My Favorite Inspiration

I've never taken a photography class, so how do I scrape along in the highly-competative photography business?

Easy: I subsdize my non-existant education with tips from the masters.

Fight the urge to take stereotypical wedding photos. Scour the internet for wedding portfolios and keep track of what makes you gasp. Then ask WHY that photo worked better than a similar shot. Take notice of what photos you see over and over and over and over and over... We shoot them becuase people expect them, but look for fresh spins.

One of my favorite photographers is Jim Garner: http://wedding.jgarnerphoto.com/#/Fine Art Images/Gallery 2/2

He's been crowned one of the top 10 photographers in the world, and I second the nomination. After browsing hundreds of photographers (maybe thousands) this is the main guy I find myself going back to. His photos are just fun to look at! After hours of pouring over his photos, I still spend hours on his website sometimes...

And his slideshows, seriously! They are incredible! Here's the best one: http://wedding.jgarnerphoto.com/#/Stories in Motion/Slideshows/3

Photo Editing, Piece of Cake

Want to know a secret?

Editing photos can be a pain, huh? Let me teach you something that will make it easier:

If the photo is too hard to edit, don't edit it. Really.

I photograph weddings, right? I typically take over 2,000 photos per party. Of those, the mother-in-law and new happy couple absolutely adore every fourth photo. Do the math.

I'm not stupid, nor am I vain enough to believe that 500+ photos all taken on the same day are all actually amazing. It's a great day if 1 in 1o photos is worth my time.

The powerful realization is that while I'm editing these photos they picked out, and I run across a photo I don't actually like very much, I don't do much to it. Contrast, color, maybe a quick blurring or crop. 20 seconds later, I never have to look at that photo again.

Don't tell, but if a photo is really just crummy... (and it's funny how often people ask me to edit photos their drunk uncle could have shot better)... sometimes I just quietly delete it from the list of "Photos to be Edited". That way, the photos you know stink won't reflect poorly on your true skills when the wedding photos get distributed. I've never had someone notice and care.

Save your time and energy for your favorite photos! Sometimes a photo is worth an hour. But most aren't even worth two minutes.

Here's a recent raw photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotherlaura/3790751329/

One hour later: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotherlaura/3791564792/

Once in a purple moon, yeah, that photo is TOTALLY worth cleaning the powerlines out of. The rest of the time, dude, watch your freaking background and don't point your lens at the powerlines.

Portraits 101 - How to flatter the figure, face, and personality of your subject

This is the first tip in a series on how to take a decent portrait. Follow the tags "Portraits101" for additional tips.

Tip #1 - Never, ever, EVER shoot someone straight on. It is the least flattering position possible.

Not convinced? Go try it on yourself. Stand in front of a mirror, dead on, and click. (Kay, I'm morbidly aware that these photos are awful. Gimme a break, it's 1:30 am. Just pay attention to what rotating the body does for the figure.)

Next, rotate your body about 45 degrees, until you can see the angle of your jawline. Click again.

No sucking in, no nothing. Just turned and grinned.