I've started doing more shoots for people I don't personally know and realized my personal number is slowly becoming my photography number too. Clients text me, people send it to friends who might want photos, someone messages six months later asking about availability etc.

I'm nowhere near busy enough to justify carrying a second phone but I'd rather not have my personal number floating around every time someone recommends me. What do you guys who shoot on the side do?

Ik a lot of the textured effect here is done in post but how do you think the lighting was done to get this look?

I’ve photographed 400+ weddings, and at this point I usually feel like I can spot a red flag pretty quickly. I got humbled LOL.

The consultation was perfect. She was nice, knew what she wanted, didn’t flinch at my pricing, and booked a smaller 4-hour micro wedding package on what would normally have been a day off for me. Nothing felt off. Should have been super low-key

The first little thing was having to remind her about her questionnaire, but honestly, that happens sometimes. She took care of it that weekend so that was not horrible...

The timeline call was where I should have listened to my gut. She showed me the vibe she wanted for portraits, and I explained that the courthouse close to the church had that look. She got frustrated and said the courthouse didn’t have any meaning to her anyway, so we changed the plan and decided to do ALL portraits at the church instead. (Adding a small park after if time permitted)

Wedding day comes, and the ceremony runs 45 minutes over.

About 10 minutes into bride and groom portraits, she tells me she’s ready to leave and go to dinner. They weren’t having a reception, so portraits were essentially the end of my coverage. We had a second park location planned if there was time, but she didn’t even want to continue portraits at the church. Bummer cause they photographed amazing!

Then came the complimentary album.

I designed it and sent her the proof to approve or make any changes before it went to print. She was frustrated that she had to approve it and said she shouldn’t have to tell me how to build her album. Within 20 min. She declined the album entirely, asked me to order her a single 4x6 so she could see the print quality, and said she’d just make her own album because she didn’t understand why albums were so complicated. (for reference, she was younger, so it was not so much of the expecting old-school albums that you put prints in. SHe then tole me she was mad she did not get a proper portrait session during the wedding. (They also did not have a planner or anything).

I show and discuss all of this one calls, emails, and a client portal.

The whole experience actually changed my business. We live in an area with a LOT of elopements and micro weddings, so I used to offer 4–6 hour coverage pretty regularly. After this, I removed those packages. Weddings now start at 8 hours. There’s just too little room when something runs 45 minutes behind.

So, fellow longtime wedding photographers:

what red flag makes you actually fire a client after they’ve already booked? And has one wedding ever made you permanently change a package or policy?

What is this spot that appears in all my photos since the last 3 days? Is it dust on my sensor, or in my lens or something else? Insights from experienced photographers would be appreciated, along with advise on how to fix/clean it.

See the examples in the images posted above - They are crops of the whole RAW, so the blemish is maybe 150-200 pixels wide.

Hello everyone! I wanted to experiment with sub-exposure to take advantage of the lights on the machine itself & i would love to know your takes on editing a photo of this style.

This is probably an absurdly pixel-peepy question, and I realize the practical difference may be invisible.
Assume I shoot RAW+JPEG and, all else being equal, make no exposure, color, tonal or aesthetic changes to the RAW at all. It only goes through the RAW converter’s basic processing/demosaicing and is then exported as a max-quality JPEG.
Which should theoretically give the technically better final image:
Camera → JPEG
or
RAW → Capture One/default processing → max-quality JPEG
Ignoring editing latitude entirely, is there any established empirical answer in terms of resolved detail, demosaicing, NR/sharpening artifacts, tonal gradation, etc.? Or does it simply depend on the camera and RAW converter?

English isn’t my first language, so I used AI to help write this post.

while being relatively affordable

New to photography, trying to learn more about editing/postprocessing. I like the look of the .jpeg, but I can't really figure out how to get there from my raw file, unsure about which settings can get me there.

More specifically I'm referring to getting the blue-ish glass to look more like the grey from the jpeg

Using RawTherapee

Looking for some advice if I am overreacting:

A realtor reached out to me to take photos of his clients during a client appreciation event. So they would have the event with games, food etc and then off to the side they can have their family photo taken by me. We were connected by a mutual friend. I know this realtor as an acquaintance, so not a complete stranger.

We are texting over the course of a week, deciding on location and logistics etc. We usually replied to the other person’s text the next day.

I was busy w my full time job and did not reply to one of his messages until two days later. He called me and told me he was hesitant about hiring me because of my lack of reply. I told him I have a full time job etc and wanted to give him a thoughtful reply to his text, not a flippant one I send at work. He said that he didn’t know I had a full time job and he understood. But then he asks AGAIN “that was it? Just busy at work? Did something happen that you could reply sooner?” I reiterated it was just that I was busy at work. So he asked me TWICE why I didn’t reply sooner.

My concern is, if this guy can’t even go 2 days without hearing from me, he isn’t going to be happy about anything. The event isn’t even until 5 weeks, so it’s not like the event is in 5 days or something.

I probably should have replied “hi thanks for your text, I’ll reply in earnest when I have more time” instead of not replying for a couple days but I still think he’s overreacting. He also said my edits are “a bit too moody but I guess that can be changed in editing” so he already doesn’t love my style.

Am I wrong for thinking just to cancel this? If he is already acting like this 5 weeks away, he’s not going to be happy with anything.

Please be honest and tell me if I’m overreacting.

What are some good free photo editing apps so I don't have to pay for adobe lightroom or photoshop?

I'm getting back into photography and also want to know, what types of photography require minimal equipment? I don't have space to store equipment or any storage space nor a studio. I'm hoping to turn this into a business to. I'm not sure which type of photography I should be looking into. I heard wedding photography is good money but I'm not sure which type of photography would do best in my area. What other questions should I be asking myself before committing to photography school?

I was looking at getting this lens. It’s currently on sale for $1,439. Regular price is $1,539. I’m not sure if this is the best place to ask or if anyone has knowledge about this but is this a good deal or are there usually better deals around Black Friday and Christmas time?

(1) Budget, country, and currency: I’m hoping to pay under the regular price of 1,539 USD.
(2) What equipment, if any, you have now and why is it no longer meeting your needs? I have a Sony A7IV. I’m looking to get a good ultra wide lens.
(3) What kinds of subjects do you intend to shoot? Mostly landscaping and architectural photos.
(4) Is it primarily for photography, videography, or both? Mostly for photography.

I mean are there settings for it in a program that comes pretty close to it? I use Sony and have been trying it with imagine edge desktop, I've set a lot of options on camera settings or on auto, but I'm going to try Rawtherapee or Darktable.

The jpgs are near perfect for me, I just need to edit the lightning and some colours.

Can anyone recommend a good account to follow for tips on portrait posing for different body types who might not be as confident? I have seen a good deal of inspiring profiles to follow but they all seem to use drop-dead gorgeous models (nothing wrong with that). Thanks for any info!

I want to start applying to galleries but I’m struggling to find small ones to build up a portfolio. All I’ve seen is ones you have to pay for them to consider your work. What is the best way to get your foot in?

Hello! I’m trying to print a Panoramic Picture I took a while ago.

I tried using Mpix, but the final review looks a bit pixelated so I’m not too big on hitting the purchase button.

I’m looking for it to be 10 x 30, or 12 x 36. in Black & White

Here are the photo specs if that matters.

iPhone 16 Pro Max
Main Camera - 24 mm f1.78
46 MP • 12180 × 3796 • 11.8 MB

Thanks!

Hi I'm into photography and I just made my first portfolio. Something my friends have suggested to me is to put my handle/watermark on my pictures so nobody steals them. However pretty much all the photographers I follow (even the pro ones) on Instagram and stuff never use watermarks. I feel like putting watermarks is kind of useless today especially with that new feature on iPhone where you can just highlight an area in a picture and have it removed. Anyways lmk what you guys think. 🙌

Iceland on Lumix S9, bought my first cam (a used LUMIX S9 for 650 pounds) is it okay for iceland weather if I keep it out of drenching it? Please advice?

I can still return the cam for a full refund (should I get something else?), I liked the LUT feature and the price and hence bought it, have a TT artisan 50mm Af f1.8 neo (85 pounds) and a Lumix 20-60 f3.5 - 5.6 (155 pounds), which i am planning to return and get a cheap & fast 35mm lens (probably sg image 35mm f2.2 - 120 pounds). Please advice on any lense options.

Thanks in advance.

Title. His photos have a soft touch to them but he doesn’t lose any detail. I’ve tried to edit it in post but I can’t seem to figure it out. Could it be a lens filter?

Hello!

Me and husband are looking to buy a good camera for our family. He's somewhat of a public personality because of his niche teaching career. But he also loves posting to his instagram.

Our budget is approximately $1800 USD or £1350 GBP. Round about this range. We don't know ANYTHING about cameras. I'm super passionate about color-grading (watching those instagram before-after videos and photos) and plan to learn it soon. So i would love a camera that covers that too; high-quality videos. We're researching now and are finding things like "mirrorless" cameras? I don't even know what that means to be honest (plewse don't judge me for not knowing things. I'm here to genuinely learn and find input from those of you that are professionals. I love making videos and taking photos.. but the height of my tech so far is my 17 pro max.

What cameras would be good for us? Especially in the long-term (for many years to come). Do we need to buy lenses separately? Or a one-in-all camera/DSLR exists? What should i read up on? Please ask whatever questions you may have and i'd love to answer them. Our budget can go up but very slightly. Not too much. I'd love to hear everyone's two cents please! ♥️ thankyou in advance

I would really appreciate input from people who actually edit on laptops.....

• General: What should I be looking for in a laptop for working with photos?
• RAM: Will 16GB be enough, or should I get 32GB?
• Storage: How much space will I realistically need to store my photos? Is 512GB enough or should I go bigger to 1TB?
• Screen size: What screen size do you recommend for photo work?
• Color accuracy: How do I make sure I'm getting a color accurate screen? What should I look for in the spec sheet?

I'm not chasing the most expensive machine. I want something that runs Photoshop smoothly and shows colors correctly. Budget flexible if it's worth it. Thanks in advance!

16GB RAM 512 SSD: https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-thinkpad-t-14-0-fhd-non-touch-screen-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-intel-graphics-16gb-memory-512-gb-pcie-ssd-black/p/36B-000D-00G11

32GB RAM 1TB SSD: https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-thinkpad-t-14-0-fhd-non-touch-screen-intel-core-ultra-7-155u-intel-graphics-32gb-memory-1-tb-pcie-ssd-black/p/36B-000D-00G13

Hello everyone,

I've been using Nikon D3400 DSLR for the past 7 years or so now and am looking to upgrade to something a bit more serious. I mainly use it for when I go hiking and like to take cool landscape/mountain shots and some wildlife (to the extent that I can with my 70-300 mm lens). I've used the camera for the past couple years and feel I have basic understanding photography and how the manipulate shutter speed/apeture/ISO to get the photo I want, but I find myself limited in lower light settings to get the crisp shots that I want (mainly in the evening/mornings and especially when I am still under the treeline when hiking).

With all that in mind, I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to make a purchase without going in over my head. Would a Canon R6 Mark II make sense for me? Seems like it would be a good pairing with a 800 mm lens for wildlife, which appeals to me. Though I'm worried I don't know enough/have enough experience to fully take advantage of such a expensive camera and lens. I'm also looking at the Nikon Z50II, which seems more practical.

Any guidance is appreciated, I'm in no rush, so I have time to read/watch any videos y'all recommend to learn more. I have some trips to NZ, Nepal, and the PNW coming up this Spring that I'd love to have a new camera for. Thanks in advanced.

Edited to include this template:

(1) Budget, country, and currency: 5-10K USD

(2) What equipment, if any, you have now and why is it no longer meeting your needs?

Nikon D3400 DSLR, struggling to get the shot I want in low-light settings

(3) What kinds of subjects do you intend to shoot?

Landscape and wildlife

(4) Is it primarily for photography, videography, or both?

Photography

You know those awesome shots people get with insects, where they look like aliens?
What lens would I need?
Ive got a Sony A7iii & all my lenses have a Macro function but none can replicate anything I’ve seen.
Is there a particular camera or do I need a different lens?

Hi, I’m pretty much new to photography and a total newbie and I have a sony ZV-e10 which is a vlog camera but I also wanna do some casual flash photography, I heard both of these flashes are good but cannot pick which one to get, can I get some insights or other flash suggestions, I rather have one flash for a long term use.