Well, you're certainly tenacious. How long have you owned a camera? What do you own and how long have you been selling your photos?
I got my first camera in the early to mid-70's. I've shot large, medium and small formats. I've sold fine art prints for about 25 years now. I occasionally shoot products professionally (last commission about two weeks ago) and have done portraiture and a small number of weddings in the past. I've got probably a dozen CD cover images and some book cover images, I've also done extensive printing of B&W and Ciba/Ilfochromes from 5x7" to 35mm film. I've owned, shot, sold and developed 5x7, 4x5, 6x7, 6x6, 645, 35mm film as well as APS-C and FF digital prints.
When I had someone actually going out and doing FA sales for me, he'd generally sell out and outsell other vendors at the same venue- some of that is salesmanship, some is product.
As far as what I currently own, my primary camera is a Nikon D3x and my backup is a D2x. I've got 2 or 3 SB600's an SB800, 3 AB800s, a Novatron pack and head system,. a full-sized Wimberly on a Gitzo and roughly the following: 400/2.8 AF-SII, 300/4 EDIF, 80-200/2.8, 200/2.8, 35-70/2.8, 24/2.8, 24-35/2.8, a Sigma 10-20mm and an 80-400VR that's been lent out for at least a decade.
Where did you get your photographic education? What courses have you taken?
I don't do formal education in any of the professions I practice.
I've worked with many other professional photographers and debated a handful of art professors- I doubt you'd get a plurality of either to disagree with my assessment.
I've also shot for a textbook, which is- other than pitching creating a post-graduate degree program in Infosec (Which I also don't have formal education in) about as close to formal education as I tend to get.
I've studied art, art history, design, vision and the associated fields independently for about 35 years now. There was even a small period of time in the mid-'80s where I was responsible for the White House Photo database, even though I was more on the Global Thermonuclear War side of the place.
Where are the "blown highlights"? There are none. The eye is a tricky thing.
Ok, so 253 isn't _technically_ blown, but you have zero highlight detail and zero shadow detail. If you're happy with it, then that's what really matters.
Personally, I'd have deleted it and readdressed the subject in better light from a better angle. But then if, as you state, your intention was to wait for a car to cross, then be happy to cut it off with a part of the bridge at an arbitrary point, I don't doubt we have very different visions and aesthetics.
I tend to gravitate towards traditional compositional elements like tension/release, negative space, leading lines, NMF, Odds, etc.
This has sold, so far, 23 prints. That is pretty good.
Depends on what your price, audience and market is. It also depends on your salesmanship. I've seen lots of poor images sell- I've sold a few myself over the years.
I've also dealt with photo editors at major publishing houses who have taken images I've shot in mixed lighting and promised to have them run through their graphics department and instead had them go straight through to print. To me at least, there's a difference between published and published a quality image, just as there is between sold and sold a quality image.
Heck, I've got one aesthetically pleasing image that's only sold a couple of times, because framed it looks like the picture that comes with a frame- if I was selling frames, I'd sell thousands of copies.
The rendering here on this forum is not calibrated.
You didn't save the image with a profile.
There's actually quite a bit of shadow detail in the JPEG file, it's just not visible the way it's processed. Lots of those 2s could come up and I think it'd improve the image measurably.
Thanks for looking. Take a little longer when viewing a photo. I have been shooting since 1969 and familiar with darkroom since 1958.
I have been critiquing for over 46 years so you could learn something from this and that is all I am attempting here. Ok, no offense taken, just a learning opportunity for both of us. I am not on here for photography. Just thought I would test the waters of knowledge here.
I've learned all I want thanks, and it's probably not what you intended
Paul
