How do you get the photo above and not the next one?

PowerPoint or Keynote

PowerPoint and Keynote presentations often take place in a dark room.  So if you use a flash, even just off camera you might end up with something like the photo above, where the screen is washed out.

If you are not careful you will end up with a silhouette as I have in this photo above. Hey that might work occasionally, but don’t you want to see the presenter at some point in your photos and their presentation?

Off Camera Flash using Zoom

In this photo here, with the man in the red vest, I put the Nikon SB-900 flash off to the side and zoomed the head to 200mm.  The Nikon SB-900 is on the PocketWizard Flex TT5 and on my camera is the transmitter which is the PocketWizard Mini TT1 with the AC3 to control the output of the flash.

While this is far superior to the first photo it can still be better.

Use a snoot on the hot shoe flash

In this photo you can see the speaker and the power point equally well. Now the people closest to the camera are in the back of the room where some of the fluorescent lights are on and giving that green cast.

I played with the exposure compensation on the camera and the flash.  For the photo where the best exposure works, I dialed the camera to -2 stops and the flash to +1 stop.  Since I am basically overriding the auto exposure of the camera and flash there really is no settings that will work exactly the same every time. It will for that room, but could fluctuate even then.  I just know to do a few test shots getting the settings the way I like them and then start shooting to capture moments.

I put over the SB-900 the LumiQuest Snoot to help keep the flash off the screen and only on the speaker.  It is just $23.95.

Here you can see the setup.  Now notice there are a few light leaks around the snoot kicking light back on the wall.  Not a real big deal for me in this situation.  However, it could affect you in another situation.  Just take some gaffer tape and wrap around the snoot covering that up if needed.

Nikon D4, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 28-300mm

This past Saturday I drove up to North Georgia College in Dahlonega to photograph The Citadel playing them in Rugby.  Honestly I just don’t shoot a lot of Rugby.  I can probably count the number of times on both my hands.

There are a few things I knew from shooting football that I would do to insure good photos.

Nikon D4 Camera Settings:

• Auto ISO with lowest ISO set to 100 and highest to 12,800
• In Auto ISO I also set the minimum shutter speed to 1/2000
• Capturing the images as RAW
• Dynamic-area AF 21-point
• Continuous-servo autofocus (AF-C)
• Focus Tracking with Lock-On 4
• AF Activation Off (Focus is done with the back button and shutter is only fired with shutter button)
• 10 FPS and not 11 FPS.  At 11 only the first photo is focused.

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Lens Choice

• Camera #1: Nikon D4 with Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 and 1.4 extender.  This gives me a 168 – 420mm ƒ/4
• Camera #2: Nikon D4 with Nikkor 23-300mm ƒ/3.5 – ƒ/5.6

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Where to stand?

There are basically four sides to pick from.  I picked the sideline where the players are backlighted.  It is extremely important to use a lens hood or you will be getting lens flare.

The advantage I see in shooting with backlight is the contrast is dropped in the middle of the day. The players are rim lit, but you are not having the really strong bright area of the face with a strong shadow.

I am also watching my backgrounds.  The first photo, while a good moment, the background is distracting. Sometimes you cannot get a clean background. There are two things you can do. Use a shallow depth-of-field and pick an angle so the background is darker and cleaner. Maybe you pick an angle where the grass is predominate, or where the background is so much in the shade it goes dark.

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

What I am looking for?

In Rugby you can only pass off to your team without advancing the ball. So you must pass in general backwards.  You can only advance the ball by running (most of the time) or by kicking.  Very similar to American football in tackling and running with the ball.  I wanted to show the competition rather than a guy all by himself running.

The major difference in Rugby and American football is just about the time they are getting tackled the players are often handing off to their team mates.

If they do go down they can hand the ball back to their teammates. I wanted to show how this is done in the photo below.

Nikon D4, ISO 1100, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Even in sports expression counts

Occasionally even the flexing of the muscles can help communicate the effort of the athlete. The key to this success is being ready, because it is up to the athlete to make the effort and you then can catch it.

Nikon D4, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

My suggestion is to shoot some shots when the teams are warming up.  See which side of the field gives you better light on the athletes.  See what combination of lighting and background works the best and then choose this side of the field for most of the game.  You can mix it up if you like, but the point is to get the best light to capture the action and the expressions of the athletes.

When I teach lighting I start first with just one light using a grid. After teaching about getting the proper exposure, I encourage my students to not move the light, but for them to move and walk around the subject and make photos. This is one of the examples I used when teaching this concept of them moving in relationship to the subject and how the light looks different. We need to do this with role models as well. Look at them from many directions to really learn from them.

• Sustainable business model. I want to have as my role model those photographers who are able to pay all their bills and are not in debt. I also prefer that they are able to support more than just themselves.  They do not have to have children, but I want to see a business model that could support them.
• People person. I want my role model to give honor, dignity and respect to all they come into contact with. I do not believe a jerk is something I need to emulate to be successful. 
• Balanced life. Workaholics is not what I want to follow. I want to know how to work hard and play hard. I respect those with strong families and friends in their life.
• Professional level work. I want to see work that is professional standards. I am also interested in seeing a consistency in their work. Having some outstanding work is good, but what is disappointing is someone who produces poor work too often.
• Servant’s heart. I really like following those photographers who give back. They serve as mentors or are involved in their professional organizations and even their community. I am not a fan of those who are greedy and it is all about them.

I do learn a great deal from other photographers, but that doesn’t mean I want to emulate them. I even study them and their work, but not all these become my role model–but I do learn from them.

What I learn from photographers that I would not consider role models:

• I learn a new technique. 
• I have discovered from one of the photographers how to carry a set of clothing that you can ask people to wear to improve the photo.  One thing I thought was cool was the coveralls he carried to factories. He would put workers in red, yellow or blue coveralls and this helped tremendously give a pop to the photo.
• Learned how to trigger off camera flash using a new technology.
• How to use remote cameras.
• Negotiating skills. I have learned from many photographers how to do a better bid for jobs.
• Gear choices. I have learned about camera bags, lighting kits and more from photographers.
• What not to do. 
• I have watched many “famous” photographers kill a kid’s enthusiasm by not giving them the time of day when they were trying to talk to them.
• How many photographers will use foul language when talking to a group. My comedian friend Jeff Justice helped me to realize this from his comedy workshop. He will not allow foul language when they give their performance at The Punchline” because if you cannot be funny without it using it will not make you funny. Also, his most successful students thank him because this helped them get on TV.

Summary

Just because you think someones photography is great or the places they are going is something you want to do–be very careful before making them a role model and start copying them. Don’t be an adolescent and get all caught up in their looks for instance. Look for the mate–the total package.

You need to separate the photographers who are being held up as leaders from those you make as a role model (LIGHT) and those who you can glean things from (DARK).

• Time of Day
• Weather
• Time of Year

Dawn — this is the 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise. The light at this time of day has a blue color cast to them. Also, there are really no shadows to contend with in the photos.

Morning — The light can still be pretty good at this time of day. The sun is up and can still shine on a person’s face so that you can still see their eyes and the color is more neutral.

Midday — This is when the sun is directly overhead. The dyanamic range is great and therefore your photos are more contrasty. You either expose for the highlights and the shadows are black or you expose for the shadows and the highlights are blown out. It is very difficult to find a middle exposure to hold it all together. Since the light is directly overhead more often people’s eyes are in the shadows and you often loose the detail of the eyes. You need fill flash to show people’s faces at this time of day.

Afternoon — Very similar light to the morning, but a little warmer due to the atmosphere being warmed up through the day.

Sunset — You need to know the time of sunset to maximize the Golden Hour before the sun disappears below the horizon. The reason you see a lot of silhouettes of people and sunsets verses sunrises has more to do with people being awake.

Dusk — I like to shoot architecture at this time of day, because you can put your camera on a tripod

Weather

Time of Year


There really isn’t a “best” time of year to photograph. However, my favorite time of year is the fall.  I love the cool weather and all the color in the leaves. I also like the fall since there are more high pressure days, which translates into less stuff in the air making it where you can see further on clear days.


Fall

Spring

Summer

No matter the time, as long as you have light you can make photographs.  Sometimes shooting at the time of day many avoid will make your photos different. My suggestion is to always try and shoot the Golden Hour when you can outside and then look for other opportune moments to capture people and places in the best light for them.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Do you feel like you need a vacation? 

Living life you will experience some ups and downs. One of the things that can make life difficult is thinking you are in control of everything.

We do need to exercise self-control and even this is difficult living life. When we loose self-control we realize there are often consequences to these moments.  However, you must be careful when experiencing a difficult time that it is not always the consequence of your actions.

I studied the concept of evil when I was in seminary. The basic thing I took away from this study was that God gave us the freedom of choice and due to that evil happens. Some of this evil is a moral evil due to people’s choices and other is natural evil which is things like natural disasters.

What I learned is that many times things happen due to someone else’s actions.  They drink and drive and I can end up dead due to their actions.

While we may choose to free fall ride at an amusement park, it isn’t so fun in life. Even knowing what you are riding can be scary because you are not sure when it will happen.

Reasons to just chill

Budgets: There are many times where everything is going well and the client has just been informed they have to make some cuts. There are many times that they do not communicate this to you. Sometimes the reason is they were just cut.

Timing: There are times that everything looks like you are being booked and then they say they need to wait.  Sometimes this waiting takes a very long time. You cannot make this move along by calling all the time. Actually this is where self-control is important. You might want to ask when would be an appropriate time to check-in with them again.

Personnel changes: While you have worked with a client for a long time, they get a promotion or go to another company. Sometimes this can be good and you end up with more work. However, the next person to take that job could have their own people they want to work with. This is not about you as much as it is about them.

Seasonal: There are times when clients will choose a direction for which you are not the best choice. They want a new look. While you maybe very flexible and able to even do what they are looking for, unless you have been showing them new work they will choose someone who is producing what they are looking for. I think of this as seasons in life.

You are not a super hero

There are times in your career where your client no longer is working with you, but against you. This is not a little bump in the road.

I had a client that was always wanting the lowest price and was letting invoices sit on their desk rather than passing them on to accounts payable. Because I was getting a fair amount of work from them I was doing everything I could to keep the client.

They were getting worse in paying me on time. I had to constantly remind them about not being paid. 3 to 6 months late was becoming the norm.

I was reading Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington when I finally found what I thought was a good solution to my problem. I now put this paragraph on my invoices:

We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices, and float the cost of payment to our vendors, which require 30 days payment.  This is approximately 10%.  If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount.

The responses I was getting from those who were habitually late shocked me. Now mind you I was willing to be flexible on the 30 days and go to 45 days.

Some of these clients were saying why am I punishing them for a late payment. The ones crying the loudest were the ones wanting the lowest rates.

I could only think of two solutions to keep these clients. Either raise my rates to compensate for late payment in the base price or put this paragraph, which isn’t a late payment, but rather a discount to pay on time.

I am embarrassed to say that one of these clients I was work-for-hire contract. I signed their contract which stated they will pay in thirty days.

I did not have those super powers to make the relationship work, because they were not treating me with honor, dignity and respect.

What can you do?

Marketing: You must continue to market yourself. In those times it is slow you must increase your efforts to find new clients.

While going out and shooting new material to show clients is a good idea, do not fall into the trap of thinking this is the problem. More than likely the problem is your contact list needs to grow.

Shoot new material: You need to always grow in your craft. Try something new and even just going back and updating your portfolio so that the people in the photos look like their were shot in this century can help.

Take a vacation: Sometimes you need a break and even when things are tough financially. One of the best things to get out of a funk is a change of scenery. One of the best things ever told to me as a parent of a baby was when your baby is crying and nothing seems to calm them down–go to another room or outside. If it works for a crying baby, it should work for a crying freelancer.

Here is a tip to help save yet still produce a quality marketing campaign.

You may be aware of the marketing funnel. When it comes to buget one of the most important parts of this funnel often gets overlooked. Repeat is the last thing in the funnel steps and is extremely critical to your success.

A one-off promotion just doesn’t typically work. Research shows that 80% of sales are made after the fifth contact.

What is shocking to me in the research was that 10% of sales is made by the fourth contact.

Too many marketing campaigns I see are spending a lot of money on the first impression contact with a potential customer.

One of the most expensive communication tools is video. It is very effective in telling stories. Many 2 – 3 minute videos start in the price range of $15,000+. How would you like to cut this by half or more?

Due to how one gathers video clips it takes time to produce a video. Take a moment sometime this week and watch one of your videos. As you watch it look for all the content in the video that you can use in another medium.

Now take a look at this package I did for a client and see how many images that can be used for other mediums.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0FPmaH_-4]

Videos that I am doing for clients that use stills as the b-roll are starting at $3,000 for my clients. The savings do not just stop at the video. Now all those images shot for the video are now usable for the web, print, billboards and more mediums.

When you shoot video you are most of the time on sticks (tripod) and letting the action happen around the camera. With still photography the photographer floats around the action. They are looking for a moment and not a segment. Due to the difference in how the images are aquired, a still shooter can move around the room more and get many different angles while the video must wait for the moment to develop.

Next week I am speaking to the Grady School of Journalism’s photojournalism class. I will speak on the topic of business practices for photographers. One of the metaphors I use to help drive home this concept of marketing is to act like a freshman and not a senior. Here is a blog (Click Here) I wrote on the topic last year after speaking to the class.

Remember when doing your video projects to always get the still images of those projects. This is especially true when you are creating a new video of a major initiative for your organization. If it is that important using stills later in power points, PDFs, on websites, blogs and in printed material will be needed.

Give me a call or write if you would like me to help you stretch that budget with a multimedia project or if you just need some photography of your organization.

Bill Bangham is the keynote speaker at the Christians in Photojournalism meeting Saturday September 22, 2012 in Roswell, GA.

There have been times in my life where I really experienced isolation from other photographers. I moved to Long Island years ago and for the year that I lived there I just didn’t have anyone I knew that was a professional photographer to get together with and talk photography.

There have been other times where I have not had other professionals to talk with face to face. This is not good for me.

I believe we need to get together with other photographers doing what we do for fellowship and time to exchange ideas.

Do you have a photographer friend that you can have coffee with on a regular basis? Do you seek out someone to talk to that understands what you are talking about?

Organizations

I am a member of a few groups and have been a member of other groups in the past as well. Today I am a member of American Society of Media Photographers, Sports Shooter and Christians in Photojournalism. I have been for most of my life a member of National Press Photographers Association as well.

These organizations have been great because they all have meetings and social media presence where I can connect with other photographers.

In the early 1980s I was a member of ASMP in Richmond, VA. Since we didn’t have social media then and most all the meetings were in Washington, DC for our chapter I never really experienced the community I so desperately was wanting and needing in my life.

Living in Atlanta has been one of the best places for me because of the access to so many photography groups. I have spoken in the Metro Atlanta area to many photography clubs, colleges, and many of the organizations like ASMP. I have enjoyed attending all these groups meetings.

CIP Atlanta Meeting

What I get out of community

The number one thing I get out of all these groups is a relationship with people who enjoy photography. We have something in common to talk about and share.

How does my work stack up with the rest of photographers. I get to see other photographers work and not just see if I am better or worse than them, but to appreciate there talent. If your purpose is just to show how good you are and have people think you are great then your narcissistic behavior will keep people away from you.

If you think someone’s photography is impressive go and tell them at these meetings. Be a leader and learn to encourage others, if you do sooner or later others will return the favor.

Occasionally I am booked on a day a client calls and asks me to do a job. It is because I have met another photographer through these groups that I am able to help my client out and refer them to a competent photographer. I have also talked with the person long enough to know if they have a personality that will work well with my client.

There are more things that I get than these, but this should help you see the value of networking with your colleagues.  They are not just your competition.

Be a Joiner

Here are some links to the organizations I am involved with and I encourage you to check them out and see about joining one and getting involved.

• ASMP Atlanta Chapter http://www.asmpatlanta.org/
• Christians in Photojournalism Atlanta Chapter http://www.cipatlanta.org/
• Sports Shooter http://www.sportsshooter.com/
• Southwestern Photojournalism Conference http://www.swpjc.org/
• Atlanta Photojournalism Conference http://www.photojournalism.org/ 

Berrie Smith cleans and repairs cameras at the CIP Atlanta meeting.

I love doing a foreign coverage for various reasons. The number one reason I like doing coverage abroad is the cross-cultural experience. A simple thing as what people eat at different meals is fascinating to me. How they live life is always different from me and then there are those things we have in common.

Since traveling is expensive and for most of the budgets I work with very limited as to how much you bring you need to plan ahead.

Questions to ask

1. Baggage limits. 
1. How many bags can you bring?
2. What are the weight limits?
3. Any gear you normally use not allowed, like battery packs?
2. Power
1. Do you have easy access to power?
2. Is the power available 24 hours a day?
3. Do you need converters? (Different size plugs, power converter from 220 to 110)
3. Clothing
1. Proper attire for the weather and social settings
2. Do you have access to wash clothes? If so when and how often?
3. Special shoes

If your trip is short you maybe able to not bring as much, but if you are gone for a couple weeks or longer you need to be prepared.

Plan to carry your cameras with you at all times is my suggestion. This is very important when flying.

Carry on bags are generally limited to a total of 45” this is the total of the length, width and height of the piece. There are standard sets of dimensions that go to make up these totals (for example, 22 x 14 x 9 is the standard for 45″) and if you have a bag that is an unusual shape but still within the total number of inches, you may find it being rejected.

Although most domestic airlines have no limit on carry-on bag weight, internationally, you will find that some airlines set such ridiculously low carry-on weight limits (sometimes as little as 11 lbs) that the weight of an empty carry-on bag is more than the total weight you’re allowed to take with you!
You need to be aware of these rules, or else the next time you see someone desperately unpacking and repacking their luggage on the floor by the check-in counter, that person might be you!

Flying with Camera Gear Tip

Put camera gear in your clothing. While it is not all that comfortable, you can put gear in pockets or photo vest and it not count for the weight.  Once on the plane you can put it back in the bag and put it away.

Now you might understand why so many photojournalist you see wear cargo style pants or wearing photo vests.  Because you don’t want to announce to thieves and pickpockets you are a photographer there are some clothing and bags that are more discrete.

Scottevest makes vests and jackets that hide your gear and do not look like photo vests.  I highly recommend this as a way to carry some gear when traveling.

Think Tank Urban Disguise 60

Think Tank Photo makes a variety of camera bags and the one I like is the Urban Disguise 60. It does look like a computer bag, but I think it doesn’t draw as much attention as some of the photo bags.

Image Storage

Until an image exists in three places it isn’t fully protected. The reason for this is transferring images from one place to another you can loose both systems while this is happening, that is why three places is the rule for all digital systems.

Many photographers will carry enough CF or SD cards to shoot and never have to reuse a card. This would give you the first of the three locations for images.

I use the SanHo Hyperdrive UDMA for copying all my cards when traveling. Here is an earlier blog post on it.

As long as it is feasible I also carry my Macbook Pro laptop and an external hard drive. I will ingest all the images into the laptop and will embed information about the photos, location and other information.

Camera Gear

It is easier to start with my barebones traveling camera gear.

• 2 Nikon D4 Cameras
• 2 EN-EL18 batteries 
• 1 Nikon MH-26 battery charger
• Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
• Nikon 28-300mm ƒ/3.5-5.6
• Nikon SB-900 Flash
• Nikon SB-800 Flash
• PocketWizard Mini1, AC3 & (2)TT5 
• RODE Video Mic Pro 
• Sony WCS999 Wireless Microphone System
• 20 Sanyo AA Eneloop Batteries and battery Charger
• 77mm ExpoDisc white balance
• Nikon P7000 plus extra battery
• 4 16gig XQD Memory Cards
• 8 16gig CF Memory Cards
• Tripod (link to blog on what I carry)

This is the main photo I used to sell my Nikon D3s on ebay. It shows all the original packing and even the unused Nikon D3s camera strap.

When I bought my first camera I was really excited. This was back in the early 1980s and when there were camera stores in almost every town in America.

Wayne Hitt, owner of The Camera Shop in Morganton, NC sold me my first Nikon FM2 camera and gave me some tips across that counter.  This is how most people learned photography years ago, it was done by the camera store employees and owners across America.

September 11, 2012 Wolf Camera and it’s owner Ritz Camera have filed for bankruptcy and are closing all their stores. Before they folded they had already closed many of their stores across the country.  I would venture to say that there will be very few bricks and mortar stores for you to walk into outside of major metropolitan areas in the near future.

I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to walk into a store and have a photographic expert to help walk you through your purchase.

Good news!

Today we do have more resources available than when I bought my camera.  DPReview.com is one of many different places on the web where you can go and have some solid research to help guide you to the camera that best suites your needs.

The odds are also better today if you find a photographer doing what you like to do, who has a blog telling you what equipment they use and recommendations. Here are some of those blogs other than mine that are doing just that:

Moose Peterson: http://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/category/technology/camera-tech/moose-bag/
Dave Black: http://www.daveblackphotography.com/
Joe McNalley: http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/

There are many places other than these guys to help you know what cameras to choose to get the job done.

Lenses are important

While your first camera purchase will focus a great deal on the camera, the lenses you choose are just as important. Most every photographer expert will recommend you stay with your camera’s brand for lenses rather than off brand lenses.

While not all of us have the resources to get exactly what we want, spending the money on something that you will keep longer is better than something you might not keep as long. As a rule it is safe to say your lenses will outlast your camera.  Therefore you will be replacing your camera more often than your lenses if you continue to do this professionally or as a hobby in the years to come.

Think Resale

When you buy a camera today, it is more likely than in the film days to replaced sooner. They will come out with a model that will do something you wish you had on your camera and so you upgrade.

• Buy a camera brand that is established so that when you decide to upgrade the camera you have still has some resale value.
• Keep all the original packing material. This will help with resale.
• Don’t use the camera strap that comes with the camera, buy a different one. (resale)
• Baby the camera. Take really good care of the camera. Just like a car that looks like it just came off the showroom floor the value of the camera goes up the better the condition.

IMPORTANT: Be sure and keep copies of everything. More than 6 months after selling a Nikon D3 the buyer filed a fraudulent charge against me through PayPal.  Because I had all my records this was taken care of right away.

Keep your cameras protected in a camera bag or you can even buy a silicon protective cover to avoid scratches. Here is a link to some of those silicon skins.

Inventory

After doing this for a while it is quite common to have camera gear laying around that you no longer use. Go through your closet and pull everything you no longer use in to a pile to list on ebay.  Many things that we think are worthless are even more valuable because they are hard to find.

You can search for each item you are no longer needing and then say you want to sell a similar item and it will help you put your listing up even sooner. If you don’t see anything like your item on ebay, you may want to start a little higher on price, because it is rare.  If no one buys you can always lower the price.  Auctioning it can also be a great way to get a better price than you thought you could have gotten.

Dorie Griggs performs at the Punchline as part of her graduation from Jeff Justice’s comedy class.

Mike Sacks discovered in his research for a book on comedy a common link of many comedy writers is OCD. Sacks is on editorial staff of Vanity Fair and the author of And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Humor Writers About Their Craft.  

Sacks admits that he is OCD and believes it is true for 70% of comedy writers.

While not all my photographer friends are OCD and I haven’t done any research on it, I have noticed many of my photographer friends have OCD tendencies.

You need to be persistent to find the right words, just as the photographer must continue to look for the right moment to communicate.

Poets will spend years on poems looking for the right word for their poem. The difference between word choices is profound.

Advertising slogans can flourish or die with the difference in a word choice.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlegEC2hS1M]
It’s the story

A well-developed character is core to good comedy and not necessarily the joke. Jokes are the sauce of comedy and not the steak. They often teach comedy writers to take out the jokes and if it is not funny, go back and rewrite it. Once the story is funny adding a joke just adds to the humor.

Photographers will work situations and find they have lots of photos of a subject. When they go through and edit the photos they need to boil down to those moments that tell a story effectively.

Analyzing why something is funny is a like trying to discover why people fall in love. It is not impossible to understand, but it does take a lot of experience and certain amount of talent to understand it.

Timing

Writing good comedy is a lot like writing music. The words must fit a rhythm and beat when delivered or it just doesn’t work.

My wife took a comedy class from Jeff Justice here recently. The last class is actually their performance at the Punchline. Getting to listen and watch their first performances as compared to listening to seasoned pros had more to do with their timing than with the words.  I could feel the lack of rhythm in their delivery and then when a seasoned pro closed the night off, could sense the next line and how wonderful it felt.

What the comedian must write into their routine is silence. It is one of the most important aspects of good comedy and music. The famous jazz artist Miles Davis used silence to create his melodic melodies create mood and an atmosphere.

The audience needs time to absorb the situation and understand it before they can respond to a punchline. Some of the best comedians can take you through a series of punchlines to a great crescendo by just spacing the lines a part from each other.

The key to timing understands the need for the audience to absorb a moment. This is the common thing that still photography and comedy have in common.

A visual moment needs time to be absorbed and depending on the moment may need longer for better impact.

It is all in the delivery

While the comedian has written all their material and practiced it over and over, then final piece of success and failure is in the delivery to the audience.

Printed on the page these same routines will be flat.  The comedian brings them to life.

For the photographer the deliver of the image to the audience needs space and time as well. This is where one good image with text is far more powerful than a video that doesn’t give the audience the time to absorb a moment.

Just as the comedian doesn’t pause after every word, neither does a video need to be all stills to have impact. The communicator understands what moments need a pregnant pause.

One thing I have come to believe is a key to when something needs a visual pregnant pause is when it is emotional. It can be on either end of the emotional spectrum from pure joy to despair, both ends of the spectrum need more time to breath.

As you move more to the center of fewer emotions then the time necessary is less.

Concept of free explodes

Chris Anderson wrote a very compelling book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, in 2009. The book was timely because it was addressing the disruptive behavior being experience primarily due to things like Google and Facebook.  However, Anderson traces the history of free back to Jello in 1896 giving away more than five million recipe books to introduce their product into the market.

Music industry and free

Between 1999 and 2001 there was a peer–to-peer file sharing network that people were sharing their MP3 files. The name of this network was Napster.

This was the turning point in the musical industry. Musicians were having their songs pirated and it was not until January 9, 2001 when Steve Jobs averted this catastrophe with iTunes. This was where the industry helped to stabilize the music industry and helped it turn around losses into profits.

Photography and free

In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg turned his school project facemash into Facebook. This was an invitation only social network until September 26, 2006 when it was opened up for anyone over the age of 13 to join. Two years later in 2008 more than 100 million people had joined.

The turning point for photography with Facebook was July 2007.  This is when users could put photos on their wall. Prior to that only text could go on the wall.

Facebook allows users to upload an unlimited number of photos, compared with other image hosting services such as Photobucket and Flickr, which apply limits to the number of photos that a user is allowed to upload. During the first years, Facebook users were limited to 60 photos per album. As of May 2009, this limit has been increased to 200 photos per album.

Before & Now

Before
•    Sharing photos was primarily done with prints and cost for each photo produced
•    Sharing electronically was done by email attachments
•    Photo identification was rare to in general non existent with photos and photo albums
•    If you wanted to pass photos to many people you made multiple prints
•    Their was a good amount of knowledge and effort made from the time the shutter was pushed to having prints or having it in the computer to share

Now
•    You can upload unlimited number of photos for free
•    You can tag a photo along with others being allowed to do so that now we are able to have photo identification which was missing before
•    Digital copies are in general free except for the space they take up on your computer
•    Today people are using their camera phones more than their cameras.
•    The immediacy of taking a photo and sharing it can be even automatic if you change your preferences on your phone and Facebook account.

More than Facebook

On September 6, 2012, Facebook closed the deal to buy Instagram. Unlike Facebook, which was created with computers in mind, Instagram exists only as a mobile application. As you can see the immediacy of creating and sharing images is at an all time high.

Most all photographers today are offering social media model for their clients. Most weddings are assumed that the client wants a digital version to share to their social media groups.

For most wedding photographers this is the baseline of their product. Most brides expect a low-resolution digital image to use.

Even for the commercial shooter many of their images are being tweeted or put on corporate Facebook pages.

With so much of social media being free to the client having to pay for any content is almost foreign to their world. 

However, I do not think a Steve Jobs type of entrepreneur is coming to save photography as was done with iTunes for the music industry.

Photographers need to be aware and helping the client see how they are aware of how photos are used in social media and their savvy understanding is what they are offering to help make the photos they take stand out amongst the millions of image being posted everyday.

Photographers also need to help clients understand while having photos on social media sites is important it is quickly there are other ways to break through to get their message out.

We need to help them rediscover prints, snail mailings, brochures, billboards, television and other outlets other than social media.

Photographers should lead the industry in showing clients what they can do rather than talking about what they can do, because “seeing is believing.”

You need to make some large prints so your clients can see how these can create impact. Too many corporations loose opportunities in their locations to show what they do by simply hanging large prints on the walls of their offices.

One of my clients has masterfully used the billboard. Chick-fil-A introduced their mascot in 1995 on a billboard near Turner field in Atlanta. Today these cows are helping brand Chick-fil-A coast to coast.

I recommend photographers start using these other mediums, which can turn into sales to market themselves.

If you know anything about privacy settings on things like Facebook, then you know how easy it is for people to block all your content if it is on the computer. However, snail mail has to touch their hands before it hits the trash and for a brief second you have a chance to get your message to them.

Want to grow your business—do more than provide a digital image for Facebook.