When you do page setup in Microsoft products you get to choose between Portrait or Landscape.  Many other computer software programs have the same terms for how you want to print on a rectangular sheet of paper.

Language barrier

Abbott and Costello performed the classic “Who’s on first?” baseball sketch in their 1945 film “The Naughty Nineties.”  Here is the video clip of that classic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M  If you have never watched this skit I highly recommend it. Sometimes in my household we have these conversations. We come to things from different perspectives.

When talking to your photographer you could easily be having this same skit except it would be about photography instead of baseball.

This is a landscape photograph taken in Cades Cove, Tennessee.

This is a portrait photograph taken in a home.

Portrait and Landscape

In photography these terms refer to a style of photography. When you are taking portraits the person is the main emphasis over objects. Portrait photography can be of one person or a group.

Landscape photography is another style of photography.  Landscape is about photographing nature vistas.

Neither of these terms portraits or landscape in photography are used to refer to orientation of the print.

While many cameras use the rectangular format there are many cameras that use the square format like the Polaroid camera and a Hasselblad.

Telling a photographer you need a portrait photograph when you are referring to the orientation of the print can get you into the Abbott and Costello sketch of “Who’s on first.”

Use the terms vertical and horizontal when referring to orientation of the final photograph.

When printing on a Mac the screen that will pop up will look like this where you are picking a graphic and not words to help you with the orientation. The one on the left is vertical and the one of the right is horizontal.

One of the places I worked in the past before the computer had really come to be so dominate would ask for vertical or horizontal photos. I would give her what she asked for and then she would be quite upset.

I would find her note and show her she did ask for what she got–her problem was she didn’t no what vertical or horizontal really were. She had them confused so often she started to draw out the orientation.

When you talk with your photographer or when photographers talk with their clients be sure you are talking the same language.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 2200, ƒ/5.6, 1/100

I was talking to my friend Gil Williams about how I look for photo assistants. Gil started his career in Atlanta doing photo assisting in the 1990’s.

We were talking about the do’s and don’ts of assisting.

Do’s

• Show up early
• Always ask about how to dress for the job
• Keep track of all equipment during a job
• Always be a second set of eyes. Pay attention and see if lights are flashing for example.
• Have your own little emergency kit. Keep things like a leatherman, gaffers tape, spring clips, etc.
• Look for ways to be helpful. 
• Be first to grab all the bags and carry them.
• Keep positive attitude all the time

Nikon D4, 85mm, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/60

Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 3200, ƒ/8, 1/160 with off camera flashes

My final image for this photo shoot was to be used as a Black and White in a book. To be sure the quality was as high as I could get I did a few things for this photo.

First, I communicated to the subject that please do not wear white and wear a solid color. While I could do everything technically right, the offset printing can be hit and miss. Not all black and white photos print the same on certain type of papers and one of the first places this will show up is either in the whites or the blacks.

Here you can see the photo as I shot it in color. One of the first things I was aware of in this photo was the hand gun. It is solid black. If I am not careful this would be turn out to be just a solid black object with no details.

I decided to use two hot shoe flashes to help give me 5500º Kelvin temperature light, which would give me the greatest dynamic range.

Photo by: Ken Touchton

My friend Ken Touchton was with me and took a couple shots of me working. Ken knows I do this blog and while I wasn’t using one of my cameras took some photos of me working.

I am using a Nikon SB-900 and a Nikon SB-800 on PocketWizard Flex TT5, which are held on to the Manfrotto 5001B Nano Black Light Stands with a Manfrotto 175F Justin Spring Clamps with a Flash Shoe.  To trigger the flash from the camera I am using the PocketWizard Mini TT1 with the AC3 to control the flash output in the TTL mode.

When I first started shooting the black ground went totally black, because I had the ISO set at 100.  I cranked the ISO up to 3200 so that the background isn’t going black.

While the window light would normally work well, it was an overcast day. So this wasn’t 5000º Kelvin temperature light. More like deep shade light in terms of color temperature.

I am shooting at ƒ/8 to keep the depth-of-field somewhat in focus from the subject to the gun.

In many ways this is similar reason to use a flash as when I shoot indoor sports under Sodium Vapor lights. I just want to clean up the light and take the quality to the next level.

The energy you exude has a lot to do with the jobs. Smile, laugh and be positive in your interactions and you will find clients will seek you out.

As a visual consultant for companies I am occasionally hiring photographers as well as shooting. I can tell you hiring photographers to shoot jobs has been one of the best experiences.

I wish I could have had this experience earlier in my career and I think I would have been better at negotiating.

Disclaimer: I am not the expert on this, but what I am sharing is my perspective and may help you working with other clients.

Who do I hire most often and why?

The first person I call is capable of doing the job and I enjoy working with them. Often this would be a good friend who I know can not only deliver, but will carry themselves in a way that all those they come in contact with will be pleased.

My database of photographers:

Friends – They call, email, Facebook and in general we keep in touch. The key here is I hear from them as much if not more than I am contacting them. 

Acquaintances – Photographers who I have met and seen their work. Many of these people have been to the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference that I help staff each year. Many others I have met at ASMP, NPPA and the Atlanta Photojournalism Conference. There are still others I have met while shooting events for news services. 

Friend of a friend – I like to think of these as blessed by people I trust. I need a photographer in a city and I don’t have connections to anyone there, but my friends do. Linkedin refers to these people as in your “network.” So while I have 1,224 connections on Linkedin I have 26,373 people in my “network.”

Photographers I think who do this well

Ken Touchton – Ken’s number one way of connecting is the telephone. I learned that on Sunday nights that Ken makes a list of those people he needs to contact this week.  He will call 5 new people and then he has a list of his clients that he will call that week to touch base.  When Ken calls he picks up where the conversation left off. How’s was your kid’s soccer game? How did your meeting go? 90% of the conversation is about how I am doing in life and only 10% is about business. Those questions are usually what are you working on.  Ken’s customers are often telling him they love hiring him because when he shows up he always has a smile.

Esther Havens – Twitter and Facebook are her ways of reaching out and she is touching base with so many people. She shares her life with her friends through Facebook and connects to the rest of the world with Twitter. Her content is so cool that people are sharing it with their friends and so on.  She has 4, 411 friends on Facebook and 9,450 followers on Twitter.  The girl is well connected.

Here is a typical tweet from Esther: The September Campaign hit its goal and 26,000 people in Rwanda will soon drink clean water http://charitywater.org/september http://instagr.am/p/Svzj_GGhF8/ 

Billy Calzada – Just always greets me with a smile in person and on the phone. Yes your smile shows on a phone. I always feel like I am talking to a good friend whenever I call Billy. He always wants to help. He is a great negotiator as well. His way of negotiating is low key and asking if he can do something. He doesn’t tell you he needs something. To me he is really asking the same thing, but the attitude makes you want to help the guy.  You need to just meet Billy and you will know what I am talking about. Everyone seems to like Billy.

These are just three photographers I think who create an atmosphere around them that makes you want to work with them. By the way not one of them is working for free or cheap these days. All three of them are making a living and have for many years as photographers.

How to answer the phone

After calling around the country and talking to many photographers the past few weeks for a project I am working on I have some tips for how to answer the phone for a job.

First sound excited to be talking with them. As they tell you about the job, even if you will turn it down sound excited about their project.

Be careful not to jump to quickly to the calendar. Yes you will need to see if you are available and you do need to get to this point right away to see if you can do the job, but remember you are also auditioning for future jobs and not just this one.

If you are available communicate it like you just won something verses a flat response. Remember it isn’t the words you choose, but how you say it. You can say, “I am available” and sound excited or disappointed.

If you are not available also communicate with emotion your disappointment. “I am sorry I am booked, would you like me to get you someone for you?,” is an appropriate response.

Negotiating price. No customer needs to hear about your Cost-of-Doing-Business.  If they communicate a lower price than you hoped for, it is OK to respond with disappointment. However, do this in moderation.

You can say, “The rate is lower than what I normally get for this type of job. Do you mind paying for mileage in addition?” They can respond one of three ways: 1) Yes; 2) No or 3) Maybe or a little hesitation.  The last response is where you really need to listen for tone. Do they feel backed into a corner or something else? Give them time to respond.

Be careful at this point and if you negotiate farther to get them to come up don’t push it too far. Know your client at this point. Some clients may expect a little more back and forth, but some find this a turnoff.  Know which type of client you have. After going to junior high and high school in New Jersey I can tell you they negotiate a lot different than where I was born in North Carolina. Know the culture of the person you are negotiating with and you have better chance.

If they cannot move on the price this is where you must make a choice—accept the job or turn down the job.  If you take it—do the job with the same upbeat attitude as if you got the price you wanted.

Ask clarifying questions to be sure you know exactly how they want this shot. Be sure you understand their concept. Ask them to send examples if you are unclear. Offer an idea or two to see if it is OK for you to try something for them.

How not to answer the phone

Answering the phone with an attitude of let me wait and see. Let me hear about your project and then I will respond if I like it or think it stinks.  This comes across even if they cannot see you.

Don’t turn your negotiation into a lecture on how low their prices are for the market.

Don’t ask whose crazy idea was this to shoot it this way. You could offer some ideas and see if they are interested, but if they don’t bite on your idea, be careful that you are not communicating you have better ideas than the one they are giving to you.

If you don’t ask any clarifying questions you can communicate you know it all or are not very attentive.

It boils down to just one thing

Do everything you can to develop a friendship with those you want to work with.

Now if you are having a hard time wanting to do this, then it is time to market yourself until you find those clients you want to become friends with. After all wouldn’t the dream job be working with friends?

As you can see by my go to list, I work from friends to acquaintances to my larger network. I am sure most everyone else works in a similar fashion. You will not become best of friends with all those who hire you, but at least move from the fringes of their network to an acquaintance. 

Bill Bangham, Gary & Vivian Chapman and Ken Touchton sit on the front row of the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar in Atlanta on Saturday, December 1, 2012.

Industry Workshops and Seminars

Why do pros who have twenty, thirty, forty or more years of experience continue to go to workshops? You would think they know all there is to know about photography. Well for the most part they do know most everything to do for what they are currently doing. Sure they could use a tidbit here or there, but most photographers are not going to learn a tidbit at these workshops.

Michael S. Williamson is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who joined The Washington Post in 1993 after working for the Sacramento Bee from 1975-1991. He taught at Western Kentucky University (1991-93).

Review

Michael Williamson titled his talk to us “It Ain’t The Tool. It’s The Fool.” He was helping us to understand it isn’t about all the gear it is the what you do with it. While teaching at Western Kentucky University Williamson had two things he required the photographers put on the back of their cameras.

1. What am I photographing?
2. What am I trying to say with the photograph?

Michael Schwarz captures some of the event with his DSLR as video and is helping to put together a package on what the conference is all about.

1. Learn how to work your camera
2. Learn how to be a storyteller
3. Learn how to create a vision (How to find a story)
4. Continue to learn all you can about tools that will help you tell the story more effectively
5. Learn to collaborate

David Gilkey is a staff photographer and video editor for NPR, covering both national and international news. He has produced award-winning photo essays, videos and multimedia presentations for NPR.org, as well as radio reports for NPR.

National Public Radio

Besides calibrating myself, I was able to get my camera checked out and cleaned by Nikon. Hey there are many things to calibrate if you are a digital visual storyteller today.

Vincent Laforet is keynote speaker at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.

The Stars

I always am interested in who is the faculty of a workshop/seminar. I come wanting to see their work and learn something that I cannot get from just seeing their work online or in a publication.

Vincent Laforet did a great job impressing us at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar with his work, which most of us will never shoot.  It was still inspiring.

While I learned years ago to go up and ask the instructors questions I learned how to make better use of my time. I learned that if I get to the event early I could grab the speakers before when few people were wanting their time.

The more I went to these events I got braver and then asked the speakers to eat lunch or dinner. I then got great time with some of the best in the field.

Christians in Photojournalism had dinner together at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

Fellowship

Slowly I started to realize those people going to the seminar were just as valuable a resource as the “Stars.”

Today I cherish my time listening to just about anyone. I love to hear what they are doing. Usually this gives me a very unique time to learn something new.

Ron Sherman shares with a few of us during lunch break.

 I love to sit around and just listen to stories people are sharing. Today I listened to a lot of photographers. Ron Sherman told us some fun stories.

Tip

While you may go the the seminar/workshop for the stars the people sitting next to you are just as valuable as a resource. The other thing is by just being interested in them and what they have to share you can learn a great deal. What I also learned is I get more time with them than the stars. They have more time and do not have a line of folks waiting to talk to them.

The key is spending time with someone. It is about getting to know them. Now when I see them again we acknowledge each other and catch up with each other.

Bill Fortney the Nikon representative has become one of my best friends and resources.

Another great reason to go to conferences with Nikon is they often will do “free” camera cleaning.  I had two cameras cleaned that would normally cost about $30 to $50 each.

Going to conferences is where I grow and learn. I get the side benefit of getting my cameras cleaned and learning about the latest gear. I can put my hands on the new gear and ask questions to those who are experts.

The first thing you want to be sure you do if you do not already have a photography seminar/workshop on your calendar is to put one on for next year.  I personally recommend joining me in Fort Worth for the Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar, March 1 – 3, 2013.  Here is a link to that conference www.swpjc.org.

Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/400

During the 1996 Olympics I was reminded of how much people travel from all over the world to my part of the world just to see what we have here.

I have lived in Roswell, Georgia since 1993 and just now did I take in some of the local historical sites almost 20 years later.

BBC sent a reporter to the Road to Tara Museum to film for the special on “Gone with the Wind”  It was rated in the top book favorites of all time for the BBC audience.

During the Thanksgiving holiday our family took in two of the three historical homes on the tour of Historical Roswell.

This is Bulloch Hall built in 1839 and the childhood home of Mittie Bulloch, President Theodore Roosevelt’s mother.

Besides seeing the house we also listened to the cell phone tour and listed as well to the docent.  We learned quite a lot about the history of the house and the founders of Roswell.

Teddy Bears which have their roots with Teddy Roosevelt.

Each room had a president’s theme. This was the Teddy Roosevelt room in Bulloch Hall.

Photographer reasons to visit historical sites

The reason I like to visit locations is to gain a better understanding of visual cues. Historical locations help you understand how things looked during a certain period of time in history. The more you are aware of these visual cues the more you can pull upon this knowledge when helping clients.

Barrington Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful Homes in the Atlanta area. The surrounding seven acres of grounds feature the only public antebellum garden in the greater Atlanta area. With guided garden walks, cooking classes and other special events, the site is a popular destination.

President Jimmy Carter’s aunt lived just down the street from these two homes and would come to visit here as well.  I think for those who enjoy history and want to know more about the history of Metro Atlanta, they need to come to Roswell, GA and take in Bulloch Hall, Barrington Hall and The Smith Plantation.

My daughter now wants an arbor after visiting Barrington Hall.

While Thanksgiving wasn’t the best time of the year to take in the garden, we did see some flowers.

These photos were taken just taking the tour with the family. I may go back another time and do a story on the homes during the spring when the azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom.

Have you taken for granted things closer to your home that you could photograph? Tour groups come from all over the world to see things in Roswell, GA. How about your town?  Have you been there yourself?

Rabbi Greene of Temple Beth Tikvah speaks to the HomeStretch volunteers at their appreciation dinner. (Nikon D4, 70-200mm,  ISO 12,800, ƒ/2.8 and 1/160, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc)

One of the staples of many professional photographers is covering meetings. Very seldom do these photos end up in your portfolio. Unless you are covering a meeting where they hired a lighting crew you have to work just to get acceptable photos.

This event was in the meeting room of the local synagogue.  They had wonderful stage lighting, but like many groups they choose not to put their speaker on the platform where the stage lighting would have helped. No they put the speaker on the floor where the lighting was the worst in the entire room.

Lucky for me in the first photo that the podium was draped with an off white cloth. It helped to kick light back into the face of the speaker.  I prefer not to use a flash because it can be distracting to everyone. So I did use it sometimes, but tried to use it sparingly as more of a backup.

I wanted to show you this overall photo of the meeting I covered. Now notice how the white tables are kicking light back up into the faces of those people seated. You can see their eyes.  Now look at those people standing around.  The canned lights above are creating raccoon eyes for them.

From this photo I can tell I can easily shoot the people around the tables, but I may need some fill flash on those with the raccoon eyes.

As a photojournalist I was trained to see those things to be sure the photos were useable.

(Nikon D4, 28-300mm,  ISO 12,800, ƒ/5.6 and 1/50, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc)

I decided I didn’t need the flash for the ladies at the table.  I just cranked the ISO up and shot it.

Here I put a CTO (Color Temperature Orange) filter over my Nikon SB-900 flash. It comes with the flash. I still shot at ISO 12,800 ƒ/5.6 and 1/100 so that the background wouldn’t go dark and look natural. I also did a custom white balance using the ExpoDisc.

I wanted to be sure I was getting good skin tones, so I would get a few shots of speakers and people in the room using a fill flash.

In all of these photos I was what I call running and gunning. As a photojournalist I don’t stop people and ask them to do it again. Now when I shoot for a company where we need certain things to look a certain way it is OK to make changes–it isn’t photojournalism it is advertising or corporate communications.

It is due to all my training as a photojournalist that companies need me. They need a photographer that can deliver in any situation with photos that communicate.

The professional photographer needs to get the best possible photo and sometimes that means without taking away from the atmosphere of what you are covering. They need the fly on the wall and not the Hollywood film crew making the meeting a set for their movie or TV show. Sure the photos would look 100% better doing just that, but the reason they are having the meeting isn’t primarily for the photos.

Can you get photos like these of your meetings?  Maybe this is why you should hire a pro sometimes.

I get asked all the time which cameras I suggest people buy.  While I will mention specific models, those can change at anytime, so I will address features to look for when buying a DSLR camera.

I will first cover the different features and then my recommendations for the first time buyer of DSLR suggestions.

List of features:

• Effective pixels
• Sensor Size
• Card Slot/Storage Media
• Shooting speed
• ISO Sensitivity
• Movie
• File format still/video
• Lens Compatibility
• Maximum Auto Focus Points
• Built in flash
• Live View Shooting
• Microphone/Headphone for Video

There are many other features and even in these it maybe more than the nuts and bolts I think are most important.

Effective Pixels

How many pixels per inch does your camera capture?  First of all we need to know that for the most part today’s camera are capable of producing larger size prints than most people will ever need.  However with that said you could read this blog post if you need to figure out how big of a print the camera will produce.

There are basically two different physical sized sensors on the market.  Full framed sensors and cropped size of 1.5 or 1.6 sensors.

While the number of pixels may be the same the larger sensor has less noise as a rule and therefore cleaner images when taking photos at a higher ISO.

The larger full-framed sensor means you need lenses that support this.  The smaller sensor can usually use the full-framed size lenses, but not the other way around.  Lens made for the smaller sensors cannot be used on the larger sensor.

Besides noise differences the physical size of the camera gear weighs more and is heavier with the full-framed cameras.

Card Slot/Media Storage

DSLR cameras take 4 different types of cards. SD, CF, QXD & CFast.  The SD and CF are the two most dominant. The QXD is a new format used in the Nikon D4 and the CFast will be used in some newer Canon cameras.

SD cards are used in most point and shoot cameras and are the card readers are build into most laptop computers. If you choose any of the other cards then you will need a card reader most likely to transfer from the card to the computer.

You also want to read the small print details to see which cards in a format they support.

Shooting Speed

This refers to how many frames per second you can make.  Very important for things like sports photography.

ISO Sensitivity

In the days of film, the film you bought determined the ISO settings on the camera.  Today the digital camera works like having a shelf of film ready and you can change the sensitivity of the camera from frame to frame if you like. You can even let the camera figure all this out for you if you choose Auto ISO.

Basically the higher the second number the less light you need to make a picture. Today’s cameras are usually looking at ISO settings of 1600, 3200, 6400, 12,800, 25,600 or even higher.

The cameras have what they call their sweet range for the camera. It may look like this ISO 100 – 3200 and then state can be boosted to ISO 12,800 for example.  What this means is the ISO 3200 will make acceptable prints and the ISO numbers above this will give you an image, but it may be pixelated.

Movie

Many of the cameras will also take video.  In general there are two formats 720 and 1080.  This refers to the pixel height.  Both of these are really high resolution and if you are showing this video on a TV bigger than 46” you will notice a difference.

What type of movie file the camera makes is useful to know what you need on your computer to open it and or edit it.  Most all will play on any computer, but when it comes to editing this is when you need to really pay attention to the format.  You may have to purchase special editing software.

File formats

For stills the major thing to look for is if your camera shoots RAW in addition to JPEGs and possibly Tiff.  You have more control of a RAW image, but you need a RAW editing program like Adobe Lightroom or PhotoShop to edit these images.

Lens compatibility

If you buy a Nikon or Canon that doesn’t mean all the Nikon lenses will work on all the Nikon Cameras and the same for Canon.  Read the fine print. In general the entry-level cameras have less lens choices.

Higher end cameras have motors to operate lenses whereas some of the entry-level cameras save money and the lens has to have the motor.

Maximum focus points

Each camera manufacturer addresses this a little differently, but the general rule is the more expensive cameras in the manufacturers line have more focus points and more settings you can choose to help you focus a camera.  This is important to those who want the camera to help them focus more accurately and quickly.

Built in flash

While the top end cameras do not have built in flash there are many reasons you may like to have it. First of all they are not all that powerful, but they are always there if you need it. Second, both Nikon and Canon for example have very advanced flash systems where the built in flash can help trigger an off camera flash wirelessly. For the top end camera you will need to buy an additional piece of equipment to fire the off camera flash.

Live View Shooting

Since most cameras now have video capabilities, this helps photographers use the LCD screens on the back for more than just movie mode. You can often use this to view the subject rather than the viewfinder only.  Can help you when you want to shoot from the floor or above your head for example.

Microphone/headphone Jack

If you want to do some serious video with your DSLR then I suggest being sure it has a microphone jack. To control the recording level with just the camera you will need a headphone jack. If you have no headphone jack you can run your microphone through something like the Juicebox to monitor your recording levels.

First thing that needs to be decided is this for professional use or as a hobby?  I will first address the hobbyist.

Hobbyist suggestions

In general the least expensive camera will do for general all purpose shooting. However, if your hobby is photographing your children playing sports or wildlife for example you need to spend just a little more to be satisfied.

For the most part the number one feature to consider is the ISO. The highest ISO cameras will let you take photos in low light situations and/or situations where you need to stop the action.  ISO 6400 or higher is necessary to really shoot indoor sports and in the woods of wildlife.

If you are shooting sports inside the high ISO will let you make photos without a flash and this is very important for many sports where flash isn’t allowed.  Spend the extra $500 to $1,000 to get the high ISO.

You may also need to invest in faster lenses. Think of the ƒ-number for a lens as a fraction.  The smaller the fraction the cheaper the lens and requires more light to take a photo. In general a ƒ/2.8, ƒ/2 or ƒ/1.4 lens is what you want to photograph sports and wildlife.  This combined with a high ISO will let you get the photo.

The kit lens and low end camera is not going to be the camera for the parent with a kid in sports.  It is a great camera for people who travel and take photos of friends.

You may want to consider the full-framed camera to reduce noise as well if you are needing the high ISO.

In the Nikon lineup I recommend the Nikon 3200 for the person just wanting to take snapshots. If you want to do video as well I think the Nikon 5200 is the model I would look at due to the swiveling LCD.

For the sports shooter I would start with the Nikon D600.  If you have the funds then look into the Nikon D4.  It is the perfect camera for the sports shooter.

Considering going pro

The minute you decide you want to go pro plan on backup for everything. You need an extra body a few lenses and a couple flashes to do jobs. You cannot be caught shooting a wedding for example and the camera dies on you.

Now that you know you need two cameras and multiple lenses, be sure everything is compatible. For example While you can have one full-framed camera and the other a smaller chip, the lenses should most likely all be good for the full-frame or you will be caught if the smaller chip camera dies having to shoot everything with the full-framed camera.

Some of the major differences between the very top of the line cameras and the next level is about how well they are built.

The high end cameras have better seals to help keep out moisture. They are not water proof, but water resistent. Very important for the photojournalist who is called to shoot in all types of conditions. Even if you have the high end camera still buy some rain gear for the camera and lenses.

If you are primarily shooting portraits in a studio, then even the entry level cameras will work fine.  Put more of your money into lights and other gear, than all of it in a camera which is overkill for your use.

In general it is harder to make the mistake of buying too good of a camera if you can afford it.  The problem is under estimating and then having to sell the camera and buy a better camera later.  Cameras loose a lot of value quickly as compared to lenses, flashes and other camera gear.  As soon as the next model comes out your camera will drop in value and for every new model introduced since your camera, it will continue to drop.

There are three cameras I recommend for the pro shooter today in the Nikon lineup. Nikon D4, D800 or D600.

The Nikon D800 is the studio camera and for those who remember photographers shooting medium format, unless you are ready to shell out $25,000 for those cameras this is a great medium format quality camera in a DSLR 35mm size.  The D800 is also one of the favorite video cameras of those shooting video with DSLRs today.

If you need a work horse camera to shoot everything from sports, portraits, weddings, to video the Nikon D4 is the camera to get. It does a great job with video. It has microphone and headphone jacks making it possible to monitor sound.

I believe the Nikon D600 is the lower end pro camera only due to the weather seals and body build, but as far as functions, this camera rocks.

Today it is easier to sell your images than ever before.  I wanted to share what I am using to sell images online.

I have been posting images in galleries online for people to purchase since 1993, so from all this experience I chose PhotoShelter as my online gallery.

Here is what my clients see when they go to the home page of my gallery:

I could probably use this as my website.  It has everything pretty much here in addition to the galleries clients want to go to for their images.

Security

Now I can create a private gallery that with just an email and password people can access. I prefer doing this with most clients since they are less likely to pass around their email address with a password.

I can also create a gallery that has access with a password.

What can you order?

There are four things I offer on some of my galleries. Depending on which ones I turn on I have the option to sell: 1) Prints, 2) Products, 3) Downloads and 4) Rights managed Downloads.

This is an example of once a person likes a certain photo and clicks on the +Buy button they will see something like this screen above. The three colored arrows I added to help you see there are three of the four things I offer here with this photo.

Prints are highlighted here by the red arrow. My clients can order just about any size print that my supplier offers. I just go through the form when setting up my price and just those that I put my price on will show up.  I can have as many price lists I want and choose the list for any group of photos. I may have print prices really high since the photos might be rare or they are for fine art work to display in galleries.

The products tab which is highlighted by the blue arrow lets the customer order things like coffee mugs, mouse pads, t-shirts and more things like this. Again, only those item I choose to price will show up.

So many of my customers just want the digital image for usually two reasons. First of all most people want an image they can use on social media. They just want to display it for their Facebook friends for example.  These are low resolution and you cannot do too much with this size image other than social media.  I also offer a full high resolution download as well.  This is for folks that want to make their own prints. Since this means they will not be order a multiple print package and I will loose these sales the price is much higher to offset the sales I am loosing.

Rights Managed Sales

I also have media outlets and companies that want to buy my images to use to help their business. Depending how they want to use them they pay a different price. Now this is where the online website does so much for me that I would always prefer the customer buying online rather than the phone call.

The prices for stock sales go from really small amount to rather high due to how they plan to use it. PhotoShelter has built into their system FotoQuote’s pricing for stock. You can make modifications to the pricing structure. You can lower or raise your rates in different categories by percentage of fotoQuote’s rates.

The client just picks from the pull down menus and when they are done they have a price that they can agree upon and quickly pay and get the download right then.  No phone calls or negotiating.  Of course they can send an email and let me know they want to pay me double the price if they like, or as many will try and do get me to lower my price. Either way they now have a starting price based on parameters. Gives us a starting place for negotiation.

As you can see in the screen grab above, the client made choices and ended up with a quote of $126 for use of an image one time in the magazine and digital version.

What the photographer does to make all this work

I upload the high resolution images to PhotoShelter. I must pick a vendor to fullfil my prints and products. I then set the prices for the vendor.  I setup the prices for download for personal usage and also setup the rights managed prices.

After I upload and set of images then I normally select all the images in that gallery and price them choosing from the price lists I created.

I then set the security for the galleries and then send links to the customers I need to see the images.

The only other thing I can do is then also promote stock images I have for sale.

Once they are up I just get notices when an order is made and then payments online to my PayPal account. Now that is super easy for me.

Check out PhotoShelter yourself.