Knowing that Dane Sanders has been in the business for a while, I was apprehensive about his book Fast Track Photographer.  I mean, how can someone who has been in the industry over 5 years write a book on how to get on the “Fast Track” to success?  Wouldn’t it make sense if Jasmine Star wrote the book?

However, after reading a few nice words from fellow colleagues about the book, I decided to give it a go. Once I started reading I didn’t stop, and read the entire book in one sitting.

All I can say, is that I can breathe again.  The book will not tell you how to operate your flash in manual, nor will it tell you how to market to “high-end brides.”  What it will do is cause you to open your eyes a bit, and instill a bit of self-discovery. Combined with the pDNA self-assessment test, it will give you a clear and concise definition of who YOU are as a person.  After all, the most unique thing about your business is YOU.

If you have lost your way for what ever reason, I implore you to pick up the book and read it.  If you are just starting out in the photography business, this book is just as important as getting a D.B.A.  I really wish he would have written this book when I started 1.5 years ago.  I would have fine tuned the tasks that I excel at, and would have outsourced everything else.

Fast Track Photographer has caused me to re-define every aspect of my business, and certainly has caused me to re-define my target market.

How has it worked so far?

I’ll let you know.

Check it out here.

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This particular Lexar card has been dropped in the sand and on the concrete, it’s been sat on, and it even flew into a cake at a wedding while trying to eject it.  Although it looks bad after being used for almost 2 years, it still works like a charm. These guys are soldiers.

Used Lexar Professional Compact Flash Card

Shooting, Workflow - No Comments »

I have to give a shout out to my friends over at Rentglass based in Florida.  I rent from them frequently, and they have always been great when it comes to customer service.  Need that lens hood?  Just ask them to include it.  Need the tripod ring?  Just ask for them to include it.  They also happen to be the least expensive camera equipment rental place on the internet.  They carry both Canon and Nikon glass, as well as a few select camera bodies.

So if your on the hunt for renting camera lenses, then give Rentglass.com a shot!

(I am in no way affiliated with rentglass, and do not make commission off of referrals.  Their service just rocks, and photographers need to be made aware of this!)

Shooting - 1 Comment »

If you watched, “How to Edit 1000 Photos in 21 minutes,” then you already know what “Keyframes” are.  For those of you who are just joining us, “Keyframes” are what I call your “5 Star Favorites” in Adobe Lightroom, and are used to speed up the editing process substantially.  Part 2 of this 3-part post will NOT instruct how to design an album, but will be more of a primoridal soup of endless rants and run-on sentences with my philosophies on album design.

Enjoy.

Your ready to start designing using Photoshop CS2.  Although, if you want to build a house with a hammer instead of a nail gun, then go right ahead.  I used to spend my days in Photoshop designing, until I happened upon Foto Fusion.  FF literally shaved my design time in half.   I could go on-and-on about Foto Fusion, but we’ll save that for a different post.  Other programs for album design include Adobe InDesign, Photojunction, and Yervant Page Gallery (which is template based).

After a typical wedding, I will have roughly 100-200 Keyframe (favorite) photos.  These are the building blocks of the couples wedding album.  The rest of the photographs from the wedding will serve as “fillers.”  The actual design process is completely freestyle, and is really based on your own creativity and personal tastes.  You have to really visualize the spread before you build it.  Each spread should have 1-2 Keyframes, and anywere from 3-7 fillers.

So how long should this take you?  I typically spend 30-45 minutes on a spread (reduced from an hour per spread using Foto Fusion).  Most of you are more than likely shaking your heads; but why?  Because it shouldn’t take that long?  Why should it not take that long to build a spread for a couples wedding album that will be passed down from generation to generation and will more than likely be around for over 100 years?  Why would you would want an album design that’s thrown together in an hour?  Sadly, this is considered the norm nowadays.  Is it fair to charge the couple $8,000 to shoot their wedding, only to invest an hour of your time designing a wedding album?  Reduce your time editing to allow more album design time.  It’s the final presentation from you as a photographer and your client’s deserve nothing less than the best.

You should already have an idea of what pictures to include, and not to include in the album.  This comes from actually opening your eyes when your shooting a wedding, and communicating with the bride and groom.  Is there a special friend of the bride?  Did the best man save the grooms life?  Is the FOB terminally ill, and this may be the last time everyone is together?  Did the MOB construct something special for the couple out of paper-mache?  Those are the important things that you need to take note of.  Those tidbits of information will make the album design process personalized to that individual client.  The more personalized your album design becomes, the more value that gets added to it, resulting in a higher priced album.  It’s like buying a CD.  The CD itself doesn’t cost much, but the content inside is what’s worth it.

Previously : Part 1-Pre-face

Coming Up: Part 3 - Presentation

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It’s the day after the wedding, and I’m ready to blog my favorites…but wait!  The damn internet is out.  Are you kidding me?  Of all days for the internet to go out, it goes out on the day after a shoot!  The day I post my favorites!  Uggh!

Never fear paddawon.

Using the Internet Sharing application built into Windows Mobile Smartphones on allows one to stay connected in the event of an emergency (albeit at roughly 75 kb/s.)

Shown: T-Mobile Dash

T Mobile Dash tethered to a laptop, acting as a modem for internet access.

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I have such a great passion for designing wedding albums, and I absolutely put more time into designing than anything else (i.e.,shooting, editing, etc.)  After all, it’s the final product.  For some couples, it’s what they will remember you by (hopefully you retain those clients). Why give them a wedding album that looks like their friends?  Is it because it’s normal?

What do you visualize when I say the words “wedding album?”

Maybe something flush mount? Great, we’re already on the same page.

Maybe your visualizing a black or white background with pictures shimmied about?  Why did you visualize that?  Maybe because it’s practically the norm nowadays.  That’s the thinking you must break away from.

Break away from the norm.

This post is coming straight from the heart. Although the steps outlined in this three part post may not work for everyone, they will work for those who spend hour-after-hour searching for ways to, “break away.”  This industry is over-saturated with new photographers.  The value of photography has dropped, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find ways to stand out.

So flock left when everyone else flocks right, right?  Not particularly.  Half of humanity has already realized this, so now it’s now half-hand-half.  So which way do you go?

Up.

Coming Up: Part 2 - The Process

Album Stuff - No Comments »

Every two weeks, a guy named Kevin comes and take’s care of our yard. He cut’s the lawn, takes care of the weeds, and does whatever else is necessary to keep our yard looking good.  Last year around Christmas time, we came home from a day of shopping to find a Poinsettia planted underneath our mailbox; which subsequently is where our business sign hangs proudly.

It took us a week to figure out that it was Kevin who planted it.  Now, every time I see the Poinsettia I am reminded of Kevin and his Lawn Maintenance service.  What a clever way to market one’s business.

Kind of makes you think…what are YOU doing to make sure that your clients remember who you are?

Marketing - No Comments »

SIS Designs is now Live!

This has been in the works for a couple of months now. We realized that some photographers either; don’t have the time to build their own site, or might just need a little “nudge” in the right direction. So, we started designing some wicked cool Style Groups exclusively for Showit Sites users!

We are launching with 10 Style Groups, and new Style Groups will be added every 3-4 weeks. If you have any ideas for groups you’d like to see, just let us know! We’ll be posting an open call requesting photographs to fill future Style Groups as they are built out, so be on the look out for that!

Check out the site, then hop on over to The Concession Stand to get yours!

I’ll be posting a full review on Showit Sites now that they are officially out of beta, and have released Ver 1, so be on the lookout for that soon!

Showit Sites Designs - No Comments »

**Permission is granted to publish this article electronically in free-only publications, as long as the resource box is included without any modifications. All inbound links must be active, and text credit given. A courtesy copy is requested upon publication (nick [at] haskinsphotography.com)**

Being self taught, I have happened upon many techniques that allowed me to develop an extremely efficient post-processing solution. I can fully edit 1000 photos in about 20 minutes using Adobe Lightroom, and today I will explain the process behind it. If your still using Photoshop for your post processing, that’s fine. Just know that what your doing is building a house with a hammer, when you should be using a nail gun. Also know that this is not possible with Photoshop. Looking forward to the comment box being full of naysayers. I’m referring to the actual editing process. Mind you I do give some extra lovin to the photos that go on the blog, however for the sake of this tutorial I am referring to the rest of the photos you have left to edit after picking out your favorites.

Edit 1000 photos in 21 minutes. Join me on a Magic Workflow Ride. Will you?

Before we begin, it’s imperative that all of your photos be the same exposure. You’ll have to shoot in Manual mode to achieve this. Take a test shot, stop up or down as needed, and leave it there. It does’nt matter if it’s slightly under-exposed, or over-exposed. The important thing is that they are all the same exposure. If you shoot in Av mode, then this process will mostly likely not work for you. It’s easier to batch correct a series of 25 shots, then to edit each one individually.

Our video starts out in Adobe Lightroom with 1050 RAW files from my recent engagement session. I’ve been lazy and haven’t opened Lightroom since Sunday. Immediately after getting home, I “5-Star” my favorites (noted with 5 stars), to post on the blog the day after. Those “5-Star” photos are what we’re going to refer to as “Keyframes.” Those Keyframes are going to guide you like interstate signs. The process is extremely simple.

After you have selected your ultimate favorites, your ready to being the editing process. Highlight the first Keyframe photo, shift click the rest of that series, then click the “Sync Settings” button. Using your Keyframe photos, shift-click-edit the remaining 1000 photos. This should only take you about 20-25 minutes. The video does a much better job of showing you what I mean. There is no sound, just the process itself.

I hope this helps those of you who are opening each and every file in Photoshop.

Click the link below for the video. It will open in a new window. The video runs in real time, and is 21 minutes long. You don’t have to watch the entire thing, just enough to grasp the techniques that I mention here today.

How to edit 1000 photos in 21 minutes.

**Nick Haskins is the author of, “How to edit 1000 photos in 21 minutes.” He has helped many photographers by providing efficient work flow solutions. Visit his site at http://www.haskinsphotography.com/site**

Workflow - 3 Comments »

**Permission is granted to publish this article electronically in free-only publications, as long as the resource box is included without any modifications. All inbound links must be active, and text credit given. A courtesy copy is requested upon publication (nick [at] haskinsphotography.com)**

As human beings we are indeed entitled to our own opinions, and most are certain to voice them. With that being said, the view’s in this article reflect my own opinions, based on reading the opinions of other brides scattered across internet forums. In our generation, everyone is online. Forums are the place to be, and are a “social hub,” for brides planning a destination wedding.

Destination weddings are on the rise, now accounting for 15%* of all weddings held. With nearly a 200%** increase just in the last 10 years, photographers are now carving a niche for themselves in the market. Although this a vacation and a time to relax for you and your family, it is by far a vacation for a destination wedding photographer. I decided to put this small article together after reading for the last time, “…I think it’s a great idea to just pay for the photographers travel, and not for his services. After all, it’s a free vacation for them!” I realize that not all brides feel this way, however I thought it would do some good to have the words on the internet for those who do feel this way. So…this one’s for you!

3 days before leaving for a destination wedding in Negril, Jamaica, I discover that one of my strobe’s isn’t working. I call another photographer friend, and luckily he wasn’t shooting that weekend and was able to borrow it. After purchasing a few more memory cards, and some extra batteries, we’re set to go. The backpack that holds the photography equipment comes in at just under 50 lbs, so I’m good to take it on board the plane. The last thing I want is my bag with all my equipment being checked…that’s just asking for it.

So we have a great flight and land in Jamaica, but theres a problem carrying photography equipment in to, and out of Jamaica. We have to have a “broker” to check the photography equipment to make sure we leave with what we came in with. Make sense? I thought I was set with the customs forms that I filled out 3 weeks before we left, but apparently they needed even more information. We wrastle with customs officials for about 2 hours, and we finally make it out of the airport.

After spending nearly 24 hours documenting the bridal shower, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, and day after session, we fly home. Of the 3 days that we were there covering this beautiful wedding, we were fortunate to be able to relax for 27 minutes the day after we flew in. Three days of work, with 27 minutes of relaxing time. The night before we left, I spent about 2 hours backing up the precious images onto an external hard drive. This was just incise my laptop was stolen, I would at least still have all the wedding pictures on a external hard drive in a separate bag.

After arriving back home in the states and getting some much needed rest, the process of going through the 4,000 images that were taken starts. I have to go through and star my favs, then post the blog the next day. I ended up blogging the wedding in a 3 part post with nearly 200 photos. The process took probably 4-5 hours, on top of the 2 hours it took to transfer the files onto the main computer, and back them up to the main external hard drive. After deleting the out-of-focus and blurry pictures, we’re left to edit approximately 2,000 photographs. This process took roughly 1.5 days to complete.

Now it’s time to catch up on the 3 days of emails, and phone calls that I have received since being out of the office. After spending a day playing catch up, it’s time to design the wedding album. I spend a lot more time on my designs than other photographers do. At the same token, my desings are more complex with more “bells and whistles.” After nearly 80 hours desiging each spread from scratch, the wedding album design is finished. At the very end of the process, all 2000 photos get re-sized and uploaded into categories online for your family to view.

So to re-cap, about 125 hours of time was devoted to this destination wedding. That’s over (3) 40 hour workweeks. When you see it broken down like this, it’s justifiable for photographers charge more for destination weddings, than they do for local weddings. There’s a ton more work involved.

The photographer should have the biggest budget of your destination wedding. It’s kind of like buying a Lexus…they are expensive…but worth it. Expect to invest between $3000 and $5000 for a good destination wedding photographer (and that’s the low end), in addition to paying for travel and misc expenses associated with travel.

Wedding photographers in general do not like to be referred to as, “just another vendor.” We spend a lot of time building re pore and trust between ourselves and our clients. After the DJ leaves, you never talk nor see him again. The same thing goes for the florist, and the caterer. The relationship you form with a photographer will last a very long time. You’ll see him/her again at other friends wedding that you’ve referred them too. Perhaps you might see him/her again on your one year anniversary. You might also see them again when you have kids.

Wedding photography should be viewed as an investment, because 10 years from now that’s all you’ll have from your wedding.

Have fun with the rest of your planning, and have a beautiful destination wedding!

(*source - The Wedding Report)

**Nick Haskins is the author of, “How to edit 1000 photos in 21 minutes.” He has helped many photographers by providing efficient work flow solutions. Visit his site at http://www.haskinsphotography.com/site**

Business - 4 Comments »