If you’re anything like me, you’re a workaholic, a control freak and a perfectionist. Ok, that might be harsh even on myself, but I think most small business owners can relate to not being able to shut off work when it’s necessary. This is especially hard to do for photographers because even those of us who have an office away from home, still most likely have a computer at home, or at the very least, a smart phone in your hands way way way too often. Not to mention that the tools we use for work – cameras and computers – are also used for play.

And if you’re like me, you’ve had friends, loved ones, family, or (the worst) your own child say “Can’t you just shut it down for the night? Can you just put your phone down? Are you still on the computer?”. And it sucks because you don’t really realize what you’re doing. You think you’re being productive. You think that if you don’t work every waking part of the day, that you will fall behind, that clients will get mad, that inquiries will go elsewhere, or that you’ll miss out on something major.

You check your work emails on your phone, in your bed. Really??

The fact that my husband leaves me little love notes on the computer, because he knows that’s where I’m sure to look? Cute, but really – a little sad.

There is no such thing as a photo emergency. This is what I have to remind myself every time I feel guilty for putting an away message on my email when I (very rarely) get away for a weekend or vaca. But more importantly, this is what I need to remember when my work day is over. Once the baker closes it’s doors, no more cupcakes for you!

Since most of us shoot weddings on weekends and portraits in the evenings, we need to make a different schedule for ourselves than the average 9-5 M-F. For me, this past season, I would mark off one day a week as my day off. This didn’t mean a day off from everything, to be fair. I simply wouldn’t shoot that day, or I wouldn’t edit, or I wouldn’t go to the office. It was a day off from one or all parts of work. I may still check email, but I wouldn’t respond until the next day. It took a LOT of restraint, trust me.

I recently posted my own, self proclaimed, office hours on my home office door. My studio office downtown is by appointment only, and I often work from home. No clients come to my home office, but this sign is a reminder to me, no – a guideline that I must follow. You know, unless I want to end up a big nerd with no family, no friends, no life, no hobbies, no fresh air, no sun on my skin, a bad back, carpal tunnel, thick glasses, and unwashed hair…

Since wedding season is almost over, and portrait season is drawing to a close all in about a month, I am busting my hump to have evenings and weekends free again. My daughter deserves my full attention. Forcing myself to take a day off in peak season allowed me to manage my workflow a lot better. I would work on one project at a time, finish it, and then start a new one. I pride myself in multi-tasking, but I now see that it wasn’t helping me; it was actually diluting the work that I did do since it wasn’t getting my full attention. A cool little app for Mac OSX that my intern Caroline told me about is SelfControl. Look into it if you have a really hard time closing Facebook, emails, etc while you’re editing.

Now that I’ve caught up on work by managing my time a lot better and writing this article without designing an album at the same time, I’m going to turn over the sign to CLOSED and go enjoy this beautiful Indian Summer day with a bike ride to the beach. The album will wait and no one will die because of it.

Enjoy!
~Zofia

I love weddings with details- ALL kinds of details- from ceremony seating to rings, shoes to favors, cars to flowers.  Personally, I believe that the details can really set the tone of the wedding.  After all, the style of the very first Save the Date card can tell you if the couple is planning a formal event, a vintage event, a unique event, or all of the above!  I could spend hours alone in a room with interesting details,  photographing them on reflective surfaces and then on textured surfaces, in available light and then with an off-camera strobe, and finding all kinds of different angles to show them off.

However, as much as I love having time to play with the details by themselves, I think it is also important to bring your couples into the details and “personalize them”.  At every wedding I try to take a handful of details shots that include the people in them to add variety to the detail shots and to actively incorporate them in the story of the day.

The bridal/bridesmaid details are usually the most obvious and most accessible details to personalize.  After all, most of my brides will have a handful of fabulous details and I can usually find time to photograph her with her details right after she puts on her dress:

 
 
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When I photographed my first wedding in 2004, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Well, OK, I did know which button to press on my camera to make it take a picture, and was OK at getting the exposure and composition I wanted, but when it came to the point in the day that the couple turned to me for advice, I had none to give. Luckily a friend of mine knew someone who had been shooting weddings for a big studio, using old fashioned medium format cameras and old fashioned methods for capturing a wedding. She had lunch with me a couple weeks after my first wedding, to give me critique and advice. Throughout the years we have become great friends, but there were two tips that she gave me on our very first meeting that I still use every wedding: How to line up a group of people, and how to set up the cake cutting.

Let’s start with the advice she gave me for lining up a group of people. You’d think that this would be pretty self explanatory, but there are a few things that you can tell the group that will help them look their best. To begin with, I anchor the line with a couple – usually the bride and groom. If it’s the wedding party, I line the groomsmen up on the grooms side, and the bridesmaids up on the bride’s side. I then ask them to turn the shoulders that are closer to me, towards me. Guys, when left to their own, want to either put their hands in front of their crotches, or hold them behind their backs. So to prevent this, I ask the guys to put their hands in their pants pockets. The girls, on the other hand, tend to want to hold their flowers up a little too high, so I ask them to hold them right at belly button level. Finally I tell the ladies to turn the foot that is closest to me out so that it points at me. For women, this pose has a slimming effect, and for the guys it looks sophisticated. Plus it’s quick and easy to set up.

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Consumed by image processing? You are not alone. If you live in New England, the time between Labor Day and your last wedding of the year is crazy-time… weddings double up, albums are being ordered, and you are fielding inquires for next year. If you are ever in the weeds in New England, this is the time.

I beta-tested the new software for the RPG keys this summer and unequivocally love it. It’s the size of a fat TV remote or an old school calculator, and comfortable to use with one hand. You program the keys to trigger commands in a variety of photo processing programs. I use it exclusively for Lightroom, but it can be can used with Bridge, PhotoShop, Photo Mechanic, In Design, Aperture and Fundy Album Builder. The software for programming the keys is Romper-Room easy-to-use.

I have been using RPG keys on and off for the past couple of years, but it always seemed a little wonky. Some of the keys were in the wrong place for me. I know Chris and Tim Reilly personally and in a fit of frustration, I dashed off a whiney email to them telling them that their product was almost perfect (too bad). Feeding into my squeaky wheel behavior, I was invited to test the new version of the product. The guys thought I would find it a bit closer to perfect.

Ha! An understatement; by far! I adore the keys now and they are capable of even more than I had imagined. They are now completely customizable; any command or preset that you use in Lightroom can be programmed to use with the keys. I put in the commands that I use most frequently, sixteen in all, on the keys so I can hit each of them without using the option keys. The keys are now perfect FOR ME.

I have become a photo-processing super-hero.

First, I had to decide where I wanted each key, and which presets and functions were most important to me. After a wedding or two of practice, I rearranged the key positioning, and committed to memorizing the positions of all of the keys. Each key pops on and off and you get a whole array of common commands and presets as well as blank ones for your own presets. I took a jackknife and carved the surface of one of the middle keys. With a single key abraded, my keypad is now “braille”. Using the one key as an anchor, I can focus on the image on the screen and not the keypad.

I am now so familiar with the keypad that I’ve stopped thinking about the device in my hand. Just like typing or driving a car, I no longer go through the following thought process: “This photo is too dark and too green, I must bump up the exposure by two-thirds of a stop and add a little magenta.” Instead, I see the image and my fingers tap the increase exposure button twice and the increase tint button once. I tap the “next” button and I am on to my next image. Tap. Tap. Tap

My fingers are developing muscle memory; I have been FLYING through my processing, and can feel myself getting faster.

I can assign any key on the keypad to any preset I have selected. For example, I have an exact adjustment brush that I use for burning (very big, very feathered and very dark) and an exact brush I use for dodging (big, feathered and light). A quick tap on the keypad brings each brush up, ready to use. Release the key and it deselects. No need to move the slider, select the brush, deselect and grab another brush. Just tap: A brush for burning. Another tap: a brush for dodging.

With cropping, burning and dodging, I do need to use my mouse to define the crop or paint the mask. These are the only times that I need to use the mouse. And instead of a mouse I use a trackball. I sit way back from my desk, trackball in one hand, key pad in the other and process an entire wedding while watching a legal thriller or two. (so sue me)

The icing on the cake is that I can change the keypad at any point to do something different. I can rearrange it on a whim. And if I use the keyboard differently at different times in my process (I do) then I can export the key layout, to recall at a moments notice.

If you do a ton of processing, this is a fantastic product.

p.s. nerd alert: while writing this review, I found out that the keys can be programmed to use with any application on your computer. And by “program” I mean: you drag an application over to the RPG software and drop it. Drag and Drop – ta-da!

Every couple planning a wedding has visions of how they would like their day to look & feel. And most every couple knows that things aren’t always going to play out perfectly. Something is bound to come up, yet, for most it’s going to be pretty minor blips that won’t derail the course of the day.

However, this past week, I was in the Adirondacks area of NY, in Keene and Keene Valley, when Hurricane Irene hit. On Saturday these two towns were full of folks enjoying the high peaks region: camping, hiking, climbing, taking advantage of the shops & dining. By Sunday evening, both of these towns (as well as so many others in the New England area) experienced some horrible flooding. Houses filled with water, businesses saturated, foundations of buildings shifted, power outages, even whole roads eaten away by the powerful force of the flood waters.

Not only did this break my heart to see first hand, it also got me to thinking of anyone who had a wedding planned for this coming weekend, and the weekend after that and after that and so on. What, if anything, can you do when the main road to your venue is gone? What happens when you think you’ve planned for everything and then something dramatically unexpected comes along and wipes away your plans? How does one even Plan B something like this?

Below I have some ideas on how you might be able to weather the storm if the unexpected does crash your wedding. Mind you, these are not rules from an expert. These are just brainstormed thoughts I had, some may be feasible, some not so.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what you might do or what you did do when the unexpected came knocking. Please feel free to add your idea to the comments section!

* consider adding a downloadable map of the area where you are having your event to your wedding website, so guests can find alternative routes to your venue, in case you find the main roads to your venue are unuseable.

* if you know your chosen wedding area doesn’t have the best cell or internet reception, make a list on your wedding website of all the local wi-fi hot spots and best cell reception spots. you can place pins on a google map and upload that to your site for guests.

* consider changing the time of your event. most weddings are planned for midday so the reception can go into the evening. however, if a storm is approaching for that time frame, if possible, think about moving your event to the beginning of the day so both you and your guests will have time to take shelter if need be.

* what happens if your venue isn’t useable for your event due to the unexpected? think outside the box! ask local churches if they will allow you to use their space. most churches have halls available. maybe someone locally has land available where you can set up a tent. consider contacting a realty office and asking if any of their vacant properties might be available for an event. while some of these suggestions may not be ideal for you aesthetically, it’s far better than trying to force an event to happen at an unsafe location.

* what happens if a vendor can’t make it due to road closures or airports being shut down? use the power of the internet! put a call out on twitter and facebook and ask your followers/friends to retweet/repost. let the locals in your area know what you’re looking for, especially in smaller towns, most people know someone who knows someone that probably does what you need. again, it may not be ideal, but we’re talking if the ultimately crazy happens, and you need to make due.

* planning a post-wedding brunch in an area that looks like a disaster zone? consider nixing the brunch and you & your guests volunteer that time instead to help those in the area that are in need.

First and foremost, be safe and make sure your guests are safe. That’s #1. After that, don’t panic. You’ll figure it out. Freaking out will only add to the stress you are feeling, don’t waste your energy. Relax, breathe easy knowing your loved ones are all safe and sound.

If the wedding is going to go on, you’ll just need to set aside those visions you had and go with the flow. Caterer can’t make it to the event? So then maybe the local pizzeria can cater. I personally think a pizza party wedding reception would be the best! The floor of your tented wedding look more like a mud wrestling pit? Well, ditch the Manolos and pull on some wellies. Have all the attendants and guests wear them, too!

Just remember the important thing is you are with the person you love, surrounded by your loved ones. You will weather this, and while your day may not be the perfect vision you were hoping for, it most certainly will still be genuine and memorable.

ps. Please consider, instead of handing out favors at your wedding, donating to the Red Cross or to one of charities being set up for so many of the areas that were devastated by the hurricane. Plenty of these towns are going to need volunteers to help with clean up & getting back on their feet again, so consider investing some of your time to help, too!

This months winner was a favorite with our judges (us). Greg Hinson won our grand prize, a $100 gift certificate from our sponsor ProDPI with his image of a paddler at sunset. Everything works in this photo. Excellent color, composition, motion, processing. We loved it!

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In honor of the ShootStyle assignment series this month (and this is the last day to enter, so pull out your silhouette images!), I wanted to post about how I create silhouette images for my clients.  There are several different ways to go about it, but today I will be sharing my method.

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My primary goal during the time I have allotted for portraits at a wedding is to get a great variety for backgrounds and poses for the bride and groom. My secondary goal, is to get a great portrait or three of the bridal party together. And I don’t mean a photo of them all lined up together (though I take that shot every wedding), or the shot of the bridesmaids scrunched together, or the groomsmen holding the bride, or the wedding party jumping together…those have all been done before by many thousands of wedding photographers more qualified to shoot them than I. I’m talking about groups shots like you see on the cover of the fashion magazines, when all of the most popular young starlets of the day get together for a cover shoot. It is often THIS shot that gets me the most positive comments from the participants…and many of those participants are young women that are approaching the wedding planning process themselves!

This shot can be done with the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and both (time permitting).

The Bridesmaids:
I most often get a shot like this with the bridesmaids. In the planning stage with the bride, I typically suggest that everyone be dressed and ready 30 minutes prior to the time when they have to leave for the ceremony. That gives me time to take some bridal portraits, and some time to set up a bridesmaid “magazine” shot. When it comes to the ladies, posing is something that they are usually pretty good at naturally, whether they know it or not. They’ve been looking at fashion magazines from the time they were little girls, and all of those images leave an impression.

Since this is the first time I’m describing setting up the shot, let me step out of the bridal portion for a moment, and say that I follow this process whether I am setting up bridesmaids, groomsmen, or both. Fits off, I find the space that the shot should take place in. It could be a couch or a pair of chairs in the hotel suite, or the lobby of a hotel…or it could be the laundry room across the hall, or the cool car that they will be riding to the wedding in. Once I have the space, I begin to set up the participants. In my mind, I have visualized the entire scene, but I have to build the scene one piece at a time. So I start to grab the participants, and put them into place. I have found that the fastest way to get someone into a pose, is to demonstrate the pose myself. With the bridesmaids, I really play it up, assume the pose, and challenge the bridesmaid that will be filling the place “try to look this sexy”. As each participant is placed, I take a step back to see how the entire scene is coming together adjusting as needed. Once everyone is in place, I tell the bridesmaids, “Give me your best (rhymes with witchy), look” and take the shot. All in all, it takes about 5 minutes to set the shot up, and 15 seconds to actually capture it!

The Groomsmen:
Compared to the bridesmaids, the groomsmen shot usually comes together a bit easier. For one thing, I usually have less time to set up the groomsmen shot, since I typically have to set it up at the end of the family portrait time. Most often with groomsmen, I will do a “Reservoir Dogs” shot, where I tell them to line up staggered, about 75 feet from me, and walk towards me, interacting with one another. When I don’t have open space to set this up, I will arrange them similar to the ladies – minus the “try to look this sexy” comments. With guys, I tend to set up the shot at the bar – which is usually where they are hanging out in the first place!

The Wedding Party:
Arranging the entire wedding party is the most challenging of the shots, and the most time consuming, so I rarely get a chance to do it. When I do, however, I ask the members of the wedding party to pair up with the person that they escorted down the aisle. I then ask if any of them are actually “together”, to see if I can make their pose a little more romantic. From this point I build the shot, just as described in the bridesmaids section, but with each couple instead of each individual. Again, I place them in the pose then stand back to see how it affects the scene. I am looking for balance and to avoid duplicating poses as much as possible.

One last piece of advice for those wanting to venture into the “magazine style” pose. Study magazines! Especially the issues of Vanity Fair that feature the group photos that the magazine is famous for. Study the poses and the relationships between the poses to understand how and why each participant was placed in that spot in the frame. Then sit back and start adding some PARTY back into the bridal party!

In this installment of our ever-popular assignment series, we bring you the phrase “Silhouette!”

Your assignment is to illustrate the phrase “Silhouette”. 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! And WHAT, you may be asking, will you win?  A FABULOUS $150 gift certificate from ProDPI!

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 August 10th!

Let’s have fun doing this together!! Assignment series: “Silhouette!”

If you’re like me, you shoot your photos in raw format… so there’s also a pretty good chance you use Adobe Lightroom for processing your images. You might even have started using Lightroom because of its reputation for making processing workflow faster. In that vein, this week I’d like to talk about a Lightroom feature that I use every day on every image I shoot. A feature so efficient I’d nearly forgotten I was using it! A feature unexcitingly called Camera Defaults.

You’ve probably noticed that when you open an image in Lightroom’s Develop module, many of the settings are already chosen for you. These are Lightroom’s default settings.

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