

The paper charges to access their site....they don't even give me access to it

JS

[jorgemonkey]

Thats classic

I'm guessing the "pro" was on the left of the speaker so he wouldn't get the umbrella & stand in his shots?

It'd be even funnier if it was in his shots

[readingr]

JS,

Careful when you approach the board. You don't want to critisise the chap as he may be a personal friend or worst a close relative.

Tread carefully - politics could be rife in this sort of situation.

Roger

[drg]

Big difference in Studio work and the "real" world! There are some really capable studio photographers who just don't do well in an EVENT setting. Even when they shoot weddings or parties they have to bring the studio with them. Oh well.

Yes, I too would like to see the end results of the "I'm a Pro Photographer!" 's work.

It is a real shame to have the blasted strobe and umbrella in the middle where every Mom, Dad, and family member is going to have it screwing up their pictures. Wonder what it did to the video in the lower left of the photo . . .

[JSPhoto]

JS,

Careful when you approach the board. You don't want to critisise the chap as he may be a personal friend or worst a close relative.

Tread carefully - politics could be rife in this sort of situation.

Roger

Roger..... lol, you don't know me well I don't care if he has a family member on the board, it doesn't excuse this type of garbage. I am one who doesn't ruffle feathers unless it's a good cause, and this is one of those times I just can't let it slide.

Jorgemonkey, yeah, I think he has it in his photos too as it was directly behind the spot where the grads recieved their diplomas....go figure. He had a spot marked off for the principle to stand.....oh well, glad it wasn't my graduation, I'd have torn the thing down! :thumbsup:

DRG... lol, the problem is I have seen his studio work and it wasn't very good. I wish I had kept the photo one girl brought me, it had a ton of noise, and she looked like she had a suntan, but she didn't. You could almost count the pixels in the print....gulp!


JS

[Speed]

I've seen plenty of guys and gals that call themselves "professional photographers" and they do make a living taking photo's, but their product leaves a lot to be desired. I am stunned that this guy even thought about putting that umbrella on the stage! It looks horrible, and I'm figuring it gave some horrendous backlighting issues as well...

[JSPhoto]

I thought it would cause problems for me but I decided to cheat a bit, I used my 70-200 and shot from the far end of the gym. No issues that way. Only a couple of shots had it lit up and it didn't affect them, probably due to Canon's multispot metering and the 580EX's ability to work with the body. It really worked well considering.

JS

[MJS]

At Deckcadet's graduation last night the shooter was on stage, but off to the side. He was well dressed and used a digital with a bracket mounted Metz. Nice and simple, low profile and just as effective. That clown with the umbrella on the stage was just a fool. As I try to teach my young shooters, document the show, don't be part of it.

[deckcadet]

And I can tell you now the shots came out pretty nicely

they already sent us the email proofs!

[mjs1973]

If this guy calls himslef a "pro" he must have a website. I would love to see some of his work!

Like Speed said, I too have seen the work of people who call themselves "pros" and make a living at it, and their work isn't anything special. On the other side, I have seen some work by people who wouldn't know how to use their camera if they took it off of full auto mode, and their work is very nice...

[berrywise]

Was he just shooting the handshake photos for each grad? I think back when I graduated they used those camera that can handle full rolls of bulk film. With 1000 graduates in my class they used two of those setups. They always had the principal/president off to the side though so that it wouldn't be in the way.