How NOT to make a Behind-The-Scenes video

Michael Raveney, by his portfolio, looks like he is really good at being a photographer and I would love to meet him one day.  What you don’t see however, is how great he is at not giving credit.  Watch the video then continue reading.

Why this video is great:

• it shows Michael working with a team
• interviews with the crew (Makeup Artist & Hairstylist)
• i love the soundtrack
• shows how they got the attention of the snake by waving a hat at it while shooting

Why this video sucks:

• Michael mentions at the very beginning that the model came to him with the concept, yet her name isn’t in the credits with the MUA and Hairstlyist
• The person in the camera’s eye is the only one from the production that WAS NOT interviewed, why?

When you make a video or marketing video like this one:  Make sure you mention everyone involved, it hurts you more to not include them.

ps – As much as I want to help photographers.. I get really pissed off when models and makeup artists don’t get treated fairly for their contribution to photo projects.

Facebook Pages and You

How many of you have a Facebook fan page for your photography business? That’s good. Probably most of you.

How many of you have clicked on the “suggest this page to a friend” and selected ALL your friends and hit “Invite”?

Stop doing that shit.  And stop holding contests that say “Hey, I want to hit N-amount of fans by X-date”.. That does nothing except “up” the amount of your followers of people that don’t care.

Do all of your friends want to purchase your services as a photographer? Probably not. Word-of-mouth marketing by your friends could help you greatly, but the chances of them doing that with so much “noise” on their wall’s these days…slim to none.

Do this:

• Focus on your photography
• Post your results
• Interact with the people on your wall
• Make a difference in their day

Too many people these days focus on amount of followers/fans/friends/etc… By focusing on what you’re trying to sell, is much more effective and leads to higher quality sales.

Thanks to Frank for writing this blog post yesterday to inspire this one.

Hold yourself to a high standard

Do you import your photos, go through them, pick out your best ones, apply an action, and then post them?

Stop.

Pick the best ones, pick the best ones of those best ones, and then pick the best one of those best ones. Really clean it up. Inspect it. Make sure you remove any dust spots, etc. Then post it.

What makes you different from other photographers?

How *you* see things. Hand a camera to two different photographers to photograph a flower, I bet you they look completely different.

So what’s wrong with recreating (or ‘copying’) someone elses work?

Nothing at all.

Even if you use the same props, you’ll end up doing it different.

Below is a page from a fashion magazine that caught my eye while on a plane and wanted to try out (It’s a Calvin Klein ad) for this blog post.

There was a tree nearby and a model I could borrow for 5 minutes to try this out at a recent photo shoot I was on. As you can tell I had grossly different results. Why? Eye, talent, and above all — planning. These shoots take days, maybe even weeks to plan how they will come out. Under 5 minutes? Expect what you put in.

Grab a magazine that has photos in it that interest you and recreate one. Put a little bit of planning into it other than when you “just show up to a location”.

Post em somewhere public, the shot you were inspired by and your polished photo. Put a link in the comments to it.

Calvin Klein Ad I wanted to recreate

My image

Fortfolio Pocus

How often are you shooting what you want to be shooting?

There was a lengthy thread on the Facebook page (click here to read it) when I asked everyone to tell me the styles of work they want in there portfolio and the catch was: you could only pick two.

How about, for the next 5 days you shoot what you want. Do little mockups, you don’t need a full blown production or even a model. Grab your roommate, soulmate, or whoever is in arms reach — and shoot what you want in your portfolio. You don’t have to post it, just get into the rhythm of it and have fun.

PS – If you want, you can post your results for the next couple of days on the wall (http://facebook.com/lastminutephotostudio) so you can show everyone what you’ve been up to. Just make sure you say what it is in the caption

Are you good enough to remember, EVERYTHING?

Most people think they’re good enough to remember everything. Don’t lie to yourself. Remember it everytime a super easy way.

Click the following link to download a camera bag checklist, print it out, and use it all the time: camera bag checklist .pdf

Writers and Photographers

I can’t remember where I saw this, but it was great.

When you read an article, book, or note — does it ever cross your mind what kind of “pen” the writer used?

Photoshop World 2010, the movie

The video contains something really cool if you can pick up on it.  I dare you to find it.

Are you turning down free advertising?

I bet you are.

Have you heard of any of the following photographers:

Killer Photography (http://bit.ly/d7zDRm)

I.R.R.O.K. PHOTOGRAPHY (http://bit.ly/9V0lLa)

Paulo Rigon (http://bit.ly/c18fRj)

Their marketing already worked. Check em out.

They’re advertising for free on Craigslist, are you?

Doing corporate head-shots

I hear a lot of beginner photographers talk about how worried they are about doing corporate head-shots. When I ask why the same answer pops up:

“I don’t know how to deal with a Creative Director”.

Creative Directors have two jobs to do:

1. hire someone with talent
2. hire someone that can get the job done and not drag it out

As the photographer you need to ask some basic questions with these types of shoots:

• How many people will have their head-shots taken?
• Do you have any photos that have the ‘feel’ that you like?
• Will a creative be on hand to ask any questions to while doing these to get immediate feedback between subjects?

Usually you can charge a per-person amount, which I suggest.  If not, a day rate will be fine just remember that you’ll be doing post-work on the images.  If you don’t nail it the first time you’ll be going back and forth with the creative director.  Add extra for this.

The video below shows a quick look into how a recent corporate head-shot shoot went down with an example photo of the look they were going for and the results at the end.

Check it out, let me if you have any questions I’m here for ya