Improving

Ci, originally uploaded by Fairy Nuff - Solitary Photographic.

I found this series of shots on one of my hard drives recently. They were done when I first opened my business and one of the first small person shoots I did. He's a beautiful looking little boy and so full of interest and curiosity at the world.. .who could fail to enjoy a shoot with him?

What's changed, looking at the shots, isn't so much the way I've shot him, but my ability to edit. What I do now, is much different to how I edited back then.

It's good to see how I've changed and grown in this respect. I'll be spending part of this weekend re-editing before I send the file over to his Mum.

Photography is a learning curve on which you never stop learning.
Have a great weekend everyone.

So You Want to Be A Photographer?

Really?
I've read a lot of stuff on being a photographer over the past few years of running my business and there's been none better than the text I'm about to share with you.
This is the bottom line in photography... it's kinda bleak, it's pretty depressing in its stark reality but also, it's up to you to make it work.   You ARE the bottom line.

Would you like to photograph anything you want, anywhere you want, anytime you want, any way you want, with a great professional camera system? Would you love to travel to luxury destinations and photograph whatever, whenever you want?

The only way to do this is to keep your real job and do photography on your own time.

If you want to photograph professionally you'll make less money, have to shoot the boring stuff in crappy locations for which you're hired, shoot it the way the client wants, and probably have to shoot everything as if it's some big emergency every time. You'll probably only be able to afford beat up old gear that's "good enough."

Making a buck in photography is a lot tougher than keeping a real job. The photo jobs and locations that pay the most are the most boring. Think you're going to have people hiring you as a travel photographer? Guess again.It's exactly like golf or surfing. Golf is fun, and it's almost impossible to get people to pay you to do it. Only one guy in ten million makes lots of money in surfing, photography or acting. Everyone else who makes the money does it in something allied to the field, like making or selling product or the dream.

We all know the few actors who pull in $20 million per movie. Did you know the average annual income of the many SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) members, the majority of whom we've never heard, is something more like $20,000? The SAG website's FAQ page offers this advice on how to become a performer: "Develop another career to supplement your income." People pay photographers less than actors.

A person who studied stage lighting in college and worked in Hollywood discovered that almost no one makes it in the fun job of lighting. The people who make more money more regularly are those who become lighting salesmen.

Who makes more: an actor, or an agent who earns 10% from each of the 20 clients they represent?

If you want to make money in photography, it's probably not by doing photography....

Read the rest of the article here.
With thanks to Ken Rockwell for the most down to earth, sanest post ever made in the world of photography.

Headshot time

Been very busy this week with headshots.

Now, headshots are commercial thingymabobs essential for everyone who wants to get their face 'out there' into the wide world of public land.  You want to look like yourself, but you also want to look dynamic and professional, right?
Well sure, but how do we do that?

Generally I shoot commercial headshots with a prime lens.   Nikon's 50mm lens is my weapon of choice for portrait shots, but when I take my tiny lens out of the bag, the client usually asks 'Is that it?' because they're expecting some all singing, all dancing piece of kit the size of the Eiffel tower. 
Well because it's tiny, doesn't mean it doesn't kick ass!

Try it some time.

I also shoot with a telephoto lens, because I love the depth of field it gives me (That's when the client says 'Wow - that's big!).  You'll really stand out.  It really depends on what look we're aiming for.

My client B has co-authored a very interesting book, entitled The Sixth Wave, and I highly recommend you add it to your reading list.   It's fascinating stuff.
In her case, we're looking to get nice and close up and keep the background as a relevant part of her shot.  It's lovely aged wood which has a great texture and colour.  It's a nice shot given her science journalist background which we're keeping relevant.  We're shooting outside using perfect afternoon light so no need for a load of lights and a softbox.

No teeth always makes a commercial headshot look better.  We're going for quiet professionalism here, not grinning like a chimp.  Whilst my client has lovely teeth, we keep them out of the shot.

The client wants something natural, a little relaxed and something that is 'her' - not too posed and not too 'studio'.

I keep close up, shoot rapidly whilst my client is relaxing into the session and we're done.
This shot to the above is taken whilst I'm on a ladder I bought with me - a pretty essential part of kit if you're going to shoot people - which we'll talk about later.


Next post, I'm going to talk about how you can achieve great results with your headshots or in fact, any session in front of the camera.