I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions – I always figured, if I saw a change I needed to make in my self or my life, why not make it then? Why wait?

Well, for the same reason we eat too much around the holidays, put off going to the doctor too long when we’re sick, and spend more time trying to learn photography in front of a computer instead of behind the lens – we are imperfect creatures.

We need a catalyst to make change so immediate and important that we get off our butts and do what’s right instead of what’s easy.

So here we sit together, on the brink of 2012 – let’s look at 12 ways we can make this year the best in our lives as part time professional photographers.

1. You are your own worst enemy – Procrastination

I’d bet good money your first gut reaction to seeing this subhead was to put off reading it. Odds are you felt that uncomfortable twist inside that says, “Meeeeh, I’ll come back to that later.”

I’ll tell you honestly and up front, Procrastination and its conjoined twin Inaction are by far the biggest reasons your business is not where you dream it to be.

You know the dreams – when you read something inspirational, or you start to get something done to better your business, or you get a big compliment on your art, or in that twilight time between laying down and falling asleep – that time when your heart’s desires manifest themselves in wonderful half-moment visions of what your business and your life could be like, “If only…”

Your ego’s defense mechanism is of course the excuse – “If only I had time,” “If only I had more money,” “If only I had a better camera…”

Horsesh*t.

But you didn’t need me to tell you that, you already know it. Sometimes our egos sound like 4-year-olds – they whine and make up excuses with absolutely no connection to reality. But just like little kids, often we let our egos get away with it.

2012 is the year to give your ego a swift kick in the arse.

(Complete aside: While covering a local school board meeting here in Texas for the newspaper, my coworker overhead a few members of the board of trustees talking about spanking kids – one said spanking was ineffective and barbaric, another said such punishment was an act of teaching and love, and the third said, “Well then my daddy suuuure must have loved me!”)

The first step to beating procrastination’s butt is to recognize it and call it out to its face. When you should be taking action of any kind – walking out the door to practice your art, reading your camera manual and practicing to better understand shutter speed and F-stops, updating photos on your Facebook page or blog – and then you don’t, you need to stop everything and at the least acknowledge what you are doing, that you are putting off something that would benefit your business or life because it scares you in some small way.

Just the act of consciously acknowledging an act of procrastination can begin to empower you against it.

The next step is to do “just five minutes” or “just 15 minutes” of work. The hardest part of any act, any project, is to start doing it. Reading, studying, learning, thinking, absorbing – that’s the easy part, of course, because it requires no real effort, and there’s no risk involved. Taking action imparts the risk of failure, which we all have an absolutely disproportionate fear of. Start with baby steps.

And of course the final step is to follow through. You’ve packed your clubs, you’ve driven to the golf course, you’re on the first tee and you’ve drawn back to hit the ball down the fairway – let loose. You’ve got 18 holes to go, and you’ll never score until you finish them all.

Projects, goals of any kind, take focused effort to complete – and don’t fool yourself into thinking that becoming a better photographer is a passive act. Certainly, making any photo is better than making none, but real progress as a professional artist comes as you take on specific challenges – bettering your grasp of manual camera controls, improving how you pose subjects in relation to your light source to make their eyes dazzle, practicing and adding one specific new scene to your must-shoot list.

Honestly, you can skip the next 11 suggestions if you’re going to ignore this one. If you don’t overcome procrastination, you’ll never get around to them anyway.

As the goddess of victory commands, “Just Do It.”

2. Imitate your way to the top

Pick a photographer whose art you really love. Not some over-the-top weird artsy type whose work belongs in a turtleneck-magnet gallery, but someone who is obviously doing very well in the industry of professional portrait photography.

Now do whatever it takes to shoot just like them.

Don’t copycat their work of course, but make them your subject of study as you learn to improve your art and make it more attractive, more salable to your market.

“But, but, but, I’m an artist! I’m a unique and precious snowflake and I must carve my own path lest I stifle my creative spirit!”

Well Princess, you learn to walk before you dance – you have to learn to make serviceable, salable photography before you set out to revolutionize the industry.

As marketing guru Seth Godin so precisely puts it, you don’t have to be the best in the world – just the best in their world, in the world of your target market.

You limit your growth as a photographer when you invest all your focus into creating “new” art instead of learning the nuts and bolts of how other successful professionals earn a living. I could trim my entire portfolio down to about six shots and do those same six shots every shoot from now until retirement and make an honest living doing it. That wouldn’t be very fun or exciting, but it’s the truth – you’ve got to consistently nail the basics, your foundational salable shots, before you can begin to successfully play and create from imagination and vision.

It will come, and it’s a great place to be as a photographer, when you can quickly knock out your basics during a shoot and then just play and flow throughout the rest of your time with a subject. As an artist, as a creative type, it’s both fun and satisfying.

Until then, choose a photographer to study and imitate, and work toward equaling both their technical and artistic abilities. Study each image, each scene, each setup – study the lighting, the catchlights in the subjects’ eyes, the posing, the background, the colors and textures – learn what makes each image tick, then practice those parts until you can consistently recreate the whole.

This kind of specific, purposeful, guided learning will help you make much better photos much faster than the typical scattershot, passive practice most photographers employ.

Once you’ve mastered one photographer’s repertoire, choose another, better photographer, and learn their work. It can take months, years if your practice time is limited, but just being on equal artistic footing with a successful professional opens so many doors to your own financial success – and the resultant time and artistic freedoms that come with it.

3. Get your web site right

Bless your heart, but you don’t know what you’re doing.

I say this with all the southern gentility I can muster. It’s nothing personal, it’s no affront to you as an artist, but photographers are no more web designers than your dentist is an optometrist.

If your business is off the ground and you’re turning a profit, one of the first places you should invest those profits is into an inexpensive but professional web site. Just like in the start-up end of the photography market, there are plentiful talented-if-inexperienced web designers ready to do good work for honest pay. Their grasp of code and layout and search engine optimization at their worst is better than yours at your best – you neither can nor should “do it all.”

There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but far more often than not I see budding professional photographers with perfectly salable art wrapped in a broken, ugly, Do It Yourself mess of a web site. Or a WordPress blog straight off the default template.

The profits from just 2-3 photo shoots will afford you a far better web site. Keep in mind, your web site does work for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week – give it the investment it deserves to do the best job it can for you. You don’t need to spend a thousand dollars on a custom site far beyond the scope of your present work – all you need is a home page, a portfolio gallery, an About page, a blog, and a contact page.

If you’ve yet to turn a profit or charge for your work (see No. 12 on this list), draw on the talents and advice of anyone you know with web design experience. A six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine is often enough compensation to have a friend over to help you go over your site and make improvements. Start with a simple WordPress blog site where you can post fresh photos every week and develop from there. Even the least technical among us can change the logo out, set up pages and make posts to a WordPress site – if you have trouble with it, just visit the Google or watch the YouTubes.

Along with your business card and e-mail newsletter, your web site is an equal part of the core of your business marketing – if you’re more interested in what new lens or flash you’ll buy next instead of having your web site given a professional’s touch, your priorities are misplaced.

4. Set a Facebook and blog posting schedule

All of my business comes from Facebook and word of mouth – which, here in the digital age, are pretty much the same thing.

Around 2005 is when MySpace became my biggest source of clients. When Facebook took over, so went my clientele.

Facebook is all about being where your market is. Easily three out of every four times a client contacts me to set up a shoot, it’s through Facebook. Surprisingly often, I’ll never even talk with a client by phone or e-mail before or after our shoot – Facebook is instant, convenient, and a daily (if not hourly) stop for most folks.

Would I rather enjoy a chat on the phone or, better, a face-to-face visit with a client? Of course, but as the service provider it is not my place to force a consultation on a client who obviously prefers a digital medium – hence why they contacted me on Facebook in the first place.

My personal Facebook also serves as my professional presence – most folks prefer to keep the two separate, and Facebook even has different profile setups to provide specific accommodations for each.

Once you’ve set up your Facebook page for your business, you need to maintain it, alongside your blog on your business web site.

I like to post something to Facebook daily, and update my blog with a recent photo shoot weekly.

Facebook being a casual place, you don’t have to always post your latest professional work or only talk about your photography business – share links to local news, post a photo of your cat and tell a funny story – but just be sure that what you post is something of interest and appropriate to your target market. Be creative, have fun, add value.

On my blog I stick to highlights and commentary about recent photo shoots, and photo stories of fun or interesting life events. I try to pack each post with good keyphrases, writing conversationally but with purpose while including terms potential clients may use on Google when searching for a local photographer. I try to include the names of all the locations my client and I shot at, where they went to school if they did so locally, etc.

Make posting to Facebook a daily part of your routine, and pick a day of the week (I’m partial to Sunday evenings) to update your blog with fresh photos. It only takes a few minutes, but the free exposure you get with your target market is unmatched by any other venue.

5. Be Wise – Advertise

Getting your name and art out there for potential clients to see is one of the biggest challenges photographers face as they make the transition to paid professionals.

Early on, the problem is not that your art is bad, it’s that your marketing is nonexistent. It’s not that everyone thinks you suck, they just don’t think about you at all.

Advertising to me is the paid arm of marketing – print ads in your local newspaper, postcards in the mail, a billboard out on the highway, your Google AdSense campaign, that sort of thing. You trade your hard-earned dollars for access to the eyeballs of thousands of potential clients.

Despite the fact that my day job for the past 13 years has been with a newspaper, I am a very frugal and measured supporter of paid advertising. “Any advertising” does not equal “good advertising.” Any act of marketing you undertake should have an intended result from a specific, targeted set of people. If you want to book more newborn baby shoots, don’t advertise in your local paper’s automotive section, unless there’s an article on car seats. Make sense?

Advertising is the quick and easy way to get in front of a market, but it’s also scattershot – it’s often inexpensive because it’s mass marketing. The more targeted the advertising venue, the more expensive it is.

Advertising is also a process of placement, measurement, and adjustment – it is not something you just do and hope you book more shoots. Advertising has to be done over time, the results must be measured, and adjustments should be made to make your advertising dollars more effective.

For example, at my newspaper you can run a one-column by one-inch display ad for $8 a week. The cost isn’t exorbitant, and the ad will reach around 8,000 people each week. Odds are, 400 (five percent) of those people invest in professional portrait photography at all. Maybe 20 (five percent) of those people are in the market for portraits right now. I’ll do well if one (five percent) of those people sees my ad and calls me to book a shoot. But assuming I make more than $8 on that shoot, my money was well-invested.

Unfortunately, while advertising salespeople like to suggest there’s a formula to guarantee a certain amount of business from an ad, people are infinitely unpredictable creatures. You may run an ad for a month and never get a bite from it. You may stop advertising and six months down the road have someone call you and say they saw your ad in the paper months before and finally got around to calling you. It’s almost random.

Almost.

Over weeks and months and years, you can run consistent advertising and get fairly consistent results from those ads. You’ll learn through your measurements what months are better than others, and what promotions to advertise when to get the best results. Every market is different, and unless another locally advertising photographer wants to clue you in, you’ll have to go through the learning process yourself.

It’s not an inexpensive education, but it’s fun, and almost always if you stay frugal, the return on your investment will have been worth the cost. Keep in mind that every new client is a potential repeat client – every subject with whom you shoot is worth far more than the first sale you make with them, both in repeat business and word of mouth.

That said, my newspaper also sells full-page color ads for over a thousand dollars for a single week’s placement – just because an advertising option exists doesn’t make it a smart choice for your business. Should the local liquor store take out a half-page color ad in the paper the week before New Year’s? Of course. Should you bump the size of your family portraiture ad in November while promoting Christmas card photos? Of course.

Spend as little as possible on advertising, and only spend more when there’s a clear and profitable purpose for doing so.

Salespeople will give you a million reasons why you should spend more money – that’s their job. Holt tight to your pursestrings, and only invest within your means.

6. Volunteer your talents

Volunteering with a worthwhile charity has long been one of my first suggestions to newly-minted professional photographers. It gives you great face time with potential clients, it gives you an established venue where your art can be seen, and it’s just a good thing to do for your community. Do right by folks and they’ll do right by you.

Charitable organizations often have many needs for professional photography:

• Portraits of founders
• Annual individual and group portraits of board members
• Photos to accompany news and press releases
• Photos of fundraising events
• Photos and photo stories of the beneficiaries of the charity’s work

Explore your community for a charity with a cause you support and that has some connection to your target market.

For example, we have several local non-profits that help high schoolers earn scholarships in a wide variety of fields. High school seniors being my specialty, I attend their events to provide photos for the newspaper, I set up a mobile studio and do stylish portraits at their annual prom fashion show, I donate gift certificates for photo shoots to their silent auctions, etc.

There’s always a way to help, and the rewards both social and financial are more than worthwhile.

7. Set up a photo event

Most folks don’t need professional photos, they need a reason.

This is true of almost all sales and marketing – you don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. Hardly anyone who buys a new car needs a new car. They need transportation; good marketing makes them desperately want a specific car.

A photo event can give potential clients just the reason they need to invest in fresh portraits for themselves or their families.

Bunnies and baby chicks at Easter, Halloween costume contests, sitting on Santa’s knee at Christmas – yeah, I hear you, it’s cliche and done to death, but there’s a reason. It pays.

Three weeks ago my wife and I took the kids to the Bass Pro Shop in San Antonio, and there were so many families in line to pay to be photographed with Santa that the store had to use a ticketing system and offered everything from a remote control truck arena to an in-store merry-go-round to ease the misery of waiting parents.

Touching on the next tip in this list, you want to be the photographer hosting these events in your own community. Whether it’s for your apartment complex, your neighborhood, your city, your zip code, your potential clients would likely much rather spend their money with you and receive timely and personal service.

When I set up a photo event, I try to do the sales session directly after the shoot. For my Easter mini-shoot, we keep it super simple – we buy a bunch of stuffed animal bunnies in sizes from small to massive, make a big pile of them, and then photograph the kids hugging and playing with the toy bunnies. We spend 15 minutes shooting, five minutes culling, and 10 minutes selling. We book one shoot every 45 minutes for one or two days, depending on the number of bookings. If my wife and I double team, her doing photos while I do sales, we can pack twice as many shoots in a day without anyone feeling rushed.

Donate a portion of proceeds to a local non-profit, and you’ve got an instant press release for your local newspaper and radio station, both pre-event and post-event. We also do a drawing from our list of clients to give away the biggest, most expensive bunnies from the shoot, and donate the remaining stuffed animals to charity – local toy drives, the thrift store that benefits our local non-profit medical clinic, emergency services which gift stuffed animals to young children caught in stressful situations, and so on.

Photo events only grow in popularity with each event you host. I’m partial to frequent (weekly to monthly) promotions and quarterly photo events – more often of the latter if I’m targeting different markets. Even if a client doesn’t bite on your Easter promotion, they may at Christmastime.

Photo events give clients a motivational reason to finally get the photos taken they’ve been putting off for too long.

8. Own Your Zip Code

You can be somebody to someone or nobody to everyone – never cast your net too wide.

The more narrowly you can focus your efforts as an artist and business owner, the easier and more deeply you will reach within your target market.

It’s far easier to become the best baby photographer in your community when you’re not trying to be the best family-senior-industrial-corporate-fashion-commercial photographer at the same time – you dilute your artistic development and your marketing message in equal amounts.

Have you done your first paid shoot yet? If not, the entirety of your artistic and marketing efforts should be focused on that goal, that first paying client. Once you’ve shot one, focus everything on your next client, then the next, then the next. So many photographers prepare their business for shooting dozens of clients before they’ve landed their first, and they market to everyone when they have yet to make an impression on any one.

Define the kind of art you want to make (re-read item No. 2 on this list), choose a specific clientele you most enjoy working with (I love working with the energy and personalities of high school seniors), and direct your efforts toward earning the business of that clientele on the smallest reasonable scale – earn the business of friends and family first, then neighbors, then of the folks who attend your church, then the folks who shop at the same businesses you do (hair stylists, for example), and onward.

Your market can always be broken down into small, manageable, reachable sets of people. When you do so, the daunting task of “marketing your business” becomes much easier, an application of creativity to common sense in how to reach and impress those people. Own Your Zip Code – be the best in their world.

9. Get photographed

By way of arrogance or ignorance, photographers rarely have their portrait taken. Indeed, the cobbler’s children have no shoes.

Photographers will pay a thousand dollars for a “guru” to tell them how to perform a photo shoot and sale, but they won’t pay $50 to $150 to just go to a successful photographer and have their portrait taken. If you’re astute, pay attention, and write down notes after the experience, the resultant gold nuggets of wisdom will be very similar.

Soak up the experience from initial exposure through booking, shooting, selling, and delivery.

Here’s my process:

• Pick a nearby community that you don’t particularly serve.
• Go online and search for a photographer in that community. Where does their web site place in the Google results? Why? What keyphrase did you search for, and how does their web site capture that keyphrase? In the title? The domain? In the body copy? In a blog post?
• Visit their web site and note your first impressions – does it load fast? Is their art attractive? Is their site easy to navigate? Does it answer all your questions? If not, such as if the photographer doesn’t list prices online, does the site provide easy ways to contact the photographer?
• E-mail the photographer and ask any questions the site didn’t answer – pricing, current promotions, booking, etc. Study their response – how long did it take them to get back to you? Was their response friendly and professional? Did their e-mail include a call to action – did they ask for your business, or ask you to take some other action? Was their e-mail signature professional and complete?
• Call the photographer and follow-up on the e-mail. Ask a couple more questions, then if you feel good about them as a consumer (as you would with any service provider), book a shoot with them. How did they answer the phone? Did they answer at all, or go to voicemail? If they went to voicemail, was the greeting professional and helpful? Did they guarantee a call back within a certain amount of time? How long before they called back? When you did speak to them, how was their phone etiquette? Were they aggressive, impatient, or friendly and helpful? Was the booking process easy? Were they booked solid, or did they have accommodating hours and options for different days of the week?
• Between booking and your shoot, did the photographer e-mail you after the phone call to thank you for booking and provide more information? Did the photographer send a reminder e-mail before your shoot?
• During the shoot, pay attention less to the photographer’s artistic specifics and more to how they treat you and make you feel, how they elicit comfortable and natural expressions from you and your family. Watch more for methods they use when working with you as a subject than what their specific artistic choices are – the latter you can appreciate during the proofing and sales session. At the end of your shoot, did you feel the photographer did a good job? Did they tell you when your proofs would be available for viewing, and how? Did they set up a date and time for the sales session?
• Some photographers proof online, some in person. Either way, measure how you feel about the process and experience. Were their online proofs easy to view and make selections from to purchase? Did the online process leave you with any unanswered questions? Did the photographer make suggestions as to which images might be best used for what purposes (wall hanging versus wallets, for example)? If you proofed in person, was the process comfortable? Did you feel pressured to buy more than you wanted? Did the photographer explain your buying options clearly? Did they photographer ask questions so they understood what it was you were looking to buy in the first place? Did they provide guidance or did they try to sell you what you didn’t want? Did they give you a solid date for delivery? Did their sales tactics and policies leave you feeling empowered, confused, taken advantage of, uncomfortable, or well taken care of?
• When the photographer delivered your purchase, is the presentation professional? Were you invited to join an e-mail list for future sales and promotions? Were you invited to like their Facebook page? Did the photographer ask to go ahead and pencil in your next photo shoot (for Christmas, or next year, for example)? Do you feel like what you were handed was worth what you paid? Would you work with this photographer again? Would you recommend him or her to your friends?

With all of these questions, try to write down notes from your experience, how you felt about each aspect, and what you wish they had done differently. From just one photo shoot as a consumer, whether the experience was good or bad, you can write a book of policies and procedures for your own business that will shape the experience your own clients will have with you, from start to art.

10. Break out of your comfort zone

Your comfort zone can single-handedly kill your business.

Everyone gets stuck in a rut sometimes, and the longer you’re in that rut, the harder it is to dig out. Even when staying in that rut has painful consequences, or is a miserable experience in itself, it’s what you know – it’s what you’re familiar with, and familiarity breeds comfort, which leads to complacency.

Human beings can learn to put up with a lot of unnecessary crap. Most corporate cultures are built on this reality.

It doesn’t take much introspection to see where our bad habits lie – procrastination, eating too much, reading too much and practicing too little – but we’re too good at giving ourselves a free pass. “I’ll do better tomorrow,” is right there with Joe’s Crab Shack and their “Free crabs tomorrow” deal – there’s always a tomorrow.

Breaking out of your comfort zone is like jumping out of an airplane – throw caution to the wind and Just Do It.

Should I starting charging for my work? Just Do It.

Should I call up my friend and set up a shoot with her so I can practicing my location lighting and poses? Just Do It.

Should I call myself a professional photographer if I’m not sure if I’m ready? Just Do It.

Should I leave the house and go photograph some Little League games today? Just Do It.

Should I go by the newspaper and see if they need any events photographed this week, in exchange for a byline? Just Do It.

Should I go to that children’s resale shop downtown and ask to set up a co-op marketing campaign with them? Just Do It.

Should I set up my Facebook page and tell my friends and family about it today? Just Do It.

Should I walk up to that attractive man or woman and tell him I’d love to photograph them for my portfolio? Just Do It.

Should I go by one of the local daycares and offer to do their annual portraits of the kids? Just Do It.

I think you get it – you’re just a shade better off in your comfort zone than you are with outright procrastination and inaction; in fact, like a trio of thugs, they are often seen hanging out together, sippin’ on forty’s and scheming how to steal your success from you today.

Don’t let them. You sure as hell wouldn’t have read this far if you didn’t truly want to make your photography business a success, to make your artistic and business vision a reality. If you feel fear or hesitation, you’re probably on the right track.

11. Relax

With all this talk of what you should do, here’s something you should not do: stress out.

The grognards will tell you you have to do this, do that, and then worry yourself into paralysis.

Never forget: you’re the boss. You’re in charge. You make the decisions, and you can change your mind any time you want, for any reason. You don’t have to follow the rules – you are the rulemaker.

Often we start our businesses with a take-charge sense of ownership, but by the time we’re done getting shot down, critiqued and “warned” of the many pitfalls ahead by the grognards, all of a sudden we’re submissive and feel we have to do what Soandso said or else we’ll surely fail and embarrass ourselves in front of the whole community.

When you feel overwhelmed, with how far you have to go as an artist or as a business owner, just relax. You’ll do no good for anyone if you burn out before you even get started.

This is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be profitable. It’s supposed to let loose the creative spirit within us. It’s supposed to be a joy – that’s why we’re doing this, right?

We are consistently our own worst enemy, our worst critic, our greatest challenge to overcome on our path to success. You can choose to worry, or you can choose to act.

My father’s advice always was, “Do something, even if it’s the wrong damn thing.”

As you make this mantra a part of your professional life, you learn that all the decisions we think are so huge at the time, in the end have so little influence on the outcome. Whether you charge this or charge that, offer this product or that, go with this logo and web site design or the other one, name your business this way or another, it’s all minutiae in the long run.

What counts is what you do.

If all else fails, remember what Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy.com, was told by his father: “Son, they can’t eat you.”

12. Get paid

It’s time.

I’ve been telling you for over two years now, it’s time to get paid. You’re reading this web site because you want to get paid – some of you need to get paid, and you’re still resisting. You’re letting the mortgage slide and credit card payments go late while giving away more “portfolio building” shoots.

If your friends and family have been telling you a while now that your work is good enough to charge for, or you’ve been asked, “Wow, you make great photos – how much would you charge to do my family photos?,” then it’s time for you to get paid.

I am all for portfolio-building shots. I am all about trading free shoots for subjects’ time so you can practice bettering specific aspects of your art.

But you’re good enough to charge. You have been for a while. Your art has value, it is not worthless – in fact, it’s a blessing to anyone with the opportunity to shoot with you. You will never stop getting better at this, so the time is nigh to get paid for your talents.

It’s time to hang your shingle, call yourself a professional (or pro-am), and do work. This is what you’ve been working toward, and 2012 is the time to do it.

No excuses.

No fear.

No procrastination.

No inaction.

No comfort zone.

I don’t care what you charge – but get paid for your time. Scribble some notes on a napkin, figure out what you reasonably want to earn for your time, and from now on that’s what a photo shoot with you will cost. You don’t have to charge a session fee or have a minimum order to get there, but start somewhere, anywhere, and you can grow from there. My bet is that you’ll earn more money than you think you will. As you grow, as an artist and business owner, so will your prices, and your profits.

You’ve been blessed with a talent, creative spirit, vision – you are imbued with the skills of a painter with light, a photographer. You are not reading these words by accident, you haven’t come as far as you have on a whim. I write these words for you, for your eyes, to address your fears and inspirations. I can say with complete surety, as you read this, you are ready to break free from your fears and grow toward infinity.

There are no limits. No one is stopping you.

Let go.

Then grab hold tight, because 2012 is going to be one hell of a sweet ride.

Next Steps

• Pen and paper time, mates. Quickly go over this article one more time, and for each section, write down your thoughts on how you’re going to do things differently in 2012. Keep your list to one sheet, and make your plan clear and specific to address each issue. Tack this to your wall or somewhere where you can read it every single day for the rest of this year. I am not kidding – make the study of this list a part of your morning routine. You will not believe the difference in attitude and progress you will see from this simple act.
• There is a lot to commit to in this article. Start here, and just work your way down the list: Vow to recognize procrastination every time it rears its head, to stop and acknowledge it, then to power through it.
• Head forth to the Flickr and find an artist whose portraiture you really enjoy. Find someone who makes beautiful photos, but obviously something your typical family would hang on their wall – practical, but absolutely lovely. This person is your new artistic muse – study their work and learn to imitate what makes them successful. In time, you’ll grow beyond this, but for now, lay your artistic foundation.
• Look at your web site. Be honest. Start over. Begin with simple, a blog if nothing else, and let your art be the centerpiece.
• Set up your Facebook page, set a day each week to blog on your site. Stick with it. If you miss one, don’t let it knock you off track – just get back on schedule as soon as possible.
• Seek out inexpensive but effective local advertising opportunities. Start with your local community newspaper.
• Pick a non-profit, and volunteer your photography services. If they can’t come up with an immediate use for you, move on to another non-profit.
• Pick a photo-friendly holiday coming up in the next few months (Easter a good option), and plan a photo event around it. Prepare the promotion, do a couple example shoots, pick a charity to donate a portion of proceeds to, ask a friend to set aside the date to give you a hand, collect any props you may need, visit with your community newspaper about a story or press release, arrange to update your advertising in advance of the event, post preview details to your Facebook and blog, and make it happen.
• Introspect about the kind of art you want to make, and the kinds of people you want to photograph. Exclude supermodels (or any models) from the results. Adopt the mindset that your business exists to serve this specific set of people, and let that guide you in all of your decisions of how to spend your time and money this year.
• Use the step-by-step instructions above to get photographed and use the resulting knowledge to nail down how you want to run your business.
• Step out of your comfort zone every day in a small way, every week in a medium way, every month in a big way. Eventually you will move through life with complete freedom of will.
• Relax. Learn some breathing techniques. Exercise and take up yoga or meditation. You’ve got to slow down if you want to get ahead.
• Set your prices. Know that you can change them at any time. When anyone asks, state your prices clearly, simply, and with confidence. It is what it is – if you don’t make a big deal of your prices, neither will your clients.
• Brainstorm session: Enough of my advice – what do you want to change about your business or your life in 2012? Write it down, and file this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
• If anything in this post has spoken to and inspired you, please comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call or text me at 830-688-1564 and let me know. I’d love to hear how you use the ideas here to better your part time photography business!

Similar Posts:

• How to find and partner with non-profits to better your photography business
• How to use coop marketing to instantly build your client list
• Top 15 Internet Marketing methods, from least to most effective, from Darketing to Arketing
• Vision: as a photographer, as a business owner
• To do with more what can be done with less, is vanity

Your clients are not your adversaries.

Despite how the grognards view their paying customers, and the advice they give to gifted young photographers like yourself just starting out in the business, the people you shoot and sell to are not your enemy.

In fact, it’s in your own financial interest to educate and empower your clients as fully as you can.

One way to do this is with a Client Prep Cheat Sheet.

This is a small set of general advice for clients to get the most out of their photo shoot. You don’t want to just assume that high school senior girl knows to freshen her nail polish the morning of the shoot – you don’t want to assume Dad knows to moisturize around his nose leading up to the shoot to avoid flaky, dry skin.

You can’t force your clients to perfect preparation, but you sure as heck can give them the knowledge necessary to do so. A photo shoot of any kind is no small investment for most families, so if you can give them the tools they need to make the best photos they can, you’re providing added value beyond just your artistic talents.

I talk often about creating a better experience for your customers, something you can do today, right now – no training and little to no practice necessary. Taking the time to put together a cheat sheet for clients to glean hints and tips from is another way to go beyond the ‘book, shoot, sell’ mentality of many established photographers.

What goes into your Client Prep Cheat Sheet

The best way to build your own cheat sheet for clients is to just go back through the shoots you’ve already done and identify all the shoulda’s – shoulda told her to bring hair clips for the wind, shoulda told him not to wear a shirt with a distracting print, etc.

We photographers could use a cheat sheet for our own preparations as well – and I’ll elaborate on this in a later article.

I sat down with my wife, who does all of our baby photography and has modeled for over a decade, to put together a list of suggestions and advice to share with your clients. Take what you like, toss what you don’t, and most importantly, grow and evolve your cheat sheet to address the shoulda’s you run into as you photograph more and more clients.

General Advice

• Hair – If you’re getting a hair cut for your shoot, do so about two weeks beforehand, just in case it goes wrong – you just never know. For men, a fresh cut a couple of days before the shoot is fine.
• Hair accessories – If you’re shooting outdoors, be ready to put your hair up and make it look nice in case of a windy day. Bring bobby pins, hair clips, headbands or any other favorite accessories.
• Glasses - If folks wouldn’t recognize you without glasses, you want to wear glasses in your shoot – however, the glare on glasses can detract from your eyes in photos. You can have your lenses removed from your frames for your shoot (don’t worry, it’s what Hollywood does to avoid glare in movies), ask your eye doctor to loan you a pair of similar frames, or you can also visit an inexpensive company online like Zenni Optical and buy a suitable pair of duplicate frames on the cheap.
• Red eyes – Visine is your friend. Not getting drunk the night before your shoot helps, too. [Don't think I kid, I've shot plenty of hung-over clients.]
• Lips – You will probably wipe or lick your lips during your shoot, so bring fresh lip gloss or lipstick to do touch-up. Use lip balm for a few days in advance of your shoot to make your smoochers look their best.
• Teeth – If you want to brighten your smile, start your treatments about two weeks before your shoot.
• Breakouts – Start using African Black Bar Soap for a week in advance of your shoot to help reduce and limit pimples and blemishes. Equally important, don’t cake on a lot of make-up to try to hide blemishes – it’s almost always easier to Photoshop away pimples than to clean up overdone make-up. For fever blisters, avoid getting them in the first place, then use Abreva if one pops up anyway.
• Make-up – A subtle application of make-up can really soften your skin and accent your facial features. But make sure you know what you’re doing, and make sure it matches your skin tone, or your face may look orange compared to the rest of your body.
• Facial hair – Men, be freshly shaved with a new razor, shaving cream and a moisturizing after-shave lotion to avoid bumps and redness. Trim up your board, sideburns, moustache or goatee, especially looking for wiry stray hairs. Ladies, even if you have some light facial hair (particularly around your lip or chin), indulge in a waxing in advance of your shoot – even barely-there light facial hair will be noticeable in your photos. Men and women both, pluck and clean up those eyebrows.
• Moisturizer – Dry skin can really detract from a great photo shoot. Start moisturizing nightly a week in advance of your shoot. When you get out of the shower, dry off until lightly damp, and slather on moisturizer. Focus on your arms, shoulders, neck, face, hands, anywhere you’ll be exposed to the camera. This includes your legs if you’re shooting in shorts or a skirt. ProTip: For dry skin on your face, especially around your nose, use a sugar scrub. Mix a cup of sugar with about a quarter cup of olive oil, or just until it looks like wet sand. Scrub your face with it anywhere you have flaky skin, wash it off, then wash with soap to remove the oil. The sugar paste shouldn’t be oily, just wet enough to moisten the sugar. Also, be sure on your face to use a facial moisturizer, not a thick body moisturizer, or you could break out. [Us men, of course, are most in need of this advice, especially around the face and hands.]
• Nails – A fresh coat of nail polish will make a world of difference in your photo shoot. Pick a neutral color that won’t distract in your shoot or clash with your outfits. Freshen the morning of the shoot, then be careful not to scuff it while prepping. [I see this most often with high school senior girls, to whom half-gone nail polish seems to be a popular fad.] Your photo shoot is a great excuse for a fresh manicure, but if you can’t go to the salon, make sure your nails look tidy and clean, including the cuticles.
• Bloating – Ladies, avoid high salt and high fat foods for two to three days in advance of your shoot. Being bloated will sap your confidence and comfort in front of the camera.
• Undergarments – Bra straps won’t do anything to help your outfit look its best. Be sure you bring a set of bras and strap-adjusting accessories to work with any outfit you want to shoot in to keep those straps well-hidden.
• Sun burns and tan lines – If your shoot is booked for Saturday, don’t go to the beach on Friday. If you plan to tan before your shoot, do so at least a week beforehand and don’t get burned. Be mindful of clothing tan lines, sunglass tan lines, hat tan lines, etc.
• Ironing - If you iron, iron the night before and then hang the clothes for your shoot. If you’re wearing something that wrinkles easily, don’t wear it in the car on the way to the shoot – just change at the location.
• Shoes – Ladies, can’t go wrong in heels or wedges. Men, clean’em up! Dress shoes are best [or boots down here in Texas], but as with most things, let your momma or your wife decide.

Here are some specific suggestions for certain types of shoots:

Maternity

• Moisturize that belly!
• Gather your props to bring along – ultrasound printout, alphabet blocks that spell your baby’s name, baby shoes, stuffed animals, flowers, whatever you’ve seen in other maternity photos that you like.
• Wear whatever you feel comfortable and pretty in – long, flowy skirts, especially solids are nice, and strapless bras that coordinate with them. Tube dresses are great for showing off your shape. Bring a pair of regular jeans, not the belly panel ones. A button-up shirt also makes it easy to transition into showing your belly.
• If you’re doing semi-nude/implied nude photos, bras and underwear will create noticable lines on your skin, so wear loose-fitting clothing to the shoot. You can add undergarments as necessary for photos later in the shoot.
• Do bring your significant other! They’ll make a great prop for your photos, and greatly expand on the number of different photos you can make during your shoot. They should bring outfits that coordinate with what you’ll be wearing, or a dark long-sleeved shirt or sweater and dark pants. The focus should always be on you, your expressions, your emotions, your personality, your joy and your connection.

Newborns and Babies

• Use a wash cloth to clean away flaky skin and eye boogers.
• If your baby has flaky skin, cradle cap, or eczema, I can highly suggest Lil’ Outlaws Rump Rub [seeing as it's made by my wife!]. It’s handmade, it’s vegan, it’s chemical free, I know exactly what’s in it, and it works wonderfully.
• Trim those tiny fingernails and toenails with appropriate baby trimmers.
• Book your shoot around your baby’s feeding and nap times, work with the natural rhythm of your baby. The perfect time to shoot is right when the baby would be laying down for a nap. If your baby normally falls asleep after a feeding, wait to feed the baby until you’re at the shoot. Baby photographers allot plenty of time for this sort of thing to set up the best situation for great photos.
• Dress up paper diapers. Cloth diapers are classy and stylish, but if you don’t use them, bring bloomers or decorative diaper covers, solids preferred.
• Nothing is the best wardrobe for a newborn – no outfit fits a newborn well, and they often look swallowed in clothes. Accessories are good, though – little hats, dainty headbands, boys in crocheted hats, etc. Bring sentimental items like the quilt that Grandma made for the baby, a baby blanket from your own childhood – they’re great for the youngster to lay on.
• If your baby takes a pacifier, bring it – if they’re bottle fed, bring an extra bottle to help put the baby to sleep.

Children

• Clean, clean, clean – clean nails, clean hair, wipe away eye boogers, clean feet (sandals on kids = black feet!), wipe snotty noses, fresh-scrub teeth. The cleaner the kid, the better their photos will turn out.
• If your child is still in diapers or pull-ups, tuck’em in or wear bloomers.
• If your child is still of napping age, make sure they nap before the shoot.
• It is perfectly okay to bring bribes to a photo shoot – given a stage and being the center of attention, it’s like our kids know exactly when to act their worst. Some cereal, smarties or other candy that won’t stain teeth can help a short photo shoot go by smoothly.
• Avoid colorful drinks or lollypops within 24 hours of your shoot, don’t let them eat or drink anything that will stain their face, teeth or mouths.
• Wardrobe – For girls, you can’t go wrong with cute dresses, rompers, and dainty hats or headbands. For boys, jeans and polos or a button-up shirt, or a T-shirt with a button-up over it can be very cute, as well as overalls on the right age and personality. For siblings, the children don’t have to match perfectly, just coordinate. You can’t go wrong with dark, rich monotones, which drive the attention in photos to sweet faces and darling expressions instead of loud prints or colors. If nothing else, pick a color that compliments your child’s eye color.

Families

• Dad – Have a fresh shave or trim, and use a new razor with shaving cream and a moisturizing after-shave lotion to limit bumps and redness. Make sure nails are clean and trimmed. Wash your hands. Clean up your shoes. Moisturize and scrub away flaky facial skin (see above General advice). When you wash your face, pay attention to eye boogers and sleep crusties. For wardrobe, go for jeans or pants, tucked polo or dress shirt with a belt, or go casual with just a T-shirt or untucked polo, button-up short sleeve, etc. In general, whatever your wife tells you to wear. Again you don’t have to perfectly match the rest of the family, just wear something that coordinates.
• Mom – Women know what to wear, but in general, unless you are extremely thin you may want to wear something that covers your upper-arms. Long- or 3/4-sleeve tops are very flattering. If you wear jewelry, aim for subtlety, and be aware of it twisting or turning.
• Kids – Same advice as above, but again, everything needn’t match, simply coordinate with the parents’ outfits. If Dad’s in a T-shirt, don’t put the kids in dress shirts – make it make sense.

High school seniors

• The biggest tips for seniors are to have an even tan, don’t get sunburned, clean and freshly-paint those nails, and moisturize and scrub away dry skin.
• Bring a variety of outfits – cap and gown, something casual, something stylish, ladies slip a dress in there to throw folks off, fellas try a formal look to impress. Wear what you think you look best in, but take the opportunity to also try a new look, just to surprise folks.
• Bring props that recall your high school years – band instrument, sports gear like a volleyball or baseball bat, your beloved (or cursed) high school car, letter jacket, sunglasses. Most of all, rep your style, whatever that may be. Your senior photo should be unique to your life and personality.

As they say, an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure any day. Just as you educate your clients about copyright during your sales session, you can empower your clients by educating them how best to prepare for their photo shoot with you.

Again, there is no hard and fast set of advice you should share with clients. Use this Client Prep Cheat Sheet as a foundation for your own, and sculpt it to address the issues you run into most often on shoots.

Next Steps

• Why wait? Cut and paste the above tips into a text file or e-mail template so you can e-mail the appropriate set of information to your next photography client. Send out your Client Prep Cheat Sheet when your client books with you. Post your Cheat Sheet to your web site or blog. Educate and empower your clients to help you give them the best photos possible. Go through the list and reword, rewrite, remove, or add on anything you see fit so your Cheat Sheet is custom-built for your clientele.
• Do a Google search and peek at other photographers’ pre-shoot client advice posted online. If you see something you like, rewrite it for your clients and include it in your own cheat sheet.
• Brainstorm session: What are the three most common ‘mistakes’ you see your clients making when preparing (or not) for your shoots? What are the shoulda’s that your clients would most benefit from knowing? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter at the top of any page of this site.
• What are your three most important prep tips for clients? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• How to prepare for your first photography client’s call – Your First Customer Series, Part 5
• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• Practice because you love to perform

Another local photographer here in Bandera County asked me today what tips I could give on getting sharper photos in post-processing.

Well, there’s what you should do, and then there’s what I do. As usual in this industry, rarely do the two look similar.

First of all, there are plentiful reasons why your photos are soft, all before you get into Photoshop: cheap lens, cheap camera with poor-quality (not too few) megapixels, shooting with too wide or too small an F-stop, ill-placed depth of field (mostly at wide apertures), shooting with too low of quality / resolution settings on your camera or too high an ISO, shooting with too slow of a shutter speed causing motion blur due to a moving subject or just camera shake, stabbing the shutter button instead of squeezing it smoothly, etc.

So in post-processing, Photoshop can only sharpen the data that already exists – anything that goes wrong in the camera makes it progressively harder to fix in post.

That said, with any shot you want to show, you want to sharpen.

If you want to be ‘proper’ about it, you’ll do different levels of sharpening depending on your subject, your style, and your end product (big print, little print, metallic print, matte print, canvas, web, etc.).

Now I don’t delve that deeply into all of it. In following Pareto’s Law, I have but two settings I use:

For the web, I apply Unsharp Mask at 500/0.2/1. (amount, radius, threshold, that is)

For print, 170/0.7/1 – these are the same settings we use on the photos we print in the newspaper.

(For very soft photos, you can try a round of 40/4/1 to try to better clarify details, but it’s a bold move. If you process in Camera Raw, you can try working the Clarity slider, though I’ve rarely had better results with it.)

For the web, you just want to add a bit of punch and clarity. For print, you want to visibly oversharpen on your monitor, because ink bleeds during printing – what you see on your computer will almost always be noticeably sharper than in print.

Keep in mind, sharpening should be the last thing you do before you save your final image.

As I’ll always advise of anything to do with post-processing, experiment – see what works best for you, what works for your images and your style. It’s very inexpensive to do a test run of prints with your preferred lab, testing a variety of sharpening settings and methods. Better to know now than when a choosy client comes calling for a refund.

Next Steps

• Consider that the best way to end up with a sharp image is to start with a sharp image. Take heed of the checklist at the beginning of this post, and make sure you’re not sabotaging your photos before you ever click the shutter.
• Get with your lab and print up a set of 8×10 prints, three different photos of different subjects in different light or scenes, three 8×10′s each at three different amounts of sharpening. Separate each by eye – what looks like too little, what looks just right, and what looks like a bit too much. See how they turn out in print, and whether or not you should trust your eyes (or perhaps your monitor) in post when it comes to sharpening. Be edified in this knowledge.
• Brainstorm session: What one change to your shooting technique would make the biggest difference in giving you sharper photos? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What is your favorite method of sharpening your photos? What Unsharp Mask settings do you like the most for what subjects or situations? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

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• How to watermark your photography proofs for the web
• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident
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• What you need to start a part time photography business – Startup Series, Part 2

I don’t listen to NPR (National Public Radio) as often as I should or wish I could, but I heard something said yesterday by a talented young artist that has really moved me.

In essence: practice because you love to perform.

The young woman, a teenaged cello player, was being interviewed for a show about musical phenoms and was discussing the transition from her parents forcing her to practice to growing older and forcing herself to practice.

What she said about that transition struck me:

“I still don’t like to practice, but I practice because I love to play well.”

Slow down. Read that again. Let it sink in.

Especially at the milestone where we decide to make the transition from amateur photographer to paid professional, we artists are often held back by our insecurities, our sense of inferiority.

In most cases, we get into photography because we love good photography, because we want to be a part of it, to create art that expresses our creativity and moves others the way good art moves us.

This love of good photography also causes us to look at our own work and compare it to “the pros.” When we see the huge gap – in creativity, impact, lighting, subtlety, meaning, posing, emotion – between what we see in our work and what inspires us, it triggers that tightness in our chests we feel when hope swiftly evacuates the spirit.

As they say, you have to stumble before you stride; you have to crawl before you walk.

But the size of the gap between where we are and where we so desperately desire to be is seemingly impossible to bridge. We stagnate, we lose hope, we choke, we curse the gods for our lack of innate talent, and we distract ourselves from our artistic desires because we’ll never be “good enough” anyway.

You know what?

That’s horsesh*t and you know better.

You know that, not unlike certain bodily orifices and opinions, everybody’s got an excuse. However, you may not know this fact is your biggest opportunity to realize your dreams of becoming a successful professional photographer.

Everybody has a reason why they’re not where they want to be in life, and everybody has an excuse why they’re not making changes and taking action to get to where they want to be. And everybody, on some level, already knows this.

But that’s why we need the occasional kick in the pants, whether it’s to lose a few pounds, eat better, cut back on vices and bad habits, or to realize that our dreams of becoming successful photographers really can come true.

You already know this, but like the young musician noted above, I’m going to say it: all it takes is practice. You don’t have to like to practice, but practice will make you a better photographer. No matter how good you are, you can get better – and no matter how bad you are, you can get better.

But the fact remains either way: if you want to get better, you have to practice.

It’s a devilish catch-22 that we photographers fall into. We want to be great at what we do and, preferably, make money from it. The obvious and direct path to becoming great is to practice. But to practice, we have to take mediocre or downright crappy photos. We have to do it wrong. We have to screw up, come up short, and then wallow in how bad we are, all the things we haven’t learned to do right, and imagine all the things we don’t even yet know we need to know to do it right.

We want to be talented artists. But to get there, we have to willingly be talentless hacks.

It’s disheartening. It’s cruel. It’s downright vicious. It’s brutal. It’s a marathon in the desert. It’s not for the weak of heart. It’s not for everyone.

And that’s why it’s a huge opportunity for you.

The Dip

I’ll say it clearly: read marketing guru Seth Godin’s book “The Dip” – it will change the way you look at the challenges of your life and your career. Better yet, pick up the audiobook version and let the author give you a new perspective on failure and opportunity.

I could write an article on just the subject of The Dip, but here’s the cheat sheet:

• If you were to graph out The Dip, it would take the shape of a very wide U – high on the ends, low and even in the middle. This graph basically represents ‘wins’ over the course of a given venture, such as your part time photography career.
• In the beginning when you’re starting out, there’s so much to learn and so much newness that wins come fast and easy. The low-hanging fruit is easily gathered and your early successes keep you motivated.
• In the slow, steady, loooong middle, lies The Dip. This is where the honeymoon ends and the real work of success begins. Wins come few and far between here. Staying the course is the real win through this long period of work, practice, and incremental growth. This is where you question your talents as an artist, your value as a photographer, your viability as a business.
• Then on the far side of The Dip lies the swift upward swing of real success. This is where you’ve paid your dues, you’ve practiced kaizen (small daily improvements leading to big long-term gains), you’ve survived the marathon of boredom, critical self-evaluation, and, not to be forgotten, consistent practice. This is the tipping point where all the hard work pays off and your venture again becomes new, exciting, and truly successful. Here, you achieve the dream.

The Dip is where you’re most likely to get TKO’d in the battle royale that is building a successful part time photography business. The Dip, like the deep blue ocean, has claimed many dreams.

But that’s a good thing – if you know The Dip, if you embrace The Dip for the opportunity to excel and exceed that it is, you’ll sail through it with aplomb while other would-be competitors get scared, get bored, get disenchanted, and drown.

The gap between where you are as a creative artist and where you want to be is The Dip.

Focus on learning, practicing, picking up new clients, exposing your art to more and more people, refining your marketing and your message, building your e-mail and Facebook friend lists, ever-improving, ever-growing, ever-steady along your course to become the photographer you want to be.

Don’t fall victim to The Dip. Too many people in your community stand to be blessed by working with the artist you are, and the artist you strive to be. Your tenacity will benefit those around you as much as yourself and your business.

Practice. Practice as much as you can – not because you love to practice, but because you love to perform.

Next Steps

• Do you have a favorite photographer? Quit gawking at their photos on Flickr and contact them. Send them an e-mail, or better, pick up the phone and call them. Let them know you’re an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. Let them know their art inspires you and that you hope to one day be so talented. Ask if they would allow you to e-mail them occasionally for guidance in developing your artistry. If they say yes, you now have a mentor who will help you make your dreams come true. If they say no, bookmark their web site and find another artist with a similar style, someone whose work you would love to imitate. Contact them. Repeat this process until you get to Yes, and don’t let potential rejection from people you have never and will never again speak to stop you from getting the guidance you need to realize your dreams.
• If I didn’t say it clearly enough above, pick up a copy of Seth Godin’s “The Dip.” This book seriously helped sculpt my attitude in life and business to no longer fear failure or be stymied by it. This book taught me that failure is a milestone on the path to real success. Bless yourself with this same wisdom.
• Brainstorm session: What’s stopping you from making the art you want to make? List every reason. Then list every solution. Now cross out anything related to camera equipment (bodies, lenses, strobes…). What’s left on your list is what you can and should be doing every day (or as often as you can) to become the photographer you want to be. File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What do you need to practice to become the photographer you want to be? What’s stopping you? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

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• What does a successful part time photographer look like? – Startup Series, Part 4
• To do with more what can be done with less, is vanity
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• Success is the result of happiness, not the preface

Here you go, mates – a complete list of all 10 posts in my Your First Customer Series:

Part 1: How can I find time to be a part time photographer?

Part 2: Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people

Part 3: What should I charge for my part time photography?

Part 4: How do I get my first photography client?

Part 5: How to prepare for your first photography client’s call

Part 6: Your pre-photo-shoot checklist in four easy steps

Part 7: Your first photo shoot: expectations and results

Part 8: Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot

Part 9: Your first photo proofing and sales session

Part 10: How to earn lifetime photography customers with the perfect follow-up

There are three major steps to starting your new photography business: making the decision to become a part time professional photographer, doing the legwork and prep work to set your new business up right, and landing your first customers.

The Your First Customer Series offers 10 in-depth articles covering all the minute details you rarely hear about elsewhere – where to find the time to be a part time professional photographer, the top 10 money-making portraits (easily the most popular post on the site), and much, much more. This series has more content than you’ll find in most high-priced eBooks, with no filler – it’s the best advice I can give having been there, done it, and come out happy and paid on the other side.

Next Steps

• It’s a long journey, from making that life-changing decision to become a part time professional photographer, to landing your first customer and first sales. As they say, the longest journey begins with the first step. Start with Part 1 and work your way through each part in this series, and you’ll be better prepared than you ever imagined for taking on your first clients.
• Brainstorm session: What is your greatest fear about your first client photo shoot? What’s the worst that could happen? What potential rewards exist if things go exceptionally well? How can you prepare to give yourself the best odds of a great experience for you and your first client? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What’s the story behind your first paid client photo shoot? Were you nervous? Did they buy? Was it as fearful as you thought it would be? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• How to make money as a part time portrait photographer – Startup Series, Part 1
• How to earn lifetime photography customers with the perfect follow-up – Your First Customer Series, Part 10
• Want to make money as a part time photographer?
• How do I get my first photography client? – Your First Customer Series, Part 4
• Your source for making money as a part time photographer

Your watermarked photography appearing on a client’s Facebook profile is some of the best cheap, effective advertising you can get.

It’s visual word of mouth. It’s “Hey, check this out!”

And in the land of part time photography where saving time means saving money, efficiency is a virtue.

PartTimePhoto.com readers Liana Cosgrove and Tiffany Lombardi asked me recently how I watermark my online proofs, the same watermark you see on my photos posted with articles here on the site.

So, Liana and Tiffany, here you go!

My watermark workflow includes two things: a PSD (Photoshop) file with my watermark graphic and a Photoshop Action. Technically, two of each – one pair for vertical proofs, one for horizontal.

I’m also working here with Photoshop CS4. If you have a different version or other software, adjust accordingly.

(Check out the Comments below to see reader recommendations for other software and watermarking options.)

First, let’s get your watermark made.

THE WATERMARK

My watermark, which has evolved over the last 11 years, is a simple horizontal, semi-transparent bar across the bottom of each proof. It features my logo on one end and web address on the other.

I make my proofs 900×600 pixels in size, so for my landscape-oriented images, my watermark file is 900px wide and 30px tall. For portrait-oriented images, it’s 600x30px.

Here’s how to make your own watermark (this is for a horizontal proof – for vertical, repeat the process and adjust the width accordingly):

Step 1: Create a new file, the width to match the width of your horizontal proofs, height of 30px.

Step 2: Invert your Background layer to make it black. For good contrast and easy reading, we’ll use white text on a black bar for this watermark. Feel free to play with these if you want pink, red, green, or some other colors to match your brand.

Step 3: Select your Text tool and type out your business name on the left side of the bar. Make sure your foreground color / text color is white. If you have a logo already, copy and paste it into this file and resize it to slip into the bottom-left corner. If not, just use a nice font. I like Microsoft Himalaya myself.

Step 4: Text tool again, and type out your web address on the right side of the bar. Try bolding your business name and not bolding your web address, as well as dropping the font size a few notches for the latter.

Step 5: Go to your background layer, Select All, Copy, Paste. Then right-click on your background layer and delete it (here comes the transparency fun!)

Step 6: Go to your Layer menu at the top and Merge Visible.

Step 7: You’re almost done! Adjust the Opacity slider in your layers tab to about 50 percent. Create a New Layer. Select this layer, then go to your Layer menu at the top, and Merge Visible again. Congrats, you have a watermark file!

Step 8: Save this file as a Photoshop document so it retains its transparency. Put it somewhere safe, where it won’t be moved – this is important for when our Action opens it to place on your proofs.

Go back to step one and repeat this process, except make the watermark file the same width as your vertical proofs, and save this as a separate file.

On to the Action!

THE PHOTOSHOP ACTION

The Photoshop Action I use to watermark my proofs resizes a hi-res file to web size, applies some unsharp mask, opens and copies my watermark onto the proof, moves the watermark to the bottom of the proof, then saves the proof in a specific folder to temporarily hold my proofs.

Using a Photoshop Action lets me not only apply these watermarks very quickly, but also to batch apply them in Bridge.

Here’s how to make an Action to watermark your proofs:

Step 1: Open up a horizontal, full-size image you would like to turn into a proof.

Step 2: Open the Actions tab on your right-side menu (if you don’t see it, look under your Window menu at the top) and click on Create New Action at the bottom of that tab (tiny folded paper icon). Name your action Watermark Horizontal and click Record.

Step 3: Photoshop is now recording your every move. Let’s start by resizing the image down to web size. Since we’re working on a horizontal file, let’s resize the Width to 900px (or your preference). You’ll notice Image Size has been added to your Watermark Horizontal action.

Step. 4: Apply Unsharp Mask (under Filters – Sharpen). I like settings of 500, 0.2, 1.

Step 5: Open the watermark file we made earlier. Select All, Copy, Close, and Paste to your proof.

Step 6: Move the watermark bar down to the bottom of your image.

Step 7: Save For Web at 70 quality (or your preference) as a JPEG and click Save. We’ll need to create a folder to receive the proofs from our new actions, so navigate to where you want that folder to go, create a New Folder, and name it Proof Catch. Click Save again.

Step 8: Close your file. Photoshop will ask if you want to save the image – Just Say No.

Step 9: You’ve created your own watermark action! Click the square Stop button next to the red Record button.

Again, go back and follow these steps to create an Action for your vertical images. Just select your vertical watermark file in Step 5.

Great work! Let’s test this new action out.

Open a full-size horizontal image of your choice. Click your Watermark Horizontal action and hit the Play button at the bottom of the tab. Watch Photoshop rip through the process, then go check your Proof Catcher folder.

Is it there? Does it look right? Good!

Protip: Maximize Photoshop when you run these actions. I’ve had Photoshop misplace the watermark when I run the actions in anything but full screen. I mostly run into this problem when I’m batch processing images, which may be because I multitask while I’m waiting. I’ve even had to re-record the action after really messing things up.

BATCH PROCESSING

Now the sweetness of this process comes when you want to watermark a hundred or so proofs for the web – all at once.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Open Bridge and go to the folder of full-size images you want to turn into proofs.

Step 2: Check the lower-left corner of your Bridge window. Look for a tab called Filter – Orientation. Options here are Landscape and Portrait – here’s where we’ll select one set of images or the other and run the appropriate horizontal or vertical action on them. For now, click on Landscape to show only your landscape-oriented photos.

Step 3: Select All, then go to your Tools menu at the top, then Photoshop – Batch. In this dialog, you’ll select your Watermark Horizontal action in the drop down. Ensure your other settings are as follows: Source = Bridge; uncheck Override Action “Open” Commands and Include All Subfolders; do check Suppress File Open Options Dialogs and Suppress Color Profile Warnings. Destination should be set to None. Click OK.

Photoshop will then rip through all the files you selected and run your action on each one. For your vertical images, just repeat the process, but in Bridge uncheck Landscape and check Portrait under orientation. When you come to your Batch dialog, select your Watermark Vertical action.

Go check your Proof Catcher folder and admire how many proofs you were able to create in a matter of minutes! Create a Web Proofs folder alongside your original images and move all your proof files there for safekeeping.

Some caveats:

• The full-size files you apply these actions to must always have the same ratio – such as mine are all 2:3 since that’s how my camera shoots and how I crop. If you crop each image differently, the above action won’t work for you – the watermark will either show up too high or too low.
• If you adjust your images in Camera Raw like I do, make sure you create a set of JPEGs with adjustments applied before running these actions. I’ve found Camera Raw adjustments won’t come through when the proof is made. When I’m done post processing a set of files, I use Tools – Photoshop – Image Processor in Bridge to create a new folder of JPEGs at 10 quality with Resize unchecked. I then run my actions on these files.
• Your mileage may vary. This system works great for me in Photoshop CS4, but may not translate well to other versions. If things go awry, try repeating the steps, paying attention to what options your software offers along the way. If all else fails, hit up the support forum for your preferred software and point them to this tutorial for ideas on how to make it work in your program.
• I apologize that this tutorial comes in a step-by-step form instead of how it should, as a streaming video. I’m testing out screencasting software with little success, and I’m too stubborn to just buy the wonderful Camtasia suite…yet.

If all goes as planned, you will be able to make sets of web-sized proofs in the absolute minimum of time. As a part time photographer, your hourly rate of pay is directly tied to the amount of time you invest into each step of your workflow. Where you save time, you save money.

NEXT STEPS

• If you haven’t already, go through the above tutorial step by step and set up your own speedy watermark system. Don’t obsess too much with watermarking – just come up with something fast that gets your name out there if folks borrow your files for their social media profiles or to send to friends and family.
• If you’re deeply concerned that putting your images online for the whole world to steal will kill your sales, you can read my thoughts on safeguards and online proofing here on PartTimePhoto.com.
• Brainstorm session: How can you encourage your clients to post your proofs to their Facebook profile? Perhaps an incentive or contest? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• My writing at PartTimePhoto.com exists to serve your needs as an amateur photographer making the transition to paid professional. I appreciate and welcome your readership, and invite you to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this site.
• What Photoshop tricks have helped you cut down on your time spent in post processing? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• Sharp photos – how to get them, in camera and in post
• Response time and turnaround – how to beat the competition for free
• You’re going to get screwed doing part time photography
• Your first photo proofing and sales session – Your First Customer Series, Part 9

It’s bluebonnet time here in Texas. Wide open fields of beautiful blue flowers can be found all around the state, and photographers are out in force recording the sweet scenery.

The ‘kid sitting in a field of bluebonnets’ photo session is as cliche as they come here in Texas. You can’t drive very far without seeing a parent pulled over to the side of the road trying to get their kid to stop squinting at the sun while traffic whizzes by.

Most photographers around here have entire seasonal promotions built around the “bluebonnet sessions.” It’s predictable, the imagery is always the same, but photogs sell it and parents buy it by the pound.

First question: What seasonal outdoor shoots could you promote in your area?

Just here in the Texas Hill Country we have springtime bluebonnets, summers at the river, autumn leaves at the state natural areas, and since there’s no snow as far south in Texas as my studio is, there’s plenty of craggy, leafless trees in the winter which make a dramatic backdrop for artsy model-style photos.

Look at the work of nature and landscape photographers in your area. Attend one of their guild meetings each quarter and see what they’re preparing to shoot. They can tip you off to some of the most beautiful locations and moments to capture the unique scenery of your area. Figure out how to stick a kid or a family or a high school senior in that scene, and you’ll throw down some very salable images with Mother Nature providing the stage.

Second question: How can you differentiate?

Odds are the obvious natural scenery shots in your area have been done to death. Even if you just rinse and repeat, you’ll probably move plenty of sales.

But as always, you want to look at what “everybody” is doing, and find a way to do it differently or the entire opposite. Let your imagination run and see what ways you can dream up to turn the cliche seasonal shots into something unique and special.

I had done good, solid, dependable, typical Team & Individual shots for a local youth flag football league for years before I saw the work of a very imaginative photographer down in Corpus Christi while I was on vacation at the coast. I had always looked at T&I photos as rinse and repeat – so long as I did the same thing each year, they’d keep hiring me.

But the work I saw posted at a restaurant in Corpus opened my mind to a new way of shooting that type of photo. This photog treated T&I shoots like a corporate or environmental portrait. Location, but with strobes and dramatic lighting, strong wide angles, and exciting complimentary elements like reflections in golf club heads, baseball bats extending deep into the image, and a shower of tennis balls around a stoic high school athlete. Really unique, interesting stuff.

You think this guy’s annual contract was secure with the teams he shot? Think he could charge more (maybe a lot more) for his prints and packages than the other photogs doing rinse and repeat?

No doubt.

Apply the same level of imagination and execution to your seasonal scenery portraits and you’ll differentiate in a way that will bring your clients back year after year, checkbooks in hand.

As with any business endeavor, the more time and layers of depth, complexity, and attention to detail you apply to a project, the harder you make it for your competition to copycat.

How can you take your outdoor portraits over the top? Rent a bucket truck to give you an angle nobody else is getting, bring a bag of strobes and shoot at night, lightpaint your subject and scene, climb trees, hike away from the roadside, go urban instead of natural, get low and shoot up or get up and shoot down, bring in props and juxtaposing elements (how pretty would a nice park bench or a couch look in that field of flowers? How about a classic pickup truck with a candy paint job?), if everyone shoots in white button-ups and jeans then get your clients to wear dress suits or swimsuits, if everyone is shooting beside the river put your client in it…

Options are limitless with some imagination and the courage to do something brave and different, something outside the box or never done before – at least in your market. Your competition will be jealous and your clients will be thrilled.

Break the mold = break the bank.

Widening your network to widen your wallet

The best portrait photographers will tell you that success in our industry is a great deal influenced by relationships – making real connections with your clients, through great service and great art.

For our seasonal scenery portraits, let’s take that idea to the back end work – relationships with proprietors of choice properties can give you access to scenery that no other photographer can touch.

Here in Texas, there are lots of big acreage landowners. Mostly ranchers, some farmers, some folks who just like to own a thousand acres here and there.

Just as I like to have a good relationship with local clergy for my wedding work and business owners for my urban senior work, I like to seek out and make friends with my area ranchers and landowners whose private property is a wonderland of outdoor portrait delights.

Babbling brooks. Waterfalls. Long-stretching white fence lines. Rolling fields of tall grass and wildflowers. Dense, lush, green forests. Big red barns! Hay bales! Cows!

If you see a spot from the road that would make the perfect location for one of your shoots, don’t be shy – seek out that property owner and work on getting their permission to book shoots there. Most are flattered and happy to let you shoot there for free, or for the price of a nice print for their wall, or even a small rental fee.

Whatever the cost, odds are that unique access will give you images that no photographer in your area can get, and each location you add to your list will be one more way you differentiate from your competition.

Landowners here in Texas are as protective of their land as they are proud. I don’t for a moment condone trespassing on private property as a smart way to expand your portfolio. I unintentionally ended up shooting without permission at a private pond one time, and I was met by two men with rifles and stern words shortly after I arrived. I may not have gotten shot, but I did ruin an opportunity to land access to a really beautiful location.

Be mindful, and be respectful. It takes one knock on the door or phone call to get permission and do things the right way.

Next Steps

• Hit up Google and research your area for its resources of natural beauty. What unique scenery pops up in your area in each season? What do the nature and landscape photographers in your area shoot and post on their web sites? Where are your parks, big and small? Where are your water features? Where are your farms and fields of crops?
• Call up a few of those nature photographers and ask for ideas on what to shoot and where. They may even offer to give you a tour of some of their favorite spots.
• Visit your local visitor’s bureau or Chamber of Commerce and ask what seasonal events exist related to the local scenery. Strawberry festivals, watermelons festivals, wildflower tours, birding and nature walks, state natural area fall foliage reports, etc. What kinds of specials could you run in concert with these events?
• Get in the car, or better yet on the cycle, and explore the highways and backroads in your county. Where’s the pretty scenery at? Any public or private locations that would make for incredible photo shoots? Take notes and reach out to whoever you need to in order to gain permission and invaluable access.
• Brainstorm session: Close your eyes and get an image in your head of the most obvious seasonal nature portraits for your area. Now, turn your imagination up to 11, and write down a bunch of creative, fun, unique ways of shooting these scenes with an attention-grabbing twist. Furniture, props, vehicles, dissonant wardrobe, different times of day and night, different angles and lenses. Jot these down and file in your Brainstorms folder.
• What are some of your best landscape and natural discoveries during your explorations? What does nature provide your area during each season that is unique and ripe for profitable portraiture? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• The Top 16 marketing opportunities for photographers in November 2010
• How to name your photography business
• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident

(Click here to visit the summary post for the Your First Customer Series!)

The hardest part is truly over.

You’ve booked your first client, gone through a well-prepared and methodically-conducted photo shoot with them, and now you’ve got a few hundred images that you need to turn into a sales presentation.

Here’s where you get to admire your work and start making notes on likes and dislikes and what-to-do’s and what-not-to-do’s for next time and what to practice before your next shoot.

Assuming you’ve backed up your images to a second or external hard drive (I’m partial to Iomega and Seagate options myself), let’s start culling the shoot down to a digestible set of your most salable images and then give them some Photoshop love.

Culling your shoot

This is going to be painful. Gird yourself.

No matter how many photos you took during your shoot, no matter how many subtle nuances captured, no matter the number of seemingly equal variations, we’ve got to cull your shoot down to the very best.

How many? The number 50 has always been a good fit for me. If you primarily push large wall prints, a smaller and more purposeful set may be appropriate. For those of us in the digital age, selling digital files, 50 gives your client a good set to choose from. You’ll hope that your client asks “How much for all of them?” or that your client will cull your set down by half to around 25 and buy that many. If they buy less, they are usually on a strict budget and weren’t going to buy more anyway.

Nothing wrong with that at all – some clients buy more, some less, and 95% of the time you’ll more than have your time well paid for. When you don’t, you still gained experience and additions to your portfolio.

The best way to go about culling is to do an initial run and pick all your potential keepers. If you shot 400 images, by the time you toss all the bad expressions, half-closed zombie eyes, unflattering outtakes, and of course, utterly crap and/or out-of-focus images, you will end up with around 100 shots to concern yourself with.

Here’s where we take up the sage advice of two great thinkers of modern times, Steve Krug and Blaise Pascal:

“Get rid of half the text on your page, then get rid of half of what’s left.” – Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Blaise Pascal, Lettres provinciales

The point being, of course, that your first edit should not be your last.

If you don’t cull your shoot down to the very best, you’ll get two results:

A) Your client will be overwhelmed with so many photos to choose from and you’ll just end up wasting your time and theirs trying to whittle down their selection. You will likely frustrate and exhaust them in the process; and,

B) You will include too many “meh” photos, too many fair-to-middlin’ shots, and your client will be less impressed with your work. I shoot often with a fellow sports photog, very talented, whom I have long criticized (to his face, so I can talk smack here) for posting sooooo many images online. Backs of heads, no action, bad expressions… I tell him, “John Doe, you take some really good shots, but nobody’s going to wade through your 400 mediocre images to find your 40 real keepers.”

Fifty. 50. That’s the number to aim for.

Don’t kill yourself to get there, and have confidence in your artistic impression. If you feel you’ve got 80 really good shots and variations, show’em. If you feel you only have 25, then show only those. Give yourself some credit for knowing your art.

Many photogs will tell you that 50 is a loose cull, that you should get it close to 20 to show. I’ve found with portraiture, often my clients will go gaga over images that I wouldn’t have shown if I went with a tighter cull.

There’s art I shoot for myself and there’s certainly art that I shoot just for my clients; my art creates my style, but always, you want to balance style with salability. There’s something to be said for old standbys that sell every time.

If you’re having trouble finding 25-50 good images from your shoot, don’t stress – you’re early on in your transition to being a paid part time professional photographer, so give yourself some leeway. Try to find at least 20-25 images and let the client choose what they feel is worth trading their money for. Maybe they’ll drop $20 with you – just maybe they’ll drop $200. Some clients will spend as much on one big print of one favorite image as others may spend buying 20 digital files. Never underestimate your art or your clients. Give them the power of choice and get out of their way. Let’em buy what they love.

Post-processing

During your initial run of post-processing on the images you’ll present to your client, you want to stick to the 80-20 rule: 80% of the results from 20% of the effort.

You want to make your images look as nice as possible in the smallest amount of time. You don’t know what your client might buy, but you want to make a nice presentation so they are more inclined to purchase. Here, in the endless exploration that is Photoshop or your chosen equivalent, is where you can waste as much time as any marathon Facebook or MySpace session.

Don’t do it. Get in, make the proofs pop, and get out.

When I prep files for client proofing, I load them into Camera Raw in Photoshop CS4 (adjust my instructions to fit your digital darkroom of choice) and make universal adjustments to the entire shoot. I adjust white balance, brighten to taste, add a bit of contrast, bump the vibrancy, add a vignette if it’s warranted, and add as much fill light as I want to pull detail from the shadows.

I then quickly go image-by-image and fine-tune those changes I made universally to best fit that image. Sometimes I’ll grab a group of images, such as a set shot in shade, a set shot indoors, etc., and edit them together before making image-by-image adjustments.

What you adjust and where you take your image artistically is your call; it’s your art to create.

What you do in camera is only half the battle; what you do in post is almost as important as nailing the shot in the first place.

You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but showing your decent-and-better images some Photoshop love (without going hog wild…ha!) will only multiply their impressiveness and salability.

Once you’ve given each image a few seconds of attention in post, go back through and pick a handful (3-5) of your very favorites to do some extra post work on and add black-and-white versions of these. Use your spot healing brush to clean up blemishes and lines, soften skin, even out skin tones, dodge and burn to make the image pop where it should, then save a color version and black-and-white copy.

These will be your marquee images that really ring with clients during your sales session. Even if a client doesn’t buy one, they will see what you’re capable of doing with their favorite picks.

I’ll go into further detail on post-processing ideas and techniques in future articles; for now, just do what you know, do your best, and make those photos look nice. Just like learning to take great portraits in camera, learning to do good post work will take time and practice. Enjoy the fact that you’re getting paid all the while!

Take notes on what to improve

Want to multiply the rate at which you improve as an artist? As I mentioned in my Your First Photo Shoot article, taking notes on what you like and don’t like from your shoot will give you some real guidelines for how to improve your work.

When you’re done culling and post processing your shoot, make another pass through the images with notepad (physical or digital) in hand and write down another set of notes:

• What are your favorite images from the shoot? Why? Go into detail, explore your own artistic vision and preferences. Be verbose. You want to identify what to repeat next time.
• What are your least favorite images? Why? Be detailed here also. Is it the background? Lighting? Expression? Pose? Moment? Weather? Angle? Aperture?
• With this in mind, what are you going to do on your next shoot to create more favorites and fewer least favorites?
• What images do you think your client will love and buy? Do they differ from your own favorites as the photographer? Why? How can you balance the two styles? Step outside your own biased perspective and look at the images as a parent, senior, or bride.
• What resources (books, magazines, web sites, tutorials, forums, practice) can you draw on between now and your next shoot to better your best shots and bring your worst up from the trash bin? Try to identify at least one area of your art to better your knowledge in before your next shoot. Define a path to improve your photography.
• What will you do on your next shoot to create a better experience and better set of images for your client? This is a repeat from the last article, but worth doing again to both reinforce and introduce new ideas gained after post-processing.

In Part 9 of what is turning out to be a 10-part series, I’ll walk you through your first proofing and sales session. You’ll learn how to sell ethically and easily, letting your art and business policies do the hard work for you.

Next Steps

• If you’ve ever done a single photo shoot with anyone, for money or fun, go back over your images from that shoot and answer the note-taking questions posed above. As with your shoot, slow down and really evaluate. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done one or a thousand shoots; slow down and give yourself the opportunity to be conscious of your art and explore how you can make it better.
• Brainstorm session: If you could improve any three things about your art, what would they be? What resources can you find online or in your town that would help? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• Once this series is complete, I can up the pace of my posting and expound on many of the ideas I’ve touched on throughout. I plan to leave no nuance unnoticed in my effort to help you make the smooth and exciting transition from amateur photographer to paid professional. If you like what you’re reading here, feel free to click the free “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this web site.
• What’s one of the best post-processing tips or methods you’ve learned to improve your images after a shoot? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• Sharp photos – how to get them, in camera and in post
• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• How to make money as a part time portrait photographer – Startup Series, Part 1
• How to watermark your photography proofs for the web
]]> http://parttimephoto.com/culling-and-post-processing-your-first-photo-shoot-your-first-customer-series-part-8/feed/ 15 http://parttimephoto.com/your-first-photo-shoot-expectations-and-results-your-first-customer-series-part-7/ http://parttimephoto.com/your-first-photo-shoot-expectations-and-results-your-first-customer-series-part-7/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:06:29 +0000 Outlaw Photographer James Taylor http://parttimephoto.com/?p=357




(Click here to visit the summary post for the Your First Customer Series!)

Ooh baby, it’s showtime.

(Speaking of showtime, here’s tip #1 for starting your first photo shoot right: show up on time. And on time means at least 10-15 minutes early. Guaranteed: if you don’t, your client will.)

You’ve booked your first client, gone over your personalized pre-shoot checklist, and just parked at the location you chose for your first official photo shoot. Grab the paper bag, don’t hyperventilate, and get ready for a terrifyingly exciting ride. Here’s where you get to shine – here’s where you create art that your client can’t live without buying.

Okay, assuming this really is your first rodeo, a more reasonable goal may be to just walk away an hour later with images that are in focus and salvageable in Photoshop.

Just like anyone who has ever tried their hand at “something new,” your first time isn’t going to be your best. I don’t believe so much in aiming for the stars and landing in the heavens as I believe in mindful preparation and doing your best. It’s all that can be asked.

You can knock it out of the park later on; for now, let’s just worry about getting around the bases, one at a time.

Slow down

On your first shoot, you’re going to deal with a heap of emotions and self-induced pressure:

• You don’t want to come off as a clueless amateur.
• You don’t want to give a bad impression and be talked poorly of.
• You don’t want your client telling all their friends how horrible a photographer you are and ending your career before it starts.
• You don’t want to throw up on your client.
• You don’t want to pass out.
• You don’t want to forget every single thing you’ve learned about portrait photography and end up with nothing but out-of-focus photos of people’s faces, contorted in disgust and venomous rage over your session being a complete waste of their time.

It ain’t pretty, but it’s true; you will probably be struck with the fear of any one of these escalating nightmares coming true. The good news is, they are nothing but fears; reality, I can tell you from experience, is far, far kinder than your own imagination.

More good news is, the first thing to do on your shoot is slow down.

(Repeat for effect: s l o o o w d o o o w n.)

The quickest way you will screw up your entire photo shoot is if you get nervous, worry too much about impressing the client, and melt into a lightheaded rush.

When you show up (early!) for your shoot, sit in your car and relax to some good tunes. Close your eyes. Take some deep breaths. Strike up the ol’ affirmations if you want: “I see myself taking my time, smiling and enjoying shooting with my client, and making the best photos I can for them.”

Deep breath.

Repeat.

Now that you’ve got your head on straight, step out of your car and don’t touch your gear. Close the car door.

Stretch. Breathe.

Look around. Smile and thank the stars you’re here today living the dream.

Start assessing the location you’ll be shooting at. Walk through the shoot in your head. Where’s an easy place to start out? Look for a comfortable place for you and your client, quiet preferably, with easy lighting and backgrounds, to test equipment and play get-to-know-you. If you did a dry run at the location during your pre-shoot checklist, just walk through your vision for the shoot one more time as a refresher.

Once you’ve surveyed the area and have your first few spots picked out to shoot at, pull your gear out and quickly test everything. Make sure your gear is where you want it and your camera settings are where you want them to be.

Feel free to walk over to your first setup (we’ll call good shooting spots ‘setups’), snap a few shots, and evaluate for exposure and background. Get things set to where you like them in your camera so when your client arrives, you won’t be fiddling too much with gear as you lead them into their first shots.

Client arrival & encouragement

When your client arrives at the location, do all the charming things your mother taught you. Greet warmly, firm handshake, smile, chat nicely, ask questions, laugh. Have some fun. Be serious about making the best images you can, but you’re not foreclosing on someone’s childhood home, you’re taking pretty pictures; allow some levity into the atmosphere.

One of the most important things you’ll do with any client is make them feel comfortable and confident. A photo shoot is as much about the experience as the resultant images; from the start, show your client a good time and give them consistent encouragement.

“Hey, we’ve got some beautiful weather today and you look great; we’re going to have an awesome photo shoot.”

“I really like the outfit you picked out, it looks great on you and it’s going to look really good with this scenery.”

“Wow, we’re getting some great photos here; the background is great and you’re really photogenic. I am very happy with these shots.”

To quote my choir teacher from high school, it doesn’t take a mental giant to do this.

Don’t be smitten, don’t be inappropriate with compliments, and sure as hell don’t be insincere. Look at your client with honest and thoughtful eyes and see the best about them to talk about. Maybe their glasses are stylish. Maybe their hair looks great. Maybe they look like a train wreck, so compliment their distinctive style.

Just a few words of encouragement sprinkled throughout a photo shoot can relax your client, who is almost guaranteed to be more nervous and uncomfortable than you are. Give them some confidence, their guard will go down, and you can really connect and make some images that show their best.

Chat with your client as much as you like before your shoot; let them know you’ve got some ideas for great pictures, but you want to know if they’re looking for anything specific or Artist’s Choice. Nine times out of 10, they just want you to do what you do best, but it’s good to ask. Help your client feel empowered as well as encouraged – if they don’t want the power, then make them feel they are in good hands. Some gentility and a good attitude will take you far in your art and business.

Once you’ve got a rapport going, it’s time to step up to the plate. Lead them to your first setup and get to work – showtime.

Your first shots

Your first shots – in fact, most of the shots you’ll take – will be test shots.

Get your client in place at your first setup, let them know they can relax while you do some shots to “test the lighting,” and do just that – snap a few and see what you get.

Here’s where we slow down – here’s where we guarantee the best possible images from your first photo shoot.

What you’re going to do is snap a few shots, then pause to look at them on your camera. You’re going to evaluate every set of images you make, and then make adjustments to get better and better photos.

• Look at your exposure: Too bright? Too dark? Just right? Remember, expose for your subject, not the background; don’t silhouette your subject with a perfectly-exposed sky behind them, and don’t blow out the human in the photo to get a nice exposure on the dark tree behind them. Try to shoot from an angle that gives you a background as even as possible with the light on your subject. When you can’t, don’t sweat: just remember, expose for the subject, not the background.
• Look at your settings: How’s your shutter speed? F-stop? If your shutter is too slow, you’re going to get blurry photos from camera shake or subject movement. If your F-stop is too low / wide, you’ll only have inches of depth-of-field to work with and you’ll likely end up with the best part of your subject, their eyes, out of focus. Raise your ISO if you need to give yourself a boost on either of these other settings.
• Look at your background: What’s going on behind your subject? Is it a clean, complimentary background? Are there people, cars, signposts, trash cans, or other distractions? Are there any trees, flagpoles, or telephone poles growing out of their heads? Adjust your angle up, down, or sideways to clean up your background.
• Look at your subject: Books have been written on how best to photograph the human face. For your first shoot, we’ll take aim at just a few biggies: shadows, expression, pose. This is where you’ll work your magic with a client to capture their best in your photos. Let’s give this one it’s own subhead…

Look at your subject

Here’s where so many photographers new to portraiture get discouraged and lose confidence. What you observe and adjust about your client’s face to get the best possible image will separate you from the wannabe’s.

Shadows: Unless you’re going for an artsy look, you want nice, soft, even lighting across your subject’s face. You want both eyes to catch some light and have life in them. You want light to come from roughly 45 degrees above and behind you, off to either side up to 45 degrees if you like.

This is why midday portraits are so challenging: your subject is lit from directly above, hiding the eyes and casting unflattering shadows.

Adjust your client’s body and face left, right, up, down, spin them around if you have to, to get pleasant light on their face. Remember that the camera will magnify the depth of shadows, so as with every setup you do, take some test shots and evaluate.

Harsh lighting is the most common challenge you’ll face shooting outdoors. If your client faces the sun, they’ll squint and tear up; if they turn sideways to the sun, half their face disappears; if they turn 180 degrees to the sun, their hair will blow out; if you put them fully in the shade, your background will probably be overexposed.

This is something you’ll have to learn to overcome with experience and practice. Be mindful of it as you shoot, keeping an eye on your subject’s face and the background behind them.

Above all else, no matter what other factors involve themselves, you want to properly expose your subject’s face and capture the best expression you can. In the sales session, your client will care far more about your getting a great photo of them than a perfect exposure on the background behind them.

Expression: Here’s where it pays off when you encourage your client and instill in them some confidence in front of your camera.

Getting an honest, personal, individual, telling expression out of a client is an art in itself; certainly worth of its own article in the future. There is so much nuance and psychology and personality involved in drawing out the best expression from a client.

Putting your client in the wildly unnatural position of being photographed, recorded, vulnerable in front of the camera, and then getting perfectly natural photos of them in that situation, is an area you will learn to master as you grow as a professional photographer.

Use your charm and social judgment to get natural expressions from your client. Get them to laugh. Get them to make goofy faces at you. Get them to look angry. Then happy. Then super-happy. Then angry again. This role playing will almost always draw a laugh or smirk out of them. Help them loosen up and be themselves and you’ll capture the best of them.

Pose: Posing is another factor in getting the best images of your client. This is also a subject about which many books have been published. In fact, go buy one or two right now. The illustrations and advice will give you far more knowledge and confidence than I can instill with mere words here.

In brief, you want to pose your client in a natural way that best compliments their unique body characteristics. In many ways, you want your posing to reduce or eliminate so-called “flaws.”

Double chins, big foreheads, big ears, big noses, lazy eyes, flabby arms, muffin-tops… You’ve got your work cut out for you, my friend.

But fear not! Honestly, most clients are reasonable human beings and know exactly what they look like, “flaws” and all. Play up their best features and reduce what they don’t like so much. As in all things, do your best; you’ll do fine.

Seriously though, invest some money in a good posing book or some time on a good web site that teaches posing. Even if you throw out all the canned “tried and true traditional” poses, what you learn about using poses and lighting to best compliment different faces and body types will pay dividends in every portrait you shoot.

Everyone is beautiful in their unique way, about this I have no question. It is a joy to me as a photographer to get to know and understand a client, to connect with them, and to best capture what makes them a beautiful person in this world. Sometimes it’s a laugh, a smile, a raised eyebrow, a stoic presence, a spiritual vibe, a loving aura…beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Step up – here’s where you earn your supper.

Pacing the shoot

Remember, you’re in control of your shoot. But for random acts of God, you’re given the reigns when it comes to pacing your shoot.

And I’ll say again: slow down.

You’re in a photo shoot. There’s no rush, there’s nowhere to be, there’s no finish line to cross. You’ll probably be shooting for around an hour or so, which is plenty of time to get a wide variety of great images with your client in a variety of setups.

Be methodical: set up, pose, shoot a few testers, evaluate, adjust, test, evaluate, adjust, test, shoot for real and work on capturing the best expressions and moments you can.

Getting the best possible shots during a shoot is a lot like solving a puzzle. Pace yourself and enjoy the experience just like you would while doing a good crossword puzzle, playing Jenga, or getting in a game of The Sims.

The very fact that you’re reading this article right now means you are miles ahead of most people, in artistic investment and business acumen. Take pride: even if you haven’t shot your first client yet, the education you are providing yourself through this blog and other sites and sources is putting you head and shoulders above most people to have ever touched a camera. You care. You’re trying. And that’s worth a lot.

As you proceed from setup to setup, work over your subject from different angles and distances at each spot. If you’re shooting them at a park bench, get a nice close headshot, then a layback shot on the bench, then some wide shots of them sitting on the bench, then doing a handstand on the bench – or whatever you want.

Nail your must-have shots, your bread-and-butter images that you know will sell well after the shoot, then experiment. Play around with ideas and just let your creativity flow. Once you feel you’ve worked over a setup for all the shots it has to give, move on to the next setup.

Repeat until your time is up.

Don’t be afraid to shoot the same shot at different times and setups throughout your shoot. Give yourself plenty of variety to choose from during post-processing. Keep shooting, testing, evaluating, adjusting, and shooting some more. Trust me; the headshot you get of your client toward the end of your shoot will probably be far more natural and pleasant than the first of the day.

Calling it a day

When time is up on your shoot, again turn on that charm your mother taught you and send your client off with more encouragement.

“This was a really great photo shoot, thank you so much for the opportunity. I really enjoyed it and I think we made some great photos today.”

“I’m really happy with how everything went today. The weather was right and you were really working the camera. We’re going to have some great photos to look at.”

“I think we got some photos today that you guys will really like. This is a great place for a photo shoot and we caught some great evening light.”

Lead your client back to your car and explain to them the remainder of the photo buying process:

• Show them your standard model release, explain what it means and what it’s for (“This just gives me your permission to use your photos in my portfolio or in an ad for my [senior, bridal, family, baby, whatever] photography business.”), and have them fill it out, including contact information and e-mail address.
• Ask if they enjoyed the photo shoot. Then ask if you may add their e-mail address to your newsletter list. If you offer a coupon for new subscribers, let them know what they’ll get and how they can use it during the coming proofing and sales session.
• Let them know you shot a ton of photos, but you’ll cull them down to the best from each pose and setup, looking for the best expressions and moments. If you recall a specific shot from the shoot that you know is good, mention it as an example. (“I loved the shot of you laying back on the park bench, the light was just right on your face; that will definitely be in there.”)
• Set a date, time, and location for your client to get with you to view the proofs and buy their prints and files. If they want the images in a private online album, collect your retainer for this service and let them know when they can expect an e-mail from you with a link to the images.
• Ask if they have any other questions, thank them for a great shoot, and then release them back into the sea.

Congratulations – you’ve survived your first photo shoot! Hopefully with grace and aplomb, but if not, no worries. So long as you were courteous, encouraging, had some fun, and made some solid images, you’ve had a pretty fantastic first shoot.

If you threw up on the client and all your shots were out of focus…well, everybody has to start somewhere!



Taking notes on what to improve

Do you want to multiply the rate at which you improve as a photographer? Whip out a pad and pencil (or digital equivalent) as soon as your client leaves and get ready to jot some notes.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and flow of a shoot, then the euphoria of its end, without ever really slowing down to take stock of what went right and what went wrong.

The secret is to be conscious of your work.

Just like slowing down to evaluate each set of images you make during the shoot, you want to take a moment after to take note of your thoughts on how to improve for next time.

Pencil, stylus, keyboard, or touchscreen in hand, answer these questions:

• What was your favorite part of the shoot? Go into detail. Was it nailing a certain shot? Joking with the client? Getting to know the client and making better images for it? You tell me.
• What was the worst part of the shoot? Nerves before? Mind-melt during? Did the client have no sense of humor? Did you have no sense of humor? Details.
• What do you think your client’s favorite and worst parts of the shoot were? Do these differ from yours? Try to step into their shoes as self-conscious and inexperienced subjects and explore what you feel they most and least enjoyed.
• This knowledge in hand, what can you do differently or better next time to improve your client’s experience?
• Briefly looking at your images on camera, what do you like and dislike from the shoot? Best? Worst? Why? Where did you ace it, and where did you miss? How can you do better next time? Be specific; give yourself something real to grab onto and improve.

Head home, plug your card into your computer, back up your images, then back’em up again to a second or external hard drive.

In the coming final articles of this series, I’ll go over culling+post-processing, the proofing+sales session, and how to follow-up like a rock star.

Next Steps

• Take another pass through the Flickr archives to see what kinds of portraits other photographers are making in the great outdoors.
• Like a good actress or actor, grab a mirror, and talk out some of your photographer-client shpeel. Have a mock conversation with a client, from introductions on location to posing and joking around to fond farewells. Have fun. Be silly. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Life is good.
• Brainstorm session: What’s the worst thing that could happen on your photo shoot? What’s the most realistic worst thing that could happen? How can you prepare for it? File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• What was your first photo shoot like? What were the biggest lessons you learned? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• Your pre-photo-shoot checklist in four easy steps – Your First Customer Series, Part 6
• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident
• How to watermark your photography proofs for the web
]]> http://parttimephoto.com/your-first-photo-shoot-expectations-and-results-your-first-customer-series-part-7/feed/ 10 http://parttimephoto.com/top-10-money-making-outdoor-photographs-of-people-your-first-customer-series-part-2/ http://parttimephoto.com/top-10-money-making-outdoor-photographs-of-people-your-first-customer-series-part-2/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:07:17 +0000 Outlaw Photographer James Taylor http://parttimephoto.com/?p=132




(Click here to visit the summary post for the Your First Customer Series!)

It may take some practice on yourself or friends and family, but below you will find the top 10 money-making outdoor photographs you can make of and sell to your portraiture clients as a newly-minted part time photographer.

I’m featuring outdoor portraits here because you can shoot them with just the camera in your hands, and you can shoot them just about anywhere, from a local park or playground to your own back yard.

Aim to start shooting about one hour before sunset. This will give you nice evening light to play with.

For your lighting, you want your subject facing toward the sun. If the sunlight is right in their eyes and they’re squinting, move them into some shade but still have them face toward the sun. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a passing cloud in front of the sun or have overcast skies to act as a big diffuser.

I’ll be adding some more in-depth video and photo tutorials for these photos in the future, but for now, use the below guidelines to begin shooting salable portraits of your clients.

Let’s visit the great outdoors!

The Headshot

A good headshot fills the frame with your subject’s face, preferably from mid-chest or shoulders up. Zoom your camera in all the way and walk away from your subject until they are properly framed. By zooming in, you’re reducing your depth of field, which will give you a nice, soft background.

The biggest part of the headshot is a natural expression (preferably a candid smile or laugh between funny faces) and good lighting. If your lighting is too harsh or too far to the side, you’ll get nasty and unflattering shadows across the eyes and face. Make sure the eyes always look fabulous.

Don’t have to worry about background too much with these, since almost all of the frame will be filled with the subject. As always, try to have a complimentary and simple background. Avoid busy or clashing backgrounds at all costs.

Mix this up with a nice pair of sunglasses and you can get another set of fun and stylish photos. Once you’ve got what you like from a standing-back, zoomed-in position, zoom all the way out, get close, and do some wide-angle headshots. Make sure your background is clean and complimentary, lift your camera overhead and shoot down at wild angles, and have fun with it.

It’s digital: go crazy!


                       

           

                 


The 3/4 (Three-Quarters) Shot

The 3/4 Shot goes up from your subject’s thighs, waist, or torso, including arms and hands. We’ll introduce a bit of body posing with this portrait.

Make sure your lighting looks good on your subject (I’ll say this every single time – learn to look at the light and shadows on your subject’s face before you even lift your camera to take a shot), then have them “just slightly” push their shoulders back and arch their backs. If they suddenly look like they sat on a cactus, have them loosen it up a bit.

Where your subject’s hands will go depends on what they’re wearing. Thumbs can go in jean pockets for a Western look, arms can cross for a powerful stance, hands can go to hips (with a little hip swish to the side) for a more model-esque pose, hands can go in jacket pockets if they’re wearing one, etc.

Look for something natural and fitting: unless you’re breaking the ice and being funny, cowboys shouldn’t swish their hips and khaki-wearers shouldn’t hook their thumbs in their pockets.

Women going for a model look can do the hip thing, put hands in their back pockets, bring their hands up to mess with their hair, etc. You can turn most women loose with posing in a 3/4 shot and they’ll do fine on their own.

Your background is going to be more visible in this shot, so make sure it doesn’t hurt the image. If it’s loud, noisy, overbearing, super busy, or just not complimentary to the photo, change positions. Have your subject lean against a tree if you must, but maintain a clean background.

This photo set should also be shot from a distance, zoomed in. Feel free to introduce some sunglasses and/or wide angle shots if you like, but since we’re shooting more body this time, the final impact will be less pronounced.


                       

                       

                 


The Close-up Shot

Not for the faint of heart or those with particularly poor skin.

The close up shot is a twice-as-close headshot, focusing greatly on the eyes, filling almost every inch of the frame with your subject’s face.

Definitely step back and zoom in to take this photo. Wide-angles up close will exaggerate features well beyond attractiveness. That said, if you have a funky subject, go for it – never let your own snobbery of how a portrait should look take precedence over what the client wants and will buy.

When you’re this close, make sure you aren’t casting a shadow (even faint) on your subject.

When you like the lighting on your subject’s face, let them give you several expressions, and play to their best features. If someone has bad teeth, aim for closed-mouth smiles and dramatic or intense facial expressions. If they have a great smile, start cracking jokes. If they have amazing eyes, get super close on those. If they have great hair, or if their hair is a big part of their style, be sure it frames or comes forward a bit to accent their face.

Since a close-up is more of an artsy and intimate image, play around with having your client look away from the camera, pose their head to the left or right and have them look both toward you and away, and if they’re the jocular type, have them make some funny faces.

Good close-ups make great MySpace and Facebook defaults.


     


The Layback Shot

Find something for your subject to lay back on. I’m lucky to have a great spot on a tree at my city park where my subjects can lay back comfortably, but you can use a flat surface like a patch of grass or a park bench.

You’ll have your subject lay down, and turn/lean their head back to look at you. As always, make sure your lighting looks good, and if their faces aren’t catching even light, rotate them until they look great.

Have your subject arch their back a bit to make it easier for them to look back to you. Take your time and get a natural pose here – if your subject is straining their neck too much or too twisted around, their discomfort will show up in the final photo.

Hands can go down the side into/around pockets, their far hand can go up behind their head, and the near hand can stay down, go in a jacket pocket, or reach up to grip a lapel.

This mostly looks good as a dramatic photo, but as with every photo, try to work a range of expressions in. Go crazy and cull out the misses later when you’re on the computer.


           


The Bench Shot

A good park bench is a great prop for posing. Your subject can sit, stand, or lay on it, and any which way, it creates visually interesting horizontal lines in the image.

Work your angles and expressions, primarily focusing on straight-on shots capturing the long side of the table or bench. Overhead shots can be good here as well to create some angled lines through your image.


                       

                 


The Standing On Something Shot

I may not be creative with naming these shots, but this is one of the more dramatic photos you’ll take of your subject.

Find something that your subject can stand on, preferably a something that creates a statuesque appearance. A chair, a rock or cement wall, a pillar of some sort, a table, a tree stump, whatever’s available.

Go for dramatic and goofy poses and expressions here. Try to get your camera down around your subject’s foot level and shoot up at them. Primarily do this zoomed in, but try some wide angles as well. Dramatic poses should give your subject the appearance of a statue on display, and goofy stuff can include flamingo one-legged stances and bird-in-flight pantomimes.





The Wide Shot

You’ll have to do some hunting and practice your landscape photographer’s eye to find a good place, but seek out some good scenery to do a landscape-style photo with your subject as a small but highlighted feature in the shot.

A tree that overhangs a hillside, a select tree out of a row of a dozen, a lone tree in a field (can you tell I shoot around trees a lot?), a hillside or field covered in green grass or flowers… You get the idea. Get in a position where you can shoot a wide-angle photo of this beautiful landscape or natural feature, and pose your subject in a key point.

If photographing the overhanging tree, place your subject in the frame created by the branches which dip down at their tips. If shooting the lone tree, seat your subject at the side of the tree, or stand them in front of it. If you can shoot from a high position, lay your subject in that field of flowers and let them be the unique break, and thus focal point, in the pattern the landscape creates.

Your subject will be very small in this photo, so pose them dramatically enough that they don’t appear as just sticks or squares in the photo. Extend the pose enough to create more interesting shapes. Make them take up some space around them.


                       

                       

           


The Funky Angle Shot

Go wide-angle and shoot from an unusual angle on your subject. I love to shoot overhead for these, but you can lay down and shoot from ground level, or just get close and twist the camera so your subject takes up the frame corner-to-corner instead of top-to-bottom.

This is a playful type of shot, so feel free to play around with your subject to get a memorable image.


                       


The Down The Road Shot

Roads, not unlike the done-to-death train track, create nice lines in an image.

Place your subject in the middle of a road (do mind the traffic), or off to one side or the other, and look for a shot which includes the bold graphic element of the road and the lines on the road. Have your subject take a bold stance if in the middle of the road, or have them turn toward the road if they’re posed to the side. If to the side, place your subject in the left or right side of the frame, with the road filling the rest.

After you nail your straight-on shots, do some funky angle shots and do some overheads. The bold lines that roads create will, if captured properly, give your portrait a big boost in style.


                       


The Jump Shot

Ahh, The Jump Shot – a must for nearly every subject I photograph, in the studio or outdoors. Seniors, brides, children…none are exempt from the coolness of this photo.

Find a place where you can get below your subject’s feet; the crest of a hill, a low wall, whatever works for you.

Lay down. Get extra low for this shot. The lower you are, the higher it will appear your subject jumps, even if they are notably sans “ups.”

Get some space between you and your subject, but stay close enough that you can shoot zoomed out for a nice wide-angle effect.

For the jump, tell your subject to get as high as they can on the jump, and have them go all-out cheerleader. Guys and gals both should throw their hands up and kick their heels back. Big laughs and wide-mouthed smiles look great here.

Snap your photo at the apex of their jump. If you’re shooting with a point-and-shoot, you’ll have to play with your timing to make this happen. Pre-focus on your subject to reduce the delay.

Watch the background in this one – your subject should have nothing buy sky behind them. If there are trees or buildings disturbing your subject’s blue-sky background, the flying effect won’t be as strong.

This is always a fun photo to make and show to clients, and one that often sells as a big print.


           


Bonus: The Prop Shot

I have a couple of bonus shots for you, separate from the rest because they involved props.

The appropriately-named Prop Shot involves the inclusion of just about anything that your subject will pose with – a pet, sports gear, hobby gear (such as a camera!), etc.

Whatever the prop is, your first priority is to show your subject interacting with the prop, and your second is to have the subject interact with the camera at the same time.

If your subject wants to pose with their dog, they’re holding the dog in their arms and the pup starts licking their faces, great photos will be had. If you can catch your subject laughing and looking at the camera while this is going on, it will make an even better photo.

If your subject wants a shot of them swinging on a swing, get a nice low angle down and to the side of them so you can catch them at the top of their forward swing; if you can get them to look back/down at you while laughing or smiling, even better.

Interacting with the camera, in any case, is secondary to them interacting naturally with their prop of choice. If you’re doing a profile shot of a subject kissing their pet potbelly pig, the mid-laugh smoochy shot is going to be far and away better than then snuggling and smiling at the camera shot. Make them both, but know which one will sell more prints.


                 


Bonus: The Car Shot

A car is really just a big prop, but because of its size and usually very personal relationship with its driver, it gets special mention here.

A car says a lot about its owner. A beat up old truck can lend as much character to a portrait as a slicked-up Porsche can add style to another.

Get photos of your subject in the driver’s seat, leaning against the car James Dean style, sitting on the hood or tailgate, do a Layback Shot on the hood, ask for stories about the driver’s experience with the car and then try to recreate that experience. If they rebuilt the engine, get photos of them under the hood poking around, or slid underneath the car with just their legs sticking out. Find the connection between the driver and the car and make some fun and memorable photos which capture that connection.





Practice makes perfect

Phew! That’s 2,443 words of ideas to get you kick-started taking money-making photographs of your portraiture clients. Start practicing what you’ve learned above and build your own set of favorite money-making photos so you never have to “make it up as you go along” unless you want to.

Keep in mind, this is by no means an in-depth or exhaustive list; as you grow as an artist, and expand your repertoire of favorite images to make of clients, you’ll start to enter a flow state when you’re shooting and go naturally and easily from one pose and place to the next.

In the near future you’ll find here on PartTimePhoto.com some fun and dead-simple video and photo tutorials to help you more visually learn to make the most of these photo opportunities.

Next Steps

• Take a drive around your town or neighborhood and explore the outdoor areas which would be ripe for good photos. Look for parks and playgrounds especially. Walk around your own back yard and see what little nooks would be great to take portraits in.
• Grab a friend or family member and practice, practice, practice. Print out or download this list to your iPhone and setup by setup, practice each photo, and practice getting good expressions from your subjects. Remember, you’re a working photographer now – let your guinea pig subject know that they can get with you to view the photos at a later date and buy what they love.
• Have fun practicing and have fun on your shoots. You will make far better photos, and your subjects will enjoy the experience a great deal more. Remember, your art will take time to grow, but your ability to provide clients with a fantastic experience lies in your hands right now.
• Hold a practice viewing session with your guinea pig subject and look at your take together. See which images get the best reaction from them. See if they’re interested in buying any of them. Take note of what really floats their boat, and keep this in mind for your upcoming brainstorm session – these are the photos that you want to lean toward making with future clients.
• Check out the work of Flickr artists from their outdoor portraiture sessions.
• Brainstorm session: Write down your thoughts on which photo setups gave you your best images, both artistically to you and financially to your subject. Those photos that they were really happy with are what you’ll want to be sure you shoot every time with your clients. File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• If you’re interested in maximizing your financial and enjoyment benefit from your part time photography business, feel free to click the “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this web site. I’m very thankful for your readership!
• How would you classify some of your favorite outdoor portraits? Do they fit in any of the above categories? If not, how would you classify them? What have you learned is your best-seller image? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• It’s digital: go crazy! How to make great photos by accident
• Your first photo shoot: expectations and results – Your First Customer Series, Part 7
• Sharp photos – how to get them, in camera and in post
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• Testing wordpress post
]]> http://parttimephoto.com/top-10-money-making-outdoor-photographs-of-people-your-first-customer-series-part-2/feed/ 20 http://parttimephoto.com/its-digital-go-crazy-how-to-make-great-photos-by-accident/ http://parttimephoto.com/its-digital-go-crazy-how-to-make-great-photos-by-accident/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:47:12 +0000 Outlaw Photographer James Taylor http://parttimephoto.com/?p=142




(Putting some thorough time in on Part 2 of the Your First Customer Series, so here’s some fresh reading while I’m dabbling in that project.)

There are two camps of professional photographers out there: the selective and thoroughly-planned, and the spray-and-prays.

I lean more toward the latter, although I’ll say that with time and experience, you can begin to combine the two styles effectively.

Whereas some portrait photographers like to set up and plan and micromanage every shot down to the last detail, I have enough ADHD in me to necessitate going hog wild while I’m shooting.

I’ll get my client into a general pose, or give them some posing instructions and turn them loose, then start shooting – as I see things I like, I’ll have them repeat them.

For example, if I’m shooting a senior outdoors I may have them lay back on tree or picnic table, have them arch their backs and turn their faces to me. I’ll start shooting, then ask for different expressions, different hand placement, etc. As they morph the pose to their own inspiration, I’ll grasp onto what they’re doing right in my eyes and encourage them to do more of it.

I tend to shoot 400 or more photos in a one-hour session, whether in the studio or out in the wild.

Grognards will tell you that shooting so many images is “amateur,” but I don’t think any method is amateur that results in photos your client loves and is willing to pay good money for. If you’re more meticulous, do more planning and setup; if you’re like me and love variety and faster rhythms, spray away.

Experiments make money

A sidebar to this concept of shooting like crazy to make great photos would be to experiment like a mad scientist.

Photography is definitely one of those artistic talents that benefits from experimentation, to ‘learn by doing.’

One of the best things about “not knowing any better,” in photography and in life, is that you can experiment freely. Want to shoot portraits at night by street light? Do it. Get a whim to do a family portrait with everyone upside down hanging from swings? Do it. Inspired to play with backlighting, unusual or wild posing, high fashion set and scene creation, want to go with a commercial feel, feel like putting everyone in sunglasses, can’t go another day without doing an entire shoot with a Star Wars theme, just have to shoot an entire senior session in the subject’s home? Do it.

It’s digital: go crazy!

Especially when you are early-on in your professional photography career, experiment and blow the doors off your self-imposed boundaries. If a photo stinks, throw it out without a second thought or if you like the idea, ponder (or ask advice on the forums) how you can do it better.

When you find something you love, and more importantly, your client loves it too, write it down and add it to your shot list – your list of must-shoots for every client.

Don’t sacrifice your basics, your ‘guaranteed’ salable photos, but definitely take time to experiment and play with fresh ideas and your own imagination while working with clients.

You’ll find that your artistic talents grow much faster, and you’ll create some truly unique and remarkable photos along the way. Those stylish images, along with a proven capacity for knocking down solid, quality portraits, will get you word of mouth, a healthy buzz, in your market.

A digital caveat

The only flipside to the spray-and-pray style of shooting is that you will wear out your camera faster than usual.

I experienced this with my Canon 40D, 20D, and original silver Digital Rebel. I’ve had to replace the shutter on each at $250 a pop. Each time the old salt behind the counter tells me, “You take too many pictures! Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean you can take so many pictures!”

His advice is well-taken, and as years go by, I’ve become better and better at being more selective in my shooting.

However, my style, my salable photos, are my bread and butter as a professional photographer. I have made back what I’ve spent in shutter replacements many, many times over.

Go with the flow and make your photos your way. Do what feels right to you, what you’ve learned gives you the best images you can make.

Next Steps

• Experiment! On every single photo shoot, try something new or different or downright crazy. As always, check out the inspirational work of Flickr artists to keep your brain buzzing.
• Brainstorm session: Close your eyes. Let your imagination explore visions and ideas for unique and interesting portraits of people. Write down every vision that comes to mind, every important detail, and who/what/where/when/how you would photograph each. File this in your Brainstorms folder.
• There’s only more real-world advice, tips, and encouragement to come here on PartTimePhoto.com. If you enjoy what you’re reading, please feel free to click the “Subscribe” link at the top of any page of this web site.
• What preconceived notions or fears do you feel are holding you back from making fun, fantastic photos? Leave a comment below, e-mail me, or call or text me at 830-688-1564.

Similar Posts:

• Top 10 money-making outdoor photos of people – Your First Customer Series, Part 2
• Sharp photos – how to get them, in camera and in post
• Culling and post-processing your first photo shoot – Your First Customer Series, Part 8
• Response time and turnaround – how to beat the competition for free
• How to make money as a part time portrait photographer – Startup Series, Part 1
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