Wouldn’t it be great if you could make your clients look thinner just by altering their pose?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could shave off 10-15 lbs by doing this little adjustment here or there?

Wouldn’t it be great if you did not have to perform cyber-liposuction in Photoshop?  (Sadly, there have been many causalities slimming clients this way).

Well, you CAN make your clients look thinner without ever going ‘under the mouse.’  lol.  Bad puns are funny!

Introducing, PLUS SIZE POSING: 7 TIPS FOR GREAT POSES.

We took our best plus size posing tips for women and put them into a companion guide for use alongside the BASIC BRIDAL POSES: 8 STEPS TO POSING A BRIDE.  This companion ebook is just that - it is an instant, downloadable, printable, reference resource for photographers who want to learn posing tips for plus size (size 14+) brides and women.

This little ebook is jam packed with tips.  We broke it down into 7 easy steps for plus size bridal posing.   It was supposed to be small, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t skip anything, so it ended up being 30-pages with illustrations and a notes section at the end of the ebook.

In this photography resource guide you will learn:

• The best poses for plus size brides
• Tips & Tricks to visually thin your clients
• How to make them look good
• The best angles for certain figures
• Using their curves to enhance their figure
• Poses to avoid with certain figures
• Create your own poses using these 7 principles
• And never get stuck figuring out a pose again
• Why a plus size pose works
• How to repeat it in the future
• The deadly angles before your shoot
• Plus more!

This companion guide can be used in conjunction with BASIC BRIDAL POSES.  That means that this resource is best utilized WITH the other bridal posing guide.  And again, it tells you the principles of how and why a pose works so that you can create your own poses later.  And in case you aren’t feeling the creative vibe, there are illustrations to help you get started.

One thing that totally irked me when I first started shooting was stumbling across a pose that worked great, and realizing that I only used it once during the session.  It wasn’t until later that I realized why the pose worked so well and made the client look so good.  Taking these 7 principles and applying them to your portrait poses or wedding day photography makes posing really easy.  You won’t be kicking yourself for not seeing a great pose sooner.

Get the guide.  Read it over and over - at least 4 times.  Then go out and practice.  Practice the 7 tips.  After the 3rd time you’ve used the tips, many people have committed them to memory and their work has improved by leaps and bounds.  I got to see the difference in one of my latest workshops.

I have a great student who has attended several of our workshops.  She has shot models and been working on poses for a while now.  She has showed steady progression after each workshop.  No thrilling story - yet.

This student bought the BASIC BRIDAL POSES ebook and studied it before the last workshop.  She had it at the class with her.  When I saw her images after the workshop, I was floored.  Her posing skills improved 2x-3x faster than expected!  When I asked her what caused that - she said it was the ebook.  Being able to read about it AND do it makes a huge difference to many people.  And it was totally obvious in her work.  Awesome photographer!  I love that story!

You can download the e-book right after you pay.  No waiting.  Instant gratification!

An e-book is also called an electronic book.  You can download it to your computer and print it out.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader as the e-book is a pdf.  This program is installed in most computers.  We do recommend printing your e-book so you can keep it around as a reference tool.

This guide is reduced for those who are attending workshops this summer.  Reg. price will resume after the summer workshops are completed.

Reg. Price $49.99

Sale Price: $12.99

$99 TWILIGHT WEDDING

PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOT OUT

AUGUST 1st, 2009

Dunvegan Keep, Austin Texas

Attention photographers!  Belle’s Photography in conjunction with MPIX and Kubota Imagine Tools announces the coolest wedding photography shoot out in Texas ever!  Oh, heck, it’s the coolest no matter where you live!

On August 1, 2009 we have rented a real Austin wedding venue - Dunvegan Keep!  This is my favorite place (dare I say it) in the whole country to shoot at.  We have shot in Time Square, to Florida cities, to the backwoods of Mississippi, and all over Texas and this is my favorite location to shoot.

Why?  Because it is so cram packed full of great shooting areas.  The location is dripping with details: antiques, columns, copper, fine woods, paintings, sculptures, gardens, stained glass, water features, ponds, pools, OMG!  It just keeps going!  The coolest part of all - the place is themed.  It is like a medieval place.  It’s so romantic, full of color, and just dripping with possibilites.

If you have been wanting to practice some new ideas, play with off camera lighting, or just get used to shooting wedding gowns in general - this is SO the event for you!  After speaking with the owner after our last workshop, he mentioned how stunning the place looks after night fall.  He has Egyptian lanterns hanging in trees, candles and candelabras all over, and it makes for a breathtaking scene.

So guess, what?  This event is going to be at night!  You bet ya!  Well start shooting at twilight and keep shooting until after dark.  I am sooooo excited about this event!  I can’t even begin to use enough !!!! to tell you how cool this is going to be!

So the skinny - what do you get for your $99? You get access to the grounds for the entire length of the workshop.  Come for the whole time, or part.  We will have multiple female models (ratio will be 6:1).  Our ratios are usually better than that, but I have to throw a number out there.  Keep in mind that there always seems to be some models with less people around.  Photogs seem to shoot in swarms.  hee hee.  You also get a couple of guys in tuxes for some couples shots.  Designer wedding gowns are provided for all the models by Belle’s.  These aren’t Salvation Army Wedding gowns.  They are current styles!  Retail on the gowns we typically bring out are between $500 - $2000.  Your entry fee also covers cleaning of the gowns after the event.  We’ll have hair and make up done so it looks great.  And we will have one gown that is able to go for a swim during the shoot.  Kubota Imaging Tools has offered several $100 in fab door prizes.  And our buddies at MPIX are awesome, as always, offering the coolest door prizes ever!

How will the photography shoot out be set up? This location has lots of great little nooks, speerate buildings, and areas.  We are going to set 1 model in each nook/ location on site.  6-8 people can shoot 1 model at the same time without falling on each other.  There will be Belle’s staff onsite to make sure everyone utilizes all the models and doesn’t over crowd any one area.

Why do we do this? Easy - you’ll get better stuff.  And like I said, people tend to move in groups.  In this case it’s to your advantage to move away from the group.  Find a model with 1 photog and you guys can have a ball.  Help each other with reflectors or lights.  It’s awesome!  If you really want to shoot someone and there are already 8 photogs there, just hang back and wait til one leaves, then swoop in.  I would suggest rotating through the areas starting to the left and the back, since most people turn right and start at the front.

The ebook BRIDAL BASICS - 8 STEPS TO POSING A BRIDE is still on sale for those attending this event.  You save $40.  Pretty, good, right?  Anyway, I noticed those who had the ebook at the last workshop made drastic improvements in a very short time in their posing.  It also affected their composition because posing and composition are somewhat intertwined.  If you have $29.99 - get it, read it.  You’ll be glad you did.  Instant gratification is nice!

This is a shoot out, not a workshop.  That means there is no official instruction; it’s 100% shooting.  And I want to make it totally clear that newBs and hobby photographers are welcome!  Of course, we love chatting with the seasoned pros too.  The photos of the place were taken during the day.  Shooting at night is going to be awesome, challenging, and fun!  I hope we’ll see lots of old faces and get to meet some new ones!

OK, if I forgot anything else that you need to know for this gig, email me.

Date: August 1, 2009

Location: Dunvegan Keep, 12504 Black Mesa Cove, Austin, TX 78739

Time: 7pm-10:30pm (yep - it’s at night)

Event Type: Shoot Out

Belle’s Staff: Mike & Holly

Investment: $149 per person!

Discounted Price: Only $99 - early bird registration (Reg price resumes July 1)

Registration: CLICK HERE to register now!

We had a great time with everyone who came out to the Austin Photography Workshop yesterday!  We had a ton of models.  The ratio was around 2:1 (2 photogs per model), which was great!  I saw a few of you sneak off to borrow a model and take some shots.  I hope you’ll share on Texas Photo Forum or MPIX’s forum.  That location offers a LOT of diversity all cram packed into a one space.  Very cool.  Thanks to Craig Turner for having us!  His grounds are always breathtakingly beautiful!

Here are a few snap shots I took of the class during the day.  Since we had a bunch of newB’s I just want to clarify - a snap shot is a shot that was not thoughtfully composed, posed, lit, or executed.  Its what it is - a snap shot of a moment in time.  I can post a couple of the portraits I took of the models in a little bit.  Those look quite different…as you can imagine.  ;o)

Some more shots from the photo workshop…

A couple more…

And I want to say thanks to our models.  You guys were troopers!  (It was a really warm day to be out in the sun in formal clothing so long).

And Caroline, you were a good sport offering to trash a dress by jumping in the pool!

Make sure you pick up the 8 Steps To Posing A Bride ebook!

It has been discounted about $40 for those who took the class.  (Reg. price will resume shortly).  It has detailed explanations of the posing stuff we talked about at the workshop.  You can print it out and keep it as a reference tool.  The feedback we have gotten on the bridal posing guide/ ebook has been excellent.  Its simple, straight forward, and illustrated.  It makes posing EASY.

We talked a little bit about the difference b/t a good pose and a good composition.  There is a composition tutorial on our Belle’s Photography Blog over here.

Here is a portrait of Jacob…

Remember how we talked about posing guys vs girls?  Angluar strong poses comminicate power, status, and hell, he just looks good, right?  The ligthing is dramatic, broad lighting, with a serious pose and all those combonations make for a really intense portrait.

More to come…

Here is the info that went out in the email. It is duplicate, so dont flip out if you didnt get the email. Everyone was added to the email newsletter list who signed up for the workshop. The email was sent to the email account you have set up with paypal. It said the stuff below and reminded you that the 8 steps to posing a bride ebook would be a good read b4 the workshop.

INFO: If you haven’t been to this location before, please note. It is a private residence. It does NOT look like a castle from the front. Totally surprising if you haven’t been there before. The house is in a cul-de-sac and looks like a normal house. You can check it out on google maps and see the street view. There isnt much to see from the front.

PARKING - There is NOT on site parking. There will be a shuttle going back and forth b/t the location and the elem. school that is down the road. Just pass the house and drive down Lost Oasis until you can see the school (see link below). We have permission to park in their parking lot.

Please arrive @ 12:45pm. A shuttle will bring everyone over. Do NOT be more than 5 minutes late! You’ll miss the last shuttle and have to walk.

If anyone has a handicapped permit and needs to park onsite, please let me know.

Here is a link so you can see where the school is. Even I found it and I cant find anything.  Its the only large building there.

If you are attending and have any questions, please email ASAP. Please check your directions prior to leaving. I’m not from Austin, so I’m not much help if you get totally lost.

Should I bring…? Bring what ever you have! Camera bodies, lenses (especially wide angle ones), flashes, reflectors, tri/ mono pods, and anything you think you may use. We will be shooting inside and outside. We are on whether we have rain or shine.

There are several different models lined up! It’s looking like it is going to be a great day!

One thing we have noticed from traveling the country and putting on workshops for professional photographers is that people cannot get enough on posing.  Posing is something that works in tandem with composition and lighting making it a trifecta MUST HAVE to have a great shot.

So, Holly spent time collecting images that illustrate her best posing tips and tricks for brides and wrote out her explanation of the components of each pose in a 30+ page illustrated e-book!  Best of all, this isn’t just a book filled with poses - it tells you why the pose works and how to duplicate it in the future.

You can use these posing tips with any woman’s portrait session, especially a bridal session or taking portraits of the bride on her wedding day.  Basically, the same rules apply to posing other female clientele.

Holly broke down the posing into 8 simple rules for posing your bride. In the e-book you will learn…

• why a pose works
• how to re-create it
• the minor changes that make major differences
• the different components of posing
• how to use components individually
• how to pose the bride from head to toe
• poses that set the mood of your image
• how to create your own unique poses
• plus more!
  

One thing most posing books are lacking is they why.  They fail to tell you why it’s a good pose.  Why it works.  Without knowing why, you can’t create your own awesome poses.  The simplicity of this e-book is that has EIGHT easy to follow steps to a great pose EVERY time.  You won’t need to walk around with a posing book in your pocket.  You’ll know what you have to do, what order to do it in, and why it works.

If you are attending the Austin Wedding workshop in a couple weeks, I HIGHLY recommend getting this ahead of time and looking it over.  It will let you test things out at the workshop and put you a couple of steps ahead of where you would have been.

And in honor of the workshop, the posing e-book has been discounted for a limited time!!!

It will sell for $99.99 after the workshop.  And it’s worth every penny and then some!!!  I reduced the price on it so those enrolled in the workshop can get it at the discounted rate.

Best of all, you can download the e-book right after you pay.  No waiting.  Instant gratification!

An e-book is also called an electronic book.  You can download it to your computer and print it out.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader as the e-book is a pdf.  This program is installed in most computers.  We do recommend printing your e-book so you can keep it as a reference tool.

Reg. Price $69.99

Sale Price $29.99

DONT MISS THIS EVENT!

It’s coming up fast.

Seats are still open for this amazing workshop.  It’s at a castle!  Need I say more?

This workshop is 1/3 lecture and 2/3 workshop aka shooting. We’ll cover the basics about bridal/ wedding photography.  This class has a limited class size - we won’t be in a lecture hall either - this is a shooting workshop.

We will be covering the following content:
* Basics of Bridal Posing
* Basics of Feminine Lighting
* Using Off-Camera Lighting
* Formal & Contemporary Bridal Portrait Poses
* Using Natural Light Effectively
* Basic Technical Techniques - (ISO, DOF, flash, etc)
* Tricks to Dramatic Bridals
* Posing Tips for Different Figures
* Basics of Cool Compositions
* Tricks to Shooting Natural Poses
* Basics of Shadows and Light
* Get Great Portfolio Shots
* Designer Wedding Gown &
* Model(s) Provided

This workshop is touring, with the 1st location in San Antonio, at sunrise, at the San Antonio Missions (which has already passed - to see more info please see these posts #1 - #2).  The San Antonio workshop was AWESOME.  I love being able to shoot at a location before it’s open.  Very cool.

The Austin workshop will be held at Duvengan Keep - very cool castle-like location in Austin.  If you have never seen this place, you are gonna think you died and went to photo shoot heaven.  There is every texture you can imagine, from stone, to thick aged wood, to cast iron, to copper doors, to stained glass.  I would come to this for the location alone.  It is an AWESOME place to shoot!

Comments about the sister workshop in San Antonio in Jan:

“For all who want to shoot stuff like that (he has some awesome shots)- I’d really recommend Mike’s workshop. I been to my share of them, and i am doing some myself. He and Holly do explain things to all who interested, they go off great lengths to help people to understand how stuff works and what this is all about, on business side, on technical stuff and on artistic side.   And its pretty easy atmosphere , you not getting to be like in school for them hard headed kids, getting beaten for every word spoken out of turn ;).” - Sergei

“I’m just starting to go through the shoot from this morning. I really enjoyed myself and convinced myself that I’m getting better! Thanks for setting this up!” - Bryan

If you have been thinking about getting into wedding photography this is the workshop for you.  It offers hands-on learning, you can come as you are (and you’ll learn even if you are new), you can find out how Belle’s shoots weddings and bridals, and get inspired to take your business to the next level.

Date: June 7, 2009
Location: Duvegan Keep, 12504 Black Mesa Cove, Austin, TX 78739
Instructor: Mike or Holly
Time: 1-4pm
Investment: Only $225 per person
Registration: REGISTER HERE

PS - ALL THE IMAGES ON THE PROMO POSTER (THE PIC ABOVE) WERE TAKEN AT THE AUSTIN LOCATION.  ITS SO COOL I HAD TO GIVE IT IT’S OWN POSTER!

Thought some of you may be interested in this.  There is a big designer wedding gown clearance sale at Belle’s Bridal Boutique next Sat, April 4th.  The day is already booked pretty full.  If you call ASAP, you can probably still sneak in.

$99+ Designer Wedding Gown Sale in Abilene

PS - This is the best bridal shop eveah!  ;o)

Here are some basics of lighting for photographers.  There is lots of hoopla that is all debatable, but good lighting isn’t.  Good lighting is the difference between being an excellent photographer and being ho-hum.

The examples below can be utilized with what ever lighting equipment you use - strobes, aka flashes, hot lights, cool lights, studio lights, window light, alien bees - what ever.  The method is the same regardless of the light source.

Lighting tip #1 - very most important NEVER forget EVER - Always light from above. You can also say - NEVER up-light your subject.   Want to know why - please read the Halloween reference below in the flash section of this post.  If you can’t remember anything…remember this.  Its tip numero uno.  REMEMBER IT!

Here are some photos of our model and the different types of lighting.  The examples have no post processing done to them AT ALL.  The reason is so that you can see what stuff looks like straight out of camera.

BUTTERFLY LIGHTING (aka Hollywood Lighting)

This is incredibly quick and easy lighting!  Your main light goes directly in front of, and above, your subject.  This highlights the tops of the facial planes, defines the jaw line, and creates the little “butterfly” shadow under the nose that lends it’s name to the lighting style.  Add a reflector to give the eyes some sparkle!

REMBRANDT LIGHTING

This is traditional, timeless, lighting.  Your main light is about 45 degrees of center (and above!).  The key is to have the shadow created by the nose connect with the shadow on the far side of the face - creating a triangular highlight on the subject’s cheek.

By varying the amount of fill, and the harshness of the light, you can have crazy dramatic light or classic portrait lighting.

LOOP LIGHTING

This is very similar to Rembrandt, but the light moves back towards the front of the subject.  As a result the shadow from the nose doesn’t connect with the shadow on the side of the face.

This is a favorite scheme of many wedding photogs.  With a nice soft light, it’s hard to get it wrong.

SHORT LIGHTING

Once we move to talking about short, or broad, lighting, we are talking about where the camera is in relation to the light instead of where the light is in relation to the subject.  Make sense?

In short lighting - what we have below - the camera is shooting from the side that is away from the light, leaving more of the visable face in shadow.  This is very flattering, feminine, light.

BROAD LIGHTING

Broad lighting is simply the opposite of short lighting - the camera is shooting from the same side as the light.  This is generally less slimming than short lighting, and is typically more appropriate for shooting men.

FALL OFF LIGHTING

By taking into account the fall off of light we’re able to lose unsightly backgrounds!  The fact that light falls off quickly is your your friend if you enjoy low key lighting.

Simply put, every time you double the distance between a light and the subject, you quarter the amount of light that makes it to the subject.  So, a subject that is four feet away from a light source will be lit two full stops brighter than a subject that is eight feet away from the same light source.

What this means to you, the photog, is that you don’t always need as black backdrop.  Simply move the subject closer to the light and allow the rapidly falling off light to leave the background underexposed - black.

In the shot below our model is actually about 8′-10′ in front of a gold wall.

OFF CAMERA FLASH

OK, one thing that you have to realize with any good lighting is that the flash-light-in-front-of-the-face look is only good on Halloween.  As a photographer, you should almost never use that.  (I’m saying almost never, b/c you might want to shoot some scary crap on Halloween).  So getting back to the other 364 days this year, you’ll want to use some lighting mentioned above.  Your light source for off camera flash is still above the subject.  That part didn’t change.

In the example below we have two versions of the same shot.  One was taken without flash and the other is final product taken with flash.  Final product meaning there was some PP done.  Basically the colors were intensified.

SHOT WITH OFF CAMERA FLASH

SAME IMAGE WITH OUT FLASH

If you did that to the no flash image, it would just look funky (funky in a bad way).  You could never achieve the dynamic range as with the lit photograph.  Also notice the jaw line is not well defined (making the subject look younger/ baby face) and her eyes are caves.  Can you see any light in there?

In case you are having issues seeing the detail on the face, I put the images next to each other and enlarged her face a bit so you can see.  Check out what happened to her facial features with and without flash.  When using flash, you can see her well defined cheek bones, jaw line, and her eye make up.  If she was looking up, you’d have nice sparkle in her eyes.  In the shot with no flash, her eyes appear concave, her hair is flat, in addition to the other stuff already mentioned.

Bad flash has the deer in front of the headlights feel.  Its like standing in a spot light that is directly in front of you.  When you use on camera flash, that is exactly what you are doing.  And since most people think the deer in front of the headlights look isnt all that appealing…well, this is some cool stuff.

Here is another thing you can do if you use flashes outside.  Nice cloudy day.  When you fire a flash you expose the foreground (your subject), and underexpose the background (your sky).  Ta Dah!  You have a nice blue sky, not a blown white wall that is common with not using flash.

This shot was off camera.  We so totally didn’t mess with posing today, so the pose is kinda lame, buy you get the idea.  I went a little over board with the glowers.  I know.  Anyway, its an example, not a work of art.

And thanks to those of you who came out in the wind to today’s lighting workshop.  Here is a shot of you guys hard at work, learning all the lighting hoopla.

If you have been trying to email Belle’s Photography since last week, please know that our email is having fatal issues.  Last weekend we had a massive server failure where ALL of our email addresses were lost.  The company (IX Webhosting) was unable to recover the emails and/or addresses.  Which totally stunk.  If you sent anything at the end of last week, I DID NOT SEE IT.

Anyway, if you are in the BASICS OF PHOTOGRAPHY LIGHTING WORKSHOP this upcoming weekend, and need info or sent an email, please resend.  AS OF NOW THERE ARE STILL SEATS OPEN. This is a small class, and we kept it small on purpose.  So if you want in, sign up now.

We are still having email issues.  Please call the studio (325)201-7458 and leave a message if you have a question and your email is not getting answered.  I already complained to IX and now I have to wait until they fix it.  Sorry for the hassle.

Abilene Photography Guild people & our dear sweet patient clients - same hoopla.  Call if you need anything.  Sorry for the hassle.  See you at your session.

We get lots of emails, phone calls and PMs daily.  People who are getting started in photography ask how how we got to point A (I just bought a DSLR) to point B (I’m charging $500 for art prints to my super-swank clients)?  Well, there are lots of steps in the middle, but they can be pinpointed through a logical progression.

#1 - READ. Read everything you can get your hands on.  Learn the classic poses.  Learn contemporary poses.  Learn lighting.  Learn the basics of how your camera works.  Learn exactly what it happening when you stop down your lens; learn why it does that.  You’ll be amazed what a crappy little entry level DSLR camera can do when you take it off of auto and push it to the max.

I am a self-proclaimed weenie with technology.  I can’t stand it when AOL and google update their software.  And hardware, forget that.  Mike thinks it’s hysterical.

I used an entry level DSLR camera for a long time.  You don’t need top of the line stuff to take top of the line shots.  Yes, it helps at some point, but shouldn’t you know what that point is before you drop $5K on a camera?  Remember, YOU take the photographs; NOT your camera.  The camera is a tool.  Learn how to use it.

#2 - PRACTICE. Get out and shooting.  Shoot everything.  Shoot in different lighting (dusk, dawn, dim, bright, nasty florescent, etc).  People who don’t practice, don’t get better.  And practicing is fun.  I practice with all sorts of stuff - castles, pearls, cookies, change, beer…whatever.

(Talk about fun challenging things to shoot - fireworks and Christmas lights - and yeah, this is Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World).

During the course of 12 months, there should be a noticeable change in your work.  Especially in the beginning.  From the time you learn to turn on your camera to 12 months later, your work should have changed drastically.  Not necessarily the content, but how that image was taken and how it looks.  When you work stops changing, it means you’ve stopped growing.

(Beer is so the nasty, but don’t it look all pretty in the sunlight?)

At this time of year, we get creative with Peeps.  Ya know, the Easter candy?  See all the different ways you can light and pose a Peep.  You think I’m kidding, but I am SO not kidding.  It’s a really fun exercise.  It gets your creative juices flowing and allows you to play with different shots without looking like an idiot in front of your client.  I mean, if the Peep mouths off at you - you just bite it’s head off!  (And then hurry to a shrink - Peeps shouldn’t be tawkin to ya).

So, last year, I asked the question - can you dramatically light any subject?  C’yeah!  You can!  Vegas show peep in a spot light, as seen below.

Practice!  You cannot improve if you don’t take time to play, try new things, and practice.  If you aren’t into posing marshmallow farm animals, use models.  Practice makes a HUGE difference.

3. GHETTO vs PRO. OK, what holds a lot of photographers back from learning about lighting is the expense of lighting equipment.  This is where you get into the question - should I use ghetto stuff around my clients?

I totally say - USE WHAT EVER WORKS.  You know all those famous photographers who manufacture their stuff?  Guess how it started?  You bet it was ghetto!  (Ghetto = homespun).

We use tons of different types of lighting stuff - some ghetto, some not.  Modifiers are the same thing.  Honestly, I LOVE foam core.  What an insanely easy way to get soft romantic light, spread evenly over your subject.  Just because it doesn’t say PRO CAMERA SHOP on one side and cost an extra $50, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

(Above: Ghetto light + window light = awesome ad piece)

You can start to learn to use lighting for under $100.  Buy yourself a little ghetto flash and foam core and your work will improve leaps and bounds.  You’ll leave those soccer mom’s holding their balls, wondering what happened…and take your biz to the next step.

4. BIZ PLAN. Turn your brain back on!  I know, most of us are ‘artists’ and don’t want to bother with the math of the moment.  But you have to.

(Mickey Money…lol!  See, money stuff can be fun.)

Let’s just jump into examples.  If you need to gross $150 per session to turn a profit (which is insanely low), then you need to make a plan of attack.  How are you going to reach that rate?  There is some predictability to what people will buy and how they spend.

Here is an example of typical blunders/ money bleeders.  Say you shoot a session and you have your prints priced at fine art prices - so $50+ for a 5×7.  You only need to sell 2 prints with your session, which was on sale for $50, to gross your $150.  You can do that, right?

Well, say you are offering a cute little album for $60.  It has 10 pages and comes with prints.  The client will buy the album, not the prints, and you failed to meet your min.  Arrange your packages so they benefit you.  Do NOT give away what people are willing to pay for.

And don’t give away crap because you feel like you HAVE to.  It’s a package, not a garage sale. Packages tend to bleed new photographers dry.  Add up what your clients typically buy and what it cost you.  Subtract your overhead, and see where you are.  It takes some photogs years to realize they are operating in the red (upside down, negative cash flow, bad, etc).

Add stuff up NOW and avoid that blunder.  You can push a primary product to make sure people buy it and then do add on sales with all the other stuff.  If you want to witness the master of add on sales, check out VistaPrint.com.  Holy add on sales, Batman!

5.  CONFIDENCE. Set your prices and stand by them.  When a client asks why your prints aren’t $2, tell them.  You should be able to answer this simple question - WHY SHOULD I HIRE YOU? If you have no answer, you have no clients. Stand by your products, your images, and your photography.  Be confident.  BTW - you aren’t selling paper with ink on it - $2 photographers are a dime a dozen.  And there are dozens of them.  Increase your skill set and you will have more to offer.

(Sunflowers are NOT weeds!  See the pretty backdrop they provide?)

Take these tips and light a fire under your butt.  Now, go read stuff, take classes, go to workshops, and practice!  Your only limitation in photography is you.  Cameras have gotten so cheap, there is no film, and you can shoot tons of stuff with a 50mm.  That is still one of my fav lenses.  You don’t need a room full of pro equipment to be a pro.  Ask a wedding photographer - they have to carry all that crap.  Yet another reason to make ghetto stuff - its lighter, travels, and if you loose it or Aunt Hildie sat on it, you can replace it without crying.

HOPE TO SEE YOU IN ABILENE OR AUSTIN!  I’m taking the rest of the spring and summer off from workshops.