Christian Photographers Community

Hi everyone,

Happy Easter and God bless you!  I'm Janice, a photographer/mom from NJ...

I have a question/dilemma that I'd like to share with other like-minded folks, and any input or suggestions would be much appreciated.  You see, I'm one of those people who have taken pictures since I could hold a camera, (now I'm almost 48, and have held many!), and in the last few years since my kids have grown, I've taken my photography more seriously, and have bought, read, watched, and learned everything I could to better my skills and understanding both, of photography, and the business of photography.

That being said, I continue to ask myself, and, consequently, make no progress, at what point is my photo 'done' enough to actually submit to a publication?  I fear I've absorbed so much information that my perfectionistic tendencies have taken over, so I never know if my photos are good enough to even merit a look by someone other than me or my family.  I mean, you take the picture, photoshop it to death, delete it cos there's a gazillion other photos like it, retrieve it from the Recycle Bin, start again, tweak some more, and on and on it goes, leaving you drained and numb as to why you are doing this in the first place. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE photography, and I'd do it for nothing, (have I mentioned I've been doing it for nothing?) but at this point, I'd really like to see if my photos are print worthy, but I don't know how to send in the PERFECT submission!  Does anyone else understand or can relate to this?  I know I'm not the only one, and I'd sure love to hear from other shutterbugs what they do to keep peace inside and out...thanks again for listening....love, Jan

In my honest opinion, a picture is print worthy when it feels as though you are inside of that picture when you look at it. Somewhat like a good painting, it doesn't even have to be perfectly sharp. It just has to make you feel like you're there. As corny as that may sound, that's what I look for in a professional photo.

If you like, you can post a few of your pictures here, and we can take a look.

Another good person to talk to would be shutterbugmom.  She has had pictures accepted and published in a Home School Magazine.  She knows far more than I do on this topic.  If you go to the members tab and scroll over to S then down to shutterbugmom.  If you click on her name you will come up with her profile.  You will be able to send her a message from there.

Well if you love photography-you will have photos great for printing...Remember it is your standard, what you like and you will find that every photographer has a special take with their photography-yes there are a lot of some type of photos that seem the same-but then there are those are not seen from your pov and yes-not everybody is going to appreciate what you do but then everybody is not you....Pick out a few of your favorites and give them a print.  I'm sure you must have some in your archives that you just like,appreciate & love...

I began photography about 4 and half years ago-I was inspired by viewing others who were just sharing. Then I began entering photo of the day sites, aka POTD. I think you sell yourself short, especially if you've been doing it for a long time. I've found when you share you become confident of your talent, the ways of the camera, what you like to shoot, etc you will find peace with that. Now if you're talking photoshopped I am not much good at all with that kinda of editing but I do like plugins that coincide with what I like in photography and I can clone, something I'm finally getting the hang of...and on occasion I actually get a photograph right without having to do any post processing or adjustments. I only get artsy when I see a photograph I don't want to let go of, then again its just with plugins where its easily done-I've accepted I don't really want to spend hours on a photo to get it perfect.

If you can find a forum your comfortable with showing your photos-for opinions, suggestions, improvements-it would be a good way to boost your confidence. I think you will find peace once you accept and find what YOU really like. And if you use digital, just drop it the recycle bin. It's so much easier than film-though I love the film look I would be wasting alot of moola with the expense of it.

finally you can be at peace if you're not trying to compare what you do with others!!! WE're not clones and each of us humans are unique, just like every photographer...

Now that I tired you out with reading my chatter-I hope I made sense, lol...

Thank you all sooooooooo much for caring enough to write your heartfelt, kind words of encouragement!  I've told myself many of those things for so long, I just seem to keep holding back, never believing I could 'compete' with the pros, when in reality, I don't have to.  I know in God's sight, I'm an original, and that's how I need to see my artwork.  I just need to get a start, and if you don't mind, I'll post a few photos here first.  Let me just see which folder would be appropriate.  Let me know what you think, and again, thank you all for your help...Jan

You know, Bluegypsy, I struggle in a similar way. I'll often take a set of pictures, and I know there are things there that I like, but I'm not always good at figuring out the best of the batch.

I have friends with whom I'll share the whole batch. Some are photographers, some are not. Often one or two pics will stand out for most of the friends, and they're not always the ones I would have picked. I find that very helpful. I also use Flickr, and have accumulated "friends" there, and the comments are helpful.

From what I've seen here (I'm new), the photographers here are pretty helpful in this way.

And by the way, if you ever decide to sell to companies like Shutterstock or Istock Photo, the less processing you do the better they like it. I've toyed with the idea of selling stock photos, but I tend to be at odds with what they consider good photography.

My advice is stop asking questions of your work and your photography, just get some of your work on an editors desk if they like it they'll use it if not they won't. Like someone once said, "Run the flag up the pole and see who salutes it."