Monthly Archive for August, 2008

A quick tip for getting your subject to smile for you

Published
by
Tommy
on August 29, 2008
in advice on photography
. 1 Comment

Babies especially love to smile at you when you smile for them.

Smile back. It may seem obvious to you but this did not occur to me for the first few years that I was a portrait photographer. One of the best things that works in getting subjects to smile at me, is for me to smile at them. For years, I didn’t really smile when I stood in front of my subjects and then it occurred to me that if I just started smiling at my subjects, they would probably start smiling back.

Just try it. While photographing your subjects, keep smiling at them naturally. Look happy and smile at them as you have them say something funny or just while you talk to them. Also try complimenting them as you take their photos. This puts people at ease as well. The interesting thing about these two simple suggestions is that it works on people of any age, from babies all the way to senior citizens. It breaks down the nervous barriers people have about getting in front of the lens. Smiling is contagious and it will make your job a lot easier when it comes to getting pleasing expressions from your customers.

Practice on anyone, not just someone your pointing a camera at. Go now and just smile at someone. Chances are, they’ll smile back at you. If you know this person or they are a complete stranger to you; it will make no difference, they’ll smile back. Or just try telling someone how much you like their smile, all the while smiling at them. You’ll be shocked at how easy it is.  Are you smiling yet?

Smiling at your subject relaxes them!

Smiling at your subject relaxes them!

When You Know It’s Time To Charge

Published
by
Tommy
on August 29, 2008
in Business Advice
. 4 Comments

I have heard the question posed before, “When do you know you are ready to charge?” What the question is asking is, when is a photographer who is new to photography ready to start charging for his photography. That is a good question with many answers I am sure. I feel that too many people who are interested in photography, buy a digital camera and take a few shots that they think look cool, learn how to turn their photo to black & white or up some contrast, if they even learn to do those couple simple things and then they think that they are ready to put out a sign in front of their door that says “John Smith Photography”.  Well, as those who have photographed at all for any length of time, we have learned that it takes time to learn first the basics of photographic composition, then timing, then the technicals of the camera, then lighting, then interacting with subjects and so on. It isn’t, “I have a nice digital camera, so now I can take professional portraits”. The truth is you can only obtain professional results consistently through persistence, hard work, continuing education, a humble attitude that is willing to learn, and many thousands of photographs shot to start becoming consistent in taking professional quality photography.

The word professional has a simple meaning. It simply means to be paid for the work that you do. So if you take “professional” quality photography, yet aren’t paid, you aren’t a professional, but on the other hand if you are paid for your photography but are not taking “professional” quality photography, you are still a professional, but that does not mean that people will view you as a professional. The idea is to charge when people view your work as professional. That is the time that I personally believe it is time to charge. There are those who begin to charge to early. And on the flip side, there are those who do not charge well after they have plenty enough talent and skills to be charging what experienced working professionals charge.

My suggestion to those just getting started is to shoot, shoot, shoot. Learn as much as you can about photography by reading articles, books, and blogs such as this one. Also, photography critique websites are great because they promote the idea of posting photos for the purpose of getting honest, sometimes brutal criticism about your photography. One great site that I have been a part of for years is www.photosig.com. This community of thousands of photographers world wide, range from amateur to working professionals. The community encourages critiques by rewarding you with points for the more critiques you write and the more helpful they are, the more photos you may post for being critiqued themselves. When I first joined photosig, I believed that I was a good photographer. I had been professionally shooting for several years at that point and thought that I knew my stuff. I found out very quickly that I was not nearly as talented as I thought that I was. I have learned and continue to learn on that website specifically from professionals and amateurs even. An amateur or beginner can tell you what they do and don’t like about a photo. A member of photosig once said, “You don’t have to be a chef to tell someone what you do or don’t like about a meal. If you ate a steak that was too salty, you don’t have to be a professional chef to say so.” The same comes with critiquing. You just have to be willing to be humble enough to accept criticism from anyone. That is one thing that will immensely help anyone to become a better photographer.

Another suggestion I have for beginners is offering to photograph friends, family and coworkers for free to practice photographing different groups and different ages and different personalities. Most people have friends and families, but in the unlikely case that you do not have any or you have very few you can even put up fliers offering to give free prints or free CD-R of all the photos in exchange for being able to practice. Trust me you will get bites on an offer like that. People will want to bring their kids to you or may take you up if it’s been a while since they had a family portrait taken. Offer to photograph your volunteers in different locations, different times and dates. Offer to take them indoors and outdoors. Ask them for their input on ideas and you’ll be surprised at how creative even the most non creative person can be if you start brainstorming ideas. This is a very easy way to get lots of practice and not have the stress of having to perform if you mess up and don’t get a single good shot. But the likeliness is that you will get at least a few good shots. You then have the chance to work on your editing and post production skills because you’ll have images at your disposal that you’ve taken. This is somewhat how my wife and I got our start. How we really got to shooting families. Because we practiced, practiced, practiced and made all the mistakes, and very embarrassing ones at that, before we dared to start charging. We still continue to improve and we do look back at photos we took when we started charging and see how we could have improved, but the point is that we were not charging for photography that was totally terrible. It was actually pretty good, though nothing like what we do nowadays. But had we started charging from day one, we would have been hurting ourselves business wise rather than helping ourselves and this way we were able to build up a nice portfolio before we really started our business. Ten years later and we still have some of those original shots in our portfolio.

One last point I would like to make, when people other than your mother tell you that you take great photos, that’s when you know that you have a skill. It is easy with our own human natures to think more highly of ourselves that we ought. We by nature are prideful creatures. And we don’t like to be told that we are not good at something that we enjoy doing. I know people that love taking pictures, but they aren’t any good at it. But I can’t imagine how I would tell them that I don’t think they are any good. I think they couldn’t possibly take it the right way. They are convinced that they are wonderful. It is that attitude of blindness that we must clear ourselves of before we can truly be successful in a photography business. If you have a real skill for capturing expressions, composition, exposure, artistic vision, dealing with people positively, etc. you will become a successful photographer. But until you get somewhat comfortable with these aspects and confident in your own self that you know that you have the ability to perform the mission given you, then I would not suggest charging for your photography. You must know your limitations, continue to improve upon them and take the best photographs possible. Then and only then should you begin to ask money for snapping the shutter. I can teach a monkey to push a button. But I cannot teach a monkey to be a photographer.

Touch of the Master’s Hand

Published
by
Tommy
on August 27, 2008
in advice on photography
. 6 Comments

Countless people in this world desire to be photographers. It’s a simple fact. Just look at how popular photography is and how many cameras are sold. People love photography and want to use the fun they have with photography to make money with it and to spend all their time doing what it is they love most. It’s natural that it should be that way. And with the instant gratification of the digital format, this reality is even more so the case.

People constantly ask me what kind of camera I shoot with. They are interested in what a “professional shoots with”. I think that they feel that if somehow they had my camera, they could get the results I’m getting. I heard a photographer on a podcast recently speaking on the same topic. He mentioned that he had prints for display of his work and someone asked him what sort of camera he used. He said that he got his camera at the same place that Van Gogh got his canvas and brushes. Making the point that back then no one would think that if you bought the same paints and the same canvas you could paint like Van Gogh. Some people think all you need is a fancy digital camera with lots and lots of mega pixels and all of a sudden you can be a pro! The funny thing is that if they did use your camera, they would probably have their settings on automatic!

That’s a joke. That’s a joke fed by the camera companies who constantly put out a new camera with a new button on it or one more mega pixel into their new cameras, and then advertise top photographers posing with those cameras in their ads. This makes every enthusiast and hobbyist and yes even some gullible pros think to themselves, “if I only had a Canon this and that or the new Nikon such and such, I could shoot like him!” Well, we get lots of enlarged eyes when people find out we’re shooting with four and five year old cameras that are five and six mega pixel cameras. They are surprised that we would use such primitive machines. Most who are asking those questions own much newer, better, faster, more expensive cameras than we do. But the truth is that while we would love to own newer and better technology, these cameras serve their purpose well. They print the portraits that we need and put out the quality that we find acceptable and sellable. If the cameras did not produce professional quality images in our opinions, we would not use them.

The truth is digital cameras from even four and five years ago, while not nearly to the caliber they are today, are still amazing machines! If you compare your camera to the newest thing out, then yes, your camera may look like it belongs in an antique store, but if you are realistic and ask yourself, is this camera meeting all my needs, then the truth often times is, yes it is and it does a great job.

We use a Nikon D70s and an Olympus E-1. The E-1 with it’s kit lens produces amazing portraits and amazing sharpness. The eyes are always impressively sharp. In fact, I get a lot of comments about how good the sharpness is with that lens. I’m not saying that there is no room for having those tools, but the truth is, that your old cameras can produce wonderful images if you know how to use them. So when someone asks you what kind of camera you use and it’s not the newest camera, and they give you a shocked look just remember, it’s not the camera it’s the photographer.

Think about it, just because you put me in a cockpit, does that mean I would know how to even get the plane off the ground? Or if you gave me a scalpel, does that mean you would trust me to perform surgery on you? Obviously not. The talent, knowledge and skills, and creative eye has to be there. The ability has to be there and a good photographer with good skills will be able to make the most out of any “tool” or camera that you hand them. Again, it’s not the instrument, it’s the musician.

There is an old poem turned song called “Touch of the Master’s Hand”. It is a beautiful tune that I believe makes this point well. It was written by Myra Brooks Welch in 1921. Here are the beautiful and powerful words:

It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
Hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people”, he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three”,

But, No,
From the room far back a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet,
As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its’ bow.
“One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, Who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone”, said he.

The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply.
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”

A family of thirteen

Published
by
Tommy
on August 25, 2008
in Stories from the studio
. 2 Comments

A while back, a family of thirteen came into our studio to be photographed. The family consisted of a mother and father and eleven children. The children ranged in age from six months to sixteen years old. It was quite a sight to see so many kids, so close in age and to know that they came from the same mother and father. It was a joyful sight that not many get to see in this day and age. The children were for the most part well behaved. Something I have noticed with families that are large in size such as this, is that they normally are for the most part, very well behaved and orderly.

It is the families with one or two children that have kids that are completely out of control and wild. It is rarely the families with a half a dozen children to a full dozen that have this problem. I think that if parents had one, two or three children that were completely insane, it would be hard to see them with ten or twelve children that act the same way. They would probably protect themselves from letting themselves have any more children.

Anyway, I used to get nervous when I knew I was going to photograph large groups such as these realizing that normally in these circumstances I would have to photograph at least two to three very young children at the same time, rather than just one or none at all for that matter. In fact in this family there were five children that were six years old or younger. I began to pose the family in a nice configuration that I thought would make them look nice and organized and appealing. A nice large base of about five to six members of the family and slowly building a pyramid from there.

It only (the word ONLY is being used sarcastically) took twenty to thirty shots to get one to two decent shots. I say sarcastically because normally this can be obtained in eight to ten shots of groups that are smaller, let’s say in the size range of three to five. The main issue here was not their size, nor was it their discipline level, yet it was the large number of small young members that were not completely understanding of being on their absolute best behavior and cooperating to their best to get the shot most effectively and quickly. So getting them to cooperate was a challenge. I used all the tricks I had up my sleeve. The trick with a  group like this is being engaging and entertaining for the two year old toddler and also being funny enough for the cool sixteen year old brother to smile and of course everyone in between.

Have ever seen the movie “Cheaper by the dozen” with Steve Martin? Imagine trying to get all those to smile and look happy at the same time and get the best expressions. It would obviously be a challenge. The likeliness that they would be on top of their game and have the attitude to do a good job and try to look happy would not be likely, so as a portrait photographer there is the need of being a comedian too. In fact, I get asked often if I am a stand up comic as well. I usually reply by doing a back flip, landing in a split and waving my spirit fingers excitedly in the air as I, in shortness of breath, answer “Huh?” .

Anyway, getting back to the subject, I finally decided that we had gotten a few decent shots, but the very youngest children were getting distracted, irritated and not being cooperative anymore, so I decided to get a humorous image. I told everyone on the count of three to give me their funniest expression. I got everything ranging from tongue sticking out to eyes crossing, to the young 18 month old girl sitting in daddy’s lap trying to escape with a distressed look on her face. But by far the funniest expression was mom’s, who had a confused, stressed, quirky, half smile, half crying look on her face. It was real. It was funny. It was real funny. It reminded me of a cartoon where everything that could go wrong did and all that’s left is the main character looking at the camera with a lost and distorted look. It was a photo that made me laugh every time I looked at it. They did end up purchasing a copy of it, though it wasn’t the main photo they chose, but I think that I was the fact that it was a memorable photo and it made you remember that photo session vividly that was the reason it should have been taken and therefore it should have been purchased and displayed for all to see.

These moments are what make my job the real joy that it is and makes my job so enjoyable. I can only imagine what life is like at home for this beautiful and unique family of thirteen.

say cheese!

say cheese!

A very easy and inexpensive way to promote your business

Published
by
Tommy
on August 23, 2008
in Business Advice
. 6 Comments

If you actually take the time to read this entire article, it will pay off for you. Enjoy!

As photographers in business for ourselves, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to promote ourselves. Marketing and advertising is so expensive nowadays that there must be ways found to promote our businesses without breaking the bank. I found a way recently that was quite interesting as well as effective and very inexpensive.

We photographed a wedding recently. I offered to include, free of charge to the bride and groom, custom designed thank you cards. They were 4”x6” postcards. One side was glossy and the other side was matte. The front side which was glossy had a beautiful portrait from their images taken directly after the ceremony that I took in downtown Topeka, KS with the state capital building in the background.  It had the classic car they were driving around in behind them. It was the perfect shot for their postcard. The back of the card was matte and had a close up shot of them as they left the ceremony and were showered by lavender. It was in black and white and was blurred slightly and lightened so that it appeared more as a watermark rather than anything else. This made it more appropriate for writing a thank you note on. Rather than the typical old- fashioned thank you notes that are card stock in pearl white or off white, this was much more trendy and cool. One of the points that the bride and groom appreciated about this is the fact that they did not have to purchase any thank you cards and they wouldn’t have to mail them at full postage. They could instead pay only postcard postage which saved them almost twenty cents per piece. On the front side of the postcard I included my business name, phone number and website. So it worked as a business card and the best part is, they were paying the postage for mailing. It worked like a direct mailing. On top of that, the backside had a link to a blog where the recipient of the postcard could go and see a slide show of the wedding. They loved this idea, because it saved them money, gave everyone of their guests a photograph of their wedding and made their thank you cards something very memorable that most of their guests have never seen. In fact, I was told that they received many compliments and were very impressed by them. They made an impact on the guests and rather than just tossing them in the garbage as so many are eventually, these I guarantee will not make it in the the bin. They will go up on a shelf or in some memory book or even picture frame.

this is how the front of the postcard looked

Promotional material that makes an impression!

For the back, use a simple but strong image that makes an impact, but make it simple and light enough to be used as a postcard so they can be written on.

For the back, use a strong image that makes an impact, but make it simple and light enough to be used as a postcard so they can be written on. You may need to drop opacity down to 35-50%

I made five hundred copies through a on line printer called www.gotprint.com. They do all my printing for promotional materials. They do great work and I am always very pleased. I gave them about four hundred of the copies and I kept one hundred to give away like a business card and to keep as samples for future consultations of weddings. I will offer this for free and I think that it will help sale myself as a photographer. They don’t cost very much. Only pennies really, but they can have a profound effect in that while in the past not everyone has been able to see the wedding photos, now everyone who went to the wedding will be able to see at least two photos from the wedding and will know exactly who the photographer was. It is a very small price to pay to advertise myself. I doubt that they will not pay off. In fact, there has already been one contact made from them, that while it has not come to be a wedding for me yet, it has generated a lead. It was something that I sort of stumbled across by accident in thinking of new ways to promote my business. The couple was very excited about the idea and so was  I.  One thing they really loved about the idea is that it was completely free of charge to them. Everyone loves a freebie! It just makes you as a photography business look even more awesome.  Not every couple will go for this idea, but I have a feeling that most for now on will chose to help promote me. It should only help to enhance my business every time!

Just think about the fact that of all the three to five hundred thank you cards that are sent out, if only two weddings are booked from that, and then you did the same for those two weddings, with the same results of getting two more weddings, well you see how this could quickly multiply and  really  help promote your business in a very strong way. The same concept could be used in senior portraits to children’s portraits to family portraits to labor and delivery portraits. When people have awesome photos, they want the world to see. If it is an amazing photograph, they will tell the world. They will show everyone they know. And the cost to you will be very little, and if you truly look at the payoff, there is really no cost to you.

Another thing to consider is, this is one way to maximize on advertisement. When you send out direct mail to potential clients, no matter how specific the customer, no matter how much market research you have done, the mailing comes across as “marketing and advertising”. But when you make promo material such as a postcard for a customer, mailed from the customer, well then it comes across as “Hey cousin so and so or grandma, look at this great photo of our wedding or check out this cool senior photo of myself.” They are likely to brag about the photographer on the postcard and say how cool or awesome you were. So then not only is it direct mailing, but it goes over into the more powerful advertising world of the coveted “word of mouth” advertising. This sort of advertising you cannot pay for. It’s the best of two worlds. And on top of that, they are paying for it. Also, the customer is usually willing to do something like this because it’s the novelty of the idea that they will be on a piece of your advertising. In their minds, they are thinking, “How cool is this! I am on a postcard!! Woo hoo!!!”  You get the idea. This is worth trying out. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how good this works out for your business.

Just think, if every time you photograph a wedding, three to five hundred of these “advertisements” or “thank you cards” get mailed out to people in your area, what kind of results you could see from this. It’s inevitable that the same people will get the these cards over and over, if they go to the same weddings you shoot. People getting your advertisements over and over and over and new people hearing about you for the first time constantly. What kind of effect do you think this will have on your business? I think it will be profound.

The key to advertising and being effective besides doing what works over and over is to always brainstorm new ideas and try them out. You never know what might happen. You might just hit a gold mine!

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