FAQ:ONE for Photographers

This is a pretty thorough FAQ so I don’t know if they’re even be a FAQ:TWO (of course I’ll be sticking my foot in my mouth when people start asking me even more questions eh?) hehe Well that’s okay! Keep ‘em coming.  Here we go…
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Canon or Nikon?

I’ve seen photos of Annie Leibovitz with a Hasselblad, an RZ67, a Nikon digital, a Canon digital, some digital back on a Mamiya, random 35mm P&S – I think the answer is, she’s Annie Leibovitz and she’ll use whatever camera she darn well pleases.  She puts so much thought into setting up a shot, she’d be getting brilliant photos with a Fuji Quicksnap. I have an RZ67 and I couldn’t do what she does. – Anonymous

Images aren’t about dynamic range or how many megapixels.  They’re about stories and moments. – Chase Jarvis

This is by the far the most common question I get asked from photographers and people looking to purchase a new camera alike.  Before I was a serious photographer it was also the most common question I’d get when working at Blacks when I sold cameras.  As consumers, I get that we’re trained to be brand-conscious; to differentiate various brands and to determine which brand is perceived as better but I’m here to tell you that it really doesn’t matter.  Owning Calphalon brand pots&pans won’t make you a better chef than if you owned T-Fal.  Owning a Mercedes won’t make you a better driver than if you own a BMW.  The camera you own, whichever one, is merely a tool to help you get the desired results you want.  There are plenty of photographers who shoot Canon, Nikon, Contax with film, medium format, large format, and everything in between (as illustrted in the quote above).  Chase Jarvis coined the phrase, “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” and with that, launched http://www.thebestcamera.com/ and the App for your iPhone to prove that you can take great photos with just about anything.  Ok, so none of what I said helped right? Here’s what I told customers at Blacks: Pick the camera that feels the most intuitive to you.  It should fit in your hand right and you should be able to understand the ergonomics of where the buttons are, what they represent, how to navigate through the menus with ease.  When I worked in sales, I never pushed one camera brand over another.  However…. I observed time and time and time again that regular people looking to purchase a DSLR were often confused with the Canon bodies and how they were designed.  When I held a workshop for over a dozen people two years ago, half of the attendees had Canons and the other half had Nikons.  No prob.  However I found again, that when explaining a feature or function that both cameras would be able to do, the Nikon people would be able to locate and figure it out within 2-3 minutes because of the way their bodies are designed.  From a D40 to a D3 the bodies are consistently and intuitively designed.  With the Canon people, they took 7-8 minutes  helping each other figure out how to access the feature or function because from model to model, Canon puts their buttons and hides stuff in menues/submenues that not even a Canon user could help another effectively.  For me personally, I picked up a Nikon because my dad shot Nikon and I was using his camera gear.  When I got older and was able to play with a variety of Canons, I too was baffled with their ergonomics and design.  It confused the heck out of me so I decided to stick with what I knew.  My two main assistants starting shooting Canon and eventually switched to Nikon.  No, I didn’t push it on them or do my little sales pitch but I feel like they saw the ease of use of the Nikon system in action and decided it was a better investment for them (especially since they shoot very closely to my style).  With that said: don’t get caught up in branding or what you think is a “better” camera system.  Find out what works for you based on your style and how you find the camera fits and performs.

What camera, lens, flash, etc. do you shoot with?
The Main Players – This is the gear I mainly shoot with 90% of the time.
Nikon D3 + Nikon D3s
50mm 1.4G
35mm 2.0

The Supporting Cast – Stuff I use to supplement my shooting style with.
85mm 1.4
70 – 200mm VR
20mm – 2.8
55mm MF – 2.8

Lighting
SB-800
Origami
AB 800, 1600s
Pocket Wizards
Stands, clips, backdrop systems, portable power

I’m just starting out so I don’t have a lot of money.  What lens would you recommend?
Like with everything in life, you get what you pay for.  While getting a cheap(er) lens is tempting, you’ll often find yourself frustrated with slow or inaccurate focusing, fringing and lack of sharpness/contrast in your images.  People change their camera bodies every few years but you tend to keep your lenses with you forever (granted that they are good ones).  My 55mm Micro belonged to my dad!  Make your investment a good one.  When it comes to a specific model of lens, it really depends on your style, what and how you shoot.  Renting lenses is an inexpensive way to play with lenses and figure out your style before investing in one.

What computers do you use?
15″ MacBook Pro Intel
20″ iMac Intel
30″ Dell monitor

What point and shoot do you use?
Well, I use to have a Canon G9 before my husband lost it during our wedding in Punta Cana (maybe he didn’t want to remember that day haha) so right now we are point and shoot-less.  The shockproof and waterproof Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 is cool because Wilson and I are pretty active people who travel and shoot photos in semi-extreme conditions so it caters to that.  The Canon G10 would be an easy transition or the Panasonic DMC-LX3 is another contender for it’s 24mm 2.0 lens.

Who do you use for online proofing?
SmugMug has been working great for me for over 2 years.  They’re amazing with customer service whether I email them a question or my clients email them directly.  Interface is intuitive and easy to use.

Where do you do your prints?
I outsource all my printing to SmugMug’s pro lab.  If I need to make some one-off prints I trust Pikto.

What album company do you use?
I use IRISbook exclusively.  IRISbook produces custom made, handcrafted books.  The owner William, is my photo mentor and he just *gets* what photographers need and expect because he’s a photographer himself.  The books are contemporary and streamlined and make my photos look better.  The type of clientele I am shooting for these days tend to want something less wedding-y and doesn’t scream “THIS IS MY HONKIN’ WEDDING ALBUM”.

How do you download/backup images on the wedding day?
I have a 250G HyperDrive that I use to backup images or a Lexar FW reader attached to a Macbook Pro.  We keep all the original files on the card until the images have been backed up in the studio.

Where do you buy your gear?
Wherever there’s a deal so sometimes out of province or out of country.

How did you start out?
Growing up I’ve always been involved in the arts somehow either in music or the visual arts.  Photography was a natural extension when I was dabbling in graphic design in highschool.  I learned photography shooting film and developing my stuff in the darkroom.  I shot with a Nikon F60 with a kit lens on automatic at first and worked my way up to Aperture Priority (yeah!).  As I discovered that I enjoyed photography a lot and that friends and family seemed to be honestly impressed with my work I got more into it studying magazines and photographers that made an impression on me.  I decided that I wanted to become an editorial photographer.  You know, based in New York with my own studio shooting Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Aniston for GQ, Esquire and Vanity Fair.  What a lucrative job eh?  I hooked up with a prominent photographer here in Toronto and he took me on a few shoots which were invaluable lessons to me on how to manage your set, interact with subjects, and how not to treat your assistants ;) He also taught me how to see light, meter light and shoot manually.  I went out to purchase a $300 light meter with my dad and began developing the skill of manually exposing film.  As you’ll read later on, I was spending so much time honing my skills that I often missed class in University :)  I began pursuing a career in editorial photography by internning at two major Canadian magazines, Canadian Family and Toronto Life.  I got to learn what art directors and photo editors expect from a photographer they hire not only in the calibre of their images but their expectations for photographers to generate ideas and execute them.  During my time at Toronto Life, I had the privilege of meeting Mark Zibert and also seeing him work in action and I was also entrusted by my encouraging photo editor with some shoots including on of Mark McEwan at his now famous Yorkville restaurant, One.  After my internships, I started a pretty sucessful journey as an editorial photographer being published in about a dozen reputable magazines in my first couple of years.  My experience in the editorial world taught me and continues to teach me about having high standards for myself in the type of work I produce but also in how I actually work i.e. under promising and over delivering and also exceeding your clients’ expectations.

How do I get people to pay for my services or how do I increase my prices?
Pricing in photography isn’t much different from how it’s structured in the corporate 9-5.  Entry level jobs have minimal responsibilities and expectations so your pay reflects that.  As you gain more experience and skill set, you move up the ladder and your pay increases along with that.  However the more you’re making, the more probable it is that you have a healthy amount of work and responsibilities that will keep you busy.  Expectations from you are higher but if you can prove yourself and deliver, well you’re aligning yourself with another promotion.  And so the cycle continues…
Don’t put the cart before the horse.  I’m a firm believer in organic growth.  I shot my first wedding for $300 which I split with my friend and since then, I’ve slowly increased my price to reflect the level of my work and the years of experiences I’ve been able to acquire.  I do believe in a short period of doing pro bono work as a way to gain experience and work to put into your portfolio however once you’ve reached a good level of each, you’ve gotta raise the standards and start charging.  By continuing to work for cheap or even free, you are devaluing yourself and also the photography market at large.  Your perceived value is very important too.  Make sure all your touch points (i.e. website, blog, emails, phone calls, meetings etc.) reflect the level of your work as well.  How else does Coach get away with selling handbags for $$$$ when it’s just a bag? Perceived value.  Jasmine Star recently did a specific FAQ on Pricing so check that one out too.

How do you structure your packages?
I actually don’t offer packages.  I have a starting rate which covers 8 hours of coverage and comes with a handful of stuff which I’ve mindfully included for the benefit of my clients and also the integrity of my workflow.  For example, I include the engagement session with any 8 hour wedding coverage because the engagement session is so important to the way I work.  I don’t leave it up to the client to decide whether they want to pay for or not because I believe there’s a higher chance that they’d not want to shell out $500 for one so I include it.  I started off researching and testing all sorts of ways to price and sell and I’m not surprised that the most stripped down and simple way works for me.  I have my starting rate with the included stuff and then a A La Carte list of stuff they can add onto the starting rate.  Based on what my clients are interested in ordering e.g. a couple of parent books, over time coverage, the reception photobooth portraits, etc. I can do a custom quote for them based on that and a couple of other factors.  When I used to have package A, B and C, I found that clients were modifying them and customizing them so much that I was basically custom quoting them anyway.  Now the client gets exactly what they want and I can create a quote that’s catered to the client.  I’ve found that flexibilty and simplicity are really appreciated.

How do you get your photos to look they way they do?
Whoa! Very complex question with too many things to touch on in order to answer it fully so here are some random thoughts that come to mind:

• Shooting several frames of the same scene provides options and different ways of seeing and framing your subject.
• Being mindful of your lightsource and how it is affecting your subject is very important in order to get a clean-looking image.
• Photographing people has a lot to do with trust and that has a lot to do with you.  Richard Avedon once said, “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” What are you doing or have been doing to build trust between you and your subjects?
• I shoot in RAW so it allows for me to apply my signature “look” to the final image and also shooting wide-open with a shallow depth of field helps direct focus to your subject.  I tend to shoot at f2.8 or bigger.
• There are certain shots I will do and certain shots I don’t do.  I encourage you to build a repetoire of work which defines your style and keep that at the core of your vision.  It is your vision.
• Photo research.  Scour the web for images that inspire you.  Research the heck out of photographers whose work and style makes you wanna quit.  Figure out what it is about those photos that you want to work towards and think of ways and moments you’re going to try and implement them at your next shoot.

How often do you use your on camera flash indoors? Or do you try to use natural light as much as possible?
When shooting indoors (or outdoors) I try to use the flash as little as possible in order to retain the natural look and dimension of the environment (and the people in the environment).  Sometimes we’ll be shooting at venues that are SO dark and using a flash is unavoidable.  The secret is to still try to use as little flash as possible in the photo which means you have to find ways to bleed in the ambient.  I jack up the ISO, make sure I’m using a large aperture (most likely f1.4) and slow my shutter down as much as I can.  I’ll take a test shot without the flash to see what kind of ambient is bleeding in and then adjust my flash to balance everything out.  Generally my flash is at 1/64th of power or something really low since I’m trying to use as much ambient as possible.  I use Gary Fong’s Origami which creates a larger light source and throws light upwards and forwards slightly for a very subtle and un-flashy look.

What Photoshop Actions do you use?
I do not use actions (anymore) as I try to get the majority, if not all of my post-work done in LightRoom.  LightRoom has some pretty sophisticated presets now that can mimic Photoshop Actions a lot quicker and in a non-destructive way.  The quicker I can chug through editing, the happier I am because I wanna be out there shooting and meeting people, not stuck behind a monitor.  For stuff in my portfolio or personal work, I might use Totally Rad Actions Revenge.

Do you give out digital proofs to your clients?
Yes. Gone are the days of film where we could hold on to the negs and the clients would be okay with that.  Much like how it has revolutionized the way we get our music, Digital has revolutionize the standards and expectations in photography.  I give all my clients a disc of their images after the wedding however these are proofs only so close-to straight out of the camera images which no retouching applies.  This disc was designed for proofing (aka getting an overall view of their images) and also for archiving.  Though they are high-res, I stress to my clients from the moment we meet to the moment I deliver to the disc that they don’t want to print their proofs without me retouching them first.

Do you do an album pre-design?
Nope.  An album pre-design is another added task that I do not want to, or feel is necessary to do.  IRISbooks come with a standard 100pgs which is more than enough real estate to fill up with photos from their wedding day.  There’s no need for me to be up-selling pages.  I simply figure out the cost of the book and labour, set a price and they purchase it, all-inclusive.  With pre-designing, I feel like you’re also dangling candy in front of a child, perhaps showing what they could have but then making them shell out even MORE money after the fact in order to receive it.  If they don’t / can’t shell out the money, then they’re left with “settling” for their basic album.
I do provide a general slideshow of the best of the best images from the day and I find that clients consistently end up choosing these same images for prints and for their books and order for prints.

Do you advertise? Would you suggest investing in advertisements?
“People sell, products don’t.  People buy people first.”
I do not advertise and almost 100% of my clientele is referral based.  By converting my past clients into fans of my work, I essentially create a free source of advertising: a frontline of Claudia Hung evangelists who are eager to share my photos and their experiences.  If you’ve ever bought a house, chances are you didn’t Google “real estate agent in Toronto” or call up the guy who’s face you saw plastered on the local bus.  Chances are you asked your friends and family if they knew a good real estate agent and you got referred to them.  Referrals are powerful because they’re based on real human interaction, feedback and testimonies from someone they know and trust.  It has nothing to do with your full page ad in a reputable magazine because most consumers know that anyone can buy adspace and there’s no reason to trust an ad just because it’s there.  I’m more inclined to suggest investing in a booth at a notable wedding show that aligns with your type of clientele. Why? Because YOU can be there.  It’s not your wedding images or a photo of you there but a real live person who people will be able to connect and build trust with.
In order to keep this FAQ as candid as possible, I’ve been honoured to be featured in WeddingBells magazine and WeddingBells.ca a few times along with other wedding sites, forums and I’ve won a couple of awards/photo contests before which have gotten me some attention and publicity.  However all these things were never paid for and by some means it is still someone’s personal choice and testimony to put me on these lists.  The vast majority of my clients are still from personal referrals though.  Getting published and winning awards simply helps make me (seem) more credible I guess.

How do you go about posing the bride and groom or the wedding party?
I like dynamic photos.  People standing in a line = not so dynamic.  Staggering a group of people automatically creates diagonal lines which create dynamics in an image.  It gives it depth and leads the eye with more dimension.  I study ways that other photographers line up groups.  Well, just one photographer actually.  And I try to get into her mindset of why certain people are grouped a certain way.  I’m anal about body positioning and body language.  You’ll often hear me direct, “Ok can you move over to the left a bit, er ok back just a bitttt to the right. Perfect!” Really? That little inch is gonna affect the photo? Where the bride’s hand is on his chest is gonna make a difference?  Maybe and maybe not.  All I know is that I have a standard for myself and my images.  If I see something that can be improved and there’s something that I can do about it, then why not do it?  In this over saturated market of photography, it pays to have a body of work that is refined.  The devil is in the details and though a potential client may not (and probably will not) notice that all the guys’ jackets are buttoned in every image in your portfolio or the way the bride’s arm leads the eye and breaks the color of a dark suit, I believe that they will get a subtle sense that there’s something polished about your work.

Did you go to school for photography?
Nope.  I went to Ryerson for New Media which is a multi-disciplinary degree.  Jill of all trades, master at nothing.  I barely graduated because I was so busy assisting photographers, shooting jobs and hustlin’ in order to make a name for myself.  I feel like formal education works for some people if you need that structure — someone to give you an assignment and a deadline or if you need someone to prompt you into thinking critically about your work and techniques.  As for me, I’m pretty self-motivated and I dive headfirst into anything I want to pursue so formal education wasn’t really needed for me.  I’m a bigger fan of attending a workshop of a photographer who you admire and want to learn from. Afterall, a prof at a school may or may not even be an active photographer.  They could be teaching you oldschool techniques and approaches that are no longer applicable in today’s market.  Learning from an active professional gives you hands-on and relevant information you’ll probably be able to apply right away.

How long have you been shooting professionally?
I’m not sure what defines “professionally” but I’ve been shooting as a serious hobby since I was 16, shot my first wedding when I was 19 and was published by the time I was 21.

Do you have a studio?
Nope.  Most of my editorial/commercial work is location based i.e. I go down to the restaurant to photograph the chef or their food, or I get flown around the world to shoot jobs so a studio doesn’t suit my business.  I have a large space in my home which I use for consultations which can also be flipped to accommodate a large production food shoot or small sized portrait shoot.

Do you have assistants at your wedddings?
I usually don’t have assistants  but I will bring on a second and/or third shooter to a wedding which I’d rather refer to as my team.  They are strong photographers in their own right who help me problem solve and come up with the creative solutions and ideas that you associate with my work.  They help me scout locations, arrange people, take wonderful images and bring their own flare to the mix.  My role at weddings is to manage my team and make sure the wedding day is on schedule so it doesn’t eat into our shoot time.  My team members are hand picked and go through vigourous training in order to be able to understand my full approach and style.  They’re like mini-Claudias.

Would you suggest assisting/second shooting when I’m first starting out?
Absolutely frickity yes.  Assisting is such an awesome way to get hands on insight as to what goes down during a particular type of shoot: What the expectations and standards are; what kind of obstacles are encountered; how to resolve and problem solve.  The key is finding a photographer who’s eager to teach you and not just treat you as hired help or a voice activated light stand (even so, sometimes those opportunities are still priceless!)  I was so blessed to hook up with William who allowed me to shoot along side him and learn so much from his style and approach.  He never dictated what I should do but rather challenged my thinking and gave me opportunities to critically problem solve and come up with my own solutions.  Aw… *tears* I think everyone needs a mentor! Everyone.  Now, even as a seasoned photographer, I’m happy to second shoot for friends and colleagues.  I don’t do it for the money or because I’m looking to work on another Saturday that I have off but rather, I think it’s a great opportunity to see what your friends are up to; how are they shooting these days? How are they problem solving and managing situations? What can I learn from my peers?  It also gives me a chance to shoot without that Primary Photographer Pressure that comes with photographing my own wedding.  I can be more of a fly on the wall and concentrate on getting different creative angles that the Primary isn’t getting, trying new and different things that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to try when shooting my own stuff.

How do I get my photos to look better?
This question was asked by someone from Raising the Village, an NGO which concentrates its efforts in Uganda.  They wanted a quick and dirty 101 on how to make their photos, taken by locals working in the frontline, look more professional or media-ready based on the image samples they sent me.  The answer to that question is in that context.

1. Yes you camera/lens matters.
So a car is a car is a car.  It gets you from point A to point B so whether you drive a Toyota Yaris or an Subaru Imprezza STi, it doesn’t really matter if all you’re doing is getting from one place to another.  There comes a point when horsepower, torque, handling, transmission and otherwise do matter though.  Subaru builds its cars for offroading or rally racing so you’d imagine they’d do a much better job at driving in those conditions than the Yaris.  The line is fine and I will not attempt to define it so let’s just say this: if you want the QUALITY of your photos to increase then your camera and more importantly, the type of lenses you shoot with matter.  Though you might still take horrible photos, the quality of the horrible photos will be better :)  If media-ready images are what you guys need then invest in a decent camera and good glass.  A system like this could cost around $4000-$5000.
[again, not suggesting that if you give a bad driver a Subaru Imprezza STi they will suddenly become an amazing driver but rather they'd still drive horribly but get to the destination faster]

2. It is ALL about light.
Learn to see light.  See light? What? Light has different color temperatures and looks differently at different times of the day.  Your scene and subject look differently depending on how they are positioned in relation to your main light source.  Be aware and be keen about how the light is hitting your subject.  Do you need to reposition your subject? Do you need to reposition yourself?  How is the light hitting my subject’s face? Ugly shadows or nice soft even light?  The challenging thing about being a photographer is having to learn how to access a scene very quickly and then come up with the creative/technical solutions.  Hm, the subject is in a brighter light than the foreground so how am I going to balance that out? The sky looks like it’s gonna get washed out so how will I manage that? All while considering composition, interacting with the subject, focus and so on.

3. Learn to shoot in manual.
Photography is about controlling or manipulating light.  We can do it physically by using things to block it, reflect it, adding with external flashes and so on.  We also do it by controlling how much lights enters our camera.  By shooting in anything automatic, we place our trust in the camera’s processor to make a decision on what the settings should be and how much light to let in.  Though intuitive and helpful (especially in higher end cameras), it will never replace human judgment.  Out of the three images, there was one that was blurred from camera shake, one with the sky overexposed and now white, and the other was underexposed.  These things are probably not the fault of the photographer but rather the camera because it “sees” the scene and makes a judgement call based on algorithms.  Sometimes it works, most of the time it could be improved with a little human intuition.

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Agree, disagree, thoughts, other ways of doing things? Leave a comment.  If you have futher questions I’ll do my best to answer those or add them to the next FAQ.