Erica M Photography »

I’m trying to stay true to my New Year’s goal of blogging once a week. 5 months in, I’ve only missed 2 weeks which I’m pretty proud of! But some weeks are easier than others and I have some posts in my mind that need a little prep time. I got a good response from my last before & after post so I thought I’d share another. And this time it’s not of Fred and Charlie :)

This photo was taken at about 7:30pm with the sun low in the sky, behind us. I used my trusty Nikon d700 and 50mm 1.4 lens at f2.0 1/800 ISO 400. I was really happy with the image straight out of camera but I wanted this image a little crisper, a little warmer, with a little more contrast. And see that tiny orange flag on the left of the couple? I wanted that gone too.

So I edited in Photoshop with my TRA actions:

Boutwell Magic Glasses 100%
Clarify (turn off tone curve layer) 70%
Warm it up, Kris! 20%
Adjust Levels – shadow input to 10
Clone Stamp to get rid of the orange flag in background

Tada! Like I said in my last post, I keep my editing simple and true to life so that my clients will always adore their images :)

I love before and afters. Mostly the interior design kind. And okay, I occasionally tune into the last 5 minutes of What Not to Wear. I love how those mamas go from frumpy to pretty darn fabulous. I guess I just love transformations, there is just something so gratifying about it, am I right?

The other day a friend called me over to her house for some Photoshop help. She’s taking an online course and I’m pretty sure she was close to banging her head on the desk by the time she called me ;) I told her of course I would come TRY to help, but warned her –  I am no photoshop master. (To my relief she told me I was helpful.) I do very little in Photoshop to my images. My philosophy is to get it right in camera – good composition, good exposure, and get it sharp! Those three things are key to me. It allows me to do very little editing. And this allows me to get it done fast. The less time editing the better!

Last Friday evening Fred and I took Charlie for a walk in a nearby park. I also grabbed my camera in hope to find some pretty places to photograph for future shoots. Much to my surprise, I found some greenery. Made me very happy :)

So on to the editing. Here’s the specs: I used my 50mm at f2.0 1/1250 ISO400. I’ve only purchased actions from one company – Totally Rad Actions. I love ‘em but I truly don’t use that many of them! I keep my photos simple because I don’t want them to look dated in a few years. Some photographers can go over board with editing with crazy colors and textures. If it’s trendy now, you are probably going to hate it in a few years. So I keep it real :) Here is what I did, which took me two seconds because I automate my actions in a set:

Adjust my levels (in Photoshop to lighten image overall)
Boutwell Magic Glasses 100% (to sharpen)
Ying/Yang applied with a brush tool (to lighten up Fred & Charlie)
Flare-up Golden 15% (to give it a little warmth)

That’s it! It’s nothing crazy or extreme, but like I said – I like it that way. Hope this post was helpful to some photographers!

I’ve gotten quite a few questions from my fellow photographers lately and I thought instead of just replying to them, I would post my answers on my blog for others to hopefully benefit from. My answers are merely my opinion based on the experiences I have had. I’ve tried to keep my replies as concise as possible :)

Please let me know what you think of this Q & A, if you’d like me to continue with them or not. If you have questions for a future Q & A please leave a comment here or shoot me an email!

Q: What kind of camera do you use? And how do you get such an amazing DOF (depth of field) in your shots?

A: The Nikon D700. I love it! My back up is the D80. For portraits I primarily use the 50mm 1.4 lens, which is how I get my wide DOF. The smaller the aperture, the wider the DOF.

Q: Any advice photographing young children?

A: Have fun. Don’t say “cheese!” I find it best to be my silly and goofy self. Kids just want to have fun, so let them!

Q: I’m a film shooter and I’m always worried about shooting digitally. Do you do a lot of post processing like color balancing or are you pretty handy with making your camera do what you want it to do? What kind of computer so you have?

A: I have an iMac 27”. I was a PC and I’ll never go back! I love shooting digitally, but I also don’t love being on my computer all day. Now that I’ve been shooting a while and my exposures are more consistently correct, I can edit pretty quickly. I don’t manipulate my images a lot – I adjust levels, contrast, and color balance. I use auto color balance in my camera and usually only have to tweek it slightly in post processing. This allows me to shoot faster, it’s one less thing to think about when I’m trying to capture a moment quickly.

Q: How do you feel about the quick reflexes needed in shooting a wedding or anything for that matter? I always feel that I’m taking too long to compose a shot or fiddle with my camera.

A: As for quick reflexes: practice. The first wedding I second shot I did so for free, I had never shot a wedding before. It was a faced paced day, but I did okay. Now when I shoot I can usually look at the light, do my settings, and get it pretty darn close to the right exposure. The first few times this happened I was sort of amazed at myself, but then I realize it’s just cause I’ve been shooting so much! It’s like typing, your fingers just remember where the keys are. You get familiar with what settings you need for different lighting situations and subconsciously memorize them.

Q: I want to give my clients a CD of images, but would like to retain the rights. How do I go about this?

A: Give your client a print release. I recommend you get professional help to write yours. My print release states that the bearer of the print release has purchased the images and has the right to make prints for personal use only. The bearer may not use the images for commercial or editorial purposes nor may gain from them financially. Most importantly it states that I retain the copyright to all images. This is a very brief summary; my print release is nearly a page long.

Q: I’m curious if you have any advice regarding contracts. I’ve drawn up a basic contract, but was wondering if there is anything that you learned from this process and would tell someone starting out, “don’t forget this!”

A: My advice is to again, seek professional help. You need a contract to be legally sound! In brief, my contract states the clients name and information, the date time and location of the event, the specific product I am providing them with, the payment that they owe me, and a limitation of liability which includes but is not limited to the terms I’ve set if a client cancels their event. It also states that I will retain copyright to all images created and have right to reproduction. Again, I really recommend your write a contract with a professional so you are positive you’re not forgetting anything!

Q: I’m starting my own photography business….any tips or advice?

A: When people start a photography business I feel like they are focused on one thing, taking good photographs. And yes, to have a successful photography business you must be able to take good photos. But you also must be a good business person, accountant, marketer, advertiser, etc. To start off you should have a working knowledge of these fields and as your business grows you can begin to delegate tasks to professionals.

And because I can’t imagine a post without an accompanying photo or two, here is one of me shooting at Sara and Rich’s Connecticut wedding (taken by my second shooter Mary Dinneen) and the resulting photo of the bride’s necklace. I love this piece because Sara created it herself specifically for the wedding from charms she already owned that had significance to her :)