part 2

the only advice i can offer: FRAMING UGH. ive seen so many pictures ruined by bad framing, like elbows and the top of hair. it drives me insane.

>>4861567
This.

And I want to add on:
FLASH IS THE ENEMY
Especially in well-lit rooms, like most con hallways are.
I haven't seen a professional photographer be dumb enough to use flash, but a lot of typical con-goers do and it pisses me off so badly.

I'm not much of a professional cosplay photographer. I'm more of a cosplaying cosplay photographer, but I do have some knowledge, so I will stick around.

>>4861567
Agreed.

I worked as head of the photography editor of my school paper, I'm not fantastic but I know my way around the camera.

and dumping another tutorial
Learn your god damn settings. Auto can look fine but know what the buttons on your camera do. If you have something better than a point and shoot learn how to change the shutter speed, and practice. The biggest advice I can offer to anyone is upon arriving at a shoot location, fiddle with your camera. Take a bunch of test photos using different settings till you get one that's looking good. If your shooting with a digital this isnt going to be taking up room, you can just delete them later.

Know where your lights coming from and take that into account when choosing locations if you can. Natural light is way better than any flash, but dont get to much or your models are washed out. Too little and it takes some setting adjustments or you get some grainy photos that can often be blurry.

Finally if your using a camera that can, shoot in rawr format. That has been the easiest editing for me, and this goes especially for photos where there was to much light. Just drop down the exposure and am, way easier than using other photoshop methods to correct your photos. At least I think so.

>>4861607
oh and by settings change I dont mean like auto to landscape or portrait mode, I mean like switch it to AV, TV, or Manual and play with your aperture, shutter speed, ect ect.

I have to say when I look for photos there always small. Pic related. WHY? I want to see the details!

>>4861615

>>4861590
That's the thing, I initially never use flash because with my first camera, it drains the battery quickly. But I realize that you can take many good photos in natural light. Even at night, as long as you hold the camera steady.

In addition, I found out years ago that you can increase the ISO setting from auto to high in some cameras in order to increase the light in the image you are taking.

>>4861621
generally for easier loading and so others cant steal them as easily/feel less motivated to steal them. If their big a lot of times you'll find a water mark on them somewhere.
(at least that's from my experiences)

>>4861621
For a good reason, many cosplay images are fucking xbox hueg. Often times they reduce the image size to make it easily downloadable. The best way to find the full image is via google, or ask the person who taken the image.

>>4861621
i think a lot of pictures are smaller because people screencap them off of cure.

only other suggestion: if you're doing a photoshoot with someone, COUNT DOWN. and dont make them hold the pose forever.

i recently shot with a photographer who would tell me the pose he wanted, fiddle with his camera up to his eye, and take it.. so not only did i not know when it was coming, but i was stuck holding the same post 30 seconds - 1 minute, then by the time he finally took the picture i blinked because i wasnt expecting the flash.

the longer you ask someone to hold a pose, the more unnatural it will look - and a simple "3..2...1.." never hurt anyone.

>>4861643
and part five as I know it has yet to be released. So that's all I have for you folks. Hope it helps.

Had anyone ever had any bad photography experiences? I would guess they would be really rare or just not that bad.

>>4861646
See now I'm iffy on that, since I generally take more than one photo of the pose (5 to 10) then from there sort out the one that came out the best.

But of course tell the model when your done and tell her something like "Ok ready?" right before you take it.

>>4861646
>flash
>takes only one photo
>Making Cosplayer hold a pose while tinkering
>MFW

Seriously hope you didn't pay him for that.

>>4861676
it was free, thankfully.

>>4861659
ive never had a bad experience for a shoot i paid for, only free ones. i shot with someone at AN, and like i said in my other post, he had me hold the pose while he tinkered, and didnt warn me before taking it.

i also asked at the end of the shoot if we could go over the pictures together quickly to see which pictures we both like best, and he told me he'd rather not. he's only given me two pictures so far, and he's picking the most awkward poses ever and they generally just look bad. would have been so much easier if we just went over them together, ugh.

>>4861646
FFFFF-- I hate that so much.
At my last con, someone asked for a picture. The pose I did involved looking at someone, so I didn't know when he took the picture or not.
Apparently he was fiddling with his camera for a while, so I right when I checked to see if he took it or not, BAM! Flash.

Have your camera ready if you're going to take a picture, goddamn.

Cosplayer here, and some general advice for con photographers --

Don't be afraid to go up to people to ask for photos. Just a "hi, can I take your picture" while they are standing around or something is fine.

Don't go up to people to ask for a photo if they're preoccupied - eating, talking on the phone, CRYING, etc.

If you want to get your name out there, take LOTS of photos at cons and print out your name/email/flickr or whatever on a small business card to give out to the cosplayer after you take a photo of them. It helps especially to get the photo out to the cosplayer if you post it online and other people can look at the photos. Then post your flickr/site that has photos to the post convention forum threads on the con forum, cosplay.com, acparadise, flickr, etc. You can also put a small watermark on your photo if you want it to be credited, maybe even do small shoots with cosplayers you become friends with. Facebook pages are always good too, like uploading photos and then leaving it open for everyone to see, people can tag themselves that way.

Seconding the idea of a business card type thing!

A few photographers gave me a slip of paper - just makes sure its small enough to fit in a wallet, but not TOO small. i loved it, it makes finding the pictures SO much easier

Question for photogs who hand out buisness csrds to cosplayers: do you expect contact from the cosplayer after you've posted your pics? I've always just used the cards to find my pics but there was a coscom thread about how disappointed a photog waswhen he didn't get any feedback.

Cosplayers: would you contact them?

>>4862109
That's a very silly question and I know you're not trying to but that's 10/10 rage right there.

Yes. Yes a hundred times. Photographers don't just pick up a camera, snap a picture and when they go home regurgitate them for all to see without an iota of thought.

A lot of time, money, and sweat goes into even a decent photo and while I'm happy cosplayers get their photos it irks me to no end when I see a photo of mine on ACP or Coscom without any credit and never a word of thanks from the cosplayer.

tl;dr There's no such thing as a photographer who is tired of thanks and/or praise.

>>4862109

Yeah I usually comment or message them thanking them for taking a photo of me and saying something like "See you at the next convention." If I see a photo of myself that I really like I'll ask them for permission to put it up on my coscom page.

>>4862109
as a photographer I clear with my models ahead of time their aloud to post the pictures I take for them on any social networking site they please, should they credit me for them.

I get ticked when my photos are used by others who didnt ask me or the model. I dont hand out cards as I'm not that good, I only work for friends. But their good at giving me feed back on the shoots and if they liked them or not. I follow the same policy whenever I take pictures. Even though these days I dont photograph cosplayers much.