Anyone have any tips for a mostly non-commerical photographer who has an offer to do a shoot at our Zoo for their publicity campaign? It will be a lot of young kids sitting around watching the instructors bringing out a wide variety of unusual animals to see the reaction on the kid's faces. Outside, of course, but should I use a tripod and my zoom (75-300) or one of my normal 28-80, etc. lenses (Canon XTi-nothing stabilized). I know the zoom would be better but I worry about blur with them jumping around, plus it might be cloudy. ANy advice much appreciated!

Johnnyg67...excuse me for interjecting a question here but I am trying to determine what the going rate for photos is (I know it is different in different parts of the country). I don't want to charge too little and get a reputation as cheap, but don't want to overcharge either. I have had a lot of interest in people wanting to buy- most are just matted on foamboard but some are nicely framed (by me - not a professional service). Aftrer I get more well-known I will have everything done professionally, but now I print and frame my own. Any advice from someone who knows a lot more than I?

I know this has been addressed before but I didn't print it out. If you are selling matted photos on foamboard what do you usually charge for 5x7, 8x10, or 11x14 and larger? I'm talking about selling to people you know who you don't want to use to make a big profit. Just as a means to get your work seen - I may try the internet also, but I don't know the going price for things. Also, I have some framed (nice frames but not by a professional framer). Want to cover expenses and maybe make a little money. If anyone has any advice let me know.
Thanks!

Those are awesome photos with the mirror...you are very creative.

Are you all right William? I don't understand a word you say. :thumbdown:

llindstrand....I love those. I am partial to flowers anyway and the colors are beautiful. Looks much more realistic than mine which was a fake mirrow of sorts. You handled the reflection problems well. I had trouble with that and had to do a lot of cloning to delete the bright spots from the window in the room.

Meives...that is awesome. I like the effect with the shadow - I was wondering how you got rid of the statue then realized you were in the back of the cathedral..Nice

I cropped the cathdral and do like it better. When I have time I might insert new fluffy clouds, or maybe after cropping, it doesn't need anything else. The man on the bench was in the park while we were shooting and I couldn't pass it up - such a common sight around town. I don't think I disturbed him.

What a sad story! I never had that large a disaster but I did manage to delete all the High School reunion photos I had taken (by request). For some unknown reason I reformatted the disc after the fact and lost everything. That is why I will never commit to a wedding - that really would be a disaster!

Another New Orleans candid shot.

Thanks tinosa....you are the first person who has noticed the "sparkle" on the rim. My photo club also said they would have liked to see the whole image of the wine glass. It was an experiment I read about to get a fake reflection. It is actually two wine glasses and I couldn't find two exactly alike so that gives it away.
THe Iceland photo was taken with my daughter's camera and she had it set on a very low resolution (she's a new DSLR user). I didn't realize it until later, now some of the wonderful shots we got are too small to enlarge. Oh well....on my next trip to Iceland -ha!

Thank you so much. I love constructive criticism and always learn from it, so I am not offended by any comments. I am glad that you (being the second person) like my "blue daff". It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess.

Dear Mooseeyes....thank you for the wonderful compliment on my "blue daf". I was surprised when I actually liked it, not usually liking "effects" in PS and Elements. You made my day!! I don't think anyone else likes it, but as long as someone besides me does I am happy! And you do write great BS....

llindstrand.....thanks so much for the comments and the work you put into the corrections! You did improve it immensely and I apprectiate the advice. I never thought about cropping out the other building...I usually have a pretty good eye for composition but I missed the mark here. Oh, and I am never offended when someone gives me constructive criticism!

You are exactly right about the clouds. I was excited to figure out how to do that and didn't take time to see how the clouds fit the final image. I do have some more fluffy clouds that would have been better. I had tried to do this in Photoshop, Elements 10 and some other programs, and ended up doing it in PhotoScape! It was so much easier than the Photoshop method.

Oh aren't we funny! Actually it might improve the shot; at least make it more interesting. I think I just chose the wrong clouds to add.