I found this post from Scott a little while back and the point he makes is so relevant. Instead of being overwhelmed at what you don’t know and letting your frustration throw you into an I-give-up mode, think about all you do know. Even better think about how much more you understand about the business today than you did yesterday.  Then smile over how big your network is growing in comparison to the  ”Uncle Harry’s” out there.

We’re in the peak of convention season and Scott’s thoughts are so appropriate to your attitude in the weeks ahead. All of you should be planning on at least one convention, be it a big national show or a local state convention of photographers. Use these opportunities to reinforce your skill set by attending programs to help fill up your bag of tricks and at the same time build your network. Make it a point to meet new people. Talk with other photographers about what they’re doing in their communities. Share your ideas as well as the frustrations you have in your own market.

Most important of all – don’t give up and don’t let yourself be intimidated by how much you might still need to learn. My old buddy Don Blair when once asked, “What’s the best photograph you ever took?” answered back, “I don’t know I haven’t taken it yet?”  Photography is a never-ending educational process and there will always be more to learn!

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 – All Rights Reserved 

There’s a documentary film called “I Can’t Do This But I Can Do That.” Upon seeing this movie I was motivated to consider how this saying can and does apply to photography.

It dawned on me that low self-esteem, combined with the bullying that is prevalent online, might work to stop some potentially great photographers from moving ahead with their photographic pursuits.

If you find yourself doubting your ability to become a serious photographer, try this exercise.

Make a list of things that you struggle with. It could be focus, or posing or composition or post-processing. Okay. So there’s the elephant in the room. All too often, that’s where people stop. Don’t be that person. Do the second and more important step. What do you do well?

It could be any of those same things. Perhaps you’re great at getting sharp focus, or devising great poses or you might be a master at Photoshop. If you’re good at remembering names and making people feel comfortable – write that down too.

Now here’s the important part. Start thinking about, talking about and living in the world of the stuff you CAN do. Concentrate on what you CAN do and not on what you CANNOT do.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t pay attention to improving in the areas where you need help. I am saying that 80% of your focus should be thinking about what you can do and not what you can’t. There’s a way to make this even more successful. Only surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Ask them to stop you dead in your tracks if they start hearing what you can’t do. Ask them to remind you what you CAN do. I bet you have more going for you than you realize.

Good luck.

 

You should be following David’s posts at Digital Pro Talk. I can promise you that you’ll never be disappointed.

How To Determine Your Pricing Schedule:

1- Determine what the average cost of a wedding photography is in your area. Call a few of the prominent photographers in your area explain your situation and ask their prices. Most are nice and are willing to help. Others will never give you the time of day. I know, I’ve been through it before. It is what it is.

2- Do a Craig’s list check just to see what the rock bottom prices are in your area. Now you have the knowledge of the range of pricing. Now decide where you fit in.

3- How good are you? Can your skills support the prices you want to charge? You’ll discover this invaluable piece of the puzzle when prospective clients check your web site, blog, see sample images at wedding fares and make the decision to book you for their event or to pass.

4- How well are you at getting the word out about your products and services? If you are really good at it, then that means you should be able to create a lot more traffic to your business. And, more consistent traffic means more bookings.

When you get to the place that you have all the bookings you want or can handle, it’s time to raise the prices to control the number of jobs you book. The bottom line is that effective marketing is super important if you want to be successful in your business.

This is the point most are striving to be in your business. Once you have this part figured out, you are on your way to bigger and better things. Don’t think you’ve ever arrived though, there is ALWAYS somebody nipping at your heels that wants the business as much or even more than you do! You must never stop growing and learning.

Time To Set The Prices

I’ve always been happy with my 5 tier pricing system. It’s worked well for me most of my career. If you want to use my pricing system as a model, this is how I would do it. Level 1 should always be the highest priced coverage and Level 5 should always be the lowest. And, always sell from high to low.

Let me give you an example of my pricing in the mid eighties just to give you an idea as to how I set up my levels of coverage. Remember those prices I shared with you earlier – $119, $179, and $259? Well, in the mid eighties those prices were $450 for 20 8×8 images in an album, $650 for 35 10×10 images in an album, and $850 for 50 10×10 images in an album. Proofs WERE NOT included at this point. Thankfully I learned that by giving away the proofs, I was killing my sale.

About that same time, 25 years ago, I met a photographer named Charles Lewis .  Chuck has been an inspiration to many, many photographers over the years. You can follow his blog right here. He quite literally turned my think/reasoning and my expectations around when it came to pricing. He told me I was giving my work away considering the quality of my images. He also told me I needed to offer some bigger coverages over what I was offering at the time.

More Lessons Learned

The Cincinnati wedding market was much grander than what I had imagined. A case in point is this. I got a call to do George Clooney’s sister’s wedding years ago. Yes, the real George Clooney. His family lived in Cincy at that time.  In fact he went to grade school about one mile from me. The bride and her mother came in to interview me and review my work. That’s how we did things back in the pre-website, blogging days. Anyway, I didn’t book the job because I didn’t have a coverage available that they felt would adequately cover their event.

I learned that lesson the hard way and decide to revamp my levels of coverage once again. Taking Chuck Lewis’ advice, I added two more coverages to the TOP tier of my pricing scheme – $1,150 for 75 10×10 images in an album, and finally $1,450 for 100 images in a top shelf leather album. My new Level One included a casual portrait session of the couple and a 20 image 10×10 leather album in addition to the 100 wedding day images in a leather album!

It was the best I could offer and included everything for the couple. And was the highest priced album plan in Cincinnati, Ohio at the time! I thought if anybody purchased it, I was on my way to early retirement ;~). The fact of the matter is that once I started showing my super big coverages, couples started to select them! I was thrilled.

Finally, Setting The Schedule

As my reputation grew in the area and my expertise increased, I continued to market like crazy, build my vendor relationship, nurture my reputation, and raise my prices about once a year. Every time I raised my prices, my mother who was normally always the optimist, told me I was not going to have any customers left – who in the world was going to pay those prices.

She didn’t see the bigger picture, and the much BIGGER parties/ events/celebrations that were happening in the Cincinnati, Ohio market. Thankfully, with my eyes newly opened, the clients kept coming and my business began to thrive. I was doing less weddings but the price difference offset the revenue and made the business much more profitable – all good stuff.

Even today, my pricing structure, while much higher than the 1980’s still follows the same general increase as I posted above. For those of you looking for the numbers, here they are.

Level One: 2.5x Level Five

Level Two: 2.0x Level Five

Level Three: 1.75x Level Five

Level Four: 1.4x Level Five

Level Five: 1.0x Level Five

There you have it. It’s how I’ve been doing things for years and it’s worked for me. What I ask you to do is re-read this rather lengthy post and and take in the nuances of what I’ve tried to share with you today. There just simply aren’t any hard and fast rules to follow.

As Michelangelo said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”

Also nothing is ever etched in stone. We each have to find our own way and what works for ourselves and our clients. There are other successful photographers that take a completely different approach from mine and it works for them. But my approach has worked for me and I see no reason to change, or do I;~)

It’s that time of year when two key events start to happen. First, you’re going to be doing your taxes and for most of you it’ll be the first time you understand how much money you really made last year. Second, it’s the slow season for many and the perfect time to review what you want to do for the new year ahead.

David’s post is one of the first ones I’ve read that really addresses the challenges in establishing a way to look at how you price your work and services.  But there’s a key point to remember – it’s not how much you charge that’s as important as how much you keep. 

If David isn’t on your radar you need to tune him in and follow his blog Digital Pro Talk. He’ll also be at PhotoPro Expo at the end of this month. A huge part of this year’s platform is all thanks to David’s hard work! 

Over the last few weeks we’ve been discussing wedding photography during these Thursday posts. Two weeks ago I discussed how I shoot a wedding and why. That post and it’s comments precipitated last week’s post about how I structure and sell my levels of wedding coverages. The comments from that post clamored for additional info on my pricing. And that, dear DPT readers, is where we are going today.

When I first set up my pricing in the early days of my studio I was determined to offer the best value wedding services available. For my way of thinking back in those early days, that also meant being the cheapest guy in town. I also quickly learned that being the cheap guy was not going to let me pay the bills on time. Funny, we see a lot of that same kind of thinking today – just do a quick check on Craig’s List for a city near you.  

My Early Pricing Schedule

I still remember my first printed price list – I was so proud. I used graphics and everything. Things are so much easier now in our computer driven digital world. Anyway, I had three levels of pricing in my early beginnings.

Level One:

36 4×5 color images in a nice TAP album. Heck, I even told my clients that they could use it as a parents’ album. I was not very good selling my work back in those days. I was merely an “order taker”. Ummmm… any of that going around our profession today?

Also included were 12 8×10’s bound in an inexpensive TAP album. Total cost for everything – $ 119.00. Oh, and no time limitations on covering the event. I managed to crank through a whopping 60 images for the entire wedding, too. Things sure were different back then.

Level Two:

Level Two upped the ante slightly. It included 48 4×5’s bound in the TAP album and 18 8×10’s also bound in a Tap album. And, get this, even included “double lighting” on the job. Yes, I was using off camera flash as early as 1978 – 32 years ago! Where were you back then David Hobby? ;~)

Actually, I used the fact that I was using a more “dimensional” lighting technique to encourage the client to book into that level of coverage. Wow! That was my big attempt at up-selling. Most of my clients booked Level Two at the whopping cost of $179.00! I shot about 72 images for this coverage.

Level Three:

This was my “Big Kahuna” coverage – 72 4×5 images and 24 8×10 images bound in Tap albums. I did upgrade the large album to Tap’s White Flower reversible album. looking back…I was such a classy act at the time – NOT!

With 72 4×5s, I even suggested that the couple could break those down into two collections of 36 each, buy another Tap album for $10  and have two parents’ albums – what a deal! Total cost – $259.00 – truly a steal of a deal! Oh, and by the way, I shot about 120 images for the entire job.

Extra prints were $6.00 for an 8×10, $4.00 for a 5×7. and $2.50 for a 4×5 print. I did 20 weddings in 1978, over 50 the next year, hired additional shooters the next year, and was on my way to fame and fortune! Not really. The fact of the matter was that I was working my tush off, barely paying the bills, and definitely not putting any money in the bank.

Time To Get Smart

Thankfully I was encouraged to start attending PPA seminars and workshops of the most successful and notable wedding photographers shooting in those days. That list would include Monte Zucker, Rocky Gunn, Al Gilbert, and many, many others. I tell the story occasionally that I was spending more moony on seminars than most college kids were spending on tuition.

Thankfully, that was the right decision to make for me. It turned my photography and my business acumen around 180 degrees and I started making money. By 1984 we were shooting 80 weddings a year at a $2,600 average. Not bad in those early days. This was also about the time I was developing my 5 level pricing strategy which I discussed last week.

I was always told to price like Wendy’s Hamburger chain. You know – single, double, and triple burgers. I basically was using that concept in my price list, but as I interviewed more and more clients, I saw the size and scope of the events was much broader than my near sighted early lack-of-experience had shown me. That’s when I decided to revamp my pricing schedule reviewing my levels of coverage and prices of those coverages.

Getting My Act Together

Last week I discussed those levels of coverages in great detail. Now let’s discuss how to set the prices for those levels of coverage. Your pricing needs to be determined by what your market will bear.

Back in the early days, I was the cheapest guy in town. Sure, the word got out that I was pretty cheap and did an adequate job shooting weddings. Notice I said “adequate” job. I was pretty much operating my business like the “low ball” wedding photographers advertising today.

As I advanced in my skills and talent I raised my prices accordingly. Hey, I was doing a better job so my work was worth more – better quality = higher price.

About the same time, I was learning from successful photographers how to understand my “cost of goods sold”. Even today, this is one of the biggest mistakes most new business owners make, including wedding photographers. They just don’t have any kind of grasp on the costs of gear, depreciation, marketing costs, overhead, staff, processing/lab fees, album fees – the list goes on and on.

Thankfully, I got my head around those numbers, and priced my coverages accordingly. If I was going to be in the wedding photography business, I was going to be profitable! That started happening in the mid-eighties. So, let’s finally get down to brass tacks as they say and see if I can point you in the right direction in setting your wedding pricing.

Tomorrow, we’ll finish up David’s post with his formula for pricing.  It’s a terrific way to look at one of the most important aspects of your business, but remember one important fact! You have to be worth what you’re asking people to pay. That means you make no compromises on the quality of your images and the effort you put into telling each client’s story!

Well, we all make mistakes and they can’t be avoided.  Depending on what you do with them, they can stunt your growth as an artist or just the opposite, create a growth spurt. It’s all in how you look at the mistakes and if you choose to learn from them.

My good buddy and partner in GoingPro, Scott Bourne, wrote the following post about making mistakes. No matter how seasoned you are, the pressure of business, the economy and new technology all change the game and suddenly you find yourself buried in mistakes you never used to make.  Scott’s put together a great check-off list for cutting out one serious variable in your life, mistakes with your gear.

Tomorrow we’ll come up with the same kind of list for promotions.  The secret is all in taking the time to plan rather than be reactionary. In the mean time, see if Scott’s list makes sense for your gear.

No matter how experienced, we all make mistakes. Sometimes we go out to shoot and nothing works. We’ve forgotten to reset the ISO from 3200 (shot the basketball game last night) to 200 (for the landscape shots at Mt. Rainier.) Or sometimes that odd custom white balance we set at the art museum gets saved and used for the next wedding. Oops.

Whatever the mistake, mistakes have a way of cascading. And it’s easy to get frustrated to the point where you simply can’t do anything right. When you reach this point it’s time to give up and start over – “reset,” as Joe McNally says.

To do this, you need to establish a baseline for your gear. Here’s my baseline. Your situation may be different, but this works for me.

1. Camera bodies off
2. Camera batteries recharged after each and every shoot – no exceptions
3. Flash(es) off
4. Flash(es) batteries recharged after each and every shoot – no exceptions
5. Set ISO to 200
6. Set aperture to wide open on all lenses
7. Set shutter speed to 1/125
8. Set mode dial to Aperture Priority
9. Turn off IS/VR on all stabilized lenses
10. Set all lenses with focus stops to focus maximum area of focus
11. Remove any and all filters
12. Check that the camera body and any/all lenses are set to autofocus (unless you just always use manual focus – in which case disregard.)
13. Set white balance to AUTO
14. Set exposure compensation to “0.”
15. Reset the focus point to the center.
16. Set motor drive to high speed advance
17. Make sure mirror lockup is disabled
18. Make sure to run camera’s auto sensor cleaning after each shoot, no exceptions
19. Do quick visual examination of the camera to look for damage defects
20. Reset additional gear like tripods, light stands, etc.

After bringing everything back to default condition, you can take a deep breath, find your subject, and start building the next shot knowing you’ve done all you can to be ready.

Remember, we all make mistakes. Even the pros. It doesn’t mean a thing. Fix it, reset, reshoot, repeat. You’ll be fine.

A few years ago I heard the comment made that with today’s economy it was no longer survival of the fittest, but survival of the most creative.  It applies not only to your images, but also to the way you address your business, work with your clients, market yourself and plan your strategy for the future.

Right off the bat I want to add to Scott’s list.  Stop taking your photography so seriously. Allow yourself to make mistakes, learn from them and move on. It doesn’t do any good to be in mourning over the shot you missed – just be ready next time. It doesn’t do any good to whine about the gear you don’t have yet – just learn to use what you do have. Last but not least – nobody cares about the one that got away. Instead focus on the quality of the one you got.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 – All Rights Reserved

 In this post I am going to lay the ground work for a road map of sorts. It’s really just a random stream of ideas designed to help you navigate that most difficult of journeys – the one to creativity. I’ve made several attempts at this here on Photofocus. This is just another in what will be a string of many. Hopefully this one resonates with someone. These aren’t rules. They are simply guidelines and have personally benefitted me and my work. My hope is that they will help you too.

1. Be sure to organize your photos in more than one way. Make sure one of the ways you do this is by date.  Then regularly go back and look at how you were shooting six months ago – a year ago – two years ago. You’ll start to discover how you have improved, what themes have propelled you and what you still need to work on.

2. Pay close attention to the world around you. Live in the moment. Take a few minutes each hour to focus on what you are doing right now. Observe everything around you closely. Make notes. Look at the specifics of light. Take pictures with your mind. This sort of eye awareness and eye training will help you when you have camera in hand.

3. Study music and poetry to get a better understanding of rhythm. Rhythm is important to visual arts too. See how rhythm combined with mood and theme forms your photographic ideas.

4. Be descriptive in your words so that you can become more descriptive in your photography. Writers don’t write about  the bell – they write about it ringing. Writers don’t write about the ocean – they write about the waves crashing upon the shore. Writers don’t write about the glass – they write about it shattering. Use this analogy the next time you approach a photographic subject. Maybe it will help you search for a better angle, theme or style.

5. Take pictures without regard for style. Don’t get hung up on defining your style or approach. Don’t label yourself (other than purely for marketing purposes) as JUST a wedding photographer or a food photographer or a landscape photographer. Those labels will eventually apply themselves. That’s not YOUR job. YOUR job is making photographs.

6. Expand your perception. Try to fit things into your thoughts about photography that don’t necessarily fit. Think about the physical, spiritual and scientific realms. Explore foods, music, religions, and cultures you know nothing about. Then think of ways to involve what you learn through your expanded perception exercises into your photography.

7. Allow yourself some false starts. Everything doesn’t haveto be perfect the first time you try it. In fact, many great photographs are imperfect period. Perfect is the constant enemy of good. Don’t give up because you can’t shoot the perfect portrait. Allow yourself to make some mistakes. A way to make this even more powerful is to share those mistakes with your peers so that you can help them understand we all struggle with imperfection.

Scott Bourne

Here is the back story.  Someone sent me a YouTube link to TV Judge Joe Brown “hammering” a photographer purporting to be a professional photographer.  The judge took her to task for not using “Pro” gear.  The photographer was using a Canon Rebel.

Coincidently, I had just recently attended a program at WPPI where the presenter had mentioned that she had shot her first wedding with a Canon Rebel. About 25% of the audience cheered her remark.  That left me thinking, “Are all those people shooting weddings with a Canon Rebel?”  I assumed, at least, many of them had photographed a wedding or two with the Rebel.

Now don’t get me wrong – I think a Canon Rebel, particularly the new Rebel T2i, has a lot of “bang for the buck”, but do I think it’s a professional grade camera – no. In fact Canon’s Professional Services program doesn’t even include it in their listing of pro cameras.  But again, does that mean the Rebel can’t take a decent photograph – not at all.

Many took exception with me saying that the Rebel, in the right hands, can produce as good an image as, say for example a Canon 5D Mark II or a 7D.   Hey, I don’t disagree with that either, but as I said, Do I think it’s a pro camera – my response is no, again. But having said that, let me continue.

I mentioned last week that I was pretty surprised with the audience response.  My “read” of their reaction was that, “If I shoot a wedding with a Canon Rebel, and get paid for it, I get to call myself a professional?” Well, maybe you can, but that still doesn’t make one a “Pro.” “Professionalism” is a lot more than just getting paid for a job.  More on that later.  Anyway, I felt strongly about what I posted and I knew it would “stir the broth” once it went online.

But WOW!!! Did it REALLY “stir the broth”, as I like to say, with nearly 100 comments posted in response – an all time record for me.  Interestingly enough, the responses were all across the board – some denouncing my opinions and many more supporting my remarks.

But here is the deal folks – I think several of the negative responses completely missed the mark of the point I was trying to make. I have re-read the post many times, asking myself over and over if it was in any way offensive, condescending, or nasty.  I know I was “fired up” even perhaps on my soapbox when I wrote the post.

I wanted it to challenges the perceptions of professionalism for all of our readers.  And, BTW, the post never put down the Rebel in any way.  As a matter of fact, I was thinking of picking up the Rebel T2i – especially for LaDawn’s use. It’s the “video functionality” at such a reasonable price that has me interested.

The post was strongly worded for sure, but surely was not written to offend anyone.  It was written to “fire people up” and have them ask themselves if they felt they were indeed a “Pro.”  Being a real “professional”, as I said earlier, is more than just collecting a paycheck for shooting a job.

But there it was again, so many of the commenters apparently “offended” by my remarks about the fact that if you shoot a Rebel, you may not be a “Pro.” How I could I “put down” my loyal readership, many of whom are photographers just starting out. And whom, BTW, I appreciate very, very much.

Folks, the on going goal of this blog – it’s mission statement, if you will – is to constantly help, encourage, and hopefully inspire any photographer – young or mature, “aspiring photographers” to “seasoned professionals” and everyone in between.

Just re-read any of the more than 2150 posts to date; go back and review any of the over 110 Technique Tuesdays, browse any of the 100 Business Day Thursday posts, peruse over 600 images of the day complete with back story and EXIF data on each and every shot! The list goes on. 

My wife says DPT takes too much of our time, cuts into vacation, has us miss too many sunrises and sunsets together and I should cut it back. But I still continue to post regularly – 5 days a week – about 1,200 words a day.  Yes, It’s sort of like writing a term paper each day. It’s kind of a “part time” job at about 60+ hours of time invested each month.  But in all honesty, I truly enjoy doing it.

Over the years of my being in this this wonderful profession, I’ve morphed into a teacher, trainer, educator, and recently author. I find this to be a challenging, rewarding, and satisfying endeavor. I’ve mentioned to LaDawn many times, that I will probably sigh my last breath teaching someone somewhere.  I have no qualms about that either.  Sorry, not trying to be morbid here;~)

My point is this.  Since I have accepted the responsibility of being a “teacher”, I want to strive to be a good one, one that hopefully makes a difference. A long time ago, my good friend Wayne Byrne invited me to give a series of seminars for Art Leather, a prominent album company at the time. He followed up his request by saying to me, “Now, David, we don’t expect you to give your program in Cincinnati, a city normally on the list, and give all your secrets to your competition.”  I answered him by saying, “Wayne, if I ever put limits on where I teach, I could never call myself  a good teacher.”  We did the program in Cincinnati, Ohio that year.

Good teachers have to challenge themselves by always questioning themselves and their long held views.  They too, need to constantly re-evaluating their positions, content, and motivation for what they are doing.

More importantly good teachers need to challenge their students, get them thinking, make them re-evaluate their own positions. Challenges do not always result in a “warm fuzzy” teaching/learning relationship as last week’s post proved.

So back to the “burning question” – How Much Of A Professional Are You?  I thought the judge was pretty hard on Damaris Geese, the defendant.  In fact, I thought his forceful questioning is what sent her “over the top.” But, you know what, reality TV or not, why would anyone react so UNprofessionally in front of the whole world!? 

I felt sorry for Ms. Geese, but, you know, professionals don’t act that way.  Do you see what I’m trying to get to?  Being a “Professional” is far more than the gear you shoot.  A good part of being a true “Professional” is rooted in your attitude.  That includes your attitude and honesty towards yourself, your clients, your gear, your demeanor, and your profession.

And by the way, being a “part timer” does NOT mean that you are less than a true professional.  I love seeing and meeting these photographers at Imaging USA, WPPI, at many of my seminars, and workshops.  And, I will do my best to answer questions, give a little advice when asked, and most of all, always encourage them with their photographic endeavors.

Many of these people I meet are professionals in the truest sense of the word.  They are eager to continue to learn; they treat their clients with the utmost respect and will bend over backwards to satisfy them; they may not be shooting with the latest greatest gear, but at least their gear is of “pro” quality – and they know how to use it; and they know they are in this profession for the long run and hopefully, one day, will be able to transition to full time status.

David Ziser

As a combination of the tough economy and advances in technology, virtually anybody can call themselves a professional photographer these days. The market is filled with “wannabe” professionals who have absolutely no right to call themselves photographers, let alone professionals.  Every day we hear more horror stories of “professionals” charging too little, not delivering images on a timely basis and presenting images that aren’t any better than Uncle Harry would have captured.

The sad thing is there are so many places to get help and elevate the quality of their work.  Scott Bourne and I started the GoingPro project to provide new photographers with material to help them address the business and marketing side of photography. WPPI and IUSA, both coming up in the next ninety days, offer photographers dozens of workshops and programs to expand their skill set.  DIMA, sponsored by PMAis offering attendees two days of intense programming, including Kevin Kubota teaching a series of lighting techniques.

Then there are books and DVDs published by some of the finest photo educators in our industry, all available to everybody. Software Cinema and Photoshop Cafe offer great videos at reasonable costs. Kevin Kubota’s new Lighting Notebook is destined to be a best seller. Kenny Kim, Dane Sanders, David Ziser, Eddie Tapp, Jerry Ghionis, Doug Gordon, Matthew Jordan Smith, Bambi Cantrell andSandy Puc are just a few who come to mind with books, DVDs and que cards all designed to give you help.

Last on the list, are webinars, many of them absolutely free,  from companies like Profoto, X-rite and Creative Live, again, just to name a few.  And there’s even more from magazines like my favorite, RETV, with an entire series of interviews with great photographers, all designed to help you grow in the craft.

We can’t do anything about those people who jump into the industry claiming to be professionals and only looking for a fast buck. Every industry has them.  What we can do is encourage new photographers and established ones as well to take advantage of every opportunity to raise the bar on the quality of their images and their presentations.

There are more educational tools available today than at any time in the history of photography.  Are you taking advantage of all the opportunities?

Everyone reading this blog knows that I’ve been doing wedding photography for quite a while. I’ve seen lots of changes in our profession over the many years, but none have been so game changing as with the introduction of digital cameras.

In the wedding business, it even took a few years for many of the pros to make the switch.  I personally made the switch to digital in 2000. It was scary just like anything else you try that is new.  No problem, we made the switch, and I have to tell you, I would never go back to film.  

In the wedding industry, in the early days of digital, things were pretty calm.  Many were making their switch and the competition from  new photographers was a little more even keeled than in today’s market.

But things started to change about two years ago. Cameras got cheaper, Facebook got famous, everybody started blogging, Craig’s List became popular, and cameras got even cheaper still. Now everyone with a new Digital Rebel or Nikon D3000 wanted a piece of the wedding market.

Don’t leave yet – it gets even more interesting, hence the topic of today’s post – “How Much Of A Professional Are You?”

Last week a friend of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video of Judge Joe Brown lambasting into a so called “professional photographer”.  The bride booked a photographer and after seeing their images from their wedding, felt they were not representative of what the photographer showed as her samples. 

The bridal plaintiff basically wanted a refund of $1000 of the $1300 she paid to the “professional photog”. The judge awarded the bride, not the $1000 she asked for, but $2500 in damages!!!

My first intent was to post this as kind of a “humor” piece – lousy photographer gets what she deserves.  But, upon reflecting on it I decided it was a much more serious issue that that.  Here’s why…

The “pro photographer” was shooting the wedding with a Canon Rebel with a “kit” lens, had the images processed at WalMart, and delivered then to the bride in the WalMart parking lot.  The sign of a true “professional” – right? Wrong!!!

Judge Joe Brown didn’t see it that way either asking the photographer why she wasn’t shooting with a pro camera like a Canon 1D, 5D, or 7D.  It seems the judge knows his cameras and a little something about wedding photography, too. He didn’t come right out and say it, but it looked to me like the judge may  have shot a wedding or two.

OK, like I said, I planned to just post it for the “giggle” but then some thing happened while at WPPI.  I attended a program by one of the presenters and was surprised by what I heard.  Not by what the presenter said, but what I heard after she said it.

She mentioned that in her early days of shooting she used a Canon Rebel.  About 25% of the room cheered her remark – they must be Canon Rebel shooters too – at least that was my impression of their response.  It seems to me that this section of the audience felt vindicated by their use of this amateur camera for shooting events that should be shot with professional gear.

That seems both scary and sad to me. A wedding is a once in a lifetime event for most folks out there. When a photographer books a wedding, they assume a lot of responsibility for the outcome of their photographic result. How is it they can feel they are delivering “pro” results with “amateur” cameras.

DAZNOTE:

That presenter by the way, now shoots with Canon’s top line EOS Canon 1D cameras.

This whole attitude; “I’ve got my Canon Rebel or Nikon D50 and some business cards. I’ve got my Facebook page, I like shooting pictures, I’ve got my blog, etc. , etc., etc. I must be a professional.” To me it shows a total lack of professionalism when any photographer engages a client for the job of shooting the wedding and shows up as “Amateur Anne or Andy”.

We have been witnessing the “cheapening” of wedding photography over the last 2 – 3 years.  It has put good studios out of business, sacrificed quality photography for brides, created an entire era of paperless, picture-less couples, given wedding photographers and wedding photography a bad name, and does a major disservice to all the real “pros” in our business.

So to those who cheered the use on the Rebel as a wedding camera, I suggest you think twice before booking you next wedding.  I suggest you ask yourself just how much of a real “pro” you are. Do you really know your gear, your lenses, your lighting? Do you really know what shots to capture at the wedding? Do you know how to handle yourself in an emergency situation like when your gear fails?  Can you still capture the images? These are just a few of the questions real professionals know how to answer.

If you are having trouble answering any part of them, you may want to change that or you too just may find yourself in front of Judge Joe Brown.

-’Nough said          David Ziser

In today’s post, David leads into the topic of how you talk about your competitors after listening to the conversation between a couple who had recently attended a bridal fair.

I’ve heard so many photographers slam their competition, instead of talking about their own merits. Remember your grandmother’s line about, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about somebody, don’t say anything!” Well, the same rule applies to your business and David brings it all together in this post and his mother obviously knew my grandmother.

If you’re not already following David atDigital ProTalk then put him on your radar and check in at least once a week to see what new techniques and thoughts he’s sharing. I can promise you one thing – you won’t be disappointed.

…What struck me was their remarks about their experience at a recent bridal show. They remarked about the apparent lack of professionalism from many of the photographers they encountered at the show. They felt most photographers never really engaged THEM about THEIR wedding plans. The conversations were mostly about the photographer themselves or putting down the competition.

That got me thinking about today’s topic. Why would anyone ever trash the competition or even talk negatively about them at all? It’s about selling YOUR product and service to the prospective client, isn’t it? Trashing the competition is counter-productive to that goal.

I still hear similar “trash” remarks about my business occasionally in Cincinnati, Ohio – remarks like, “He’s too expensive. You can get somebody cheaper.” These remarks came from a bridal consultant that I, on the rare occasion, share an event. This same consultant has a reputation for putting down her own competition in her own field too – pretty sad.

To me, trashing the competition would better be called “brain dead marketing”. Am I ever going to recommend this consultant to any of my clients? I can assure you that I am not – ever! By trashing your competition, you basically close the door on any referral business coming from the person who was trashed. That just makes no sense to me. The bottom line is that it is just bad business to trash anyone to a perspective client.

As I built my business, I always made it a policy to talk positively about my competition all the time – no exceptions. I even had several of the LOCAL photographers attending my Master Classes. I really never cared that I was teaching them my “tricks of the trade”.

If I was ever booked up on a weekend, I would recommend the caller to a photographer whom I thought would do a good job for them on their wedding day. You know, I think my “competition” enjoyed the positive nod from me. My policy, in addition to being totally professional, also created a nice relationship between myself and my competition.

In fact many of those relationships created quite a bit of referral business TO ME from my “competition” – not a bad deal. You know, if people know you respect them, they will return that same respect. And having the respect of your competition in just plain good for business.

Regardless of where you are in your professional growth, be sure you always offer your respect to those who deserve it. To those who don’t, just stay “mum” on them. Like my Mama always used to say, “If you can’t say something nice about somebody, then just don’t say anything at all.”   David Ziser

Since last weekend was the anniversary of the year Scott got this shot, it’s so appropriate to run his story. There’s a really easy point to remember this morning. Every person in business today, photographer or not, has visions of the way they’d like things to be. Some ideas are easy, the low-hanging fruit, and are implemented right away. Others are more complex and take more to turn them into reality.

Scott stayed focused, pun intended, and the result is not only a spectacular image, but a symbol of an expression of my grandmother’s – “Patience is a virtue!” or, if she was alive today, she’d be telling me “No pain no gain!” 

Copyright Scott Bourne 2008 – All Rights Reserved 

Here’s the story of my image – “Cranes in the Fire Mist.”

Slightly more than 12 years ago, I saw an image by my friend Arthur Morris. It contained a lake full of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese and Ross’ Geese, backlit by a blazing, golden sun.

The image struck me to the point that I spent the last 12 years trying to re-create my own version of it.

In the image I pre-visualized, there would be one or two birds flying into the pond while the others waited to take off. It’s an almost impossible scenario because a number of factors have to converge in a perfect storm for it to work.

First, I knew it would probably have to be made at Bosque del Apache. This is one of the few places where that particular combination of birds occurs in large quantities.

Next, it would have to be made in the winter when both the birds, and the weather conditions would provide the chance for the visuals to work.
 
Next, you have to find a pond that the birds like, which offers a good view to the east so that the sunrise will backlight the pond.

The fourth step in this improbable scenario involves the fog and/or mist. This occurs when the ground temperature is cold, around freezing, and warm humid air collides – causing the temperature of the air to lower to the point that you get fog. In other words, if it’s too dry, too warm, or too cold, you don’t get mist.

Fifth hope that the birds show up at all.

Next on the list, you need a cloudless day. This is important because that produces a golden sunset. If there are lots of clouds, you’ll get different colors, which might be nice, but in my mind, I wanted a golden hue to be the basis for the image. So no clouds.

Then, you need the birds to wait for the sunrise before they take off. You never know when they’ll take off for the day. The two days previous to making this shot, the birds flew out before dawn – in the dark, so when the sun rose, there were no birds in the scene.

Next, I had to hope for a moment when one or two birds were isolated enough to fly into the pond before the rest of the flock took off. I thought this was important for balance. I knew this last bit would involve the most luck, but I really wanted it.

Lastly, you have to hope for a west or northwest wind. There is only a 25% chance of this happening on any given day.

So if you’re following along thus far, you should have the following requirements on your list.

1. Travel to New Mexico
2. Be there in the winter
3. Find the right pond – one that allows an eastern exposure
4. Hope for fog/mist
5. Make sure that you get the right mixture of birds
6. Hope for no clouds
7. The birds have to wait for the sunrise before they fly-out
8. Wait for birds to fly into the scene before the others leave
9. The winds have to come from the west or northwest

So here I found myself faced with the perfect conditions. For years I had been traveling to find this image, and the day had come.

The image I pre-visualized was very strong in my mind. I credit the success of the final shot to having such a strong idea of what I wanted to create.

As I drove to the refuge that morning, my heart started to beat a little quicker than usual. I saw the bald, blue sky that I had bemoaned the night before, since it kept me from making the sunset shot I wanted.

I looked at the thermometer on my truck and saw that the temperature was exactly 32 degrees – the freezing point.

I saw the golden glow of the sun starting to creep up over the far eastern mountain range.

I had my D3 already set up and ready to go, mounted with the Sigma 300-800 f/5.6 zoom lens. I had preset my ISO to 800 and my shooting mode to Aperture-priority. I wanted to make sure I was wide open to keep the background from becoming too prominent against the foreground birds.

Because fog and backlit subjects often confuse camera meters, I dialed in plus two stops of exposure compensation to allow a little more light into the shot.

I sat the Sigmonster on a Wimberley Head II, mounted atop a sturdy Gitzo tripod. I made double sure to tighten, and re-tighten the tripod legs to get a sturdy mount. I also made sure the KirkPhoto lens plate was securely affixed to the head. I didn’t want any accidents.

I extended the big zoom lens out to 800mm, took a deep breath, tried to steady myself, assumed the best shooting posture I could, and said a quick prayer to the photo-Gods, reminding them of all the time I put into getting this shot over the years, asking that this time, THIS time, all things could come together for that perfect moment.

I saw the sun coming up. The mist began to glow. For a moment I was fearful that the birds were about to blast off before the time was perfect. I knew I’d only have about a two-minute window to get the perfect shot.

I made a quick test exposure and checked my histogram. Fortunately, I had it right. The shot was at 1/4000th of a second.

As the sun came over the mountain I began to fire. Out of excitement, I was shooting a little too carelessly. Part of me was thinking “safety shot.” After 12 years I wanted to get SOMETHING! Then, I guess my experience and training took over. I started being more deliberate. But despite that fact, the next two minutes were a blur. I later realized that I made 43 exposures – in short bursts, at nine frames per second.

It dawned on me that the perfect storm of circumstances was nearly upon me. Then the truly improbable happened. I spotted two lone Snow Geese just out of my field of vision on the right. They were headed straight for the pond. This was the perfect moment. As Bresson called it – “The Decisive Moment.”

I took a deep breath, lined up the angle of the geese on approach, guessed at their flight path, and let go with a nine-shot burst. The birds landed. The rest took off. The sun rose so high the color left the scene. The decisive moment had passed. There would be no second chance. And it didn’t matter, the buffer was full anyway. I breathlessly waited for the image to appear on the back of the camera.

I almost yelled like a little kid when I saw it. You can’t really tell if something is sharp on the DSLR LCD but I knew it. I knew that I had it. I am not sure, but I think I let out a little “woot.” Some photographers standing a few yards looked in my direction.

I immediately left the field, took that flash card out of the camera, and safely put it into my card carrier.

The remainder of the morning I busied myself helping workshop participants make great images. But the hours that ensued were agonizing. I couldn’t wait until the lunch break so I could get back to the hotel room, offload the card, back it up and then check the image in Aperture.

When I first saw it full screen on the MacBook Pro I knew I had it. A few minutes of clean up, cropping and levels adjustment, aided by some slight tweaking of the existing color–gave me the prize.

I am grateful for the result, and hope that by talking about this experience here with everyone else, you’ll see that pre-visualization and patience can pay off. Regardless of whether or not you like my image, I hope you can see that never giving up can give YOU the chance you need to make YOUR dream photograph.

Thanks for indulging me and letting me share this personal experience with you.

P.S. I forgot to mention that for some strange, weird reason that I can’t articulate, I was hearing the score to Jurassic Park – (the closing credits) in my mind as I made the final shot. Imagine that!

It’s my favorite time of year from a business perspective. This is a time when we’re all wrapping up the previous year and at the same time laying the foundation for the future. David hits hard on those people who are surrounding you with negative feedback.  There’s rarely anything you do that can’t be changed, tried a different way or just scratched and done over.

The issue is, some times you just have to take risks and there will always be somebody playing Monday morning quarterback telling how you should have done it. So, follow David’s suggestions, stay on course with what your heart tells you to do and don’t “should on yourself!

And there’s lots more great post and techniques on David’s blog! If he’s not already on your weekly schedule check it out!

Every now and then I receive an email or read a comment about one of my posts which asks the “What IF” question. So what is a “What IF” question? Let me explain. Have you ever been really excited about something? Are you just burning to give it a try? You share your idea and they get pretty fired up too. Then it happens, somebody in the crowd starts poo-pooing the whole idea – “It won’t work because of this or because of that”, or “I don’t think…”, “I wouldn’t try…”, “I can’t…”, “You shouldn’t….” Negativeness all around. You get the idea.

The thing you were really excited about starts getting shot down right out of the gate. I wonder, sometimes, why people take that tact in the discussion. Why don’t the “What IF” people first get excited about the concept and add to the positive energy of the discussion. Once the idea or concept starts to blossom, then take a more critical look at the possibilities, positive and negative. To lob the negative “What IF” comments into the discussion early on is to pluck the new buds off the idea before it even has a chance to blossom. What’s the point of that?!

I might post a new idea or a creative concept that I think would be very beneficial to our readers. Sure, we might have to work out the bugs as we do with anything new, but with the bugs worked out, all these new doors of opportunities open up for us. But then the occasional negative response is posted.

Let me be more specific. A few weeks ago, I posted about how we are using the GoToMeeting software to stay in much closer touch with our out-of-town clients. It works like a charm, by the way. There was a p00-poo comment posted after the article. I’m not trying to step on the commenter’s toes, but the comment raised the question about what happens if during the client presentation the GoToMeeting server goes down?

What happens if the client is at my studio and we loose power? We had that happen before, by the way. Simple – apologize, reschedule – no big deal. Anyway, on with my rant.

It’s this negative “What IF” thinking that I find such a limiting way to approach new ideas and methodologies. Why do some people find that expressing the “negative” is “positive”? Wouldn’t creative position discussion offer much more efficient, creative, and profitable opportunities in our businesses and also in our lives?

How many times have you been guilty of throwing roadblocks up in your own lives with the famed “What IF” response to an idea or a possible solution without first considering the positive aspects of that idea or solution? I guess it’s a bit of the “glass half empty vs. half full” way of thinking. I feel it’s a self defeating way to approach something new, a new concept, technique, new idea.

I think that at the very least, the “What IF ” responses should be reserved for the later part of any meetings or discussions when the topics revolve around new ideas, new possibilities, new options that could make things more beneficial in our lives and our businesses. The first blush of any discussion should always embrace the positive. It’s this positive energy that breeds more exciting off-shoots from the original idea. Kicking in a negative “What IF” statement early on in the process is tantamount to snuffing the fires of creativity, creativity that could make the original idea even a better than ever before. The early idea needs to take root and grow into something viable and possible. Only at that time should we invite the “What IF” questions into the discussion.

This is not to say that the “What ifers” should be denied their say. LaDawn prefers to play “devils advocate” quite often to explore all possibilities. Everyone brings something to the table when discussing something new and exciting. I think the “What ifers” should also contribute to the positive aspects of the discussion early on. It should be a preferred requirement, a standing rule – in the creative process of discussion. The creative process can get derailed early on with the “What if” grenades tossed into the discussion too early.

What’s the bottom line? I think any business meeting or discussions meetings whose purpose it is to explore new ideas, new technologies, new solutions, and new possibilities need to thrive in a healthy, live sustaining environment of positive discussion and interaction. These kinds of meetings to be inclusive of everyone that’s come to the table with the stipulation that all positive aspects of the new idea are discussed first.

Only after the meeting has prospered with the positive aspects of the discussion should the “What IFs” be introduced. Let’s explore the “What IFs” and see if the new idea really is a great idea. Let’s not pull the rug out from under the idea, concept early on. Be patient with the process and many more ideas will be fostered in your business and your lives.

Please don’t be an “Early on what IF” person. It slows down positive energy; it disguises possibilities; it hampers creativity; it slows down life. Living a “What IF” life is only living half a life, because that’s all you have left when you take the “IF” out of LIFE.