Wednesday Wonderfulness: How To Book, Shoot And Sell A Portrait - First In A Series

Good Morning Everyone,
We had another great crowd in Orlando last night - lots of energy and a ton of fun. The small problem is that the timing is a bit long - we ended 30 minutes late. I'm finding this the hardest part about the program is wanting to present 5 hours of information in 4 hours. I'm working on it again today and hope to end on time in Tampa this evening. Anyway, I guess too much information is a good problem to have.

Here is my bigger problem or let's say worry. I hear my buddy Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski may be in the audience this evening. So what's the big deal - I'm doing a Lightroom demo.... in front of the Masters of the Universe in the Lightroom department. I hope I don't shiver too much in my boots;~) Anyway, looking forward to the program tonight - hope to see you there.

A New Series Starts Today - How To Book, Shoot, and Sell A Portrait
We talk about wedding photography a lot here at DPT but today I wanted to shift gears just a bit and talk about portrait photography. This is going to be about an 8 part series that I hope you find fun and informative. I'm going to try to cover all aspects of the process - from booking the client, shooting, and finally selling the portrait. Here we go.

First of all, what kind of portrait photography turns you on? I have to admit I'm am kind of a traditionalist when it comes to portrait photography. I try to pose the subject in the beautiful surrounds of their home, sometimes in their home, or a location, for example a favorite park of their choice. We range the shots to cover several - at least three locations within the park to give a nice sense of variety to the session. That said, there are some photographers who offer what I'm going to call "freestyle" portrait to their clients. One of the best examples of this style portraiture is represented in the work of Vickie and Jed Taufer at VGallery [link]. I mean, check out this image they showed at their site - just a little different. But these are the kind of decisions you need to make when considering your style of portraiture.

I'm going to cover a variety of types of portraiture in this series - from high school seniors, families, executive portraiture, babies - the whole gamut. So here is your home work for today - cruise the net and check out the work of other photogs doing family portraiture. See what images speak to you and decide how you want to move forward. Here are a few sites to check out:

Gittings: One of the best out there. [link]
Kent Smith Photograph: Outstanding portraiture. [link ]
Busath Photography: Beautiful images. [link ]

These guys are some of my favorite shooters in the portrait department. This should give a good start. Next week I'll discuss how to get the clients coming through your door.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are on the road to Tampa for city #3 - hey, only 55 to go;~) See ya' there. -David