Ultimately, the lighting you choose to go with creates the mood of your photograph and showcases your style and vision. The more you experiment and add new techniques to your lighting toolbox, the more stunning your lighting will be!
In many circles throughout the world, people debate about what kind of lighting makes the best photographs. Hard light, soft light, natural light, strobes, LEDs…
As photographers, we recognize that we have a unique opportunity as storytellers to show the world as we see it. We love that we get to shatter existing negative stereotypes, and we love the positive energy that kids get from being part of this experience.
When you are photographing a couple, you want to make sure you have a great tonal range. This really helps as we convert to black & white later while editing. Many of us look for contrast and texture while shooting for black & white and enhance these elements in post-production. Of course, there are multiple ways to get your Raw images converted, and in this article I have 5 tips for better black & white edits in Lightroom Classic.
Overall, you must employ a multitude of these techniques to build SEO. You also want to make sure that if you are privately hosting your videos on your own site as opposed to using a YouTube embed code to place the video on your webpage, that your website itself is optimized for SEO. There are many services that exist to help with SEO optimization, but ideally, you will want to mirror all of your content on multiple platforms to become highly visible.
Lighting is the foundation of a photographic composition. Photographers who are skilled in lighting can offer their clients flattering portraits no matter what environment they are working in. In the old days, lighting was just something that photographers understood. However, during the digital revolution, as cameras became more intuitive, people were able to obtain exposures much more easily by utilizing the automatic functions in their cameras.
I feel it is important for me to pass along the things I’ve learned on my photography journey. In the last few years I have also had the opportunity to teach and lecture all around the world including some of the industry’s top conferences, including the first conference I’d ever attended when I was starting out, ShutterFest. I’ve begun hosting my own workshop, The Embrace Workshop, a comprehensive photography workshop where I help new photographers expound upon their current training to grow their business just as I’ve grown my own.
There is no greater necessity than change. This year has brought about a lot of change for the photography industry. What was said to be a record year for many photography studios was completely upended by a worldwide pandemic that nobody could have ever predicted. If you read my article in last month’s Shutter Magazine, you will know how important it is to take action to mitigate disruption in your business.
If it appears that my upbringing put me behind the eight ball, you’d be sadly mistaken. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you have to be fearless! Just wait until you learn to laugh at fear and embrace failure. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you’d better be disciplined and most certainly be prepared to outwork everyone. If you’re even thinking about long term business/career success, then you have to set extremely high standards for yourself. Individuals and companies won’t hire you for mediocrity. I employ all of these traits instilled in me during my upbringing daily in my professional and personal life.
Stay motivated and be persistent by continuing to satisfy not only yourself but your client. “Fame and fortune” will come in its own package designed especially for you. Ease into this process of your photography business and know that every mentor or professional in the industry may not be for you. Their vision should not necessarily be your vision, but you can watch at a distance and create your own.
