Hey all, threw together a quick little 3 parter that runs through some behind the scenes stuff. Hopefully someone gets something from it! If not, that’s cool too. It’s just as important to know what you don’t want to do when it comes to editing/business/life as it is to know what you want to do.

Shoot me an @ on twitter or drop a comment if you you want me to hit anything in more detail, or show something new. I’m a pretty open book.

Also, there’s a full screen button in the bottom right if it’s too small – and a 720p HD option too if it’s fuzzy.

All of the stuff I do in Photoshop, can be done in Lightroom now. Only reason I do it this way is because I grew up with photoshop, and I’m still way better at it if I need to adjust anything. That said, if you do too much in PS you’ll get some fun little artifacts. So if you’re a pixel peeper, it might be wise to stay in lightroom and export once.

T

Hey all, put this quick little video together for my New School Wedding Photographer e-book/audiobook launch.

Skip to 1:10 if you just want the tips. Some ideas to help you start booking your first few weddings.

After a LATE night in Vegas, Kenny Kim sat down with me in the morning. Clearly, he is a robot and does not require sleep. It took me a minute to get warmed up to the idea of talking.
Check out the high budget video & audio we recorded.

Random talking points:

• Skip’s Summer School
• Vegas for Photographers
• Key Things  to Push Your Wedding Photography Business
• SmugMug
• Best photo locations in the entire world
• Lenses – favorite focal lengths?
• Outsourcing
• How to attract your ideal bride
• How putting his personality out there on the internet helps him attract the right bride

Thanks so much to Kenny Kim for hanging out on the floor at Skip’s Summer School with me.
Check out Digital Wedding Photographers Planner by Kenny Kim at: http://blog.kennykim.com/2010/04/digital-wedding-photographers-planner-book-kenny-kim/

Ever just really want to add a videographer to a shot? Well now you can! Check out my all new Add Videographer Action Pack!

Coming soon! The Add Videographer iPhone app!

P.s. I’ve only ever worked with one bad video guy. The rest of you have been great

(That’s them!)

I did a fun little interview with Rob and Lauren from RobNLauren.com

Download link: Download Link

What did we talk about you might ask?

• What drew them to photography
• The diversity of wedding photography
• How has wedding photography been pushed along by social media. Twitpics, and real time learning
• Is photography a competition or a compilation of ideas?
• What differentiates an amature from a veteran photographer
• You don’t need the best gear to take awesome photos
• What would you tell any photographer looking to push their career further
• Relaxing subjects on shoots

Check out their AWESOME work at http://www.robnlauren.com and leave them some blog comment love if you like what you see!

Hey team, I recorded a micro tutorial using TRA actions, and the combination I typically use.

Easy

Breezy

Click the full screen link and up the quality if you’d like to see a little bit better:

So maybe the best part of being a wedding photographer, is that you get an excuse to buy all the gear you want + and you have week days off.

So this is what we did with our time one afternoon last winter.

Hey all! I decided to do something positive with the time I was spending on airplanes, and airports this year. I wrote a comprehensive guide of everything that I know about wedding photography.

This entire book is written from my direct experience, launching a business from scratch – 0 weddings booked, to 35 the following year, to 47 the year after that.

It’s all about laying the proper groundwork for a business that will make you happy in the future. This book will help you create a business that targets couples that you really get along with, and have fun with.

Beyond that, it’s about creating your ideal lifestyle, as well as portfolio – and using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Etc) to help grow your business.

——————

The goal with this book was to write the book that I wish I would have had when I was just getting up and running. I’ve taken a lot of workshops over the past few years, and can easily say that you’ll get way more out of this book for the dollar value than any other workshop or seminar – that I’ve attended at least.

——————

Here’s the retail description:

Social media is changing the face of wedding photography. It’s now even easier to get up and running with a little help from Facebook and Twitter.

This is the book to read if you’re just getting started as a wedding photographer. It gives you the groundwork to launch a successful business that you can build from. It also details events of the wedding day, and the basics of how to go about photographing them.

110 pages are broken up into the following sections:
Part 1: Getting Up and Running (FAST!)
Detailed advice on how to set yourself up for success in the future.

Part 2: Shooting
Walk through a wedding day, and remove some uncertainty from the days events. Another perspective on how to professionally photograph a wedding

Part 3: Two Day Workflow
Don’t spend all of your time managing behind the scenes activities, and regain some of your life freedom

Part 4: A Few More Advanced Topics
General information about how to keep your business growing.

Part 5: Advanced Social Media and Online Marketing
Book more weddings by getting smart on the web.

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New School Wedding Photographer is written from my experience, and contains information about how I would suggest starting a wedding photography business right now.

For this coming season, I have 3 favorite lenses that I can’t leave home without. I’m a Nikon shooter, but these lenses all exist for Canon as well.

50mm f1.4
This lens is less than $400 and worth every penny. If you’re still keeping your eye on cost, you can’t go wrong with a 50mm f1.8 for around $120.
My 50mm stays on my camera unless I have reason to remove it. Showing up at the brides house, I use it. Family formals, I use it. Group shots, I use it. Creatives, I use it. Details, I use it. I’m shooting a full frame body, so if you’re shooting a 1.4x crop, I would consider the 35mm.

85mm f1.8
I love this lens. I’m going to say it is my favorite, only because I know that I can always rely on it. Most shots of just the couple, or individuals I’ll be using this. Also, when I shot 1.4x crop camera bodies, I would use this lens for all of the candid shots, as well as some speeches, and the first dances. This is always the lens I recommend to pick up if you don’t have it. The backgrounds turn to a delicious blur, and you can keep some distance from your subject.

135mm f2.0
This is my newest favorite lens, and I’ve been really enjoying it so far. Since going full frame, I’ve missed the reach and low light proformance of the 85mm – so this is how I replaced it. I’ll shoot a lot of close couple shots with this lens, just to get a closer. The backgrounds fade into random colours, and retain no detail depending on how close you are.

I shoot all of these lenses wide open (f1.4, f1.8, f2) with the exception of the 50mm if I’m doing group photos with it.

Here’s my typical wedding day gear that I bring along this year:
Cameras:

• Nikon D700 main camera body
• Nikon D700 backup camera body
• Nikon D90 as a backup backup.

Lenses:

• Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR I
• Nikon 135mm f2
• Nikon 85mm f1.8
• Nikon 50mm f1.4
• Nikon 35mm f2
• Sigma 20mm f1.8

Flashes:

• 3 x SB800

Extra Gear:

• ShootSac bag
• 2 Lightstands for SB800s
• Large Shoot-through umbrella

I typically don’t shoot zooms, because I really like the shallow depth of fields, and low light performance that you get with primes.

It depends. How much does your website say about you?

If you know that couples go away from your website 100% understanding who you are as a photographer…well, then, maybe you don’t. However, I feel that it’s near impossible to fit my personality into the box of a template website, so I decided to go the video route.

From New School Wedding Photographer:

The goal with a Promo Video is to really create something that crystalizes your personality, and gives a sense of who you are as a photographer. I want to clients to really be sure that I’m the right fit, before they even consider meeting with me. It has easily tripled my business, as well as I now have qualified clients coming to my email inbox. What’s funny, is that it has actually decreased the overall volume of inquiries, but greatly increased inquiries from couples that I really truly connect with. I no longer walk away from meetings thinking ‘Eck, I hope they don’t book me’ – and I generally book every couple I ever meet with.

A polished looking, sounding, and properly branded video will do a lot for your business.