Photography Location

A lot of the time people ask me what suggestions or recommendations I can give them when they look for a photographer.  It’s usually because the person is not in an area I can get to, or it’s a family member or a friend that wants to pick my brain (even though it hurts sometimes! 🙂  )  When I get this question, I tell most people that choosing a photographer is much like choosing a house or real estate:  It’s all about location!

What do I mean by this?  Simply put: a photographer can shoot on-location.  I see many photographers speak to their ability to shoot on-location, and this is an important aspect of many genres ranging from wedding photography, to band photography, and even architectural work.  Heck, last week I did a maternity shoot that was “on location.”  So, why is this such an important thing to be able to stake claim to?  Three key things come to mind for me:

1.  Adaptability – Being able to shoot on location means you can adapt.  If the surroundings are beautiful, you can adjust your composition to include elements of the scene to give a sense of time and space to an image.  If the surroundings aren’t so beautiful, then it equally means you are able to diffuse things so that you can’t tell where a shot was taken – only that it’s a beautiful shot!

2.  Controlling – Yes, being able to shoot on location means you are adaptable, but it also means you can control for a number of factors, and of utmost importance here is the ability to control the light.  You can bring flash to fill shadows, or scrims to bring shadows to harsh light.  If a photographer can control for the light in a scene – the shot will improve by a factor of ten in most instances.

Castle Rock Firehouse

3.  Fundamentals – Given the above two factors are in place, this also usually means that the photographer brings a certain set of fundamental skills to the table.  He or she knows an aperture versus a shutter setting, and can likely tell you whether ISO 100 is better or worse than ISO 32000 (depending on the look of course!).  Although many like to wax esoteric about photography in abstract terms (myself included), there are certain fundamentals that every photographer worth their salt would and should know.  If you can shoot on location, you likely have these fundamentals.

These are just three of the factors that I think about when I see a photographer say they are an “on-location” photographer.  Of course the proof is in the pudding, and while I certainly would not pick a photographer solely on whether or not that term is included in their online presence, the ability to back up statements with a solid portfolio (and yes, an interview if you have the time to talk to a potential photographer!)

While we all like to think we have these traits, and in enough of a capacity to “bring it” for any client – let’s face it…some photographers are better than others.  Either they’ve got a natural knack for it where others have to work harder at it, or they’ve just simply been shooting a lot longer.  Seriously…time means practice, and the more you practice, the better you are at anything!  There are photographers who have been shooting for decades and some of us can’t hold a candle to them.  Meanwhile, others have been shooting for days, and I often stand in awe of their work.  So, consider the above three things when you decide to hang out your own shingle – because people will likely be looking for these traits.  Do you have them?  Do you have more?  Less? Something different? Something new?

What traits do you bring to the table?  Or better yet, what traits do you think are important for potential clients to consider when hiring a photographer?  The above is just my opinion – but that doesn’t mean it’s the ultimate answer!  Am I right or am I way off base?  Sound off with your own thoughts as the conversation is always the best part about this blog!  Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!  Until next time, keep the comments coming – oh yeah, and keep on shooting!

Learning Digital Photography: Episode #57

You heard it right, the latest and greatest episode of the LDP Podcast is now live and downloadable from your favorite outlet.  Six long weeks in the making and with the patience of my special guest, Kevin Mullins, this is Episode #57!

For those of you that may not have heard of him, Kevin Mullins hails from across the pond to get together on a podcast and talk shop on photography. A well-established wedding photographer in the UK, Kevin is probably one of the most talented wedding photographers I know. He joins me in the latest episode of the Learning Digital Photography Podcast to talk about the documentary style of photography and the impact that has on how you both shoot and manage your business. You can download it from iTunes or directly from the website via the following links. Below the links are the show notes…enjoy!

Talking Points

  • Approaching group shots versus cookie-cutter portrait poses
  • Work flow of the wedding day – how things start, where to budget time, & how things end.
  • Gear preferences
  • Pre-planning the event in Documentary Photography
  • Still and video convergence

Links Mentioned:

[display_podcast]

Podcast #56: Is Blogging Dead?

Twitter, Facebook, microblogging, blogging, Audioboo, websites, statistics, logos, graphics, web design and more!  It’s a lot to take in and more often than not photographers who are just getting started ask me “Which ones should I choose?”  It’s a tough question because there’s no unilateral catch-all answer that will fit everyone.  As always, the answer starts with “It depends…”

So, to better address the question I decided to bring in a pro who deals with this stuff all the time.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, we have another podcast! This is episode #56 of the LDP show, and I shared about an hour or so with Kirsten Wright talking about social strategies and best approaches and practices.  It’s an entire industry, and there are some who claim to know and then those who really do know their stuff.  Kirsten comes with some impressive credentials and a fresh outlook/perspective that many of us need.  It’s a good kick in the…well, a good way to get motivated to get going in the right direction!

Make sure you check out her site over at Wright Creativity and make sure to add her on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn feeds, and everything in between.  She’s got gems and nuggets of brilliance galore to share.  I’m booking her soon here to help me get things streamlined (in case you haven’t noticed, my schedule has not been as consistent lately as I’d like it to be – Kirsten is my kick in the #$%^!)

If you need some focus, direction, and a good reality check, Kirsten is the one to give t to you.  Get it for free here in the latest episode of Learning Digital Photography:  Is Blogging Dead? with our guest of the hour – Kirsten Wright!

[display_podcast]

Live from the Road

Northern Lights Poster

Over the weekend I had the distinct pleasure of joining my colleague and good friend Kerry Garrison (who you probably know from Camera Dojo) out “in the wild” as we traveled to the Breezy Point Resort north of Brainerd MN (about three hours west and north if the twin cities) and spoke at their Northern Lights conference.  Through the coordination of our sponsor, Nations Photo Lab, and the conference hosts, MNNPA, we had a wonderful time.  Not only did the coordinators treat us like Rock Stars (we did give some autographs though), the attendees were quite engaging too.

The pre-conference sessions were set to start at 12, and our gig started at 5.  After a few of the logistical things were addressed that always come up with hosting conferences (they even had a live wedding going on one room next to us – what a great opportunity for a bride to get a wide range of photographers applying their trade), we got rolling.  A mere five minutes into our introduction, we paused to add even more tables and chairs to the room as more and more people started filing in.  For a regional conference to have a crowd this big during a pre-conference tech talk was quite surprising, but also very enjoyable.  So, what did we talk about?

The topic was none other than Lightroom 3!  We talked about how to navigate around, some of the benefits and tips and tricks of LR to soon realize that we are very fortunate to be in the position that we are.  It was humbling to realize that we really are on the cutting edge as so many people are using Lightroom 1, LR 2, or even earlier generations of Photoshop for their workflow.  Our discussion quickly was adapted to both demonstrate why and answer questions on what makes Lightroom 3 such a useful tool for both established and emerging photographers.

The questions raised were just wonderful ranging from very broad-ranging ones like “Why should wedding and portrait photographers care about upgrading their work flow?” to ones as detailed as “Can Lightroom manage PSD files?” and “How can I keyword photos during import?”  By the time our two hour segment was up we had barely covered the import process, a little bit on the adjustment brush, and the nuts and bolts of things like cropping, selective color, and black and white conversions.

Ours was the last segment for the day and we were then invited to the after party over in one of the adjoining houses.  Food snacks, drinks and such were all available and in abundance.  With the abundance of spirits, everyone was in great spirits themselves as we laughed and talked further with lots of people about photography stuff until the wee hours of the morning.  By 1am we were done though and needed to head back to our respective cities (myself to Denver and Kerry to Anaheim, CA).  So, during our road trip back to Minneapolis for the return flight, we decided to record this show for you.  Answers to all the questions above and more are here, as well as a few photo opp stops!  Thanks for taking the time to listen, hope you enjoy it and we’ll be back again soon with more photo goodness!

Catch up with Kerry:

Follow me on:

Learn more about the Northern Lights Conference and MNPPA here:

[display_podcast]

LDP Episode #54: Striking a Balance

The latest and greatest episode of the LDP Podcast is now live and available for download!  This week not one but two guests…special guest Jason Cate from the listening audience, and an established photographer in his own right, and Nicole Young returns to the show.  Here’s the show notes (and show for download)!  Enjoy the show, and thanks to everyone for their continued support and interest:

1.  Personal Work versus Client Work – What brings clients in is your own creative vision yet at the same time you also have to be able to recognize the client vision too…striking a balance there can be demanding and challenging.  There are several strategies to cope:

2.  Shooting versus Promotion/Marketing – We have to produce work to survive, but by the same token if we don’t tell others about the work we are producing, how can one even begin to survive without some measure of success.  Balancing the creative and business ends of photography is equally demanding and can take a pretty heavy toll if you’re not careful.  There are several approaches to take here as well:

3.  Capturing and creating photos and projects versus down time – With the internet, Twitter, Facebook cell phones, email, and everything assaulting us literally 24/7 – there has to be a way to balance personal time with work time.  In this case personal time means actually putting the camera down and spending time with family, friends, colleagues, and otherwise “unplugging” from the digital photography world.  Can we even afford to take these periods of downtime anymore?  Is it worth the risk of fading?  Things to consider when balancing personal and professional growth and development, and strategies to cope:

4.  Listener Q&A

  1. What’s the best way to deal with noise in photos?  I’ve heard several options out there ranging from using plugins in Lightroom, to layer masks in photoshop, while others just avoid high ISO at all costs. – Karen in New York
  2. Just getting started in photography and wondering if I can build a business in this market.  What are the pitfalls I should be wary of?  On that same note, would it be better to begin solo and keep things small to avoid getting in over my head or should I work with other photogs to defray costs while making larger projects available to the business? – Phil in Las Vegas
  3. Everyone always talks a good game about lenses, but it’s tough to be taken seriously when people have better camera bodies than I do that have 1/10th the experience or knowledge. How do you deal with clients who have better gear than you? – Katherine in Milwaukee

Co-Hosts:

And, for those of you that listened, and are paying attention, you’ll know that Nicole has generously donated a copy of one of her latest books “Snapshots to Great Shots” for some lucky commenter.  So, leave your comments, thoughts, and/or feedback on the show here, and you’ll be automatically entered to win either her 60D or 7D book!  (We’ll know for sure which book it is hopefully later today – Monday)…

[display_podcast]

The Passion Principle

Editor Note: Episode #53 of the podcast is ready for your holiday listening enjoyment!  This should have gone out last week, so my apologies.  System problems with the post production delayed the publication, but better late than never is my motto!  Anyway, enjoy!

Many notable photographers have spoken and alluded to this idea of shooting photography with passion.  The idea is to approach photography with your creative voice, and a vision of what it is you want to accomplish.  So, what do you do when the voice is silent, or the vision is blinded?  Re-igniting the passion for photography is something we all face, and while we can all agree that shooting with passion is always a good thing, the question really is how to achieve that intangible in your work.  Tune in to the latest podcast here with Andie Smith as we broach the subject head on.

We also tackle some really engaging listener questions, so be sure to listen in – yours may be answered!

[display_podcast]

Episode #52 – Why We Charge!

At long last!  After several weeks hiatus with starting a new job, and lots of other activities distracting me, I finally just dove in and assembled another podcast.  No fuss, no muss, no guests, no news – it’s all you! That’s right, another Q&A show – the best of the listener questions answered in this latest episode of The Learning Digital Photography Podcast! It should be up on iTunes in a bit, and of course, is immediately available from right here in the RSS feed and the blog. Continue reading “Episode #52 – Why We Charge!”

Encouraging the Slide…

I’ve had this podcast done for a while and for some reason completely forgot to post it to the feed with all that’s been going on.  My apologies to Andie Smith as she was the guest for the show (I’m sure she has been wondering what the heck happened!).  Granted, the news items are somewhat dated and not as current as I’d like, but I digress…  In any case, without further ado, here’s the show notes: Continue reading “Encouraging the Slide…”

Episode # 49 is in your podcast feed!

As we approach the half century mark in the Learning Digital Photography Podcast series, Erik Bernskiold joins us on the show for another session of doling out some good photo tips – great ways to take and make better pictures and take your photography to the next level.  For those that are grabbing from the iTunes feed it should be published shortly… you know the drill!  🙂  For the rest of the world, here’s a direct link to the show for listening to during the day or your workout/commute/etc.

Skype gave us a few issues so there is one point where the audio gets a bit garbled, and there was just no good way to clean that up, so if you hear a little scratchy noise, it goes away after a few seconds (and a cheesy soundbite transition) Just remember, two hands on the wheel if you’re driving!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Show Notes

1. News

2. Photo Tips

  • Landscapes
  • Portraiture
  • Flowers
  • Architecture

3. Listener Q&A

  • The iPad and Flash – Mark
  • Different Photo Editing Application Pros and Cons – Christine
  • Photos are washed out in browser – Seth

Lightroom 3 is here – Now What?

With all the hubbub of the release of Lightroom 3 and all the resources that cropped up online in mere minutes of the announcement, we often find ourselves asking more questions once the excitement and energy that surrounds a product release has drained.

I took these questions with me to a conversation with Senior Product Manager Tom Hogarty last week, and got a lot of insights and answers, with both a technical perspective and that of long-term development.  I give you this week’s podcast: Continue reading “Lightroom 3 is here – Now What?”