Slide Shows, Albums and Prints
Lesson 33 from: Family Photography: Creating a Successful BusinessKirsten Lewis
Slide Shows, Albums and Prints
Lesson 33 from: Family Photography: Creating a Successful BusinessKirsten Lewis
Lessons
Class Introduction
12:53 2What Makes a Picture Successful?
05:34 3Technical Tips: ISO
15:37 4Technical Tips: Aperture
12:00 5Technical Tips: Shutter Speed
11:10 6Technical Tips: Focus
13:07 7Using Light to Tell a Story
07:49 8Using Composition to Tell a Story
09:06Filling Your Frame
05:41 10Capturing Emotion: Identify the Muse
16:05 11Shoot What It Feels Like, Not What It Looks Like
19:53 12Action Vs Moment
03:39 13The Psychology of Photographing Families
15:55 14Q&A
15:35 15Working a Scene
10:22 16Identify What You Shoot Well
11:58 17Look For the Cleanest Composition
04:34 18Know the POV
03:13 19Patience and Anticipation While Shooting
05:25 20Shooting Deliberately
28:57 21Case Study - Sarah's Contact Sheet
25:01 22Challenging Subjects: A Family With One Small Child
1:04:17 23Challenging Subjects: Photographing Teenagers
08:39 24Image Salon Post-Processing Overview
10:37 25Image Salon Post-Processing Demos
45:38 26The Importance of Relationships
11:47 27Getting Clients Hooked
10:05 28Your Business Model
23:25 29Stay in Contact!
17:50 30Why Aren't You Booking Sessions?
12:51 31Your Website
06:57 32Direct Marketing
08:32 33Slide Shows, Albums and Prints
10:12 34In-Person Sales Work
03:51 35Website Critique: Alyssa Kellert
39:34 36Website Critique: Amy Thelen
21:02 37Website Critique: Margaret Albaugh
19:42 38Business Q&A
34:12 39Build Community and Find a Mentor
10:04 40Keep Shooting: Personal Projects
08:39 41Who Inspires Me
07:29 42Why Do I Love It So?
15:35Lesson Info
Slide Shows, Albums and Prints
So I think a good slideshow lasts about three to four minutes in length. I have each slide go for about 2 1/2 seconds, with a very quick overlap transition. I use SmartSlides. Do you guys know about this? I love SmartSlides. It came out from SmartAlbums, the company that made SmartAlbums, Pixellu. They did SmartSlides, and they are amazing. We have it, um, not for them, I'll keep talking. SmartSlides, the thing is it's a subscription. So you get a subscription, you build everything online, your slideshows online, and like proofing site, then you have all your slideshows organized and they're really nice and seamless when you deliver them to you client. You can password protect them. The thing I really love about them is it's the original file sizes. So they can make them as big as this. Beautiful. However big monitor is, however big their tv is, they can watch with your photos in high quality. That's the thing I love most about SmartSlides. Also they have music that you can use with th...
eir company, and their music list is growing every day. It's super, it's so easy. The other one is the albums. So I use Renaissance, Renaissance Albums. I build my albums with SmartAlbums. I talked about SmartAlbums on, was it last class? I think it was the first class. So I personally like the Bowery album more. I'm going to show you their packaging is really beautiful. The reason why I like the Bowery the most for what we do, is it's affordable and it's beautiful quality for day-in-the-life sessions because of how many images you can put in the album. I do one page, for the most part, one picture per page. The reason why I do that is because I'm inspired by photojournalism and documentary work, and I love photo books. This is the closest thing, high quality, affordable way to make a photo book. I personally don't prefer flush mount for my sessions. They're really nice quality images, but in a more book-like, on a more book-like page. I printed two sessions. I'll pass that around. You can have the landscape layout, portrait layout, or you can do square. So I had a square and a landscape printed. They all come in these really nice bags. So it's really nice for delivery for your clients. It's really high-end. I think that album with 80 pages costs me like 200 bucks. You can also, you'll see, you can have the name imprinted, and you can also have, if you want, your studio name on the back. You can do leather. This is a silk and that's just a flat cover. But again, it depends on what you prefer, but square versus landscape, or I don't think portrait's the best choice. It's just really nice to have one picture per page for their story, in my opinion. And it's affordable. I think this album cost me $300. I mean, it's not bad. I'm going to pass that one too. Now, if you clients want a higher-end album, they have the Essex book and they have the Soho. So I had one printed, so you can take a look at if you prefer the bigger page, so you can see. It's really high quality as well, it's just gonna be more expensive, okay, because it is the thicker pages. But I also wanted to show you, their prints are just gorgeous. They don't pay to say this, I've been with Renaissance for a very long time, I just feel like they are, by far, the best company to go with. Alright, here's my deal with products. I've learned I'm a terrible salesperson. I'm, like, awful. But I'm a really good talker about things I believe in. Right? So, I used to try and sell canvases. I even offered, at one point, photo lockets. Like what? (audience giggles) I never sold any of those things because I don't like them. I don't like photos on canvas. It's just my personal choice. Coming from a paint background, I don't like them on canvas, but some people love them. I love prints. I love enlargements hanging on the wall. Why? Because I grew up with them in my house. I feel like it's the best way to showcase photos. So, I only sell enlargements of prints, fine art prints, because I can sell those because I believe in them. They're what's hanging on my wall. Now we're printing at our house. I get asked this all the time, "What printer do you have?" This is the one we have. It's a 24 inch printer, so I can print up to 24 x 36, or longer than that. It's about $1800, so it's pretty affordable, it's just really heavy. This was making some prints to come here. I used the sheets. These are 5 x 7s that are being printed. Can someone bring me my enlargements, please? I'll pass these around so you can see the quality. This is what I deliver my clients, okay. I am asked this all the time. I figured it was finally time I show you on CreativeLive. So, when they order a print, they get a fine art print. It comes in an eight-ply mat. It's a museum quality mat. It's a thick mat. I believe in making beautiful prints with really nice acid-free, museum quality mats, and then let them pick whatever frame they want. As long as this is beautiful, I don't think the frame matters. I don't want to assume anyone's aesthetic and I also don't want to pay for shipping. I don't want to worry about if glass breaks. So I just sell these, and then let them do their framing on their own. The printer itself, we printed these right before we left, so the color is really gorgeous that comes out of that printer, if you're ever interested in printing. But if you don't print on your own, you should definitely be sending your stuff out to get printed regularly for yourself even if your clients aren't getting it. I'm sure people are asking right now, "Where do you get your mats?" This is a question I get all the time. There they are, MATcutter.com. I buy in a package so it comes with the back and the front and the bag. These are the 11 x 14s. You can pass these around. Here's another black and white, and those are the 16 x 20s. I also print in full frame. What that means is I'm not printing where the outside of my mat normally would be an 8 x 10. The inside is actually an 8 x 12 that I'm printing, okay. I like a full frame image. I don't want to crop my image. So what does that mean? What I do, and what you can do with MATcutter which is really awesome, is I can designate a standard size for the outside so it's really easy for them to buy a 16 x 20 frame, because that's standard, right. But then I get on the inside, I get that cut custom to fit my full frame so I do not have to crop my images. I hear this all the time, "Well, I always need to keep a little bit of extra room outside my composition in case they enlarge." No you don't. You can still make a full frame print, a full range print, like a ratio print, you just have to have the mat cut. So that's what I do. I get the mat cut custom, but I have the outside part of it a standard size. This is now what I'm delivering to my clients, although I just changed my logo so I have to get new ones made. But I found this great company out of Europe, Woody Woodclick. This is the name of the company. It's a really funny company name, but I love them. The reason I love them is, I get them so I can put hand-printed 5 x 7s inside. And then I like it because it's the only company, box company, I've found that they have this spot, this spot where the memory stick goes. I like that most. It's the only time I've seen a box that had that. Right? I like that it just sticks in there. My logo goes on there as well as in the front. It's pretty cool. We print our own 5 x 7s. This is about on fine art paper. It's more than enough. It's just a nice gift. They have no idea that they get them. Well, this person does know. (laughter) I keep it a secret. I don't tell them ahead of time, I just send it. If they buy files then they get this for free.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
chantal
I own Kirsten's 3 classes. And they are ALL amazing, inspiring and refreshing. She is not only a super talented photographer but an amazing teacher and person as well. I have learned so much from each one of her classes. I have never met a photographer so willing to share and see their students succeed. I highly recommend people not only to buy this class, but all 3! I would not be the photographer I am today if it wasn’t for her. After following her advise for the last 3 years I am finally engaging with the audience I want and I feel true to myself in the way I shoot. This makes a huge difference in my everyday. I am am truly grateful to this photo wizard lady. ps: warning, make sure you are on birth control. These classes might make you want to have children, just to get amazing images like the ones she takes LOL (joking) #not
Carrie Littauer
This workshop was by far the best photography workshop I have ever been a part of. Kirsten's work, her humor, her authenticity, her expertise and perspective will forever change the way I work with families and go about documentary photography. I am so motivated and inspired to dig deeper into my role as a photographer, and as a person, to make a real difference in the lives of those that I photograph and with my art. I'm thrilled to have been in the LIVE studio and am so grateful for Creative Live for giving phenomenal artists like Kirsten this exposure and opportunity to teach other creatives like myself! Thank you.
Johanne Lila
In the very minutes Kirsten Lewis' first class (first of three) for cL aired, I realized I needed in on this awesomeness. I became a 1 Year Mentorship student with her right away, and now I have been so incredibly fortunate to be in the studio audience for the live taping of her final class (or the third of the three, who knows what the future might hold!). For me as a 'Kirsten Lewis alumni' taking this class was perfect. I was reminded of things I knew, but had forgotten. I learned a ton of new stuff. But most of all, I remembered why we do this work in the first place: The love that is right there in the reality of life. How much this work matters to real families out there. And how much it matters to keep getting better at this, to give our families better work. I will be forever greatful that I chose the best mentor, Kirsten is such a gift to all of us. And if you're still in doubt: This class is AMAZING! If you're new, if you've at it for a while, if you're alumni: Gold is HERE!