Lessons

Lesson Info

General Q&A

One of the questions that people were asking wass the fact that I have all my lenses air signal lenses so real quick for the people that were asking out there um a few years ago I was looking to get an eighty five one point two and I didn't have the money for it um they're about two thousand and so sigma had come out with an eighty five millimeter one point four and so I tried it out and I loved it doing do any of you do? And if you guys have the eighty five one four um so the eighty five one four is of sigma it's really fast like really fast focus it's really sharp and it's really good quality lens so basically once I tried that lens and loved it so much I tried there other lenses and so it's kind of that whole the whole cost thing it's nine hundred nine fifty instead of two thousand for one four verses of one too so that's kind of what got me started using those lenses and my pitch usually is you know um I like my pictures I think they look good uh I think it's good qualities so it's...

all a matter do you have a lens and there's something that's not working for you then you try something else but all of my signal lenses that I use worked just fine for me ok lindsay have a question from bananas who asked a and s nice um does lindsey give more facial direction to her non model clients like our brides and her seniors? Definitely eso is faras directing the non models I am always the one of the first things I do is ok if they are a friend on facebook, I do a little bit of facebook stalking and see which angles they look best on uh um I definitely will do that and so for example remember we were talking earlier about your you have the dancer right? The ballerina so we're looking at that and I said she's really pretty but I like her best with her head kind of down to the side um, because I looked at her shots of shatner portfolio because you can analyze she looked much younger with around her face straight on where's your head kind of down and shit out to the side it really emphasized a nice jaw line and a really pretty profile, so I analyzed what I like about individuals face off you see all their profile photos and I'm not saying it just facebook stalk every way I could be wrong, but if you see all their profile photos or from a certain angle, you know they like that angle, so I've done that before, but usually what I do is I have kind of it's it's not can't it's not stop but I have a serious opposes that I will dio sa I have you know kind of face forward um neck out that kind of thing I have it's that they bring when children forward and drop it down I have it's that they bury their head into the shoulder look up at me I just do it a lot of directing to the face and I'll say okay think about think about your wedding day okay no think about it you puppy dog you know what I mean like well actually just direct them and if that's not working then we just do squinty eyes you know that kind of thing I try to get some emotion out of them may I direct a ton but it's off of my I've had a lot of times for let's try this pose and then just for their faces trying to pull something out of them I have um a bride actually in seattle that I'm meeting with tomorrow and she really wants to do their softball coach's and she really wants to do like a vintage softball thing but the that one on the beach because they're actually getting married and hunting to beach but the husband to be doesn't really isn't really going for it yet do you have any suggestions on how to kind of coax people into doing things that maybe is outside of their comfort zone yeah, I mean a lot of what I had done in the past for people that weren't really comfortable first of all I start they could say ok let's see first of all if you've convinced him and he's there and he's uncomfortable let's let's start with that if you convince him and he's there and he's uncomfortable I never shoot them alone to start with I'll shoot them with other people so they feel like the tensions on everybody else um so it's it's really comfortable and I always find something for them to interact with and hold or touch or lean against or something so whether it sze the baseball bat that they kind of play around with and have fun or it's sitting on the ground or it's leaning on something so as much as I can possibly do so they don't I feel like they're getting their picture taken have you photograph them before? Okay, so that's that's the same thing that I recommend is once you get to know them um I've like what I've done in the past two is for a meeting I brought my camera along and it was just like kind of snapping pictures and be like, look, you know, like that one really it's gone it's not like you're gonna have to have photos out there that you don't like of yourself you're the client, you're picking which photos you like so you know it's not like you have to be concerned that you're gonna put a whole bunch of pictures out here that you don't like um so it's letting them know your personality um and then it's also I always will play like don't you love your wife? You really wants this really really bad her and then until you know like she owes you you know simply yeah like playing off of a couple's dynamic based on how I can read them I do whatever I think how she usually gets away with things I play with that basically way women learned three guys like that probably there's a big psychology aspect to working with people of course another this is kind of unrelated but one of the biggest things that I can encourage people um that maybe feel like you don't have all the technicals down yet um I I have to learn in technicals I really I mean I believe that if this is your job it's like not knowing what to do job to the full extent so I'm always trying to learn but I will tell you far more important than than even a lot of the technicals or a lot of creativity is how you interact with people I mean that that's all it is and so what I try to do with my business is trying to pair the fact that I'm creative with my interaction with individuals so I tried to get them excited about the creative process and excited about what I'm doing and show them okay, this is why I am different, and this is why you want to hire me, but if you are good people person and know how to interact with people, that will give you much farther than being able to take a good photograph. So for example, let's say that you are a bride, okay? You're the bride and you're looking at jennifer's portfolio and you're looking at my portfolio now. Honestly, jennifer is a better photographer than me, okay? You're looking at the pictures there better quality, better exposures, better experience overall looks good. Um, you look at mine, okay? They're good, but when you talk to me, I say I have this thing this great idea for a shoot, you're going to look so phenomenal. You know, I have a concept. This isn't the amazing everybody online's gonna love it, your facebook, your friends on facebook going to die, she says. However, I've been in business for fifteen years, I've received the sword, the sword in this order, and you can take a look at the quality of my work I think if you're not a photographer, you'll still pick me. If it's close enough that it's not my pictures aren't terrible has just happened to be better you'll still pick me because you feel comfortable with me you know I'm excited about creating the images of your wedding day our viewer engagement session first it's her she's like I'm awesome and the work speaks for itself itself it doesn't if you're not a photographer so that's how I encourage all of you remember it's okay to show you're passionate about your work if you're passionate about it you don't look like like a tool to people if you like how I love these images they say okay if this person shooting my wedding they really care and they really want to do a good job so I think the best of all worlds for photographers are the people that have the technicals the people that have the ideas of the people that have the business skills if you put them all together if you have the people skills and that's it that's all you need um so yeah if you don't have it under control yet keep working on it and that's how you kind of get there so I know so many people say to me okay I don't feel comfortable putting my portfolio out there and marketing myself because it's not there yet no I still think you should I mean you everybody's always growing some I look at my pictures I had up three years ago when I'm horrified horrified um and I'm always trying to get better so cool so lindsay, I think we have still a few more minutes with with the next model yes you can um I'm gonna dio beauty dish and white background a question from the lens flare was from krishna mbe in india is there any particular angle to get the lens flare or does it depend on the light? Okay um a tip for when you're getting lens flair for me if you can have it like if you can put it kind of behind the subject since peeking out from around there body it kind of just wrap softly so that's something I'll do I did a beauty workshop recently where I had the light directly behind the subject and I'm just angling so it's kind of just peeking out over the neck that looks really nice um other than that there isn't it a right answer besides the fact that if you have it pointed if you are the camera lens and it's pointed straight back in the camera lens it's going to be really, really intense so if you can kind of anguish the sign so just a little bit of lights kicking in it'll be more of that soft glow versus kind of blowing out the entire picture lens flor is literally breaking the rules so there isn't rules on what works best I will be showing tomorrow during my presentation tomorrow morning about where I get my ideas. I'll be showing a picture where it's kind of just obliterated by lin slur, but it works well, I think personal taste, of course, uh, jenny be would like to know if he could do this set up in front of a window with the window in the background and muse reflectors in front of your subject. Umm the problem with that? Okay, so if you have, if I'm the model and you have you want the window in the background, you can do that, it will work. Uh, have the model behind you and you're the window behind you, and then giant reflectors in the foreground I was going to do is that light comes around, it bounces back in you over exposing it wraps around the on ly kind of matters is as it's sort of, and the word choice might be a little weird, but eat away at the body because what it does is as it wraps that much around. If that light bouncing back and isn't bright enough, you have to keep over exposing, and it starts sometimes will make the body look a little weird because it's wrapped around so it looks like you have like little legs. You guys seen that's what I'm talking about so it's all about the ratios of light if you can balance enough light in from those reflectors, you can even out a little bit and have, um, the lens for I see that a lot for bridal shots when they stick them in front of the big windows and they have them kind of with their heads up or whatever, and they have it filled in and it's over exposed that is a beautiful bridal portrait it's all about like, sometimes I'll see the shots, words, there's too much light coming through, and it looks like they have no arms here. I mean, so it's it's pay attention to that. If it's you don't want direct sunlight coming through the window, direct sunlight is going to screw it up. You need it to be kind of indirect, maybe it's, overcast day or just in direct sunlight if it comes through that's where you get the funky arms and legs. Okay, so a question from siren suri who's saying, with so many different looks, utilizing fashion flare, some bold in graphic, some soft and dreamy, how do you suggest people market a signature look or brain would look without being like their work is all over the place are inconsistent eso when they're they're developing their lives absolutely so developing your look in your style, I think is important for marketing. Um, I talked about this and I knew me and social networking class on wednesday the fact that you don't remember the everything photographer if I need if I'm having a baby and I have a newborn, I'm not going to think who's that everything photographer everything who's that good newborn photographer so if you could make yourself memorable in a niche or a specialty that's, what helps you out? The same thing applies to visuals to your visual style as well. Uh, so if you could be that person that does that soft and dreamy look and that's what you like that's going to help you be memorable? What I recommend people dio is take a look at your portfolio and actually sincerely analyzed what is more successful? Why do you like your portfolio? What is best? So do you like the shots where there's a certain type of lighting to like the shots with a certain type of pose or certain type of concept or certain type of location when you figure out which images were strongest and why their strongest give yourself self assignments say okay, I really like this type of lighting um, in the next month, I want four more strong shots that use that type of lighting and as you experiment, you figure out kind of what your clients like and what you like and then that build your style um I would say one of the most challenging like once you've mastered the technicals, one of the most challenging pieces of becoming successful is a photographer is figure out what your style is, especially if you're like me I just love everything I love shooting I love high contrast I love film noir I love little contrast I love lens where I love all of it that doesn't mean you can't shoot it, but at least give something for people to remember you by some kind of style and that's those people kind of rise to the top generally if you think of your favorite photographers, they have a look I'm pretty sure so keep that in mind when you're shooting in developing your style well, there's so many questions of kathleen would like to know if you have a favorite fashion shoot that you've done and why oh jeez okay that's one of my favorites oh wait sorry that's one of my favorites um okay so much for me as faras favorite fashion editorials your favorite shoots I want my style to be kind of clean and boldin graphic but fundamentally wanted to be memorable and I'm not saying essentially the most memorable picture in the world but because it's pretty simple because it's very bold it's a bright color it's high contrast it's clean I think it is relatively memorable so that entire shoot looked like that it was red hair red lips white clothing really graphic and really clean um so that would be one of my favorites if you look throughout my portfolio used read over and over again because I think it's a very aggressive eye catching color and I want to have impact and be memorable not I don't go for subtle because I feel like I forget a lot of subtle images unless they have a really strong concept but at least when I have an image like that that kind of street screens and it's in your face you remember it and so if you look at my business card photo has the red lips with the kind of candy cane eyes um the reason I like that photo so much is people always remember it if you've seen it and I mentioned it you remember it and so I had people come up to me all the time I passed him a business card oh I've seen that x y z and so many other places because memorable first is something that's really kind of a subtle quiet portrait you might have seen it but not remembered you just might have liked the picture I think kathleen was your mom is that your mom but that question was for her my mom just asked that question. Was it how she asked that question? She's hot, but she's in the chat on facebook or twitter so that, by the way, that's my mom uh that's great, should we chicken looks like we're still waiting on let me check way have so many questions wouldn't keep going for I mean, whatever you have. Yeah, this model she had really nice cheekbones, would you? Could you use this lighting to emphasize that for her? Where did just blow out? Okay, so any of this frontal lighting completely, we'll get rid of emphasizing cheekbones? Uh, the only thing that you could do is if you don't late from the front, if you take those two soft boxes that software its effect and you put this off at a high angle and angle them down but still get kind of frontal and glowing, but at least we'll carve out underneath the chin and cheeks. What, in general, it just kind of obliterates, um, those that kind of face shaping qualities, so if you need to, if you have an individual where you need the light to help them along, frontal flat leading isn't going to do it, uh, but I tend lots of girls like this, too, because take a look at the skin it doesn't matter what your skin looks like when it is blown out and let's learn it looks nice and it gets people really, really excited because when I showed the girls the back of the camera and they see this look there's no I mean there's retouching I would do but there's no retouching required that's why when you see the girls okay let's let's break down iphone photos okay you're you know look whatever the reason that a lot of people like those is a you're shooting at a high angle which makes your eyes look big and your body looks skinny so that's why people are always holding it up and they're lifting their chins up which gets rid of kind of any what I mean whatever whether its wrinkles or this fat underneath people understanding their eyes up lengthening their neck. The other reason is so many of these photos over exposed remember how many of the photos are kind of over six foot shots so it gets rid of skin detail, wrinkles, pimples, whatever and so it doesn't need retouching so that's what they like so for that people see and so beautiful because I don't need to do the before after retouching shot a question from david h and this came earlier was how do you get through to a client the difference between what they're our eyes are seeing and what the camera will see uh I usually show them um let me call you back up so I think the question is asking like if you're if you're explaining why you're having them do something and it feels weird and you're wondering okay, what are they saying? I will absolutely show somebody when I'm when I'm posing if you actually hear me not even in workshops I'll explain to the model okay can you turn a hand like that? I'm just going to give you kind of a longer slender line or I'll have you arch your back that curve looks really sensual like I'll say something like that to tell them what I'm thinking so those air kind of emotive terms that they can connect with s o I when I direct I use words to let them know why I just did that guy say like kind of stick your stick your neck out a little bit so it makes you look really, really slender that's beautiful or else they leaned forward and look off all it makes your eyes look great in huge I'll tell them exactly I'm seeing oh my ice liquid alright cool I'm something like that question from the coal could you give us some ideas on what do you tell people to think about or imagine um and then she was on to say it's always different to give the client's picture in their mind yeah definitely uh really famous famous photo this is just kind of off topic, but if the story richard aven on the duke and duchess have you seen that picture where it's it's if you search I think the avalon duke and duchess of york uh and the fish they look horrified and they looked terrible because what he did is he said every shot of them they looked like really stoic and serious and they look very regal he didn't like them he actually really just like this these individuals but they love dogs and so he's taking their picture and says I'm sorry guys, I just really upset they're like what's wrong he's like, oh, I saw a dog get hit by a car today and they looked horrified me snap their picture uh and so that's the famous picture you see because he didn't like them and he wanted them and it's something he wanted and look horrible, but he wanted to show that they do have emotion, but it wasn't a flattering photo. The whole point of that story is there aren't really any direct things except for the fact that I talked to every client before a shoot and we have a conversation I figure out what's important to them one of the first things I do when I'm setting up my life and I'm testing and I'm getting things ready as I say to them so what do you, what do passionate about what? What do you what would you want to do with your life if money didn't matter, that kind of thing, or what is it that you love on dh? So I give them the ability to kind of decide what fulfills them and talk about it, and you see them light up. So then I'll have somebody says they want to be a veterinarian. I go, hey, what kind of animal is he like? And so then I'll say that same thing. Think about whatever based on their passions.