How to Escape the "Fauxtographer" Stigma

Many a mommy blogger has branched out into the world of professional photography. Those of you who know I have a degree in photography may think this would bother me, but actually, you'd be wrong. I enjoy seeing other people find success in my field. Many a mommy blogger are genuinely talented with a knack for business.

However, not all fit this category, resulting in the stigma of the mommy-bloggy-fauxtoggy - women who mistakenly think good camera equipment and stylish subjects are all that's needed to be a professional photographer. Those things definitely help, but here are a few tips that may come in handy even if you have cheapie equipment.

After visiting the blogs of many, many aspiring photographers, there are a few problems I see that regularly crop up. To illustrate these issues, I shot a few quick photos. (I made these poorly-done  photos to exaggerate my points - I'm hoping they will be of educational value. Dan, Adria, and Alice, you all look amazing. Thanks for helping out.)

1) Background. Right now it's "in" to find rustic backgrounds, or backgrounds that show clear urban decay. Done right, it's awesome.  When it's not . . . note the following.

Always ask yourself what the background is saying about the person or family you are photographing. Pay attention to the background while you are on-location. In this picture, how could you have moved around to get a less-cluttered background? How could you have angled the shot so that the white thing in the background doesn't look like it's growing out of mom's hip?

**The worst example I've seen lately (at a bridal fair) is a portrait of three kids outside a boarded up, decrepit shack with broken glass and rusty nails all over the ground. The youngest, a baby, stands barefoot in the middle of it. Her magenta-blue feet say to me that it was more than a little cold outside. Choose your locations carefully. Once you've selected your location, choose what will be included in each picture. Boarded up windows are probably a bad start (as are cold baby feet). This is actually the photograph that prompted me to write this post.

2) The 45 degree tilt. This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Severe tilt-age (especially in standing pics like the one below), can be a red flag. It may appear as though you are compensating for poor composition with tilts. It's a hallmark of the amateur photographer.

**I probably should have tilted this more - the above pic is more like a 25-degree tilt. Whatever the degree, watch your tilts. Slight tilts are less bothersome in candid shots; on the other hand, posed shots with tilts give the strange illusion of your subject falling out of the frame. (Also note the window a/c unit in the background. Just because a house is "old" doesn't mean that every angle of it will make a great background.)

3) Over-processing. Sometimes it can be cool, but I've seen it used to disguise a multitude of technical errors. (Especially true of super contrasty black and whites.) Note the following:

Here is an out-of-focus, over-exposed image. The increased contrast can make it look trendy and cool, but be careful. Post-processing can become a crutch. Get the shot in-camera so that high-contrast pictures become your choice, not your lifeboat. 

An example of what a properly exposed photo may look like before any processing.

Those are the first three tips that come to mind. I'll post more in the coming weeks. End part one.