Today’s little gem is all about perception. Who, indeed, do your clients perceive you to be? What kind of photographer are you, really, in their eyes?

One of the most important points I preach about in my Business of Photography seminar is developing a visual style, developing a VISION. If you’re a portrait shooter, if you’re an architectural shooter, if you shoot kids, it’s this vision and style that you present to clients. You DO NOT include images that do not fit your style and vision in your presentation material (website, portfolio, portal sites, any marketing materials).

The math behind this is simple:

Shoot what you love (your visual style) + present this and this ONLY to clients = shooting what you love & getting paid to create it

The client’s perceived VALUE behind this:

You specialize in this and this ONLY + you must be very good at it = HIGHER PERCEIVED VALUE!!

You’ve all heard the expression, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”. This smacks entirely of perception. If you show that you shoot everything, the client WILL think that yes, you can shoot this stuff, but you’re not fantastic at any one of them. You will be overlooked when clients with higher end projects need images, because they’ll be looking for a ‘specialist’. Hum and haw all you want, it’s the truth.

This is the tip of the iceberg. In my seminar I discuss ways to up your value in client’s eyes merely by the words you use when you speak with them.  Seriously.

Next seminar’s dates are TBD as of this writing, but keep an eye on the VPW calendar schedule for early September.

I’m  hooked up to the podcast feed from TED Talks (if you’re not familiar with TED, now’s the time). This is the link to an episode that downloaded recently.  Give a look. It will give you some great insight into this topic.

http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_perspective_is_everything.html

All over the Pinterest craze? Here’s a little tidbit I came across this morning during my coffee-fueled forum surf. Pinterest, through it’s terms and conditions, has completely absolved itself of any legal liability that might arise from users pinning copyrighted material to their boards. Guess where that liability lies. That’s right, squarely on the shoulders of THE USER! When you pin copyrighted material to your board you’d better be prepared for some sort of infringement issue or even legal action. Not saying it will happen, but it could. Why would Pinterest go through the motions of including this clause in their T and C if they didn’t expect some sort of legal action to arise? Yeah, chew on that for a minute or two.

Read Terms and Conditions from every one of these types of websites. Know what you’re getting yourself into. After all, good fortune favors the prepared mind.

Now get out there and take some photos!

The system is called PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System). It’s purpose is to standardize image usage terms as they pertain to image licenses. If you’re in the business of licensing photographs to clients for their use, you should get to know this system and implement it ASAP

If you feel your images are worthless, by all means, go about your day. If you put real value in the images you create, go here, read this.

http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/985/on-the-plus-side

The site:

http://www.useplus.com/index.asp

You’ll see some major shooters who are on board here. Be like them!

Chat soon!

D

Cameras4Change is running photography based arts programs in Kenya, in support for Girls affected by Gender Violence in Kenya.

Their awareness/fund raising event is happening this Thursday. If you are able, please show your support.  If  you are not, at least spread the word and share this post with any of the links at the bottom and follow their cause on twitter or facebook.

__________________________

We want you to raise a glass, raise awareness, and raise your hands in support for Girls affected by Gender Violence in Kenya

Cameras4Change is running an arts based program with cameras in Kenya

Check out our invitation to HANDSUP! and we hope you can join us at the event

Tickets $25  to purchase please go online here or click the image below for our website with event info and live links for tickets or donations on the invitation image!

*please note when linking from the image below it may take a few seconds for the invite to appear on your browser!

@cameras4change

www.cameras-4-change.org

www.changents.com/cate-cameron

www.facebook.com/cameras4change

On April 12 we kicked off the first of my free photo walk series in Gastown. We had a great turn out and it was awesome to see some friends and students ofVancouverPhotoWorkshops out to show their support and snap some great photos.

It’s always such a great time walking around and shooting with other photographers. I not only have a chance to share some of my knowledge and passion for street photography but I get to keep learning at the same time, and sometimes see things I might normally not see if I was by myself, or look at things from a different angle.

Here are a few of my own favorites from the walk:

I’d like to thank everyone again for coming out and making this walk such a great success. Stay tuned for more free photo walks when we get back from our East coast tour!Gastown Photo Walk (free photowalk series)

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2012/03/27/perhaps-many-photographers-dont-understand-the-value-of-usage/#comments

The only way to sell something (image licenses, for instance) is to believe in the product and it’s worth to the client. If you don’t believe/understand your value to the client you’re leaving money on the table. Period.

I could go on about this, and often do. For the full-on when/where/why/how about intellectual property (that’s your photos), usage, licensing and negotiating, register for my business seminar! Scheduled to go off again early in May, 2012.

Do it.

Marc and the crew at VPW extended me an invite to post tips, tidbits and generally good advice directly related to the business end of the photographic spectrum. You know, generally good advice I feel a need to share.

I’m planning on having a fresh post for y’all every Monday morning, so check back!

Karen and I have been shooting weddings together for five years now so we have plenty of experience we want to share with you.  We haven’t been doing it for so long that we’ve forgotten what it was like to be new to the business.  In our “Business of Wedding Photography” course we’ll help to answer some of the important questions every new photographer faces.

Photography is a bit of an oddball in the business world. Most people get into photography out of an interest in taking pictures, not making money.  Photographers are passionate about their craft and this is a great thing! They take workshops and classes to learn to use their cameras, to see the light and to pose subjects. These are all essential skills, but why aren’t all good photographers successful?

The answer is they don’t devote enough time to building their business.

What will make you stand out from all the other skilled photographers out there?  We ask ourselves this all the time. The answer is different for everyone and it will change with time. We had to discover who we were, what our style was and how we were going to brand our business. What are you? Quirky, edgy, artsy, traditional….? These are Tough questions to answer at first, especially if you’re new to photography. Understanding who you are and what you want to achieve will help you identify your target market and determine which business model would  be the best  fit for you.

If I had to pick one area where I see people make business killing mistakes it’s not understanding their true cost of doing business. Before you offer products for sale, and by product I mean your time as a photographer, you have to understand what it costs to run your business.  If you’ve never had your own business before you’ll probably be surprised what you actually have to charge just to cover all the little, and not so little, costs.

These days, just having a website with great pictures isn’t enough. You’ll also need to market yourself.  We keep hearing that word of mouth referrals are the best type of marketing. It’s true! But if you don’t have any clients how are you going to get referrals? The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do if you get creative.

Our “Business of Wedding Photography Workshop” will bring you together with other creative, like-minded people who have probably been asking themselves the same questions as you.

We’ll share with you what has and hasn’t worked for us and why.  Whether you’re still working to get your business off the ground, or you’re looking to increase your existing sales, we’ll give you the tools and resources to take your business to the next level!

Last night we had our night field trip and Scott & Shelley we kind enough to freeze their important parts of for our photos.
You see Scott & Shelley play in a band called “Preston and Fletcher”, they both play killer looking guitars, but freezing their fingers off for art was beyond the call of duty. They both showed up in awesome outfits with amazing accessories. We tried to keep Scott & Shelley warm as long as we could before shooting, but I’m sure that the scotch may have also helped the situation a little. Shelley was packing a shiny flask to match her outfit.
The goal of this class was to balance flash with ambient in both TTL & manual settings. The following were shot on a Nikon D3, ISO 400, F5.6 @ 0.6 sec, using 2 SB900′s running in TTL with -2 stops dialed in. I was using a Joe McNally ez-box by Lastolite to modify the light. The flash was angled upward to avoid exposing the ground and to mimic the light cause by the sparklers.

This is the final photograph.

This is us getting the exposure and them trying to stay warm. But honestly, still looking killer!

Here is the raw file,

It was brought into Photoshop and retouched a bit to remove some of the background elements.
Then it was run through a final processing based on Guy Gowan‘s action, and that gave us our final image.

Thanks again to Scott & Shelley, please check out their site: www.prestonandfletcher.com and their Facebook page!

Thanks to all my students for braving the cold as well as lending a hand with the gear.
For more information on all the classes that VPW has to offer check our site: www.vancouverphotoworkshops.com

You can read my full blog entry here.

Thank you for taking the time to view the slideshow, feedback is always welcome.