Pricing Professional Photography

Posted by chris on May 22nd, 2013    No Comments
Accidents happen, disasters happen. If you're a photographer a spare body and lens may not be enough to bail you out. - Photo by Sven Wolter

Accidents happen, disasters happen. If you’re a photographer a spare body and lens may not be enough to bail you out. – Photo by Sven Wolter

In professional photography taking the pictures is the easy part. The tricky bit is getting the job in the first place and that frequently involves price negotiations. Visit any photography forum and you’ll see more questions about pricing than almost any other single aspect of photography.

Many people who buy a high-end DSLR and a couple good lenses start looking at that camera thinking they could make some extra money taking pictures. If you’re underemployed making an extra $500 on the weekend sounds like an awesome deal, but there are a million things that can go wrong and leave you in financial ruin.



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Sequence Photography and Multiplicity SFX

Posted by chris on May 20th, 2013    No Comments
A sequence shot of a cliff diver. Photo By Jennifer Williams from Hayward, USA

A sequence shot of a cliff diver. Photo By Jennifer Williams from Hayward, USA

Multiplicity photography is the art of putting the subject in the photo more than once. The most common application is in sports photography or activities with a lot of motion, where it’s sometimes called a “sequence shot.” You’ll see it used in many situations as multiplicity has become a photography SFX staple for many.

In the old days of film photography setting up a multiplicity shot meant either working in the dark with high speed strobes or a lot of work in the darkroom with an Exacto knife. Today programs like Photoshop and GIMP make it a breeze.



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Splish-Splash Four Cameras That Can Take a Bath

Posted by chris on May 17th, 2013    No Comments
hazards

You never know what kind of hazards you’ll run into at the beach, so why risk your full size DSLR in conditions hostile to most cameras. You can get a water proof camera that’s beach resistant and takes great pictures for under $300.

Unless you have an actual waterproof housing, which are really expensive, there aren’t any DSLRs you can submerge and expect them to keep working.

So if your vacation plans include activities on the water, then the cheapest insurance you can buy is spending $250-$300 on a point-and-shoot camera that really is made to survive underwater. Leave the big DSLR at home and take along one of these cameras that are rated for depths deeper than you would routinely swim and are definitely beach proof for the kids.



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Four Must Have Lenses For Wedding Photography (Canon Version)

Posted by chris on May 15th, 2013    No Comments
Great wedding shots require great glass. Photo by Dmitri Markine

Great wedding shots require great glass. Photo by Dmitri Markine

Since it’s wedding season, I thought I’d cover the second most common question I get and that’s what kind of lens to get for shooting a wedding. This is one of those brand-centric topics that will be different depending on whether you shoot Canon or Nikon. This will be the Canon version. That’s no dig on Nikon (even though your focus rings work backwards!), I’ll do a separate piece for Nikon shooters after I go on a shoot with a team that uses Nikon for weddings a little later this summer.

For the Canon faithful, these are my picks for the best wedding glass available.



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Five Places To Advertise Your Wedding Photography Business That Work

Posted by chris on May 13th, 2013    No Comments

Where you advertise your wedding photography service is almost as important as how good you are at photography.

There’s an old joke in the advertising business, I think it dates back to the real era of Mad Men, that says if you think advertising is expensive it’s nothing compared to the cost of not advertising. Sadly they’re quite right about that.

In photography it’s not always the best photographers who survive and make money. Those who survive are adequate photographers and fantastic at advertising and sales. The ones who manage to break into the stratosphere of earnings are fantastic photographers and also good at advertising and sales.



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Tips For New Wedding Photographers

Posted by chris on May 10th, 2013    No Comments

Introduce yourself to the venue and other staff as a courtesy.

We’ve talked about it being a bad idea to take on a wedding without any experience and clauses you should have in your contracts. At least a few of you will be setting out for your first weddings as the primary photographer this year, for better or worse.

There are a few tips on shooting a wedding you won’t find in many books on the subject and they focus primarily on the other vendors you’ll be working with on the wedding day and why you all need to work together.



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Adobe Shift Leaves Photographers Puzzled

Posted by chris on May 8th, 2013    No Comments

It’s not every week a major software company can infuriate one segment of their customers and confuse another but Adobe managed to do just that with the announcement that they’re getting out of the boxed software business in favor of their Creative Cloud subscription software model.

After CS 6 there won’t be anymore boxed software you can buy and your only option will be subscription access to the cloud-based product.



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Five Fun Summer Photography Projects For You And The Kids

Posted by chris on May 6th, 2013    No Comments

Light painting is a fun summer project for you and the kids. Photo by crashburn.

As schools gratefully prepare to send kids home for the summer there are some great photography projects you can do as a family that are not only fun but they’ll keep the kids engaged for hours.

Instead of letting them play with disposable film cameras, think about picking up some inexpensive digital cameras. You can get cameras like the GE A1050-BK 10MP Digital Camera for around $40 or you can get them an entire decent digital camera like the  PowerShot A2500 16.0 MP Digital Camera for around $100. Hey, if it gets the kids outdoors doing something for hours on end, that’s a good investment!



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Photography Lighting – The Basic Terminology

Posted by chris on May 3rd, 2013    No Comments

The ABR800 is an example of a ring flash, commonly used in fashion and portrait photography.

You can’t walk the walk unless you can at least talk the talk and when it comes to buying lighting gear or reading tutorials it helps to understand the terminology.

Do note that there is not a big book of photography terminology, so some of these terms may differ slightly in everyday use. For Instance a “flag” and a “cookie” are two different things but sometimes you’ll hear the terms used interchangeably.



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Five Tips To Take Better Pictures Right Now

Posted by chris on May 1st, 2013    No Comments

Using flash in bright sunlight helps with some of the harsh shadows the sun can create on your subject’s face.

I always recommend those new to photography start with a basic photography class. If you don’t have time to take one at a local community college or university, you can always take one online. With a good introductory photography class you can skip most of the amateur mistakes common to many new to the art.

While you’re deciding on a good class here are a few tips that will help you take better pictures right now.



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