Simple portraits

photo critique

Hi Christian,

The three photos that I will submit will be portraits as I want some C&C and another set of eyes on that type of photography since it seems that is what a lot of people in my area go for. I was also accepted as a professional watercolor artist at the age of 18 so I am use to the constructive criticism Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. Anything that you would do different please feel free to let me know.
I am just now starting to try and market my photography and I have found out the other couple of photographers in my town charge 20-40 dollars for a family portrait session. I am charging a between 75-150 for portrait sessions and I feel that is reasonable for what I do. Please, please tell me if I’m charging too much. I look at their work and there are shadows across the faces, poor composition and not being balanced, looks like high ISO settings or possibly using an unsharp mask too much and worst of all they look like regular shots that have been taken with the green box setting.
The first camera I used was a Pentax K1000 and I developed my own B&W film back in 1990.

Image 0235 was posed as I find most females like to pose. Her name is Melissa Sutton.
Image 0309 I tried capture a natural look as he wasn’t aware I was going to take the picture yet.
Image 0315 I desaturated a little to try and give more focus on her eyes. This photograph wasn’t posed either.

Take your time Christian and hopefully you will critique my work so I can take my skills to the next level. I enjoy and take pride in my work, but I’ve not got the expensive gear that some of these photographers have. Many people don’t realize that it’s so helpful to have a professional critique your work as that’s one of the best ways to improve in your talent.
Thanks Christian,
Kevin

Kevin Hays
IT Professional, MCP, MCSA, Security+

………………………………..

Kevin

thank you for your submission. I always enjoy receiving good photos like yours. You are more then a competent photographer and I cannot find anything wrong with your images. good composition, your portrait breath comfortable in the picture, nice framing all balanced tones and colours. I like the approach and I love the quality. Melissa likes a good pose and it is a good one. It highlights the best of her and it is a nice portrait. I cannot comment on the sepia tones, it is a matter of taste. I am not a very heavy user of this, but I think this one works really well. You have got all compositions right and the crops on the man and little girls crops are very nice.

My favourite of the 3 is the man’s black and white portrait. Nice capture!

In a nutshell, your photography is great, it is high level professional quality. I am getting the feeling that you have a confidence problem? – I believe the values you mentioned above are very low anyway. I understand as a starter you are afraid to charge more as you might loose the client, but I have been there and done that. I would think that your quality is worth $500/session but one need an established business before charging more.

I would hope you focus on your marketing and deliver what you already deliver, and you will build up in time. check out my marketing tips and start thinking like a business man.

Just as a quick tip: promote and call yourself a high quality and high value photographer and try to get the clients willing to pay even more than that.

Questions: what lenses did you use for each photo?

do you have a website? – very important for your marketing?