Professional Photo Books.com

Shooting action photography is always a bit of a thrill. You never quite know what is about to happen, so you have to be on your toes. The moments come and go in the blink of an eye (or shutter), so as a professionally photographer you have to be on your A game the entire time. Most action photography happens outdoors, so you also have little control over the light, weather and other elements. Regardless, you have to make it work to get a great shot.

Here are a few tips for to help you make the most of your action adventure shoot:

Work with what you got
You aren’t going to have time to change lenses, set up a tripod, mess with your camera settings and so forth when a moment unfolds in front of you. The best thing you can do is make it work with what you got in your hands.

Change the POV
How can you make the image even more dynamic? Mess with the point of view. Get close, get far away, and get above or below your subject. Tilt the frame and more to bring your viewer into the action. Make them feel like they were there.

Protect your equipment from the elements
Avoid changing your lens if it’s raining. Moisture can get inside the camera and ruin your equipment. Keep lens cleaner handy and keep your lenses clean of dust, moisture and more. Invest in a waterproof camera cover. Your skills as a professional photographer won’t do anyone any good if your equipment gets ruined because of adverse weather.

Look for natural frames
Natural frames, like canyon walls, tree branches and more, can help draw the attention of the viewer to your subject without feeling forced.

People put it in perspective
What’s more impressive, watching a rock climber climb a wall at the gym or watching them climb a mountain? Positioning people against large and dramatic backdrops make them that much more impressive.

Tags: Digital Photography by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

You don’t always have the luxury of posing your subjects. If you are photographing animals, a sports game, concert or other live event, you have to go with the flow. Part of being a professional photographer is being able to capture the moments as they come. This involves a careful mix of skill, patience and a little bit of luck. Being in the right place at the right time helps too!

Here are a few tips for helping you shoot the perfect frame:

Follow the subject
If you’re in a crowded marketplace and a particular shopper catches your eye (from the clothes they are wearing, to the goods they are carrying and so forth), track their movements with your camera. They may not be in the best lighting right now, or they are partially obscured by the crowd, but that doesn’t mean they won’t pop out into the foreground. If you keep your camera trained on them you have a better chance of getting the shot you want.

Fade into the background
People tend to pose when they know a camera is being pointed to them. If your subject is unaware of when you start snapping away, they might behave a little more naturally. This lets you capture a much more real moment.

Wait for it
A part of photography is being patient. If you are photographing wildlife, you can’t exactly barge into the scene and start telling the animals what to do. You have to wait for them. Patience pays off in the long run.

Arrive early, stay late
If you are going to be shooting an event, try to be one of the first ones in and the last one out. There is just as much magic in the set-up and tear-down as there is during the actual event. Getting a behind-the-scenes look makes for interesting and intriguing photographs.

Tags: For The Photographer by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

For a client who has never used a professional photographer before, sitting down for the first time to plan their studio session/wedding shoot/etc. can be a little overwhelming. They might have no idea of what they want from you; they might have too many ideas. They might be expecting too much from your studio (especially if it’s just you) or they might have no idea what you’re actually capable of. Help get your clients on track with a studio catalogue.

A professionally printed photo book is a great choice for printing studio catalogues. If you’re a photographer who specializes in portrait photography, your catalogue can include your available backdrops and props, posing options and more. You can also include before and after samples of your retouching skills. This will help your clients pick out what they want before you have to set everything up, so you don’t waste time trying out every option.

A studio catalogue is also a good place to incorporate your pricing. You don’t want the client to be surprised when it comes time to pay the bill. A professionally printed photo book lets you add text to each page, so a client will know what that particular setup/package will cost them.

A studio catalogue can also double as an in-house portfolio. Since it will be created using your images, clients have the chance to see what other work you have done. If they come to you for a portrait, they might remember you and call you back when it’s time to shoot their engagement photos. You want to impress your clients every step of the way, a studio catalogue gives you one more chance to do just that.

Tags: Photo Book Uses by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

Animals can make for fascinating and inspiring subjects. One of the best things about shooting animals (especially in the wild) is that you have little to no control over what they are going to do. They might be content to just lie there while you snap away. Others might get curious and come in for a closer look. The spontaneity of wildlife photographer keeps you on your toes and always guessing. That can make for dynamic shots.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re photographing an animal:

Avoid using a flash if possible
Especially if you are in their natural habitat, you don’t want to have a startled animal on your hand. You’re either going to scare them away or give them a reason to panic. No one wants to be on the wrong end of an angry animal.

Use a telephoto lens
Taking pictures of Fluffy in your studio doesn’t prepare you for shooting bears fishing in the Colorado River. Remember, they are wild animals. Safety comes first. A telephoto lens will allow you to capture the action without getting dangerously close.

Don’t forget the eyes
Just because they aren’t humans, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something going on in the eyes. Believe it or not, animals can express emotions and you’ll be better able to capture them if you keep the eyes in focus.

Be ready for them to move
Unless you are photographing an exceptionally well-trained dog, it is very hard to get an animal to sit still for a long time. You never know when they are going to suddenly move. Expecting it to happen means you won’t miss the shot.

Practice
The local zoo is a great place to practice your animal photography. For one thing, the enclosed pens mean that you have all the time in world to set up your shot, a luxury not afforded to you in the wild.

Tags: Digital Photography by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

People choose to hire a professional photographer because they come with the whole package: the camera and lighting equipment, the creative talent and the expertise. These three factors and more add up to truly beautiful photos are that practically guaranteed to be better than anything your clients could have produced on their own. Clients expert a certain (and very high) level of professionalism and quality from professional photographers and you can’t afford to let them down. That’s why it is important to work with other service providers that understand the needs and expectations of a professional photographer.

If you are looking into printed photo books (whether as an add-on for clients, a new way to showcase your work, market your business and more) a professional printing service is the only way to go.

Professional printers understand that quality is critical. That why professional photo book printing services only use the best quality materials and printing equipment and procedures. The everyday photographer might not be aware, but the professional photographer knows that the tonality and color of an image can be dramatically altered by the type and quality of paper it is printed on, as well as the ink. Professional photo book printers do everything to guarantee that the images sent over by photographers are accurately reproduced.

Professional photo books are also stitched together, as opposed to a glued binding. This helps your photo book last longer and hold up against wear and tear. Photographers should never have to worry that their portfolio is about to fall apart while a potential client is flipping through!

If you are charging top dollar for your photography services, clients expect top dollar results. A professionally printed photo book is going to meet their expectations and support your reputation as a professional who cares about quality.

Tags: Photo Book Creation by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

Even professional photographers are allowed to be passionate about other things. If you’re a professional photographer who also happens to love traveling, why not combine your two loves and use your own photography to create a customized, professionally printed travel guide book? You’ll get to use your own images and your own words (professionally printed photo books can incorporate text) to share your favorites cities!

Creating your own travel guide book can have many benefits. First, it’s a great place to showcase your travel photography. As a professional photographer, you have the equipment and the training to bring a photograph to life and transport the viewer into the scene. A great travel photograph can invoke the surrounding smells and sounds of the scene. It takes on a life of its own and draws the viewer in.

Secondly, a travel guide book is a great piece of marketing material. It can speak to both your skills as a photographer, as well as a designer. Part of photography is presentation, and a professionally printed photo book is going to show off you work in all its glory.

You can also sell your travel guide books, if you so choose. They are a great way to spread the word about your studio and your work. You can promote and sell them at the local book store or visitor center. A travel guide book created by the local photographer is sure to appeal to tourists and locals alike!

Creating your own travel guide book is also a great way to remember your personal trips. What did you discover that the guidebooks left out? Did you go in the off-season? What were your favorite things about your trip? A professionally printed photo book is the perfect place to keep your memories.

Tags: Photo Book Uses by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

It has to be said, traditional portraits can get incredibly boring day in and day out. As a professional photographer, you want to keep your creative juices flowing, no matter what the shoot is. Portrait photography can be so much more than a yearbook photo! When handled well, a great portrait can capture the essence and personality of your subject.

Here are a few ways you can take your portrait photography to the next level:

Change your point of view
Who says portraits have to be taken straight on? Don’t be afraid to get above, below, behind or alongside your subject. This simple change can dramatically alter the feel of the photograph.

Shoot candidly
There is no denying that when people know a camera is being pointed at them, most tend to freeze or start posing. A posed portrait looks fake and forced. Shooting candidly (especially with children) allows your subject to behave normally and gives you and your audience a look into who they are.

Shoot in “burst mode”
An offshoot of shooting candidly, shooting in “burst” or “continuous shooting” mode allows you to capture a series images in rapid succession. This is great if your subject is moving, because you never know which moment is going to be the perfect one. Facial expressions and body positioning change every second, this setting allows you to capture them all.

Change the frame
A lot of photographers like to shoot in either landscape or portrait mode depending on the subject. If yo look back through your old work, you’ll probably notice a pattern. The next time you’re shooting a portrait, change it up! Switch to the framing position you don’t typically use and see what kind of images you can create.

Take unfocused shots
Just because the person is the focus, that doesn’t mean they have to be in focus! Create drama and intrigue by blurring your subject or the background.

Tags: For The Photographer by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

As a professional photographer, you have a world of industry jargon at your disposal. Aperture, exposure, backlighting, focal length, ISO, color saturation and more. You may not have to think too hard about what each of these terms means for a photograph, but your clients aren’t so photo-savvy. They may have a very specific vision in mind for their studio session, but without the knowledge of how to explain what they want, something gets lost in translation and the shoot suffers because of it. Having a professionally printed photo book to serve as a guide can help your clients better explain what they are looking for in the final images.

Using images from other studio sessions, you can create a photo book that provides your clients with visual examples of what they might be looking for. They know they the shot to look a certain way, they just don’t know how to tell you. Instead of fumbling and trying to explain what they mean, they can just use an image in your photo book as a point of reference.

Your professionally printed photo book can also include sample images of the various props and backdrops you have available in your studio for their shoot. This can help them further develop their vision and give them ideas for their own studio session. Being able to pair what they want with the tools that you have will make the session go a lot smoother.

You can also use your printed photo book to subtly teach your clients the basic of photography jargon. Photo books allow you to incorporate text alongside your images, so you can provide them with a technical term for what they are looking to accomplish. For instance, a newly engaged couple who wants to take their engagement photos in a field of flowers might say, “we want a couple pictures where we’re in focus but the field behind us isn’t. Can you do that?” You tell them that photo with a shallow depth of field is a very simple thing to accomplish, and show them some examples in your photo book so you’re sure they understand.

Tags: Photo Book Uses by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

Have you ever come across a photograph where the colors seem almost too intense? (Click here for some examples) It looks like they might have been digitally enhanced, but you can’t seem to figure out how. Was it a filter? Did the photographer play with the color saturation levels in their editing software? Chances are it was a HDR (high dynamic range) photograph that you saw. These vibrant photos are eye catching and intriguing, and bring a magical, dreamlike feeling to any scene.

The purpose of an HDR image is to capture the entire range of available light in a scene. Pick any of the HDR images from the link above. Normally these images would be very high contrast scenes, yet everything seems to be on the same level. There is nothing blown out, so all the details come through. HDR photography allows for each element in the photograph to be captured perfectly.

HDR photographs are a great way to salvage shoots taken on a cloudy day. They also create incredibly striking and dynamic landscape photos, especially panorama shots. Chances are different sections of your panorama are lighted differently. Creating an HDR photograph will help keep all the details visible.

How can you create an HDR photograph?

One of the main ways HDR photographs are created is by taking several frames of the exact same image and layering them, one on top of another. Usually one frame is at normal exposure, the second is underexposed and the third is overexposed. If you don’t want to manually adjust your camera, the simplest way to shoot is with bracketing in burst mode. Most digital SLRs have this function and the camera will do a series of shots in rapid succession, each with a different exposure.

To combine the three images into one, you’ll need digital photo editing software. You can buy software plugins that work with Aperture, Lightroom and Photoshop. Photomatix is one such software plugin. Layering the three images allows you to capture all of the available information, creating impressive shots!

Tags: Digital Photography by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »

Being a professional photographer grants you access to some of the most intimate and emotional moments of a person’s life. However, most people don’t like exposing themselves (emotionally or physically) to a complete stranger. If you are truly going to capture the essence of your clients in a photograph, you have to get them to trust you and open up. That is why it’s important to develop a personal relationship with your clients on some level.

When someone knows a camera is being pointed at them, they start posing. They worry about getting their hair right, hiding the parts of their body they aren’t comfortable with, settling on a forced smile. But staged and posed photographs are very rarely interesting. It is your job as the photographer to get your clients to act like you aren’t standing in front of them with a camera.

Now chances are you don’t have the time to develop a lifelong friendship with your clients. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get some kind of rapport going so they relax and start to trust you. One way to do that is to keep them engaged while you are shooting. Talk to them; tell them what you’re doing. Let them know what you want them to do and compliment them throughout the process. The more comfortable they feel with the process, the more relaxed and natural their photos will be.

If someone has hired to you as a professional photographer, it is your responsibility to make sure you produce the best possible final images. Clients want to look their best and they’ve come to you to make sure that happens. The only way they will look their best is if they look like themselves! You have to get them to open up and show who they really are so you can capture it on film.

Tags: For The Photographer by Embassy Pro Books
No Comments »