Finding your photography style can be difficult, especially when you’re just starting. It takes time, but once you begin working on finding your style, it actually gets easier. Here are 4 tips for finding your photography style: 1. Study other images. Determine why you truly like a photo. Is it the light, the angle at which the photograph was taken, the subject’s expression, the bokeh, the layering of compositional elements? The list of why you like a photo could be really long or very simple – maybe you just like the way the subject is backlit. Once you start to realize what you like about other photos, you can start to hone your style by emulating those elements. 2. Start studying your photographs. What are
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A Wedding Photographer Reviews the Leica Monochrom
“Be quick, but don’t hurry.” – John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach I love this quote and I think it fits perfectly with photography. I started out with Rangefinders in wedding photography. Partly because those are the tools I had but also because I loved the intimacy I could achieve with a Leica due to it’s small size. I’ll probably get some flack for this from film lovers (hey, I’m one too) but with their new Monochrom – black and white 18mp digital Rangefinder, Leica has put the “Tri-X” back into digital photography. Perhaps they’ve even put the tried-and-true love of black-and-white back into wedding photography. I think there’s a different thought process with black-and-white photography versus color photography. With the Monochrom, I don’t have
Why Every Pro Photographer Should Have A Valued Business Advisor On Their Team
Professional photographers love having a camera in their hands. They also love the idea that they can make a living doing what they love. But most professional photographers do not have an accounting or law degree. That’s why photographers need a business pro on their team. Being a great photographer is challenging, but being a great photographer who’s running a profitable, healthy business can be daunting! And here’s how a business pro can help photographers: What’s the Best Business Structure? There are many items to consider when growing a business. The first to consider is what type of business entity should be set up. Should you be a sole-proprietor? What is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating? If
Meeting Expectations You Didn’t Know Existed: Part 3
Part 3: Confusion & Poor Communication How do you react to clients who have expectations that you are not aware of or expectations that you feel are unreasonable? Where do clients get these expectations? In the past two posts in this series we addressed two of the 4 different sources these expectations come from: – The Market Norm – The first exposure to the type of product or service you offer Today we will look at the remain two sources to discuss: – Confusion caused by your business’ complicated structures – Poor communication between you and the client Confusion: When pricing and offerings are complicated, it confuses the client and he/she will have different expectations than what you actually laid out. Example: A client receives
Adoption Stories Told Through Pictures
Whitney Hempsey spends her working hours with parents and their new children, and when she’s done, she goes home to her own three kids. A maternity-birth-newborn photographer based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Whitney has found joy in a personal project volunteering for an organization called Red Thread Sessions. The group gives photographers suggestions and connections to enable shooters to offer free photo sessions for adoptive parents and their new children. Whitney was adopted – as was her mother – so as soon as she heard about Red Thread a bit over a year ago, “it was a given that I would be involved in it.” There are three basic types of shoots Red Thread suggests photographers offer: The most common type, in Whitney’s experience,
Monitor Calibration: Are Your Prints Too Dark?
Are Your Prints Too Dark? If your answer is yes, then improper monitor calibration is probably the reason. Have you ever wondered why when you get your WYSIWG (what you see is what you get) prints back from the lab they look darker than they do on your monitor? As professional photographers, we have a responsibility to make sure our monitor’s profile “matches” or is in “sync” with our primary print lab provider. Your computer, monitor and printer are all connected by cables tethering them to each other. This allows your printer to recognize your monitor profile. It should print accurately because of this. But what happens when a lab prints images for you, and the lab is thousands of miles away? In many cases
What is a Photogrepreneur?
Just about every photographer I know has their own business. Most get into it for the art and the love of photography, but there’s no denying that an entrepreneurial spirit is required as well. For the business to succeed, these two personas – the photographer and the entrepreneur – must come together into what I like to call a ”photogrepreneur.” Why is This Important? As a small business owner, your success depends on your ability to do more than capture and deliver beautiful images. There are a wide range of things that have to get done for any business to survive, and the smaller the business, the more the business owner must take on themselves. Photographers love their art – it is why they do what
How To Crowdfund A Personal Project
Photographer Amy Toensing is a frequent contributor to National Geographic, but even reaching that pinnacle of professional recognition doesn’t mean she’s able to do whatever projects she wants. “I consider myself an artist and I have work that I need to do to stay sane. I need to make sure that I’m doing my work,” she says. As we all know so well, even working for major publications doesn’t mean money to fund personal projects. So Amy is taking her first steps to crowdfunding her next personal project. She’ll photograph the lives of urban refugee children in Africa, some of the most vulnerable people in an already disturbingly disadvantaged population of Africans driven from their homes by war, persecution, famine, or disease. It’s an attempt
Write a Great Subject Line to Increase Your Open Rate
The goal of subject lines is to encourage readers to open your email and take action. Don’t let the pressure of writing the perfect subject line get to you. Finding the right words isn’t as difficult as it seems. Open rates depend on multiple factors like collection practices, list age and the industry. Average rate ranges from 10% to 25% (at the high end of the spectrum). The team at Mad Mimi analyzed thousands of subject lines to find those with the highest open rates and the most impact. Here’s what we learned: 1. Be Specific The subject line should tell readers what they’re going to find inside. Here’s an example that garnered an open rate of 37%: Only Three Days Left for this Great Offer for
What ONE THING would you change in 2013?
Now that 2012 has come to a close, hopefully you had some much needed reflection and R&R and are ready to dive headfirst into 2013. When you think about your successes and mistakes over the past year, are there things you wish you’d done differently? Probably. But that’s the beauty of a new year – it’s a fresh start! To get you started, we asked YOU to share ONE THING you’ll do differently in 2013. Every week, we’ll be spotlighting one photographer and the ONE THING that they’re doing differently this coming year. What will you change? Here’s what photographer Kristi Odom said: About Kristi Odom Kristi Odom has a background in travel and nature photography that she brings into destination wedding photography. She has photographed