It totally knocked me upside the head, and before I could finish my little plastic cup of wine, I had scheduled The Youngrens first business retreat for that very next Tuesday. What can I say? I'm efficient. I'm certain that's why Jeff married me.

So Jeff, Gracie and I sat down with our cups of tea, yellow legal pads, sharpened pencils and our shiny new iPad to call to order the first board retreat for The Youngrens, Inc., and then realized we had absolutely nothing to talk about - particularly Gracie, but you know, she's a cat. I mean, yes, we had TONS of to-dos on our business development project lists, but we weren't prepared whatsoever to tackle the topics at hand.

It wasn't until we dropped in on our photographer friends one Sunday afternoon that the ideas began to flow. Between sips of lemonade we shared our visions, and with each round of bocce ball a new idea came into focus. We left that afternoon with our tummies full of food and our internal legal pads filled to the brim with concrete feedback on our hair-brained business ideas.

And I think that's what retreats are all about, right? Getting together with like-minded colleagues and taking a calculated and scheduled break to flesh out a brand concept, reflect on visions, and build a marketing plan. It's just smart and essential business for us too-busy-to-think self-employed peeps.

So where will we be retreating this year?

The Mexican Riviera - Boo (to the) yeah.

The Photog Retreat is a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines this February 26th - March 5th. The Photog Retreat was created for this very reason - to give photographers a chance to learn and grow with a ton of education opportunities, but do it in a relaxing, intimate vacation environment with small number of attendees. And when they asked if Jeff and I would be willing to add our names to the list of top notch industry educators, I had to first pick my jaw up off the floor, stop sweating profusely, and somehow stammer out a "Are you sure you're talking to the right people?"

This is going to be an amazing time folks. With seven days on a cruise ship with 10 incredible speakers (Mike Larson, The Bui Brothers, Zach and Jody Gray, Shaun Austin, Kevin Swan, The Youngrens, and others) this is a killer opportunity to cozy up to a margarita, a plate of nachos and some pretty amazing individuals.

And even though this isn't an official Holiday Giveaway post, we do have a special offer for you guys. For anyone that registers for The Photog Retreat in the next 30 days (because I know you're making your 2011 plans now right? You should be), if you mention The Youngrens at registration, Jeff and I will sit down for a one-on-one mentor session at the beginning of the cruise to dig into your business, your goals, your strengths, and your weaknesses. Just think of us as your personal Activities Directors for the educational cruise experience. Love it!

We Click Retreats

Want to know how other photography couples resolve business conflicts? Or balance time with the kids? We Click Retreats are the brainchild of Matt and Enna Grazier, a husband and wife photography team out of New Hampshire, and these two put into focus what Jeff and I have always wanted to do - grab two or three good friends in the photography industry and take a retreat together.

The focus of these retreats are less about education and more about connection, so if you're looking to connect deeply with a handful of other photographers that are in the same stages of life and business, then this is right up your alley.  Anyone can do it, and it's up to you to make it happen. Matt and Enna have been incredibly open and gracious about sharing their trial and error experiences with these retreats, and they have put together a Recipe for a Retreat document that you can download and use to form your very own We Click Retreat. Ours is in the works as we speak...

PartnerCon and PUGs

PartnerCon is a yearly must-do for us. It's small, it's intimate, it's challenging, but it's not relaxing! Ha! I've written a ton about it already, so check out these other posts on PartnerCon.

If you're looking to network and build relationships with photographers in your area, then check out your local PUG. It's the perfect place to get educated and meet great individuals in your area. To hang out with us at the San Diego PUG (don't forget the holiday party is next week, December 15th!) check out the details here.

There's TONS of other options out there for retreats, but these are the biggest commitments that Jeff and I have chosen for 2011. I hope to see you guys there!

Hugs,

Erin

Confession: I've been avoiding this question...

We're totally digging on our Uservoice page and stoked on all the thoughtful questions people have been asking and voting on, and this is one that has slowly risen to the top, and now I simply can't ignore it.

The truth is that the answer to this question is super simple for me to state with a quick do this, this, and this, but I don't think that's necessarily the most helpful way of explaining this. So, I'm going to do my best to give you some solid tips & tricks to get the skin tones in your images to look more natural and authentic.

All things being equal, your clients will 1) be the most happy with their images and 2) look their best if their skin looks as "naturally" perfect as possible. As much as a photographer cares about the artistry, backgrounds, light, and composition of his or her images (all very important) the thing most clients care about is looking beautiful and natural.

Simply stated, the best way to get your clients to look their best and have the most natural skin tones is to shoot the image "properly" at the time of capture. There's no magic post processing tricks to get natural skin tones (although there's a bunch of Photoshop actions that try pretty hard) - it's really all about how you capture the image.

So when you're shooting for clean, clear, creamy skin tones, here's three big tips straight from Casa de Youngren:

1. Shoot in RAW

This used to be a much bigger debate than it is now (referring to the RAW vs JPG debate) but now that camera processing speeds have gotten faster and storage has gotten cheaper, I don't really see a reason why you shouldn't be shooting RAW. There's a ton of great reasons to shoot in RAW (just do a quick search for the RAW vs JPG debate, or check out this article on the RAW format) but the primary reasons for shooting in RAW in relation to skin tone would be 1) the ability to adjust color temperature / white balance after the fact and 2) the fact that the amount of data contained in a RAW image is exponentially greater than that contained in a JPG file.

While a majority of the time we find ourselves setting our white balance manually while we're shooting, if we don't nail the color temperature during the shoot, we're able to adjust it after the fact to give the most appealing skin tones possible. In addition, since RAW files contain so much more color information, we're able to make fine adjustments to get things perfect.

2. Great Light > Great Background

When selecting a location to shoot, if you have the ability to choose between two locations, ALWAYS choose the one with the better light over the better background. Light wins, every time. When it comes to great light, there's two major components: 1) Quantity 2) Quality.

Quantity can be thought of as a measure of how much light is present - or how bright the light is. Generally speaking, more light is better especially for the accurate representation of colors, which is what this discussion is all about. More important, though, is Quality, which can be thought of in terms of how pleasing the light actually is. Harsh sunlight on someones face has a lot of Quantity, but not a lot of Quality. Conversely, imagine sunlight striking a giant white building on the street, reflecting off that building and producing a soft, white light that illuminates your subject in a flattering way. That's quality light.

Use your hand. The easiest way to make a judgement about the quality of the light is to hold your hand out in front of your face, at arms length, and look at the skin on the palm of your hand. That soft, pinkish skin is similar to facial skin, so the palm of your hand will tell you how someone's skin tone will look in the light you're choosing. Move your hand around, and study how the light changes on your hand while turning in different directions. This is something that we do all the time - just ask our clients. When we're walking around on a shoot, we're constantly checking our hand and looking for a skin tone that is bright, clean, and true-to-life - not super red, green, or blue - but a fresh, balanced white.

To get an idea of what I mean, here's a few exercises to try. First, go find a room that is dark and only illuminated by a window, and hold your palm a few feet away from the window facing toward the window. Notice that the quality of light is very even and pleasing on your hand, right? Now slowly move away from the window (where it becomes darker) and watch how that light changes quite quickly. Now go outside and find a big shady spot like the shade of a building or a tree. Stand right at the edge where the shadow ends, and hold your palm facing out away from the shadow while walking forwards and backwards (if your body is facing towards a building, for example, you're palm will be facing towards your face away from the shadow). Notice how quickly the light changes on your hand as you move deeper into the shadow, and how nice and creamy the light is right at the border of the shadow and the harsh light. As you do this in different environments (by trees, different colored buildings, near water, near glass buildings) you'll begin to "see" how light changes, where it's reflecting, and where to position your subjects for the best skin tones.

Here's a great example of this "edge of shade" concept. While shooting the fabulous Christian and Nicole recently, we found this little green corner that was filled with even shade. Plus, there was a white building across the street that was throwing white light into the shade. We placed Christian and Nicole at the very edge of the shade, let them do their fabulous thing, and boo-yeah. Gorgeous skin.

[Both images: Canon 5D Mark II. Left: ISO 100, 1/250th @ f/2.0 @ 50mm on the 50 f/1.2. Right: ISO 100, 1/320th @ f/2.0 @ 85mm on the 85 f/1.8.]

3. Exposure, Exposure, Exposure

I know, this is an obvious one, and I almost didn't mention it, but I think that the importance of exposure can't ever be underestimated. While the RAW format allows you to make exposure mistakes and correct them, that doesn't mean that you should rely on that safety net when shooting. It's always best to have a properly exposed image, straight out of the camera to begin working with, and there's a couple of ways to accomplish this.

Use your histogram. Briefly, the histogram is a tool to help you understand what types of light are present in your image from a data perspective, and will help guide you to create a proper exposure. It's an outline of how much of the image is comprised of darkness and how much is comprised of lightness, and all the levels in the middle. Here's a link to a great discussion on understanding your histogram.

Buy or borrow a handheld light meter. Light meters are a necessity with studio light setups, but they definitely have their place for shooting in natural light, too. While I'm not saying you need to go out and buy a light meter, it would definitely be worth your time to borrow one from a friend and just carry it around to a few shoots and observe some solid data about the light that you're in, and how the light meter suggests you expose your shots. All cameras have a light meter built into them, but they only measure reflective light amounts, meaning the light that hits an object, bounces off of it, and then hits the camera's meter. A handheld light meter will tell you more information about the ambient light in your scene that would be hitting your clients directly, which is much more valuable information. I've got the Sekonic L-358, and it's great. You can borrow it from me anytime, in exchange for a bottle of Ridge wine, my favorite

Overexpose. But just a little bit. If there's any "tricks" that we do, it's that we tend to overexpose skin tones a touch, by about 1/3 stop, all the time. When your eye sees an image, it confuses brightness for smoothness, so if we overexpose for skin, we'll get it looking a little brighter and therefore a little smoother and appealing. This is a really delicate thing as if you overexpose by too much (say, a full stop) you're going to get into some issues with white balance. So use this trick sparingly, and with practice.

Hopefully this helps - if you have any follow-up questions, or if I can clarify anything, please be sure to leave a comment. And of course, if you've got a burning question you've been dying to ask, head on over to our UserVoice page and ask away (or vote for the questions your interested in!)

And because posts are always cooler with images, here's a sneek-peek of Shannon & Dwayne's engagement session that we'll be featuring next week right here! And since this post is all about skin tones, here's some technical data for you.

[Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 400, 1/250th @ f/2.0 @ 85mm on the 85 f/1.8. Taken just after the sun dipped below the horizon, to my rear.]

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.

A few months back, Erin and I approached Brian Crouch of Flaunt Books about helping us design a customized plugin for WordPress to allow people to be able to vote on their favorite images. There's a handful of other blogs that have this functionality, but none that were built on the WordPress framework (of which we're HUGE proponents of) and so when we found out that Brian actually had something in the works, we were FLOORED!

The end product of a lot of hard work on Brian's part is a plugin that you can essentially drop right on to of your WordPress blog, and instantly have voting functionality for anybody who stops by your blog. It's SO SIMPLE to set up and customize right out of the box (everything from the voting links, to the text, to the thumbnail sizes, outline colors - everything) and even if you're super technically challenged I think Brian is even offering some hand-held installation for a small fee.

The Plugin is $95 right now, and I happen to have a little inside info that Brian is going to be releasing some killer updates in the next few months, at which point the price is going to go up. So what I'm saying is that if this is something you'd like to do, do it now. Here's a link for more information about the plugin, and I've got two coupon codes for you to use. If you purchase by June 1, you can use the code "Flaunt1" for $10 off, and then I was able to twist Brian's arm to get a special code just for our lovely blog readers - that code is "TheYoungrens" and gets you $20 off. Our code will only work for 10 people, so act quick if you want the $20 off. Once 10 are gone, then I've got no more...

For some examples of the plugin working on our blog, cruise any of our wedding, engagement, or portrait posts to see the voting functionality (it's disabled on posts like this one).

Over the past few years we've gathered together a list of books that we've found to be the most helpful when it comes to running a small photography business, and as we continue to come across more page turners, we'll continue to add to this list. And, if your favorite business book isn't on the list - I'd love it if you dropped the title and a little about the book in the comments!

All Marketers are Liars (Seth Godin)

A great discussion on what marketing used to be like and what it is now like. Essentially marketing used to be all about battering your audience with as much information as possible but now it’s all about creating real relationships, fostering trust, and providing value.

Permission Marketing (Seth Godin)

Promise me that you'll read this before you even think of sending out an e-mail newsletter to your entire address book. This book is a discussion of why it’s better to market to 100 people who care about your product than 10,000 people who don’t have a clue who you are.

Purple Cow (Seth Godin)

Drive down the road in farm country and you’ll see countless cows, and chances are that you wouldn’t think twice about passing thousands of them. But suppose you drove by a purple cow – you’d probably come to a screeching halt, take a ton of pictures and tell everybody you know about the Purple Cow you saw on your trip to the Midwest. Right? That’s what this book is all about – becoming a Purple Cow that your clients can’t help talking about to anyone and everyone they come into contact with.

Tribes (Seth Godin)

This book centers around the idea that lasting  change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. There's all kinds of tribes that are possible to create around you (or be a part of) and together, we can actually make a difference. Really thought provoking, and a quick read. One of my favorite quotes comes from this book - and one I keep sitting on my desk - "You don’t need a keyboard to lead…you only need the desire to make something happen."

Love is the Killer App (Tim Sanders)

This book has had a BIG impact on where our business is today. The central concept is quite literally in the title – if we focus on really loving others, putting them first, and giving until it hurts (out of love) we can find more success than by focusing inward. Tim Sanders is not only a really great writer but he’s a fantastic speaker – check out his YouTube channel and his blog (updated quite frequently with some pretty meaningful discussions).

The E Myth, Revisited

E is for Entrepreneurial and this book focuses on the keys to success for any entrepreneur and really centers on the idea of treating any small business just like you would a corporation. As a small business owner, sometimes you have to wear several hats at once, and this book talks through how to determine which hats to wear and when (and why to do so). The most enjoyable exercise in this book is the construction of your corporate organizational chart – we had a lot of fun with it, coming up with creative names for all our positions. For example, Erin is the “Deputy Director in charge of the Blogosphere and Blogosphere Relations” meaning she takes care of our blog and the way we interact through it to our readers.

Free (Chris Anderson)

In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, and that's really the underlying concept of this book. I actually didn't read this book, but instead listened to the audiobook which he released - for free - to anyone and everyone who wanted to grab it. The idea of 'free' is something that you should not only understand in order to better understand your clients, but you might also find creative ways to create value for your clients with some "free" deliverables.

The 360 Degree Leader (John C. Maxwell)

This is a great resource if you’re thinking about having employees, interns, or associates in your business as it discusses how to be a leader from wherever you are, and how to encourage those who you lead to be leaders in turn. John Maxwell talks a lot about leadership in his seminars (which we’ve never been to) and in a lot of his books; this is probably the best place to start if you want to start reading through his book list.

Fast Track Photographer (Dane Sanders)

When Dane wrote this book, he did something tremendous for the photography industry – he created an amazing jumping off point for people who are either 1) thinking about a career in photography or 2) stumbled into a photography career and feel lost in the process of taking their business to the next level. Dane has a gift for writing in an easy-to-read, conversational tone that makes it seems like less of a book and more of a helpful conversation from a friend.

How to Win Friends, and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

This is one of those books that simply must be read by anybody who owns a business that deals with people, or anybody who is part of a team or leads a group of people. It was written back in 1937 and the principles in the book are still current and relevant even today. It centers around the idea that people should be dealt with in such a way that they feel important and appreciated.

Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite authors - and speakers - and the Tipping Point is his most business-relavent book, especially for photographers, so I'd probably suggest starting with this one, then reading his other work in any order. "The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do."

Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)

Blink is all about making snap judgements, and the decisive glance that looks at something, and knowing - something - in an instant. It's a fascinating study of the human psyche and how the idea that we can extract a large amount of information about something in an instant, and what that means for us.

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

In Outliers, Malcom Gladwell asks why some people succeed and live remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential. Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the case that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent. Instead, "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."

Note: this is going to be a bit of a long post - but that's because there's a lot to talk about. So grab your coffee or tea, sit back, and settle in.

To start, I think that there's a good reason that so many photographers are constantly asking us about pricing. With the economy behaving like it is, there's an authentic felt need for photographers to "get everything together" in order to book clients, make ends meet, and become profitable. I think the first thing people look at are the numbers (which I think is a mistake - more on that in a bit). For the past few years there’s been a HUGE drive for photographers to separate themselves by being UNIQUE - websites, blogs, business cards, marketing collateral (which are all really important things, by the way) - and I think we’ve strayed so far towards the idea of being unique that pricing has become largely focused only on dollars & cents and not on what it should be - providing value in exchange for dollars.

So what that means is the real discussion on pricing isn't about the numbers - it's about creating value that EXCEEDS the numbers. So here I'm going to talk about creating value (1) in your images, (2) in the service you provide your clients, and (3) in the experience you create for your clients. As we discuss these three components the internal dialogue you should be having should be centered around thinking about what you are doing to create value in these areas.

Your Images

Sure, maybe you could just build a gigantic marketing machine and make your photography not have anything to do with images, but that's not good for you, your clients, and the industry as a whole, so the first place that value needs to be created in your business is in your images. Your photography has to be quality work, and beyond being high quality, you have to be able to do it over and over and over again.

Erin blogged about a talk given by David Giffin at last year's TED conference and in the talk he said something really meaningful that still stands out to me, and is particularly appropriate to mention here. He said "...every one of us has at least one or two great photographs in them. But to be a photojournalist, you have to have more than just one or two great photographs in you. You've got to be able to make them all the time. But even more importantly, you need to know how to tell a story."

So you need to be able to consistently create fantastic images from your shoots, day in and day out, under constantly changing and challenging conditions. If you only produce one or two good shots from a wedding day or a portrait session, well, I wouldn't quit your day job yet! You create value for your clients by the experience and technical skills you bring to the table as a photographer, so make sure your skills match up with what you're charging. Your clients are depending on you to tell the story of their wedding day, families, etc - and they need to be able to look back at the images you produced and say, "that was worth every penny I paid, and more." That's the goal with your images.

Your Service

The second area that you can create value for your clients in is in the customer service you provide. This is a relatively simple area in which to create value, and this idea really centers upon setting expectations for your clients and then exceeding them. This means that you tell your clients that their images will be ready in 4 weeks, but then delivering a final product in 3 weeks instead. Or having clear, consistent communication throughout the whole process so your client knows exactly whats going on, when.

Every interaction with the service portion of your business should be painless and should add to the customer experience (which we'll talk about next) and not detract from it. Answer your phone, call clients back quickly, answer e-mails in a prompt fashion, and deliver everything on time, if not early. That's how you create value in the service you provide.

The Experience You Create

The third area is probably the most fun area, at least I think so. Most of your clients, when all is said and done, are really paying you for the experience that you're creating; not only the in-process experience but also the finished product experience. Think about Apple products, for example - when you buy a brand new iPad you're not just buying the device, you're buying an experience - that is the experience of going to the store, talking with the employee, going through the transaction, walking proudly out of the store, opening the box, and turning on the device. It's all part of the experience, and each part of the experience works to make the other parts (and the final product) better and more enjoyable (and of higher value).

So with the experience you create, what are you doing to break the experience down to meaningful things? Maybe gifts are your thing, or maybe it's impromptu dinner parties, or maybe it's handwritten notes delivered to your clients on their wedding day. Every interaction with your client is a chance to either make the experience better, to make it worse. If you're out to create value, then you need to make the experience better, every step of the way. So how do you do this? My friend Dane suggests that to be successful in this area we need to "be the invitation to others, that we would want for ourselves." In other words, how would you feel special/valued/important/unique? What do people do for you that floors you and makes you stoked? Do that for your clients.

So what?

You get it - we need to create value in everything we do, and the value we create needs to exceed the price/fee we charge. Now let's talk about the different ways for you to actually present your pricing/value information to your clients. I think that if there's one area that photographers over complicate more than anything, it's pricing. And having something that's overcomplicated doesn't make anybody happy - simple is ALWAYS better (this is a discussion for another time, but trust me on this one). The other day on the Pictage forums my friend Kevin Swan posted some great thoughts on the idea of simplicity, and it's perfect timing for this post (pay attention to the bolded portions):

When Apple announced the iPad, critics were quick to point out what it doesn't have and what it doesn't do. It doesn't multitask, it has no camera, it has no ports, it doesn't support Flash, "it's just a big iPod Touch!" they cried.

And yet, they sold nearly 1 million of them in the first week--and the 3G version hasn't even dropped yet.

Why?

It's even stranger if you consider that tablet PCs have been around for a decade, but no one cared. In 2000, Bill Gates held one up at CES and told the world, "this is the future of computing."

You may be interested to know that Apple doesn't do focus groups; they simply build what they find beautiful and pleasing--blending technology and art. Jobs is famous for pushing to simplify devices that are already very simple. Most of the recent innovations, from the iMac to the iPod, to the iPhone and the iPad, are all the designs of one guy, Jonathan Ive.

For those of you racking your brains about how to manage your pricing, what bells and whistles to include, and what your competitors are doing, maybe it's time to take a play from Apple's book.

I believe the reason Apple sells is that they have created a business that isn't about technology or features, but is about relationship and lifestyle. How many people truly love their blackberry? People respond to Apple's products because they've been designed with and for personalities. Yes, that means Apple may turn off many feature-obsessed techies; but they're not trying to please everyone. If you're trying to be appealing to everyone in your photography business, you will be attractive to no one.

Could Apple have built a camera or flash or USB or DVD or whatever into the iPad? Absolutely. The fact that they didn't is something to think on. Apple appeals to artists, to creatives, to people who love beauty in design. They have built their unparalleled marketing and branding around artists--movie makers, painters, musicians, writers, Photographers. They have purposefully excluded entire segments of the population (the techies). Their position for years was, "the computer for the rest of us."

Who are you appealing to? Who are you excluding? If you can't answer BOTH questions, you may need to think a bit more about your business.

What this post communicates to me is two things: (1) the importance of not creating unnecessary confusion and waste by centering my pricing on bells and whistles and (2) the idea that I'm not designing my business for everyone, but rather a very specific subset of the population. I think if you can take these two points and use them as the lens through which you view your pricing, things will become clearer.

Pricing Models

Before we wrap up and I leave you with some links for further reading, I wanted to go over the three basic ways you could set up your pricing for your business. One isn't better than another, but the important thing is to think about how you could use each of these to create the most value for your clients (in terms of simplicity, ease of understanding, etc). I have to give a big shout-out to my friend Jared Bauman for taking time to help me understand the difference between these models, specifically the difference between packages & up sell models.

It's all on the table - life, love, and yes - even photography.

We realize there are basically two types of questions being asked by all our wonderful readers via a multitude of different methods. To make things simpler for you and us, and to ensure we answer all the fun questions coming in, here's how to ask away:

1. Questions about Photography? Ask on UserVoice OR in the Comments of ANY post. | Click here to Ask!
   • We've set up a UserVoice account where you can ask your questions about photography, and if someone else has already asked a question you're interested in, you can "Vote up" questions you like. We'll work our way through the list, starting with the most "voted for" questions, and answer them in FAQ posts here on the blog. Of course, you can ALWAYS ask questions in the comments of any post, and if they're quick and simple we'll probably just respond in the comments.
2. Random Questions about Life, Love & Randomness? Ask on FormSpring.me | Click here to Ask!
   • For all those random (and often hilarious) questions, you can ask them over on the FormSpring.me account we've set up. There's some fun (and serious ones over there) so feel free to check it out and ask something of your own. We'll only answer the questions over there so to see a response you'll either have to revisit the site OR make an account.

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.

To ask a question, leave it in the comments, below!

Photojunction seems like a great program for design, but who do you use to print your albums?

"Great" doesn't even begin to describe Photojunction. It's amazing/fabulous/incredible/magical. Erin designs all of our albums in PhotoJunction, even though we offer three very different types of albums. The albums we offer are KISS, Couture, and Queensberry - KISS for digital flushmount, Couture for fashion-forward simple designs, and Queensberry for unique and elegant Duo albums. We've selected these three manufacturers out of the immense pool of album production companies because they share a few key traits in common: 1) they're the absolute best at the type of album they make, 2) their customer service is impeccable and 3) they're constantly pushing the boundaries of their craft.

If you're in the place where you're deciding which albums you'd like to offer your clients I think the biggest (and most helpful) question to ask yourself is WHY you are choosing a specific vendor. Don't just begin using a particular vendor off or my (or anyone else's) recommendation - do your homework and make sure that they're a good fit for YOU and your clients. I can, however, say that I stand behind the companies we work with 100% and I can also tell you that although we offer KISS, Coutour, and Queensberry albums the ones that sell the most are KISS and Queensberry.

How do you set your White Balance? Do you use auto or Kelvin?

What do you think is the biggest secret to your success?

This is a tough question to answer, and I hate to sound vague, but the biggest "secret" to our success is no secret at all. Its simply relationships. How does any small, service minded business succeed? It's people. There is absolutely no software or album or website company out there that will do more for your business than loving people and building relationships. But you have to have an authentic attitude built around humility and service. Don't build relationships in order to get ahead in your business - that kind of attitude will hurt you more than you can imagine, not only in wedding photography, but in life. Build relationships in order to help other people. Care about other people. Work hard on your business and work hard at loving others. That's the formula for success - life success - in our opinion.

A really great book to read on this topic is "Love is the Killer App" by Tim Sanders. The book really focuses on how important truly loving others and putting them first really is. Highly recommended.

Do you worry about manually choosing a focus point or do you let the camera auto choose for you? Seems that manually choosing would be too time consuming.

Both Erin & I choose our focus point manually, for sure! The camera isn't smart enough to choose the right point, ESPECIALLY when shooting a very shallow depth of field (like f/2.0, for example) so having your camera in "grid" focus mode where it chooses the point closest to the camera is a good way to get a ton of soft images.

Setting the focus point manually is quite time consuming if you have the focus point selection method set to the default method, but if you use the custom functions of your camera (on a Canon at least) you can switch the method of selection to "Multi-Controller-Direct" which makes that little joystick on the back of your camera body select your point. Push the joystick in for center, right for right, up for top, etc. What this means for us is that I can be talking to a client, with the camera at my side, and be quickly selecting the left most focus point so that when I lift the camera up to my eye, I'm ready to compose the shot, focus, and capture the image without fussing around getting the right point selected.

This is available on all Canon Models, but the CF number is different. Check your camera manual for specific instructions on setting this up. I promise, this will change your life

Again, if you want to ask us a question, go ahead and leave it in the comments and we'll keep in mind for our next FAQ post. Happy Friday!

-Jeff

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.

It's also no secret that we like to travel and have been traveling quite a bit lately. In fact, if you were to ask us to list our hobbies, we would list drinking good wine, eating good food, wearing Rainbow Sandals (yes, its a hobby), and dragging our cameras through the back alleys of the world.

And lastly, it's definitely no secret that we look like complete tourists when we travel. Why? Well, we're tall, white, brown-haired Americans, and we tend to look a little "different" than you're typical Southeast Asian.

So when you toss all of that information into a travel equation (white tourists + big cameras + remote area of the world), the big variable becomes how to travel with these nice cameras while being safe - and not breaking your back in the process.

Glad you asked.

After taking a poll of our traveling photographer friends as well as traveling ourselves, we've come up with five basic rules of thumb to keep in mind when bringing along any kind of DSLR while traveling in another country. This post deals with personal travel only (ie sightseeing, tourism, etc), and we may write another FAQ post dealing specifically with destination weddings and shoots, so keep your eyes out for that.

1. Pack it up

We used two bags for our camera gear while traveling Southeast Asia. First, we used a nondescript camera backpack (ie no camera logos like Tamrac or Tenba on it) that our good friend (and super talented photographer), Jason Ward, let us borrow (thanks Jason! You rock!). The bag was a MountainSmith bag - they actually don't carry the EXACT one we used anymore, but it's most similar to this one. The great part about this bag is that we were not only able to fit the gear we needed in it, but it's designed for backpackers so it has all kinds of pockets for maps & documents and such. There's even a laptop pouch, which is rad. We used this bag to carry all of our gear between destinations until we reached our next hotel or guesthouse. Then we would unpack our Shootsacs from our luggage and use them to tour around our particular location or city, leaving our luggage and camera backpack at a secure, well recommended hotel. This system worked absolutely perfect for us, especially since we have two people. Which brings me to my next point...

2. Use a Shootsac

Ok, stop staring at the computer screen in disbelief. Yes, I just told you to use a Shootsac for travel, and I'm dead serious. There is absolutely no other bag on this planet that will be easier to use than this one when you're on the road. First, backpacks are absolutely MISERABLE for sightseeing. You will have a sweaty back and sore shoulders within seconds of putting it on, and you'll be lugging it around all day through cities and temples, in taxis and tuks tuks, and they are down right awful to use. Second, only wedding photographers know that a Shootsac is used for cameras. To everybody else in the world, we just looked like some dirt poor twenty-somethings with a weird messenger bag. Any kind of thief would go straight for the guy carrying the backpack with the huge Canon logo on it. Third, Shootsacs are truly safe. Use a neck pouch for your backup cash, but use the inside pockets on the Shootsac that are always next to your body for money or phones or tickets. The pockets are tight and don't let things come out easily - that's how they were designed, and they work great. Trust me, we use ours everywhere we go and they are small, compact, light, and - most important - inconspicuous.

3. Pack light

If you use prime lenses (ie fixed focal length) like we do, choose two lenses (one wide, one long) to bring sightseeing and leave the rest at home. We bring our 24m f/1.4 and 135m f/2.0 everywhere we go as our default lenses. Since there are two of us, we typically grab our 50m f/1.2 or 35m f/1.4 as our secondary focal lengths. Remember that your shoulders have to carry anything you bring, so keep it simple and challenge yourself with one or two lenses. When you're on vacation traveling, you have TIME to move around and wait for the perfect shot, so you don't need the full arsenal of lenses you bring to a typical shoot for a client. Another thing to remember is that if you bring fixed lenses like the 135 f/2.0 you'll get a nice length without the size of the 70-200 so you'll stick out a lot less.

4. Remember you're not alone

These days, everybody has a DSLR, and this is especially true for tourists in Southeast Asia. I'm not kidding when I say that we saw more tourists schlepping around multiple 1D camera bodies and several 70-200's at the temples in Cambodia, than we see at WPPI - in other words, a lot of people had very large cameras! So even though our equipment was just as nice (if not nicer) than theirs, our 5D's and 50m f/1.2 looked tiny and inexpensive in comparison - especially while wearing a Shootsac! Ha! So much to our surprise, we didn't stick out at all by having our cameras with us.

5. Be Aware

The most important thing you can do when traveling is to simply be aware at all times. Things tend to get stolen when you look the other way for just a moment, or get jostled around on a subway or in a crowd, or leave a bag hanging loosely over your shoulder. Always wear your camera strap around your body, keep your Shootsac at your side or in front of you where you can feel it at all times, and keep your eyes peeled for shady situations. Just be smart about your camera gear, and you'll have a great time!

Ok, one last thing I need to say...

6. Keep Perspective

Unless you are getting paid to take travel pictures, remember that the pictures you take are for your own enjoyment only or for sharing with friends & family. Don't stress out if another tourist keeps standing right in front of the waterfall you're trying to capture at sunset, destroying the perfect image that you're going to put over your grandmother's fireplace in the fall. Have fun and get creative, but also remember to put your camera down and just enjoy where you are. Images are wonderful, but memories are priceless.

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts:

Here's a picture of our travel bags - the one on the left was full of our cameras and laptop, and the one on the right was all our clothes (big thanks to Jackie VanHatten for hooking us up with that bag!)

Since second shooting is such a valuable thing, it would be good to talk about the ins and outs about how to be an amazing second shooter. If you do a great job for one primary photographer, not only will they hire you again, but they will refer you to other photographers that need reliable, excellent assistants. So here's my tips on how to be a GREAT second shooter.

1. Be a Team Player. When you're second shooting, you are never representing yourself or your own personal business, you're representing the photographer you're working for. What this means is that your number one priority throughout the day is to make sure that the main photographer looks GOOD. If they don't look amazing, you aren't doing your job. This definitely means putting away your pride and grabbing images that aren't always the most exciting. For example, you'll probably want to capture the bride getting ready or the couple having their first look, but realize that you will most likely be needed somewhere else to grab images the primary photographer can't get while they are taking care of the most important moments (ie ceremony site details before guests arrive, scene setting shots, candids of family and friends, etc). If you can just have the perspective of being selfless as a second shooter, you'll be way ahead of the game.
2. Take care of the primary photographer. During the wedding day the primary photographer will be shouldering a lot of responsibilities to make sure the day goes as perfect as possible, so help them out in any way that you can to make their day easier. Bring them water during the hottest parts of the day and make sure they get served food at the reception. Hand them lenses when they need a quick lens swap and carry their bag when they're working with the couple. Be proactive and anticipate their needs before they ask. This is the most impressive thing you can do for another photographer, and will be highly noticed and recognized. You are there to serve them and their business, and that is the mentality you should always carry with you.
3. Different angles, Different lenses. Always be conscious of where the other photographer is standing while they're shooting, along with what angles they're grabbing and even what lens they're using. You never want to duplicate shots - you're there to provide a creative variety of images, not to duplicate the primary photographer's images. If the primary puts on a telephoto lens, you might switch to something like a 50mm or even a wide angle lens. I think the point here is to not have the mentality that you're a "back-up" shooter - you're a secondary shooter and the angles and details you can grab are really important, especially for albums and slideshows. This also means that you need to stay out of the primary's images as well, so just be careful with where you're standing, especially during the ceremony.
4. Never pass out your business card. This goes back to being a team player and making the primary photographer as successful as possible - you aren't representing your own business when you're second shooting. In fact, nobody at the wedding should even be aware that you have a business other than working with the primary photographer. Believe it or not, I've actually seen second shooters of ours give a guest their own business card, which is completely and totally inappropriate. Doing something like this will pretty much guarantee you won't be shooting with that photographer - or their friends - ever again.
5. Candids, candids, candids. Look for those fun, unique, natural moments that are constantly happening around you and photograph them. When the primary photographer is doing family formals, for example, spend some time with a telephoto lens and grab candids of family members that are waiting for their turn for formals. Weddings are delightfully fun events with great, candid moments going on all the time. Do your best to capture these when the primary photographer is otherwise occupied.
6. Don't over shoot. When shooting, resist the temptation to hold down the shutter button and over-shoot the event. Remember that the primary photographer has to process your images along with their own, so the last thing they need is to go through 4,000 of your images to pick out the best ones. Instead, just be thoughtful with the shots you're taking as you take them. Remember, you can afford to wait for the perfect moment as a second - the primary photographer will always be grabbing the safe, go-to shot, so don't take 20 frames when only 3-4 are needed. Along the same lines as not over-shooting, be constantly aware of how many frames you have remaining on your card - this can be the biggest hurdle for folks just starting out. Imagine shooting a first look only to get about 15 seconds into it and run out of memory; just be aware of your shots, and you'll be set.
7. Enjoy yourself & push yourself. This is a time for you to explore your craft creatively and try shots and angles that you wouldn't normally attempt. This means you have a chance to get some incredible images that will push you further creatively AND make the primary photographer look like a rockstar.
8. Smile. Lastly, always remember to smile! Every guest in attendance is happy to be there, and straight-faces or frowns stick out like a sore thumb. It's a wonderful time celebrating something incredibly significant and as wedding photographers we get the huge blessing of getting to tell the love story of our couples. So smile and be excited too!

Stay tuned to the bloggy blog because tomorrow we're featuring the fabulous Ryan and Chelsea who came out to San Diego from Chicago for their engagement session! These guys are so much fun and I'm so excited to show you the amazing sunset we had down in La Jolla! See you tomorrow!

-Jeff

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.

Our clients appreciate consistency and I think everyone agrees that in order to be successful at what we do, we need to know what our style is. It’s not fair to our clients to have one style for one wedding, and then change it up completely for the next – we need to produce work that is consistently similar. That’s not to say we shouldn’t keep it fresh and exciting and different – that’s okay and is a really important thing…but the core style – that shouldn’t change.

So, how exactly do you find your style?

Short answer: it’s a journey. It’s not going to happen overnight, and it will be a process. However, it’s a process that’s well worth it. This is a deep question that I know a lot of photographers have and as such there’s no simple 10-step program to finding your style, but I can point you in the right direction to get started.

Step One: Break a Shutter.

The first thing you really need to do is get out and shoot, shoot, shoot (and then shoot some more). Photograph everything – friends, sunsets, trees, buildings – everything. Most of today’s DSLR’s are rated at 100,000 actuations, which means you can take 100,000 images before you break the shutter in your camera (and trust me – they will actually break at 100,000). We always like to say that if you haven’t broken a shutter in your camera, you haven’t found your style yet.

As you start out doing this, don’t worry too much about what you’re photographing, just get out there and do it for the sake of doing it. Connect with other photographers in your area and organize impromptu shootouts. Grab friends and photograph them just for the fun of it. The point here is to start building a catalog of images as well as refine your technical skills in all kinds of different situations, so have fun and just keep shooting!

As you shoot your 100,000 photos, begin looking for commonalities between the images. What images do you love? Why do you love them? What kinds of subjects do you connect with most (babies, kids, couples, etc)? What subjects DON’T you connect with? As you begin to find those commonalities, they will form a picture of who you are as an artist and as a person.

Step Two: Be inspired (uniquely)

As an artist, inspiration is key to the creative process, but you have to do your best to inspire yourself in a unique way. For example, we’re wedding photographers and we definitely have keep tabs on the industry and where it’s going, but we don’t try to inspire ourselves JUST by looking at wedding photography. Instead, we gravitate towards other types of photography, and let that inspire us. For me, it’s commercial work that inspires me, even though I don’t shoot commercial work. For Erin, she really enjoys being inspired by magazine & catalog photography such as Martha Stewart Living and the Pottery Barn and Anthropologie catalogs.

Step Three: Get Away

Throughout this process, take time to just get away. Spend time reflecting on life and what you love to capture. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with all the things we have to do in our lives that we don’t take time to just step back, take a break, and reflect on what we’re doing.

So get away, grab a pen and paper, and reflect on who you are as a photographer (which is different for everyone – remember that). Your style is very much about who you are as a person, so take time away to dig deep into yourself as an artist. Even though this is the “Third Step,” I’d say that it’s probably the most important step and should be woven throughout your entire journey.

My challenge: spend 10 minutes TODAY with a pen & paper and just write about what’s going on internally with regard to your photographic journey. Think about what inspires you and what you can do to further inspire yourself. Write about any emotional or artistic challenges you’ve been facing and think through ways to overcome them. Do this same exercise a couple of times a week and let us know how your journey is going!

What other methods have you guys found to be effective at defining your style? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments (below).

-Jeff

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.