Jeff and his wife, Allison, opened Allison Rodgers Photography in 2004, and in four short years their business has exploded!  Their growth has forced them to move four times, and they presently occupy a 3600 square foot building with six people on staff.  Since opening their studio, they have managed to double their sales each year and are presently regarded as one of the most profitable studios in the United States due to their design skills and marketing strategies.

After years as an Art Director/Web Designer for several agencies in Memphis, Tennessee, Jeff  took his vast computer knowledge to ARP.  Now he oversees all post-processing, file management, orders, quality control, online marketing via twitter, Facebook, and the ARPblog.  Of note, Type Pad, the largest commercial blogging software company, has featured Allison Rodgers Photography on its home page and has listed their blog as one of its Top 10 sites.

Because of his commitment to the idea of creating buzz with viral marketing, clients and peers really get to know ARP before they ever step in the door.  And they do create a buzz!  Just today Allison Rodgers Photography was featured on the front of Marathan Press blog for their work on the show Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Now YOU can get to know Jeff a little bit more.  Jeff, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions, and I really loved what you had to say.   Oh, and thanks for the pennies (you’ll see when you read further).  We start off the interview with some critical insights:

Since you are a superhero in your mind you have to answer this:  Would you rather be able to fly, turn invisible or have the ability to read people’s minds and why?

Good question and an important one. If I turned invisible I suspect that would lead to way too much trouble on my part. Does the invisibility extend to my clothes? Might be awkward in cold climates. Reading peoples minds? That would be very cool but I don’t think my ego could withstand that level of brutal honesty. I would rather live in my fantasy world where my wife actually thinks I am a cutey and comic books are cool. Flying is definitely the best way to go. What better way of getting around than to fly?

LEARN:  What’s something that you feel like you’d like to learn more about, something you are continually learning?

Something I want to learn more about? Photography, videography, bookkeeping, running a business, teaching, speaking, social media, being a better husband and father, God, and maybe one day poetry. These are all things I want to always be improving on. Well, all of them except the poetry.  I can’t really back that one up.

I view photography from a Graphic Design perspective so the things that intrigue me are the more artistic design driven works–surreal photo illustrations, unique lighting techniques, innovative uses of composition and color. This is just what I am personally drawn to. When I was in art school the thing that influenced me the most was seeing the opening credits to the movie Se7en. Kyle Cooper (Imaginary Forces) designed them, and I remember sitting there in awe! It changed the way I looked at design. I have been thinking about this recently because of the hype over the 5D markII and all the talk about the merging of photo/video. I have a lot of photography friends who laugh when someone says “fusion.”(If you listen closely, you can here them laughing right now! )  I think that there is a way to make video more integrated with photography. You just have to be open to new technology and not dismiss new notions because it pushes you out of the little bubble of what is comfortable to you. I don’t know what the future holds for this. I believe it is something everyone needs to be at least familiar with even if it is partnering with someone knowledgeable who can offer this skill set.

What is something that you wish someone would have told you before you had to learn it the hard way?

A happy wife equals a happy life.

Oh, you probably mean photography related. OK!  Get software to track your business. It should be something that tracks your cost of sales, invoices, billing, client database, and some type of scheduling calendar. I don’t care how good you are at Excel spread sheets– that just does not cut it. Maybe it will work for the first six months, but the system you start out with needs to be flexible and able to be easily scaled up to accommodate your growth.  There are a lot of nice apps for this out there. We have been using Successware at the studio for 4 years and are happy with it.

GROW:  How have you grown in the past five years in your business, in your own personal quest for growth, in your awareness of the world around you?

We have grown a LOT over the last 5 years. People tend to get caught up in only focusing on shooting and not even thinking about all the other things you have to do in order to have a successful business. If you want to have a serious viable business that will be around for a long time, then you should join PPA and attend the IUSA pre-con meetings, as well as going to hear the platform speakers during the convention. This is the most cost-effective way of hearing all the big workshop speakers for a fraction of what it would cost to see them at workshops outside the convention. Shooting pictures is maybe 25% what is involved in running a business. Allison and I will be speaking at IUSA2010 in Nashville. I would love to meet all your readers there.

How would you recommend others grow—do you have a favorite marketing tip, workshop suggestion, or convention to attend?

My marketing tip is to get a free twitter account and put a twitter badge on your blog where your clients can choose to read what you are doing.  This tends to add more personality to your blog. You can even carry it a step further and make your twitter feed replace your Facebook status which again spreads your name around. Social media is a broad term, and people HAVE to understand it. Do you want your competitor knowing more about what the “kids” are up to than you?

SHARE:  How do you feel that you contribute to the industry?

I don’t know if anyone has noticed this or not, but I have been going around putting a penny on your front doorstep every Monday morning–just my attempt at getting all my photography buddies excited about the often maligned Mondays.  Beside the Monday morning penny treats, I enjoy speaking on Webinars, speaking at IUSA, and next year’s super secret multi city tour thing for a large non-profit photographer organization that I like a lot but I can’t really talk about that yet. I have been really pushing the whole social media thing for the past year. I feel it is just something that is here to stay, and it IS reshaping the old ways of marketing everyday. Investigate it.

Allison and I offer one on one phone consultations. It is called “He Said : She Said, The Creative Consult”. Consultation time is offered in 1 hour increments. Consults can be weekly appointments with screen share. Topics we cover: Viral Marketing, Shooting, Sales, Marketing, Post-processing and Studio Management.

What is something you would like to share with your follow colleagues?

Sort of playing one tune here BUT get on Facebook and twitter. Seriously, if you have a question, you ask it and in real time get answers. It’s really that easy. I was in a store the other day and ”twittered” a question about an off-brand battery for Canon. I immediately started getting friends’ opinions and ideas about cheaper places to buy them.

How can they turn around and do the same for others?

When you do get a twitter account, don’t just lurk around. Join the conversation, make it your own. This really applies to any of your favorite forums or online communities. Don’t be afraid of getting involved. Your opinion does matter.

Here are a few twitter playground rules to remember: Be nice, treat others how you want to be treated, use appropriate language, and don’t always be negative. Now, for my pet peeve.  When you reply to someone make a complete sentence out of your reply. I mean stop with the one word replies. How is that helpful for me to read?

Favorite charitable contribution?

A television producer friend of mine, Billy Roberts, has a charity that I am wanting to get more involved in. It’s called 5multiplied.

http://www.dropinthebucket.org/5multiplied

Excelsior!

Thank you Jeff!  I am already addicted to twitter and facebook, so I concur with everything you’ve said!  Join the conversation, people.   If you are looking for some help with your studio and want to bump it up to the next level, check out their consulting work here!

I really love Jeff’s perspective and the way that he sees life through his photography.  Check it out for yourself:

I’ve fallen in love with many women, a dozen or so cities, and innumerable moments in time. But I’ve only ever fallen in love with one camera – the Leica S2.

By love I mean that irrational exuberance that can overcome any obstacle. That encounter with such beauty, intelligence, or elegance that compels me to rethink, even abandon, the way I do everything. That compulsion that allows me to gladly sacrifice almost anything to feel it once more, or prolong it just a little. Of course, love is also many other things, like the ability to overlook glaring faults. Some might say I’m actually describing infatuation, but they would be wrong – it’s love!

I’ve claimed to be in love with this camera since I saw the press-release images of it, admittedly that might be more like infatuation, or like saying I love Keira Knightley because I saw her in a beautiful film. Spending time with her might be a totally different experience. Thanks to a very kind person at Leica, I was loaned an S2 for a week. I proceeded to have an all-too-brief affair with it in New York City. I’ve never had my world so uprooted by a mere piece of technology.

After I sent one too many text messages describing my elation with this camera, I was asked to stop talking about it, and write a proper review. [Full disclosure: Leica had no idea I would be writing about the camera, nor did I, for that matter].

The Object of Desire

There are plenty of technical articles that can tell you the Leica S2 has 37.5 megapixels, a 56 percent larger sensor area than full-frame 35mm DSLRs, and the price tag of an entry-level BMW. However, to discuss those things is not only redundant, but almost completely misses the point of the S2. This is an object, a machine, a force so compelling that no matter what logic may tell you, you will adapt in any way necessary so that you can use it! As a physical object the Leica S2 is exquisitely refined and understated. If Jonathan Ive, Eero Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe designed a camera together, this would be it.

This camera is like a fundamentalist religion. Once I adapted to its ways everyone else’s seemed retrograde. For example, the buttons are all unlabeled and the photographer selects what function each button serves. After I got used to this, all the labels and icons on my Nikon cameras suddenly seemed very amateurish. Why should they be labeled? I should know instinctively what each does. And why are there so many buttons on my Nikon in the first place? As it turns out, four programmable buttons on the back of the camera is actually all I ever need. The Leica S2 has a grand total of 10 buttons, switches, dials or levers. My Nikon D3s has 32!

This is representative of the type of thought that went into designing the S2. I had the distinct impression that the return distance of every button, and the tension in every dial were calibrated to some secret resonance with the human body that only Leica is privy to. It is why, at the end of the day, using a Leica S2 is such a sublime experience. It is also why you’ll overlook glaring faults, like the fact that many point and shoot cameras have better LCD screens than the S2. Even Leica’s own, and very beautiful, M9 seems a little crude when compared to the beauty of the S2, and any other camera is absolutely beastly.

Sensual Shadows

Everyone kept asking me about the quality of the files. This is the rational side trying to justify the S2’s price tag. I was traveling during this affair, and no laptop screen is going to display these files with enough accuracy to answer that question, so I used it for 5 days without having any idea what the files looked like. Even if they had resembled those of first generation digital cameras I still would have figured out how to make that lack of quality part of my style. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

At it’s native ISO (160) the files are a photographer’s dream. Skin tones are smooth and exact. Highlights cease being a troublesome part of the spectrum requiring special treatment and simply look like any other part of the file. In fact, the Leica S2’s sensor makes the very concept obsolete. The shadows are deep, full of detail.  I can’t even show their depth because most calibrated monitors don’t have a wide enough color gamut to display the subtleties of these richly-textured shadows. And yes, 37 million pixels behind a Leica lens translate into an astonishing amount of detail! In one portrait I made, the catchlight not only revealed windows in the studio, but individual buildings in the skyline. In short, the quality of these files exceeds the web technologies we use to commonly view and discuss them.

Enduring Allure

As I’ve mentioned, trying to talk about practical considerations is almost impossible when it comes to the Leica S2. It’s like trying to discuss the trunk space in a Ferrari. Once you’ve driven one, you simply reduce the amount of groceries you buy until they fit snugly in it’s diminutive storage compartment (or so I’m told). Not only does my rational side completely capitulate to the sensual allure of this camera, but it’s re-employed and put to work in finding ways to justify any objections that might be made. Only one-center AF point? No problem, I don’t need to shoot non-centered moving objects anyway! Can’t really shoot above ISO 160? I’ll just buy a studio! Can only afford one lens? Great, I’ll just relish the simplicity and creative strictures of only having one lens!

In theory, these factors may appear to make it an extremely limiting tool outside of a very controlled environment. In practice, it’s such a joy to use in the field that limitations and obstacles don’t really feel like either.

Paradise Lost

Now with all this perfection comes an unexpected problem. As soon as I deviated slightly from a perfect exposure, or dared bump the ISO up just one stop to 320, paradise was lost. It’s not that the file becomes unusable, or even problematic. I could deliver files to clients shot at the maximum ISO of 1250 without any problem. It’s that the file is no longer perfect. That deviation from perfection generates a sense of loss that I haven’t experienced with any other camera’s files. It is like the one stain on my favorite white shirt. It’s still perfectly usable, but now all I can see is that it is no longer perfect. Once I tasted the milk and honey from a correctly exposed S2 file at ISO 160, I don’t ever want anything else from it.

A Costly Affair

I would be remiss if I didn’t address the price, and more importantly the cost of using this camera. It straddles two different markets, for a medium format camera it is a remarkably good deal. Compared to a 35mm system it is astronomically expensive. And then there are the more intangible costs. Like any peak experience, once you know that apex of engineering and artistic sophistication, your eyes are opened to what the world could be, and you wonder why everyone else falls so short? I literally did not want to pick up any other camera after having used it.

The true value of the Leica S2 is the energy and vigor it brought to my work. Ordinarily, I have a pretty narrow focus in what I shoot. I’ve never been a photographer who shoots whatever is in front of them. I don’t take vacation pictures, I don’t document daily life, I don’t really photograph anything that isn’t in the 4 or 5 areas that have interested me for the past 20 years. But I never wanted to let go of the Leica S2. It made me want to make images – of everything! It compelled me to shoot things it was built for: like landscapes, and studio portraits, and then with equal force, genres it had no business in, like: street photography, or wildlife. It energized me. It fueled and pushed the boundaries of my creativity. It made me want to photograph anything – all the time. I realized that $27,500 doesn’t just buy me the most beautiful camera ever made, it buys me a muse, and then it suddenly seems like an irresistible deal.

David Wittig is an art and wedding photographer based in Chicago. He’s just leased a studio in preparation for his S2 and is hoping 27,500 people will give him $1 so he can buy one. 

In-house sales work best with boudoir clients. But what does this mean? It means you have to find a way to show your client an album before they see their final prints.

Here are my tips and tricks for boosting book and album sales specifically for boudoir photographers!

1. Show and sell

Have particular products in mind for your boudoir clients? Great! Then, you must show them to sell them! When I shoot boudoir sessions, I have hair and make-up artists come to my studio, so clients see my books in front of them while they’re getting styled. They naturally want to look through the books. Initially, the client may be looking to see how other women have posed or what they’ve worn (or not worn!) in their sessions. But they always end up admiring the book! I have several sample books at my studio for my clients to experience. I only display books I want to sell and they range in price from as little as $150.00 to over $1500.00, so there is something for everyone!

2. Create a Clear à la carte System

While packages work well with weddings, the best way to boost boudoir product sales is to create  a clear à la carte system. In the past I offered packages that included books and a disk. But I discovered that clients consistently bought just the base package. Based on this experience, I revised my sales system. I start with one base package, which only covers the sitting fee, hair and make-up. All products are sold separately, including disks, retouching and books. By doing this I was also able to lower my initial fee and get more clients in the door. When I changed to an  à la carte system my profits increased dramatically!

3. Use the Disk as an Incentive

I only include the disk of edited images if the client buys a book. The best part about this? I rarely lose print sales because most non-professional photo labs will not print boudoir or “risqué” photographs! So my clients usually end up ordering prints through me! When clients realize that the price of a disk is equivalent to the price of a book – and is included with the book anyway – buying books seems like the most logical choice.

 4. Limit Retouching to a Specific Number

Immediately after each session my assistant sits down with the client and reviews the “untouched proofs.” Then, the client selects their favorite images using Lightroom. Initially my assistant advises the client not to worry about the number of favorites, because she will help them narrow down final selections after they decide which book they would like. In my base package I only include 10 retouched images. As the books increase in quality and size, the client receives more retouches. What happens? The client almost always selects more favorites than are included in the book. At this point, if they want more retouches they have to give up some of their favorite images, pay a per-image retouching fee, or buy a larger book.

5. Embrace In-House Sales Success!

Using these simple methods, and by keeping sales in-house, I’ve seen significant sales for my studio. By applying these small changes to my boudoir business, sales have increased so much that now approximately 90 percent of my clients buy books in addition to their base package!

Written by Kelly Segre

Kelly’s photography career started many years ago in her father’s darkroom. With a love for film and timeless, classic images, she strives to bring this style into every session she shoots.

By creating an environment that allows her clients to feel sexy and glamorous before ever stepping in front of her camera, Kelly is able to get the most out of each and every session. Using simple techniques and literally showing her clients how to pose, Kelly is able to set a fun, playful and sexy mood for her clients, turning a girls night out into a sexy boudoir session!

In my last three articles, I expressed my beliefs regarding the beauty of real life and I detailed ways to overcome client insecurity. With this philosophical platform under our feet, let’s discuss the session itself!

The only way these types of sessions can be effective is if the photographer believes the ‘Real Life is Beautiful’ mantra. Each session must be approached as an opportunity to capture something special, regardless of how mundane the subject matter may seem. If the photographer doesn’t truly believe that reality can be beautiful, he will be focused on all of the things that do not matter, rather than on capturing the things that do. To effectively orchestrate a true lifestyle session, a photographer must give up his desire to control and create, and allow himself to enjoy the opportunity to observe and document. With that in mind, I’ll share my approach to lifestyle sessions.

Prior to my sessions, I always ask a few questions via email. These questions are important to the process, as they allow me to understand what’s important to my clients. If this is my first session with a client, I ask all three of these questions. If it is a follow up session, I just ask the last question.

1. Introduce me to your family.

2. Tell me about your home. Where do you spend your time, and what do you do in those spaces?

3. What is it about your child/children at this stage that you NEVER want to forget.

I don’t give any additional instructions regarding how they should answer. Oftentimes, the way they answer gives me as much information about them as their actual answers do!

When I receive their answers, I do my best to commit the information to memory.

• I copy this information into the notes section of their calendar appointment, and I review it often.
• By the time I arrive at their home on the day of their session, I should be able to parrot their information back to them with ease!
• Armed with this knowledge, I ring their doorbell and excitedly greet them by name.
• The first part of each first session (after a big hug & exclamations about how adorable their child is!) is a walk-through.
• I always request that my clients give me a quick tour of their home before we begin our session.
• I refer to their responses to my email questions, and ask them to expound.

“Before we start, I’d love it if you would give me a quick house tour. I know that you mentioned that you do a lot of snuggling in the master bedroom, and she’s getting her bath in the kitchen sink, and you like to read to her in the nursery, so I’d just love to see all of those spaces so I can create a game plan for us to follow.”

As they are showing me their home, I mention the things that they’ve already told me. I want my clients to know that I listened to their responses, that they are important to me. On occasion, they mention something completely new during the tour. When this happens, I make mental notes, because this new addition is just as important as the list that I already committed to memory.

Once the house tour is complete, I tend to outline a “game plan” for my clients. This creates a flow for the session. I want to capture Real Life, and it can be hard to capture the nuances of my clients’ reality in just an hour and a half. The game plan allows me to set up expectations for the session, and helps us to be aware of what is coming next.

“Okay, awesome. This house is so adorable, and I’m excited about all of the places I get to shoot here! Since you said she just woke up from a nap, and is probably getting hungry, let’s start out nursing in the rocker. Then you guys can go ahead and give her a bath and change her, and we’ll do a bit of snuggling in the master bedroom. Then, as long as she’s still up for it, maybe we can go downstairs and read on the couch with the dogs for a bit. Does that sound like it will cover it all?”

Now there is no confusion about what might be going on. I am not dogmatic about this plan. It is a guideline rather than a strict directive, but having a plan in place helps create a sense of direction. When we’ve been in one place for awhile, and I’ve captured what I need from that activity, I can easily move the session along by referring back to the plan.

In order to stay true to the nature of Lifestyle Photography, I never pose my clients. In order to create flow during the session, I refer to our email questionnaire and to our game plan. I do not capture real life by telling Mom and Dad where to sit and what to do. Instead of putting myself in charge of the situation, I put my clients in charge. (It’s their life, after all. They know it best!) I ask them questions:

“If you three were just spending a few moments together in this room, where would you be?” When they answer, I say “Ok great. Go do that.” If they need additional encouragement, I say “Go snuggle in the bed with Baby. Pretend I’m not here.”

With a bit of guidance, parents will naturally fall into doing what they are most comfortable with, and it will simply be my job to capture it. With Lifestyle Photography, the focus isn’t on posing. Real Life isn’t poseable.

The keys to a successful lifestyle session are arriving armed with knowledge, creating a game plan, and allowing that information to guide the session. If clients are given the opportunity to interact with one another naturally, true emotions will emerge. My job is not to create moments for families, my job is to create an environment in which they feel comfortable interacting naturally. After I’ve done this successfully, the rest is simple. I merely point my camera in the direction of their love, and I capture it.

Written by Amber Holritz the lifestyle baby photographer

Amber is a wife, mom, and photographer based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. You can see more posts by Amber in the coming weeks here on the Pictage blog as well as at www.amberholritz.com.

©2011 Justine Ungaro

Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. - Yousuf Karsh

It can be as simple as a photographer, a subject and a window. Or it can be as complex as a photographer, an art director, an entourage of assistants, a gaggle of stylists and multiple strobes.

Portraiture, in its varied forms, is one of the most powerful genres of photography. Perhaps it’s because humans love staring at each other? Perhaps it’s because creativity and curiosity go hand-in-hand? Regardless, humans seem hard-wired to engage with compelling portraits.

Since Spring’s seasonal shoots are often fueled by portraits, lifestyle shoots and engagement sessions, we wanted to share some words and images that will inspire and illuminate your work. Over the past year, a few seasoned pros from the Pictage community have shared their secrets to successful portraiture. Their real-world experiences and technical expertise could save you hours of trial-and-error and remind you why portraiture is playful and profitable!

1. Let There Be Light 

Veteran portrait photographer Frank Simon has spent over twenty years photographing portraits for high-profile (and sometimes high-pressure) clients like American Express, Hypercom and Westcor. His photographs have graced the pages of publications such as Vogue and W. All those accolades under his belt, and Frank still considers teaching one of his most fulfilling accomplishments. In his recent guest post, Creating a Soft, Romantic Portrait, Frank dissects a classic portrait and teaches you how to recreate a similar look for your clients.

2. Seek Signature Poses

Wedding and portrait photographer Justine Ungaro isn’t afraid to name those signature poses! In fact, she encourages photographers to keep it simple and name poses that are most comfortable for clients. She says, “It can be called anything. But the point is that you want them to remember it for the wedding day because it will be an easy go-to, and you and your clients will immediately feel comfortable. They might even just do it automatically.” Learn how to apply this tip on your upcoming Spring engagement sessions.

3. Capture Authentic Emotion

Boudoir photographer Christa Meola knows a thing or two about eliciting a response. She’s passionate about helping women “honor their bodies, emotions, choices and impulses through photography.” And her photographs are a conduit to authentic emotion. But those beautiful photographs begin with an honest, honoring process that she describes in detail HERE.

4. Learn the Power of Projection

Orange County portrait photographer Paul Gero is a true believer in the power of projection sales. In his post, he outlines his step-by-step strategy for projecting photographs for maximum impact – and maximum sales! Learn how you can distinguish yourself from your competition, create higher levels of service for your clients and “increase sales to make the work that you do both fun and profitable!”

5. Take the Next Steps

As you incorporate these portrait tips and tricks into your Spring shooting strategy, don’t forget to opt-in to Pictage’s Portrait Promo.  It’s super simple – just opt-in so Pictage can invite your clients to book a shoot with you!

Pinterest

Here at The Photo Life, we don’t believe in secret formulas or overnight success stories. We believe the only right way of doing business is the one that serves your unique clients and grows your business the old-fashioned way. Hard work and happy clients are your foundation for success. Different systems work for different studios, so the key is finding one that suits your clients and your business! That’s why we’re eager to bring you timely topics that spark debate. Voice your opinion by commenting below!

It’s the best thing since whiteboards in college dorms! It’s a breeding ground for copyright infringers!

Those strong statements sum up the debate currently raging like a wildfire among creative professionals. Two things are certain: neither Pinterest nor the debate about its value are going away. Just the opposite is true.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about Pinterest’s seemingly stratospheric social power. Nearly 1.5 million unique users visit Pinterest daily, spending an average of 15 minutes a day on the site. In January 2012, Pinterest drove greater traffic to websites than LinkedIn, Google Plus, Reddit, and Youtube — combined.

Why Creatives (Should) Care

Pinterest isn’t just a social network; it’s a creative ecosystem that’s sucking in consumers faster than a Black Friday sale! And not just any consumers. Women are the driving force behind Pinterest. And not just any women. Mothers are particularly passionate pinners. Fifty percent of Pinterest users have kids! That means Pinterest is a marketplace of ideas where mothers find inspiration that influences their household and personal buying behavior.

Marketers from big and small businesses alike are jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon, finding creative ways to get their products and services pinned to drive traffic, brand awareness and revenue. And it’s working!

Retailers like Nordstrom, Lands’ End and Etsy are adding Pinterest into their marketing mix. Michele Casper, PR Director for Lands’ End, confirmed that most pins link to products on the Land’s End website. “People get excited from the visual and then have the opportunity to purchase. It’s very engaging tool in that respect,” Casper remarked.

Meanwhile, Nordstrom took pinning upon themselves and created a board called ‘Holiday Sparkle.’ According to Social Media Manager Shauna Causey, Pinterest is “another way to engage with customers rather than marketing.”

So, what’s the big deal?

Why are some creatives charismatically calling Pinterest “potentially damaging to the photography industry?”

Some go as far as claiming that Pinterest is an enabler of illegal activity like Napster was in the late 1990s.

Acclaimed New York City photographer Christian Oth carefully composed his response in a post entitled, “The Wonderful World of Pinning and Infringement.” The full post is worth a read, and his decision to remove “Pin It” buttons from his website boils down to one principle: copyright.

“This is creating an entire network of photographers, designers, and other creatives who are seeing their work displayed without their knowledge or consent,” Oth said.

To be clear, Pinterest’s Terms of Service state:

By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services. 

And that statement raises some eyebrows. Many professional photographers’ primary concern with Pinterest’s Terms of Service stems from one simple word: SELL. According to the above statement, Pinterest can sell the content you upload to their website.

For that reason, Oth has decided to exclude Pinterest from his social media marketing strategy, stating that “until Pinterest makes changes in the favor of the artists on their website, I will not be participating as a member or be utilizing the Pin It option on my website.”

Is the sky falling?

Maybe not, but a lot of folks are having healthy debate about how to interpret Pinterest’s copyright conditions. Some are going as far as opting out of Pinterest altogether by adding a small piece of code to the head of any page on their site, which displays this message:

“This site doesn’t allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!”

Are All Photographers Boycotting Pinterest?

No way! As a matter of fact, some are embracing it. Wendy Roe, for example, sees distinct value in Pinterest as a part of her marketing strategy.

“Pinterest is a gold mine for photographers, especially wedding photographers, because brides-to-be are there, pinning images from their favorite websites to showcase ideas while categorizing their favorite wedding cakes, details, dress and even their ‘something blue’ for crying out loud!,” Roe says enthusiastically.

Byron Roe

Other photographers like Leanne Marie Golish have shared step-by-step tutorials showcasing how wedding photographers can use Pinterest. And many are actively – and adamantly – using it!

To Pin, or Not To Pin?

Every photographer should carefully consider their social media strategy, especially when it comes to freely sharing their copyrighted works. As Oth asks on his blog, ”when and where will all this end? If the internet itself has changed the very face of copyright, can we (photographers) really afford to object to all web-based facilities?”

And while photographers continue debating, consumers continue pinning. The irony is, the prettier the picture, the more it will get pinned.

We’re sold the dream. Being our own person. Owning our own lives. Maybe it’s the idea if you work hard, you’ll get there. Maybe it’s the idea that it’s a birthright for being who we are. Maybe it’s just a burning desire to get somewhere. But slice it how you like, one way or another, we’re always beholden to someone. If it’s not ‘the man,’ then it’s the planner who passes you the business, the client who posts the reviews, or the blog that features your images.

Forget independence. Forget freedom. Forget the notion that going for the gold means we’re a hop, skip, and a step away from strutting down easy street, owing nothing to no one. Because the question isn’t whether you own your life. The question is who you want to be beholden to.

My bet? Go with the client. I’m not saying to forget the partnerships, skip the magazines and blogs, and ignore the industry. But go with the client. They are not your burden, they are not your ticket. They are not obstacles to navigate or foes to outwit. They are the people who keep us alive. The ones who are willing to invest their hope in us on one of the most important days of their lives. To follow us, believe in us, and spread the word if we treat them right.

If that isn’t reason enough, consider this: buzz no longer works from the top down. The old economy is dead. That was a world of push and pull. You cast your net and reeled in the money. Spreading the word was hard, barriers were high, and attention was hard-earned, so those who received it were rewarded well. The numbers were king and reach was everything. No reach, no buzz. You could count the ways most people marketed their services on one hand, after all. The Yellow Pages. Remember those? They actually used to be important. The free paper in the rack at the grocery store? Classifieds? Ads in magazines? Maybe a flyer or a postcard? Those who controlled the media controlled everything.

Now we live in a seek and share world. The dam broke, and we are awash in information. We are inundated and overburdened, and what we want is context and relevance. And we find that in other people. Through reviews. Word of mouth. Social media. Businesses that get it take it to the people, creating remarkable experiences that forge followings and encourage sharing. Clients will speak for us. And new ones will ferret us out. Enable your client. Put them first. Those who do will succeed. Those who don’t will be forgotten. Quality rules. Quantity is dead. Everyone is a broadcaster and a consumer. The middle is gone. The king is dead.

In reality, it’s not that we’re beholden. It’s that we’re connected. And we always have been, but now those connections are supercharged, so it’s no longer a what’s-in-it-for-me world. It’s a what-can-I-do-for-you world! So, if you’re staring at walls without the bookings you need and the loyalty you want, put your faith in clients. Don’t think about how you can improve your own life. Think about how you can improve theirs.

• Care for them.
• Think about every little thing that matters to them. The opportunities are endless.
• Do it in earnest. Not just through a knickknack here or an email there.
• Make what you do specific to them. Base it on what you know and what they’ve asked about.
• Write out their names, write out their needs, and keep that list around you.
• Set aside time to specifically look for opportunities to help.
• Make yourself valuable, and people will value you.

And if this sounds scary, remember this: for far longer than the world we know today has existed, we have relied on others to help us. But way back when, it wasn’t called business. It was called survival. People helped people. Not because it made our businesses stable, our bank accounts large, or our fame lasting. We did it, because that is what people do. We are wired for it. After all, we all have to believe in something. Why not one another?

About Spencer Lum

Spencer is a storyteller with an indelible belief in the raw humanity of weddings. 

With 10 years of experience running Brooklyn-based 5 West Studios, he has developed a style that combines influences from fine art and photojournalism. He has also enjoyed time as a designer, creative director, and filmmaker. 

Spencer is the founder of the industry blog, Ground Glass, as well as a doting husband and father of two beautiful children in Brooklyn, NY. 

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.pictage.com/blog/authors/jared-platt-authors-2.

Let me take you back a few years. Just ten years ago, we were transitioning from film to digital and twenty years ago, digital was still very Buck Rodgers and while it was a cool idea, everyone said that nothing would replace film. So, twenty years ago, I was learning the intricacies of film exposure. Back then, we talked a lot about the Zone System and because there was no instant feedback on the back of our cameras, we all carried around an incident light meter and we double and triple checked our exposures because, while negative film had a lot of latitude, if we underexposed that film, we had nothing!

Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. That was the mantra. You had to protect those shadows with your very life, because underexposed shadows gave you clear film and clear film equaled flat black with no detail…i.e. nothing! And for those of use shooting weddings, that was a very frightening prospect. The white dress could fool any camera meter into underexposing the shot and 50% of the people in the shot were wearing black tuxes.

Learning to correctly expose film with consistency required a sort of “boot camp” mentality. Mentors and instructors drilled us on taking readings and making exposure computations time and time again, which gave us confidence in our ability to see and read light and know the exposure of each tone within the frame. Then digital came along and a whole new generation of photographers entered the scene. Many may never have held an incident light meter. Many have never spot metered a tux or a dress. Most simply guess the exposure and look on the LCD screen and adjust! The most technical lesson digital photographers learn today is how to read a histogram after the shot. And if you have not learned that lesson, then we really have entered a brave new world.

Just because we entered the digital age and no longer blindly shoot latent images on gelatin does not mean that we can dismiss exposure. There are many exposure lessons in digital that are still critical to the final quality of our images. For instance, now, rather than protecting the shadow during the exposure, we must protect the highlight. With film, we could burn through the silver buildup on a negative and still get some detail out of an over exposed highlight, but once a highlight has reached an even R255 G255 B255 level in a digital image, you effectively have clear film! That means no detail, which will result in a flat white paper print…i.e. nothing! And if this is a wedding dress, you’ll have quite a disappointing image!

In the process of protecting the highlight (a dress or a cloud) in a shot, the exposure ends up darker than you would like. And if you are a “guess and cheat” shooter, you’ll invariably increase the exposure in the camera to get a bright, pleasing image on the LCD screen. The result? An image that feels nice on the camera screen, but falls apart when it is printed. I have heard it so many times, when discussing RAW vs. JPG shooting, “I just expose correctly in the camera!” But what photographers fail to recognize is that exposing correctly in the camera does not mean that the image will look perfect in the camera. Ansel Adams called it pre-vissualization: the act of seeing the final print from the point of the exposure. Often that meant he had to overexpose the negative and then under develop it, in order to get the perfect print. Don’t ever think your image must look perfectly exposed in camera. While that works in controlled lighting photo shoots, it is not the case with most documentary and available light images. Perfect exposures most often do not look great in camera because the photographer has pre-vissualized the final image from the point of capture and protected the highlights by under exposing the mid-tones.

In the example above, I am shooting without fill flash in open shade. The sun is blasting the grass and of course there’s sky and mountains to contend with as well. I underexposed the shot by a stop and a half to control the exposure on the grass and in the sky. This makes the subject too dark, but that’s why we develop for the shadows in Lightroom. If I had shot this image to look perfect in-camera, the girl would look great, but the grass and sky would be blown out. Could you live with a blown out sky? Maybe, but blown out grass is unacceptable. But because I exposed to protect the highlights and developed to perfect the shadows, I have the best of both worlds.

When you encounter an uncontrolled lighting situation with a wide dynamic range, you can still get a great deal of exposure latitude by exposing for the highlights and developing for the shadows. The trick is to push the exposure as bright as possible without blowing out the brightest IMPORTANT highlight. Experience will tell you how much exposure clipping can be recovered in a RAW exposure. The resulting exposure will often feel a stop or so underexposed in the camera, but when the RAW image is brought into post-production, the shadows and mid-tones can be brightened significantly to bring the exposure back up to that ideal look you envisioned in the camera. It is no different than what we did on film. We exposed for shadows and developed and printed for highlights. We are just reversing the rules when it comes to digital.

This does not mean that you can severely underexpose without consequence in digital anymore than you could severely overexpose without failure in film. But with experience and wisdom, you will come to know how far you can push the limits of your exposures in the highlights and the shadows. At this time, digital has far less exposure latitude than film, so exposure is even more critical in digital than it was with negative film. Learning exposure is critical to the success of your images. Do you know what your histogram should look like? Do you know how far you can push a highlight before it is unrecoverable? Do you know what type of exposure yields the greatest number of tones? Can you read your exposure meter and take a photograph without reviewing the LCD screen to make sure you exposed it correctly? If not, it is time to learn.

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.

“Most have lists for their groceries. Few have lists for their lives” – Robin Sharma

In our hectic world, goals are often overlooked. Our goals – the things we want and work hard for every day of our lives. We all have them in some way shape or form, but are we really utilizing the power of goals?

Having done this when I transitioned into photography fulltime, I am a firm believer that successful goal-setting moves your life forward in ways you might find hard to believe.

So what’s the secret to successful goal setting?

First, you have to divide your goals into all the categories of your life, not just one broad “life” category.  Next, you have to actually write them down! Putting them in writing is an essential part of this process.

Here’s how I break mine down:

1. Personal goals: What are my fitness goals this year?  How about the guitar lessons I’ve always wanted to take? Or learning Spanish?
2. People goals: How can I improve my relationships with people overall? Who do I wish to improve my communication with? Who do I want to meet and why?
3. Photo goals: How many shoots do I ideally want this year; which kinds; where? What’s my “dream shoot” this year? Photo goals can be broken down further into more categories and goals.
4. Play goals: In my time off, what do I want to do? Where do I want to travel this year, whether it’s related to a shoot or not? What play goals have I been putting off year after year?
5. Prosperity goals: What are my financial goals? What will it really take to make me feel “comfortable,” and how will I achieve that?  What do I need to save each month in order to get that ___?

Here’s what each goal must have:

1. Specificity
2. Timeframe
3. Action steps
4. Benefit(s)

Lets run through a few simple examples:

Play goal: Vacation.

Specificity: Kaua’i, Hawaii.

Timeframe: Dec 2012.

Action steps: save $2500 or more, earmarked just for vacation; block out a week no later than May 2012; book by end of June 2012.

Benefit: Time off to relax and reflect on a year of hard work. Vacation soothes the soul and gives me something to look forward to.

Photo goal: Make more vendor contacts.

Specificity: 6 new strong vendor contacts.

Timeframe: wedding season 2012.

Action steps: Meet a new vendor on every job and contact them the week following the wedding. Try to maintain some kind of relationship with all of these contacts from a season of shooting. My hope is that 6 stick and benefit me in future wedding seasons.

Benefit: More work out there, more leads, more brides, more revenue!

The great thing about these goals is that they feed into one another. For example, consider the goal above, “Make more vendor contacts.” As you can imagine, more vendors yields more brides, which yields more revenue, which increases the likeliness of saving $2500 for vacation.

Something important to note: the whole idea of goal setting is to work toward something specific and not give up until you’ve achieved it, regardless of how long it takes! This isn’t a race. Go at your own pace; you aren’t competing with anyone else.

Things to remember when setting and achieving goals:

1. It’s an ongoing process. It’s not “set it and forget it!”
2. Goals must be updated and reviewed constantly.
3. Achieving one goal means you set a new goal, leading you to greater successes.
4. Once you realize that you are achieving your goals, the process of goal setting will impact your entire life.

When I first started setting goals, I worked with a life coach. This helped me maintain accountability for the things I set out to accomplish.  Ultimately, it was up to me to accomplish them, but having someone monitoring and teaching me was a great benefit. You don’t necessarily need a professional coach. Consider pairing up with a friend or meeting with a small group to review your collective goals. This helps you stay on track and accountable.

As a freelance artist, it’s easy to feel and say we want to do things in our career and in our lives. But speaking about them or thinking about them only gets us so far. We must name them in writing in order to truly bring them to life. At the very least, the sheer exercise of identifying these goals will draw us closer to achieving them.

About Brian Friedman

New York-based photographer Brian Friedman started out as a road manager for the legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes. But it was during Haynes’ 20-city tour, that Brian began photographing Roy and discovered his passion for image making that put him on a road to a new career.  Since then, he has sharpened his skills and his eye to become recognized as a photographer of choice by noted entertainment personalities, politicians, corporate leaders, event planners and of course, brides and grooms from all over the world.

There’s a lot expertise within the Pictage community, and it’s itching to be shared. We’re kicking off a series of how-to posts written by seasoned photographers. The intention is to provide tips to those of you who’d like to develop a particular skill, or refresh some rusty, long-forgotten one. Some of the topics may seem basic. Some may seem very advanced. Everyone’s had a different journey! This conversation is also happening on the Pictage Forums, where you can review and discuss everyone’s work!”

The first How-To post was shared by Frank Simon. Frank has been shooting professionally for over 37 years and taught commercial photography for eight years at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. Although Frank recognizes that, in his words, “quite a few of you can shoot circles around me,” he humbly (and bravely) agreed to share the first article in this series. Complete with homework at the end!

Lighting Techniques for Romantic Portraits

I chose this image because it’s a cross between commercial shooting and the romantic portraiture that wedding and portrait clients may want. The image was originally shot for a make-up campaign, but I think you’ll agree it could just as easily be a portrait of a bride.

Before I explain the shot, take a moment and study it. Look at the shadows, the highlights and the mid-tones. As I’m sure a lot of the long-time shooters here will agree, you can learn a lot about an image just from taking the time to see it rather than just looking at it. Ask yourself some key questions: How many light sources were used? What can you tell about the source(s)? Were they soft sources such as soft boxes? Or, were they a hard source, like a bare head? Was it shot in studio, or on location? Sounds obvious, but you would be surprised sometimes.

Okay, time’s up! Let’s tear it down and see how this shot was created.

If you decided it was shot with a single light source, you’re right. The specular highlight (i.e. the bright pinpoint) in the eye is a good way to determine this. If you decided that the light source was on the hard side, and not a soft box, you’re right. The shadows are too harsh for a soft box, and the gradation between the mid-tones and the shadows is a bit too hard for the light to have come from a soft box. Notice the clean line of the shadow of her chin on her neck and the hard shadow by her nose and under her lip. The light source was an eight inch, silver reflector with a grid attached. The silver gives the light a look that is harder than a white reflector would. The grid focuses the light, keeping it more linear than it would be if the reflector was used alone.

Now, here’s something that makes a huge difference in my opinion. There’s a huge difference between the quality of light and the quantity of light. Let me explain…

The Sweet Spot

When I was teaching students, one thing that made me crazy was watching them move lights back and forth to adjust exposure. There’s a “sweet spot” when placing lights. Place them too close to the subject and the mid-tones and highlights lose depth. Place them too far away and the light gets muddy and you lose contrast. There’s a spot for every image where the light “works.”  The highlights pop, the transition between mid-tones and shadows is exactly what you want, and the shadows aren’t lost.

I move my light back and forth, in and out, until I see the light doing exactly what I want it to do. And that’s where my light stays. I adjust exposure by turning the power up or down – so I am adjusting the quantity of light, not the quality (or position) of the light.

Seeing the Edge of the Light

For this particular shot I also paid close attention to where the edge of the light fell. Notice the light doesn’t cover her entire forehead, only part of it. Notice her face is, perhaps, a half stop brighter than her body. It’s all intentional. Once I had the light in place, we fired off a few dozen frames with her head in this exact position. If she had turned her head, my lighting would have fallen apart.

Depth of Field

What else about this shot was intentional? The depth of field. I wanted her face sharp and the focus to fall off by the time it reached her ear. The lighting on the background; I put a gobo just out of the shot to block part of the light falling on the background, making the shadow that darkens the top left corner of the shot.

A Shot that’s Created, not Captured

The fallen hair on the left was intentional, I didn’t want the shot to look too perfectly styled. The model is wearing a tube top so clothing didn’t interfere with her face. All of these little things add up to a shot that’s created instead of captured. There’s a great difference between creating an image and capturing one. Having been a commercial shooter most of my career, I’m more comfortable creating images. I can capture an image, when I’m lucky. But it’s not something I do that well. I think capturing is an entirely different side of the art and I really admire shooters who can think that quickly.

Post production

Obviously, I converted it to B&W and warmed it up with a bit of yellow and magenta. I also softened it with a technique I’ll get into in another one of these adventures.

Your Two Challenges

1) Find a striking romantic portrait shot, and post the link in the comments section below and tell us everything you can about the light sources. How many? Where were they? What kind of lighting were they?

2) Using what you’ve determined about the lighting set-up, recreate it and post your interpretation *HERE.*

*If you aren’t already a Pictage member and want to connect with thousands of other smart photographers on our community forums, just click HERE for a free trial.*

Frank Simon

I’ve spent over twenty years shooting commercial and fashion photography. My client list has included American Express, CNA Insurance, Westcor, Farnam Companies, Hypercom, Best Western, Western National Insurance, Chicago Apparel Center, America West Airlines, Armour Dial Corp., dozens of magazines and retailers around the world, and more. My fashion work has appeared in Vogue, Bride, Modern Bride, W, WWD, and many more magazines worldwide. Favorite thing to shoot? People. Second favorite? Product and architecture. Third favorite? Everything else. I’ve shot pretty much everything imaginable from 60′ underwater to the top of snow covered mountains. It’s a great life. I love it.
I’m based in Greensboro, NC right now, but I’ll travel anywhere there’s light. Actually, if there isn’t any light, no worries. I’ll bring my own…