I caught Jared Platt on his cell phone, hopping into a rental car at the Miami airport and preparing to drive to Key West for an engagement portrait shoot in the Dry Tortuga islands, 70 miles from Florida’s southernmost town. How does he handle his two-pronged photography-lecturing business on the road, balancing being the breadwinner for a family of five with constant creativity? The answer? He’s a really organized guy. Here are his tips for staying organized and staying sane. What he suggests will help you, whether you’re a road warrior or a homebody! Know your mantra. “The first and great commandment for my business is ‘Outsource everything,’” Platt says. “I’ve never had enough work to warrant having someone there full-time doing something for me,”
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The Art of Automation
There was a time when every automobile was built by hand. Today, there are only a handful of manufacturers that put their cars together one at a time, but those cars are so ridiculously expensive that few of us will ever sit in one, much less own one. The reason we can all afford a car today is because of automation. Automation is also the reason that there is incredible consistency in the quality of any line of cars. There are too many wedding photographers who want to build their photos one at a time, the old fashioned way. They want to create perfection in each one, but that kind of old-fashioned thinking leads to either unsustainably high prices, or unacceptably long turn around and absolutely no
Learn How to “Read” Light
Since there is so much to discuss, join me at Office Hours on March 5, 2012 (10:00 AM PT) for my FREE Webinar Series. The topic of discussion will be exposure, both in the camera and in post-production. You all know that I’m a Lightroom advocate, so we’ll be talking about Lightroom 4 and all the new exposure controls in this new release of the software. As always, this is a first-come, first-serve webinar, so sign up and show up early! Jared Platt’s ‘Office Hours’ are Sponsored by The Photo Life and Pictage. For more information about Jared Platt go to http://www.jaredplattworkshops.com. For more information about Office Hours and The Photo Life, go to http://www.thephotolife.org/authors/jared-platt-authors-2. Let me take you back a few years. Just ten years ago,
Let There Be Light: Part 1
Join Jared Platt’s next free Lightroom Webinar from The Photo Life: Check the calendar and RSVP! At PartnerCon in San Diego, California, I gave a lecture called “Let There Be Light.” This lecture was an academic, aesthetic and philosophical discussion on light, what it means and how we use it to communicate. This was my opening slideshow. Stay tuned for more installments from the lecture in the weeks to come. A Quick Challenge By the way, I chose the song on this slideshow with care. Pay close attention to the resolution at the end, there is a hidden treasure in this song that is not only interesting trivia, but is sheer brilliance on the part of the musician, Kevin Burdick. “In Too Deep” is a
Lightroom Speed Tip 1: Labels and Collections
In this video Adobe Lightroom tutorial, Jared explains how he uses color labels in connection with smart collections to speed up process of selecting and delivering images for various purposes. Join Jared Platt for Office Hours on November 1, 2011 at 10 AM PT for a discussion on Workflow Speed Tips in Lightroom. Also, don’t miss Jared’s lectures and Lightroom Intensive Workshop at PartnerCon in San Diego November 7-9, 2011. About Jared Platt Jared Platt is a professional photographer and photographic educator. He studied photography at Arizona State University where he earned his undergraduate and masters degrees in Photography. He teaches college photography courses as well as workshops for professional photographers and provides online education for photographers and photo enthusiast throughout the world.
Exporting Lightroom Catalogs from Smart Collections
A quick video from Jared Platt about Lightroom Catalogs. Join Jared on October 6 @ 10 AM PT for a live Q&A where Jared will share everything you need to know about Lightroom Catalogs! Don’t miss Jared Platt at PartnerCon 2011 in San Diego. You can find times, dates and links to Jared’s Office Hours on The Photo Life Blog. About Jared Platt Jared Platt is a professional photographer and photographic educator. He studied photography at Arizona State University where he earned his undergraduate and masters degrees in Photography. He teaches college photography courses as well as workshops for professional photographers and provides online education for photographers and photo enthusiast throughout the world.
Photography Notes: Doing the Hard Thing
We all go through times of struggle in life, but they are often the times of greatest personal growth. We build our muscles through our resistance to those trials. This concept of growth through struggle is also valid in our photographic lives. Doing the hard thing is where photographic depth and skill is obtained. I had the opportunity recently to assign myself such a challenge… Photography Notes: Doing the Hard Thing from Jared Platt on Vimeo. Special Thanks to: Shanliegh & Dustin (the bride and groom) Kimberly Jarman Leica Triple Scoop Music About Jared Platt Jared Platt is a professional photographer and photographic educator. He studied photography at Arizona State University where he earned his undergraduate and masters degrees in Photography. He teaches college photography courses as
Making Virtual Copies vs. DNG Copies in Lightroom 3
This Lightroom Podcast is in answer to the questions: How do I make duplicate images in Lightroom and name them with unique names so I can show them to a client and be able to keep them separated? This is basically a question of when you should use a virtual copy vs a DNG copy. So here is the answer. Making Virtual Copies vs. DNG Copies in Lightroom 3 from Jared Platt on Vimeo. Jared’s Lightroom Workflow Workshop is back on tour. Austin, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia are all on the schedule for July and August. To learn more and sign up for the workshop, go to www.jaredplattworkshops.com. About Jared Platt Jared Platt is a professional photographer and photographic educator. He studied photography at
Using the Lens Correction Panel in Lightroom 3
Many people only think about the Lens Correction Panel in Lightroom 3 when they are trying to correct either a vignette or warping from an extremely wide angle lens. But most lenses (especially zoom lenses) warp the image to some degree. Using the Lens Corrections is not just for wide angle lenses. This tool helps images from every lens with very little user intervention. Try it out. I think you will love it. Jared’s Lightroom Workflow Workshop is back on tour. Austin, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia are all on the schedule for July and August. To learn more and sign up for the workshop, go to www.jaredplattworkshops.com. About Jared Platt Jared Platt is a professional photographer and photographic educator. He studied photography at Arizona
Photography Notes: A Wedding at the Grand Canyon
I wanted to take a departure from my normal technical podcast today and talk about a wedding I just photographed and some of my thoughts behind it. This is the first time I’ve done this, but I had such a strong reaction to this wedding and want to learn from this experience by discussing my thoughts and emotions. After all, this is what we’re paid to do, our job is to experience and to learn and to apply that knowledge and wisdom to our photography. So, I thought I would share this exercise with you and I encourage you to try it as well. Manuel and Samirah were married on the edge of the Grand Canyon, but it was not just their wedding location that