When I first started out I dreaded the engagement session. In fact, I dreaded anything that meant I had to actually pose or direct my clients. It just scared me because I had no idea what to do with them. But as the years passed and I got more comfortable with the idea, I have actually grown to love shooting engagement sessions. I’ve learned that working with just the couple can be really fun and the opportunity to explore multiple locations allows for a high level of creativity. Not only does the engagement session allow you to get to know your clients a little better, but it also gives you the opportunity to see how they photograph and to figure out how to make them
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Tips for Getting Started in Boudoir Photography
I receive tons of emails from enthusiastic photographers who are catching boudoir fever and would love to know how to get started! Here’s a perfect example: “I am just starting out as a photographer and would love to do Boudoir. There are so many things I need to do and learn, and I am working to raise the money needed for equipment, sets, and marketing. I’m not sure what to do first or how to really get started!” Here is my best advice for a helpful approach in getting started, how to prioritize your investments, create a smoking hot portfolio, and get that first boudoir client! KEEPING A PLAYFUL AND INTELLIGENT APPROACH As a boudoir photographer and as a woman, I live by the following
6 Tips for Photographing a Destination Wedding
Destination weddings have taken the photography business to a whole new level. Once reserved only for the elite bride and groom, now many couples are choosing to have destination wedding as an opportunity to spend more time with their families and friends in a gorgeous locale and make the entire wedding an ‘experience’ to remember for a lifetime. As photographers, we have an awesome opportunity to shoot in exotic venues and jet-set across the globe – it’s incredible! As much fun as it can be, you have to know what you’re getting into to make sure your clients (and you!) have an amazing experience. Successfully shooting a wedding at an unfamiliar location takes preparation, constant communication with your clients and an understanding of the wedding
Why the Wedding Day Runs Late (And 5 Ways to Prevent It)
We’ve all been there before – something runs late on the wedding day, and suddenly that cushy hour of photo time that was on your schedule evaporates into 15 minutes of chaos with a 24 person bridal party and a list of family portraits a mile long. Perfect… The ability to handle the pressure of a late wedding day with grace and ease is definitely what sets apart a great wedding photographer from a good one. But the ability to prevent the day from running late in the first place is what turns a great photographer into a true wedding professional. Jeff and I have identified five of the biggest reasons that weddings tend to run late – at least in our experience – and
Photo Shoot Do’s and Don’ts
Photographers – when was the last time that you were in front of the camera? No, not for a quick snapshot with Grandma by the Christmas tree, but an actual photoshoot. Doing photoshoots is like 2nd nature to us because we do them all the time, but we often forget what it’s like actually being in front of the camera. For most of the clients we all shoot, it has been awhile since they have had their photo professionally taken (it may even be the first time for them) and many times they come to the shoot insecure and wondering what it’s going to be like, and worried that their photographer might not get a good shot of them (not because you as the photographer
How We Educate Our Wedding Clients on the First Look
In my last article here on the Pictage blog, I walked everyone through The Youngrens perfect wedding day schedule, which is built on the couple seeing each other before the ceremony. Not surprisingly, there were questions about how we get our couples to do a First Look. These days, most couples come to us already wanting to do a First Look, but it took a few years for that to be the case. In the meantime, I had to become pretty adept at educating couples about them. (Notice how I say ‘educating’ and not ‘convincing.’ BIG difference.) In my experience, there are normally two reasons that a couple doesn’t want to do a First Look: (1) they don’t know what actually happens during a First
Nailing the Correct Focus- Servo Mode vs. One Shot
Have you ever been shooting your client and they start moving or running and all of a sudden all your images start coming out blurry? Or, on the other hand, have you ever been shooting your client and you press the shutter half-way to focus on their face, and when you recompose the shot the camera then changes focus on something else? Well, there are tons of little factors that play into how your camera focuses, but one thing we need to understand is the focus MODE that our camera is set to and how that effects the way it handles focusing. One Shot: When you have your camera set to one shot (check your specific owner’s manual for how to do this), the camera
The Youngren’s Wedding Photography Schedule
There’s nothing better than a stress-free wedding day when everything runs on time, people are ready to take pictures when you need them, and you have creative freedom to do your job well. Can I get a ‘fo-sho’ from my wedding peeps out there? And you know what the best part is? There’s a lot that you can do as a photographer to make sure that these kinds of wedding days happen more often than not, which is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. In fact, the photographer and the wedding coordinator have the most control over how a wedding day is run, which means two things: 1) You get to create the best photography schedule to help make you successful 2) You
Battle the Burn
It’s that time of year. You’ve shot weddings all season long, you’re knee-deep in edits, and you’re exhausted. After all you’ve been through, haven’t you earned just one session where you take the easy way out? Bringing your clients to that same tried and true location, walking them through the poses that have worked before, and trying not to look at your watch too often. But that’s not fun–for you or your client. It really doesn’t take much to access fresh ideas, new inspiration, and great locations. Here’s what I do to battle the burnout: Rip It Out: My staff and I keep a series of loose leaf binders filled with plastic sleeves in my studio. There’s one for engagement and family session ideas, one
4 Tips for Shooting in Manual
1. Manual White Balance Basing your exposure and white balance on skin tones is the best way to get consistent and beautiful results when photographing wedding or portraits clients. I like to use manual with balance when shooting my events. I use the Kelvin Scale, which goes from 2,000k to 10,000k. It’s easy to remember because it’s just like regular temperature, warmer skin tones equals a higher kelvin number, cooler skin tones equals a lower number. Common kelvin settings I use when I am shooting natural light are as follows; (Daylight 5200K), (Overcast 6000k), (Shade 7000k). For indoor lighting I use the following settings; (Tungsten 3200k), (Fluorescent 4000K), and for flash shooting, I tend to shoot around (5,500k). Remember that these numbers are approximate numbers,