Wootness | the blog of christine walsh-newton

LINK TO ORIGINAL AD

WANTED : A wedding photographer willing to take photos for free (we’re broke college kids) and collaborate with the bride to let her edit them. Dual credit will be given in the event the photos are used for a portfolio.

The wedding will be very small (less than 10 people) and will take place on December 10th, 2011 at 11:30 a.m.

If there is an interest in having a complete range of photos (getting ready to the ceremony, to some more posed photography after the ceremony) please let me know.

The photographer needs to have experience with a camera (aperture, shutter speed, etc) and taking quality photos, but not necessarily wedding photography.

Wow. Just wow. Did you notice that the wedding takes place TODAY? This ad was placed on December 4th. That means SIX days before their wedding, this couple decides to try and do something about their wedding photography.

I was alerted to this ridicuous request by a top-secret informant who felt it only fitting to try and educate this couple, although it will probably fall on dear ears.

Here is the email that was sent by the photographer to the couple. I will update later if a response is received.

I’m going to assume you’re young college students and not really thinking things through. I understand you’re broke, but still want to get married. That’s great. Praises to you.

But honestly…. the one single thing (besides your rings and marriage license) that you will have from your wedding in a year, in ten years, in fifty years, will be your wedding photographs. And you want someone to do them for free? Are you asking for someone to DJ for free? Cater for free? The state to donate your marriage license? Since you’re getting married on a Saturday, that alone is going to cost you $45. How about the rings? The dress? Flowers? Not only that, but you’re asking for hours and hours of coverage.

Do you not have respect for someone’s time to understand that they will spend the entire day on their feet, hauling around several pieces of equipment, dealing with the stress of keeping track of which photos have been taken, which ones haven’t, and listening to people tell them how to do their job the entire day. Yet, the only compensation you’re offering is “dual credit in the event the images are used for a portfolio.” Oh, and maybe something to eat at the reception. I’m going to guess that when you spend an entire day doing a job for someone else, you like to have some cash to go in your pocket. Something that helps to pay your bills at the end of the week. To add insult to injury, you’re asking for someone who has experience and can take quality images. Your photographer, even if they don’t have wedding experience, will have had to have some training in order to have that experience and to take those quality images. Again, you are showing a lot of disrespect by not offering to compensate them for their time.

One last thing to consider…. you don’t care if they have had wedding experience or not. I can tell you right now that taking photos at a wedding is an entire different world, no make that an entire different universe, from taking photos of kids or dogs or flowers or even “creative” self-portraits. Again… your wedding photos will be what you have to look back on about one of the most important days of your life. And you want to risk it by not even caring if the person has experience taking wedding photos.

You might as well buy a $50 digital point and shoot and give it to your neighbor’s kid. At least then you’ll have some “creative angles” to go with the out of focus, poorly exposed, badly cropped images you will likely get. I’m sure that you can just fix it photoshop later since you’re expecting to edit them anyway.

Good luck.

Watermarks are one of those high-emotion subjects that I don’t usually involve myself in. I just put a discreet (and I DO mean discreet) watermark on the sneak peeks I post on Facebook and my blog and go about my business.

But….

The practice of copying these photographs, cutting off the logo and then using the photograph elsewhere has become so commonplace that I must register my disappointment in this practice.

So here’s the deal:

I no longer charge a sitting fee. That means that you come to my studio and I spend at least an hour, and more likely 2 hours photographing you with no compensation. I choose 1-3 favorites from the session, do a full retouch on them (at this point I have AT LEAST an additional 2 hours invested in you) and post a few sneak peeks on Facebook and/or my blog.

I’m not doing this to be nice. I hope you think of me as a nice person, but I’m doing this because I want you to be excited about your photographs. And I *hope* that you share these photographs with your friends.

It doesn’t do me one bit of good if you share these with your friends with my logo cut off.

At this point, I have 3-5 hours invested in your session with no compensation. I’m hoping that you order some photo products and prints to help me recoup my investment in you.

I’m hoping that your friends are suitably impressed with your photographs and they are motivated to call me and schedule their own session based on your photographs. If they don’t see my logo on your sneak peeks, they won’t know who to call. And don’t give me that crap about how they will ask you. They won’t.  Hence the logo.

Furthermore, you have not yet paid me a cent. These photographs do not belong to you to do with as you choose. These sneak peeks are a courtesy and one of the purposes of these is to serve as a little bit of advertising. When you chop off or remove my logo, you have eliminated my chance to gain any further business. If you would like to purchase the digital file, I will prepare it for you WITHOUT a logo and then it is yours to use as you see fit (short of submitting it for publication or selling it for profit). I will have finally earned some income from your session, so all will be square between us.

The situation is further disappointing when the session in question was free of charge. I don’t do many sessions without pay, but when I do, I expect some common courtesy in how the photographs and sneak peeks are shared. If I gift you with a session and package worth hundreds of dollars, I expect that you will be very careful in your treatment of the resulting images.

Now, I know how it goes. Sometimes the clients are not educated and don’t realize that this is an issue. So – take this a PSA. It’s not cool. Please don’t do it. Use the images from your session in the FULL format in which they were given. It’s good Karma.

I know there’s a lot of confusion out there – so let me make a simple clarification. Just because you are in the photo does not mean that it belongs to you. It belongs to me. I am the copyright holder and I am the artist. Yes, you were my lovely subject, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

Another point of consideration is whether you are a “model” for my studio. If I have asked you to be a model, it’s not because I’m just a silly woman who wants to shower you with free photo products and sessions, it’s because we are entering a win-win situation. I do favors for you and you do favors for me. The favors you do for me include sharing your photographs with your friends and letting them know where you had them taken. You are a source of advertising for me. Yes, I like you and you like me, but I own a business and this is part of business. If you help me out with getting some potential new clients, I help you out with some complimentary sessions and products. Make sense?

If I continue to have this happen, I will have no choice but to discontinue sharing my photographs. Then where will we be? You will not have photos to share with your friends and I will not have recent photos to show off my photographic skills. Right now I’m one of the FEW photographers that uses a tasteful logo on their photos. Most photographers create the most obnoxious logo that they can or else they place their logo across the faces of the people in the photographs. I hate how that looks and I know that you hate it too. That’s why mine is simple, discreet and a lowered opacity.

I hope this has served to educate. Have a nice day.

Ahem. I’m talking to you and you and you.

Obviously not many people know what the hell branding is because their idea of branding is choosing Very Special Colors and designing a Shiny New Logo. Sometimes it’s also buying Cutsie Bags and Ribbons.

Sometimes, ok, MOST of the time, it involves purchasing pre-made logos for $39 or having a logo designer “custom design” a logo for you for less than $100. Seriously? You just paid some hack $50 to churn out a logo for you without knowing anything at all about you, your business, your clients and your product line?

Sure, they asked you what you liked and of course, you really luuuuurrrve polka dots and your favorite colors are pink and brown.

Pardon me while I go retch.

Let’s just suffice it to say that branding is not brown and pink polka dots or cutesy little colorful butterflies flying around your name. Seriously? What are you telling me? That you manufacture neon green and hot pink butterflies?

Um. No. Just. No.

I’m going to give you all a break on this subject and not lecture you too badly, because I realize that not many of you have backgrounds in advertising or marketing and have been sucked into the (wrong) concept of what branding isn’t.

Since *I* am not a marketing or advertising guru, either, I’d like you to review A Practical Guide to Branding, published by the fine folks at Business Week. This should at least clear up any misconceptions about what branding is.

Now that you have a little bit of an idea  – sit down and rehash what your branding needs to say about your business. If you are entirely clueless, I recommend that you hire an expert to help you.

One of  the best things you can do to help a professional help you (or just help YOU help you) is to have a good, solid idea of what your business is all about and the goals you have for your business as well as your clients.

A very good resource can be found at the Brand Camp Blog. The author of that site has written a book called Circus Circus. Now, I have not purchased this book, so I’m not really making a recommendation that you do so, but on her site, you have the opportunity to download and read the first chapter for free (check the top of the right hand sidebar on the site). That chapter is about writing your manifesto and it is an excellent activity to help you get a handle on the types of things you need to know before tackling your branding activities. Take an hour or so of quiet time, read the chapter and then work on the activities. (FYI – I don’t get a thing from sending you to this blog – I just happen to really like it and it’s one of my regular blog reads).

If you’ve been salivating over a designers’ store of pre-made logos or have been tempted by someone advertising logo design on a photography forum, stop it now. These are photographers who have discovered that they can make more money from other photographers by selling them stuff than they can from their own photography (another rant for another day). Unless said photographer has a degree in marketing with a  minor in graphic design, I highly recommend you pass by these “opportunities”.

I’ve had my eye on a design firm for awhile that I would like to hire for my own branding job. The cost is $1200 for their basic service, which I think is WELL worth the price considering the look of their portfolio. This is the kind of price you can expect to pay. If you see this service for cheaper…remember…let’s all say it together, now…. You get what you pay for!

I was asked by the creators of PhotoWoah.com to share this new site with my readers, and in the spirit of supporting new photographic endeavors, I will do so.

PhotoWoah.com is a site that has daily “deals” created for photographers. Please check them out and enter your email address at the main screen to get on the notification list. I have not used this service, personally, but it looks to be promising.

Check it out at PhotoWoah.com

I am a firm believer in organizing by zones. I don’t know if this is a current philosophy that other people subscribe to. I kind of made it up, but it works well for me. I’ll be gradually sharing these zones with you until I’ve shared my whole office. We’ll start off with my shipping and receiving zone.

Yeah, that sounds all “big-business-doesn’t-apply-to-me,” but give me a couple of minutes and I assure you, it will make sense for your small business.

I have both a studio and a separate office. The studio does not contain anything that is not studio related. It’s a small space, so I utilize the real estate there as well as I can. Unfortunately, my office is also on the small side, so the organization there must be strict.

I have found that most of the “clutter” that takes over the office is shipments and mail coming in, orders waiting to be processed and packaged and waiting for delivery to the client or the post office.

So, I knew I needed to have an area for these types of activities that would keep them more organized. Hence, a shipping & receiving area.

My area for these activities are confined to a 3 shelf bookcase and a set of 4 stacking bins as well as a few other baskets/containers.

Shipping Receiving

1. Outbox – Orders that are ready for pickup by clients
2. Inbox – Orders that need opened, packaged, invoiced, etc
3. Inventory – extra order-type inventory that I have procured for samples that need an inventory adjustment before being used.
4. To be filed – yep – this is the bin that is always full!
5. This basket is for all the items that are ready to be mailed and just need taken to the post office. I transfer the contents to those cool re-useable grocery sacks with handles on errand day to make them easier to handle.
6. Print Packaging Black Boxes – 4×6
7. Print Packaging Black Boxes – 5×7
8. Wallet Packaging
9. CD Packaging Envelopes
10. CD Packaging Trifolds
11. CD Packaging CD Hubs
12. Print Packaging – Gold elastic bands for black boxes.
13. Bin of small padded envelopes for CD mailing. Standing beside it are a variety of larger catalog envelopes & USPS Priority envelopes.
14. Bin of cellophane & packaging tape
15. Print Packaging Black Boxes – 8×10 & 11×14
16. Packaged Wootness t-shirts
17. Padded T-shirt envelopes.

Because my office is so small, an adjacent area is also pictured, which is for:

Reference/Library

A. DVD Instructional Videos

B. Software CDs

C. Purchased Photoshop Templates on CD/DVD

D. Cans of air for cleaning keyboard & PCs (probably will be re-homed & something more pertinent will go in here later)

E. Magazines (Professional Photographer, Photoshop User, etc)

F. Books

G. Basket of items that do not belong in the office and need returned to their proper homes.

H. More books

So – there you have it – a small, organized area that will hold your basic packaging needs and keep the flow of materials in and out of your office in a more organized manner.

For those of you that have all the fancy packaging (i.e. bags, bows, tissue paper) this probably won’t work for you, but an additional space for those items would supplement this system nicely.

I hope you found this of some help. Please feel free to share photographs of your own space. Send your photos & descriptions to christine@wootness.net and I will feature some of the best ones in future articles.

It’s that time of year! You’re either sending your files to the lab to have your cards printed or you’re printing them in-house. If you’re printing them yourself, here’s a set of tips that will make the process easier for you.

These tips are courtesy Red River Paper. I am one of their Red River Pros and have had the great fortune of being able to use almost every single type of paper and greeting card they carry. I highly recommend that you check them out.

Tip 1 – Create a Custom Paper Size in your Printer Properties

In order to use most pre-scored inkjet note cards, you’ll need to define a custom paper size to your printer. Epson, Canon, and HP printers all have this feature. The trick is to always define paper sizes the same way. Set the width to the smaller dimension of your paper and the lenght or height will always be the longer dimension of your sheet. After that you only need to change the orientation button depending on how your greeting card is laid out.

Tip 2 – Use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for best results

We recommend Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as your best option for greeting card layout and printing. The programs offer the most flexbility in terms of layout size, photo and text placement, as well as color management. Although Photoshop is an expensive program, the Elements version is quite affordable and offers all of the options you need.

Tip 3 – Print the inside of your card first.

If you want to print text or graphics on the inside of your card, print that information first. This means the photo side will only pass through the printer once, which limits the possibility of scratching.

Tip 4 – Decide if you want to print photos on the outside AND inside of your card before you buy your paper.

Not all inkjet printable card stock is designed for photo printing on both sides. Decide ahead of time on your design then make your paper purchase. If you want photos on both sides of the paper look for product that is called double sided, 2-sided, or C2S.

Tip 5 – Make sure your envelopes match the size of your card.

Greeting cards are usually sized to match envelope standard sizes. Here is a chart to help you verify your envelope size is right:

Tip 6 – Feed only a few sheets at a time.

Most inkjet printers are not really designed to take large stacks of card stock and feed them consistently. Be gentle with your machine and only put 5-10 sheets in the paper tray at one time. With extra heavy papers, or fine art cotton media, you may have to feed them one at a time. Some trial and error may be necessary

Tip 7 – Clean your feed rollers!

It is critical to keep the feed mechanism of your printer clean and free of inkjet coating and paper debris, which are key factors in paper misfeed. Go to www.redriverpaper.com/feed for helpful DIY cleaning instructions.

Tip 8 – When printing the outside of your card, make sure the photo side comes out first

Set your layout to that when you click print, the printer prints the photo side of the outside of your card first. This means the outside back of your card will come out of the printer last. This is helpful in preventing head strikes which can lead to black smudges on the edge of thick media.

True stories:

1. A bride made an appointment to meet with me to discuss doing her wedding photography. She brought a bridesmaid with her. Not an unusual arrangement. However, the bridesmaid commandeered the conversation and asked questions about WHERE I had my prints made (ie what lab) and what paper they were printed on and HOW I designed my albums and WHERE I got those printed. The bride barely spoke. Midway through the meeting I asked the bridesmaid if she was a photographer because she was asking me more photography business questions than wedding photography questions. BUSTED. She was. She talked the bride into bringing her along so she could see my price list, contract and offerings and then undercut me. The bride didn’t bother letting me know that she wasn’t going with my services and I didn’t bother following up with her. I didn’t want her as a client after that.

2. My phone rings. I have a Smart Phone that is synced to my Facebook friends list. The name of a photographer that I was “friends” with on Facebook and had met at a speaking engagement I had several months before popped up on the screen. I figured he had some questions. Instead, it was a woman. She began asking me questions about my wedding pricing and offerings. She did not mention that she was the photographer’s wife (and business partner).

3. A photographer friend is an award-winning boudoir photographer that has recently relocated and is searching for models in her new location. She received an application from the wife of a… you guessed it…boudoir photographer.

Come on, people! Seriously???

In this day and age of Facebook, the www and other technological advances – you cannot hide. We WILL figure out who you are and you will forever be on our shit lists. We will tell our local photographer friends about what you did and it will take you a VERY long time to redeem yourself in our eyes and the eyes of our peers.

Don’t do it. It’s NOT classy at all. In fact, it’s downright insulting.

In the second example above – I told the caller I was confused, that it looked like she was calling from the number of a local competitor. She ‘fessed up and apologized. And you know what? I told her everything she wanted to know and sent her some links in an email to some suppliers I use that carry a specific product she was asking about. I ignored her faux pas and treated her as if she had been up front with me in the beginning.

I’m a soft touch like that. Other photographers probably won’t be.

So – if you wanna know something, just ask. Don’t be all private-eye-like and think you’re going to fool us. You won’t.

So, I’m happily humming along in my office, getting some orders retouched and generally happy with how much I’m getting done and how well I’m doing at staying caught up. I check the Wootness Facebook page and I see a post from a reader asking about their Wootness T-Shirt.

Uh-oh…

Yeah, I’m so organized that the shirts have been all packaged up for awhile now and were waiting in my little special box/basket #2… (or was it #3??) and were just waiting to be taken to the post office. I can only get to the post office on Saturdays and last week was a holiday weekend and the weekend before…oh heck ..who knows what happened?

But there you have it. Wootness FAIL. *sigh*

So – if you have been patiently waiting for a shirt – they will be shipped out TODAY. (All except for Carrie Calabrese – I had to order another one in your size, I was short one, sorry!)

I am now discontinuing the bonus shirt plan, so if you never placed your order for your shirt (which in turn provided Wootness with credit to buy these shirts and hand them out to you), you’ve missed your chance, sorry.

Keep your eyes open, though, because you will be able to get one of your very own in the soon-to-be-unveiled “Wootique.”

Yeah, I’m smarmy like that. 🙂