FAQ for Photographers: All the Basics

Whoo-hoo! My very first FAQ post. Quite possibly my only one too, because I anticipate that it’s gonna be ENORMOUS. Am I pretending to know everything there is to know about photography and the business? NO MA’AM. But I do believe that there’s no such thing as a self-taught photographer, and I am no exception. I have learned 99% of everything I know about photography from other people who have offered up their knowledge and experience for the benefit of all us doe-eyed newbies out there. I would be nowhere without their generosity, and I feel like the least I can do is pass along what little I know, and hope that it helps one or two fellow newbies out there. In reality, it’s taken a long time for me to get around to doing something like this, because it still feels a little crazy and surreal that I would have ANYTHING to teach anyone else, but I’ve gotten some questions and emails lately, and I figured it might just be easier to compile it all into one whopping blog post for the benefit of ALL my readers, which would probably be a little more efficient than typing up the whole thing over and over in emails. SO, here goes nothing! I’ll be doing most of it in Q & A form, so if there’s anything I don’t cover, by all means, please leave more questions in the comment box and I will add on as needed.

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I’m just starting to learn how to use my camera, and I’d love to have some good resources to start out with. What books/websites/etc. have benefited you the most in your growth as a photographer?

When I first began to immerse myself in this world, I read like there was NO tomorrow. And really, I still do. I’ve been a sponge for all the information I can get my hands on, which has resulted in hundreds of hours logged in front of the computer and in libraries and bookstores. Some of my favorite books, especially for when I was trying to wrap my brain around f-stops and shutter speed and all that good technical stuff, are these:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. This is a FANTASTIC read. It really helped me to understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Very easy to understand.

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. This is actually just the first volume in a series of three, which I cannot possibly recommend enough. Scott Kelby’s sense of humor is pretty cheesy, but he’s a wonderful teacher. He breaks down the concepts of photography into easily digestible sections. He covers lots of little random tips and things, but as a whole, it makes SO much sense. I’ve learned a lot from this man.

The Moment it Clicks by Joe McNally. Joe and Scott are really good friends, and you can totally tell, because they share the same terrible sense of humor and amazing talent for teaching photography. Lots of amazing content in this book as well.

As far as blogs and websites go, here are some of the most valuable resources I’ve found:

OpenSourcePhoto. There is no possible way for me to over-stress how much this forum has done for me and my growth as a photographer. Oh. My. Goodness. The wealth of information available on this site is unreal. Generally, I tend to steer clear of forums of all shapes and sizes, because I have seen WAY too much negativity and name-calling and middle school behavior in general. It’s easy for people to get catty when they can hide behind their anonymity. But OSP is by far the best I’ve seen about this kind of stuff. It’s relatively drama-free, and people, for the most part, are super nice and eager to help as much as they can. Before I make any decision concerning my business, I consult OSP to see what other photographers are saying about it. And most of the time, they’re spot on.

The Pioneer Woman’s blog. Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m pretty much in love with P-Dub. This lady can do it all…. cook, run a ranch, raise four kids, oh and, you know, teach all of us a lot about photography. Reading her posts is a lot like having a chat with a friend over coffee, which makes learning about photography about as non-threatening as it gets. She breaks down all the technical stuff in a fantastic way, and I would definitely recommend going through all her links on the right side of the page to get some really good lessons.

Strobist. Everything you could possibly ever need to know about off-camera lighting. Period. And trust me, if you don’t think you need to know about off-camera lighting, I urge you to think again.

As far as furthering your education goes, next up on my agenda is attending WPPI this year, which is pretty much the big kahuna of photography conventions, as well as (hopefully! fingers crossed!) attending the Love Affair Workshop wherever it ends up being. Reading is an excellent foundation, but I think hands-on, face-to-face instruction will really take things to the next level. I can’t wait to meet and learn from the best of the best.

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What does your workflow look like? How do you edit your images?

As soon as I get home from a shoot, I upload all of my images onto my computer via my iMac’s Image Capture application. Allow me to take a moment right now to urge, nay, COMMAND, you to back up, back up, and then back up your images! I learned my lesson the hard way with this one. I would recommend using an online backup as one of your methods. I signed up for BackBlaze, which I LOVE. I barely have to do any work… It backs up everything on my computer automatically. That way, in case of theft or fire, you’re still relatively safe from a hard drive disaster. I also would back up to an external hard drive, maybe even two just to be safe. I cannot possibly stress enough how important this is. And it’s super cheap, especially compared to the cost of a data recovery, so JUST DO IT, PEOPLE.

After the images are loaded and backed up, I open them in Adobe Bridge, which is connected to Photoshop. A lot of photographers prefer Lightroom, and some use Apple’s Aperture, but Bridge suits my needs just fine. Everyone has a different workflow and different methods, but for me, I just start scrolling through the images, and I’ll start with the ones I love the most, edit those, then edit the ones I like next best, and then next best, and so on, until I have a good set. This usually ends up being around 60 edited images for a portrait session, and around 500-600 for a wedding. I save all the edited ones in a different folder, then keep all the RAW files in a folder by themselves. There’s probably no good reason to save all the RAW files, but I do it anyway. Just in case.

As far as editing goes, I typically do basic edits (color, contrast, exposure, vignetting, etc.) on about half of my images, and then the other half I take into Photoshop to add a little extra flair to them. There’s no way I could possibly give a Photoshop tutorial on here, so I’d definitely do some research and learn the basics of layers and filters and adjustments and all that good stuff.

Not gonna lie here…. I LOVE ACTIONS. We could go on and on all day long about the pros and cons of using actions, but whatever. They speed up my workflow tremendously, and they help me do a lot of stuff in Photoshop that I never could have done otherwise. Without a lot of frustration and temptation to bash sharp objects into my computer screen, that is. Here are my favorite action sets:

Totally Rad Actions. Yep, they’re popular. REAL popular. But for very good reason. This is definitely one of the most comprehensive and useful action sets I’ve come across. It’s got everything from sharpening to B&W to lightening and darkening, and all kinds of sweet color shifts. Love them. Love them. LOVE them.

Design | House Actions. These were created by my own wedding photographer, and now friend, Andy Armstrong. He actually gave me a free copy before he released them. And this was before I had ever even opened Photoshop in my life. So these actions were instrumental in teaching me how to edit. My faves are the cross-processing actions and the texture overlays. Good stuff!

Jesh de Rox’s Colorshift Actions. Oh my goodness. These have become indispensable in creating my signature style. (And I’m not by any means claiming to have an original style. This is just how I define the look I love. Not trying to reinvent the wheel, here. :) Absolutely perfect for creating vintage-y images. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Here we go with The Pioneer Woman! Not only has she provided a wealth of information on her blog, but she has also created this amazing set of actions which are…. get this….. COMPLETELY FREE. Yes, you heard me right. Doug Boutwell of Totally Rad Actions actually helped her create these, so if you’re looking for some sweet actions but aren’t willing to drop the dough for TRA or any of these other action sets, do yourself a favor and go download these immediately.

MCP Actions by Jodi Freidman. I don’t own all these actions (I wish I did, but ’til an extra $400 or so falls out of a tree, it’s not gonna happen!). I do, however, use her blogging actions all the time. They make it super easy to create collages of your images ideal for blog posting. She also has some free actions for download. My fave is the watermarking action. Follow her blog and you can see TONS of before and afters, and you’ll see pretty quickly why I’d love to have her whole set in my arsenal. Definitely check it out!

That’s all great, you say, but how do you actually use all these actions on a regular basis to create your “look”? Well, why don’t I just show ya? Here’s a before and after from a recent shoot I did:

Okay, so this one is SOOC (straight out of the camera), with a bit of tweaking in Bridge. I bumped the brightness to +65, then brought back some of the blacks, to +8. I like this method of adding contrast because it does lovely things for skin. Then I bumped the vibrance to +18 and added a slight vignette. Then I opened the image in Photoshop and ran the following actions:

Sound of Laughter (from Jesh de Rox actions) 28%

then from TRA:

Lux (soft) 30%

Get Faded (Winter) 15%

Pool Party 19%

Boutwell Magic Glasses 50%

And the result:

And that one, I think, is very “me.” I love the softness and the vintage feel. But it’s nothing TOO crazy. Trust me, I’ve done some pretty ridiculous things in PS, and when I first started, I edited the CRAP out of a lot of my images and consequently made them WORSE than SOOC. Which should nevereverever be the case. Photoshop should be used to enhance images, not “fix” them or destroy them beyond recognition. Photoshop is no substitute for learning how to get it right in camera. So shoot manually. Always, always, always. And I prefer shooting in RAW, ’cause it gives you a little more forgiveness when your exposure goes a little haywire. But TRUST ME, editing is WAY more fun when you start out with a decent image. It is no fun to spend all your time cleaning up your mistakes. I’ve been there.

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What equipment do you use?

First of all, let me just say that it can be pretty insulting to say to a photographer that the reason they take good photographs is that they have such a nice camera. I heard a pretty awesome joke once: “A chef walked by a table in his restaurant where a well-known photographer was eating. He came over to compliment him on his work, and noticed his camera sitting on the table. He said, ‘Oh, so THAT’S why your images are so good.’ When his meal was over, the photographer walked into the kitchen to compliment the chef on the quality of the food. He noticed a row of really expensive quality pots and pans along one wall and said, ‘Oh, so THAT’S why your food is so good.’”

Yep. Pretty much the same thing. A good photographer can take an amazing photograph using whatever camera is available. Some of my favorite images that I’ve taken have been with cheap toy or instant cameras that a 4-year-old could use.

That said, as you learn more and more about the craft, upgrading your equipment can make a pretty noticeable difference in the quality of your images. I learned this recently when I upgraded from a Canon 40D to a 5D. Has my shooting style changed at all since I did? Nope. Not at all. But I (and some of my photographer friends!) have noticed a pretty significant difference in the overall sharpness, color quality, and noise level. For a good starter camera, I’d recommend the Canon Rebel T1i. It will give you a lot of flexibility with upgrading lenses and whatnot without totally breaking the bank. I’d also really recommend buying used equipment. These days, you can get camera bodies used that are practically new, and end up saving a few hundred bucks in the process. Just go through a trusted website like B&H Photo.

As far as lenses go, I use two primarily: the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8, which is particularly useful for tight spaces, wide angles, and landscape-type shots, and the Canon 50mm f/1.4, which I keep on my camera probably 70% of the time or more. The 50 mm is a fantastic portrait lens, super sharp and gorgeous. The first lens I bought was a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, which was a great starter lens, but once I started using primes, I just had a hard time ever going back to the Tamron. I know my next major investment will be either a 135mm f/2 or a 70-200mm f/2.8 (which is like, THE wedding lens to have). I’m having trouble deciding because I love primes so much, and I’ve rented and used both and I think the 135 is waaaay sharper (and waaay easier to lug around), but I dunno. For now I’ll keep renting for weddings til I have the funds. (Renting, by the way, is a great way to test lenses out or to get specific ones you’ll only need now and then. I recommend BorrowLenses.)

For my off-camera lighting, I use a setup from Midwest Photo Exchange, which includes a light stand, umbrella, two Pocket Wizards, and a basic strobe flash. Eventually I’ll upgrade to Canon 580EX’s, but for now, this works perfectly for me.

When I shoot, I keep everything handy in a shootsac. I LOVE my shootsac. It’s comfortable and makes changing lenses so quick and easy. It’s designed so that you can keep your lenses “naked,” which is a MAJOR timesaver. Well worth the investment.

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How do you get inspired?

Inspiration comes from soooo many places, it’d be impossible to cover them all here. But I will certainly try. First, a word on inspiration vs. outright theft: One is legal and acceptable, the other is not. There is a HUGE difference between being inspired by another photographer’s work, even copying some of their poses or editing techniques or whatever, and stealing them and trying to market them as your own. I have seen this happen to other photographers, and most recently to my friend Megan, who designs stationery, and people, it’s just wrong and sad. DON’T STEAL!

However, I gotta say, sometimes the line can be realllllly blurry. Some people will get super offended if you so much as do something similar to their work, even if you’re not trying to sell their exact work as your own. For instance, my friend Erin, who just photographs for fun, did a senior session for a friend as a favor, and this girl posted the pictures on Facebook, and another photographer emailed her to say that she should remove the images immediately, because Erin copied “her locations.” Um, SERIOUSLY? For one, Erin had never heard of this person in her life, let alone been tempted to steal “her” locations. Secondly, last time we checked, public property is pretty wide open to everyone for shooting. And if you honestly think that shooting in the Old City in Knoxville, TN is groundbreaking work, you’ve got bigger problems.

Others say, go for it. They like being trendsetters, and they like when people follow their lead. I tend to lean more toward this end of the spectrum. Not that I’m even remotely calling myself a trendsetter, but I know what it’s like to learn by imitation. You know how beginning art students will copy well-known artists’ work to learn technique and whatnot? I see it sort of the same way.

I belong to the school of “there’s nothing new under the sun” philosophy. I’m sorry, but anyone who tells you his or her work is completely original is a liar. We are all inspired and influenced by the work of others ALL THE TIME. Let’s not pretend we’re immune from this. I really like this quote that was recently posted by photographer Chenin Boutwell:

So yeah. That’s kind of how I feel. Keep in mind, in this quote, “stealing” does not refer to taking someone’s exact work and selling it as your own. So DON’T DO THAT. It’s just not nice. But by all means, take little ideas and bits and pieces from here and there, and build your style. That’s the only way I, for one, know how.

So where does my inspiration come from? Lots of places. Other photographers, for sure. There’s lots of ‘em, but I’m probably most stylistically inspired by Kelly Moore, Dixie Pixel, and Bobbi+Mike. I also get really inspired by design, whether it’s graphic design, home design, fashion design, or whatever. One of my fave design resources is Design*Sponge. I also follow lots of wedding blogs, because they tend to feature the best and most creative shoots. My faves? Snippet and Ink, Southern Weddings, Green Wedding Shoes, 100 Layer Cake, and GreyLikesWeddings.

I’m definitely inspired by film and music and all that good stuff too. That’s where Netflix and Last.fm make my life better. Also my friend Brooke’s music blog. And as cheesy as it sounds, I’m at my creative best when I’m with a couple completely in love, or a family full of fun and life. Sometimes it feels like I hardly have to DO any work. It all just kind of…. flows. So it’s really hard to describe the process of inspiration, I guess. I think for every person, especially for every artist, it’s just one big mumble-jumble of experiences that have shaped your vision. And that’s about the best way I know how to sum it up. Except I think I just confused everyone more than I’ve helped. :)

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What about the business side of things?

So glad you asked! This has been perhaps the single most challenging part of making photography a career. But thankfully, I’ve had lots of help from some pretty fantastic resources, including these:

Fast Track Photographer by Dane Sanders. Okay, seriously. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. Dane will blow your mind with such amazing wisdom on how to build a photography business around your own personal brand. This is a must read for those who are considering turning this into a career.

All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin. Well, this and pretty much every single other book Seth has written. He has completely changed the way many small business owners run their businesses. It will change everything you thought you knew about marketing and advertising and networking. This is not an understatement. Seth is brilliant.

The Small Business Start-Up Kit from Nolo. Definitely not a fun and exciting read, but lots of very useful information for doing all the not-so-fun parts of business.

The Business of Being Creative, a blog by Sean Low. Lots of great advice for the artsy types.

Brand Camp Blog. Love the slogan: Left-brained knowledge for right-brained people. And it is! And sometimes, it’s very straight and kick-you-in-the-behind kind of stuff. But in a very good way.

Davina Fear’s Women In Business series. Oh, so good, on SO many levels.

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What other programs/resources/applications do you use on a regular basis?

Editing: Bridge and Photoshop

Slideshows: ShowItFast

Blog: LunarPages for web hosting, WordPress, ProPhoto theme

Print materials: VistaPrint

Logo design: I’ve used a girl I found on etsy, then sort of designed my own, but I’m being guided by my cousin Caity on getting it all professionalized and stuff. My friend Megan also does excellent graphic design work!

Online image hosting: SmugMug

Albums: I’m still doing my research on this one, but I’m fairly certain I want to work with VisionArt.

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Any other thoughts on starting a business, dealing with insecurities and fear of failure, etc.?

Well, if I could sum it all up in a paragraph, I think it’d go a little something like this: Above all else, BE AUTHENTIC. Stay true to yourself. It’s so easy to get lost in a sea of what everyone else is doing. It’s easy to constantly beat yourself when you’re first starting out, and you look at the blogs of these amazing photographers, and you think you will NEVER get there and why are you even trying? But you just have to wake up every day and make the decision to carry on. It sounds simpler than it is, I know, but it’s the only way I’ve gotten this far, which is not even that far at all. At first, yeah, your pictures might kinda suck. But you can’t let that stop you from putting yourself out there, because it’s only when you put yourself out there that you get presented with amazing opportunities. Keep a blog so everyone can keep up with your progress, and so you can see it for yourself. Want to get better? Shoot, shoot, then shoot some more. Beg your friends and family to model for you to get some experience under your belt. You WILL get better. I promise. But in the meantime, blow people away with who you ARE, not just what your images look like. If people love being around you, if they love to have you photograph them, they will keep coming back, they will recommend you to everyone you know, and consequently you’ll get more clients and therefore more PRACTICE! So while you’re getting better, you’re also building a huge network of past and potential clients. And if you can make them passionate about what sets your business apart- that is, YOU- well, you’ve pretty much got it made. Another thing I’ve learned is to under-promise and over-deliver. Makes people unbelievably happy when they’re surprised by how fast your turnaround time is, or how lovely they look in those images you suggested you take in the soft glow of sunset. And blog. A lot. Why pay for advertising when you’ve got the best form possible- an ongoing look into your life and your latest projects? Stay connected via Facebook and Twitter and whatever else. The more you involve yourself in the lives of others this way, the more they will actually pay attention to what you’re saying and doing. But don’t USE people…. it’s vital that you genuinely CARE about them. They aren’t stupid. They can smell fake-ness five miles away. So yeah…. I guess it all boils down to one word: AUTHENTICITY. And you thought it was all about the photographs…. :)

Oh, and did I mention to BACK UP YOUR FILES NINE GAZILLION WAYS? ‘Cause yeah, that’s pretty important too. :)

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Any more questions? Feel free to hit me up in the comment box, on Facebook, whatever! I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability! And again, I really hope this helps someone. Otherwise I just wasted four hours of my life. And that’s just no good.