One of the keys to running a successful photography business is to be constantly innovating and searching for the best ways to serve your clients. A month ago I made the decision to use Pixieset for my client galleries. Here are my Top 10 reasons why I feel it is a good choice for all professional photographers.
New York based wedding photographer Richard B Flores is taking his job very seriously. Like all of us, he works hard on the day of the event and of course the following days while he edits. But Richard is doing something maybe not many of us do: he spends the day before each event heavily prepping his equipment - from cleaning, to syncing and charging. Check out his BTS video showing the prep day and read his explanation for each of the steps.
Today on CreativeLive, Award-winning wedding photographer Jim Garner is sharing hard-won industry secrets — learned from decades of experience — and guiding viewers through the creative process that has helped make a name for himself in the industry. Jim will explore tools and strategies that will make your workflow more streamlined and your studio more profitable. Plus, during live action photo shoots, you can watch Jim’s “story shooting” philosophy in action — as he demonstrates how posing, shooting, and lighting contribute to the strength of the visual story.
Michael Ash Smith is a commercial wedding, portrait, and lifestyle photographer based out of Barto, PA. As a hybrid photographer, much of Michael's work is done on 35mm and medium format film with some instant film here and there for special occasions. He recently shared images from a wedding he shot over on the Junebug Weddings blog. The difference? Everything he shot that day was with instant film.
There seems to be a mystery around a travel and destination wedding photographer. How do you break into that market and how do you afford it? While at WPPI this year, I attended a class with Laura Grier who shed some light on her business and lifestyle.
Rain on your wedding day can be quite a downer for most brides even though many cultures see rain as good fortune, cleansing and fertility. Often brides wonder how they are going to still get good photos if it's raining. Here are some tips for photographers that I've picked up over the years having shot numerous weddings in the rain.
Want to get more leads in a specific area of your business? Have you heard of PhotogRefers.com? The next big social media platform for photographers is upon us. In fact, it is the only social media platform specifically designed for photographers and our creative community.
Donna Von Bruening’s studio was thriving: bookings of more than 50 weddings a year, a full time studio manager, associate photographers and a new studio space but she lacked one thing — quality of life. Ten years after starting her studio in Savannah, Georgia, she faced the common small business dilemma of having to turn down work due to scheduling. So she expanded and grew her business only to realize that she regretted it and missed the quality of life she had with a smaller studio.
Update: 7 seats left. Are you planning on attending Pye Jirsa's Ultimate Wedding Workshop down in the Bahamas? If so you better reserve your spot soon. Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge will be teaching his 2 day course on all things wedding photography down at our first ever Fstoppers Workshops. If you have seen the wedding work of Lin and Jirsa Weddings then you know Pye and his team are at the pinnacle of the wedding genre.
Simeon Quarrie, owner of wedding production company Vivida, is back with another amazing and unique editorial-style pre-wedding photoshoot for one of his couples. In this behind the scenes video he shows just how much planning and work goes into a great quality photoshoot production. The concept for the shoot is a whimsical story about severing the ties of restriction with the power of love starring a beautiful couple as its centerpiece.
Facebook recently put out a video with the message "Why have one photographer when you can have a hundred?" The video consists of a collage of images from a wedding with the impression that they were shot by multiple people who attended. This is NOT something the wedding scene is happy about.
Wedding Chicks has responded (located at bottom of article).
Advertising utilizing social media has been an uphill trend for those of us in the photography profession, but when does it become unscrupulous for a company to charge photographers for more exposure using their social media sites? When the social media sites say it's against their terms of service, apparently. Wedding Chicks, a popular wedding blog, is doing just that to wedding photographers on Pinterest and other social media sites.
No matter where you are in your photographic journey, one thing is certain: you need to know how to manipulate light. The team over at Monte Zucker Education have put together an interesting speed light tour featuring pro Canon shooters Bob Davis and Stephen Eastwood. The Need Light? Speedlite! Tour starts March 9th and hits 32 cities throughout the US. If you have never used off camera lighting or are looking for unique ways to add excitement to your photographs, this workshop is definitely worth checking out.
Right before Christmas a sale popped up for the FitBit Flex (a fitness tracker) and even though I didn't "need" it, the FitBit would help me stay in shape. So of course I bought it. Over the last couple of months I have been making a conscience effort to make sure I am active. I love seeing how different activities affect my daily step count and, well, shooting a wedding sure does.
As most wedding and portrait photographers know, the annual WPPI conference in Las Vegas is right around the corner from February 27 - March 6. While at the conference you'll see a few photographers that have a following, literally treated like rock stars filling a packed stadium of adoring fans. I remember last year I saw one photographer who had a group of about 20 people follow him all over. But what about those that do a lot for the industry, though often fly under the radar.
As wedding photographers we are hired to show up and photograph one of the most important days in the life of our clients. So what happens if you get sick, or even die, with weddings jobs under contract? Do you have a plan? This week I had an eye opening experience that made me rethink my own plan. Here's my story and some tips to help you develop a plan of your own.
Photographing weddings can be tough for a lot of people, and the area I find most of my assistants struggling is at the reception. Many times throughout a wedding you can rely on natural light, but what is going to make or break your reception images is your ability to master artificial lighting. In this free excerpt from the full Fstoppers wedding tutorial, we share four of our most used lighting setups so you can take the guess work out of properly lighting a wedding venue.
Featured last year for his "Wedding Day Zombie Apocalypse" composite, Photographer Josiah Moore is up to his old tricks again. This past fall he shot a wedding where both the Bride and Groom were car enthusiasts. He decided to make a fun chase scene out of a photo from the reception, and this video shows his process in Photoshop.
We've featured his work on Fstoppers before, New York native photographer Omar Carter was always known for his infectious smile, warm heart and talent as an up-and-coming wedding and lifestyle photographer. The photography community is shocked to hear of his passing on December 24 2013 from meningitis.
Do you have a hard time differentiating yourself from the price anchors of other mediocre photographers? Have you considered taking the Starbucks approach to your products? In this two part series by Spencer Lum, of the Ground Glass Blog, he takes you through the psychology and sales techniques to increase your sales. Check out part two below.
UPDATE: WE'RE SOLD OUT - 6 years ago I built a collapsible softbox that could easily fit in my pocket while I was shooting weddings. I built this product for myself and never dreamed that it would become a real product one day. 2 years ago Patrick and I set out to have the "Flash Disc" mass produced and patented. We just received our patent and first batch. Order now and get 3 before Christmas.
Blogging is a great way to share a series of photos from your work. Sadly though many of us don't do it any longer because let's be honest; it's a pain in the ass. Fortunately a new web service, Exposure, is out that looks beautiful and is a perfect replacement for those that loathe blogging.
I have been teaching retouching and photography for a couple of years, and I found that even my advanced students often didn't know some basic tools or techniques. Those gaps in knowledge are to be expected among self-taught photographers and retouchers, of course. However, I have just returned from my trip to Italy where the amazing Italian Photoshop guru and Wacom evangelist Marianna Santoni organized a series of educational events, in which I taught Beauty photography and retouching.
If you've seen our 14 hour tutorial on how to become a wedding photographer, you know that I am a huge fan of Pye Jirsa of Lin and Jirsa Weddings and the owner of SLRLounge.com. When we were planning Fstoppers Workshop: Atlantis we knew we had to get him as an instructor and I'm proud to announce that I convinced him to do his first ever workshop with us down in the Bahamas.
With so many options out there for off-camera flash gear, how do you know which is best for you? More importantly, how do you learn how to use it in a real life situation? Maybe my techniques and approach are just what you've been waiting for!
Do you remember the last time you were shooting at a less than ideal time of day, or maybe a less than ideal location for light? Think back to it. What did you do?
Like a kid in a candy shop, I stood on the bright fresh green grass, eyes wide open watching the Arizona Cardinals on their practice field. I wore my media badge like an Olympic gold medal. This was my first time shooting professional sports and I was quite excited to be there. At the end of the day I walked away with some great photos, but even more important I learned a lesson in the art of mastering your craft.
Animoto.com has revolutionized photo slideshow creation. I believe that for my wedding photography business in Charleston, slideshows are the most valuable form of marketing I have. I've always had one problem with Animoto though, most of their themes were really over the top. That was until they let me design my own.
The hot topic for wedding photographers is the guests and their smartphones getting in the way of photos or video during the wedding. The topic has been covered on a number of photography blogs and finally beginning to get mainstream attention as well. Fox40 News out of Sacramento, CA published this video yesterday for their viewers sharing great advice for people attending weddings. Great video to share with Facebook friends and fans.
Michael De Rubeis, AKA Michael J. Distasio Photography, never heard the timeless advice "under promise -over deliver." Or maybe he may have completely misinterpreted the saying and ran with it. Mr. De Rubeis made a living out of scamming couples on their wedding day, which is probably one of the worst things you could do to someone. The Passaic County, N.J.police department says there are at least 70 couples who paid the Walden photographer thousands of dollars for photos and albums they never received.
We have posted several articles regarding the Brenizer Method (here and here) in the past, but none from the man himself, Ryan Brenizer. Ryan is easily one of the top wedding photographers in the nation. He shoots over 60 weddings a year and probably only sleeps 3 hours a day. He is offering a full guide on how he shoots his method from the first photo through post production. When the method is done correctly your image could have the depth of field of a f/.04 lens.
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