"Jumping For Joy"

"Jumping For Joy"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image a number of years ago in my film days. Let me date for you a bit more. A very popular commercial on TV was the Toyota "Jump" commercial. Everyone jumped for joy at the end of the commercial. I just decided to carry it over to my wedding photography. With the right crowd, it always makes a great shot - heck, it still does today. At the end of all the groups photography, just add this or something unexpected as your final shot. You may have to entice the wedding party to jump a few times to get the best shot, but its always a good time for all. Camera specs; Hasselblad 500CM fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F8.0 @ 1/500 second, ISO 400 Kodak Vericolor film. Enjoy! -David

Portrait Day Wednesday On Thursday: Where To Shoot The Portrait - At Home, Outside At Home or The Park

Good morning everybody,
We are having a great time in California this week. Starting in San Francisco, heading over to Sacramento, and landing in San Jose last night. Were on our way to Fresno today for the last city of this week's tour. It's been a wonderful opportunity meeting all the photographers at each of the locations and witnessing their enthusiasm both for the Digital WakeUp Call program and digital photography in general.

Unfortunately, it's been a little tough to keep up with the blog just simply because of the lack of time in between cities but I am going to continue to give it my best shot here again today. Typically today would be to business day Thursday but, since our Wednesday series really talks a lot about business, I think it's okay that we slip Wednesday's post into today's post. So let's get started with Portrait Day Wednesday: Booking, Shooting, and Selling the Family Portrait.

Portrait Day Wednesday: Booking, Shooting, and Selling the Family Portrait
I'm really want to walk through this series in some pretty fine detail for the benefit of our DigitalProTalk readers. Today I like to cover one more topic that I discuss with my clients when planning a portrait session. It's really about the location of the portrait. Let me explain.

When planning a family portrait, many people really have no idea where they might want their photographs taken. I've had three main choices I discuss with my clients. My thanks to Kent Smith Photography for today's images.

Hit the “Read More…” link for the rest of the story.

First choice – In Their Home
Now, generally when were photographing in their home, this would imply a more formal portrait session for the family. A formal portrait session means that the men would be in sports jackets button up shirts and the ladies would be dressed accordingly moist often in dresses, skirts or a dressy pantsuit. Now making the portrait in the home works great, has terrific sentimental values for the images captured particularly if the home is a beautiful home and we have all the fine architecture in which to work. The fact of the matter is most of us don't get the opportunity to shoot in those kinds of homes very often -- me included.

So, what it comes down to is this. When I'm asked to photograph in a client's home, I want to determine just what the architecture of the home includes. We recently photographed clients in their home and it was a simple Midwestern setting and we got a nice traditional portrait of the family. They were the type of client that was looking for something just a bit more formal so we had the men in white shirts and ties and, as I said the ladies dressed in appropriate somewhat matching attire as well.

Typically we're shooting in the home during the cold winter months here in the Cincinnati area. Having said that though let me add that most of our family portraits are usually done in the late spring through early fall. This then gives us the opportunity to select location number two.

Second choice -- Outdoors At Their Home
I always suggest to my clients that one of the possibilities is to make the photographs at their home in the outdoor surrounds, presuming of course that the outdoor surrounds of their homes are conducive to a beautiful family portrait. Many times since my clients are close by, I'll even suggest a site survey whereby I actually go to their home and survey the grounds to see where we might make the portrait and also to check the light at the time of the day that we tentatively scheduled the portrait to be taken.

I want to add, that most of the time I can easily pull off a nice portrait in the client's backyard. Again, let me say that the clients that were working with generally have a larger backyard that is nicely landscaped, with rolling hills, lots of trees and foliage which really gives us a nice background for our portrait session.

But, for a lot of our portrait clients the backyard may not be the best location. Remember, when working in a person's backyard we first of all need to find a background that is conducive to the family portrait. That would mean a stand of trees, foliage, and landscaping that we can throw sufficiently out of focus to serve as a nice, believable and timeless background for the portrait.

When I say throw the background out of focus that means that I'm using a long lens - my 70-200mm IS F2.8 lens - and it's racked out to about 150 mm. Having said that - I'm implying here that the distance from me to the subject is going to be a pretty good distance.

That implies that in photographing family portraits outdoors that we need a fairly large space to accommodate the setting and a telephoto lens that I'm using. So, photographing in the family’s backyard is an option for us but only about 20% of the time. Which brings us to our third option.

Third Option -- Outdoors At A Park
This is probably my favorite option. We work in several parks around the greater Cincinnati area and I have most of them “wired” for photography. What I mean by “wired” is this. I know the best places to shoot in several parks in the area and what time to photograph our portraits in the various locations around the park. Therefore, when interviewing my clients and when planning their family portrait I try to suggest the park that would be close to their home where we can meet at the best hour to do the family portraits.

What is the best time to do the family portrait? The best time for me is about two to three hours before sunset. We'll cover this in a later post. But, having said that when 'm in a client planning session I'll suggest the times that I think would be best for the portraits and then of course the best park location for their family portrait. Once we agree to the time and location, clothing suggestions have been discussed, expectations have been reviewed, a deposit in the amount of the session fee received, we are good to go for the scheduled family portrait session.

The reason I liked the parks as the optimum shooting location for family portraiture is this. It gives me a number of options throughout the park in which to make the family portrait. That adds quite a bit of variety to our shooting session. In a portrait session a lot of variety in generally leads to sales that can be substantially higher than just when making images in just one location like a client's backyard.

Again, at the various parks around the city, each one is landscaped differently. I love looking for backgrounds that not just include green trees but also include color in foliage that can serve as added interest in the background of the family portrait. I think of our favorite park in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ault Park, which is probably my favorite location for a family portraits. There are many, many areas and about four favorite locations within a park that let me shoot a wide variety of images for my client.

So, what I would suggest you do is to survey parks in your area, check out the landscaping of those parks, see how the light is falling onto those areas of the park noting the time of the day. While surveying the parks, make some test shoots in those locations – see how the background looks at say F4.0 with your lens focused on where the subject will tentative be positioned. You can even show your clients what the various locations look like and get their feedback as well.

What's happening here is what I've mentioned so many times -- we're building client expectations for a wonderful family portrait event. When you show that you really go the extra mile in order to make their family portrait the best, the client senses the extra effort. That adds to the “chemistry” of your relationship with your client which in turn enhances the client experience and leads to a beautiful result for you and your client.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've got to get moving here in the next few minutes on our way to Fresno. I hope to see many of you there this evening at city number 19 of my Digital WakeUp Call tour. Adios, -- Dave

"Flowing Waters"

"Flowing Waters"
©David A. Ziser

This is another slow motion image from yesterday's/today's post. As an image-a-day image, you can click on it and make it larger for closer inspection and see it is possible to hand-hold your camera at pretty darn slow exposures when following the techniques I outlined in the following tutorial. Anyway, I've always been a big fan of seeing images of moving water and this image shows why. The streaking water implies a sense of the water's easy, unobstructed flow over the rocks as it traverses its way down the mountain. I love the blur of the water against the background of the rocks and foliage suggesting it's swift flow. Camera specs: Canon 5D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 47mm, F22 @ 1/3 second, ISO 50. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday On Wednesday: How Slow Can You Go - Shooting The Very Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, it just wasn't in the stars to get Technique Tuesday up yesterday. We made the mad dash from San Francisco to Sacramento, got started late on the room set up because of a meeting in process when we arrived, and barely had time to get the room set before over 200 of our Digital WakeUp Call guests started to arrive. No problem - we'll just post it today.

This, by the way is the day we visit Google - actually, in just a few hours. I'll give you the low down tomorrow. I can't wait! Anyway, let's get on with yesterday's Technique Tuesday...

How Slow Can You Go? Shooting The Very Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld
During my seminars, I show many images where I use very slow shutter speeds for example; 1/10 second to obtain the shot (I never carry a tripod to a wedding) and everyone is surprised by how I am able to pull this somewhat easy task off. In this tutorial I'll reveal my secrets. Well, not really secrets, just good technique.

And the technique has to be good to pull off the shutter speeds I'm demonstrating on this video. I made all the images at 1/4 second and slower - all hand-held. I needed the slow shutter speed to blur the motion of the flowing water which really added a sense of beauty and in some cases power to the finished photographs. Instead of me talking about it, why not hit the PLAY button below and see what I was up too. I hope you enjoy the video.



Hey gang, that's it for today. I'll get back on the regular schedule once we can sneak a few more minutes in the day. I'll plan to run our next post on "Portraits - Booking, Shooting, and Selling" tomorrow. It's sort of business related so it works for tomorrow. Enjoy the tutorial today and I'll see everybody sometime tomorrow. Hope to see some friendly faces tonight in San Jose. We're are off Goggling this morning, -David

"Hobbit's Hidden Treasure"

"Hobbit's Hidden Treasure"
©David A. Ziser

I captured this image while visiting Multnomah Falls last Friday. You'll have to watch the "Technique Tuesday" below to see how I exposed the shot to get the water to blur. It was this motion blur together with the water's misty spray in the bright late morning sun which provided a hint of mystery to the shot. A tweak or two in Lightroom finished the image's treatment weaving the colors and textures into their artistic presentation. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F22 @ 1/3 second (handheld), ISO 50. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Shooting A Very Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld

Good Morning Everybody,
We are a little behind the eight ball today time-wise with the tour today. I'll see if I can get the Technique Tuesday up later today if I find time to complete the post. Keep you eyes posted to DPT and look for the post later today, assuming things lighten up a bit on the way to Sacramento, CA. See ya' this evening. -David

"Dancing In The Breeze"

"Dancing In The Breeze"
©David A. Ziser

This is one of the first images I made with my new Canon 20D Camera a number of years ago. I was at one of the local parks and the sun was quite bright. My typical "modus operandi" for shooting in bright light is to turn the ISO down to it's lowest possible setting, in this case 100 ISO, set the camera to it's highest sync speed - 1/250 second, and bring my off-camera flash in from the side creating the loop lighting pattern on my bride. The constant breeze made it easy to capture the veil with some very nice flowing lines adding to the beauty of the bridal portrait. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 17-85mm IS lens at 20mm, F16 @ 1/250 second, ISO 100. Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit Monday: Lightroom Twitter Queen: Wide Angle Lenses; Humidity Control; Slow-Mo Video; and More.

Good Morning Everybody,
We wrapped a great weekend in the Portland area and headed down the coast Saturday towards San Francisco. What a beautiful drive it is too. We stayed the night in Redding, Ca and finished the trip yesterday just in time to take Chris and Gail up on their dinner invite. Chris and Gail are Bridge champions and wrote us about getting together when we came through town - one thing lead to another and there we were enjoying their beautiful home and gardens, a great meal and a fine glass of wine after we landed in good ol' San Fran.

This week we are bringing the Digital WakeUp Call tour to San Fransisco, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fresno. Hope to see you there. This, by the way, is the week we get to visit the Googleplex in San Jose. I'll keep you posted on our visit. Hey, let's get right to Quick Hit Monday because I have a ton of information to cover today. Here we go...

Let's Meet The Lightroom Twitter Queen:
Last week I did a post [link] covering some cool Lightroom sites and mentioned I was trying to nail down a site mentioned by one of my DMC attendees. It turns out it's not a site at all he was referring to - it was a Tweeter feed. Here is the link to LR_Mellisa right here. OK, gang this is about the best source of Gatling gun Lightroom info I have ever seen.


I promise you, if you head over there, be sure it is after hours, otherwise you will spend your entire day there. Melissa is truly the Lightroom siren on the net with more good LR info flowing everyday. Don't crash your Internet ship on her LR rocks. You'll be drawn in and may never leave! Be forewarned;~)

Wait, there's more - yes, there is another Lightroom Queen too. You can find her blog right here. It's a much safer landing spot and still lots of good stuff.

Wide Angle Lenses - My Favorites
Over the weekend, I was cruising the net and came across fellow blogger, Brian Auer, post on wide angle lenses. His post entitled, "8 Tips For Shooting Extremely Wide Angle Lenses" right here, speaks to my digital photography heart. Anyone following this blog knows I'm a wide angle lens fanatic.

Here is one of my 12mm shots made on the Canon 5D - it follows Brian's rule #7. Brian's post offers some really good info on how to shoot with those puppies - good stuff. Hey, Brian, hope to see you in San Diego next week.

Gear Bag News And Reviews:
Lens Baby Composer
Fellow blogger, Kerry Garrison, had a nice post over at CameraDojo recently discussing the new Len Baby Composer [link]. I've only played with the early Len Baby products but I do like how they keep adding to the functionality of their gear. Kerry has a really in-depth post on the LensBaby Composer right here. Being a wedding shooter himself, he shows some wedding image applications. It's a good review - worth a peek if you want something just a little different to spice up your imagery.

Canon Rebel T1i Review
I found this review via 1001 Noisy Cameras. By the way 1001, thanks for the nice words about DPT. I still can't figure out how 1001 gets all that content up everyday - has three arms, 12 fingers and must type at 200 wpm;~) Anyway, always good information over at 1001 Noisy Cameras.

Here is the link to the Canon Rebel review right here. I've got a quick comment to add. I was most interested in the review because of the Hi-Def video capabilities of the new kid on the block. I thought, WOW - I spent 3x that much on my Canon 5D Mark II. What gives? Well, it seem in the video department the Rebel's frame rate at 1080p is slowed to 20 FPS down from the 5d Mk II's 30 FPS. Folks, that's a big difference if you are shooting 1080p.

Seems at 720p the frame rate is back up to 30FPS. I guess that's one of the reasons I spent $1800 more for my camera. Anyway, it is a very good in-depth review and worth a peek if you are looking to bring video into your media arsenal for your clients at a super reasonable price.

What To Do In High Humidity
I haven't been to JMG Galleries for a while but when I visit, it's always a refreshing view at what is going on in our digital world from the perspective of the very talented landscape photographer, Jim Goldstein. Jim has a nice post on how to shoot in high humidity right here. I know what you are thinking - I live in Phoenix, we don't have humidity. Still, I like Jim's well thought out post. If you are heading to some humidity heavy areas, this article offers some sound advice for camera/lens care.

And Finally - One More Video
Ever since watching the "Wonderful World Of Disney" when I was a kid and "Planet Earth" as an adult, I've been hooked on the time lapse/slow motion photography. Seeing video shots like the one from a BBC program called South Pacific should make all of us very excited about the technology advancing. Here is the link. The footage was shot with a $100,000-plus cam that shoots HD footage at 20x the frame-rate of a normal one. Here is the link right here - be sure to play it in HD - way cool.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are off and running again this week throughout California. Hope to see you at one of our stops. Oh, by the way, check in tomorrow for a different Technique Tuesday - How Slow Can You Go - Handheld? I'll show you some images I made at 1/2 second hand-held and show you how they were taken. See ya' then, -David

"School Days"

"School Days"
©David A. Ziser

I was flipping through some older images in my studio the other day looking for an image I needed for my wedding book - yes, we are in the final stages of wrapping the book's edit - still looking at a July release date - I'll keep you posted. Anyway, I came across this portrait I made for a client a number of years ago. I remember that I was testing Kodak's 1000 ISO film at the time and used it on this shoot. Frankly, looking at this image as a 24x24 inch print, I'm glad I'm shooting digital today. The noise characteristics of the new cameras blow away even what we had in film over 15 years ago. I was actually photographing the second wedding for my client. The wedding was being held in the Little Red School House, an historic building in the Cincinnati, Ohio area which is open to private functions. The 3 little flower girls were the daughters of the bride which she ask me to photograph. Given the location and how the little girls were dressed, I chose the school's blackboard as the background for this image. The girls were illuminated with the light streaming softly in the window of the front door. This gave the light the direction I needed to show the details and textures of the setting. I think the rich colors and patterns of the girls dresses along with their great expressions playing out on the simple background of the chalkboard make for a beautiful children's portrait. Camera spec; Hasselblad 500CM fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F5.6 @ 1/125 second, Kodak Vericolor 1000 film. Enjoy! -David

You Light Up My Life Friday

Good Morning Everybody,
One really good thing about traveling the country on a lecture tour are the "pause points" we work in along the way. That is exactly what LaDawn and I doing in Portland for the next few days. While talking to the concierge at the hotel yesterday and finding out just how close so many cool Oregon attractions were to our downtown, we decided to stay on in Portland for an additional day or two.

Yesterday we headed up I-84 towards Hood River and enjoyed some great wines from some of the local wineries. That's me with the owner, Robert Morus, of Phelps Creek Vineyard, one of our favorite vineyards in the area. It seems wine-making is not Mr. Morus' only day job. He is a Delta pilot and his love of wine brought him to the Willamette valley in 1989. LaDawn and I gave all of his wines two thumbs way up!

We pasted several waterfalls on the way which we plan to visit again today. The scenery is absolutely magnificent in this part of the country. We are heading up to Mt Hood today and maybe even track down the route to Mt. St. Helen's. Yes, lots on the itinerary, but we are getting a much earlier start than yesterday. I'll keep you posted with a pic or two over the next few days.

On another note - we are still looking for three volunteers for my lecture in Sacramento next Tuesday, Fresno on Thursday and Burbank on the following Monday. Please contact LaDawn at ladawn@ziser.com if you would like to help with the set up starting at 3:00, assist with registration and help with the tear down after the show. LaDawn promises some special goodies for the helping hand.

Anyway, let's get on with a brand new series today.

You Light Up My Life Friday
Today I've decided to stand down from my Soap Box for a while and move on to another series. I'm calling it, "You Light Up My Life Friday" sung, of course to the tune by the same name;~)
Many readers have been looking for some lighting answers over on my Skribit widget in the right hand column of the DPT blog. I thought I'd spend the next several weeks addressing many of the lighting situations that come up during a wedding or portrait shoots and address those questions and concerns.

I'm thinking they will be posted in no special order which should add to the spontaneity of the posts and their readings. If there is some you would like me to cover as well, just pop a suggestion in the Skribit widget or leave a comment after this post. I know I've got a backlog of suggestions in the Skribit widget and these posts will help ease that backlog.

OK, let's get to it.
Anyone who has attended my Digital WakeUp Call tour knows that I'm am not a big fan of on-camera flash particularly when the flash is pointed straight ahead. I'm not going into specific reasons why - I do that during my program. Just know that direct flash on the subject is about the least flattering light you can put on your subject.

Yes, I do have a quick fix - just turn your on-camera flash about 90 degrees to the left or right side, bounce it off a wall and, presto - beautiful light. Check out the diagram below to see how I have the flash orientated.

With the light bouncing off the wall, the returning photons now have a direction as they illuminate the subject creating a highlight next to a shadow that creates detail, depth, dimension and a portrait much superior to the on-camera "blast flash" variety.

Check out the second image to see what I'm talking about. The lighting looks great and really flatters the bride - none of that harsh on-camera flash lighting here. Obviously the light can be bounced off of anything as long as it's return path coincides with the direction of light needed for the loop lighting pattern I use so often. You can find out more about classical lighting patterns at my previous post, "Rembrandt Lives - Part 2" right here.

Hey gang, that's our quick "You Light Up My Life" segment for today. We will see everyone in for my DWC in San Francisco on Monday. See ya' down the road. -David

"Wine Country"

"Wine Country"

©David A. Ziser

I made this image a few years ago while traveling through California wine country. Today we are visiting the Willamette Valley in Oregon so I thought it was an appropriate post. We had just gotten out of our car to visit one of the local wineries. The sun was backlighting the valley with a very strong direct light. I could barely see the hills through the camera. I think this fact is what added the interest to the shot. The image is simply a play of ever so light colors against the soft textures of the valley. You have to look hard to see the details but I think it is this visual invitation for the image that lets the viewer be drawn even more into it. Camera specs: Canon 20D fitted with 17-85mm IS lens at 85mm F10 @ 1/320 ISO 400.

Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: One More Way To Sell More Four More Photographs

Good Morning Everybody,
We had a great time in Portland last night with our very fun and welcoming crowd of enthusiastic photogs. I think a good time was had by all and to the amazement of LaDawn, I finally finished close to the scheduled quiting time - 10:30 p.m.

We had a nice surprise last last when our B&H friends, Steve and Gabe - all the way from NYC - came by to see the show. Of course, they had some great B&H deals as usual. Just as a little footnote here, everyone attending my Digital WakeUp Call tour is getting a special DWC catalogue with the best B&H specials. My thanks to B&H for their generosity and support of the tour. Hi-Fives, you guys!!!

We have the next few days off as we take a few days to rest then to get to San Francisco for next Monday's program. We are hanging out in Portland taking in some of the sites and enjoying a little R&R and site-seeing before heading off tomorrow - Southbound and down. So on that note, let get to a short and sweet Business Day Thursday - here we go...

One More Way To Sell More Four More Photographs
At one of our DWC cities along the way, the hotel room in which we stayed presented a wonderful idea in how to display images. It was the decor in the room itself that prompted this post. Above the flat screen TV was a shelf and upon the shelf were several photographs.

Here is what struck me about this simple piece of wall decor - what a great way to sell collections of images. That is to give our clients an easy solution to selecting many off their favorites from one of your portrait sessions.

Follow me here - shooting digital these days generally means we are taking many more photographs than we ever did in he film days - at least to those of us that still remember film;~) The problem is that digital photographers are still thinking like film photogs and only selling 3-5 images from a shoot. I said it before and I'll say it again. We need to stop waiting for the client to tell us what they want. We need to create innovative and fun products that they have never been presented with before. Products that include more than one 8x10 or 5x7.

Hit the"Read More..." link below for the rest of the story.

Selling image collections of family portrait sessions is one way to do just that. Maybe not every family client wants to go to the expense of purchasing a wall portrait. Maybe it's just not their style.... that's fine a small portrait collection might just fill the bill - and the price point for their wallets.

You actually have help in promoting this product from the likes of Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware even Target carries matching shelf frame combinations. I was in a Pottery Barn recently and there it was a collection of family photographs displayed on the wall in their store. Folks, this is what one of the nation's most successful retailers is "suggesting" their customers may find decorative and attractive to display collections of images. Why don't we do the same? Heck, we are the photographers shooting the families for the clients in the first place.

It's an easy putt for birdie - just display this kind of decorative image collection in you studio or wherever you present your work to your client. Let them see and experience how exciting and beautiful an "image collection" can look. Price a collection with for example; 2 8x10's and 2 5x7's with simple frames (just like Pottery Barn). Include the simple shelf/ledge in the price, and presto, you have a very cool new product to offer your client.

Now change the shelf, the frames and expand that to senior portraits, baby portraits, and anything else you can think of. Folks, this is pretty good fuel for your sales fire, hits a price point that doesn't break the bank, and has great customer appeal thanks to the "cross promotion" from popular retailers like Pottery Barn.

Hey gang that's it for me today. I hear the wind whistling through the grape vines of Willamette Valley. I see the morning dew on the grapes, I smell the bouquet of the soft Pinot Noir's. Man, I've got to hit the road;~)

See everybody tomorrow for a brand new series - You Light Up My Life. Check back tomorrow to see what I have up my sleeve. See you then. -David

"Clearing Storm Over Lake Sawyer"

"Clearing Storm Over Lake Sawyer"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image while visiting our friends, Bruce and Terri Hudson's home Monday evening. We had just arrived in Seattle, rented our car and were off to visit Bruce and his family over dinner. As the steaks were grilling, Bruce was giving us a tour of his beautiful new home in this wonderfully tranquil setting. The clouds were just starting to break and just a bit of the evening twilight started to peek through. It was quite dark but I thought I could till pull off the shot at a high ISO on my Canon. I made a few shots but the shutter speed was quite slow about 1/3 to 1/4 second. With the camera in multi-shot mode, I managed to get a few that were quite sharp thanks to the image stabilization built into the lens. I tweaked the final image in Lightroom to enhance the colors and adjust some of the densities in the scene. When I was finished, I thought it would make a nice image post for our brief visit to Seattle. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F4.0 @ 1/3 second (hand-held), ISO 3200. Enjoy! -David

Portrait Day Wednesday - What Do You Charge For The Portrait

Good Morning Everybody,
We wrapped day one of our West Coast leg of Digital WakeUp Call last night. Thanks to the 200+ enthusiastic photographers that came out for the program. My special thanks to those that made 2, 3, even 4 hour drive to be in attendance at the program. My thanks to several of our Canadian neighbors who also made the trip down and across the border to see the program. Your presence surely made it an international experience for everyone!

Last night I also got a chance to meet fellow blogger, Gavin Seim. Gavin runs ProPhotoShow.com which features several notable articles, interviews, and discussions on all things digital. Heck, I was even a guest a while back. He has a great post right now entitled, "19 Tips To Get 300 Client Inquires" - pretty good stuff. You can check Gavin's site out right here. It was certainly a hi-light to finally meet Gavin in person and to put a face with the name.

Gavin, Jag from Canada, Kanani, and I had a nice visit in the lounge afterward just talking all things photography. I'll tell you, I love Seattle, I love the salmon (missed it this time around), and I love the beautiful geography in this part of the great USA. We look forward to a return visit where we can have an opportunity to explore the area.

Hey, let's get on with today's post.

What Do You Charge For The Portrait
Wow! After the few the negative remarks about my "Clothing Conference" last week [link], I wonder if I should go on with the series. Just kidding - I was surprised by the remarks though. Some commenters liking the first image over the second blew my mind. The first image might have looked good at grandma's house as a 5x7 next to some snaps of the grand-kids, but it would not be my choice as a piece of photographic art to hang in my home. Maybe that's the difference - what's the final use of the image. Anyway, each to their own opinion.

The post today was originally slated to take on a different flavor, but somewhere along the way my brain took a detour. I got fired up about pricing, and ended up with what you get to read today. Maybe I should have posted this tomorrow for Business Day Thursday, but hey, we've got to hit the road for Portland shortly so I'm going to let the stand as is for today. Next week I'll get back to the specifics of shooting the portrait - sound good? Then off we go...

But, you know, it does raise a point about family portraits - what is the final use of the image going to be? I started this series based on the premise that the final portrait would be hung in a prominent location in the clients home. I suspect many readers have a different expectation of what the family portrait represents to their photography business.

This begs the question as to what one might charge for such a service. How much should you charge for the portrait session? How much should you charge for an 8x10? What should be a good sales average for a portrait sale? Answering these questions certainly makes some sense before we proceed with booking the client.

Hit the "Read More..." link below for the rest of the story.

So how much should you charge for a "sitting fee?" We charge anywhere from $0 when I donate to charity auctions in which I support the good cause of the event. Sure, the "sitting fee" is paid but the proceeds go to the fundraising event and we get the promotional value out of our gesture. As a result of our participation we, by the way, usually pick up a good client too.

Typically our session fee is $250. That includes my time and talent, my assistant's time, planning for the portrait with the client, and follow up discussion on how to best display the family's full enjoyment of the portraits.

Photographers prices can range all over the place for the portrait photography service. Some photographers opt for a minimum order of as an example $500 and waive the session fee in lieu of the client agreeing to the minimum amount. The bottom line is this folks, if it's not profitable, don't waste your time.

What do I mean by that remark? Follow my thinking. I recently saw a photographer at one of our local parks photographing two young children ages around 4 and 5. The photographer was using a wide angle lens that certainly did little to enhance the portrait - we've talked about why I use a long lens on all my portrait shoots [link]. He was also using a flash diffuser on his on-camera flash - no directional light - hence no beauty in the lighting in my opinion.

I'm guessing his sitting fee was quite small. Notice, I didn't say reasonable here. Why? Because reasonable implies value for price and from where I was standing, there was not much value going into the "portrait" I was watching the photographer make for his client. Granted I didn't have benefit of viewing the final results, so I can't be absolutely sure of the photographers final presentation to his client.

OK, don't start the nasty-grams yet - still here me out. So many photographers are charging little for their services in many instances because that is what their services are worth. The print prices for the client, I suspect would be quite small too. I know of a photographer who was charging $10-$12 for his 8x10's - for real!

So now let's beg another question. How much do you need to net to support yourself working on a full time basis in this profession? What's a comfortable amount for you? Let pick an annual income of say $50,000. Now let's do the math; sitting fee - $50, total sales from portrait session - $150. That's a grand total of $200 for all the photographer's time and effort. I would have to shoot 250 sessions a year to gross $50,000. After expenses, taxes, FICA contributions, etc. I get to keep about $23,000 - about the the poverty level for America and for a family of four! It doesn't work.

Now consider your time to book the session, shooting time, post production and delivery and you end up making about $18/hour - not worth it in my book. It comes down to this - you need to present a great product at a fair price for your time and talent and only then can you expect to make a decent profit and be successful in this profession.

At those unreasonably low prices, you might be staying busy but staying busy is easily confused with being successful. I know photographers that charge from $50 to $500 for a session fee, $50 to $300 for an 8x10, and up to $3000 for a 40 inch wall portrait.

DAZNOTE: I personally wouldn't spend $3000 on a portrait if that portrait didn't compliment the colors, tonality, and mood of the space in which I planned to display it.

Where is your comfort zone? The entire discussion demands that we rethink what we want our gross sales to be, what we need to do to hit that number, and finally consider how many dollars are left for us to put in our back pocket.

I learned in the second grade a little saying by J. Hawkes that sticks with me even today, "Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you aimed at an object on a level with yourself."

Food for thought--

Hey everybody, I've got to get moving -we leave for Portland shortly. See everybody tonight in the beautiful Beaver state. See ya' then, -David

"Haystack"

"Haystack"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image a few years ago while visiting the great Northwest. One of my favorite places to visit in this part of the country is Haystack Rock. The scenery around the area is just magnificent. I love this image of the very large Haystack Rock set against the fog of the late morning. There is an eerie beauty to the shot that evokes majesty, mystery, and beauty. I converted the image to B&W and tweaked the tonalities slightly in Photoshop to get to the finished result. It's still one of my favorites. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 17-85mm IS lens at 28mm F11 @ 1/250 second, ISO 100. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Using My Mini-Z-Ray For Great Portraits

Good Morning Everybody,
The Western States leg of of Digital WakeUp Call tour [link] kicks off again this evening. We will be visiting with over 200 photographers in Seattle tonight and then on to Portland tomorrow.

Yesterday morning I received a quick email from my photographer buddy, Bruce Hudson, inviting us to dinner at his home last night. We jumped off the plane, rented the car, and headed over to Bruce's for a wonderfully relaxing evening of great food, wine, beautiful scenics and scintillating conversation. Bruce and I have known each other for a number of years. He continues to be one of the industry's leading photographers and teachers.

He and his son, Josh, have created MyStudioMentor.com to show other photographers how to be successful, both photographically and professionally. Check out this link to MyStudioMentor.com right here . Bruce has been at this a long time and has a great track record - just read the above to see what I mean.

During our visit last night we had the opportunity to meet his daughter, McKenna, son Austin and Bruce's wife Terri. It seems Bruce has two weddings coming up in his family over the next year or so, both McKenna and Josh have nuptial plans. Without missing a beat - I asked if they needed a good wedding photographer. You know me, I'm always trying to book another job or two;~) Bruce, thanks again to you and your family for your wonderful hospitality last night!!

Hey gang, time to move on to this week's brand new Technique Tuesday.

Using My Mini-Z-Ray For Great Portraits
I've been providing content for DWF - Digital Wedding Forum for the last several months. Here is the link to the DWF site right here. I'm featuring one of my early episodes today at DPT - I think you will like it. DWF is a great organization with lots of good benefits going on for their members, including their DWF-U where there are many more short tutorials on how to do all things "wedding" - check it out.

So here is the question, just how much expensive equipment do you need to make a portrait. You know, most photographers are three things, and the first thing is...... CHEAP! Me included ;~) Over the years, more for the challenge of it all, I was always exploring the minimal amount of equipment I needed for the job. I never thought you needed the most expensive gear just to capture a picture. For me, it was never about the gear - it was always about the light. So my goal has been to find the least expensive priced piece of gear and then see just what I could do with it.

Today's tutorial demonstrates this challenge very well. Check out the images I was able to put together with only a $1 LED flashlight. Hey, you get a peek at good lighting and composition too. It's all in good fun so just hit the play button below and enjoy the show.




Hey gang, that's it for me today. Hope to see many of you tonight in Seattle - heck, if you can't make it tonight, maybe I'll see you tomorrow in Portland. See ya' then. -David

"Into The Future"

"Into The Future"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image in 1980, almost 30 years ago. I was going through an old print case over the weekend and came across this, along with several other images. This image was submitted for my ASP Fellowship which I received in 1988 - it was quite the honor. Anyway, I still love the timeless quality of this image. I almost hesitated posting it, but after seeing the clothing styles hadn't dated the image, I chose to share it with you. This image was actually taken in the formative years of my learning to use off-camera flash. I bet the Strobist wasn't even born yet ;~) Anyway, this image was part of an engagement session for this couple. The image was taken at dusk and we had some great cloud structure in the sky. The technique is the same as I often demonstrate here at DPT. The off-camera flash in this case was a LumaDyne 200 W.S. strobe used at full power and fired by my DynaLite radio control I owned at the time. I love the composition and feeling of this shot. The clouds easily lead the viewer's eye right to the couple. The sunset was enhanced in the custom printing - way before Photoshop was even a thought in John Knoll's mind. Camera specs; Hasselblad 500CM fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F8.0 @ 1/500 second, Vericolor 400 speed film. Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit Monday: Digital WakeUp Call Back On The Road, Lots Of Lightroom, A Little Photography, And Some Fun

Good Morning Everybody,
Wow! I can't wait - my Digital WakeUp Call tour is back on the road after being off for a week teaching my Master Class. I'm happy to say that the tour has been getting RAVE reviews - Thanks a bunch! We jump on a plane in just a few hours and head to Seattle.

Today is the beginning of our West Coast leg of the tour. Over the next 3 weeks we will travel from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, LA - Burbank, LA - Ontario, LA - Irvine and wrapping up in San Diego. Check out all the tour info right here. Hope to see you out west.

Now let me tell you some very cool news - we get to the drive the entire coast over these next 3 weeks and are looking forward to enjoying that part of the good ol' USA. I'll tell you, the highlight of the tour this time around is going to be a visit and tour of Google - yep, world famous Google. I got an email from one of our attendees who offered a tour and a gourmet lunch at the Googleplex - can't wait for that one!

Anyway, on with Quick Hit Monday...

Lots of Lightroom
I was looking for something on Mellisa Gould's Lightroom site over the weekend - never did find it - but stumbled across my NAPP buddy, Rob Sylvan's, Lightroomers.com site [link]. Rob runs the NAPP Lightroom Help Desk so he knows his stuff. His site is nicely scattered with some very good Lightroom tips - check it out.

Also I caught this very interesting post over at Lightroom Killer Tips by blogging my buddy, Matt Kloskowski. Matt showed a little before/after exercise on this video. It was interesting because I had a class member who loved my photography but was surprised to find that I used Lightroom to get to my final result. Folks, it's always about using the right tools for the job and the job is to get to what you saw in your mind's eye when you were making the image in your final result. A little nudge in Lightroom along the way can be a big help.

I have one rule here - "Get it right in the camera, unless, of course you can get it right in software faster."

Lots Of Photography
Wait, there's more. Also check out Yanik's Photo School. I happened upon Yanik's site months ago and just dropped back in for another visit. Yanik has some nice content on lots of photography things. Take a browse through his page and links right here - lots of good reading for everybody.

While we are on the subject of photography, check out Jan Klier's blog right here. Jan was one of our class members last week coming in from Seattle. He has some nice things going on over at his blog too. His blog is more that a product review site - I'd like to call it a thinking person's site. I mean that in the most flattering way possible. Jan discusses several things that are on many of our minds and explores perspectives on various topics. It's a nice read.

Wait, even more photography. I don't know how many of you have checked out DigitalPhotoPro.com site right here, but very often the trip is worth it. I'm on their email list and every time I get the notice, I check it out. This visit was not an exception. They cover the gamut of Gear and Technology, Business items, photographers' Profiles and the like. The site is targeted to Pros and you really should check it out.

And Now For Some Fun
Late last night I was doing a quick check of my emails before we hit the road today. I had a quick note from by buddy Kent Smith which said only this in the subject line, "Freakin unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and then posted this YouTube link right here. Hit the link only if you dare - it's totally unrelated to anything photographic but is an amazing video to watch, especially if you like bikes - 'nough said.

Hey gang, I'm out of here. Our plane leaves is just a few hours and I still have to pack. Don't forget Technique Tuesday tomorrow. See everybody in Seattle tomorrow. -David

"Happiness In White"

"Happiness In White"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image from the Master Class shoot from this past Wednesday. I wasn't going to post it but it just kept growing on me. The image was made before I had checked the settings on the camera. After taking the image, I knew I had overexposed it. I thought it looked kind of cool with the blown out tonalities and I still captured these nice expressions between the bride and groom. I thought there might be something "cooking" here. I also knew that an overexposed image sometimes looks really cool as a B&W. After importing into Lightroom, I desaturated the image, slid the "Clarity" slider slightly to the left to soften the image even more and got the result I wanted. I did several more images in this setting, but this remains one of my favorites. Let me know what you think. Camera specks; Canon 5D mark II fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 200mm, F4.0 @ 1/250 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

Soap Box Friday: Do We Need To Learn How To Play?

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, today we wrap the last day of my Master Class. We had everyone to our home for dinner last night and gave them a peek at how we run our business and just plain do things around here. I think everyone enjoyed the short tour, but I think they liked the food more;~) We finish the day at noon and then it's back to the real world for us and a little break over the weekend before we head back out on tour on Monday - look out Seattle, here we come.
Anyway, on with the post today...

Do We Need To Learn How To Play?
Two weeks ago I posted an article entitled, "Are We All Just A Little Bit Lazy?" [link] It hit a chord for many readers and spoke to how we sometimes waste time in our lives and what we could do to change that behavior. Anyway, today's post deals with a different aspect of staying motivated, imaginative, and creative.

I was reading a story a few weeks ago about how high risk kids need to learn how to play. Their stress filled lives had no room for just having fun. It was a fascinating article - kids having to learn how to play. Children's day-today lives have certainly changed as that thought never would have occurred to most of us.

I got thinking how so many of us live our own stress filled, busy lives which leads to all kind of health ills - some very serious indeed. Do we as adults need to learn how to play more too? I think so.

In David Elkind's book, "The Hurried Child", he states that play is shorthand for imagination, curiosity, ... and it's in increasingly short supply. You know that applies to adults too. Without some kind of safety valve - play - the pressure builds and we feel anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed. Folks, it's simply not worth it - we all need to plan some "slow down" time into our lives.

I know people look at my lecture schedule and think I'm crazy when they see 58 cities listed - plus I need to run a studio too. The unstated question always is, " When do we ever get a break?" The fact of the matter is this - to keep our sanity, we have what I like to call "pause points" schedule in along the way.

Here is an example. We land in Seattle on Monday the day before I present Tuesday's DWC program. Wednesday we head off to Portland for the next presentation. Ah, but after Portland we have 5 days off from the tour schedule to get down the coast to San Francisco. Do I need to mention that we pass through some of the best wine growing regions of the country - Willamette Valley in Oregon and Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California before we need to land in San Fran on the following Monday for that evening's presentation. LaDawn has scheduled a little play time along the way into this portion of the trip. And frankly we can't wait!!

Anyway, here is the deal - psychologists worry that limiting free play in kids may result in a generation of anxious, unhappy and socially maladjusted adults. “The consequence of a life that is seriously play-deprived is serious stuff,” Brown says. But it is never too late to start: play also promotes the continued mental and physical well-being of adults.

Yes, you saw it here - play also promotes the continued mental and physical well-being of adults. What are you doing to make play part of your creative process? I'm not talking about hitting the sofa and watching TV. I'm talking serious play - just like a kid - running, jumping, laughing, just having fun without any time constraints on consequences attached to our playful moments.

The play can truly be an invigorating and creative process for all of us. In an article in Scientific American it states, "Free, imaginative play is crucial for normal social, emotional and cognitive development. It makes us better adjusted, smarter and less stressed." [link]

Folks, this should be a wake up call for all of us. This advice points us to a more creative and successful solution to keeping our businesses and our lives running more smoothly, and yes, even more efficiently. We don't have to be like Chicken Little and wondering about whether the sky is falling. Just get out there and play a little under that sky and fresh air. Play in itself is our insurance that the sky won't fall as we take time to de-stress our lives clearing out the brain muck that slows the creative processes we all need to be happy and successful.

Food for thought --

Hey gang, that's it for me today. Everybody have a great weekend - get out and play a little. I'll see you on the flip side on Monday. Adios, -David