Episode 4! Totally Rad Actions giveaway!

Note: Photographer suggestions can be made through Twitter by mentioning @Potluckphoto or through the actual Potluck Photo comments page.

*Prize: Action Pack by Totally Rad Actions or TRA 2: The Revenge

Question 1 (Debbie Lee): How do you feel about “fad-ish” processing like vintage, wash-out or muted tones?

Answer:

Dave: I’m not so much into the trend, and I prefer to keep things relatively classic in order to prevent cringing in about ten years time.

Taylor: I try not to take anything too far, because after looking back on my old work, I find I tended to over-process with photo shop.  Not I try to hit at that decisive moment because when you do, it doesn’t matter what you layer onto the photo.

Dave: I think it’s all good to create a brand for your look of images because otherwise everything would look identical.  If you want to look at someone with a very distinct brand of photography, check out Marcus Bell.

Taylor: For commercial stuff – I’m not going to say I’m into HDR – but some of what people are doing correctly – with 360 lighting – really hit it well and bring out that extra contrast and third dimension.  But if you’re shooting weddings, there’s no need for HDR anywhere (in my opinion).

Dave: With spot colouring, to be realistic and in regards to wedding photography, nobody’s going to benefit from having their photographs spot coloured.

Taylor: Just so you know, spot colouring is when you de-saturate a photo and make it black and white except for one small object (like a bouquet) that’s still coloured.

Question 2 (Jane Grantham): How do you deal with clients who really want to know what the price is?

Dave: If people call about a shoot and their first question is how much you charge, I usually ask them to tell me about their plan – try to engage them and get on board to make it a personal connection as opposed to a price comparison.  But if they’re adamant to know pricing, I happily give it to them.  Like any business, you should be able to give a quote.

Taylor: Have at least a starting price on your website just to give them something to go from.  Or you can have your full pricing on there.

Dave: I lay it all out – we were getting too busy with inquiries so we put it all out there.  And it does have the effect of scaring away some people if you’re priced in the higher end, but it qualifies leads and creates a sense of trust so that they know what they’re coming in to talk about.

Question 3 (anonymous): I have my first commercial shoot coming up, and I’m just wondering what’s expected of me?

Taylor: That’s a little vague since I’m not sure what the commercial shoot’s for, so I’ll speak from a product sense.  You should go in and have a good idea about what you’re going to be shooting – try to understand what they want to accomplish.  For the most part, there should be an art director or at least a member of the marketing team there to sit with you and make sure you’re getting what they need and what they’re going to work with.  And the skill of the art director can range from being very meticulous to the other end of the spectrum.

Dave: The first thing I like to do is to make sure the expectations of the art director are what I think they are, so I shoot a wide shot and show them, and let them know how it will look if I take a tighter shot.  It’s quite important to understand what the brief is – so talk to them about it and get to understand the marketing message.

Taylor: I always try to keep it to “as few cooks in the kitchen” as possible – so the art director or one or two members of marketing – because then it becomes an anti-marketing department at that point due to competition.

Question 4 (Richard A.): How often do you shoot raw as opposed to s-raw?

Dave: That’s an important question because it depends on what you’re doing.  I think for a portrait session or something with two or three main outcomes, you’re going to want raw.  But if you’re shooting weddings and creating 1500 frames, you don’t want to bog down your system with huge information.

Taylor: I’m not sure if it’s Nikon specific, but raw is 12 megapixels, and s-raw is 24 with 5D.  I’ve had no issues shooting s-raw for weddings – and I’ve printed a six foot canvas using s-raw.

Dave: It’s a sharpness issue, really.

Question 5 (Luke): How many images do you provide a client with for a wedding?  Full editing or just light room adjustments?

Dave: We light room edit everything, and we each shoot about 500 images for the day – about 1000 images – so if we were to full retouching, that would be crazy.  Instead, we edit everything and choose our favourites and re-touch those and create our own design mock-up.  And that way, when they make changes we only need to edit five or ten images.

Taylor: I usually ballpark 500 and deliver about 600 – 800, and they’re the best photos.  Don’t send 12 variations of the same family shot because you’ll waste a lot of the clients’ time.  It’s a quality thing – if they’re not 100% sharp images, I don’t include them.

Dave: There are so many moments in the day that if you don’t include the shot of grandma giving her a hug, there are so many more that they won’t even remember that one.

Question 6: If you could only bring three lenses on a destination shoot, what would they be?

Dave: If you’re not travelling around on a work permit, it can be hard.

Taylor: I always price it into bringing an assistant or a second shooter with me.  I’ll use their first body as my backup if I absolutely need it.  But as for lenses, I’m good with a 35, 150 and a 135 – those are my main lenses.

Dave: With destination weddings, the primary concern is sand.  I hate changing lenses and I hate dragging gear on the beach, so we tend to shoot with zooms throughout the ceremony.  So a 24 to a 70 or a 70 to the 200 so you get all the group shots.  I love having a good variety of lenses because we love our macro shots, so we often bring a macro lens in our checked gear.  I suggest bringing a couple lenses in your checked bags – but make sure they’re protected because those bags can be treated pretty roughly.

Taylor: If I’m doing corporate stuff, I’ll bring a tripod, too.  It also gives your bag a structural integrity – it seems to support lenses and whatnot a little better, I find.