I'm A Young Photographer, Any Tips?

I have a Nikon D5100 and I want to be noticed! Are there any tips to be better?

my pictures are on my facebook page it's facebook.com S L A S H StephanieMariePhotography

Learn to take technically better photos…

learn about the basics of photography…

be willing to learn and improve…

Get a big, flashy camera strap, matching bag, and matching shoes. That will get you noticed better than what you are doing now.

I'm not going into a lot of details now except to say that the FIRST place to start is to NOT use Facebook as some kind of portfolio site. You will never be taken seriously, and many people will not even be able to see your photos. Get your photos on a serious photo site such as Flickr and not on some goofy "social network" where people blab about how their feet are hurting and that will be your first step to improvement.

It is not so easy to get noticed amongst the huge crop of new camera owners who want to be a photographer as well. One way is to have outstanding work. If I have the correct FB page, you are showing a few that are OK, and some that are not above beginner snapshot level. I did like a couple of the young man, one on the RR track, and the sepia one with the trucks. That was a good use of sepia toning. Some were not. The baby on the black bg is one example. The light is flat there, the sepia and black do not make good companions, and the baby looks like he/she is wearing a thong. The closeup and the one in hands were OK. Studies of hands and feet are almost always better with directional lighting. If you have clients asking for lots of sepia and selective color, so be it. I still have brides who want selective color, and I oblige. The desaturated one of the little girl was the nicest use of coloration IMO, (although the skin tone is a little green), it is still an engaging shot that I'm sure her parents like. But in general, selective color and heavy vignetting are not the best use of post processing techniques. Hokey stuff like that comes and goes, but classic is en vogue always.

The baby with pumpkin is not one I'd show potential clients. The baby's face is in shadow, and blue. The background is too evident in most of your environmental portraits. The toddler on the pink bg looks underexposed, and also her skin tone and the bg color changes from picture to picture. That is a wb or processing issue. Several do not look sharp/in focus, which could be a FB upload problem. I notice my own FB uploads sometimes do not look quite sharp. That's why FB is fine for sharing with friends and family, but not really a good personal website if you are serious about photography. If that is your only site, you should look into getting your own. Even a free site is probably better than FB, but a well designed site can help you get clients, assuming you have good work to show.

Now, I realize that I have seemed harsh. I won't apologize for that. A person who is trying to court clients should be held to a higher standard than a soccer mom with a new camera or a teen wanting to snap better self-portraits and flowers. Your work is not the worst I have seen offered for hire. To the untrained eye (often friends and family) any snap that is in focus and "clear" is amazing and professional. We see that type of critique all the time here on Y! A, usually from young beginners. There's always room for improvement for almost every photographer, and something new to work on and learn. Concentrate on fine tuning your camea skill, especially in the area of technical control, lighting and post processing. There are lots of books and tutorials and seminars for the portrait/child photographer. Continue to learn and practice your craft. You have made a beginning, and are getting some experience and a start at a portfolio. Continue to gain skill and improve.