Be Cautious When Hiring

August 19th, 2008 Dave Scott

It’s tough to be a business owner these days. On top of all the hats we must wear we also have to be very careful about who we hire. I have a steady stream of people approaching me looking for work as a photo assistant. The problem is, everyone is looking to “work one year as an assistant to gain enough experience to be able to start up a photography business.” Yes, that is what 90 percent have told me. I get to invest in their photo education because they all have remedial photo skills and then their plan is to move on with their own business. No thank you!

When you are ready to hire an assistant you need to keep in mind that you are hiring to better your business. Your first priority is your bottom line. Lose your focus and you will be spending a lot of time and money training someone to go off on their own. In a year or so you will be starting the process all over again. I don’t have a magic answer for this situation because we live in different times now… Diminished company loyalty and a lot of self-centered people.

The image above shows my two assistants shot a couple days ago. The image below is scan of a polaroid I shot of them with a 4×5 view camera. They had just finished putting close to 100 stickers on one of my light stands making it impossible to open. We still us that light stand today.

These two have handled every job that I’ve thrown at them. Deliveries, shipping, client calls, pick ups from the photo supply, simple lighting, crazy complex lighting, you name it! They will certainly be hard to replace when they go off to college.

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Posted in Business | No Comments »

Strobezilla.com

August 10th, 2008 Dave Scott

Since this site is supposed to deal with all things related to a photo business I don’t think it is right to load it up with photo shoots, lighting diagrams, and equipment use. This would be very easy to do because of the amout that I shoot. To remedy this, I created a new website which will feature actual shoots including equipment used, reasons behind decisions, final results as chosen by myself, a photo editor, or art director, etc., etc., etc.

The image at the top of the page is from an assignment which was to illustrate an athlete that is giving up a sport in favor of another sport and his job.

Please check out strobezilla.com.

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Posted in Equipment, On The Web, Shooting | No Comments »

My Son’s First Real Shoot

May 29th, 2008 Dave Scott

My son Ryan (16) was putting together a video for a project at school. The video documented parts of his life and also the fact that he would like to be a photographer. Well the time came to do a complete shoot WITHOUT DAD present. Assisting him and shooting the video is Ryan’s older brother Jordan (17). Jordan also did the editing for Ryan’s project. I took this clip out of the finished product and replaced the copyrighted music that he used with a loop. This all took me about 15 minutes so I hope you can bear with the quality.

This should inspire some of you that email me with questions and lack confidence. All of the lighting was designed and set up by two teenagers. Don’t over think your lighting. Remember, main light, fill (if needed), accent light (if needed and/or you want it), and background light (if needed and/or you want it). For this shoot the guys used a medium softbox at f8.0, fill light was a white, reflective umbrella at f5.6, hair light was a 7 inch reflector with a 20 degree grid at f8.0.5 (yes, we still use a light meter that is about a couple decades old), and the background light is a 7 inch reflector with a 20 degree grid at f8.0.5.

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Posted in Equipment, Misc, Shooting | 1 Comment »

OTW - Sheba Wheeler’s First Wedding

May 28th, 2008 Dave Scott

For those of you that don’t know her, my friend, Sheba Wheeler is a writer for the Denver Post. She is an aspiring photographer who is documenting just about everything dealing with her journey into professional photography. I know I’ve said it before but it’s worth mentioning again. I enjoy reading her blog and reminiscing about my early days. The image in this post is from bridal session that she shot. She will be covering her first wedding for the bride-to-be shown above.

Best wishes to you Sheba!

You can view Sheba’s blog here.

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Posted in On The Web | 2 Comments »

Mark Your Web Images

May 19th, 2008 Dave Scott

One of my images has been hijacked. I was looking through my log files and I saw reference to one of my images and the referrer page was not on my website. My image was being used on another web page while being served from my server. This image is on the news page of my website and, unfortunately, I never marked the image with my copyright information. Well, it now has my copyright and website marked on it so the guy hijacking it now is doing a bit of advertising for me. I have sent hijacker an email and will report if he takes the image down.

You can see the page HERE.

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Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »

Keep It Simple When Time Is Very Limited

May 17th, 2008 Dave Scott

My oldest son, Jordan, is a vocalist and he was one of the leads in the musical Fiorello which was performed by his high school drama and vocal classes. I decided to offer to shoot photos for the performers because of their dedication to the project. They were rehearsing into the night. They were also serving as their own stage crew.

During the final dress rehearsal I found that the stage lighting was not acceptable for photographs. There were far too many hot spots and dark spots. We ended up shooting with our strobes in the two hour time slot between the final two performances.

Because time was so limited and the sets and the cast would vary I went with a lighting set up that offered a lot of soft, even coverage. Two 400 w/s monolights were placed just out of camera view stage left and stage right. Two 400 w/s monolights in reflective white umbrellas were also just out of camera view (left and right) and at the front of the stage. I also added a Nikon SB-800 with its diffusion dome at the middle of the stage near the first row of seats to kick a little light into the shadows. My background metered half way between f5.6 and f8. The subject area metered at f8. I used an 85 mm lens from about 8 rows back.

Ryan and I worked extremely hard to get everyone included. We ended up just getting our cart full of equipment off the stage right when seating for the final show began.

Oh yeah, Jordan played the part of Morris and is the seated, middle aged man in the above photograph.

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Posted in Equipment, Shooting | No Comments »

Shooting In The Sun At Noon

April 29th, 2008 Dave Scott

I read quite often on forums and hear in person how so many photographers feel they cannot shoot in midday sun. I was recently out on a senior portrait shoot. We started in the morning and went till about noon. The sun was high in the sky. There was a shot that I wanted to get on a bridge.

To create the shot seen above, I positioned Mariah with her back to the sun. This made perfect sense because, in the studio, I normally use strobes with 20 degree grids for hair and accent lights. For a main light I used a 20 year old Vivitar 285 HV flash mounted on a light stand. The flash was fired through a shoot through umbrella at full power. It was positioned to camera left and about 5 feet from Mariah. The strobe was fired the old fashioned way… with a sync cor.

The dark eyes are not from lack of light. It is from eye liner which is applied a bit heavy. Nonetheless, that is the way Mariah does her make-up and this shoot is all about capturing her.

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Posted in Equipment, Shooting | 1 Comment »

What Goes Around, Comes Around

April 14th, 2008 Dave Scott

Do you shoot every type of photography under the sun? I don’t, and chances are, you don’t either. Since we don’t cover all types of photography, we will be asked quite often about jobs that we don’t desire to take on.

I like to keep all interaction with my clients and potential clients positive. Even if I cannot provide the service(s) that is asked of me, I don’t let anyone go away wondering. I make it easy on them. They leave our conversation ready to move forward with their desires.

The way I accomplish this is by always having a list of a few photographers that shoot subject matter that I don’t. By passing the name on of a different photographer is shows that I am confident enough in myself to refer someone elsewhere. I’m also being helpful and bringing a positive ending to having to tell someone “No.” Face it, none of us like to be told “no.”

Get your list together and keep it handy at your desk and in the planner that you keep on your person. You’ll be surprised at how many referrals you’ll get back. Referrals given out bring referrals in. Don’t forget to get together every four to six months with the photographers that you trade referrals with.

I don’t shoot fashion shows. The image at the top is from a fashion show and was produced by my friend and colleague, Sheba Wheeler. Check out Sheba’s website here and her blog here.

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Posted in Business, Marketing | No Comments »

Shooting Business Portraits - My eBook

April 12th, 2008 Dave Scott

One of the best types of assignments that I shoot are business portraits. Yes I shoot giant, 20 to 40 foot vacuum pumps that gets the testosterone pumping in any guy that stands near one. Yes I shoot Playboy style glamour and have so many guys asking me if they can be my assistant I’ve lost count. But from a BUSINESS standpoint, nothing beats the business portrait for jobs that lead to more jobs.

Why? Aside from the fact that a percentage of the companies that you work for will have other photographic needs (product, business lifestyle, company parties, seminars, etc.) you are also going to get queries from the business people that are having the portraits shot. This is especially true if you are very personable and able to put them at ease for their photo session. Bring plenty of business cards because you will hear “Do you shoot [weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvah, family portraits, senior portraits, birthdays, reunions, boudoir, babies, etc.] ?” Essentially, you are getting paid to do a shoot and you are marketing yourself just by being there.

Because this is such a great way to jump start your business, I’ve written an eBook called Shooting Business Portraits. The final editing is being done now and it will be released on June 10th 2008.

So, what will the book cover? Well, it’s not a brag book with a ton of useless information. It’s lean and straight to the point, NOT bloated with extra pages to try to make buyers feel they’re getting their money’s worth. I want you to be read through the material, practice, and begin booking shoots. Shooting Business Portraits describes the details of how I produce business portraits including:

• My Equipment List
• 3 Lighting Set-Ups With Lighting Diagrams
• How I Do My Marketing
• Samples Of My Marketing Mailers
• How I Deliver The Final Product
• Posing Tips

My Shooting Business Portraits eBook will cost $27 (US) when it is released. Small cost when you consider that I’ll be showing you exactly what I do.

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OTW - Picture My World Photography

April 8th, 2008 Dave Scott

It’s easy for me to see, from all of the questions and emails that I receive, that readers of this blog are from all skill levels. I would like to introduce you to a fellow photographer, fellow blogger, and my new friend, Sheba Wheeler. Sheba has been a staff writer for the Denver Post since 1996 and she is now photographer of about a year.

I encourage everyone who reads this blog to subscribe to her blog at Picture Your World Photography. If you are new to photography, many of Sheba’s concerns and issues will be coming up for you yourself. If you’re a seasoned pro, you will certainly appreciate all that Sheba is going through to consistently move her photography skills and her business to the next level.

Additionally, Sheba posts regularly and, because she is a writer, her content rocks. I cannot say enough good things about her upbeat attitude and her passion that comes through so easily on her blog.

For you newbies that like to complain about the fact that you don’t have a studio, check out Sheba’s home studio and be sure check out the images she is creating with it.

Keep Shooting!

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Posted in On The Web | 1 Comment »