Magic Words

I know I don't post on here often but here is a little nugget for today.  I often read this blog as she is a photographer and psychologist.  I think her words from today are beneficial for many circumstances!

You can access it here.

The Red Wall

As I'm editing wedding photos, I just came across one simple tip.  Try not to have someone facing a red wall/train/shirt...it causes their face to be red.  Yes, you can edit it out but it's a lot easier to just not deal with it.  They can have their back to it no problem, it's when they are facing it as you can see in Derek's face on the left.  The orange/red train makes his face a lot more red than it would be naturally. 

                               {Left side: unedited}                                            {Right side: edited out red face}

Business Email Address

My one piece of advice is to make sure your business email isn't tied to your internet provider in case you want to change it one day down the line!  Not sure what we were thinking but the whole time we have been tied to Shaw for our email address and although we can forward it to another account, there is a monthly fee.  All of our client base, business cards etc have our shaw email and home phone.  Knowing what we know now, we would've chosen a different email address (hotmail, gmail, anything!).  Just something to think about.

Nine Ways To Keep Photography Fun

I find with any job, things can get a bit monotonous.  It's hard to stay excited about something that you do every day.  Yes, you might be photographing a new family but it's still a family.  With the same combos.  Look at me, look at each other, group hug, swing baby in the middle, walk towards me... Maybe you've been to a location about one hundred times.  Let's go to the barn, now the pond, now the field....

 

What are eight ways to keep photography interesting and fun?

1.  New locations.  This is trickier because you may not know the light there but just check it out during a time that you would actually shoot to see where there is good back lighting, shade, fun aspects of that location etc.

2.  Say `no' to sessions that you know are not your thing.  At the beginning we said `yes' to everything/everyone.  We were still trying to figure out what our niche was and what we loved.  Now I know I'm not into certain types of sessions and won't do them anymore.  They end up being more work than fun and I don't want to dread what I do.  One thing that I have phased out is extended family sessions.  Although they can be great, I find they are not my thing and I had my last one this week.  I wish I had done this much earlier!

3.  Try new things.   I am completely booked for the year but a friend approached me about doing just a mini session of breastfeeding photos for her as this is likely her last child.  Different and unique and new.  Perfect.  I'll do it!

4.  Short and sweet.  So, I don't know if this is a good idea business wise but it's been good for me mentally.  I have started offering mini family sessions.  Twenty minutes.  It prevents me from dragging out a session and usually the kids are happiest for that amount of time.  The downfall is that it generally goes a bit longer than it's supposed to.  It is less money but it's also less work :)  For me right now, it's been good.  If I were to recommend something here, I would say to charge more than I did.  If a full session is $250 for an hour, I'd say $175 for a mini.

5.  Know your limits, stay within it :)  Although I could be working twice as much I've learned to say no.  One session per week is a good amount for my family/life balance right now.   If Gary is home, I sometimes take on more and that has worked well.  

6.  Take a break!  For the past two years, I have taken one full month off.  True, there are still emails to answer but it has been good for me to help me look forward to getting back at it.

7. Put a limit on your volunteering or change the way you volunteer.  We are part of two communities that require a lot of volunteering.  We have contributed many hours to each with our photography skills.  We are now stepping back from several of these tasks so that we can contribute in other ways.  Sometimes it's nice to give in a way that isn't your job you know?  

8. Don't compare.  Whether you mean to or not, there are a lot things out there that can make you feel like you suck at your job.  Following other photographers on facebook. Pinterest.  Overall, these sites are good but you need to be careful.  Moderation is key.  Be inspired but don't compare.

9.  Be YOU: Too often I ask the client exactly what they are looking for and focus on that.  I think that sometimes they might not be aware of the possibilities and I should just do my thing (along with their suggestions).  My favourite weddings are when the couple says, `We trust you, we love your work, do YOUR thing!'. 

I'm sure I missed a few things.  Do you have anything else to add?

Making the Switch

Yikes, 5 months since my last post?  Must've been busy with 2 other blogs and 3 kids:)

I have recently connected with a few women who have decided to start a photography business.  I think it's fantastic.  You would think that it was such a super saturated market but it's not that bad.  So many more families are hiring photographers for their family, maternity and newborn photos.  Here are a few things I would suggest when moving from the `shooting for fun' to `starting a business' stage.  I would've done more of this before actually starting our business.

This does not include the actual setting up of the business which can be found here.

1.  Know your camera.   Be able to shoot confidently in AV or M.  This means you are confident changing your aperture, ISO and/or shutter speed.

2.  Practice, practice, practice.  Shoot every day.  Edit your favourite photos of the day.  If you are not motivated to do this, then, um, maybe you shouldn't be a photographer:)   You need the passion and love for it or you will burn out quickly.
  
3.  Talk to a professional photographer that you know.  Ask for feedback on your website or your work.  Don't bug them too much but a couple of questions is totally acceptable:)

4.  Shoot in RAW and have a good editing program to edit it.  I love Lightroom.  Shooting in RAW is the greatest switch we ever made.  You have so much control over your white balance and exposure.
 
5.  Don't spend too much money/time on getting props.  Spend your time practising and working in different light/locations/situations.  Over time you will see what props would actually be useful.   We do mostly wedding and family photography so why would I want to continue to invest in newborn photography if I only have 5 newborn sessions a year?  Although, I recently had a baby girl so we may just have a few more baby girl props that I find pretty adorable!!

6.  Have someone to bounce ideas off of.  Thankfully, my husband Gary is my photography partner.  Therefore, we discuss almost every purchase before we make it.  Don't make any impulsive decisions in regards to your business name, purchases, doing sessions you don't feel confident about or interested in etc.

7.  Make sure clients have seen your work so they know what they are getting.  When we started we were not great.  However, people could see what our work was like and we charged accordingly.

I'm sure there are a few things I have forgotten but these are just a few that come to mind.

Get out there and take some pictures.  In RAW.  And edit them.  And post them.

Love, Louise

Keeping Your Laptop Cool

I do 75% of my editing in Lightroom. It can get pretty slow if you don't have a lot of space or if your fan can't keep up in this hot weather (my computer even shut down a few times in the heat while editing away). After having the fan cleaned, I bought this Notebook Cooler that goes under the laptop and it has made such a difference! It was just $30 US and with shipping came to about $50. Totally worth it! The fan even cools me as I'm working:)

10 Tips For Photographing Your Newborn

I will say right away that I am not a newborn photography expert. I generally do more lifestyle type photos with mom and dad interacting with the baby. Let's say you don't want to hire someone for a newborn session but you still want some good photos of your baby, here are just a few simple tips to use in your own in your home:

1. You do not need any fancy studio lights or flashes. I just had her lying on a couch in front of our big living room window.

2. Use blankets as a backdrop that are lighter or neutral in colour. If you use brighter colours, it really can make the skin tone a lot more difficult to edit. Babies are often really pink or yellow or orange as it is:) Have the blanket go up over the couch or if on another surface, have it pinned to a couple of chairs behind the baby. You don't want anything other than the blanket as the backdrop or it's distracting.

3. Make sure baby is safe. This it THE most important thing. When you see shots of babies hanging from branches or having their heads rested in their hands, there is some photoshop going on. Hands are supporting the baby. Do not attempt anything unsafe. Ever. I don't do these shots because I'm not trained in them. Never leave baby unattended. Even a baby that has never rolled before, can roll at that moment.

4. The best time to do photos is after the baby has had a good feed. If you try to do it while they are still hungry, you'll get a lot of funny faces and their hands in their mouth:)

5. To keep baby happy, have the room nice and warm (crank the heaters!) and white noise is always good too.

6. Tuck in hands and feet. When they are splayed everywhere, the baby looks really uncomfortable. It's good to hold their body all nice and tucked in with a blanket and wait for the baby to get comfortable in that pose and then slowly remove the blanket. It takes patience!! Put hands under the head to hold it up off of the blanket.

7. If you have toddlers running around, want that `perfect' newborn shot, want to be in the shot, or are too exhausted to even think of taking photos, you can always hire someone too!

8. You can have them naked (beware and be prepared for a mess!) or use a diaper cover. Cloth diapers can be fine but I think that the look of a disposable diaper takes away from the photo.

9. The best time to do newborn photos would be in the first 10 days or so. The photos above were done on day 4.

10. Take photos. No matter what they look like, just take them. They are only little once and they grow so, so quickly. You don't want to forget their newborn hair, their hands, their feet etc. My baby is already 1 week old and I feel like she's getting too big already:)