June 10, 2025 • 47 mins
#570 In Today’s Episode of the podcast I chat with YOU as I tackle a wide range of listener questions covering every stage of the photography journey. I respond directly to your real-world concerns, offering practical advice and personal insights on topics like preparing for photography trips, finding and owning your unique editing style, breaking into specialized fields such as wedding or food photography, and building a sustainable photography business even when time and energy are limited.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Trip Preparation & Gear Selection - Raymond breaks down how to plan a photography trip, using Alaska as an example. He stresses focusing on desired shots first, packing only essential gear, planning for power and backup needs, and not letting equipment overshadow the enjoyment of the trip.
- Finding & Owning Your Editing Style - A listener asks about confidence in a "purposefully imperfect" editing style. Raymond encourages embracing what moves you emotionally rather than succumbing to trends. Authenticity, he argues, attracts the right audience and sustains creative motivation.
- Building a Photography Business with Limitations - Addressing questions about starting (or sustaining) a business with limited time or neurodivergence, Raymond offers practical marketing strategies, including leveraging local business partnerships, automating social media, and focusing on core client beliefs.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS
- Exposure Compensation: Adjusts camera-determined exposure in automatic or semi-automatic shooting modes to lighten or darken images without switching to full manual mode. Essential for managing tricky lighting situations and achieving desired creative effects.
- Macro Lens: A lens designed for close-up photography that allows for high magnification and sharpness at very close focusing distances, ideal for genres like food photography.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What personal moments or subjects are most important for you to capture on a photography trip, and how might your gear choices support that?
- How can you refine your editing style to better reflect your personal taste or storytelling goals?
- If you were to market your photography business, what unique value or emotional connection would you offer your ideal client?
- How might you balance career ambitions with personal well-being or time constraints?
RESOURCES:
- Check out the food photography channel: Tin House Studio
- Social media scheduling tools: SocialBee, Buffer, Hootsuite, and Planoly
Learn What Camera Settings to Use in our free guide!
https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com
Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
- Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa
- Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Raymond Hatfield (00:00):
If you're being hired to edit in a certain
(00:03):
way, then you should edit inthat way.
If you are a photographer whophotographs for yourself, or you
even photograph for clients whohire you, you should edit the
way that makes you feel things,because that's what's gonna make
you stand apart, right?
If you change up your editingstyle to be more light and airy
(00:24):
or polished, or magazine worthy,what's gonna make you stand out
from all the other photographerswho do that?
Not much, right?
So be truthful to who you are,find what it is that you like,
and then just lean into that.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I am your host, RaymondHatfield, and welcome to our
(00:47):
monthly photo q and a episode.
This is where I take yourquestions and I answer'em here
on the podcast.
the Beginner Photography podcastis full of photographers at
different stages of theirjourney.
It's not just those who startedlast week.
Some of these questions may befrom those who have been
shooting for a few years oralready in business.
So no matter where you're at inyour journey, my hope is that
(01:10):
this episode, full of questionssubmitted by listeners of the
podcast.
One will be helpful to you.
You'll learn something thatmoves the needle forward in your
photography and genuinely helpsyou out.
So why don't we go ahead and getstarted with this.
Beginner Photography podcast, qand a episode.
And by the way, if you have aquestion that you want answered
(01:33):
here on the show, you can submitquestions by heading over to
beginner photo pod.com/qa.
Again, if you got a questionthat you want answered on the
podcast, that's burning withinyou.
You need the answer to somethingphotography related.
Head over to beginner photopod.com/qa and who knows, maybe
(01:53):
your question will be answeredin a future episode of the
Beginner Photography Podcast.
So let's go ahead and get oninto this month's questions.
The first question here comesfrom Doug.
Doug is a long time listener.
He says, Hey, Raymond, I'mtaking a trip to Alaska next
month with my son.
What should I be thinking aboutin terms of photography?
(02:14):
Yes, moment matters most.
I'll probably be taking picturesof fish and bears.
I'll be lugging around a tripodfor landscape shots because I
love long exposures, and I wouldappreciate your approach to
this.
First of all, Doug, I.
Awesome to have you, submit aquestion.
and I too will be heading up toAlaska in, well, next month at
(02:35):
this point, sometime in July.
well the end of July.
I'm excited to see what it isthat I capture.
I've been up there a few timesbefore.
Sounds like you have as well.
And, yeah, just excited to seewhat I can get.
I love all of the, the natureand just the beautiful
landscapes that Alaska has tooffer.
So it sounds like it's gonna bea great option for you.
(02:56):
So, I guess I would approachthis in a few ways.
However, I am not going therespecifically for landscape shots
or photographing animals.
I'm going there for a smalllittle family, get together and
therefore.
I'm really gonna be trying tofocus on capturing images of my
family.
and I hope that the camera geardoesn't get in the way.
(03:18):
So I'm gonna be bringing my FujiEx Pro two, I'm gonna be
bringing my 18 millimeter lens.
I'm gonna be bringing my, 27millimeter lens, and then I will
probably also bring my 55 to200, just in case we decide to
go venturing out.
And.
You know, we see a bear.
Like, how cool would that be?
That is my main goal is to see abear and photograph a bear.
(03:41):
So, that'd be incredible.
I.
Obviously, like I said, I'm notsure what you are going for.
I know a lot of people go toAlaska for, guided tours.
They go specifically for thewildlife.
Some go just for the landscapes.
All great reasons to go, but Ireally think that that is going
to dictate what it is that youbring.
(04:03):
I'm not the kind of photographerwho is gonna wanna bring every
lens that I have, because that'sgonna be overwhelming.
I'm not gonna be bringing adrone, I'm not gonna be bringing
any specialty lenses.
I'm not gonna bring redundantlenses like my, 16 to 55 Zoom
lens because I have, most ofthat focal length covered with
my 18 and my, my 27 mil lens.
(04:24):
So, think about like what arethe images that it is that you
want to capture?
Go back and then obviously, youcan build your kit from there.
But I would say that on top ofjust the gear itself, depending
on where you're gonna be inAlaska, where I'm going, it is
very populated.
I'm not worried about not havingaccess to things like power or
electricity.
(04:45):
to power a computer, to rechargecamera batteries, flash
batteries, if you're gonna havethose.
So, because I'm not worriedabout those things, I'm just
gonna bring what I wouldnormally bring.
But for you, if you are gonna beventuring out, you're gonna be
gone a few days, deep into thewilderness.
Be sure to bring battery packs.
Here's one thing that I, I lovefor travel and has really
changed a lot for me.
(05:05):
All of the battery chargers thatyour camera will come with, like
you just plug it into a wall,they're fine, but it's one more
thing to bring.
And again, if you're unsureabout what the power situation
is going to be, that could makeit tricky.
For all of my cameras, I go onAmazon and I look for a battery
charger that has USBC that willlet me charge it through USBC
(05:29):
because the majority of mydevices, computer, my, I don't
know, just about everything.
My video camera, my iPad.
and then like various otherthings that my family has, like
all get charged via USBC.
However, my camera doesn'tcharge via USB.
because it's the expert two, itcame out.
Almost 10 years ago, requires meto charge it by taking out the
(05:50):
battery and then charging thatbattery.
So bringing a battery chargerthat can charge via USBC rather
than a traditional plug, I thinkit was like eight bucks.
And seriously, has improved myquality of life when it comes to
traveling'cause it's one lessthing that I have to think
about.
bring in the specific thing,bring in the specific cord, and
all that stuff.
(06:10):
So definitely look into that asfar as backing up your photos.
If you are bringing a laptop,like that's great.
That's gonna be your answerright there.
You just plug in the, the cardand then, you can offload your
images.
I would highly suggest bringinga solid state drive to be able
to back up your computer so thatyou don't lose your photos in
(06:30):
case.
You know, it's Alaska, it'sunpredictable, it's wild.
It's the last frontier, whoknows what could happen.
So, again, I would bring abackup hard drive, specifically
an SSD because of the no movingparts in it.
And then I would back up thecomputer so that just in case
something happens to yourcomputer, something happens to
your camera, you're not gonna beout all of the photos that you
(06:52):
captured because that wouldseriously suck.
I remember I took a trip a fewyears ago, we're talking 14
years ago, I guess, at thispoint.
And, back then it wasn't as easyto back up your files.
It wasn't as easy to, manageyour files on the go.
Computers had terrible batterylife, so you'd always have to
bring a charger and then thatwould suck, just to bring one
(07:15):
more thing.
So, I was taking all thesephotos and then once I got back
home from my trip, I plugged, mycamera directly into my
computer, which is a big no-no,and why I never do it now.
And the software popped up thatsaid, Hey, your camera has a
firmware update.
Would you like to update it?
And I was like, yeah, of course.
However, doing that.
Ford matted my card, before Ihad offloaded the images.
(07:38):
And that sucked because now theentire trip, all of the images
were gone.
And granted a lot of them werejust snapshots.
It was like a, just a littlefamily thing that we were doing.
It wasn't critical, but it stillsucked to have lost those
photos.
So make sure that you have adedicated memory card reader.
you know, if you bring yourlaptop or your iPad, be sure
(07:59):
that you have power for thosethings.
Most computers can be, or manybattery packs today can charge
things like laptops.
Many iPads have the ability to,work with solid state drive so
that you could back up photosonto them as well.
So, those are really the mainthings that I would think of is,
is power.
portability.
Then just like, the fun elementof it.
(08:20):
Like you still want to enjoyyour trip with your son and you
don't want the camera gear to,get in the way or cause you to
worry about, you know, you don'twanna bring so much gear that
now you're worried about losingor breaking your gear when
you're not even gonna use 90% ofit.
So that's what I would do.
Again, focus on the moment, likeyou mentioned, and then just
think about maybe right now,like what are the must have
(08:42):
shots for you.
Write them out, plan out likefour or five, and then get those
shots and then just be okay ifyou don't get anything else,
right?
I know that we want to maximizeour time there.
We want to get as many photos ashumanly as possible.
But if you plan ahead and think,okay, if I get these four shots
and then you do get those fourshots, you don't have to worry
about photography for the restof the time.
(09:03):
Everything else is a bonus,which allows you to be in the,
moment of your trip more.
You can be more present withyour son, and just enjoy it
more.
So again, the point ofphotography shouldn't be to be
the point of the trip.
It should enhance the trip.
So just try to think of it likethat.
So again, Doug, I really hopethat helps.
(09:24):
All right.
Let's go ahead and get on intoour next question.
And it comes from Jess.
Jess has a question that I knowmany of you are wondering.
you're thinking about, it's inthe back of your head, which is,
how do you feel confident withyour editing style?
I like a purposefully imperfectstyle with grain, and I know
it's not for most, but it makesme feel things.
(09:47):
Well, Jess, great question andI'm kind of with you there.
I really like purposefullyimperfect photos as well.
I will lean into the quoteunquote shortcomings of a camera
and try to capture images thathighlight those things because,
they're organic or they make theimage stand out in some way,
(10:09):
shape, or form.
So, I guess one notable examplethat I might give is that I had
a, Fuji X 70, a number of yearsago, it was a relatively
pocketable camera and at thetime I was shooting a lot of
weddings, which was focused onprecision and, just a really
polished look.
And the X 70 was my camera thatI used to play around and not
(10:32):
take too seriously.
And therefore, just for fun, Iwould in camera, be shooting
with a black and white filmsimulation.
And then I would set my ISO to3,200 and it's a crop sensor
camera.
And it was, well, I guess 10, 11years old and it didn't handle
3,200 great.
(10:52):
It was definitely visible signsof noise in the image.
And then I.
Y controlled the rest of mysettings around that.
So what that meant is that myimages looked dirty, they looked
gritty, they looked imperfect,as you mentioned.
And I loved that.
It was a time in my journey as aphotographer for what I enjoyed
(11:14):
it.
It was something that made mefeel something, like you said.
So how do you feel confident inyour editing style?
I mean, here's the thing.
If you're being hired to edit ina certain way, then you should
edit in that way.
If you are a photographer whophotographs for yourself, or you
(11:35):
even photograph for clients whohire you, you should edit the
way that makes you feel things,because that's what's gonna make
you stand apart, right?
If you change up your editingstyle to be more light and airy
or polished, or magazine worthy,what's gonna make you stand out
from all the other photographerswho do that?
(11:56):
Not much, right?
So be truthful to who you are,find what it is that you like,
and then just lean into that.
If you like imperfect photoswith that grain, try to go
deeper into that and see how faryou can push it, because I
guarantee you.
Again, if you're shooting forclients, there will be a
(12:17):
subsection of people who willnot only love it, but will go
outta their way to find you sothat you can deliver it for
them.
If you're not shooting forclients, then who cares, right?
Like, if it makes you feelthings, then congratulations,
you found it.
But like, don't give up at thatpoint.
(12:37):
still continue to experiment,continue to go deeper.
Continue to evolve as aphotographer and, try new
things.
Because my editing style that Iloved a number of years ago is
not the editing style that Ilove today.
And that is because I've triednew things.
I've experimented, I've done newthings in my process of when I
shoot that my old editing stylewouldn't work for today, and
(13:01):
therefore, you gotta try newthings.
So when it comes to theconfidence, like, I don't know,
or I can't imagine that peopleare grilling you, saying like,
why are you editing like this?
What are you doing with theseimages?
So therefore, like theconfidence just has to come from
within yourself.
If you like it, you like it,like, don't be ashamed of that.
I forget who it was.
I had a friend maybe it was anacquaintance.
(13:23):
can't remember who it was, but,I remember, this idea that like,
there's no such thing as aguilty pleasure.
if you like it, then like it,and that's that.
Like, who, like, who cares?
It's not guilty.
You don't have to be guilty foranything.
Like, just like it, embrace itand it is what it is.
Know that your style will changein the future, but this is what
(13:43):
it's like today.
And if you like it today, thenthat's all that you have to care
about, right?
So, Jess, I hope that helps, godeeper into your editing style,
like it for what it is, and,enjoy the ride.
All right.
Next question comes from Jess e.
Jess e, not Jess, who asked thelast question, but Jess e Jesse
(14:05):
says, the wedding photo marketis flush with young, vibrant
female photographers.
As a 38-year-old father of four,is it too late to try to get
into weddings?
So, there's a few parts of thisthat I want to address first.
first, why are you trying to getinto weddings?
(14:26):
Right?
That's a question that you haveto answer yourself.
There's a lot of newphotographers who want to get
into weddings because it payswell, and I'm not gonna lie,
that was me as well, right?
I loved a lot of elements aboutwedding photography, but knowing
that it paid better than othergenres.
Definitely pushed me towards,shooting weddings.
So asking yourself, is that thereason why you wanna get into
(14:47):
weddings?
Because if that's the case, it'sgonna be a long, hard road to
get into, so you might as welldo something that you actually
love.
Right.
Okay.
Let's assume though that youabsolutely love wedding
photography.
You love the idea that every dayyou go to work, there's cake.
You love the idea thateverybody's super happy and
(15:07):
thrilled and, willing to, trysomething new and experimental
and just having, 6, 8, 10, 12hours of uninterrupted, pure
photography time that can helpyou grow, in your skills and
feel fulfilled, right.
If that's the case.
Is it too late for a 38-year-oldfather of four to get into
(15:29):
weddings?
I'm gonna say no.
I'm gonna say absolutely not.
I'm gonna say you'reoverthinking this, right?
The market is flush with young,vibrant female photographers.
I think that may just be whoyou're seeing online, honestly.
I know a lot of male weddingphotographers, and I know a lot
of male wedding photographersover 40, right?
(15:50):
And I think that this is thebest time in history for a
38-year-old father of four toget into wedding photography.
Why is that?
Well, because the average age ofpeople getting married is, is
getting older and older.
The average age for men to getmarried is now over 30.
(16:11):
It used to be 22 years old.
It is now over 30.
If you're 38 and you're shootinga wedding for a 22-year-old, it
feels weird.
There's a lot of inside jokes.
There's a lot of generationaldifferences that you don't fully
understand, and you kind of feellike the odd man out.
If you're 38 and you're shootinga wedding for somebody who's 30,
there's a lot more in common.
You've had more life experience.
It's not as weird.
(16:32):
Right?
On top of that.
That's the average age.
Are some people still gettingmarried at 22?
Yes.
Are some people still gettingmarried at 40?
Yeah, absolutely.
And here's the thing, people arewaiting later in life to get
married because they want to bemore established in their
careers.
So if a couple is waiting longerbecause they want to be more
(16:53):
established in their career,that's great news for you
because these people who aremore established, these more
established couples have moremoney, right?
They're willing to spend onsomething that they see the
value in.
So if you position yourself asthe guy for these couples, then
you're set, position yourself asthe guy, for couples getting
(17:16):
married later in life, orcouples having their second
marriage.
If you've been divorced beforeand you're looking for a wedding
photographer, you're probablynot looking for some
22-year-old, young, vibrantfemale photographer.
You're looking for somebody whohas some life experience, who
understands that this isn't themost magical to have your life.
And it's all, butterflies andfairy dust.
(17:38):
Not that that is what all young,vibrant female photographers are
like, but like point is you'regonna want somebody with more
life experience and you're gonnabe that guy.
People who are on their secondmarriage might already have
kids.
They're gonna be moreestablished in their careers.
They are gonna have some extramoney.
They're gonna be willing tospend more on things that are
(17:59):
valuable to them, you know?
And the thing with weddings thatI loved is that, weddings are a
great, weakened hustle, if youwant to call it that, as much as
I hate that word, hustle.
If you find 10 couples, 10, Idon't know where you live, but
there's more than 10 coupleswithin half a mile of you,
(18:21):
right?
Unless you're like deep in theAlaskan wilderness.
But, point is there's gonna bemore than 10 couples just around
you, right?
So imagine how many differentcouples are in your city if you
shoot just 10 couples a year atthree grand, that's below the
average, the national averagefor a wedding.
what couples pay for weddingphotography?
(18:42):
That's not a bad side gig.
These couples, mid to latethirties, these are the couples
who are spending$70,000 on a newSUV five grand for a wedding
photographer is not a huge ask.
I mean, the average cardealership, I just looked this
up, is selling four to eightcars per day, four to eight cars
per day.
(19:02):
Who to people who are spending60 to$70,000 on a new car, you
can find 20 people in an entireyear to shoot their wedding.
And going back to this whole,38-year-old father of four
thing, check out the work ofwedding photographers like John
Dolan.
Check out Jeff Tysman.
Check out Ryan Brenn, Eiser, allof them over 40.
(19:24):
All dads all in demand.
I've had interviews with all of'em.
Go back, search'em up, check'emout, see their work.
It is not too late, and in fact,I would say this is the best
time in history for a38-year-old father of four to
get into wedding photography andsucceed.
(19:45):
All right.
Next question here comes fromSteve.
Steve says, Hey Raymond.
Love the show.
Thanks, Steve.
I too am a Fuji shooter.
Right on.
I love the manual controls.
What, if anything, is thedisadvantage of making use of
the exposure compensation dial?
I use it all the time.
(20:05):
Steve.
Congratulations on finding thebest camera system in the entire
world.
Being Fuji.
Just kidding.
The exposure compensation dial.
For those who are unaware, whatis exposure compensation?
When you are shooting with acamera and you're in some sort
of automatic mode, whether it beaperture priority, where the
camera decides the shutter inthe ISO, but you choose the
(20:27):
aperture, whether you're inshutter priority, where it's,
you choose the shutter, then thecamera chooses the aperture in
the ISO, or even if you'recontrolling your aperture and
your shutter speed, but are, arerelinquishing control of the ISO
to the camera.
There's some sort of automaticfunction there.
So, because you're not choosingeach one of your settings.
(20:49):
The camera's gonna have to makea choice on what the exposure is
going to be.
You might decide that thatexposure after taking a photo
is, is too bright.
You might decide that it's toodark.
You might have an exposure wherethe shutter speed is too slow.
You might have an exposure wherethe ISO was far too high, right?
And you need to kind of reignthat in.
(21:10):
So you do that with exposurecompensation.
What your camera's gonna do,when again, it has to make a
decision on exposure, is it'sgoing to look at the light
meter, it's gonna read theamount of light coming in, and
then it's going to, adjust itssettings so that it's quote
unquote properly exposed.
The problem here is that howdoes a camera know what is
(21:33):
properly exposed?
'cause the camera doesn't knowwhat it is that you're trying to
expose for.
So it takes the middle ground ofwhat is something that is too
bright white and something thatis too dark black, and it finds
the middle ground, which isgray.
So if you're shooting somethingthat's white and your camera's
in some sort of automatic modewhere it needs to make decisions
(21:53):
on exposure, it's going toadjust the settings,
underexposed so that this whitething, say a car or a bride
walking down the aisle so thatthe exposure is too dark and it
looks gray.
If you're photographingsomething black, let's say the
night sky or a groom in hisblack tux, it is going to
(22:15):
overexpose the photo and insteadof make it look black, it's
gonna make it look gray.
Now this can be bad becausenobody likes a gray, muddy
dress.
I've found that the way that acamera will overexpose a groom
in a black tux is throughshutter speed, which means it's
gonna slow down my shutter speedto the point to where now every
(22:37):
single image has motion blur,and that's not acceptable.
So you can use the exposurecompensation dial.
The exposure compensation dialallows you to say, Hey, every
photo that I take, I want it tobe one stop brighter than what
you, the camera would consider aquote unquote proper exposure.
That's great for when you'rephotographing something like out
(22:57):
in the snow or again, a bride ina white dress.
Or you can say, I wantsomething.
I want everything two stopsunder exposed.
You can compensate for that whenyou're shooting the night sky or
a groom in his black tux.
So what is the downside of usingthe exposure compensation dial?
The short answer is there's nodirect disadvantage of making
(23:21):
use of the exposure compensationdial, except that you're still
giving up control of the imageto your camera, to your camera.
That, again, doesn't know howyou want to expose something.
It doesn't know what you'rephotographing.
It doesn't know if that's awhite car or if it's just too
(23:42):
bright of an image.
So if you're shooting insomething like manual where you
control the aperture, youcontrol the shutter speed, you
control the ISO, the exposurecompensation dial does nothing
because you've already takencontrol of the three settings,
the only three settings thatcontrol the exposure.
So the exposure compensationagain, does absolutely nothing.
(24:05):
So to answer your question,here's the thing, I don't always
shoot in manual.
I love shooting in manual.
I love the control that it givesme.
I love how if I have an idea fora photo, I can change my
settings and achieve itextremely quick.
However, if I'm just out on awalk with my kids or at the
(24:26):
park, I just taken somesnapshots.
I will oftentimes put my camerain Aperture priority, and then I
just have to be okay with theknowledge that the camera might
make a bad decision.
And if I have to edit the photolater, then that's the price
that I'll have to pay.
But for anything that I'mserious about, anything that, is
(24:49):
a paid gig, I will absolutelyshoot in manual.
So it's 100% up to you if youdon't know how to shoot in
manual.
I highly suggest everybody knowshow to do it, because it's gonna
give you such a deepunderstanding of how a camera
works, how it processes light,and how you can control the
(25:10):
camera to create a scene infront of you that you see with
your eyes.
It's not boring, it's not flat,it's not dull.
It's not taking the same photothat every single person with a
camera shooting on auto wouldalso take.
So, little pitch here.
If you want to learn how toshoot manual and you're just
trying to dip your toes, I havea free resource for you.
(25:32):
It's called Picture PerfectCamera Settings.
There's more than 10 types ofphotography in my free guide and
in it I share my real photosfrom that type of photography as
well as the actual camerasettings I used.
What my aperture is, what my ISOis, what my shutter speed is, so
that you can get a base to startshooting a manual for yourself.
(25:56):
And then I also share how toknow what setting is the most
important to adjust if you'rephotographing a portrait, right?
Your aperture is one of the mostimportant settings of
controlling exposure because italso controls your depth of
field.
And if you want a specificvisual look, then you need to
(26:16):
adjust your depth of field, youraperture in a very specific way.
Therefore, if your photo isstill too overexposed or
underexposed, you need to adjustone of the other two settings.
And I share with you in theguide what setting to change and
again, what setting is mostimportant for each type of
photography.
So if you're interested in it,it's totally free.
(26:38):
Like free free, like you don'thave to enter in a credit card
or anything free.
You just go to picture perfectsettings.com, enter in your
email and I'm gonna send it toyou right away.
But knowing.
Again, the importance ofshooting a manual, knowing what
it is that each setting does, isincredibly important to knowing
how photography works.
(26:59):
And then once you have a reallygood understanding of it, once
you feel proficient in it, thenyou can reign back the control
and, shoot an aperture priorityif you're just out for a fun
family, trip or, something likethat.
So Steve, again, I hope thathelps.
Exposure Compensation doesn'tactively change anything in the
image except for your otherexposure settings.
(27:21):
So therefore, there's nothingbad about it.
I use it when I'm just shootingan aperture priority, but it
does mean that you are stillrelinquishing control to the
camera.
So again, Steve, hope thathelps.
Alright, moving on.
Next question comes from Bruno.
Bruno asks, how do I get startedin food photography?
(27:42):
What lens, what light?
What are the basic mistakes toavoid when you start?
Alright, Bruno, I'm gonna answerthis question, but I want there
to be a huge disclaimer that Iam not a food photographer.
I've never been paid for foodphotography.
I've taken the majority of foodphotos throughout my life on a
cell phone.
but i've interviewed some foodphotographers.
(28:03):
I have tried some Photoshoptutorials that required me to
shoot some food, and I have afew fonts for you.
So the first thing I would say,that if you really wanna make an
impact with food photography,you're gonna need a long lens,
meaning a telephoto lens so thatyou can, fill the frame with
whatever your subject is.
A cheeseburger, a cake, a beer,a salad.
(28:27):
I don't know how many people arephotographing salads, but you
get it.
So a long lens.
Also, making sure that it is amacro lens, because food isn't
always, the size of a laptop oranything, like it's not, it's
not big.
So you have to be real close toit to fill the frame, and
therefore you need a very closefocusing distance.
So that is why a macro lens Iwould say would be required.
(28:52):
Now every camera manufacturerhas some sort of long macro lens
specifically for this purpose.
Canon has a hundred, I thinkit's either a hundred or 105
millimeter macro lens.
Nikon has one.
I dunno about Sony.
I'm sure they do, but if theydon't, I think Tamron makes one.
Sigma makes one, Fuji has oneand they're kind of like the
(29:15):
standard to get into it.
So with Fuji it's a 90millimeter macro lens.
And those are gonna be your bestshots because again, it's gonna
allow you to get in close to thefood and focus close as well.
I would also recommend havingsome sort of basic like off
camera flash.
for now, and then like a bouncecard.
So when it comes to anoff-camera flash, I use and love
(29:38):
young Nuo products.
However, I mean, they're reallynot like innovating.
I don't think that they're likereally around much.
I think the company has probablygotten smaller, so therefore I
would.
I would feel better recommendingsomething like a Go Docs,
off-camera Flash.
God Docs makes really goodcamera triggers.
I mean, they, they justcommunicate wirelessly and
(29:59):
effortlessly.
It doesn't require, a huge, bigtech setup.
It's really easy to get into andyou can get a flash and a
trigger for under 200 bucks.
So like, again, it's relativelycheap to get into.
And then also getting somethinglike a bounce card, for the
opposite side of your food tofill in some of those shadows.
And I think for gear, probably areally good tripod.
(30:20):
a styling table.
I'm sure that there's a lot of,props and things that you could
look into to have, to be able toelevate the quality of your
work.
but I don't know too much aboutthat.
but let's get the mistakes asfar as mistakes go when it comes
to food photography, I would saythat the most common ones are
probably shooting down on thefood as if it's just like from
the human perspective.
(30:41):
If you look at a lot ofadvertisements, food is shot
from like a relatively low anglelooking up at it.
because.
from the psychology ofphotography, if you're looking
up at something, it feels grand.
It feels big, it feels powerful,and that's what you want, the
food to look like.
You don't wanna look down on itand make it feel small and
(31:02):
insignificant.
'cause nobody's gonna wanna buyit, right?
so shooting down at food, notstyling the food, right?
Kinda leaving it messy.
distracting backgrounds, badlighting, not filling the frame.
I would say that those arereally the main mistakes and
probably the most commonmistakes that, new food
photographers make.
'cause you can, if you havethis, long macro lens, you can
(31:22):
get close to food.
You can make it fill the frame,but if the background is still
distracting, if the lighting isbad, it's still not gonna be
appetizing or enjoyable to lookat.
So, those are my things.
Again, I.
I'm not a food photographer, soI would recommend if you want to
go deeper into food photography,to check out YouTube, there is a
popular YouTube channel calledTin House Studios.
(31:45):
This guy, photographer Scott, heis a commercial photographer,
shoots food, on top of otherthings, has a studio, and he
shares a lot of behind thescenes and secrets as far as how
he does it and things that hewould recommend.
So, again, check that out.
That's, 10 House Studios or 10House Studio.
You'll find it right away, I'msure.
I bet if you just search likefood photography mistakes on
(32:06):
YouTube, you'd probably show up.
but again, 10 House Studio,check it out.
That's TIN, house, not TEN.
All right, so Bruna, hope thathelps.
Last question here.
I saved this one for the endbecause, well, you're here.
It comes from Jay.
Jay says, last year I started afamily documentary photography
(32:29):
business.
I got the LLC, all the otherstate paperwork I.
All without having clientsbecause I needed to pay bills.
I got a full-time consulting gigand recently a full-time
traditional chop.
I'm also neurodivergent and needa long recovery time from work,
so I haven't dedicated time tothe photography business.
(32:51):
Ideally, I would love to makethis work full time.
Any advice on tips or smallactionable things I can do to
build a business?
Or do I just call it anddissolve it?
This is a big question and Iwould say that I can't answer it
for you.
(33:13):
There's a lot about photographythat, is personal.
there's a lot of personal thingsgoing on here that only you are
going to be able to trulydecide, but I have been in a
place to where I have given upon or quit or closed the doors
on my wedding photography.
(33:34):
I have been in a place to whereit felt like I wasn't making any
progress.
Or getting any traction as aphotographer.
And I do understand how tough itcan be at times.
In fact, I felt the same wayabout the podcast as well.
The podcast.
There's been times where I feltlike this isn't working, I'm not
getting any traction, thingslike that.
(33:56):
And there have been thoughts to,to give it up.
So.
What is the decision tree that Igo through to decide whether to
stick with something or give itup?
Because I have quit weddingphotography, but I have not quit
the podcast.
So I've made both decisions,quitting one, not quitting
another.
I would say this, I quitweddings, the podcast doesn't
(34:20):
make enough money for me to dothis full-time.
So I too had to get a full-timejob that's why now I'm a
videographer for a company whodoes marketing for senior living
facilities.
And that is great because itallows me to not feel as
stressed about the podcast.
Like, oh, you know, it's notworking.
(34:40):
I wish it was going betterbecause sometimes when it
doesn't feel like it's working,you just want to give up on it.
And if it's your sole income,you don't really have an option
to give it a year or give it,time because you need money.
So that's one of the greatthings about having a full-time
traditional job is that,monetary security that you get
(35:05):
from a traditional job.
The problem becomes now you havemoney, but now you have less
time.
So there is a balance there.
And finding that balance again,depending on what it is that
you're doing full-time, can bedifficult, but being
neurodivergent, that also adds awhole nother element onto it
(35:29):
with the amount of recovery timethat is needed.
I know that when I work a fullday, with my traditional job as
a videographer, the last thingthat I want to do is come back
home and then sit down in frontof my computer for a few hours
and figure out, a big strategicmarketing push or something like
that.
So asking yourself, should Ijust give this up?
(35:51):
is a hard question.
So what tips or actionablethings can you do to build the
business?
That's what I'm gonna answer,because I can't tell you to just
call it or dissolve it becauseI, I don't have all the
information because I'm not you.
So the only thing that I can dois give you small, actionable
things that you can do to buildthe business.
You said that you're a familydocumentary photographer.
(36:14):
Alright, that's great.
I love that you have, defined aclient and a style of
photography.
Like you are huge steps aheadcompared to many people, so now
you just have to get the wordout there.
You have to get people to knowwho you are.
And there's a lot of things thatyou can do with this.
And what's great is that becauseof this day and age with
(36:36):
computers and automations, youcan actually, schedule out and,
automate a lot of these things.
So take a day and try to figureout, what are the things that I
really want my clients to know?
What are the things that myclients have to believe before
they book me?
(36:56):
Right.
As a documentary photographer,they have to believe things like
the perfect family photo doesn'thave to be post.
They have to believe a messyhouse is more authentic than
than messy, I guess, and theyhave to believe that that's
okay.
They have to believe thatsometimes the in-between moments
are the ones that are moreimportant than the big moments.
(37:21):
So think about those things.
Think about what other messagesdo your ideal clients need to
believe.
Do they, they need to know that,their time with their kids is
limited right before they growup and, and move out.
I don't know, like whatever elseyour ideal client needs to know.
Think about those things andwrite them down and then figure
(37:43):
out, well, what messaging couldI create that enforces that?
So what you want to do is sharethat message or those messages
over and over and over and overand over and over and over again
on social media every image thatyou create, make sure that it
emphasizes one of those fourmain beliefs or five main
(38:06):
beliefs that you may have, andthree or four main beliefs is
like, it's good.
And like, that's fine.
That's all that you really need.
So every photo must reinforceone of those things.
Make sure that you have photosof messy houses, of kids being
destructive of those in-betweenmoments that aren't quote
unquote traditionally beautiful,but have meaning to them.
(38:27):
And then if you're not thatgreat with words, right?
Just brain dump everything thatyou can think of of why your
client wants and needs.
this style of photography,right?
Write down your core three orfour beliefs that they must
believe as well, and just braindump everything that you want to
(38:48):
say and that you want them tobelieve and that you want them
to know and that you want themto feel.
And then honestly, like, I'm notthat great with words.
That's why I am behind a camera.
That's why I host a podcast andI'm not an author.
Take all that information andput it into Chad, GBT and say,
Hey, look, I need.
Okay, you to break down theseinto themes and I need help
(39:11):
with, marketing captions andthen get to the point.
And then you can always ask formore.
You can ask it to refine it.
You can say that it's forInstagram, you can say it's for
Facebook, you know, whatever itis.
And then, you can take those andplan them out in a tool, like a
plan which integrates with CloudSpot.
I use a tool called social Be,which is a little more robust,
(39:32):
but it goes to differentplatforms.
You can use a tool like, bufferor Hootsuite or Pali.
All of those are social mediaschedulers, right?
So pick out, 20 photos, that youreally love.
They don't have to be portfolioworthy, but you just really love
them for one reason or another.
And then, ask at JBT to come upwith 20, 25 different.
(39:53):
marketing captions, assign thoseto a photo and then just
schedule those things.
again, you really want to justget the awareness out there.
You want people to see that whatit is that's important to you,
because if they buy into that,well, then they're gonna wanna
work with you.
Then, from there, like, justschedule that, just do that once
a month and now you have anentire month of social media
(40:14):
already schedule out.
And then honestly, with those 20posts, you could take five from
each month and then just recyclethem the next month as well.
Like people don't know, they'renot gonna remember what you
posted two Tuesdays ago at 4:00PM and then now you just gotta
come up with 15 photos for themonth or something.
And then, which of course thatlibrary is always gonna grow.
(40:35):
So after that, now you want toget to the point to where you're
getting in front of people andasking them to book you for your
services.
Make sure that you got a websitethat's important, right?
A place where people can findyou.
Then think about where do thosefamilies go?
What are the types of thingsthat they do?
Where do they shop?
(40:55):
One of the most powerfulmarketing tactics I've heard
from another photographer whowas doing family photography was
to go where these families shop,where they hang out, and then
partnering with that businessowner to, say, provide them with
a free photo shoot that they cangive to some of their best
(41:17):
clients.
So the way that this would workis in the beginning, you can go
to a local business.
Maybe it's a local sports shop,they got a lot of kids who are
in baseball, softball, travelstuff, you know, whatever.
Something like that.
Actually, that's a really greatstart.
Go there and say, Hey, businessowner, I want to give you five
family photo sessions to giveaway to your best clients,
(41:37):
right?
Look through your system orwhatever, find the people who
buy most consistently, who spendthe most with you, you know,
whatever it is.
And then I want to give you fivevouchers for you to give to
them.
What's gonna happen is that thatbusiness owner, it's a win-win
for them.
Now they look like the herobecause they're gonna give their
(41:58):
customers their loyal customerssomething of value.
And what's gonna happen is thatthese customers who have proven
that they spend money, thatthey're, loyal to a brand will
now come to you.
You'll be able to photographthem.
Now, you're not giving away theworld.
Maybe you're just giving away afree 30 minute family session
(42:18):
where you go in their house orwhatever.
And then if they like the photosthat you captured, then they
have the opportunity to buy thephotos or buy prints or buy
product, right?
And then that's where the moneyis made.
When that's successful becauseit will be successful, go back
to that business owner and say,Hey, this was a huge hit.
Thank you so much.
I.
Let me ask you something else.
Can I set up a box at yourcounter that says, Hey, enter to
(42:41):
win a free family documentary,photo shoot and then you supply
the box.
You can get'em at like OfficeDepot or whatever.
You supply the cards, and thenpeople just write their name and
their email address, and thenmaybe like their city or
whatever so that you're notgoing crazy far.
And then once every two weeksyou go back and you pick up
those cards and now you reachout to every single person and
(43:03):
say, Hey, I mean, you can stockthem on online, you can pick one
person to win.
And then everybody else you cansay, Hey, you didn't win.
However, thank you so much forsigning up.
I wanna offer you$200 off of asession or something like that,
that is gonna grow your list sofast that is gonna grow your
clients so fast that is gonnaallow you to reinforce what it
(43:25):
is that you do because nowyou're shooting with them.
And the great thing is that likeyou don't have to do the work to
find these people.
They're gonna self fill out thecards themselves.
All you gotta do is once everyother week go and get the
information.
Like that's all that you gottado.
You set it up once and then it'sgonna keep growing.
So every two weeks you go back,you get the information, you
(43:46):
email everybody, Hey, you didn'twin, but here's,$200 towards the
session.
Would you like to book in asession?
If not, it's whatever.
Now they're on your email list.
You can keep them updated withnew shoots that you're doing.
But if they do, then great.
You were able to book in aclient with very little help,
just only the initial setup andthen that was it.
(44:08):
Honestly, I think that that'sprobably the most impactful
thing that you can do because itwill run in the background and
doesn't take up a lot of yourtime daily.
It doesn't require you to, gothrough analytics on Facebook
ads or Google ads or, ads inother photography groups or
magazines, whatever it is.
But it will run in thebackground and it's very cheap
(44:29):
to do you just print out thesign, you print out some
business cards for them to sign,you buy a few pins, and then
that's it.
And then you just simply do thisuntil you've provided so many
good services to families thatnow they're telling their
friends about you, and then nowthey're all coming to you as
well.
So that, that is what I woulddo.
That is the main thing I woulddo.
(44:49):
That is what I would get startedon to move the needle forward in
growing your photographybusiness with the least amount
of effort.
Consistent effort, daily,updated effort, you know,
whatever you wanna call it.
So there you go, Jay.
I really hope that helps.
I hope that you give that a shotbefore you decide to call it and
dissolve it because I'm here tohelp and I want you to get to a
(45:11):
place to where you are, excitedand happy, and that you can make
this a full time gig.
So that is it.
All right.
Thank you again so much forlistening to this episode of the
Beginner Photography Podcast, qand a, episode.
Reminder, if you have a questionthat you want answered on the
podcast, just head over tobeginner photo pod.com/qa and
(45:31):
submit your question there andwho knows, you just might hear
it on the show.
All right.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
If you're being hired to edit in a certain
(00:03):
way, then you should edit inthat way.
If you are a photographer whophotographs for yourself, or you
even photograph for clients whohire you, you should edit the
way that makes you feel things,because that's what's gonna make
you stand apart, right?
If you change up your editingstyle to be more light and airy
(00:24):
or polished, or magazine worthy,what's gonna make you stand out
from all the other photographerswho do that?
Not much, right?
So be truthful to who you are,find what it is that you like,
and then just lean into that.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I am your host, RaymondHatfield, and welcome to our
(00:47):
monthly photo q and a episode.
This is where I take yourquestions and I answer'em here
on the podcast.
the Beginner Photography podcastis full of photographers at
different stages of theirjourney.
It's not just those who startedlast week.
Some of these questions may befrom those who have been
shooting for a few years oralready in business.
So no matter where you're at inyour journey, my hope is that
(01:10):
this episode, full of questionssubmitted by listeners of the
podcast.
One will be helpful to you.
You'll learn something thatmoves the needle forward in your
photography and genuinely helpsyou out.
So why don't we go ahead and getstarted with this.
Beginner Photography podcast, qand a episode.
And by the way, if you have aquestion that you want answered
(01:33):
here on the show, you can submitquestions by heading over to
beginner photo pod.com/qa.
Again, if you got a questionthat you want answered on the
podcast, that's burning withinyou.
You need the answer to somethingphotography related.
Head over to beginner photopod.com/qa and who knows, maybe
(01:53):
your question will be answeredin a future episode of the
Beginner Photography Podcast.
So let's go ahead and get oninto this month's questions.
The first question here comesfrom Doug.
Doug is a long time listener.
He says, Hey, Raymond, I'mtaking a trip to Alaska next
month with my son.
What should I be thinking aboutin terms of photography?
(02:14):
Yes, moment matters most.
I'll probably be taking picturesof fish and bears.
I'll be lugging around a tripodfor landscape shots because I
love long exposures, and I wouldappreciate your approach to
this.
First of all, Doug, I.
Awesome to have you, submit aquestion.
and I too will be heading up toAlaska in, well, next month at
(02:35):
this point, sometime in July.
well the end of July.
I'm excited to see what it isthat I capture.
I've been up there a few timesbefore.
Sounds like you have as well.
And, yeah, just excited to seewhat I can get.
I love all of the, the natureand just the beautiful
landscapes that Alaska has tooffer.
So it sounds like it's gonna bea great option for you.
(02:56):
So, I guess I would approachthis in a few ways.
However, I am not going therespecifically for landscape shots
or photographing animals.
I'm going there for a smalllittle family, get together and
therefore.
I'm really gonna be trying tofocus on capturing images of my
family.
and I hope that the camera geardoesn't get in the way.
(03:18):
So I'm gonna be bringing my FujiEx Pro two, I'm gonna be
bringing my 18 millimeter lens.
I'm gonna be bringing my, 27millimeter lens, and then I will
probably also bring my 55 to200, just in case we decide to
go venturing out.
And.
You know, we see a bear.
Like, how cool would that be?
That is my main goal is to see abear and photograph a bear.
(03:41):
So, that'd be incredible.
I.
Obviously, like I said, I'm notsure what you are going for.
I know a lot of people go toAlaska for, guided tours.
They go specifically for thewildlife.
Some go just for the landscapes.
All great reasons to go, but Ireally think that that is going
to dictate what it is that youbring.
(04:03):
I'm not the kind of photographerwho is gonna wanna bring every
lens that I have, because that'sgonna be overwhelming.
I'm not gonna be bringing adrone, I'm not gonna be bringing
any specialty lenses.
I'm not gonna bring redundantlenses like my, 16 to 55 Zoom
lens because I have, most ofthat focal length covered with
my 18 and my, my 27 mil lens.
(04:24):
So, think about like what arethe images that it is that you
want to capture?
Go back and then obviously, youcan build your kit from there.
But I would say that on top ofjust the gear itself, depending
on where you're gonna be inAlaska, where I'm going, it is
very populated.
I'm not worried about not havingaccess to things like power or
electricity.
(04:45):
to power a computer, to rechargecamera batteries, flash
batteries, if you're gonna havethose.
So, because I'm not worriedabout those things, I'm just
gonna bring what I wouldnormally bring.
But for you, if you are gonna beventuring out, you're gonna be
gone a few days, deep into thewilderness.
Be sure to bring battery packs.
Here's one thing that I, I lovefor travel and has really
changed a lot for me.
(05:05):
All of the battery chargers thatyour camera will come with, like
you just plug it into a wall,they're fine, but it's one more
thing to bring.
And again, if you're unsureabout what the power situation
is going to be, that could makeit tricky.
For all of my cameras, I go onAmazon and I look for a battery
charger that has USBC that willlet me charge it through USBC
(05:29):
because the majority of mydevices, computer, my, I don't
know, just about everything.
My video camera, my iPad.
and then like various otherthings that my family has, like
all get charged via USBC.
However, my camera doesn'tcharge via USB.
because it's the expert two, itcame out.
Almost 10 years ago, requires meto charge it by taking out the
(05:50):
battery and then charging thatbattery.
So bringing a battery chargerthat can charge via USBC rather
than a traditional plug, I thinkit was like eight bucks.
And seriously, has improved myquality of life when it comes to
traveling'cause it's one lessthing that I have to think
about.
bring in the specific thing,bring in the specific cord, and
all that stuff.
(06:10):
So definitely look into that asfar as backing up your photos.
If you are bringing a laptop,like that's great.
That's gonna be your answerright there.
You just plug in the, the cardand then, you can offload your
images.
I would highly suggest bringinga solid state drive to be able
to back up your computer so thatyou don't lose your photos in
(06:30):
case.
You know, it's Alaska, it'sunpredictable, it's wild.
It's the last frontier, whoknows what could happen.
So, again, I would bring abackup hard drive, specifically
an SSD because of the no movingparts in it.
And then I would back up thecomputer so that just in case
something happens to yourcomputer, something happens to
your camera, you're not gonna beout all of the photos that you
(06:52):
captured because that wouldseriously suck.
I remember I took a trip a fewyears ago, we're talking 14
years ago, I guess, at thispoint.
And, back then it wasn't as easyto back up your files.
It wasn't as easy to, manageyour files on the go.
Computers had terrible batterylife, so you'd always have to
bring a charger and then thatwould suck, just to bring one
(07:15):
more thing.
So, I was taking all thesephotos and then once I got back
home from my trip, I plugged, mycamera directly into my
computer, which is a big no-no,and why I never do it now.
And the software popped up thatsaid, Hey, your camera has a
firmware update.
Would you like to update it?
And I was like, yeah, of course.
However, doing that.
Ford matted my card, before Ihad offloaded the images.
(07:38):
And that sucked because now theentire trip, all of the images
were gone.
And granted a lot of them werejust snapshots.
It was like a, just a littlefamily thing that we were doing.
It wasn't critical, but it stillsucked to have lost those
photos.
So make sure that you have adedicated memory card reader.
you know, if you bring yourlaptop or your iPad, be sure
(07:59):
that you have power for thosethings.
Most computers can be, or manybattery packs today can charge
things like laptops.
Many iPads have the ability to,work with solid state drive so
that you could back up photosonto them as well.
So, those are really the mainthings that I would think of is,
is power.
portability.
Then just like, the fun elementof it.
(08:20):
Like you still want to enjoyyour trip with your son and you
don't want the camera gear to,get in the way or cause you to
worry about, you know, you don'twanna bring so much gear that
now you're worried about losingor breaking your gear when
you're not even gonna use 90% ofit.
So that's what I would do.
Again, focus on the moment, likeyou mentioned, and then just
think about maybe right now,like what are the must have
(08:42):
shots for you.
Write them out, plan out likefour or five, and then get those
shots and then just be okay ifyou don't get anything else,
right?
I know that we want to maximizeour time there.
We want to get as many photos ashumanly as possible.
But if you plan ahead and think,okay, if I get these four shots
and then you do get those fourshots, you don't have to worry
about photography for the restof the time.
(09:03):
Everything else is a bonus,which allows you to be in the,
moment of your trip more.
You can be more present withyour son, and just enjoy it
more.
So again, the point ofphotography shouldn't be to be
the point of the trip.
It should enhance the trip.
So just try to think of it likethat.
So again, Doug, I really hopethat helps.
(09:24):
All right.
Let's go ahead and get on intoour next question.
And it comes from Jess.
Jess has a question that I knowmany of you are wondering.
you're thinking about, it's inthe back of your head, which is,
how do you feel confident withyour editing style?
I like a purposefully imperfectstyle with grain, and I know
it's not for most, but it makesme feel things.
(09:47):
Well, Jess, great question andI'm kind of with you there.
I really like purposefullyimperfect photos as well.
I will lean into the quoteunquote shortcomings of a camera
and try to capture images thathighlight those things because,
they're organic or they make theimage stand out in some way,
(10:09):
shape, or form.
So, I guess one notable examplethat I might give is that I had
a, Fuji X 70, a number of yearsago, it was a relatively
pocketable camera and at thetime I was shooting a lot of
weddings, which was focused onprecision and, just a really
polished look.
And the X 70 was my camera thatI used to play around and not
(10:32):
take too seriously.
And therefore, just for fun, Iwould in camera, be shooting
with a black and white filmsimulation.
And then I would set my ISO to3,200 and it's a crop sensor
camera.
And it was, well, I guess 10, 11years old and it didn't handle
3,200 great.
(10:52):
It was definitely visible signsof noise in the image.
And then I.
Y controlled the rest of mysettings around that.
So what that meant is that myimages looked dirty, they looked
gritty, they looked imperfect,as you mentioned.
And I loved that.
It was a time in my journey as aphotographer for what I enjoyed
(11:14):
it.
It was something that made mefeel something, like you said.
So how do you feel confident inyour editing style?
I mean, here's the thing.
If you're being hired to edit ina certain way, then you should
edit in that way.
If you are a photographer whophotographs for yourself, or you
(11:35):
even photograph for clients whohire you, you should edit the
way that makes you feel things,because that's what's gonna make
you stand apart, right?
If you change up your editingstyle to be more light and airy
or polished, or magazine worthy,what's gonna make you stand out
from all the other photographerswho do that?
(11:56):
Not much, right?
So be truthful to who you are,find what it is that you like,
and then just lean into that.
If you like imperfect photoswith that grain, try to go
deeper into that and see how faryou can push it, because I
guarantee you.
Again, if you're shooting forclients, there will be a
(12:17):
subsection of people who willnot only love it, but will go
outta their way to find you sothat you can deliver it for
them.
If you're not shooting forclients, then who cares, right?
Like, if it makes you feelthings, then congratulations,
you found it.
But like, don't give up at thatpoint.
(12:37):
still continue to experiment,continue to go deeper.
Continue to evolve as aphotographer and, try new
things.
Because my editing style that Iloved a number of years ago is
not the editing style that Ilove today.
And that is because I've triednew things.
I've experimented, I've done newthings in my process of when I
shoot that my old editing stylewouldn't work for today, and
(13:01):
therefore, you gotta try newthings.
So when it comes to theconfidence, like, I don't know,
or I can't imagine that peopleare grilling you, saying like,
why are you editing like this?
What are you doing with theseimages?
So therefore, like theconfidence just has to come from
within yourself.
If you like it, you like it,like, don't be ashamed of that.
I forget who it was.
I had a friend maybe it was anacquaintance.
(13:23):
can't remember who it was, but,I remember, this idea that like,
there's no such thing as aguilty pleasure.
if you like it, then like it,and that's that.
Like, who, like, who cares?
It's not guilty.
You don't have to be guilty foranything.
Like, just like it, embrace itand it is what it is.
Know that your style will changein the future, but this is what
(13:43):
it's like today.
And if you like it today, thenthat's all that you have to care
about, right?
So, Jess, I hope that helps, godeeper into your editing style,
like it for what it is, and,enjoy the ride.
All right.
Next question comes from Jess e.
Jess e, not Jess, who asked thelast question, but Jess e Jesse
(14:05):
says, the wedding photo marketis flush with young, vibrant
female photographers.
As a 38-year-old father of four,is it too late to try to get
into weddings?
So, there's a few parts of thisthat I want to address first.
first, why are you trying to getinto weddings?
(14:26):
Right?
That's a question that you haveto answer yourself.
There's a lot of newphotographers who want to get
into weddings because it payswell, and I'm not gonna lie,
that was me as well, right?
I loved a lot of elements aboutwedding photography, but knowing
that it paid better than othergenres.
Definitely pushed me towards,shooting weddings.
So asking yourself, is that thereason why you wanna get into
(14:47):
weddings?
Because if that's the case, it'sgonna be a long, hard road to
get into, so you might as welldo something that you actually
love.
Right.
Okay.
Let's assume though that youabsolutely love wedding
photography.
You love the idea that every dayyou go to work, there's cake.
You love the idea thateverybody's super happy and
(15:07):
thrilled and, willing to, trysomething new and experimental
and just having, 6, 8, 10, 12hours of uninterrupted, pure
photography time that can helpyou grow, in your skills and
feel fulfilled, right.
If that's the case.
Is it too late for a 38-year-oldfather of four to get into
(15:29):
weddings?
I'm gonna say no.
I'm gonna say absolutely not.
I'm gonna say you'reoverthinking this, right?
The market is flush with young,vibrant female photographers.
I think that may just be whoyou're seeing online, honestly.
I know a lot of male weddingphotographers, and I know a lot
of male wedding photographersover 40, right?
(15:50):
And I think that this is thebest time in history for a
38-year-old father of four toget into wedding photography.
Why is that?
Well, because the average age ofpeople getting married is, is
getting older and older.
The average age for men to getmarried is now over 30.
(16:11):
It used to be 22 years old.
It is now over 30.
If you're 38 and you're shootinga wedding for a 22-year-old, it
feels weird.
There's a lot of inside jokes.
There's a lot of generationaldifferences that you don't fully
understand, and you kind of feellike the odd man out.
If you're 38 and you're shootinga wedding for somebody who's 30,
there's a lot more in common.
You've had more life experience.
It's not as weird.
(16:32):
Right?
On top of that.
That's the average age.
Are some people still gettingmarried at 22?
Yes.
Are some people still gettingmarried at 40?
Yeah, absolutely.
And here's the thing, people arewaiting later in life to get
married because they want to bemore established in their
careers.
So if a couple is waiting longerbecause they want to be more
(16:53):
established in their career,that's great news for you
because these people who aremore established, these more
established couples have moremoney, right?
They're willing to spend onsomething that they see the
value in.
So if you position yourself asthe guy for these couples, then
you're set, position yourself asthe guy, for couples getting
(17:16):
married later in life, orcouples having their second
marriage.
If you've been divorced beforeand you're looking for a wedding
photographer, you're probablynot looking for some
22-year-old, young, vibrantfemale photographer.
You're looking for somebody whohas some life experience, who
understands that this isn't themost magical to have your life.
And it's all, butterflies andfairy dust.
(17:38):
Not that that is what all young,vibrant female photographers are
like, but like point is you'regonna want somebody with more
life experience and you're gonnabe that guy.
People who are on their secondmarriage might already have
kids.
They're gonna be moreestablished in their careers.
They are gonna have some extramoney.
They're gonna be willing tospend more on things that are
(17:59):
valuable to them, you know?
And the thing with weddings thatI loved is that, weddings are a
great, weakened hustle, if youwant to call it that, as much as
I hate that word, hustle.
If you find 10 couples, 10, Idon't know where you live, but
there's more than 10 coupleswithin half a mile of you,
(18:21):
right?
Unless you're like deep in theAlaskan wilderness.
But, point is there's gonna bemore than 10 couples just around
you, right?
So imagine how many differentcouples are in your city if you
shoot just 10 couples a year atthree grand, that's below the
average, the national averagefor a wedding.
what couples pay for weddingphotography?
(18:42):
That's not a bad side gig.
These couples, mid to latethirties, these are the couples
who are spending$70,000 on a newSUV five grand for a wedding
photographer is not a huge ask.
I mean, the average cardealership, I just looked this
up, is selling four to eightcars per day, four to eight cars
per day.
(19:02):
Who to people who are spending60 to$70,000 on a new car, you
can find 20 people in an entireyear to shoot their wedding.
And going back to this whole,38-year-old father of four
thing, check out the work ofwedding photographers like John
Dolan.
Check out Jeff Tysman.
Check out Ryan Brenn, Eiser, allof them over 40.
(19:24):
All dads all in demand.
I've had interviews with all of'em.
Go back, search'em up, check'emout, see their work.
It is not too late, and in fact,I would say this is the best
time in history for a38-year-old father of four to
get into wedding photography andsucceed.
(19:45):
All right.
Next question here comes fromSteve.
Steve says, Hey Raymond.
Love the show.
Thanks, Steve.
I too am a Fuji shooter.
Right on.
I love the manual controls.
What, if anything, is thedisadvantage of making use of
the exposure compensation dial?
I use it all the time.
(20:05):
Steve.
Congratulations on finding thebest camera system in the entire
world.
Being Fuji.
Just kidding.
The exposure compensation dial.
For those who are unaware, whatis exposure compensation?
When you are shooting with acamera and you're in some sort
of automatic mode, whether it beaperture priority, where the
camera decides the shutter inthe ISO, but you choose the
(20:27):
aperture, whether you're inshutter priority, where it's,
you choose the shutter, then thecamera chooses the aperture in
the ISO, or even if you'recontrolling your aperture and
your shutter speed, but are, arerelinquishing control of the ISO
to the camera.
There's some sort of automaticfunction there.
So, because you're not choosingeach one of your settings.
(20:49):
The camera's gonna have to makea choice on what the exposure is
going to be.
You might decide that thatexposure after taking a photo
is, is too bright.
You might decide that it's toodark.
You might have an exposure wherethe shutter speed is too slow.
You might have an exposure wherethe ISO was far too high, right?
And you need to kind of reignthat in.
(21:10):
So you do that with exposurecompensation.
What your camera's gonna do,when again, it has to make a
decision on exposure, is it'sgoing to look at the light
meter, it's gonna read theamount of light coming in, and
then it's going to, adjust itssettings so that it's quote
unquote properly exposed.
The problem here is that howdoes a camera know what is
(21:33):
properly exposed?
'cause the camera doesn't knowwhat it is that you're trying to
expose for.
So it takes the middle ground ofwhat is something that is too
bright white and something thatis too dark black, and it finds
the middle ground, which isgray.
So if you're shooting somethingthat's white and your camera's
in some sort of automatic modewhere it needs to make decisions
(21:53):
on exposure, it's going toadjust the settings,
underexposed so that this whitething, say a car or a bride
walking down the aisle so thatthe exposure is too dark and it
looks gray.
If you're photographingsomething black, let's say the
night sky or a groom in hisblack tux, it is going to
(22:15):
overexpose the photo and insteadof make it look black, it's
gonna make it look gray.
Now this can be bad becausenobody likes a gray, muddy
dress.
I've found that the way that acamera will overexpose a groom
in a black tux is throughshutter speed, which means it's
gonna slow down my shutter speedto the point to where now every
(22:37):
single image has motion blur,and that's not acceptable.
So you can use the exposurecompensation dial.
The exposure compensation dialallows you to say, Hey, every
photo that I take, I want it tobe one stop brighter than what
you, the camera would consider aquote unquote proper exposure.
That's great for when you'rephotographing something like out
(22:57):
in the snow or again, a bride ina white dress.
Or you can say, I wantsomething.
I want everything two stopsunder exposed.
You can compensate for that whenyou're shooting the night sky or
a groom in his black tux.
So what is the downside of usingthe exposure compensation dial?
The short answer is there's nodirect disadvantage of making
(23:21):
use of the exposure compensationdial, except that you're still
giving up control of the imageto your camera, to your camera.
That, again, doesn't know howyou want to expose something.
It doesn't know what you'rephotographing.
It doesn't know if that's awhite car or if it's just too
(23:42):
bright of an image.
So if you're shooting insomething like manual where you
control the aperture, youcontrol the shutter speed, you
control the ISO, the exposurecompensation dial does nothing
because you've already takencontrol of the three settings,
the only three settings thatcontrol the exposure.
So the exposure compensationagain, does absolutely nothing.
(24:05):
So to answer your question,here's the thing, I don't always
shoot in manual.
I love shooting in manual.
I love the control that it givesme.
I love how if I have an idea fora photo, I can change my
settings and achieve itextremely quick.
However, if I'm just out on awalk with my kids or at the
(24:26):
park, I just taken somesnapshots.
I will oftentimes put my camerain Aperture priority, and then I
just have to be okay with theknowledge that the camera might
make a bad decision.
And if I have to edit the photolater, then that's the price
that I'll have to pay.
But for anything that I'mserious about, anything that, is
(24:49):
a paid gig, I will absolutelyshoot in manual.
So it's 100% up to you if youdon't know how to shoot in
manual.
I highly suggest everybody knowshow to do it, because it's gonna
give you such a deepunderstanding of how a camera
works, how it processes light,and how you can control the
(25:10):
camera to create a scene infront of you that you see with
your eyes.
It's not boring, it's not flat,it's not dull.
It's not taking the same photothat every single person with a
camera shooting on auto wouldalso take.
So, little pitch here.
If you want to learn how toshoot manual and you're just
trying to dip your toes, I havea free resource for you.
(25:32):
It's called Picture PerfectCamera Settings.
There's more than 10 types ofphotography in my free guide and
in it I share my real photosfrom that type of photography as
well as the actual camerasettings I used.
What my aperture is, what my ISOis, what my shutter speed is, so
that you can get a base to startshooting a manual for yourself.
(25:56):
And then I also share how toknow what setting is the most
important to adjust if you'rephotographing a portrait, right?
Your aperture is one of the mostimportant settings of
controlling exposure because italso controls your depth of
field.
And if you want a specificvisual look, then you need to
(26:16):
adjust your depth of field, youraperture in a very specific way.
Therefore, if your photo isstill too overexposed or
underexposed, you need to adjustone of the other two settings.
And I share with you in theguide what setting to change and
again, what setting is mostimportant for each type of
photography.
So if you're interested in it,it's totally free.
(26:38):
Like free free, like you don'thave to enter in a credit card
or anything free.
You just go to picture perfectsettings.com, enter in your
email and I'm gonna send it toyou right away.
But knowing.
Again, the importance ofshooting a manual, knowing what
it is that each setting does, isincredibly important to knowing
how photography works.
(26:59):
And then once you have a reallygood understanding of it, once
you feel proficient in it, thenyou can reign back the control
and, shoot an aperture priorityif you're just out for a fun
family, trip or, something likethat.
So Steve, again, I hope thathelps.
Exposure Compensation doesn'tactively change anything in the
image except for your otherexposure settings.
(27:21):
So therefore, there's nothingbad about it.
I use it when I'm just shootingan aperture priority, but it
does mean that you are stillrelinquishing control to the
camera.
So again, Steve, hope thathelps.
Alright, moving on.
Next question comes from Bruno.
Bruno asks, how do I get startedin food photography?
(27:42):
What lens, what light?
What are the basic mistakes toavoid when you start?
Alright, Bruno, I'm gonna answerthis question, but I want there
to be a huge disclaimer that Iam not a food photographer.
I've never been paid for foodphotography.
I've taken the majority of foodphotos throughout my life on a
cell phone.
but i've interviewed some foodphotographers.
(28:03):
I have tried some Photoshoptutorials that required me to
shoot some food, and I have afew fonts for you.
So the first thing I would say,that if you really wanna make an
impact with food photography,you're gonna need a long lens,
meaning a telephoto lens so thatyou can, fill the frame with
whatever your subject is.
A cheeseburger, a cake, a beer,a salad.
(28:27):
I don't know how many people arephotographing salads, but you
get it.
So a long lens.
Also, making sure that it is amacro lens, because food isn't
always, the size of a laptop oranything, like it's not, it's
not big.
So you have to be real close toit to fill the frame, and
therefore you need a very closefocusing distance.
So that is why a macro lens Iwould say would be required.
(28:52):
Now every camera manufacturerhas some sort of long macro lens
specifically for this purpose.
Canon has a hundred, I thinkit's either a hundred or 105
millimeter macro lens.
Nikon has one.
I dunno about Sony.
I'm sure they do, but if theydon't, I think Tamron makes one.
Sigma makes one, Fuji has oneand they're kind of like the
(29:15):
standard to get into it.
So with Fuji it's a 90millimeter macro lens.
And those are gonna be your bestshots because again, it's gonna
allow you to get in close to thefood and focus close as well.
I would also recommend havingsome sort of basic like off
camera flash.
for now, and then like a bouncecard.
So when it comes to anoff-camera flash, I use and love
(29:38):
young Nuo products.
However, I mean, they're reallynot like innovating.
I don't think that they're likereally around much.
I think the company has probablygotten smaller, so therefore I
would.
I would feel better recommendingsomething like a Go Docs,
off-camera Flash.
God Docs makes really goodcamera triggers.
I mean, they, they justcommunicate wirelessly and
(29:59):
effortlessly.
It doesn't require, a huge, bigtech setup.
It's really easy to get into andyou can get a flash and a
trigger for under 200 bucks.
So like, again, it's relativelycheap to get into.
And then also getting somethinglike a bounce card, for the
opposite side of your food tofill in some of those shadows.
And I think for gear, probably areally good tripod.
(30:20):
a styling table.
I'm sure that there's a lot of,props and things that you could
look into to have, to be able toelevate the quality of your
work.
but I don't know too much aboutthat.
but let's get the mistakes asfar as mistakes go when it comes
to food photography, I would saythat the most common ones are
probably shooting down on thefood as if it's just like from
the human perspective.
(30:41):
If you look at a lot ofadvertisements, food is shot
from like a relatively low anglelooking up at it.
because.
from the psychology ofphotography, if you're looking
up at something, it feels grand.
It feels big, it feels powerful,and that's what you want, the
food to look like.
You don't wanna look down on itand make it feel small and
(31:02):
insignificant.
'cause nobody's gonna wanna buyit, right?
so shooting down at food, notstyling the food, right?
Kinda leaving it messy.
distracting backgrounds, badlighting, not filling the frame.
I would say that those arereally the main mistakes and
probably the most commonmistakes that, new food
photographers make.
'cause you can, if you havethis, long macro lens, you can
(31:22):
get close to food.
You can make it fill the frame,but if the background is still
distracting, if the lighting isbad, it's still not gonna be
appetizing or enjoyable to lookat.
So, those are my things.
Again, I.
I'm not a food photographer, soI would recommend if you want to
go deeper into food photography,to check out YouTube, there is a
popular YouTube channel calledTin House Studios.
(31:45):
This guy, photographer Scott, heis a commercial photographer,
shoots food, on top of otherthings, has a studio, and he
shares a lot of behind thescenes and secrets as far as how
he does it and things that hewould recommend.
So, again, check that out.
That's, 10 House Studios or 10House Studio.
You'll find it right away, I'msure.
I bet if you just search likefood photography mistakes on
(32:06):
YouTube, you'd probably show up.
but again, 10 House Studio,check it out.
That's TIN, house, not TEN.
All right, so Bruna, hope thathelps.
Last question here.
I saved this one for the endbecause, well, you're here.
It comes from Jay.
Jay says, last year I started afamily documentary photography
(32:29):
business.
I got the LLC, all the otherstate paperwork I.
All without having clientsbecause I needed to pay bills.
I got a full-time consulting gigand recently a full-time
traditional chop.
I'm also neurodivergent and needa long recovery time from work,
so I haven't dedicated time tothe photography business.
(32:51):
Ideally, I would love to makethis work full time.
Any advice on tips or smallactionable things I can do to
build a business?
Or do I just call it anddissolve it?
This is a big question and Iwould say that I can't answer it
for you.
(33:13):
There's a lot about photographythat, is personal.
there's a lot of personal thingsgoing on here that only you are
going to be able to trulydecide, but I have been in a
place to where I have given upon or quit or closed the doors
on my wedding photography.
(33:34):
I have been in a place to whereit felt like I wasn't making any
progress.
Or getting any traction as aphotographer.
And I do understand how tough itcan be at times.
In fact, I felt the same wayabout the podcast as well.
The podcast.
There's been times where I feltlike this isn't working, I'm not
getting any traction, thingslike that.
(33:56):
And there have been thoughts to,to give it up.
So.
What is the decision tree that Igo through to decide whether to
stick with something or give itup?
Because I have quit weddingphotography, but I have not quit
the podcast.
So I've made both decisions,quitting one, not quitting
another.
I would say this, I quitweddings, the podcast doesn't
(34:20):
make enough money for me to dothis full-time.
So I too had to get a full-timejob that's why now I'm a
videographer for a company whodoes marketing for senior living
facilities.
And that is great because itallows me to not feel as
stressed about the podcast.
Like, oh, you know, it's notworking.
(34:40):
I wish it was going betterbecause sometimes when it
doesn't feel like it's working,you just want to give up on it.
And if it's your sole income,you don't really have an option
to give it a year or give it,time because you need money.
So that's one of the greatthings about having a full-time
traditional job is that,monetary security that you get
(35:05):
from a traditional job.
The problem becomes now you havemoney, but now you have less
time.
So there is a balance there.
And finding that balance again,depending on what it is that
you're doing full-time, can bedifficult, but being
neurodivergent, that also adds awhole nother element onto it
(35:29):
with the amount of recovery timethat is needed.
I know that when I work a fullday, with my traditional job as
a videographer, the last thingthat I want to do is come back
home and then sit down in frontof my computer for a few hours
and figure out, a big strategicmarketing push or something like
that.
So asking yourself, should Ijust give this up?
(35:51):
is a hard question.
So what tips or actionablethings can you do to build the
business?
That's what I'm gonna answer,because I can't tell you to just
call it or dissolve it becauseI, I don't have all the
information because I'm not you.
So the only thing that I can dois give you small, actionable
things that you can do to buildthe business.
You said that you're a familydocumentary photographer.
(36:14):
Alright, that's great.
I love that you have, defined aclient and a style of
photography.
Like you are huge steps aheadcompared to many people, so now
you just have to get the wordout there.
You have to get people to knowwho you are.
And there's a lot of things thatyou can do with this.
And what's great is that becauseof this day and age with
(36:36):
computers and automations, youcan actually, schedule out and,
automate a lot of these things.
So take a day and try to figureout, what are the things that I
really want my clients to know?
What are the things that myclients have to believe before
they book me?
(36:56):
Right.
As a documentary photographer,they have to believe things like
the perfect family photo doesn'thave to be post.
They have to believe a messyhouse is more authentic than
than messy, I guess, and theyhave to believe that that's
okay.
They have to believe thatsometimes the in-between moments
are the ones that are moreimportant than the big moments.
(37:21):
So think about those things.
Think about what other messagesdo your ideal clients need to
believe.
Do they, they need to know that,their time with their kids is
limited right before they growup and, and move out.
I don't know, like whatever elseyour ideal client needs to know.
Think about those things andwrite them down and then figure
(37:43):
out, well, what messaging couldI create that enforces that?
So what you want to do is sharethat message or those messages
over and over and over and overand over and over and over again
on social media every image thatyou create, make sure that it
emphasizes one of those fourmain beliefs or five main
(38:06):
beliefs that you may have, andthree or four main beliefs is
like, it's good.
And like, that's fine.
That's all that you really need.
So every photo must reinforceone of those things.
Make sure that you have photosof messy houses, of kids being
destructive of those in-betweenmoments that aren't quote
unquote traditionally beautiful,but have meaning to them.
(38:27):
And then if you're not thatgreat with words, right?
Just brain dump everything thatyou can think of of why your
client wants and needs.
this style of photography,right?
Write down your core three orfour beliefs that they must
believe as well, and just braindump everything that you want to
(38:48):
say and that you want them tobelieve and that you want them
to know and that you want themto feel.
And then honestly, like, I'm notthat great with words.
That's why I am behind a camera.
That's why I host a podcast andI'm not an author.
Take all that information andput it into Chad, GBT and say,
Hey, look, I need.
Okay, you to break down theseinto themes and I need help
(39:11):
with, marketing captions andthen get to the point.
And then you can always ask formore.
You can ask it to refine it.
You can say that it's forInstagram, you can say it's for
Facebook, you know, whatever itis.
And then, you can take those andplan them out in a tool, like a
plan which integrates with CloudSpot.
I use a tool called social Be,which is a little more robust,
(39:32):
but it goes to differentplatforms.
You can use a tool like, bufferor Hootsuite or Pali.
All of those are social mediaschedulers, right?
So pick out, 20 photos, that youreally love.
They don't have to be portfolioworthy, but you just really love
them for one reason or another.
And then, ask at JBT to come upwith 20, 25 different.
(39:53):
marketing captions, assign thoseto a photo and then just
schedule those things.
again, you really want to justget the awareness out there.
You want people to see that whatit is that's important to you,
because if they buy into that,well, then they're gonna wanna
work with you.
Then, from there, like, justschedule that, just do that once
a month and now you have anentire month of social media
(40:14):
already schedule out.
And then honestly, with those 20posts, you could take five from
each month and then just recyclethem the next month as well.
Like people don't know, they'renot gonna remember what you
posted two Tuesdays ago at 4:00PM and then now you just gotta
come up with 15 photos for themonth or something.
And then, which of course thatlibrary is always gonna grow.
(40:35):
So after that, now you want toget to the point to where you're
getting in front of people andasking them to book you for your
services.
Make sure that you got a websitethat's important, right?
A place where people can findyou.
Then think about where do thosefamilies go?
What are the types of thingsthat they do?
Where do they shop?
(40:55):
One of the most powerfulmarketing tactics I've heard
from another photographer whowas doing family photography was
to go where these families shop,where they hang out, and then
partnering with that businessowner to, say, provide them with
a free photo shoot that they cangive to some of their best
(41:17):
clients.
So the way that this would workis in the beginning, you can go
to a local business.
Maybe it's a local sports shop,they got a lot of kids who are
in baseball, softball, travelstuff, you know, whatever.
Something like that.
Actually, that's a really greatstart.
Go there and say, Hey, businessowner, I want to give you five
family photo sessions to giveaway to your best clients,
(41:37):
right?
Look through your system orwhatever, find the people who
buy most consistently, who spendthe most with you, you know,
whatever it is.
And then I want to give you fivevouchers for you to give to
them.
What's gonna happen is that thatbusiness owner, it's a win-win
for them.
Now they look like the herobecause they're gonna give their
(41:58):
customers their loyal customerssomething of value.
And what's gonna happen is thatthese customers who have proven
that they spend money, thatthey're, loyal to a brand will
now come to you.
You'll be able to photographthem.
Now, you're not giving away theworld.
Maybe you're just giving away afree 30 minute family session
(42:18):
where you go in their house orwhatever.
And then if they like the photosthat you captured, then they
have the opportunity to buy thephotos or buy prints or buy
product, right?
And then that's where the moneyis made.
When that's successful becauseit will be successful, go back
to that business owner and say,Hey, this was a huge hit.
Thank you so much.
I.
Let me ask you something else.
Can I set up a box at yourcounter that says, Hey, enter to
(42:41):
win a free family documentary,photo shoot and then you supply
the box.
You can get'em at like OfficeDepot or whatever.
You supply the cards, and thenpeople just write their name and
their email address, and thenmaybe like their city or
whatever so that you're notgoing crazy far.
And then once every two weeksyou go back and you pick up
those cards and now you reachout to every single person and
(43:03):
say, Hey, I mean, you can stockthem on online, you can pick one
person to win.
And then everybody else you cansay, Hey, you didn't win.
However, thank you so much forsigning up.
I wanna offer you$200 off of asession or something like that,
that is gonna grow your list sofast that is gonna grow your
clients so fast that is gonnaallow you to reinforce what it
(43:25):
is that you do because nowyou're shooting with them.
And the great thing is that likeyou don't have to do the work to
find these people.
They're gonna self fill out thecards themselves.
All you gotta do is once everyother week go and get the
information.
Like that's all that you gottado.
You set it up once and then it'sgonna keep growing.
So every two weeks you go back,you get the information, you
(43:46):
email everybody, Hey, you didn'twin, but here's,$200 towards the
session.
Would you like to book in asession?
If not, it's whatever.
Now they're on your email list.
You can keep them updated withnew shoots that you're doing.
But if they do, then great.
You were able to book in aclient with very little help,
just only the initial setup andthen that was it.
(44:08):
Honestly, I think that that'sprobably the most impactful
thing that you can do because itwill run in the background and
doesn't take up a lot of yourtime daily.
It doesn't require you to, gothrough analytics on Facebook
ads or Google ads or, ads inother photography groups or
magazines, whatever it is.
But it will run in thebackground and it's very cheap
(44:29):
to do you just print out thesign, you print out some
business cards for them to sign,you buy a few pins, and then
that's it.
And then you just simply do thisuntil you've provided so many
good services to families thatnow they're telling their
friends about you, and then nowthey're all coming to you as
well.
So that, that is what I woulddo.
That is the main thing I woulddo.
(44:49):
That is what I would get startedon to move the needle forward in
growing your photographybusiness with the least amount
of effort.
Consistent effort, daily,updated effort, you know,
whatever you wanna call it.
So there you go, Jay.
I really hope that helps.
I hope that you give that a shotbefore you decide to call it and
dissolve it because I'm here tohelp and I want you to get to a
(45:11):
place to where you are, excitedand happy, and that you can make
this a full time gig.
So that is it.
All right.
Thank you again so much forlistening to this episode of the
Beginner Photography Podcast, qand a, episode.
Reminder, if you have a questionthat you want answered on the
podcast, just head over tobeginner photo pod.com/qa and
(45:31):
submit your question there andwho knows, you just might hear
it on the show.
All right.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
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