I've done some higher end photography shoots (and done a lot of photography myself); the very common things in portfolios that turn me off of working with a photographer are:
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1) flat/unintentional lighting. Flat lighting can work sometimes, but often I see it in photos that would clearly have been better with some dynamism!
2) Easily fixed lighting mistakes; like sun making a weird spot on a chest. Shows lack of attention to detail
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3) Uncreative posing! I know posing is a well worn landscape but there's a set of body stances that are extremely unoriginal and I want to see the photographer able to intelligently coach their client into something even a little more novel.
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4) terrible levels. often I see perfectly good photos ruined by a bad balance of lights and darks in post, usually too-high contrast. makes the photos look myspace. sure I can fix it if I get originals but now I don't trust the photogs aesthetic sense.
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5) sloppy background use. Often I see dramatic photos with posing/outfits that clearly look very intentional, but with the camera orientarion that looks like u just whipped it out last minute -too high, low, bad angle. Background should balance the subject!
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6) a lack of creativity. It seems like most photographers are trying to replicate photos they (and also i) have seen elsewhere; its pretty rare I see people trying noticeably new things. It really doesn't take much, it's subtle, but u can kinda pick up on how much they experiment
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Many photographers aren’t trained properly in using a light meter (if at all) and don’t know how to set the ratio for more than two light sources.
Also, posing is a collaboration and mostly on the model for THEIR creativity. The photographer is more concerned with perspective 1/
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90% of the mainstream professional photography I see is so insanely over color graded, like none of them got the memo that deep frying your shot like its 2014 instagram or 1999 The Matrix isn't the go. Objective criteria needs to make its way into the arts
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