in Photoshop - Digital Wedding Forum

Pack the
Punch! Tips to
go from How? to Wow!
First Dance 101
Want to know the secret
to marketing? This is it!
Work Smarter
cover image by Andrena Photography
MAGAZINE
in Photoshop
Plus: DWF Featured Member interview!
Great discussions from the forum
1
Jeff Caplan
NOTE FROM THE
FOUNDER
Oh, how I wish there had been a DWF when I shot my
first wedding.
There sure as heck was a DWF one week AFTER I shot
my first wedding! But the day she walked down that
aisle, I had no help. Wow, was I ever alone.
Our members like to hang around.
Jay Philbrick, DWF member since 2005
My first wedding was an $800 shoot back in the spring
of 2000. I had convinced the bride and groom to let
me shoot by promising two things: that I’d have their
proofs online 24 hours after the wedding, and that I’d
let them pay me AT the wedding.
Become a DWF member
2
I mage Courtesy of Philbrick Photography
And what a wedding it was! Held in a public-housing
project, it featured an incredibly happy bride in a
secondhand dress, six attendants, and a groom who
was glowing, despite obvious financial problems. They
were counting on a disability payment to make the
wedding happen.
That payment never came.
Despite the financial burdens, it was a moving
ceremony. There were a couple hundred guests who
shuffled to the reception hall where there was soda,
but no food. The chicken dinner had been canceled
for lack of funds. The best man’s speech focused on the
love between my bride and groom. “Shame on anyone
talking trash about how much food is on the table,” he
thundered. “This is about the love!”
If there had been a DWF in the days before that
wedding, I would have learned that you don’t create
drama by accepting payment on the wedding day. I
would have learned that you don’t go insane producing
a proofset within 24 hours, because it crushes a client’s
anticipation.
If there had been a DWF, I would have learned how to
be a more effective photographer.
But there was no DWF. It didn’t arrive until the
following week (under the name, “Digital Wedding
Forum”), and thank goodness it did. It’s where
professional photographers gather in a unique and
honest environment and talk shop in a serious way that
you won’t find anywhere else on the Internet.
When you first log in, try to avoid being overwhelmed
by the wealth of information. More than 3 million
posts! Active discussions about our industry, about
business, about new marketing ideas, and about
software. Check out the product reviews and
everything that makes the DWF the first read of the
morning for wedding and portrait photographers all
over the English-speaking world.
And if you can figure out a way to get me my $800,
drop me a note? [email protected]
I tried like mad to capture that love. I tried harder to
capture the balance due, but 12 years later I’m still
waiting for the money.
3
1) interfering with the timeline; 2) managing the job
with authority; and 3) knowing how to handle any
technical situation that might be thrown at you (such
as having to do all group shots—or even the
ceremony—after dark).
Andrena Douglass
DWF Member since 2004
Q: What inspired you to start, and how long have
you been in business? How did you become a
professional photographer?
A: I was actually drawn to photography as a child, and
got my first good camera—a Canon AE-1— when I
was 12 years old. I spent the majority of my teen years
in a darkroom, processing my own film and making
my own prints.
own studio, and nine years later, I have never looked
back.
Q: People rave about your color. Can you tell us
about a few of your color techniques?
A: I use a wide variety of techniques to enhance color,
and create color where none exists in the original
capture. I generally use a combination of levels, hue/
saturation, selective color, and gradient maps with
various blending modes. Keep in mind there can be
more than 30 individual settings in one
color layer, so it’s quite a bit of
offer selective
work.
I ended up doing the corporate thing for a number of
years, and when the company I was
working for went out of business, I decided
If you
to see if I could swing back to my original
high-quality
love: photography. I was lucky to find two
work...
different studios that took me on as an
occasional second shooter. One studio did the bookings
will come.
not pay me, but did let me use the images I
created. The other studio paid me, but did
not let me use my
images.
I am a perfectionist
by nature, so I knew
that I needed to study
up and really spend
time learning about
weddings before I
could feel comfortable taking on the
responsibility of a
wedding myself. So
being given a chance to second-shoot was invaluable,
even when I wasn’t able to keep or use my images.
After one year of working for others, I launched my
4
My secret is that I prep my files before I
do my color work. This is the only way to
ensure that your blacks don’t block up, and
you don’t lose detail in your whites. My new
action set (available at
www.colorpop.com)
includes prep actions that
you use before you use
any of the color or toning
actions. These actions just
speed up the process of what
I used to do much more
slowly.
Q: Can you tell us more
about how you shoot
intricately detailed
weddings? What was the craziest shoot you’ve ever
been on?
A: There are three keys to managing huge jobs:
I suppose two “crazy”
weddings that come to
mind are a recent
wedding that involved 43
hours of shooting over
three days, and another
wedding that involved
six days of shooting. I’ve
shot weddings in India,
Morocco, Serbia, Turkey,
Indonesia, Colombia,
Ecuador, Mexico, and the
British Virgin Islands, and
most of those jobs have
involved multiple days of shooting under intense time
pressure.
Q: What do you feel is your biggest asset that is
knocking your bookings out of the park?
A: I offer high quality. Period. When people see my
work and the care we put into our albums, they see a
difference. People with good budgets really do their
homework. If you offer high-quality work, and make
your brides look as beautiful as possible, and you know
how to do lighting and can control any situation a
wedding might throw at you, the bookings will come.
PocketWizards, along with a rolling stand bag with
four light stands, sandbags, and umbrellas. My second
shooter brings a bag of gear as well, so we’re wellcovered in case anything fails.
Q: Is there any particular technique or piece
of equipment you can’t
possibly live without?
A: Equipment-wise, I
couldn’t live without my
70-200mm lens. Software-wise, I couldn’t
live without Photoshop. And tool-wise,
I couldn’t live without
my ColorPop actions,
which I use for a lot of
my work.
Q: Finally, what’s next for your studio?
A: For the past four or five years, I’ve received tons of
e-mails asking how I do my color, so I finally put my
head down and created a comprehensive action set that
features color, toning, and prep actions. Early
reaction to the ColorPop Actions Volume I set
(available at www.colorpop.com) has been great.
We’ll be releasing other products under the ColorPop
banner soon, and I’m really excited about being able
to help other photographers while saving them all the
painful trial and error that I spent years going through.
Q: How do you use light to enhance your color? Can
you tell us how you light your subjects?
A: For location or studio work, I generally use Alien
Bees strobes or a multi-flash setup. Use of off-camera
lighting really helps pop colors, and if you use the sun
as your rim light, you can get a beautiful effect without
too much effort.
Q: What’s in your shoot bag? What do you
typically bring on shoot days?
A: I generally bring the following Canon gear: Two
5DMKII bodies, a 70-200mm 2.8 II, a 24-70mm 2.8, a
16-35mm 2.8, a 100mm 2.8 IS macro, and a 14mm 2.8.
I also have a 50mm 1.4 and an 85mm 1.8, but I rarely
shoot with them. My bag also includes 200 GB of
compact flash cards and a video light. We also bring
a lighting bag with three Alien Bees monolites and
Click for more from Andrena Douglass
5
Bruce Hamilton Dorn
Over the years, I have standardized these based on two
basic approaches that are illustrated in the accompanying graphics.
tions or, preferably, one of the piggy-backed rangeextending radio repeaters like the Pocket Wizard Flex
or, my preference, the Radio Popper PX system.
FIRST DANCE
These simple lighting designs work beautifully for such
clearly defined area as the wedding reception dance
floor. Two well-placed slaves—and perhaps a tiny
amount of on-camera bounced fill—will give you
beautiful lighting for anything that might occur within
the area. And, when we think about it, we quickly
realize that this same approach can be upscaled to
work for the entire reception area.
Once the lights are in place—and I always do this
before the reception begins—I simply grab a handy
waiter and shoot a few test frames to establish my
baseline ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and speedlite
output. I usually set both my camera and speedlites to
manual mode for the most predictable results.
DWF member since 2003
101
One can place the slave speedlites on light stands,
(either “meat” or metal), but I strongly prefer to mount
my slaves on a nearby wall or column with removable
adhesive hooks.
Many of the most important events we need to cover at
a wedding reception are staged around the dance floor.
Speeches, toasts, and the all-important first dance take
place within this space.
This area is generally predetermined and well-defined.
One can, of course, shoot everything at the reception
with a “foofed” shoe-mount speedlite that never leaves
the camera’s hot-shoe or crank the ISO to nosebleed
elevations and go with an Available Darkness
approach. My preference—and I suspect one of the
main reasons my clients hire me—is to light the dance
Give this way a try! My guess is that you’ll never go
back to your old approach.
I avoid light stands with the same enthusiasm that I
avoid personal injury lawsuits. Guests at wedding
receptions are often (A) drunk (B) old or (C) drunk
and old. At any rate, well-lubricated wedding guests
of any age are notorious for their ability to find some-
served to create good dimensionality and helped to
separate the actors from their background. The
second light was generally placed in one of two
locations—either 180º or 90º from the backlight. From
one direction the 90º placement serves to gently
continue the backlight’s “wrap.” From another angle,
the 90º placement serves as a handsome “crossing
backlight”. The 180º placement offered a dramatic and
You can find my Plastic Slipper (and other nifty
speedlite accessories) here.
thing to trip over. My goal is to avoid being the guy
who provides it.
floor as I would light a simple theatrical scene but with
nothing more than a couple of radio-slaved speedlites.
I had the great good fortune to spend the early part of
my career as a commercial director and in this capacity I had many opportunities to work with a group
of extremely talented directors of photography and
cinematographers.
When lighting a scene, almost all would begin by
placing a bounced or direct Backlight. This light source
6
classic “opposite side” 3/4 front-side key-and-backlight
combination from any of the four sides of the dance
floor.
The wall hooks I use are manufactured by 3M and sold
under the brand name Command Strips. If you choose
to use these easily removable plastic hooks, be sure to
follow the manufacturer’s instructions to the letterdamage to wallpaper or paint can occur to the mounting surface if you don’t. To facilitate mounting via the
Command Strip hooks, I’ve developed a lightweight
mounting plate that I call the Plastic Slipper. My Plastic
Slippers will work with the speedlite’s proprietary foot
and the speedlite’s built-in light-based communica-
If you’re interested in hearing more of my highly
subjective opinions about lighting, please check out
my free tutorial series at the Canon Digital Learning
Center.
Click for more from Bruce H. Dorn
7
blast the music. Make sure the song you use is between
three and four minutes long. Needs to be a popular
song. Why? Popular songs are popular for a reason—
people like them. If the song is good they will like the
slideshow or video even more. Don’t overthink this.
Joe Switzer
DWF member since 2012
Q: What inspired you to start, and how long have
you been in business?
A: Funny that this all started with a local wedding for
$150. The first-ever video job was to record a friend’s
wedding and put it to VHS. Times have changed since
then... WOW! In 2012 Switzerfilm is looking forward
to our ninth year in operation. The first three years
were part-time. It was a side business but now we have
five of us holding full-time positions.
Q: Photo/video fusion still seems
relatively new, and sometimes scary to a
wedding photographer. Can you tell us
how you balanced the two and made a
harmonious business?
A: The word “video” is scary to
photographers. They
feel like they already
can’t keep up with
the world of photography; adding video
is scary because it’s
something
different and they are
already overwhelmed.
Q: Can you talk to us about the “same-day edit”? It
seems like a lot of work; how do you pull it off in a
day and make it look so seamless?
Want to know
the secret
to marketing?
This is it...
How did we do it?
We added photography so we hired a
photographer. That
move created a ripple effect that increased our revenue
by about 180% in two years. The moment we started
doing photo/video weddings we turned down business
8
with any photographers. Why? To maximize weddingday photo/video quality, you need to be in control of
the wedding day. No offense to other photographers
but let’s face it: A random video guy and a random
photographer are not going to work in harmony
together. Wedding days are smoother than ever now
because we are a team that is together and have worked
with one another for years.
A: You want to know the secret to
marketing? This is it: Think about 300-400
individuals seeing the video at the
reception. They see your company, the logo,
impact, and magic. You post this online
and those 300-400 are passing this around to all their
friends because they’ve
“never seen anything like
this.” You could get 1,000
hits on that video the moment you post it. The sameday edit, or “SDE,” can be a
slideshow set to music, or a
highlights video.
The SDE presentation is key.
You need to announce it.
Get the wedding party and
couple seats in the middle of the dance floor. Bring
your own projector and screen (at least 9 or 10 feet
wide). Get all the lights turned down. Have the DJ
Q: You’re a naturallight enthusiast. Can
you tell us the
challenges and
advantages of
working with
natural light? Any
tips to make a lessthan-ideal situation
beautiful?
A: Follow the light.
Find the shade. Scout
your locations. Bring
the bride or groom to
windows. Don’t just
settle for where people are. In your meeting with the
bride and groom, stress the importance of their
getting ready in a room with tons of natural light. On a
wedding day we bring one battery-powered LED light
to receptions because most reception light isn’t good
enough to shoot in.
Q: What do you feel is your biggest asset that is
knocking your bookings out of the park?
A: Two things. First is the Switzerfilm five-person fulltime team. Our gang is fun, creative, and united.
Our other biggest asset is our music videos. We
believe that the three-minute to four-minute music
video is the reason for our success.
Q: Is there any particular technique or piece of
equipment you can’t possibly live without?
A: Two things: Popular music and the Glidecam HD2000. Most professional wedding videographers, 90% or
more, still can’t use
this tool effectively.
Learn to balance it before you use it. If you
need extra confidence
in using the Glidecam,
check out “The Art of
Flying” DVD on our
website. We show all
our secrets for using it.
The only way to use
popular music is with
Songfreedom.com. Our videos would be lame if we
couldn’t use songs from One Republic, Jason Mraz,
Train, and Colbie Caillat. Every photographer and/or
videographer should be using Songfreedom.com for all
of their music.
Q: What’s next for your studio?
A: Something big. Can’t talk about it. You will see
something special soon. Let’s just say an AMAZING
video with breathtaking scenery in a remote location!
Stand by!
Q: Switching gears to talk about your beautiful
imagery: What’s in your shoot bag? What do you
typically bring on shoot days?
A: Four Canon 5Ds. Lenses: 50mm, 14mm,
200mm, 135mm, 24-70mm, 100mm macro, 70200mm, and 85mm. Tools: Glidecam HD-2000,
Glidetrack, Monopod, and Tripod.
Yummy food: CLIF Bars and 5-hour ENERGY.
Click for more from Joe Switzer
9
Ryan Brenizer
DWF member since 2007
KEEP YOUR CLIENT
HAPPY
All happy brides are alike; each unhappy bride is unhappy
in her own way.
Why am I getting all Tolstoy on you? After about 250
weddings as a primary photographer, I’ve learned a few
things along the way that surprised me, and one I wish I’d
known from the start is that unhappy clients are a
tremendous business opportunity.
for you to prove your skill and professionalism by saving the
day. Because as nice as it is to have clients who like you, it is
far more valuable to have clients who are your
evangelists. You want your clients to tell their engaged
friends, “Look, hire whatever florist you want, use whatever
venue you want, but if you don’t hire our photographer, I
will slap some sense into you.”
There are a lot of different ways to save the day. The one
I encounter most commonly involves a wedding whose
schedule has gotten way off track, and my job is to put it
back on schedule by doing the portraits in much less than
my allotted time. There’s being able to deal with unexpected
weather, wardrobe issues, problems with other vendors,
relatives whose sole mission seems to be to stress the couple
out, and on and on. In all of these, the keys to being a
day-saver are skills and attitude. There’s no substitute for
experience to develop these, but you can find your way to it
faster than others by working smart and working hard.
Actually pressing the shutter is generally the easiest part of
taking a photo. It’s not too hard to learn f-stops and
shutter speeds, but learning how to deal with human nature
can take lifetimes. So one of the most important skills in
wedding photography is learning how to present a calming
demeanor when inside you’re screaming, “Oh no! What do
I do now?!?” One of the things I’ve learned from my study
of long-term documentary photography is that it’s often
less about what you can do with a camera than who you are
behind the camera. Can you make people comfortable? Do
they feel they can trust you? Should they trust you?
The photo at left is a good example. It’s a fine photo, and
Cathy and Glen love it, but the story of how it happened is
more important.
Take a couple whose families are flying in from all around
the world to see their wedding, and add the expense of a
Central Park Boathouse reception. You have a natural recipe
for stress. It gets worse when it rains. All day long, from the
limo getting stuck in the middle of Manhattan, to the
ceremony, to the portraits around town, Cathy keeps a
nervous eye on a rumbling sky. “ Don’t worry, ” her friends
tell her. “ It will blow over. ”
And it does hold off for a while. The ceremony is gorgeous,
we get all sorts of fun photos around Manhattan, and
now we’re headed into the reception. There’s just one little
quirk—the Boathouse is located inside Central Park, where
the limos and buses for all the guests can’t go. No problem,
since that just means a short walk through the gorgeous
park. But as all the limos and buses line up at the park’s edge
the sky opens, all the pent-up rain pelting the street and
soaking the guests.
I don’t mean unhappy with you—if you got drunk and fell
on the wedding cake, you’re on your own. But we all know
that weddings are ripe targets for Murphy’s Law. Things go
wrong, stress levels rise—and this is the perfect opportunity
10
Have cheerful clients with a great day, and get some great
images for them? Congratulations; you have clients who like
you. Have clients whose day almost fell completely apart,
but you swooped in to save it? Now you have evangelists.
So here is poor Cathy, trapped in the limo until the rain
passes, and all she can think about is what’s going to happen
to her poor grandparents in the rain, and will this spoil the
mood of the reception, and why did this have to happen?
No good. My primary thought right now is that I have
to occupy her while the transportation company and the
venue work something out. I lean in and show my sympathy (which works because it’s real): “Hey, Cathy, I know
this really stinks. They’re going to fix it; don’t worry. But for
the next few minutes you’ve been served some lemons. The
good news is that we can make lemonade. How would you
like to use this rain to make an amazing picture?”
She brightens immediately. I grab my camera, my assistant,
a flash, and my PocketWizards, and quickly put everything
into place. I don’t have time to find extra umbrellas or Saran
wrap; I have work to do. So my assistant and I are getting
soaked, and I know from experience that I have about three
or four minutes before the flash starts to short out. I get my
settings right where I want the couple for a backlit shot,
with my SB-900 a nice and strong 1/2 power. No time for
stands—my assistant ducks behind them, hidden by her
dress and the darkness of the scene.
Even here, I try to make things a little more difficult for
myself and try new things, so in the darkness I’m
shooting with a 45mm tilt-shift on my D3s, wanting to
make the raindrops and the city even more surreal and
focused on the couple than the backlight alone. We take
four photos and we’re done. I show them to Cathy and Glen,
and she lets out an excited cry. The worry is gone; the party
can begin.
As businesspeople, we need to think about what we can
offer our clients that has real value, things that their friends
or Uncle Bob can’t match. Experience—the ability to solve
problems because you’ve seen them all before—seems like
a no-brainer. If a wedding goes perfectly, frankly there are
a lot of friends and Uncle Bobs out there who could do a
perfectly good job. But if a couple knows that you can do a
great job even in bad conditions, not only are you providing
the value of great photos every time, but you’re taking their
stress away. In Manhattan in particular, you can do pretty
well if you can make your clients less stressed-out.
In the space of one month alone, I had to jury-rig a lighting
system for a ceremony that needed one, shoot two wedding
portrait sessions in can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-yourface darkness, and shoot a wedding at which a long list of
portraits the couple had scheduled two hours for had to be
done in 15 minutes. Problems happen; anticipating them
and overcoming them is all part of the fun.
The night of Cathy and Glen’s wedding, I stumbled back
into my apartment at 2 a.m. My phone had a text message
on it, from Cathy. It read:“Ryan, thank you so much for being part of the wedding and turning ‘lemons into
lemonade!’”
Evangelist, made.
Click for more from Ryan Brenizer
11
Jerry Ghionis
DWF member since 2004
Turn the Ordinary into the
Extraordinary
At his seminars and workshops, DWF member Jerry Ghionis teaches how to turn
the ordinary into the extraordinary. Jerry is a master of taking bland, depressing
shooting locations and transforming them with incredible, opulent photography.
Here Jerry shows some examples and explains his wizardry.
While walking over a bridge, I noticed the sun
coming through the grate on the right and asked my model to sit on the ground with
her back against that grate. This allowed me to turn her body away from the light,
which was important so that she didn’t appear broader than she is. I then asked her
to turn her head toward me so her face would be turned back into the light.
I cropped in very tightly to remove any distractions and any hint of our surroundings
and exposed for the beautiful pattern that appeared on her face from the sun coming
through the grate.
12
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8G
ED VRII
Focal length: 135mm
ISO: 200
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter speed: 1250
Light source: Sunlight
13
We continued walking through a
construction site and I saw this ordinary sign
mounted on a temporary wall on the side of a
building.
While walking through an area filled with corporate buildings, I noticed a small patch of tall grass nearby.
I posed my couple in front of it, cropping out all of the other distracting elements of the sign, and it appears as though
I
asked
my couple to sit at the edge of the tall grass and had my assistant hold a translucent diffuser just over their heads.
this were taken at night with a full moon or strong spotlight behind them. You’d never know from the final image what
This softened the light on them and by using a shallow depth of field, I was able to create a very romantic environment that certainly
the background actually looked like.
doesn’t seem to be in the middle of a corporate park.
Everything was done in-camera.
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8G
ED VRII
Focal length: 185mm
ISO: 200
Aperture: f4
Shutter speed: 640
Light source: Sunlight
14
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8G
ED VRII
Focal length: 122mm
ISO: 200
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter speed: 2000
Light source: Sunlight
with a translucent diffuser
15
Further along in that corporate area, I noticed a small area with a few trees in it. I liked
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8G
ED VRII
Focal length: 122mm
ISO: 200
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter speed: 2000
Light source: Sunlight
with a translucent diffuser
the look of all of the trees, but the lighting was quite dappled and wouldn’t work for a portrait. So I
posed my couple at the edge of the trees and again pulled out a translucent diffuser and asked my
assistant to hold it over their heads.
This created much softer, even lighting on my couple
that was very flattering to them. Because the sun was
coming from high above, I needed to find poses that
would allow my bride to keep her chin up and let that
beautiful light hit her face.
16
Click for more from Jerry Ghionis
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8G ED
VRII
Focal length: 155mm
ISO: 400
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter speed: 500
Light source: Sunlight with
a translucent diffuser
17
Our members chase rainbows.
I mage Courtesy of PStudio Impressions
Marcus Bell, DWF member since 2004
Become a DWF member
18
19
Dave
Cross
DWF member since 2010
WORK SMART WITH
SMART OBJECT
TEMPLATES
The latest couple of versions of Photoshop offer the option
to create and use Smart Objects. A Smart Object is a
different kind of layer that pretty much changes the rules.
One of the best ways to think of a Smart Object is as a
container—a special magical container. You can
manipulate the container (make it smaller, apply filters,
and so forth), but the contents of the container remain
unchanged. At any time you can edit (or replace) the
contents of the container, and whatever effects you’ve
applied to the Smart Object will update. The contents of
the Smart Object are embedded into the document: That
makes the file size larger but gives you many options for
editing.
Tip: Hold down Option (PC: Alt) and click on the Layer
Mask to be able to view the mask itself.
Step 4: Since the layer is a Smart Object you can also
apply Smart Filters, as shown here. (Smart Filters are
editable: You can change the settings, mask the filter, or
change the blend mode and opacity of the filter.)
Step 5: Now your “template” is complete—just save
as a PSD file to preserve the layers and the Smart Object.
(Note: Photoshop doesn’t call this a template; it just acts
like one).
Step 4
It’s easy to apply a new photo to the template: Right-click
on the Smart Object and from the pop-up menu choose
Replace Contents. As long as the replacement photo is
exactly the same size as the original, it will fit the template
perfectly.
Step 1
You can use this simple method to create all kinds of
reusable templates.
Of course you can take this to any level
you want. Here’s an example that creates a template
you can use to display client photos on a DVD case and
disc—a great way to sell a high-priced add-on to your
portrait package:
Step 5
Smart Objects are a great way to speed up your work
through the creation of reusable “templates.” Do the work
once and save a ton of time by simply replacing the
contents of the Smart Object.
First, let’s look at a basic example that serves as a great
start to understanding the power of Smart Objects:
Step 2
I grabbed a stock photo of a blank DVD and case and want to
turn that into a template. In this example I’m using Raw files, but
the technique works equally well with JPEGs.
Step 1: Open a document, right-click on the
Background layer, and choose Convert to Smart Object.
Now the layer can be edited in many nondestructible ways.
Step 2: Make a selection and add a Layer Mask.
Step 3: Use a combination of filters and/or painting to
create an interesting edge.
Step 3
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It’s important that the first image you use to create the
template is the typical size you will always be using. Also,
if you’re using Camera Raw files, make sure to use the
Workflow Options to set the resolution to the number
you’ll use consistently.
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Optional Step 2: Hold down Option and click on
Step 1: Choose the image you want to use to create the
the Add Layer Mask button.
template. Use File>Place to bring the file into the photo of
the DVD case. That will create a Smart Object.
Optional Step 3: Use the Marquee tool to make a
Step 2: Press Command-J (PC: Control-J) to duplicate the Smart
Object. Duplicating a Smart Object means that if you edit the Smart
Object, both copies will change.
thin selection and fill it with white.
Optional Step 4: Use the Masks panel to apply a
Feather to the mask
Optional Step 4
Step 2
Step 3: Use Free Transform to make the photo fit the
shape of the DVD case.
As in the first example, save as a
PSD file to preserve the layers and
the Smart Objects.
Tip: Lower the opacity slightly so you can more easily
match up the photo to the corners of the DVD case.
Tip: Hold down Command/Control to manipulate each
Step 3
corner of the photo independently.
Step 4: Move the second Smart Object over the disc.
Step 5: Temporarily hide the Smart Object. Use the
Quick Selection tool to select the disc. Show the Smart
Object and add a Layer Mask.
To create a new layout for your next client, just right-click on
any copy of the Smart Object and choose Replace Contents.
(Once again, you can tweak the results by moving the photo
inside the disc.)
Step 6: Unlink the Smart Object from the mask so
that you can reposition the Smart Object within the disc if
necessary.
Optional: Add a small highlight on the disc case:
Optional Step 1: Duplicate the case Smart Object
These are just a couple of the many ways you can take advantage of Smart Objects to save time. For a video tutorial that
shows these techniques, visit davecrossworkshops.com.
Step 5
and change the blend mode to Screen.
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Click for more from Dave Cross
23
AN INTERVIEW
WITH
Todd Reichman
DWF member since 2006
Q: What inspired you to start, and how long have
you been in business? How did you become a
professional photographer?
We also figured that we’d better understand the
numbers side of things if we were relying on those
numbers to pay the bills.
A: We [Reichman and his wife, Jamie] decided to take
So with respect to business, it just seemed like we
up photography in 2005 and went full-time in 2006.
couldn’t afford not to dig in as far as we could and
Jamie decided to go full-time and we bought a
figure out how to make things work. Good news is
commercial building; she quit her job and I was
that finances and managerial accounting aren’t as hard
supposed to support us while we got established.
to learn as you might think, and the business side can
Instead, my tenure as a horrible employee caught up
actually be as fun and creative as the photography if
with me, and two weeks after Jamie
you let it.
quit, I got fired (on my birthday).
What our
So for better or worse we were both
Q: I know one of your big
full-time professional
philosophies is not to compete on
competition
photographers. We always wanted
price or product but to laser-focus
can’t take from your brand. Can you tell us more
to do something creative and something that we could do together; it
us or copy is our about how to handle a flooded
just happened a little more abruptly
market full of less-experienced
core
brand.
than we expected!
photographers?
Q: Building a solid business is your thing—you’re
like a business guru! Tell us more about that.
A: When we found ourselves in the position of having
to make a living with a camera, it seemed to make a lot
of sense to figure out how that works. What has
become clear is that the impulse to want to create
something and the work necessary to make that
something attractive to a buying public are two
different things. Some people like to think that
business is luck, but in all our research and experience
we’ve found that you actually can consistently
influence the buying habits of your target client and
that there are die-hard methods of making your
business attractive to the right people.
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A: Price and products are the things that someone else
can always beat you on. Since we don’t have control of
other people we only get to worry about what we can
actually influence. What our competition can’t take
from us or copy is our core brand. What they can’t
take away is what we believe and our unique ability to
deliver on that. Photography is like any other market:
When there are few options we can afford to be broad
and earn a lower-to-middle sum. As the competition
increases we necessarily have to lessen our expectations with respect to market share and we have to be
more specific and distinct in what we offer. Oh, yeah—
that usually means you have to ask for more per job,
too. It is kind of like television. When there were three
to four channels you had to make an effort to appeal to
the broad market. Now there are a thousand channels
and in order to stick around and get viewers, you have
to specialize. You have to be perfect for a given person
and you have to help someone say something about
themselves by being a fan of your
channel.
Q: Is there any particular technique or business
practice you can’t live without?
A: A solid understanding of what branding is, how it
works, and how to implement it.
Many people think that branding
In a way we’ve had to is all about logos and packaging
So the real answer to the
and things like that. In reality
forget traditional
question is that you have to get
that’s the last 5% of branding. For
client-to-client
more specific, more polarizing,
us, branding is really the
and more personal. You have
referral chains and compelling, client-focused reason
to know what it means for your
that a client should hire you—the
focus
more
on
vendor
work to be on someone’s wall
thing that they want to be
or sitting on their coffee table.
associated with, the thing that
relationships.
You have to stop thinking like a
they want to be true about
photographer and start thinking like a client, thinking themselves that your work can help make true.
about why clients want photographs. It’s not because
they want to remember but because they want to see
themselves in a certain way. They want to believe that
After you figure out what that is, you align everything
something is true about them. If you can help them
else behind it. Simple idea, difficult in execution…but
actualize that belief then you’ve got a great chance of
it is the engine that makes a successful business
being meaningful to them and booking the job because sustainable.
of it.
Q: What’s next for you and your studio?
Q: Can you tell us who your ideal clients are and how
you like to interact with them?
A: Survival! Just kidding. We moved from the Midwest
to Atlanta, Georgia, last year, so we’re working on
A: My ideal wedding clients tend to be a little older,
establishing our company here, trying to book the
more mature, and they are usually upper-level
right people and refine the brand to the point that it
professionals (accountants, lawyers, doctors, financial
works smoothly. So far we’ve been more fortunate than
guys with jobs I don’t understand, etc.). Their
we deserve, though it hasn’t been a cakewalk.
weddings are family events and the parents and
grandparents are being honored as part of the
That, and we’re taking the things that we’ve learned and
festivities. As such they care more about family than
trying to help other people to not make the mistakes
friends, more about tradition than partying. They
we made starting out. Our SEXY BUSINESS
also trust coordinators and industry experts instead
workshops are all about helping photographers get
of friends. So in a way we’ve had to forget traditional
one-on-one help to define a sustainable business plan,
client-to-client referral chains and focus more on
a compelling and client-focused brand, and a profitable
vendor relationships.
price list in three days. We’ve got a personal goal of
making a certain amount of money from our
Our clients want a certain type of respect and
photography and a goal to help other studios make a
treatment, so we’ve had to focus more on professional- certain amount of money through our workshops.
ism instead of being personalities and being the life of
Really, we’re constantly trying to understand what
the party. Just goes to show you that there are different value we have to offer and continue to find ways to
types of clients and they are all looking for something
communicate it and deliver on it.
specific. So whenever you hear about a given tactic
working or not working, you have to really think about
whether it aligns with your core brand and whether
it fits with what your core client is looking for in a
vendor.
Click for more from Todd Reichman
25
Critsey Rowe
DWF member since 2006
TIPS ON
BOUDOIR
to have the client come back for viewing and show
your samples then. I only meet with clients once since
I shoot on location, so I bring my sample albums with
me.
Easy Selling:
Besides showing what you want to sell, the easiest way
to sell an upgrade is by starting with smaller packages
with just 10 images and then selling per image rather
than per page in the album. Most photographers are
used to selling per spread, so when they start shooting
Products:
different light all help you get a wide variety. When
shooting boudoir, don’t forget the little details: These
are great for the album and also make for upgrades
when selling per image. Take photos of the client’s
lingerie, shoes, and jewelry, and details of body parts.
These are also great for your portfolio when a client
only wants to share images with no face.
Make it, don’t fake it:
Whatever you can get right in-camera will save you
tons of time afterward. With boudoir you spend
enough time retouching anyway so why not move
some clutter and optimize the light instead of fixing
this in Photoshop? Be sure to fix that stray hair,
polish or clean off a table that is in your shoot, remove
any spots from the windows…it only takes seconds.
Tell your clients to be careful with tanning close to the
shoot, and to watch for tan lines because they will want
you to fix it afterward. This takes a lot of extra time so
try to help yourself by giving the clients a heads-up.
Also ask clients to wear loose clothes when coming to
the shoot so that you do not have to deal with pressure
marks in retouching. And have them cut those labels
off the lingerie!
I know you have heard this before from many other
photographers but I will say it again—show what you
want to sell. I start with a simple package that includes
a 5x7 book. Almost every client will choose this
package without actually seeing the books in person.
On the day of the shoot I take several books with me,
including a 5x7 sample album, a few 8x8s, and two
custom-sized albums, to show my clients. They always
upgrade to the 8x8 or custom-sized albums. Everyone
sells differently so if you have a studio you may choose
boudoir they stay with the same format they use for
their wedding albums. However, with boudoir most
clients will say they only want a few images, but once
they see them they will want more. Start your base
package with a small album with limited images to give
the opportunity for upgrades.
Shoot to sell (and to please):
The key to making your clients want more is variety.
Different outfits, different angles, different poses, and
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Click for more from Critsey Rowe
27
of myself as a business person and as a photographer than I
am today.
Featured Member
SARAH
QUIARA
What is your DWF username? SarahQuiara
What is your full name? Sarah Quiara
What is your business location? Austin, Texas
What is your website URL? http://www.sarah-Q.com or
http://www.sarahQblog.com
What is your Facebook page URL? https://www.facebook.
com/SarahQPhoto
How long have you been in business? Six years
--------
Q: Was there life before photography or has this been a
lifelong passion for you?
A: I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember. I
was always the kid in high school taking pictures of
everything going on (with a film camera, not a cell-phone
camera!). After high school I was a photographer for the
local newspaper, which I loved but made no money doing.
always loved photography and had worked as a
photographer for the newspaper, but never thought there
was any way to make real money doing it. That’s when I
discovered wedding photography. I knew wedding
photography existed, of course, but I had no idea it existed
in such a fun, creative, nontraditional way. A local
wedding photographer had posted an ad on Craigslist
looking for a second shooter/assistant. I visited his website
and was blown away by the creativity of his photos. Then
I saw how much he was charging! Most people on DWF
know all the time/work/money that goes into running
a business, but at the time I had no idea. All I saw was a
photographer (which I’d always wanted to be) taking really
creative, fun photos (which I knew I could do) making what
seemed to be really good money. I decided then and there
that I was going to be a wedding photographer.
I realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t that easy and that to
be successful I’d have to work my butt off. I charged too
little and made lots of mistakes. I literally sat at my
computer crying and exhausted and overwhelmed. It was
tough, but I refused to give up. I read as much as I could
(yay DWF!) and raised my prices and learned how to be the
I remember as a kid asking for a “real camera” for
Christmas, but not knowing how to explain what a “real
camera” was. I wanted an SLR, but had no idea what to call
it! I’ve always loved photography and can’t imagine doing
anything else.
Q: How did you become a professional photographer?
A: When my second child was born, I decided I needed to
help out with the bills a bit and get a part-time job. I’d
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best photographer I could be so I’d have less post work to
do later. I still make mistakes and I still get overwhelmed
sometimes, but I’ve never been more confident and proud
Q: What has been your biggest business challenge? How
have you faced that challenge?
A: My biggest business challenge has always been saying
no! When you’re the one paying all the bills in a home with
three kiddos, turning away business is tough. But when
you’re trying to be a mom, a wife, a friend, and a sane
person, having time off is important. It’s been hard finding
the right balance of “paying bills” and “not going completely
insane,” but I think I’m getting better. The one rule that I
absolutely never break is the “One Weekend Day Off ” rule.
If I shoot a wedding on Saturday, I take Sunday off to spend
time with family/friends or to just lie around and be lazy. If
I shoot a wedding Sunday, I take Saturday off.
No exceptions!
Q: What’s the most effective
way you’ve found to market
your studio?
A: I don’t pay a penny for
advertising. I’ve found referrals
from other photographers and
wedding planners to be so much
more beneficial than paid
advertising. Austin is a very
friendly town and we have a
pretty great network of
photographers willing to share
leads and help each other out.
My other marketing secret: photo booths! I know, I know;
photo booths aren’t anything new. But the way I do photo
booths is a bit different than most—I do them for free!
Every one of my weddings includes a complimentary
reception photo booth. Why? Because we love shooting
booth photos, our clients love getting booth photos, and our
clients’ guests love taking booth photos! It’s a win-win-win!
Plus, who needs 10,000 drunk-people-dancing photos? I’d
much rather my second shooter be over at the booth getting
guest photos than roaming around the dance floor with me
all night. I’ve just started uploading booth photos to
Facebook, too, which has brought all kinds of comments
and tags and “likes” to my business page. It’s like word of
mouth on speed! Yay for that!
Q: How do you set yourself apart from your competition?
What makes you unique and how do you communicate
that to prospective clients?
A: My motto is, “Photography for Happy People,” and that’s
how I market myself. I love dramatic poses and lighting just
as much as the next person, but my style is all about happiness. When people look at my photos I want them to see
people who have never looked happier or more in love. I
want the joy and excitement of a wedding day to
really show in the photos. The moment should always be the
most important part of any photo— more important than
the background, the bokeh, or the off-camera flash you used
to capture it.
Q: What are your three favorite pieces of equipment or
workflow tools, and why?
A: 1. Lightroom changed my life. I absolutely love how easy
it is to edit these days—99.9% of the photos I’ve posted in
the last two years were Lightroom edits only, with no
Photoshop. I still love Photoshop, but I’m happy I don’t have
to use it very often!
2. My 50mm lens ... and it’s not even the 1.2! I’m the
opposite of an equipment snob. I hardly ever buy lenses and
I use my 50mm 1.4 all the time—probably too much,
actually! In my bag I have a Canon 5D Mark II, a 50mm 1.4,
a 16-35mm 2.8, and a 70-200
2.8. I had an 85, which I loved,
but I broke it and never got it
fixed. Did I mention I’m not
much of an equipment person?! You definitely don’t need
$20,000 worth of gear to get
great photos. I like that.
3. My 5D Mark II. You don’t
need a ton of fancy
equipment to get great photos,
but it is nice to be able to shoot
at ridiculously high ISOs!
Q: What advice would you give to an aspiring
photographer?
A: My number-one piece of advice: It takes more than a love
of photography to run a photography business. A lot more.
For every minute you take to learn about photography,
take two minutes to learn about business. For every onehour photo shoot you do, you should be reading two hours’
worth of business books. Start with the E-Myth!
Q: What has the DWF done for your business? How do
you use the DWF?
A: It’s hard to even put into words all the knowledge that
exists on the DWF. Business, marketing, posing, lighting,
advertising, products, sales…there isn’t one single subject
that hasn’t been talked about. Being able to learn from other
people’s experiences—both good and bad—has been huge
for me as a businessperson!
Q: Optional, but come on, be a sport: If you could have
any superpower, what would it be and why?
A: Hmmmm…how about invisibility? That would be cool!
Can I have an invisible camera, too? I could get some pretty
great candid shots that way!
Click for more from Sarah Quiara
29
k
c
i
l
C
, em!
DWF Great
THREADS
Why pay for hi-res images ?
Do you offer high-resolution image files to your clients as part of your regular pricing packages? DWF members
discuss whether it’s best to build printable files into their prices or to offer them as an add-on and which option
provides the best returns. Turns out it’s not just that you do it, it’s how you do it.
Available magic-lighting on location
MAGAZINE
Great
CREDITS
Founder Jeff Caplan
Articles
Favorite photos of 2011
How-To Articles
Supervisor Mark Lutz
Contributors Bruce Hamilton Dorn
Ryan Brenizer
Dave Cross
Critsey Rowe
Most financially successful photographer
Q&A
Supervisor Elizabeth Atkins
Contributors Andrena Douglass
Joe Switzer
Todd Reichman
This thread on supplemental lighting options for location shooting, started by the inimitable Bruce Dorn (page
6), has stretched to become a virtual volume, and it’s still being added to! With 3,000+ posts and nearly 200,000
views, it’s easily the most popular thread on the DWF.
This popular thread contains DWF members’ favorite photos taken in 2011 along with what they consider to be
their best image. It’s inspiration meets admiration as this thread delivers the WOW factor, post after post, page
after page!
A DWF member wondered who the most financially successful photographers shooting weddings and portraits
were. Spirited debate ensued as to what success really means, with no agreement on who was making the most
money. The original poster found the answer to her question right in the DWF! Yep, one of our own members is
the most financially successful home-based photographer in the country (according to the PPA)!
How do you price your prints for profit?
Confused about how to price your prints for more sales? Trial and error can yield results, albeit painfully. Getting
answers from other experienced professional photographers? Priceless.
A story about starting over
One member took a hard look at his business, made some big changes, and shared his journey with the DWF.
One of the most informative and inspiring posts on business we’ve ever had.
What makes you a great photographer?
Jerry Ghionis: Before and After
Supervisor Jeff Caplan
Contributor Jerry Ghionis
Featured Member and
Great Threads
Supervisor Ingrid Spangler
Contributors Sarah Quiara
www.digitalweddingforum.com
Project Manager and
Designer
Copy Editor
Elizabeth Atkins
Delicia Honen Yard
Before you start to market, you’ve got to know who you are. This thread asks DWF members to self-assess and
think about how they present what makes them unique to clients.
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