When I made the decision to cut back on the number of weddings I made a decision to put more work in the weddings I do.
One of the things I started doing was double checking my edits, then triple checking and each time finding quick fast improvements that would make the pictures way better.
CHECK OUT THIS NEW AWESOMENESS -
(More about it in Posts to come)
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SELECTING
After those looks I would go back through and select pictures I think would look great in black and white. Now days after working on thousands of these I can often spot the picture that will look best in B&W but sometimes I have to double check by converting it quickly and then converting it back.
In Lightroom the shortcut is “V” you can check to see if it has potential if it does make a virtual copy and then make the second copy the one that will be B&W the shortcut for virtual copies is ctrl+’
I often find myself selecting the pictures with the most emotion and usually my favorite pictures are given that second B&W look.
One extra benefit
An extra benefit from turning pictures B&W is that going through the pictures is yet one extra look at them. And when they’re in B&W you often pay so much closer attention to exposure levels because colors (specially bright colors) are not playing with your perceptions anymore. I’ll therefore turn B&W see what needs to be done and make corrections before I create the virtual copy… so i don’t have to do things twice. B&W is also great for paying closer attention to making things sharper.
HISTORY
In times past I would tell my clients I could turn their pictures B&W but hardly anyone made reqeusts of me… I took that as a compliment that I was practically perfect. haha But in the end I figure they just don’t know what it might look like, and they might choose pictures that don’t look good in B&W
A little more history is that when I first started photography I wasn’t a fan of B&W… it seemed like cheating to me. I’ve grown to love it and recognize for me it’s spot in my work.
CREATING GALLERIES
Another fun thing I’m doing is creating a gallery of all the images from the session that I converted to B&W.
Usually I leave a copy in color because it often never fails that you do Only B&W and they’ll ask for the color… so if I just have B&W I either think the colors weren’t anything special or I was lazy and might pay for it later, it was probably an afterthought picture anyway.
To create a gallery of just B&Ws in Smugmug you’ll have to start in Lightroom (or similar program) keyword every B&W … I use the keyword “bw”
How to select all B&W the fastest… go to gallery go to the filtering options > select metadata options > change one of the columns to “treatment” > you’ll see you can filter by B&W > select them all > keyword them “bw” > then export > then upload to smugmug
In SmugMug: Add a new gallery seperate from the gallery that contains ALL pictures from the event the B&W gallery will be seperate with nothing to upload > when you get to the uploading section instead select Make Smart Gallery > select the from gallery option and select the gallery with all the pictures then add another qualifier and use that one to select by the keyword > then make sure to select the option that requires ALL requirements otherwise it will select all pictures from that gallery and all B&Ws you have on smugmug.
Anyway check to see if it works and then you have a gallery of all your B&W from that shoot
It seems to be the unwritten rule in photography that you don’t give unsolicited advice.
Of course I don’t know all the rules nor did I make them. In fact many photography rules I tend to break. However, this one I try to stay far away from.
I’ve only heard complaining stories of photographers not too well pleased with another photographer critizing and giving unsolicited advice. I don’t think it’s so much the advice part… but that they don’t have a strong enough relationship with the person giving the commentary, they don’t know the real motives. I bet had they respected that individual and of course had they asked they would have been more than happy.
In giving advice
So if you care about somebody and want to help them… a few words of advice… and you came to the blog so well I guess it’s kind of solicted. haha
Establish a relationship where both sides are respected and trusted.
Care about the person. Show it in action and in word.
Don’t try to turn it into an opportunity where you make money or otherwise profit from them.
If being harsh remember to show care and love at the end. Read this
Know what you’re talking about.
Give them an opportunity to explain their situations before you assume what you think you know is right.
NOTE: As with many of my blogs this is a work in progress a theory I feel good about but am open to kind and honest and educated dialog. The hope is to improve us all. It takes work to understand my way of thinking but I am confident that there is benefit. I hope to always be open to the best way of thinking. I hope to continue to understand and grow more… but for the moment what follows is what I feel tonight and I hope it’s inspired for this moment.
I was recently informed of a write up on a blog – the individual who informed me was offended by some rudeness of it all.
Both Sides
Being a photographer I bet some might not expect me to take the side of someone who is ridiculing photographers. Well in the end I’m not… well I guess i am taking both sides, and hoping to improve on the conversation and hope to make both sides see eye to eye. So if the topic of Temples, LDS standards and Photography intreste you I invite you to read on with an open mind. And perhaps add to and lift our conversation. If not wait for another post tomorrow.
It is very LDS centered in writing so not all may get it. This was never intended to be gotten by all my readership. (I’ll catch you next time)
Let me write a recap… at the beginning…
In the post I’ll tell you that stretching yourself to handle any situation, and to even embrace them will make you a better photographer.
And not just stretching yourself in photography (more specifically locations) but stretch and expand your horizons in all you do.
Finding the good, finding the beauty is an ability that goes way beyond photography and as an aspiring photographer can even be developed outside of your actual photography
No matter how busy and bogged down, no matter how neglected or sad, no matter when things don’t turn out like hoped, no matter whether I haven’t been out side in days or I don’t see friends for a while, no matter if I’m hungry or tired, no matter if people cancel on me and I feel that my life becomes one demensional…
These things don’t come into play when I have a camera in my hand and I’m making people smile.
When I’m instilling confidence and bringing out the best in them.
Those other things disapear when I’m taking pictures and it all clicks (like so often it does) … the other cares are long away.
When they’re loving it and I’m loving it and I can show them a few pictures and tell them there are one hundred (or 4) just like it and they are happy… well I feel like a rockstar.
I have a lot of pictures on SmugMug which gives me peace of mind in case something ever happens to my SmugMugPro.Luckily nothing has
I have a lot of pictures on SmugMugPro which gives me peace of mind in case something ever happens to my DroboPro.
Because I could use a cool program and download the images.
USES
Luckily nothing has ever happened to them and I’ve never needed the pictures because of something bad going wrong. If I did need them I could re-download them from SmugMug for my clients. I did however once need the pictures while on the road away from the computer.
MANY TIMES i’ve wanted to put them on facebook, not just one or two but most of the album… I used to rt click on each picture… then I learned it was much faster to drag and drop into an album. Now i’ve learned it’s much faster to use a program that’ll download them for me, like all at x2 size and then upload to facebook.
Why get them from SmugMug? Because it preps the pictures to look mighty nice on facebook which is known to have problems… it also puts my watermark on, which saves me tons of time.
What’s out there
I have always used AlbumFetcher which works perfectly and only works for Windows. I haven’t used RapidFetcher which I’m told is cross platform.
SmugMug Downloader Review
But I tried out SmugMug Downloader which is a Java app – so I’m assuming it’ll run on both mac and windows. It looks nice, it seems simple. But it’s lacking a ton of functionality. I wonder if they’re just gonna keep it simple or make it more robust and usable?
For one: I have a client needing their pictures like right now for a political campaign. This program requires a password which I’m not going to give to a client. I also don’t see where to select the size pictures you want to download. Which makes it so it doesn’t help me out.
Organization can only be sorted in 3 ways and one of them is not date gallery was created. So for someone with almost 1000 albums of pictures yeah it makes it hard.
But I will say kudos to trying it out and making it look nice. I would hope there are some people out there with some good use of this program.
For now if you’re on Windows Album Fetcher is pretty complete.
I have a lot of pictures on SmugMugPro which gives me peace of mind in case something ever happens to my DroboPro. Because I could use a cool program and download the images.
I’ve heard of and had the idea for years now, but this was the first time I’ve actually done it. I printed and set out cards at a wedding with pictures of the bride and groom, with information about where they’ll be able to see their prints later.
I created a URL on SmugMug where they’d be able to go easy enough to anticipate that traffic. I used a local vendor to print (which I won’t recommend as they were a bit to expensive and many online systems have amazing web enabled card designer software) I recomend gotprints.net or overnightprints.com both have great online design that would make it easy to change up cards quickly and even save and use previous cards for new orders.
The way it went down
I feel the best benefit is to print several different options. I printed 11 different fronts. Meaning same back with 11 different pictures for the front.
My fealing was correct some cards appealed a ton more to some people than others, everyone was able to find something they liked. If they were a friend of the bride they picked a picture of the bride. If they were a friend of both. If they wanted a more generic card of just the flowers or one with the temple. Of if they wanted one of the engagement pictures.
People enjoyed selecting their cards. I printed 330 and at the end there were about 50 left, which I gave to the couple whom were excited to get them printed.
The pictures also added a lot to the print display they had.
I was able to do a discount coupon associated with the card giving them 7 days to get a 20% discount on the prints.
Setting them up and making them work into the presentation without taking away from the presentation is something to consider. You want them to take the cards but you don’t want them to be obnoxiously in your face. Like I said mold them into the visual presentaiton of the reception. That’s why having multiple pictures came in handy once again. I was able to make a small display using many of the pictures together in a row.
In the future
I won’t do this for all weddings, specially not on weddings that I haven’t done engagements and bridals. I’m also more apt to do it for weddings that I’ve done formals.
I see it as a Win-Win – they get to hand out pictures to all their guests, they get hundreds of free pictures. I get to spread my name just a bit more with the hope that they might print but at least that 200-300 more people will know who i am and perhaps even keep that business card and use it later down the line.
I know a few photographers who do this pretty consistently at their weddings… this was my first time, I can’t per-se tell you the real world results just yet after 2 days.
(Below: Some more of the pictures I chose to print.)
Am I allowed the moment to rant a bit? Have I earned this much?
I feel I’m probably “preaching to the choir.”
I doubt I attract the other types to this blog.
I’m down about something completely different but for some reason I got sparked on this unrelated subject as well tonight
… this is after all the Photography Blog …Gotta keep it photography.
Give said the Little Stream
I feel people should not hide their talents…
They should use them to help the lives of others.
I’ve been given so much I totally want to give back…
You expect me to believe those are our only two choices?
In fact about a week or two ago I wasn’t planning on it.
But now I’m a school bound fool.
Learning from past roads
Good news though… It won’t be the typical schooling experience.
It will be heavy emphasis on the learning this time around.
Taking from the 16yrs of schooling experience in my life I believe this experience will go about things in a much improved system.
My personal belief is they shouldn’t just pump more money into a bad system… but change the system. Or perhaps take the old horse out back behind the shed carrying the trusty gun and a shovel.
If you can’t find the perfect solution … Create it!
This is how my winter photography has gotten so much easier this year.
I wear warmer shoes ready for any condition and ready for any place I might have to step.
Sometimes I’m even ready to wear thermals so that I can wear a sweater and avoid a big puffy jacket, because that gets in my way.
I’m still willing and able to get down on the ground for the shot.
But most of all my hands are staying warm.
I bought these gloves and they work like a charm and were well worth the money.
I bought them at Outdoor Photo Gear
There are other options
Certainly plenty of much cheaper gloves and perhaps many are “good enough”, but if you’re still looking for something this will be better.
If you’re happy with where you’re at then I guess you don’t need new gloves anyway.
I will say that this is a photographers glove not a glove that happens to work for photography.
Anytime you’re bothered or burdened and not putting you’re best towards the client it decreases your abilities exponentially
I view my most recent wedding as a standard for things to come.
Let me explain why and how.
What I did to make this possible
A couple months back I was so busy that I opted to raise my prices in a deliberate attempt to have more time.
More time for my photo projects.
More time to have a real life.
More time to focus on each photo shoot.
More time to UP my standards.
And so far it’s worked.
It’s been weird to not book as many photo-shoots, I’ve learned to deal with it.
I’m learning how to fill in all that available time.
New Pricing – Thoughts About
I didn’t want to simply raise costs just because, but I wanted to raise them at the same time raise the quality of the product.
Over the years I’ve raised my prices many times… back in 2005 with the first few weddings I shot for as low as $250 for a wedding.
I didn’t just raise costs because I wanted more money, but because I felt the product was worth that, because I had worked hard at improving with talent, time and equipment.
Now I finally have pretty much every tool I’ve wanted for a long long time.
Weddings I’m searching for
This Hawaii wedding is also an example of the types of weddings I want to focus on working on.
Nicely organized weddings, with people who are very interested in a higher level of photography. I want to be dealing with brides who don’t simply want A photographer but are in search of A great quality photographer.
I understand for some photography isn’t their #1 concern.
And I also understand there are many who really want great pictures but can’t usually afford them.
I want to still be in an affordable range… as a bargain for an educated shopper who can understand what I’m giving when they compare it to other options.
I want to deal with people that stretch to reach the cost (even if i have to help them with the cost) so that they’re appreciative of the product.
But I also want to deal with people that understand the bargain.
I am in Utah where the wedding photography costs are way down in comparison to many other parts of the country.
I suppose this is why I travel a lot.
Give more
If you compare straight up prices it can be deceptive.
But when someone sees I don’t charge by the hour and they could have me for 10hrs + on a wedding day.
And when they see how many pictures I typically give to a client.
When they recognize things like how I review and edit Every picture I give to them.
Many of the intangibles such as the experience which will help me deal with any possible situation that might come up for a wedding.
Or the demeanor and attitude that helps me deal with weddings perfectly. Not too formal, not too informal.
Not just the quality of the picture… but the feel of the picture.
The speed with which the sessions go… not rushed and not dragging along.
Consistency
I’ve always prided myself on the consistency of my weddings.
I felt confident telling clients that they were assured of great wedding pictures.
It wasn’t hit and miss. It was hit after hit.
And sometimes of course there were some big hits.
Good things happen when the sun goes down… twilight is often more exciting… and then there’s a clear evening with the stars coming out and some nice palm trees.
In this post I’d love to drive home the point:
Make wherever you happen to be work for you.
And get good at seeking out spots and SEEing the spots you’re at.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
(Above) As you see these pictures you might wonder why they call it Sunset Beach… haha
This day was proof-example, after example, of why going out with a set purpose (set picture) in mind is in many (not all) ways is retarded.
But having a “way point” can be smart.
Yes have plans… but be open to all the amazing things that surround you.
In this case we penciled in Sunset beach for sunset.
When you’re on a road trip with me you realize I’m using a pencil and that pencil has an eraser.
But beyond that when you are wherever you are… be ready to shoot them when they happen. (know how)
And be ready to SEE them.
It makes me wonder how/why those photographers who set out with one specific shot in mind do it.
That would drive me batty… and doesn’t seem like a good idea. (Open for discussion, as long as we’re trying to understand eachother)
(Though perhaps having fewer pictures would sure cut down on processing and make picking easier)
Going back to the car to grab the tripod… low and behold, I saw the light.
I was saying to myself… how do these things like this keep happening to me?
I really couldn’t have planned the mist, the sunlight angle because of clouds, the color of the sunlight is beyond our control as we know.
Yes I put myself in a situation where i could get back lit pictures of surfers when they came out… but I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
I can’t move this dude I’m not in charge of the posing.
I just frame it up to tell the story and wait for the elements to be in a good spot.
This is a big example of just wandering around searching and being in the right place at the right time.
We didn’t write Hawaii 2009 in the sand but we came by literally seconds before the wave washed it away forever.
I barely had time to aim and spray fire shoot it as it got washed away.
The lighting was hardly what people aim for, but I knew that it would make it unique and that I could add back some of the contrast from shooting towards a setting sun.
This was not planned it was a result of waiting around for other people to be ready to go and getting bored and saying… hey why not take pictures of the palm trees.
If only I had my cable release to take longer than 30 second exposures. But that’s what I could do…
and I set the White balance to 2500 kelvin to bring out the blue because the street lights were throwing off the colors.
On this trip I discovered the joy of setting my white balance to Shady A2 to really bring out warm colors
I think any white balance could have worked for this evening and the camera itself would have been stumped with the colors of the sunset at sunset beach.
Don’t just take good pictures and call it good… add spice.
OK obviously the above picture was taken a while before sunset colors hit… but I wanted to show the kind of waves they were looking at.
You’ll see some better pictures of waves coming up… but I take pictures to document what was going around a whole lot.
Now planning your shots ahead of time is not a bad thing… don’t misunderstand.
I planned on being at sunset beach at sunset.
And when I got there an hour before sunset I said I wanted to be on such and such side of the water/beach.
But the point is: Up until that time (your way-point time) and after and maybe even instead be willing to let your hunches, ideas and the light take you where they will…
Kinda like the waves of see, they go here and there and wherever the wind and tide takes them.
Yes there could have been other paths… but make the path you decided on, or were thrust into work for you
You’ll find some amazing things start to happen.
And you’ll learn to deal with (photographically) what you’re given… and not just search for what you want and always see the green green grass just beyond reach.
I’m saying both things can be good when done correctly.
But don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
A lot of my pictures are a testament to my laziness… i was shooting sunset here and just didn’t feel like moving.
I was hoping more surfers would just walk past me. (They’ve done it in the past)
So i just sat around, not being pulled in any other way.
So I made where I was Work.
Instead of perhaps finding another better location. (Which might have been good too)
People almost seem to refuse to take pictures when the light is not perfect for them.
I say learn how to deal with the light no matter what it’s giving you.
Use it to your advantage… take the pictures the present light situation is giving you.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
Even better if what’s been given is pretty darn nice!
I was just going to straight up share the pictures and be done with it.
But readers of the blog have probably noticed the trend to share photo shoots along with commentary and perhaps even a lesson from time to time.
Those interested in the pictures will probably just view the pictures anyway
or maybe they should just skip right to the FULL GALLERY With an open invitation to use these pictures online to your heart’s content (Assuming they’re of you)
Read the end for more info.
Those wanting to wax philosophical might do so with me in the text of the blog.
I’ll be intertwining some pictures as well.
Read my discourse about giving and receiving and see more pictures after the jump
So SmuMug has released a feature I’ve wanted for a long time ever since David Terry told me about the idea.
(BTW happy birthday David)
I’ve been waiting for a version of coupons that would ease the way to let the clients choose their pictures straight from the site.
Like a little shopping spree. But allow me to still be in control of the end result.
As a photographer I want to focus more of my time on creating better pictures and not spending so much time picking pictures and dabbling in business things and I would hope my customers would appreciate this.
I also like the fact that it all still goes through me when they select pictures, and I’m sure that’s what the customer hopes for as well…
I love their print delay feature… having a few days to review their order and enhance the pictures before they’re sent to the printer is perfect.
I’m mostly interested in the last of these… which is also probably the most complicated type.
“Print Credit – This functions just like a gift card. If a customer does not use it up in an order, the balance will remain to use on future orders. You can optionally set a start and end date for its use.”
So thanks for the coupons SmugMug and I hope my customers love the idea as much as I do and look forward to incorporation of coupons in 2010 packages.
I’ve been developing the idea for a while now, and have just recently freed up enough time to get it going.
Each day we’ll highlight a different photographer from all around the world doing different kinds of photography at different skill levels.
At the moment you’ll notice a lot of Utah photographers, as it was easiest to start off dealing with people I know.
There are already 10 photographer reviews and we have another 10 drafts which we’ll release on a consistent basis
Multiple authors
Next I’ll be training other authors how to log-in and create their own reviews.
If you are interested in being another author please drop us a line blog@allthephotographers.com we’d love to consider you.
Purpose
To share great photography with aspiring photographers and non-photographers alike.
The site is a jumping off point, these are only recaps of photographers, there will be links so people can go see more of their work.
A place you can go to find new people you might never have heard about.
It will also be used as a place where people can search for photographers (by type of photography, country/state, and keywords)
We intend that the site inspires people with all the wonderful work and creativity.
Goals
To make great photographers more well known.
To share beautiful art.
I also have a personal goal to have several authors with multiple posts a day.
I also have a goal to hit 10,000 consistent readers by June .
To get involved
If you’re interested in either Becoming an Author Being reviewed
Feel free to send an email to blog@allthephotographers.com
I hope to stock pile a good 30-40 reviews in advance.
Photographers
If you’re a photographer or aspiring photographer, this can be one of the best opportunities to learn and be expired.
I know many of you already spend a lot of time searching for photographers.
Why not spend 20-30 extra minutes and create a post and share your finds with the rest of the world, and make better connections and network with other photographers.
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