We present a three part look at the current business of commercial and editorial photography through the ‘lens’ of Selina Maitreya, photographers coach and consultant. Selina’s 30+ years experience working with photographers all over the globe has given her a unique and deep understanding of what it takes to compete in a crowded market.

First things first: Selina’s website is 1PortAuthority.com, and it is there you can read about what she does for photographers. You can also download a free chapter of her amazing audio series “The View From Here” and purchase her newest book “How To Succeed In Commercial Photography: Insights From A Leading Consultant.” If you do purchase the audio series, be sure to enter the code FOSLE to get $100 off (50%) the purchase price.

We began the interview with the question that so many photographers are asking:

What’s Working Now:

“Vison. Style… and great photography of course. The ability to create a solid body of work and get that body of work into the website, portfolio and portals that are so necessary for getting in front of the people who are buying the work. It isn’t enough to just have great pictures, they have to relate to each other through the personal vision of the photographer.

It has to be what I call a “body of work”, not just good pictures assembled in a portfolio, They have to be connected by the vision, the style, the eye of the photographer. Tell a story through a single image or multiple images… images that can tell a story are very powerful.

Finding that vision is the hardest part, but so is putting it together in a cohesive presentation. The basics haven’t changed… you must create wonderful pictures. That will never change, but that isn’t enough. The pictures must show something more… a vision that is unique, or at least unique enough to interest a buyer into calling your book in.

Passion.

What are you passionate about? That passion should be so much a part of what you do. Get passionate about what you want to do and your vision and your work. Develop that personal vision to get the photography you feel best depicts what you do and who you are.”

This is somewhat a more difficult thing to do for photographers in smaller markets. Creating a magnificent portfolio with few to show it is making some photographers think about making huge, career shifting decisions.

“I have always believed that photographers should market regionally. Take two hours from your home town and draw a circle. That’s your target now. You must market to that region and not just focus on your own backyard. Narrow your scope to the buyers that make sense to what you do and get in front of as many people as you can.

Even smaller 2nd and 3rd tier cities are being marketed to by European and other foreign shooters these days. Getting your work in front of people in cities within a couple hours of you is one way to make your reach wider. This is especially true for advertising photographers where there is a lot of challenges now.”

I live in Phoenix, so two hours north, east, west all have nothing, and south of me is Tucson… a much smaller market than Phoenix is. I can only imagine what shooters in Vegas are thinking at this moment…

“Then widen the circle to at least a couple of cities as close to you as possible. And find the people who are interested in your work.

Identifying who would be a possible client is sometimes hard, but find at least four channels that make sense for the kind of work that you do. Industrial, design, lifestyle and portrait for instance… then find the clients who use that kind of work and get your work in front of them. The same basics that have always worked are working today… but there are other forms of marketing today… websites, email and portfolio showings are all important. Finding the buyers who are looking for photographers with vision and style is more important than ever.”

Marketing nationally is as important. Don’t let the geography get in your way. Local, regional and nationally it is important to get the website into as many channels of presentation as possible. You want buyers to find you by reading your blog post, then seeing your portfolio, then a personal phone call. Get your site listed on portals where buyers visit and attract them that way. Interacting on social media can mean a potential client sees your FaceBook Fan page, and checks your blog and then heads over to your web site. Mix it up and make as many entry points as possible.”

What do you think is happening with social media these days? Is it something that photographers should spend time with?

“Oh yes. It may not be what we all want it to be at all times, but it is here to stay. Getting involved now means not catching up later. I have a twitter account, but the blog thing has to wait. I am terribly busy right now and taking that on is not happening right now. You have to be committed, you know.”

I think that commitment is so important to the entire life of a photographer as well. I don’t think you can compete unless you are totally committed to it.

“It is really like having a child, you know. Total maintenance. You have to want it and love it and be so totally committed to your photography that nothing else can replace it. Photography is a wonderful business, you know, and I have known so many talented, committed and successful photographers. Even the struggling photographers keep on… they have to. It is in their blood.

I asked my first husband why he kept struggling at music (you think photography is a hard business… music is so hard and full of heartbreak). He said “I can’t not do it.” That is what I mean be commitment… you can’t not do this thing you love.”

Wrap up for part One:

• Create a portfolio (body of work) of images that shows a vision and a style. (More coming on this)
• Market regionally
• Find markets close to yours and identify clients that would be interested in your work
• Identify at least four types of buyers who would use your work
• Create multiple channels for the clients to find your work and you
• Be committed and passionate about your work

Thanks, Selina.
Part Two is here.
Part Three is here.

Follow me on Twitter, and visit my workshop site at Learn to Light.

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A recent posting elsewhere with “5 Essential Photography sites” or whatever, didn’t sit well with me. I don’t consider a vendor an essential. My vendor may be essential to me, but they are not essential to you. I found the list rather dreadfully full of vendors.

So I decided to do my own list of sites I consider to be the most useful for photographers, from beginners to emerging professionals. This list is by no means complete, and it does not reflect any vendor/affiliate relationships. Some you probably know about, and some may be new to you. My criteria is that the site actually add something to my knowledge and experience as a photographer. Buying stuff is just buying stuff… We may have some posts on that during the year, but I leave it to other sites to talk that much about gear (unless I get really excited about it… stay tuned).

These are NOT in any particular order:

1. Heather Morton’s Blog (Heather Morton Art Buyer)
Her extensive insights into the real world of advertising art buying should be a beacon for all photographers working commercially. And the “Day in the Life” series following two emerging photographers is excellent.

2. A Photo Editor (Rob Haggard: A Photo Editor)
Rob takes a look at the professional photography world through the eyes of a former photography editor at several well known magazines. Opinionated, passionate and connected, his daily posts will entertain and make you think about photography.

3. DP Review (DPReview.com)
Thinking about buying that new wizbang camera? Check DP Review for full coverage of every whistle and bell and dinglyshinyreallycoolmegapixel stuff you want to know before purchasing.

4. Scott Kelby’s Blog (Photoshop Insider)
Photoshop and Lightroom are staple photographic gear. We all need to know the stuff we work with inside and out. A check at Scott’s blog will lead you to things that you may want to do with your images, or not. No problem, but the info is tight and well presented and solid, and the knowledge will lead you to new discoveries with the program.

5. Zack Arias’s Blog (zarias.com)
A genuinely nice man, and an emerging photographer in the Atlanta music scene, Zack gives insights to shooting experience, working with clients, keeping the creative fires going and essentially having fun with photography.

6. Chase Jarvis’ Blog (chasejarvisblog)
Chase is a consummate, and articulate photographer who’s enthusiasm cannot help but rub off on you. His blog runs from personal insight to business trends.

7. Andrew Hetherington (What’s the Jackanory)
A busy editorial based in New York, Andrew takes us with him as he shoots for magazines and celebrities all over the globe. The background info on working with editors, clients and subjects is an amazing look ‘behind the curtain’ so to speak.

8. Nick Onken (Nick Onken’s Shoptalk)
I love Nick’s work, and his shoptalk blog is very well done. He presents a professional photographers view of the business, the gear and the excitement of working with great clients and subjects. Enthusiasim… Nick has it in spades.

There are other great sites out there for beginners, intermediates and hobbyist photographers. I will get that list together as well, but this list is for the semi-pro photographer, or someone working at the entry levels of this business. Hope you enjoy the work these folks put in to delivering content we can really use.

Recent Articles from December:

Images from the Toronto Workshop
Stay Current, Stay Fresh, Stay Visible
Branding Your Photography Business: A Realistic Approach
Pittsburgh Overview: A fun and challenging workshop
42 Wonderful Images from the LE Flickr Pool

See you tomorrow for a years end rant.

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This is the third post on going pro in the past few weeks. I will be working on some more for August, but after this post we will be back to some image work. In this post we will discuss planning shoots, finding talent and a few presentation techniques for portfolios. More on that after a few paragraphs.

I need to make some changes here. I want to add some video, and also create meaningful posts that will help photographers wanting to move their work up a notch or three. Ideas are welcome. We don’t discuss gear here much, but I am planning posts on small flash modifiers, a “tool kit” for shooting on location, and shooting tethered.

I am working all July on new content, and shooting new stuff for the site. I want it to be fresh and interesting. There are all kinds of sites out there that follow all the same folks – and that’s great. There are some wonderful sites and shooters wanting to share what they do. I hope you visit them as well. I just don’t want to waste your time and viewing with links to the same places that other people link to.

Upcoming workshops in Memphis and Seattle are booking and have only a few spaces left. We are doing a workshop devoted to the Nikon CLS System and shooting on location, and I am doing my first “Advanced” workshop in Phoenix this August. It will be a slamming big workshop and is open for experienced amateur shooters only. That one is not for beginners. Watch the Learn to Light site for more information.

Previous posts on going pro are here:
Preparing Yourself for “Getting Out There” as a Pro.
How You Shoot What You Shoot

So now it is time to start shooting for our portfolio.

Create a Portfolio Shoot Schedule.

It is time to plan and book some images for your portfolio. And while I do believe that at some point shooting ‘for the book’ is not necessary, at the beginning it may be. You have limited time to produce and shooting all week is generally not an option.

Some photographers feel that shooting expressly for a portfolio is something that limits you. I feel that while that is true for photographers who already have portfolios and have been shooting for a number of years, it isn’t true for those who have never created a portfolio. If you are a good shooter and planning at some point to make that jump, it is a good thing to begin to plan your portfolio.

Using the image collection from the post on How You Shoot for inspiration, pull some shots together to shoot.

“Yeah, Don, that may be easy for you to do, but I don’t have the resources of a long time shooter.”

True, you don’t. But you may have more resources than you think you do.

Let’s say you want to do editorial portraiture. OK, we need to look at the images you have chosen. Maybe you have chosen a ‘candid’ approach in your images. Let’s look at how you can go about getting some work for your portfolio. I promise not to mention family as I know exactly how hard that can be. I really do.

1. Are there some small businesses in your area? Introduce yourself and ask if you can do a portrait of the owner in his/her place of business. Make a time, plan a shoot and execute it. Get an image that they love, and get one that YOU love.

2. Approach the local Chamber of Commerce and ask if they would allow you to take some shots of the board, or members who have won awards. That could be good for a few interesting portraits.

3. Church. Ask if you can be involved in photographing the guest speakers, or the band, or the church leaders.

4. Your boss. Does your company need some interesting shots of executives or top salesman or staff? Do it on your own time so you will be able to show them in your portfolio without problems of ownership.

5. Dance and Drama schools have people who need photographs.

6. Coaches at Gymnastics, Ice Skating and Hockey rinks, and other sports teams may want a photograph of themselves for their website.

There are many other places to find people to photograph. Be confident and be sensible. If you have a big production shot planned, maybe it would be better to use a talent from Model Mayhem, One Model Place, MySpace or even Craigs List.

If you are working toward a food, still life, or product book, the items are easy to pick up and shoot. A studio the size of an average apartment living room could work for that.

Architecture and environments can be found almost anywhere. Talk to a realtor friend and work out some shoots of empty homes, furnished condos and landscaped yards. These are much easier than the people shooters challenges. People shooters have to deal with other people. Sometimes they don’t show up, are late, are confused or unable to relax when being photographed.

Once you get your plan together, and your subjects on board, you have to create the image.

The Concept.

The Moleskin, or a similar sketching book, is a very popular tool for planning a shoot. I also use a Flip Video camera and a P&S camera that is nearly always with me, to record a place or location that catches my eye. Going back to those images and pulling out the Moleskin lets me plan out the shot and make notes while I am thinking about them.

I sketch ideas for designs, websites and photographs whenever I am waiting for something or in a position where I cannot get online or onto a laptop.

The shoot.

Time:
Allow plenty of time. Time can be an enemy when you are working on a shot. The sun sets faster, and the makeup artist takes longer. It is a fact of nature. Deal. If you can go to the site earlier and get things put together first, that is a great tool for keeping the shot on or close to schedule.

Gear:
Have the gear ready. Fresh batteries, clean lenses, fresh cards or media, stands at the ready and your ‘kit’ ready to go will take some stress off as well. Have additional items that you could possibly need like tripods, booms and different modifiers at the shoot. Not having something you need to make the shot can drive you crazy so take everything you may need.

If you have scouted the location, done a test shoot or position shoot, and KNOW what you will need, then take a minimal kit. If it needs something, have it in pairs if possible.

Team:
If you don’t need someone, that is great. I usually do need an additional pair of hands, some muscle, someone to move things and bounce ideas off of. And I enjoy working with others who love images. Makeup artists, wardrobe and food stylists, hair designers and talent all combine to make a shoot with me. We have fun and we work hard.

The Edit:

Editing was covered last post, but I will go over how I do it again.

I move all images off the cards to drive A, then back up that to drive B. Only after verifying the images have been saved on two different media do they get erased.

With the image in Bridge or Lightroom I do a very fast edit. I go as fast as I can and make no evaluation other than “does it look good” – not great – just good. Tagging or starring them or whatever, I will go through the shoot in only a few minutes. That is the initial “gut” edit.

I will then go through the edit again. Looking for the images that I like and being pretty interested in the ones that catch my eye quickly.

The third edit is the brutal one. Very tight editing is what is called for. I look at the image and think about the Post unless I had already known what I was going to do in post before I shot it.

EDIT: NEW.
This post by the designer of Dan Winter’s book, “Peridocal Photography”
This is a wonderful look into the design process, and a lot of that can be used to help you visualize how to lay out your portfolio. Find it here.

The Presentation:

Here is where testing and challenging the eye can become a process that can bog down. There are literally millions of ways to crop or show an image, and thousands of ways to show it well. You only have to find one – the one that works with your style.

Let’s look at a couple of my image and see how they can be shown to create different effects on the viewer.

Full bleed images are popular. They command the page, and make create a very large target for the viewer. The bleed takes the eye off the page and presents a ‘natural’ border to the images.

Images with a small border seem to be ‘classic’ in presentation. The small border contains the images and provides an edge for the eyes to be constrained as well as a “palette” for the image to sit above.

A small image on the left, and especially in this case a nearly monochrome image, can pull the eye from the color picture on the right because of the size relationship. This has to be done with care as sometimes it wont work. You will have to find that right mix for your images. However, when it does work, it can be amazingly effective.

The small image on the right can pull the eye because of the color and border contrast. In this case the eye doesn’t escape off the right side of the page, but rather gets trapped with the small image.

The black background presents a very negative space for the images to live over. The small black border can create a dramatic presentation at the edge of the image.

Similar to the small image on the left on white above, the small image against the black draws the eye. But in a different way. The image seems more dramatic with the heavy contrast of the black background.

The black page on the right has a small image floating in the space and the color really draws the eye.

The two small images in the black background seem ‘special’ – precious almost. The large black background border makes the images pop. Both seem to be of equal importance and pull the eye with the same weight.

Here are a couple of challenges for you.

1. Shoot one image this weekend that you actually want to put in your portfolio. Shoot it FOR your portfolio, and develop it out through the post and presentation of it.

2. Take a few images you have in can and print them with different backgrounds and borders… see how they look to you and if the presentation changes the feeling of the image at all.

3. Do the above to a couple of images and find out how they look together as a book presentation.

Thanks for visiting. Follow me on Twitter, and if you are thinking about a workshop this year, we have our 2010 Workshop Schedule up at Learn to Light.

No related posts.

I have had some great workshops over the past few weeks. This weekend it is Mexico, then some recharge time. Shooting a lot of workshop images and images for the book in Mexico as we are working on the workshop itself. I have Megan, Jerry and Evan going down for some extra shooters to cover the workshop and finalize the workbook.

Kansas City was awesome, as was Dallas. We are still collecting from those workshops. The Nashville workshop got some great images out to me right away so they are being posted now.

I am very proud of this workshop. It combines visual learning, lecture/demonstrations and hands-on, real world shooting. We are booking as we go on through the summer, so make sure you check back and see where we are going to be for the next few months.

If you are new to the site, you should check out the archive pages for lots and lots of posts on light and photographic lighting. Just hit the “Tag List” on the right side for a great introduction to the works here.

Look what is coming up:
May
Cleveland 30, 31

June
Omaha, Nebraska 6, 7
Missoula, Montana 20, 21
Chicago, Illinois 27, 28

July
El Paso , Texas, 10, 11
Memphis , Tennessee, 18, 19

Let’s look at a few images and deconstruct the lighting, shall we.

First Image is the group shot from the cover:

Photo by Todd Hibbs.

This was the last shot of the day on Sunday. We had dealt with rain and wind and cold. But everyone was in great spirits so we took the four models for one more shot in the ‘ruins.’ We decided they looked like a rock band so that was kind of the theme.

An ambient light reading was made and shots were done at that setting to find out what the ambient looked like without any additional work. It was dull and lifeless, so we tried a few underexposed shots to get a feeling of that look ad settled on a 1.5 stop underexposure for the shot to have interesting color and sky.

I ‘sketch’ with the camera. Take a few shots at different exposures to see where the light falls at different exposures. Check out the DOF and the resulting color/contrast of the overall image.

We then positioned the models in a line that would allow us to light them with different speedlights. You can see the staggered line that lets us aim the lights and not cause any shadows to affect the models. We focused one of the strobes to give us a more tightly focused light on the third model from the left. We then added strobes all around the group aimed to not create any shadows. All are positioned with ‘carbon-based light stands’ and they were charged with keeping the lights focused on a straight axis of their noses. This keeps the faces from having shadows on them that would possibly detract from the overall look.

The photographers positioned themselves at a low angle to add interest to the background. Keeping the bricks and the little patch of sky gives the shot a reference point and keeps the lit models more dramatic.

Here’s a little lighting diagram to help you see how the lights played on the subjects.

Up next is a group shot by Martin Howard… same image, a different take.

Martin decided on a more contrasty post, and a closer shot of the group. You can see how the same shot can look so totally different when cropped a little tighter. The darker image shows how beautifully the light plays on the highlights of the subjects jeans and faces.

Stormy Sky and Two Speedlights for a Dramatic portrait

Photo by Todd Hibbs.

This shot was created to show off the incredibly stormy sky. Todd set his strobes to deliver the lit part at two stops brighter than the ambient and background. He knew that the sky would be very dramatically presented if it was dark and moody. We all loved the telephone pole and the lines as well – they gave it a gritty, urban look.

Shooting with strobes overpowering the ambient can sometimes be problematic in where the shadows fall. We used two speedlights here and they were very carefully aimed to not throw discernible shadows where they could be seen and possibly make the shot look “flash lit”.

You can see that we kept the strobe to camera left high and aimed at the model on the left. This threw here shadow against the other model. She in turn was lit by a strobe to camera right and slightly off axis. This provided a smooth light on both women and the shadow from the camera right strobe got thrown beyond on the wall we cannot see.

There is a interesting psychological effect when we overpower the sun, and create a shot without it making sense to our intrinsic ideas of what light does. Dramatic lighting like this can be a wonderful way to mix it up a bit… but make sure the end image looks just as you want it to.

I think ‘comping’ or ‘sketching’ with the camera can really open your eyes to how the image is going to look. When Todd shot this initially without strobe we saw immediately that there would be a problem on the wall if a shadow was introduced too high in the image.

One more by Todd… Rees jumps in the middle of the street – and we make a pretty dramatic shot.

Wanting to do an editorial looking shot, we chose the middle of the street for a totally urban and mundane set and the dramatic sky for a background. Placing two speedlights on the same side of her – one on a boom and one hand held (both carbon-based units), we were able to show her leaping against the sun. Todd underexposed the sky with the shutter speed and used the speedlights to provide the correct exposure for Rees.

When shooting dancers it is important to remember to light where they will be and not where they are. Three steps into the leap and then 18″ or so above the spot where her head would be if she were simply standing. The guys with the lights worked very hard to keep the lights on her and she was amazingly precise leaping in the same spot so Todd could stay in the shadow of her head during the leap.

A quick, and clearly precise trigger-finger is necessary. Dancers move really quickly. And DSLR’s have a slight, but noticeable shutter lag. You have to be ready for it when they leap. And – anticipate. It takes a while to get it right, but concentration makes it far less likely that the dancer will have to do it over and over to get it right for you. I don’t use a motor drive on these things… I cannot trust the motor to catch that precise moment.

I thank you for dropping by. Keep Lighting Essentials in your bookmarks and let others know about it.

Thanks for

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