Sharpness/focusing

[Damien Symonds]

Those days are gone.  From now on, you do all your editing by yourself, with my guidance.

[Kristie3]

Honestly, you have truly made my night🥰🥰 I still not familiar with PS at all but I got to figure out how to edit them properly but I will start figuring it out now so I can resend to the client as she will not be expecting the images as I told her we will reshoot but she has to get her family together again. 

[Damien Symonds]

As soon as you've finished the Bridge Class, the Raw Class is the next one to take.

[Kristie3]

I honestly will.  I am starting to become a photographer independently and really want and need to learn PS.  Im straying away from the other program that you do not like lol. 

[Damien Symonds]

Good.

[Kristie3]

Yes, I plan to finish BR soon! wishing the next week or so.  Ive been taking a lot of notes and just practicing on old images to get the gist of things.

[Kristie3]

So with proper editing is there a way to upload them properly?

[Kristie3]

Ok, I will come back tmrw and finish this.  Ive been at the computer for about 8 hours now!

[Damien Symonds]

16 minutes ago, Kristie3 said:

So with proper editing is there a way to upload them properly?

Yes.  There's some discussion about this at the end of the Bridge Class.

[Brian]

I'm happy to jump in here at the end and say, the focus is fine. Nothing wrong with the lens. The real problem is how your Photoshop is setup, and your overall lack of knowledge of how to use Photoshop is what is messing you up. Plus, if you have given the client a JPEG with a Quality of 3...No wonder they can't print it!! You NEVER want to go that low!! For now, use the File >> "SAVE AS" feature, and stick with quality of "10," and if saving to Social Media, especially Facebook, set it to "11."

Fortunately, your lack of knowledge is easily corrected, provided you are willing to learn. What I want you to do first, is make sure ACR and Photoshop are setup correctly. Here are some instructions, start from the top and work your way down:

Setting Up Photoshop.

The next thing you need to do, is take the Bridge Class, followed by the Raw Class. Then take the Layers and Masks Class. L&M is the one that really teaches you how to "Use" Photoshop. But before  you are tempted into doing that one 1st, always remember that Photoshop comes AFTER your images are rock-solid and edited properly in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)!!!  Just like a foundation of a house, I don't care how expensive and pretty those Granite Countertops are in your Kitchen, if the Basement / Foundation can't support the weight of them, and is crumbling, it's not going to do you any good when the Kitchen collapses. Got it?  

[Kristie3]

Thank you for letting me know what future settings to use and to what I need to start doing.  When I edit this family session, I didn't use Photoshop at all and only used LR.  PS is something that I just recently wanted to dive into because I feel it is NEEDED for photography and wanting to have some sort of knowledge of it. I was told that PS isn't needed and how some don't use it, but I want to.  I asked a photographer friend about settings I was told to be around there somehow, but now I know how incorrect the was.  Even after the client informed me know that her quality was poor because she was unable to print 10x13, 16x20 and larger, I asked for help and was told it was my focus issue, then lens issue.  Now I know not to listen to someone who may look at me as competition.  

[Brian]

This is the problem with LR. It's all marketing hype. Adobe really took a page from Apple's Marketing book. Seriously.

Lightroom is great when you don't give a shit about color. When you need to deliver 3000+ images within 15 minutes to a client. It's for Bulk-Editing, Sports Photographers do this on a normal basis. Even Event Photographers. So many people out there apply a store-bought preset and think that it's "editing." It's not. Then they export and wonder why their images never seem to look the same as they did in LR. What's worse, is the client noticing that something is off, or they can't print a file that you sent them, due to poor quality.

Guess who isn't going to hire you again?

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard editing program for Photography, and it will be for some time. So it's truly worth learning. I haven't seen many serious contenders out there that would end up replacing it. I'm not saying that's not possible, it's just very unlikely at this point. Hell, even Kodak is no longer around, so something like this happen is plausible, but not in the immediate future.

Now, I get why people like Lightroom, it's very intuitive. Click a couple things here, apply this preset, move a slider or two...and BAM!! You have a #Hashtag #Amazeballz Image!! All the Hearts and Swoons from people on FB!! They just #LOVELOVELOVE your image. Then you go and do something silly, like actually print the photo, and it looks terrible. Then you start to think, actually the JPEG didn't look like anything that you saw in Lightroom. But it must be you, right? Or your lens is bad! That's gotta be it. Tabitha-Jane from Cutesy Name Photography has a bigger and fancier camera than you, AND HAS A 50MM F/1.2 LENS!!! THAT'S GOTTA BE IT!! 

Nope.

Lightroom is the cause of your problems. Once you figure that out and get it out of your workflow, get your screen calibrated and matching a set of physical prints, will you then understand how far off your workflow truly is. You can't buy yourself out of this. I've spent thousands and thousands on this crap, and it turns out the person who knows how to edit will produce far better images with older gear than I would with my big and fancy camera. I've got all the gear...and all I do is produce crappy photos with really nice gear.

[Brian]

3 hours ago, Kristie3 said:

Now I know not to listen to someone who may look at me as competition.

Yep. Photographers are funny creatures. We are a weird bunch. Never assume anything, especially if they view you as a potential threat. People also drink the Kool-Aid and think Lightroom is all that you need to edit photos. It usually isn't.

Honestly, it's better to make friends with someone a few States away, or at least a few hundred Miles/Kilometers in between the two of you, so you are in different markets. Even then take what they say with a grain-of-salt. Hell, I've known of Photographers who give workshops and tell their students to use a certain light, like an Alien Bee for a few hundred, and they themselves use a $2000+ Profoto Light! They purposely sabotage their students so they can make money off of them, and still retain an "edge" over said students. Honestly, the quickest way to make money at Photography is to sell to other Photographers, not getting  true clients.

This saying is very true:

• Amateurs worry about the Gear (Or blame it)
• Professionals worry about the Money
• Masters worry about the Light

Start with the Bridge Class. It's $10. That's a Large Plain Pizza near my house or a Cup of over-priced Iced Coffee from Starbucks. If you don't like Damien's teaching style, it's only $10. But I think you will start to find errors in your workflow and will continue onto the Raw Class.

[Kristie3]

This is such good and informative message.  I have learned honestly to reach out to people that are not locals or who has retired from photography.  Some of people that I use to work with at a photography studio is all doing the same thing and may look at me as a potential threat due to us being in the same field and working amongst each other.  I will continue to do the Bridge class followed by the Raw class and then Mask and Layering.  I tend to have about 50-70 images for clients and I know that is way waaaay to many images but listening to others and saying in person sales is not that important. Well once I came to the conclusion of listening to myself and finding my own style and technique and doing things how I want them to be done. 

[Brian]

4 hours ago, Kristie3 said:

I tend to have about 50-70 images for clients and I know that is way waaaay to many images

The only advice I can give in that dept., is to never-ever-ever show a Mom the slightly out-of-focus, underexposed photo that doesn't print well. She will pick that photo every damn time because "She likes her baby's smile in that one..."

EVERY. BLOODY. TIME.

[Damien Symonds]

Amen.