Tag Archive for 'practical advice'

Ten ways to get your subjects to relax for you

Published
by
Tommy
on January 3, 2009
in Lists, advice on photography and customer service
. 2 Comments

Ever have problems getting your subjects to relax? Here’s a quick list of ten different groups and ways you can get all of them to loosen up a bit. After years of photographing each of these, I have learned what it takes to get each to relax for me, be themselves and even smile.

The thing you have to realize is that there is no set way to get any subject to smile, but the following ten groups will explain briefly how to get those individual groups to feel less nervous when in your presence. You think you’re nervous in front of your subjects? Trust me, they’re even more nervous than you! So here we go:

1 With friends or family - Remind them of something fun or funny that both of you would remember. Conjuring up memories that have fond memories work well. For example, “Steve, remember when you threw up on grandma!”

2 With your clients - Talk to them about their work. Also engage them about their families. If you dig enough, and I don’t mean that in a weird or intrusive way, but just talking in general will get your subjects relaxed and you can usually find something to converse about that you both will have in common.

3 With you young children - Pick your nose. Kids love when you’re willing to be silly and funny.

4 With pets - The best way for animals to relax is to exhaust them before you shoot. They behave best that way, so have their owners take them for a long walk before you photograph them. This advice complimentary of Cesar Milan aka The Dog Wisperer

5 With teens - Being silly, but not too childish will work. Though I am very silly and childish in my humor and teens do tend to appreciate it. I think however do not talk down to them or treat them like they are young kids. You can act silly but don’t treat them younger than they are.

6 Elderly people - Let them do the talking. They have a lot to share and lots of wisdom. Ask them questions about life in general or about their family and then let them take the wheel and steer.

7 With very shy people - Sympathize with them. If you’ve never dealt with shyness, then you have no clue, but if you have then you totally understand. Being shy really comes down to insecurity. So don’t do anything to make your subject second guess themselves. Just compliment and get on their level and make yourself very approachable and talk a lot. Talking more than them puts the pressure off of them to do the talking and this will usually relax them and help them open up to you. Also I find it helpful to “pick” on them a little and razz them a bit. I find if you don’t overdo it, it really helps them to loosen up a bit.

8 With babies and infants - It’s not that they are nervous, rather it’s that they’re fussy and need to be relaxed. Have mom cradle and soothe the baby. Take many breaks, as many as needed and give them all the time they need, but work quick. Timing is everything and if you miss the shot, you may not get it back.

9 With uptight people or those overly concerned about their appearance - These people can be a challenge to get to relax but the key here is to go with them where they’re going. In no manner, do you want to belittle them or their concerns. To them, whatever you may think is silly or overly concerned about on their part, is still big in their eyes. And after all, that is all part of being a good photographer, caring about what’s important to your subjects. However, engaging them in conversation can diminish the amount of thought they are putting into themselves.

10 Over protective mothers - Anyone whose photographed infants and babies before will know what I am referring to. Mothers, especially first time mothers and even fathers with their infant children, can be overly concerned that you’ll hurt their child or that they might get hurt in the process of being photographed. Other concerns may be that they will become cold if their children are being photographed with their clothes off. My suggestion to dealing with parents such as this, is to reassure them that you will keep their children safe and then actually do that. Take all necessary precautions to make sure that your studio is completely safe. Also, if you are photographing a baby nude, I suggest keeping the temperature up a bit by using a portable heater near the area where you will be photographing them.

I hope that this list, while simple and to the point has been helpful and beneficial to you. If so, feel free to leave a comment in our comments section. And join us again here on Pieces of the Picture, where we post at least three times a week with helpful, motivational and practical advice for portrait photographers.

Ten ways you should prepare for a wedding

Published
by
Tommy
on December 29, 2008
in advice on photography and weddings
. 1 Comment
The pressure to get amazing photography on a bride's big day can be nerve-wracking, but there are things you can do to minimize the stress of a wedding day.

The pressure to get amazing photography on a bride's big day can be nerve-wracking, but there are things that you can do to minimize the stress of a wedding.

This post will deal with ten ways that you as a photographer should prepare for a big photographic event such as a wedding or other important event in which you want to be totally prepared. Once you have been shooting these events with some regularity, this sort of list may be second nature to you, however, if you are new to the wedding photography experience, you will want to look at this list as a sort of checklist to ensure you are completely prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for the event.

I have not shot many weddings. However, I do know that there are certain things I want to do to make sure that I don’t screw one up or do anything to slow myself down. I want to do the best possible job that I can. So if you are a newbie, I would even go as far as to recommend printing off this post and putting it in your camera bag and looking at it days before you go to your wedding or big event to shoot. After all, most events such as these are huge emotional experiences for the people involved and they want good work done. Often times they are paying good money for them as well. And the reality of it is even if you take great photographs, if you aren’t prepared, you could still screw things up or at least do work that is not to your own potential. So without delay here is the list:

1. Get good sleep – There should be no late partying the night before. If you are tired and exhausted, how can you possibly do your best. It doesn’t matter if you are having a great time with rehearsals or hanging out with the bride or groom or their guests, you should not get so involved that you space out your duties to what they are paying you for. Get lots of good sleep and you’ll be much better for the big day.

2. Check out flickr – Flickr is just my suggestion because there are so many great photographers there but it could really be any resource where you will find work from other photographers who will inspire you. I find going to sites like flickr helps encourage me and fire me up about what I am about to perform at the wedding. I want to make sure that creatively I am totally on fire and ready to make the magic happen. Looking at other photographer’s work can make that happen.

3. Checking out your own work – Sometimes I get down on myself and don’t think I am much of a great photographer. I do know that there are many better photographers out there than me, but I know that I have talent and I know how to photograph people well. I find looking at my own work does two things. First, it let’s me see where I am so far and what kind of work I have produced to this point. It helps me realize that I can aim for better. Secondly, it helps me realize that I am a pretty good photographer and motivates me to know that I will do a great job for my client today and reminds me why they chose me in the first place. It works as a sobering reminder as well as a motivational push.

4. Fuel up your vehicle – This may sound silly, but the day of the wedding should not be filled with small details that will slow you down and take up part of your day. Anything that you can do to help move your day along more smooth should be done the day, or days before. I like to fill up on gas the night before. That way I don’t have to worry about that, the day of the wedding. If you are close by or two hours away, fueling up is good because it means when you hop in your car, you are ready to go.

5. Charge all your batteries – Batteries in the digital age are so important. How many times have you lost the shot due to a dying battery that delays your camera? It’s happened to me many times when I am shooting my family around the house. At home, it’s not really a big deal. But at a wedding, it could be the kiss that you miss! What if you missed an amazing expression or a subtle look that the bride gives her hubby. You are there to record the day and the last thing you want to do is miss the shot! So be prepared by charging your batteries!

Without preparation, it is likely that important details of the wedding day will be missed.

Without preparation, it is likely that important details of the wedding day will be missed.

6. Go through your checklist – If you are going to shoot a wedding, you should have a checklist of all the things you need for the big day. Tripod, check. Camera, check, wide angle lens, check, compact flash, check. You get the idea. You don’t want to leave and get to the wedding, just to realize that you forgot to grab the power cord for your strobes. What a disaster that would be if you were planning on shooting indoor portraits for example. It is important that you put together a very detailed list and make sure the day before that you have everything you’ll need for the wedding, packed, clean and in good working order.

7. Pack the snacks – During the wedding day, you never know when you’ll get a chance to eat, so I always suggest packing food for the big day. You are on your feet all day. You need nourishment. You are running here and there and you want to make sure you have the energy you’ll need to do the best job you can. In fact, this is so important to me, that I wrote a whole lengthy post on the subject. Check it out here!

8. Iron your clothes – Again, the last thing you want to do the day of the wedding is be rushing doing things that you could have taken care of the day before. So, even small details such as ironing your clothing or shining your shoes, should be done the day before. Not only does it save time, but it ensures you look professional. No bride or groom wants their photographer in wrinkly clothes. Your images may look amazing, but you too need to look great in person too.

9. Talk to your bride and groom – I usually shoot the rehearsal and dinner, but even if I don’t get a chance to do that, I try to get on the phone with my couples the day before and discuss last minute details with them. For example, just making sure that you are both in agreement as when and where to meet. Even if you already established that. It is important to make sure you touch base and ensure that nothing has changed last minute. I always make sure that they have my cell phone number at this point so that if anything comes up, they will be able to get a hold of me. After all, remember, this is the biggest day of their lives.

10. Check out the church – This one pertains more towards what you do days or weeks even before the wedding rather than the day before, though that would work too, but I always find it a help to go to the location of where I will be shooting and just scope the area out. I like to find photographically appealing areas and make mental notes of them. I also like to find good positions that I can use to shoot from during the ceremony. It also gives you an opportunity to see what lighting conditions will be like during the day. Many pros don’t do this, but I think if you want to do the best job possible, it is to your benefit regardless of how long you’ve done weddings.

The moral of this story is in order to do a great job on the big day, it takes intentional preparation and mental readiness.

If you are mentally, emotionally and physically prepared, you can tackle the big day with confidence.

If you are mentally, emotionally and physically prepared, you can tackle the big day with confidence.

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!

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 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!

Photography Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory