Professional Photo Books.com

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 // Add Comment »

Sometimes the best opportunities for taking a truly exceptional photograph come when you’re least expecting it. Don’t let these moments pass you by! Part of being a professional photographer is catching the fleeting moments that most don’t notice. While it’s a little tricky to balance distraction and working for a client, it’s ok to get distracted every once in a while and chase down a great photograph. Sometimes those distractions provide great images your client will love.

For instance, when you’re shooting an outdoor wedding, there is a lot to pay attention to. Not only the traditional bridal party shots, you also have to capture the set up, ceremony and reception. A large wedding could mean hundreds of guests which means thousands of moments you could be shooting. It’s not possible to catch them all (unless you shoot with a whole team of wedding photographers), so you’ll just have to do your best to document the moments you stumble upon. Don’t worry about catching every little detail and just go with it!

Kids a great subject if you’re looking to get distracted. They haven’t quite learned what it means to pose for a photograph just yet, so you’ll get their real personalities to shine through. At a wedding, when everyone’s attention is on the bride and groom, what is capturing the kids’ attention? You might get lead down a new and exciting road of photographs that your client could have never imagined seeing.

One way to get distracted (and still please the client!) is to find ways to incorporate them into the moment. If the sunset is making dramatic shadows against the church wall, can you find a way to position the bride and groom so their shadows are also being cast against the church? Sometimes letting yourself get a little distracted means stumbling upon a great idea to use for your client!

Tags: For The Photographer // Add Comment »

Spring is in full bloom (pun intended) which means it’s a great time to get out of your studio and start shooting outdoors. After being cramped indoors all winter long, it’s great to get outside for some fresh air and fresh inspiration. While studio lighting is easier to control, it’s still no substitute for the beautiful, soft light on a sunny spring day.

One of the most noticeable changes is the sudden appearance of color. After a winter of white snow and early evenings, life can start to feel like a black and white photograph. With spring comes blooming flowers and blossoming trees in beautiful shades of purples, yellows and greens. Get outside and get inspired by color again!

It doesn’t even have to be that warm to convince people to go outside. They are so grateful a little sun and temperature rise, everyone seems to spend as much time as they can outdoors. This makes for some great chances to capture people and events. It might not be warm enough to go swimming, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t acting like summer is here! A lot of sporting events pick up in the spring, which can provide some really great action photography practice.

Shooting outdoors also provides you and your clients with a never ending backdrop. In your studio, you’re limited to whatever backdrops and props you carry. Outdoors the possibilities are seemingly endless. Bring some fun into your portrait shoots by taking your model outdoors. You’re free to change things up as you’re inspired by them. Move from parks and gardens to patios and balconies, to outdoor art installations and local landmarks. Go wherever the spring breeze takes you!

The warmer weather also means longer days, which means more time to shoot in natural light. Dawn and dusk are the best times for shooting outdoors, simply because that’s when the most dynamic lighting occurs. Take advantage of spring and it being warm enough to stick around during these times!

Tags: For The Photographer // Add Comment »

Many professional photographers earn their bread and butter by working as commercial photographers. They are the ones responsible for creating the images used in advertising campaigns, shooting magazine spreads, taking photos for menus and websites and more. If you’ve been working as a commercial photographer for some times, chances are you have a lot of work that is scattered in various magazines, on billboards, hanging in store windows and so forth. Creating a professionally printed photo book is a great way to organize and show off your work as a commercial photographer.

With professional photo books, you can create a portfolio of all your commercial photography. Since they are designed digitally, you can take larger images (like from a billboard or poster) and shrink them down to fit in the book. Now you can bring all you work with your wherever you go.

Having a professionally printed photo book also eliminates the clutter of carrying around a folder full of tear outs. You don’t have to worry about losing or ruining samples of your work. A professionally printed photo book is designed to last and only uses the highest quality materials and printing procedures.

Depending on how much experience you have as a commercial photographer, you can create several photo books, each one centering on a different theme. You can have a photo book full of all your photography that made its way into magazine and newspaper ads, a photo books that complies all of your work as a fashion photographer, and so forth. This way, you can bring the right portfolio when you are going to meet a prospective client. You can show them exactly what you have done that relates to their industry.

Tags: Photo Book Creation // Add Comment »

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Are you struggling to find the perfect gift? It’s the duty of moms everywhere to love whatever their families gift them on Mother’s Day—whether it’s a drawing done in day care by the littlest member of the family, or breakfast in bed prepared by a grateful husband—but why not give the mother in your life something truly remarkable this Mother’s Day. A professionally printed photo book is a great gift idea.

The great thing about professionally printed photo books is that they are completely customizable, so you get to tell the story you want. They are a great place to include pictures of your family as it grew over the years, from happy newlyweds to even happier parents. You can also include some of your favorite shots of mom who, let’s be honest, is usually the one behind the camera.

Chances are there are plenty of family photos just sitting on your hard drive that no one ever bothered to print. This is a gold mine of inspiration for a Mother’s Day photo book. As she flips through her photo book, she’ll get to relive old memories and proudly display them as a coffee table book when she’s done.

You can further customize your professionally printed photo books by adding text, so each family member can leave a special message for mom. If your kids have all left the nest, why not let them leave a lasting message that mom can always read whenever she likes. If they can’t be there in person to celebrate Mother’s Day, a photo book is a great way to bring them along in spirit.

Photo books are easy to design, and you can trust a professional printing service to deliver a high quality product that is unlike any gift mom has ever gotten before.

Tags: Photo Book Gifts // Add Comment »

If you’re looking for a new way to attract a new clientele base to your photography studio, why not create different seasonal packages that correspond to events/holidays when families are more likely to hire a professional photographer? There is an adage about fishing where the fish are. You have a better chance of getting hired when someone is looking for a professional photographer than you do of convincing someone they want to hire a professional photographer. Seasonal events/holidays are a great time to bring in more clients.

Graduation
High school and college graduation portraits are really popular. Why not offer a graduation portrait package for students in the surrounding area?

Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is a great time to offer special on family portraits. For families looking for an extra special gift for the matriarch of their family, a portrait of the kids might be the perfect gift.

Family reunions
Family reunions are usually a once-a-year type of event. How often can you get all the cousins, aunt, uncles and grandparents under one roof? A family reunion is a great event for professional photographers. Why not include family reunions in your lists of event photography services?

Valentine’s Day
Boudoir photos are a very popular gift for Valentine’s Day. Capitalize on the romance and passion of Valentine’s Day by offering a special discount on boudoir photography in the preceding weeks.

Christmas
Lots of families love to take family portraits as their Christmas cards. Get the word out that your photography studio is offering a Christmas special!

Off-season engagements
It seems like everyone gets engage in the spring; buy plenty of men pop the big question all-year-round. Competition for great photographers in the spring is high, but why not attract newly engaged couples all year round. Offer special deals for couples who want to take their engagement photos in the winter.

Tags: Photo Book Marketing // Add Comment »

Taking a large group photo requires a unique balance of patience, organization, leadership and a good sense of humor. The larger the group, the more difficult it is to capture and hold everyone’s attention. And while having the first row sit, the second row kneel and the third row stand is great for sports team, it doesn’t go over so well with a bridal party. But at least the bridal party expects to be taking a lot of group photos. What do you do when you’re trying to organize a group photo and the subjects are less than willing to sit tight and smile?

Here are a few ways to keep your group under control long enough to get the shot:

Remember that you’re in charge
Everyone is looking to you for direction. Don’t be afraid to tell people to move around (you can always physically guide them if need be) in order to compose your shot. Build the best shot you can! Create a center point that everyone can work around. They’ll trust your judgment.

Enlist Aid
Grab a couple of your subjects and turn them into frame “body guards.” If you’re trying to corral everyone within a specific space, place your helpers on the ends and tell them not to let anyone past.

Subdivide the larger group
Straight rows can look boring and stuffy. Mix it up with creating little pockets of three or four people that connect to each other. Have some people angle away from the group, but turn their face to the camera.

Tell them what’s going on
Don’t let the group be surprised when you start shooting. Capture everyone’s attention and let them know. Give them a countdown so they know when not to blink. Remind them to look at the camera and keep smiling until you say stop! If you want to give everyone a break, don’t let them leave! Tell them to relax but stay where they are.

Tags: For The Photographer // Add Comment »

While the best advice anyone can give an aspiring photographer is “just keep shooting,” sometimes it helps to have a point of reference. Printed photo books are a great way to create your own photography “how to” guide and fill it with your best practice tips and favorite shooting, lighting and composition techniques. Having the support of a photo guide book can help make training an assistant or teaching a photography class a lot simpler.

Say you’re teaching a beginners’ photography class and are trying to explain how different aperture settings affect depth of field. It’s hard to explain without some sort of visual aid, right? You’re printed photo book is a great place to create that visual aid! Using one of your images, you can really impress on your students the difference each f-stop has on the same photograph.

If you recently hired a new photographer’s assistant, you’ll need to get them up to speed on how you like to handle lighting situations. A printed photo book is a great tool for them to study so they know what they are expected to do in any given situation. The fewer questions they have to ask and the more comfortable they are with their job, the more focused you can be on the shoot.

If you’re going to be teaching anyone the basics of photography, a printed photo book is a great investment. You’ll get to create the “how to” photography guide that you wish you had when you were first learning. You’ll be able to use your own images so you know exactly what the photographer “meant” to do! Professionally printed photo books also allow you to incorporate text, so you’ll be able to add descriptions, best practice tips and other notes to the images to help your students.

Tags: Photo Book Uses // Add Comment »

Photographers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from creating professionally printed photo books to market their business. Professionally printed photo books make great portfolios for anyone who can’t carry examples of their work around with them. This goes for other artists, especially sculptors or clothing designers, interior decorators, design build firms that specialize in home remodeling and more. Why not expand your photography business by extending your services to other companies that need a photographer to help them successfully market their business.

In photography, your portfolio is what is most likely going to book a client or earn you a spot in a gallery showing. The same can be said for a lot of other professions. Interior decorators can’t exactly bring prospective clients into someone’s living room to show off their work. Makeup artists can’t walk around with a dozen models when they go in for a job. They need a portfolio to show off their skills and past work just as much as you do as a photographer. Helping them create a professionally printed photo book is great add-on for your services as a photographer.

Real estate agents might be interested in having a professionally printed photo book created so they can give home owners a more complete overview of the homes they have to sell. A photo books means they don’t have to drive potential buyers to see a home they won’t be interested in. They can choose their favorites right out of the photo book and focus on those. Your photographs can help a real estate agent streamline their business.

There are only so many portrait shoots and weddings a photographer can do before they start looking for new clients. Becoming a business-to-business photography service, in addition to your work as a business-to-consumer photographer can help your business grow. Offering professionally printed photo books as marketing materials is one way to attract new clients.

Tags: Photo Book Marketing // Add Comment »

If you’ve taken the time to sort through thousands of photos, edit the select few and design a photo book to be used for your photography studio; whether as a portfolio, value add-on for clients or marketing tool, why wouldn’t you go with a professional printing service to make the most of it? Using a professional printing service for your photo book production is the best option for any photographer who is serious about their work.

A professionally printed photo book is made using the best printing procedures, techniques and supplies available. Commercial printing services keep their prices down by using lower-quality inks, paper, printers and binding options. While there is nothing wrong with using a commercial printing service, a professional photographer should be willing to invest in a professionally designed and printed photo book.

A professionally printed photo book is going to reprint your images with much greater attention to detail than a commercial printing service. The colors are going to be exact, the shadows the way you expect them to be. If you are using a photo book as your portfolio, it’s critical that the images be an accurate representation of your work and skill level.

Professionally printed photo book also have stitched binding, as opposed to the usual glued binding of a commercially printed photo book. This means that the professional photo book is going to stand up to use and time much better than a commercial photo book. There is no fear of pages falling out while a potential client is thumbing through a much used professionally printed photo book.

A professionally printed photo book speaks to your dedication to quality and photography in general. If you take the time to produce such quality work for yourself, imagine what you can do for a client!

Tags: Photo Book Creation // Add Comment »