Josh and Gang

I’ve done thousands of portraits over the years and they never start easy. Your client is always, always, always going to be tense when things get going. You’re lucky if you know them and there is a bit of ease because of the established relationship. But if you don’t, then there is going to be some tension. The first thing that I want to do with a new client is to get them to laugh, loosen up, relax. Maybe throw some jokes at them or make them do some funny poses first to break the ice. This will start to open up the relationship and get them to liven up.

It can take a while and each person or group is going to be different, so take time and become friends. Once they are comfortable with you, the smiles come easier and they start posing or goofing off themselves. They’ll start laughing and becoming the family that they want to see in their photos. Myself, have never really been a person to be the first to walk up to people and start talking to them. So this is a big step for me to take my hand, stick it out and meet new people. One thing I did when shooting weddings was to meet with them a few times before the big day. That way you have broken the tense, new and scared relationship down and turned it into a friendly partnership. So when the day came, they KNEW that you understood what they wanted and they KNEW who you are. It’s one of the wisest abilities that a photographer needs to have in their tool bag. If that is hard to do, it’s time to practice or get out of the game.

Photographers are SUPER important to Social Media, so it’s in our best interest to be social by default. If you have trouble breaking the ice with people, break that habit quickly. As I told my friend during his session “If you’re a photographer and you can’t interact with people with ease, you need to find another profession.” If you don’t have the confidence of your skills, your clients are going to see that and won’t give you the session you need to prove your abilities. Your clients need to know that you have their best interest in mind when you’re taking their family photos or their youngest child’s senior photos. They need to know that you are there to capture their family in the best light possible (little photographer lighting poke for ya). So take a puppet with you for the kiddos, share some stories with them that are going to make them laugh and don’t be standoffish. They’ll see it and not want to loosen up. Good Luck out there and Love what you’re doing.

Reagan's Senior Photos in Deep Ellum, Tx

What You See Is What You Get, you may know the term from website building software but I use the term to mean; You don’t need filters when you know what you’re doing. In one of my previous post I mentioned how technology has made lots of advancements in photography, sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not. Some of those advancements, like filters for your images, has made getting a look easier for people and saturating the world with the idea of great photography, that isn’t. I see so many images that have a filter applied to it and it’s the only reason why people think it’s a good photo. The photo isn’t well composed, lighting is completely off and there is no story in the imagery.

That’s why I live by WYSIWYG. When I can photograph something or someone then show the image on my tablet and they are WOW’d by seeing an unedited image, I know I’ve done my job. My mentor Kellie, that taught me what photography is about, told me once, 80% of capturing image is the story that is told in the image. The other 20% is all the technical work or knowledge that creates an amazing look. If you don’t have that 80% in your shot and then you apply a filter to get your 20%, you’re failing your job. If you’re an artist of photography then you’re a failing all those that made photography what it is, by using filters and not learning how to achieve the same effect just with knowledge.

Learn the craft, don’t rely on cheap tricks to make something look great. If you understand what the camera actually does then you’re able to produce any look you want with out a lot of post production. Take the time and learn the camera and what you can do with it and find your style. Then add in some lighting. Learn what you can do with that and elevate your work higher. Once you get that down and hone your skill, then you’ll be able to WOW people with what you can do without being a cheap photographer.

I’ve always been able to pick out when lighting in photography or video isn’t done right. I guess you could call it a “gift of the eye”. If you green screen a scene and the temperature of your lighting doesn’t match or if the angle of the lighting is off, I think it’s the worst thing you can do to a photo or movie. To me it sticks out like a sore thumb. I’ve never been on a big budget movie set but if you have someone doing this for you, you best have the best of the best. I see it often where someone is shooting in the mid-day warm sun but the color of their subject isn’t set to match. Some may do that on purpose or they are going for a certain look. But if you’re going for a natural look, you need to get that right or you’ll ruin a really great photo or film.

I don’t know if I’m more picky than others on this but it’s the first thing I see and if it isn’t right, I’m gone. When you’re filming in mid-day light but it’s very soft light on your subjects, complete turn off. False environments are the lazy mans way of getting things done. I just watched the movie The Fall(if you haven’t seen it, DO IT!) It has to be one of the most beautifully shot films of our time. It’s a period piece and was filmed over several years and you can see how well it was lit throughout the time. Another great example is Blade Runner, its 30 years old and they filmed in very dark places and it looks amazing because of that. Still better than most films today.

I started my photography journey in the digital era, no training. So I try and stick to the old rules. I don’t use an ISO setting that there wasn’t a film version of. Film cameras may have had a shutter speed of 1/2000 so I try and not use anything above it. Technology today has made it too easy to accomplish something that those that didn’t have it, were able to pull off without it. So when I see things that are fudged by someone just to do it on the cheap, I don’t accept it and turn it off. When a Director with $100 million for a movie produces some crap and the Director with only $200 thousand budget makes a waaay better movie, I will follow those that use their resources better, faster than I would the rich kid. We’ve been shooting for over a century and I’m happy that technology has pushed us to new levels but don’t ruin great work with cheap effects. Damn you INSTAGRAM!!

Classic

A question to all my Photography compadres out there; When you a discussing an estimate or a bid for work with a client, How do you build your estimate for the work?

Do you do a flat rate, I’ll shoot what you need for X amount and you can have all of it.
Do you say I’ll shoot everything and then they can pick what they want and buy just those images?
Do you say here are my packages to select from?
Or do you setup licensing prices for each image?

The past few bids that I’ve submitted the client has haggled me down to below what I think the Ownership cost should be. You’re about to buy images and use them in a multi-million dollar campaign and I’ve overbid? Anyone have any classes on how to bid on work?

olympus-omd

So a friend of mine keeps hinting at me to get an Olympus camera to replace my Canon 60D.  He sends this to me today and it is a really really nice camera.  It’s a 4/3rds sensor, so I’d have to see if I like that. I’d have to replace lenses or get an adapter. This is from their site, “20 MP Live MOS Sensor delivers rich gradations and excellent image quality, and its anti-reflective AR Coating reduces flare directly on the sensor. The 50 MP High Res Shot combines 8 shots to generate a single ultra-high res image.”  I mean come on!  That’s is really nice and that’s not all of it.

So Olympus, can you convince me to switch?  I mean I do have two OM-1s already.  Here’s the link if you like to have a look.

Olympus OM-D

So I’ve received a lot of feedback on my post about upgrading my camera and I just wanted to say Thank y’all for that!

Right before May this year, I need to get back to work on my site and finish it.  Well May 1st is REBOOT.  It’s where designers create a new website and release it to the world.  It’s to keep art and creativity fresh in the web design world.  Since I was do for an update and have always wanted to a Blog/Journal on it, I built one with this new site.  And for anyone that is a photographer and doesn’t have one, I say DO IT!!  It’s nice to see who is looking at your site and it helps build a community.  It’s great to watch and make new relationships with others out there in the vast world of designers and photographers.

Again Thanks and I hope y’all keep returning for future updates.

Jakeb