1) Talk to them.  About anything, really, especially if you have a lot of time (on a post shoot or at an engagement shoot, for example).  If they are really fired up about the wedding details, then you can talk to them about that, but MOST of the time I find that will leave one of them (usually the groom, but occasionally the bride)– the one who has been less interested in wedding planning– high and dry.  So try to find some common ground.  I may ask them to tell me how they met or got engaged.  If one person is talking more than the other, I’ll find specific questions to ask the less-talkative one (even if we spiral off into work topics or their house on the Vineyard or their favorite vacation overseas).  If they seem quiet, then sometimes I’ll do most of the talking in the beginning (until they start to relax).

2) Set them up for a great interaction that you can photograph from afar.  When I’m really crunched for time (at a wedding) and if I have the space (a beach, a field, a city street, etc), then I have let them interact with one another.  I’ll pick out my favorite vantage point, put on a long lens, and tell them to walk together while holding hands.  I’ll give them one rule– they can’t look at me while they walk (that stops the occasional couple from giving you the “deer in headlights” look from afar).  Once they realize how easy the photographs can be (because, hey- they are finally getting to spend some time alone on their wedding day, and I have given them a reason to take a moment and actually enjoy one another’s company without anyone overhearing).  If I don’t have much space, then I may just set them up to relax on a bench together, kissing on a street, or just cuddling up together under an umbrella.

3) Do something unexpected.  One of my favorite shots to start with is a shot of the bride and groom kissing from below.  Most couples like it, and some brides will even say “I’ve SEEN this shot and I LOVE it”.  Even if they don’t end up loving it, it usually gets all three of us laughing.

4) Play to their strengths.  Couples come with all types of “couple personalities”.  Whether you are in the middle of the wedding day or just meeting them for the first time, you can usually get a glimpse of how they will interact best with each other within the first few minutes/poses.  I work with some couples that just cuddle so well together.  I have some couples that just want to laugh and frolic (yes, frolic).  And I also work with other couples that are more serious in their demeanor.  As I work with them, I play to their strengths and give them interactions/poses that work best for their “couple personality”.  If they are serious, then perhaps the more quiet poses will work best.  If they are fun-loving, then perhaps something sillier.  I let their personalities dictate the direction of the shoot.

5) Tell them what you are doing.  If you are taking a silhouette shot, or a shot of their arms intertwined, or something similar where you can’t see their expressions, it may help to give them a heads up that you can’t see their faces (especially if they are worried about their smiles or where they are looking, etc).  If I am photographing a silhouette shot, for example, I tell them not to worry about a stray hair or the way they are laughing at each other or anything else, for that matter, because I simply can’t see it on camera.  If I am photographing a detail shot that they are part of (in the background), I might tell them that they are completely out of focus.  That wipes the worry right off their faces, gets them to trust you more, and will often get them to relax for the NEXT set of shots.

6) Be confident.  If they need help with their posing (awkward arms, etc), be prepared to help them.  If they look to you for direction, then give it confidently.  But also recognize when you need to back off and let the interaction naturally unfold.  Your confidence will inspire their trust, which will let them relax.

There are many ways to get a couple to relax, and these are just some of my favorites!  If you have a favorite method, be sure to share!  Happy shooting!

~Michelle

Post by Maine Wedding Photographer Michelle Turner.

As a lead up to our Portraits with Panache workshop happening on May 17, we are themeing our next assignment series “Panache”. (More details on the workshop are here: http://shootstyle.com/mingle/announcing-the-portraits-with-panache-workshop-in-old-orchard-beach-me.html)

Your assignment is to show us images that have Panache, whatever that means to you! This might be a photojournalistic exercise or an artistic construction. We leave it up to you to define the phrase and how you will interpret it.

You are more than welcome to comb through your files for a photo that illustrates the term, but we would absolutely love it if you shot something for the assignment, special!!

Our assignment series is open to everyone. We’re hoping you’ll wanna play along! The most creative entry wins!

We will post all of the entries on our Facebook page, and post a few of our favorites on our blog, complete with a link back to your blog or website.

How to enter :

Images should be sized to 590 pixels on the long side. (If you need help figuring that out, ask your favorite Shootstyler.) And by all means, slap that logo on there if you have one! You can enter up to one photo a day for the duration of the assignment. Email your entry to:

assignment@shootstyle.com

We have an album on our Facebook fan page. When the entries start coming in, we’ll post them there first. Check in with us at Facebook if you are looking for some inspiration.

www.facebook.com/ShootStyle

The deadline is May 17! Let’s have fun doing this together!!  Assignment series: “Panache”

Alright, so in order to spend less than $100, you have to make sure you have three small flashes, and a way to trigger them from your camera.  Plus light-stands and at least one umbrella bracket for your light stand.  I already had all of the above, so my $100 was spent on a 60″ parabolic shoot through umbrella (for my key light), and a 9 foot roll of white seamless paper.   For my flashes, I used Canon’s new 600ex-RT’s triggered by a Canon ST-E3-RT Wireless Transmitter, but could have used any three small flashes.

Setup is super easy, I set up two of the three flashes (Flash A & Flash B) approximately 3 feet from the backdrop, aimed at the backdrop to light the white paper.  My goal was to blow it completely out.  I placed the third flash (Flash C) on the umbrella bracket aimed into the umbrella.  My goal with this flash was to light the model.  The parabolic umbrella, gave a wonderful, soft, wrap around light.  I lowered the wide angle diffusers on all three flashes to maximize the spread of light.

And that’s it!  I adjusted my flash output to balance output and recycle time.  With my newer Canon bodies, I have no problem using ISO3200.  That meant I could keep my flash power very low and still achieve an aperture of f8, giving me plenty of depth of field.  And with the flash power that low, my recycle time was very good.  Shooting at moderate speed, I didn’t have to wait for the flashes to recycle.

Straight out of camera the images look great.  And with a little love in photoshop I can make them look even better.

So there you have it – using flashes you already own, a $30 umbrella, and a roll of white paper, it’s easy to create high key fashion lighting for fun and profit.

Here’s the umbrella: http://www.adorama.com/LTU60T.html

But I’m not going to give you advice on how to raise your prices, sell wall collages, or market to high end planners. No, I want to help you make money the old fashioned way… by selling your crap on eBay!

No joke, that box has been living under my desk for about a year. When I straighten up my office and come across something that I just never use anymore but that is still too nice to throw away, I put it in that box. When the box gets full enough or I’m feeling broke enough it’s time to sell! And truth be told, a lot of the stuff I’m selling isn’t really crap – I just call it that to help motivate myself to get rid of it. My list of things to sell in the next few weeks runs the gamut from a Nikkor 17-55mm 2.8 and 85mm 1.4D, to a D700, D200, and IR modified D70, to old iPhones, print servers, cordless telephones, and even some never used Apple VGA to DVI adapters.

I’m always amazed how much money I get for stuff I sell on eBay, and I have one primary secret for getting the best price – a secret that I’m going to share with you:

Post Great Photos of Your Crap!

It sounds like basic advice but you’d be surprised at how many sellers have really bad photos. I want my photos to be professional looking and well lit. This isn’t the time to get creative with moody side lighting or silhouettes. I want the lighting to be flattering, but more importantly I want my photos to show off every flaw of whatever it is that I’m selling. If there’s a scratch I want to see it. If there’s a blemish I want it to show. I sell clean products but I want the buyer to be able to see every spec of dust I missed. I even link to high res photos of the products so that buyers can zoom in and really inspect them. Why? Because if I go out of my way to show every flaw, a buyer can trust that they’re not going to get a nasty surprise when they open the package. And when you’re selling online, trust is worth money.

I have a basic lighting setup that I use every time I do a batch of eBay selling. It’s easy to set up and I can use whatever gear I have on hand to make it happen.

Here’s my basic lighting setup:

Today I’m using a roll of white seamless paper draped over a table. I’m usually waaaay more ghetto with the background. I typically use a large piece of construction paper taped to the wall. I’ve even used the backside of a really large print. But I’d just set up the seamless for a portrait shoot, so that made the background choice easy. I’m also using a camera (incidentally one that I need to pay off) with a 105mm 2.8 macro. It’s important to use a sharp, close focusing lens so that you can come in on the details.

I’m also using Radio Popper JrX triggers today because I had them out for the aforementioned portrait shoot. Usually though, I’ll just set up one radio trigger (or sometimes just an on camera flash) and have the other flashes triggered using their optical slaves. That method is fast and easy to set up since once I manually set the power of the strobes, I won’t be fiddling with them much.

The lighting instruments are

1. Alien Bee 800 with beauty dish and sock
2. SB-800 in a strip style soft box
3. SB-800 shooting into a large umbrella

The specific lighting instruments don’t really matter too much, what does matter is that the light modifiers (beauty dish, soft box, etc.) that I use are as large as possible. If they are large and have a flat diffused face it’s even better. That’s why I’m using the sock on the beauty dish–it turns it into a round soft box.

Tip: to make my light just a little softer and more even, I use the translucent domes on my strobe even inside a soft box or umbrella.

I position my two flattest faced light sources (numbers 1 and 2 in the photos)  on either side of the object I’m shooting. They can be a little above the object in height, but I try to keep them as low as possible. I also position them so they they are slightly in front of the object I’m shooting. This allows their light to wrap around the object . If I don’t have enough flashes on hand I can replace one of these side lights sources with a large reflector, but I’ll have to get it as close to the object . My third light source is a big umbrella that is right behind the camera. It’s job is to add a tiny bit of fill to the shadows and to make the shiny bits on the object sparkle.

You can see the effect of each individual light source below:

1. The beauty dish and sock is to the left of the D200. Notice how it makes pretty reflected highlights in the grip, prism and other left facing areas of the camera. You’ll also notice that this light is a little pinker than the other flashes. The color temperature of the Alien Bee varies as you lower the power on the flash. For this purpose, I won’t mind it in the final shot.
2. The strip box is to the right of the D200. Notice how it makes pretty reflected highlights in the right facing areas of the camera. The power of lights 1 and 2 are adjusted to be about equal.
3. The large umbrella is right behind the camera I’m using to shoot with and is adjusted to be about a stop below the power of the other strobes. All it is doing is filling in the darkest shadows and making things like the lens mount and AF illuminator sparkle.
4. It all comes together with the three lights. Note that since each strobe is contributing to the exposure, this shot is brighter than the ones showing individual lights. The final exposure was about f/11 at 1/250th with an ISO of 800. I use the blinking over exposure indicator on the camera to set my exposure. Nothing on the background should be blinking.

I am as scattered as they come. After a couple of years of being in business I realized that I needed to standardize my client folders so that I wouldn’t lose my mind.

I created a client folder template that lives on my hard drive, and eventually built automation into my Lightoom catalog. Every client has the same output, every time.

That way, when the client gets around to ordering their files, or vendors come around looking for sample photos, the images are ready to go. No need to fire up Lightroom again.

I use a new Lightroom catalog for every job. I do this in part because Lightroom has a reputation of bogging down after tons of images are added to the catalog, but mostly because I find it keeps me better organized.

I created a Lightroom catalog template, which lives in my client template folder. It has all of my preferences set up the way I like them. My special development settings I use on import, slideshows specifications, brushes and presets and are all ready to go each and every time I create a new catalog.

Every time I create a new job, I copy the folder template and rename it with the job name. Inside this template is the Lightroom catalog. I rename the catalog, open it and start importing.

But what really keeps me organized is the Export panel.

Here is where Earl Christie saves the day. He helped me create a folder structure on my hard drive for all of the different size images I use.

Then we created Export User Presets for all of those files sizes. I use Client High Res, Client Small Res, Blog and, Facebook. Each User Preset is created with all of the specifications I need to output those files.

When I export, I work my way down the list of export options and all of the images go into their respective folders in my hard drive “00Processing Output” Folder. I don’t need to navigate to the appropriate folder every time I export. I just click one after the other and all of my files are automatically exported. Then I go to bed.

When I come back to work, I simply copy the entire collection over to the client folder. Since I am copying the folders, the folder structure is identical for every client. If I need to pull images for a blog post or for a vendor, I can go right to any client folder and know exactly where to find them in the right dimensions.

Once I’ve copied the files over to the client folder, (and backed up my drives) I trash all of the files in the 00Processing folder, so it is ready to accept the next export from Lightroom.

It’s a super simple solution that is one more step to staying organized.

Let me hear what you do!

First place goes to Tennile Sunday’s submission featuring footsteps in the snow.  We liked the strong composition with the footsteps drawing the eye into the person walking away as well as the warm pastel color palate.

In second place (by one vote) is Greg Hinsons entry featuring a frozen house covered with snow.  We loved how stark the scene was with the covering of snow making us all wish we were inside…in front of a warm fire…and the infrared treatment was particularly effective making the sky look dark and menacing.

And our strong runner up is Joe Goldsberry’s image of his street through hanging icicles.  We thought that the icicles framed the street in an interesting way, and the iphone camera was particularly effective in capturing the scene.

Thanks to everyone for sending in your images and sharing the Brrrrr! Stay tuned in a couple of months for our next, warmer, assignment series.

I have posted a few times about the importance of capturing the details, but today I wanted to write about an oft-forgotten detail– the delicious, beautiful, oh-so-amazing food.  Take it from me, I can’t even remember what I ate at my wedding.  I do know that it was excellent (we hired a fabulous caterer) and that it made up a big part of our budget, but other than that I draw a total blank.  It’s funny, but for something so expensive and that takes up such a large part of the day/night, food is often ignored.  Sure, we photograph the wedding cake and the cute little whoopie pies served at dessert.  But how often do people say “I would love a photograph of my food”?  I get perhaps three couples out of forty that ask for food shots, and yet every single one of my clients who orders an album wants to include the shot of their food as a supporting detail in their album.

Plus, the simple act of photographing the food can gain you a few friends where the caterers and venues are concerned.  After all, food makes up a huge part of what they sell, and yet so many of them say that very few photographers make the effort to take and share photographs of the food.  And of course, I consider it to be a good move for my business to walk away from every wedding leaving the venue and the caterer feeling like I have taken good care of them.  Actually, I feel that way about every vendor.

Now, I’m not a commercial food photographer.  Many of them can spend hours tweaking a plate to get it just so.  I, on the other hand, have just a few seconds to grab some shots of the grub before it is wolfed down by the hungry masses.  Often the kitchen is in a state of chaos during the meal, so I like to grab servers as they leave the kitchen with their trays.  Many times they are more than happy to stop for you, as long as you don’t take more than a few seconds of their time.  So, have your lens of choice and your preferred lighting ready to go and tweak your settings before you ask them to stop.  Most of the time I simply ask the servers to hold the tray (or plate) down and away from their body.  I like to photograph food with a wider lens (personal preference because I like to see the rows of appetizers or the entire meal), but make sure that you don’t go TOO wide as no one will look kindly upon you if you are photographing so close that your hair falls in the food.  :)

Do I photograph the food at every wedding?  Almost, but not quite.  Why not?  Sometimes I simply don’t have the time because things are behind schedule.  Sometimes the caterer is too stressed out and food photographs would stress them out more.  And occasionally there is too much going on elsewhere to get the food as it comes out.  On the other hand, sometimes you will get lucky and the caterer will let you into the kitchen while they are actually preparing the food.  If the presentation is interesting enough, you can get a fun behind-the-scenes shot for the bride and groom.   Happy shooting!

Post by Maine Wedding Photographer Michelle Turner.

Our love affair began a few years ago, when I found a steal of a deal on a used 85 f1.2 on an online photographers community.  At the time, I had a slightly slower, consumer version of the lens that I was happy enough with.  It worked well enough, and was fast enough, and generally sharp enough.  But I couldn’t resist the allure of the exotic.  I have to admit, it wasn’t love at first shot.  It took me a few shoots to get used to the super slow auto focus, and super thin depth of field, but once I understood her, my attention never wavered.

We soon settled into a happy relationship, and a look at my blog on any given week will tell the story of our affection.  At a wedding she is with me during the bridal preps, all of the couple portraits, and the first dance.  For portrait sessions, however, she is the star of the show.  Many are the portrait sessions where she was the only lens I used.

So on this New Year season, I want to raise my glass to my favorite piece of, well, glass, with the hopes of thousands more beautiful images in the years to come!  Now let’s hear about the piece of equipment that inspires you!  Leave a comment with your own love letter to your favorite piece of gear.

If a wedding were a movie, the bride and groom would be starring in the leading roles. They’ll get most of the closeups and the camera will linger on them throughout the day. We’ll also see other supporting members of the cast as they interact the couple or react to the unfolding events. Then there are some people in the movie we’ll barely see at all, but they play important visual role of populating the universe of the film. Without them, the feature film wedding would merely be an short subject elopement. That’s why I often go out of my way to create photos that include wedding guests as part of the composition.

As wedding photographers, we all shoot the guests. We often try to get a shot of as many guests’ faces as possible for the bride and groom. Those shots are important but they’re not quite what I’m getting at now. And to be clear, I’m not also talking about shots like this:

Almost every set of wedding photos has establishing shots like the one above, and they often include guests. Overviews like this have their role to play in setting the scene, but they’re not particularly compelling. I want to include guests in the action, without detracting from the stars. I’m talking more of a shot like the one below:

Although you don’t see a single face, the guests are active participants in this scene and amplify the emotion of the best man’s toast. See how much less interesting the shot would be if it were just the cleanly framed shot of the toast-giver:

There is nothing terribly wrong with the shot of the best man alone and I’ll probably take shots with similar framing, but it’s not very cinematic. During the wedding I look for opportunities I can exploit to bring guests into the action. One of the most common times I find these opportunities is during the ceremony.

Getting these guest shots can be a little counter-intuitive as many of us are trained to look for unobstructed angles on the couple at the alter. Invariably, this means we are in the aisle. Let’s face it, the aisle is great for a couple of reasons: it serves up the action perfectly centered, and we’re not blocking anyone’s view. The shot below is a perfect example.

But what if we leave the comfort of the aisle, move a little to the left, and break out the telephoto? We can often get shots like this:

This angle has the same content as the aisle shot but the feeling is different. From this more voyeuristic angle we see the couple as they’re being watched by the guests. For most people, it’s both rare and uncomfortable to do anything front of an audience and this angle make us more aware of that undertone. Shooting just over the top of the guests’ heads mimics the perspective of a guest in the 4th row, giving the viewer the visceral sense that they too are there in the moment. Is there anything better than having a viewer connect with your photography?

And if you can capture the moment of peak action at an angle which puts the viewer into the scene as a guest, then you may just be rewarded with a shot worthy of your portfolio.

Try incorporating the guests into the action in a few shots at your next wedding!

PS: Share your best guest shot over on ShootStyle’s Facebook page. I’d love to see it!

If you have never worked with models before, you are missing out! It’s a great vehicle for practicing with new lighting gear or exploring new direction in your work. I love working with models to strengthening my boudoir portfolio. I won’t publish client images from boudoir sessions and model shoots give me images with which to market. It’s also super fun and I experiment in every way I can imagine.

Earl Christie and I recently got together for a model shoot up in Maine. We wrangled our models using our tried and true (un)patented model system. We’ve been running models shoots in ShootStyle over the years and I wanted to share what works for us.

We use Model Mayhem, and love it. There’s a great community there and getting to know the models and other photographers has been fun and useful. :) There is a basic free account, which has some restrictions on numbers of images you can post on your portfolio and numbers of conversations you can start in a 24 hour period, but over all, I highly recommend opening an account.

Casting call:

When you are ready to get going, start by creating a casting call. Here is where you can specify who you are looking for and talk about the shoot a little bit. Go big! ShootStyle has managed to score some amazing locations, so we link to the venue. Even if you don’t have links to the space, be descriptive. Include links to your work too. Describe what you are looking for and be very specific about what you will be expecting from the models. You can imagine, some of the situations that have been posted have been sketchy, to say the least. Describing everything in as much detail as possible is going to allay any worries your models will have answering your call.

Throw down some cash if you can. You are much more likely to get models with a little bit of experience. Working with a model who has experience is fantastic when you are just getting going, they will help guide you in common practices in the industry. It also greatly reduces last-minute cancellations. But if you are short on cash, you should be able to find some models who are willing to do TFP (trade for prints, or these days, trade for files).

Some models prefer to bring an escort. Since ShootStyle so often does group shoots, with multiple photographers and models, we designate a room for escorts to hang out so as keep our models as comfortable as possible. If you are willing to have an escort present on the day of the shoot, indicate this in your casting call. Many photographers don’t like the extra person, so if you demonstrate your flexibility, this may win you some points.

Spread the Word:

You might think that once you’ve gotten your casting call up, all you have to do is sit back and answer the flood of emails about to come your way. It’s probably not going to happen that way.

Start searching for models on Model Mayhem that you want to work with, and personally invite them to look at your casting call. I look for models that are older and curvier than the typical model since I am looking to build my boudoir business, and want to find models closer to my clients age and body type. I usually settle for older or curvier. By “older”, I mean pushing thirty. And “curvy”, is anyone over 130 pounds. Being much older and much curvier than that, I have to laugh. But the truth is, this field is full of 98 pound 19 year old aspiring models.

If a model lists another way to get in touch, use it! Facebook, email, form-spring, anything! You are looking to carpet bomb your casting call to get as many eyes on it as possible.

Confirm Confirm Confirm:

Once a model expresses interest, get a cell phone number and an email address. We won’t confirm a spot on the day until we get those. You don’t want to run into a situation where a model has changed her mind about participating, but doesn’t bother to tell you.

Once we confirm with the models, we send them an email with all the information they need. We provide a google map link to the address, a street address, our starting time, what to expect when they arrive, clothing and make-up to bring, and if snacks or drinks will be provided. Include at least one phone number they can reach you at on the day of the shoot, and tell them to expect a phone call the evening before the shoot. If you are doing boudoir work, they must bring a photo ID with proof of age!!

We also ask them to reply to us when they’ve received the email, which also lets us know they’ve read it.

Don’t forget to make the call the day before the shoot! You may have to do some last minute changing around and this gives you a chance to tell the model how excited you are work with them, you can remind them to bring their ID. It also lets you know if you need to scramble to find another model.

On the Day of the Shoot:

While you are shooting, keep checking in with the model to make sure she is comfortable. Avail yourself to collaboration. Often the models get a particular portfolio going in a particular direction, and they may want some variety. If you can do it, it’s great to be able to meet their needs as well as your own.

Make sure you have a release all made up for the models to sign. It shows respect to the models to offer to give them a copy. We take a photo of the models ID and keep it with the files. Keep track of these ID’s. And don’t let them get posted online. The ID has a models personal identification on it and you need to keep them safe by not inadvertently publishing their home address. (This happened to a model-friend of mine. If one is doing boudoir work, you can imagine how terrifying it would be to have your street address out there on the internet!)

Let the models know when you will be delivering their edited images to them. Give yourself double the amount of time you think you’ll need to deliver them, and try like help to deliver earlier. It can be a nightmare for models to get images from photographers. Don’t be that guy.

Above all else:

Show mega-respect for the models. These models are putting themselves out there for you to practice your photography; it is a gift to you, even if you are paying them. The greater respect you can show the models, even in the face of last-minute cancellations, lateness or general dippiness. the easier time you will have with your shoot.

Have a blast out there! And I would LOVE it if you would let me know in the comments section of the blog what tips and tricks you have for working with models!