Venture photography

rayboy

Several hundred quid for a print is rather steep, but for anyone thinking they can buy a digital SLR and get the same kind of result without experience or some proper lighting is kidding themselves.

From what I can see, and I'm making an educated guess now, the venture style of pics are heavily manipulated in computer and unless you have some idea of what you're doing both with the lighting, the camera, the software, then you have no chance of achieving the same level of result. Of course, if you know what you're doing, you can hire a studio with the lighting and background for a couple of hours and then diy. Note, it's not as easy as it may sound, but it will be fun.

Otherwise, I recommend going to an independent photographer (or tog for short).

_slaps_

I've been a studio photographer since 93, we started doing all the venture stuff about 3 years ago , but I hate it, it lacks skill, TBF anyone can flood direction less light from a big softbox onto a white backdrop, get a kid to jump about on a space hopper or whatever and then edit the pictures in photoshop.

It consists of nothing that I spent years learning about lighting and posing skills.

Does anyone else think that the images get "old" quickly, like when you hear a simple song on the radio for the first time and you think its ace, but after listening 5 times you are bored to hell with it? Thats what lifestyle photography means to me. Exciting when you first see it, but gets boring the more you look at it.

I hope fashions will change soon and we can go back to taking quality professional images that people will always like.

franklally

I think they're great and worth every penny as long as you stick to your budget.

Jessmom

I went to venture last year and I didn't end up buying anything due to their pushy sales technique. But I have found a really good photographer Lucy Eloise, she can do modern studio style pictures at your home for a fraction of the price of venture. I was really pleased with the pictures.

the_tired_one

Anyway this VENTURE style can be replicated in say Photoshop?

I have Photoshop but never really used ti, so might be worth starting on the odd experimental photo!

I just have a standard digi-camera (10 optical zoom)

ljcpdc

Have you looked for an alternative? I know locally to me there is a company called Hyatt Studios who are just as good for 1/3 of the price.

My friend used to pay £1000 every 12 months for 4 photos in a bronze frame but when they started to put the pressure on (She became too familiar to them I suspect) she had enough of the hard sales spin & has gone to a rival.

dholtuk2

I too got taken in by the £25 Venture voucher and intended on getting just the small print included in the price. We found it so difficult to choose which one we wanted and seeing them on a big screen made you want them as big as that on your wall. We ended up spending £1000 on 2 pictures and 2 years later the thought of how much we spent still makes me feel sick! Yes the pictures are lovely but certainly not worth half the money. I would certainly recommend finding a local photographer who will do just as good for a fraction of the price.

Katgoddess

the_tired_one wrote: »

Anyway this VENTURE style can be replicated in say Photoshop?

I have Photoshop but never really used ti, so might be worth starting on the odd experimental photo!

I just have a standard digi-camera (10 optical zoom)

This is my niece who was born on Monday. :T My sister took this picture on her camera phone. All I've done is added a soft focus filter using paint shop pro. Imagine what you can do with a proper digital camera and decent lighting and background. There are plenty of tutorials out there.

Ripped_Off_42

darich wrote: »

This is a typical response from someone who maybe takes pictures but isn't a photographer.
As an experienced photographer with some top of the range equipment there are some "aesthetic styles" that cannot be copied without certain facilities and knowledge.
Having a pocket digital camera and taking snapshots doesn't make the owner a photographer but with the drop in prices and everyone having one these days, more and more people seem to think it's easy to simply press a button. The reality is that most people don't know what apertures, exposures, ISO, flash sync, reciprocal focal length, macro etc etc are, never mind know how to use them. Do you have any idea how much good quality gear costs? And what it can do that cheaper equipment cannot?
Not all cameras and lenses are the same - i have a bag of gear worth more than many cars on the road - and i'm not even professional!

Besides, if "pretty much any photographer worth their salt can replicate their aesthetic style at a fraction of the cost" then why are some known worldwide and most others aren't? Why doesn't everyone photograph at the same standard as these world famous photographers???

The fact of the matter is the photos are insanely overpriced. Not just moderately overpriced to cover costs and make a profit, but ridiculously so, and the people employed to 'sell' to you are so false and pushy it's a wonder they get any sales at all.

My family and I went for a photo session with my mum and brother and sister so that we could get some nice family shots for my grans birthday. The experience was interesting as we'd never done anything like it before, and was enjoyed by all.

Going to view the photos was different; nice presentation all set to music, and the photos were nice.

Then the selling begins. What type of thing are you looking for? Where were you thinking of placing it in your home? On and on with the horribly false "you've got some lovely shots here" and "Oh, isn't she beautiful. You can really see her in Debenhams window modelling children's clothes can't you. That photo's beautiful".

But no mention of prices until we picked out a style we liked. "This one? OK, it really is nice isn't it? This one is £400". We nearly fell off our chairs.

My wife asks about the cheapest they do and, opening a cupboard, the saleswoman drags out some example 7x5 prints, which we then spend money on. They are still £75 each, but they're still cheaper. Had my wife not asked, we may not have been told and would have gone away empty handed and they wouldn't have made any sale at all.

Flashforward to last week.

We now know the experience, we're ready for it. We've been asked to go by my mother-in-law for a shoot so she has one of all of her family together.

We go, similar experience as before.

Viewing time arrives, we're ready for the sales technique and the prices. Presentation, hard-sell, "Gorgeous photo that one".

We're just interested in the cheapest. "OK, that's the 7x5's. With your 20% discount today, they're £160.".

This time I did fall off my chair. In 13 months they had doubled in price, and the free one my Mother-in-Law got was a 7x5, and not a 10x8 as it had been the previous year.

£160 for one photograph!! I don't give a stuff how much equipment costs, this is a nationwide company, not a tiny one-man show. £160 for a single photo is taking all kinds of p*ss!.

And encouraging people to take out payment plans for photographs is just irresponsible. It's a nice photo, but I wouldn't spend £2500 for it to be blown up and wouldn't spend £36 a month.

And as they are photos of my family and I, why aren't I entitled to do what I want with them? If you don't sign the agreement, you don't get the shoot, so you have to sign it, but it's a photo! It's not a once in a lifetime shot of a giant panda humping in the wild, or some awarding winning war shot, it's a picture of my family piling on my father-in-law. How is that benefitting them in any way.

They are, without mincing too many words, thieving b*****ds. I haven't been for a photoshoot off my own back and I tell you now, I won't be going back.

ooobedoo

We have been 3 times, the first time we didn't even pick up the free one as they were all ****, the next time we just got the free ones. We were getting such a hard sell so I started crying....she soon shut up.