What Do I Shoot In The Wedding Off Season?

Everyone photographer goes through a lull or off season especially in the wedding photography business. Typically spring and summer are the peak times for wedding photographers and fall starts the slow down into "dead" winter (as I like to call it). During these times photographers get the equivalent of writers block and the creativity just doesn't seem to be there. Try some of these ideas during your down time...

So, what do you shoot during off season?

• Fun, Themed Portfolio Stuff - pick a theme and shoot as many pictures as you can using that theme. Even though this won't directly make you any money, it will boost your portfolio and keep the creativity churning. Some examples of cool themes are: pick a color, something dirty, shiny things, old people, people that work in restaurants, people that work in gas stations, flowers, etc.
• Shoot business head shots - shoot head shots for business people that need profile pictures for their new found social media sites.
• Shoot kid portraits - get the word passed around your local church or new mothers at work that you'll give them a discount on a kid session at the local botanical gardens.

Hopefully these ideas will give you a boost this fall. Don't let the seasons get you down! Keep the creativity up!

How To Be A Good Subject of A Photo Shoot

What are some things that your subjects have done or worn that have made you cringe?

Yesterday I had the chance to have the tables turned on me as I posed with my beautiful fiance for our new engagement photos that our photographer Shannon (of Shannon Ludlum Photography) shot. She had some great ideas and I'm sure that they will come out great, but I was having a hard time making myself not think about framing and focus and location details, but she did a great job of putting us at ease and having fun so she could get some great photos for us.

As a portrait and wedding photographer you WILL run into bad colors / clothing or just general ignorance on the part of your client, so I'm going to help you prepare for how to deal with unruly clothing or behavior from your subject and if you are ever the subject you can more easily show or tell your subjects how to BEHAVE . First I'll give you what you should do as a photographer and then what to expect if you are the subject.

The behavior isn't on purpose

... so don't blame the subject. If anything, blame yourself for not telling your client about these rules before hand. Most wedding couples or solo portraits have not had much camera face time if any at all, so be prepared to give detailed instructions or have a good "beside manner" (as if you were a doctor) and keep your subjects smiling, laughing and in a good mood in general.

If you are the subject: remember that you are not expected to read the photographer's mind or be a professional model, just take direction and don't be stubborn. Your photographer knows how to make you look good and is putting you and posing you in the best way to make sure you stay that way.

Put your subject at ease

This is a tricky technique and is easier for some photographers than others. Basically you chit chat with them and develop a rapport with them. Make jokes (have some jokes pre-planned) get them to be playful with each other. This includes tickles and neck kisses ;-)

If you are the subject: don't be nervous. Be yourself and just have fun. Breathe. Stop worrying how the pictures will come out and let your photographer do their job.

What not to wear

You may have seen a book or TV show about this. As a photographer you know that there are certain colors and styles of clothing that look horrible in photographs. Be sure to let your clients know ahead of time "what not to wear" to their photo shoot. Don't assume that they've read up on it. So here are some colors that are not so great on film:

• Bright Red (or any red) - red bleeds on film. Digital sensors handle it a little better but its usually too much contrast for the human eye and your eye bleeds the color in your brain. STAY AWAY!
• Bright or fluorescent yellows, lime greens, etc. - The 80's called... they want their clothes back
  
• Pure White - white is a great contrasting color but most digital meters have a hard time reading the correct exposure and thus under or over exposes the white making it blow out and losing the detail of any folds or patterns in the material. Tell your clients to stay away from pure white unless you plan on doing some time consuming hand metering every other shot.
• Large stripes, bold designs, polka dots - while not a problem for sensors, stripes and polka dots either make people look fatter than normal or skinnier than normal. It is also distracting to the viewer, where you want the focus to be on the face of your subject, not the beer gut.
• Funny print shirts - or any interesting artistic designs. Tell them leave their hilarious Borat t-shirt at home. Because that's all that a viewer will notice and laugh at when looking at the picture
• Trendy / Hot /Goofy designs - tell your clients to keep it more traditional and subdued. Not that they shouldn't wear something striking or vibrant, but they need wear something that won't distract from their faces and eyes.
• Short sleeves / tank tops / shorts - if you're not a professional model with a perfect body, stay with pants/jeans and slightly loose fitting short or long sleeve shirts/tops. Lots of skin flopping around isn't attractive.
  

Basically some great colors would be:

• medium to dark greens
• purples
• khaki
• blues
• browns
• black
• creme whites

I'm not going to pretend to know everything about women's fashion (maybe some of the ladies could share some good options for clothing in the comments section?) but I'll give some advice for guy's clothing.

• Blue Jeans: good fitting but not too loose or too tight (no skinny jeans)
• Black button down shirts, long sleeve
• Nice plain polo (no logos) in the above colors (if you have decent looking arms)
• Casual but modern suit coat (not buttoned)

DO NOT wear:

• "Urban Wear" - sagging, big print shirts, poorly made clothes
• Camouflage - if you are a real soldier, wear your dress uniform for pics.
• weird ties - bolos, Sponge Bob, Tabasco
• popped collar polos or layered polos - save that for the frat party

The final details that most people don't think about till the last minute are:

• Hair - bring some hair gel or hairspray and a comb or brush with you to the shoot.
• Makeup - obviously for the ladies but some concealer (for blemishes or zits) or translucent powder will do wonders for the guys as well. The powder keeps the shine off your face and forehead. (just ask your wife/girlfriend to borrow some). Its done in Hollywood and on TV all the time guys, don't get too weird about this.

So, remind (or even print out this handy list for) your clients before their photo shoot and you'll have a great time and everyone will look hot!

Lightroom Plug-Ins for Flickr and Facebook

For those of you using Adobe Lightroom, I am going to keeping you up to date on the inside workings of Lightroom and showing you how to use some of the more powerful features of the coolest photo editing software out there.

First of all if you are a wedding photographer and you don't have Lightroom. You can buy it here from Amazon:



Once you already have Lightroom, try these great plug-ins created by Jeffrey Friedl. These are available as a free download from his blog:

• Jeffrey’s “Export to Flickr” Lightroom Plugin -This is the only Flickr upload plug-in to get for Lightroom. It makes everything super simple and gives you tons of options as to your meta data and size and resolution. You can also select which album you want to upload to.
• Jeffrey’s “Export to Facebook” Lightroom Plugin - same great features as the Flickr plug-in but compresses and resizes just for Facebook and also gives you the option to select which album you want to upload to.

Both of these are free to download and use but after a few weeks, if you don't "donate" the batch usablity is shortend to 10 photos or less at a time. Still good enough for most of us out there who aren't uploading massive shooting projects to Facebook. But I would definitely suggest donating to Jeff's cause. He spent alot of time working on these plug-ins and they are a huge resource to all Lightroom users.

On to the installation...

1. download the plug-in
2. unzip the plug-in
3. move the plug-in folder to your Lightroom Plug-In directory
4. Open Lightroom and go to File -> Plug-In Manager
5. Click on the Add button
6. Find the Plug-in directory where you saved the unzipped Plug-in and select it.
7. The plug-in should install itself
8. The first time you install it it will ask you to verify and authenticate with the service you are using. So, you will have to put in your password.
9. after that, you will be able to use the plug-in in your Export feature. Be sure to click on the top menu bar to select which plug in you want to use or edit.

Next, Cool Develop Presets for Lightroom...

Networking With Other Wedding Freelancers

A big part of getting new business when you are first starting out as a wedding photographer, or really any freelance business person, is to network with other freelancers in your circle of influence. The easiest way to do this is to talk to the other "work" at the next wedding you shoot and be sure to have some business cards on hand to pass out (don't be stingy!). Some good candidates for wedding networking are going to be freelancers or businesses that you can "trade out" services for:

• Cake makers / bakers - These guys/gals need you! They need professional photos of their cakes and baked goodies for their portfolios. Offer to take some free high resolution, well lit shots of their next wedding cake for free as an incentive for their good word to the next bride or MOB/FOB about how AMAZING your wedding photography is. This is a win-win because you can use these shots for your portfolio as well as getting some great word of mouth recommendations.
• Caterers - same as cake people, caterers have portfolios that usually look like crap and would love to have some pro photos done of their "spreads".
• Flower Shops / Arrangers - these people work with their bride's artistic and creative side and will be willing to suggest you if your style is compatible with the bride's flower and color scheme.
• Wedding planners - getting in with a few high profile wedding planners is HUGE. You will always be booked up, because these people make all the important decisions for the wedding that the parents or couple don't want to make. The wedding planner will have a huge influence on these type of weddings and if you're really that good, the planner will always suggest you. Examples of trade-outs with a planner can be things like professional head shots for their public image and wide shots of the final put together reception hall or auditorium for their portfolios.
• Musicians - do a few artsy shots of the band next time and forward them on to the leader with a hopeful note that they would recommend you or link to your pictures on the band's website.
• Officiants / Pastors - Don't ever tick off a pastor. Do the opposite. Make sure the pastor's wishes are followed to the T and if you have time offer to do a free head shot or two and some great look exterior shots of the church for the church's website with a nicely worded request for a link to you. The trick is to get your name floating around and be the first choice in the pastor's head when he thinks of "photographer".
  

Anytime you talk with another wedding business person or freelancer, hand them at least 2 business cards and tell them to feel free to pass the others along to potential clients. Soon you'll have clients calling like crazy to meet with you. Put your name out whenever and wherever you can!

Please Take A Brochure

Another piece of the marketing puzzle for your wedding photography business should be a professional looking brochure. A brochure will help those clients that maybe don't have access to your online portfolio or older clients (MOBs and FOBs) who may see a brochure as an indication that you are an established photographer with a marketing plan behind you.

Basically a brochure is a glorified business card, but it can be so much more:

• a mini portfolio
• mission statement / who you are
• services you provide
• the who, why, how of your services
• a call to action
• provide helpful hints

A call to action is one of the most important things to include in your brochure. A call to action is a statement that nudges your potential clients to become actual clients. For example:

Call or email me today to meet with me and see my portfolio!

Take a few minutes to complete and send in this questionnaire about your preferences and we'll send you a coupon for 20% off!

Send $5.00 to start your trial of my new marketing plan! Cancel anytime!

Offering incentives (like the second CTA) can often prompt "fence sitters" by creating something of value they can get for free.

Your brochure doesn't have to be just a standard tri-fold layout. It can be any shape or size. Be creative! The more creative you are, the more your brochure will stand out!

I create my own brochures but there are many online retailers and local print shops that will make them for you very cheaply.

Steps to making your own brochure:

1. read up and be familiar with basic graphic design for brochures
2. use a good graphic design program like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
3. use a template to make sure your measurements are correct as to where to the folds go
4. include your business' name on the front flap and whenever possible on the inside
5. include a "mission statement" or a description of your services to your potential clients
6. don't get too cluttered or busy (see #1)
7. remember you have to design the inside and outside. They are both opposite each other.
   
8. take to Kinkos or other photocopy store and get them to do one double-sided test print to make sure both sides will match up.
9. when everything is perfect print out a good 50-100 so you won't have to go through all this hassle again later
10. crop and chop if needed, then carefully fold at your fold lines
11. hand them out and watch people get impressed!

So, please... make a brochure!

(graphic by Seattle Municipal Archives from Flickr)