We all wish we knew not to do or what to do before it actually happened but it’s not always easy or possible to know it. True many sources of information are available nowadays and it hasn’t been easier to do research online, review other’s reviews or feedback and prepare. And many brides do exactly this: spent long hours planning their weddings, reading reviews for wedding vendors and working with wedding planner to ensure their dreams of becoming a bride are fulfilled.
However as with everything in life, there is always not enough time, money or resources to make a dream come true. So many brides are forced to make a choice. Do they don’t get videographer for their weddings, or book wedding photographer for less time, or get smaller and less elaborate decorations, or don’t hire a limo, or settle down for less impressing reception venue? Questions, questions.
The bottom line is that wedding photography is not something to save money from. When it comes to wedding photography, one thing is clear: Don’t skim on the wedding photographer. Flowers fade, invitations are quickly forgotten and discarded after the wedding, the limo you hired for the short trip to the reception was it worth it..
Unfortunately, remembering the wedding moments and be able to pass these memories and images of you to your children and grandchildren, not easy when you don’t have any good photographs.
Agree, disagree, have feedback. Drop me a line or add a comment.
Categories: Photography Resources | Tags: mountain view photography, trifonanguelovphotography, wedding budget, wedding photographer, wedding photography, wedding photography tips, weddings | Permalink.
Every photographer has a style which he or she develops over the years. This includes first selecting a type of photography one enjoys and wanting to work in: portraits, photojournalism, architecture, events, weddings, engagements, maternity, children or baby photography. So many types to choose from but ultimately it comes down to how passionate one is about this type of photography and how much energy he or she is willing to put into it.
Then it comes the option of digital camera model and types of lenses. Does one pick Canon, Nikon, Sony or Fuji, Pentax? Also how much depth of field matters for the type of photography and style one already selected. Having the right equipment is an important decision every photographer has to make. it would influence the quality and look of the photographs one would produce. Not an easy or cheap choice if you ask me.
And will all the selections already made, then it comes the time for one to start practicing, getting experience working with clients and building solid portfolio. As some are better at the technical aspect of photography, this could be a quite a steep learning. Managing client’s expectations, booking appointments and advertising a business takes so much energy from the otherwise creating and pleasurable activity. Wasn’t all going to be interesting and creative, one might ask? Yes and not. Managing the business aspect of the photography business takes time and efforts.
So finally with choices made, gear available and clients coming for photo sessions, it’s all about fun, isn’t it? Well wanted to bring another point which each photographer should consider and this is: unique look and vision. Finding this secret ingredient which will make the clients whooa the images one produces. This means finding interesting compositions and creative points of view to frame the compositions. A photograph is just a framed one dimensional representation of the reality around us. What to include or exclude, what to emphasize or what to diminish it up to each artists and creator. The reality can be shaped and represented in some many ways, which makes the portrait, wedding and engagement photography so interesting.
Have a different opinion, agree or disagree? Drop me a line or post your comment.
Categories: Photography Techniques | Tags: 94040, clients, engagements, galleries, mountain view, mountain view photographer, mountain view photography, photographer, photographer's camera, Photography, portfolio, portraits, weddings | Permalink.
A portfolio is a must for any visual artist: graphic designer, animator, videographer or photographer. It presents potential clients with quick overview of the artists best work and sets the expectations of what to expect. It helps to visualize the vision and experience of the artists into 8-10 pieces of work.
I as a photographer decided to build and maintain online photography portfolio so that my clients can see my best images. And not just the images but also post-processing skills which I have built over time.
And are there plenty of choices one has for online portfolio? Yes. Way too many. But after reviewing some of them I was able to distil the options to two which I decided to consider: Smugmug and Zenfolio. The good part is that both offer 30 days evaluation period during which one can test the features of each offering and take them for a “test drive”. At the end as all things in life, it comes down to making a decision.
– Smugmug picks up the image tags you assign in Lightroom and adds them to each image you upload. You can also add hyper-keywords to each image which are later being picked up and indexed by the search engines. This allows your images to be available in the images search for certain search terms (family photographer, baby pictures, etc). Gold when you need clients to find you online.
– Smugmug has up to 12 levels of gallery hierarchy (you can have Portraits (first level) : Headshots, Baby, Family (second level) : Headshots Male, Headshots Female, Baby Newborn, Baby One Months, Baby Two Months, etc (third level) etc. useful if you want to sell prints and need to organize your images by themes in different dimensions.
– Website customizations are available from grin Smugmug forums and many users have already shared examples of their layout customizations and HTML / CSS code.
– Smugmug offers a hierarchical organization of site layouts. On the top level there is a content that will appear on all pages, followed by a gallery specific content, and on the bottom there is a page specific content. Each level can be customized and edited for the greatest flexibility in site customization. It’s bit more complicated than Zenfolio layout organization but once one understands it, is is quite easy to build and customize the site and pages.
– e-commerce on Smugmug allows much more customization and greater control over the pricing and offers much more merchandize options. For a starter,Smugmug offers much more print options of paper type, framing, gallery wrap, canvas, etc. – using photo sharing site on mobile devices is a must nowadays. I tested on both Motorola DROID and Apple iPhone mobile phones as well on Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tables. Some of my images were not displayed correctly on iPhone when using Zenfolio but on Smugmug the image rendering was working flawlessly. While using Smugmug the images appreared sharper on Galaxy Note tablet compared to Zenfolio. Each Smugmug gallery has an option to apply default sharpening on all images from the gallery which I guess made the difference.
– The new Smugmug interface was recently released and new set of tools were added to further customize these templates and add in basic elements to further customize the front page or galleries: slideshow, HTML and CSS boxes. Adding to the website is as easy as drag and drop into the desired position and later customizing all the settings by drop down menus.
– Optimization for all three user devices: tablet, browser and mobile devices. Rendering is adjusted for each screen size and I find the images and text are scaled down very accurately. Some long titles in the menu options wrap on mobile screens but it still looks very well.
– Social networking integration has been added to Smugmug by having complete set of customization to add and modify blog, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter links. These links can be added on both the front page, galleries and on each HTML page which makes is easy for your clients to share the site and pages with their friends.
– Lastly, Smugmug offers website usage statistics for the views per site, gallery and individual pictures which is useful to understand the visits and views of your galleries and site as overall. And if this is not enough or granular, there is seamless integration with Google WebTools and Google Analytics. Registration code is easily pasted into a designated field without having to modify any code or meta tags.
Decision however depends on how comfortable you feel on customizing photo sharing website and do you really need to do it. Zenfolio offers out of the box with less customization option, while Smugmug offers powerful customization but needs HTML and CSS, web design knowledge for customization (out of the box is fine).
Whichever you decide to pick, look for discount promo codes. Most photo sharing websites offer promotions and why pay more. At the time when I made my choice, Smugmug was offering 20% discount. Bu so did Zenfolio as well. The market for photo sharing sites is very competitive and saturated so the competition is heating up and companies are offering sign-up discounts.
Categories: Photography Software | Tags: 94040, engagements, family photographer, maternity photographer, mountain view, mountain view photographer, mountain view photography, photo labs, photograher, Photography, portfolio, portraits, prints, smugmug, weddings, zenfilio | Permalink.
Candid Portraits and Street Photography – What You need To Know!
Portrait photography is an interesting type of photography. Photographing live people individually or in groups allows a portrait photographer to capture different moods, feelings and personalities with its digital or film cameras. Because every human being is unique in their facial features and all of us express themselves in unpredictable and different ways, taking portraits never produces the same results. Single camera and lens with the same settings can produce completely different looks and portraits. Corporate headshots, personal portraits, kids portraits and family portraits. They all look different.
Some studio photographers use preset studio lighting to control the environment and look of their images, while outdoor or natural light photographers learn how to capture the best sun light at the right time. Other practice street photography and capture candid pictures of strangers which they will most likely never see again or get to know. The entire “picture by surprise” element yields such interesting images and unprovoked reactions that is a both trill and fun to do.
Traditionally, photographers are not obligated to ask for a consent or permission to take images from strangers as long as they are not trying to sell these pictures or otherwise benefit without the consent of the person being photographed. Most of the photographers are required to have model release form from the person being photographed first. But if one takes the images for their own pleasure and personal use, the law has been on photographer’s side.
Things are however starting to change. Many people concerned about their privacy are starting to put pressure on their governments to adopt laws protecting their privacy. The latest news comes from Hungary where the legislators passed a law to make it illegal to take pictures in public places without consent. So be aware and check with the laws in each country you are planning to visit about their street and on public paces photography rules.
Categories: Photography Resources | Tags: candid pictures, family, kids, mountain view photographer, mountain view photography, portraits, street photography, trifon anguelov, trifon anguelov photography | Permalink.