Concept

The cover story was about a family with 4 boys (ages 15-25) that has had at least one child in attendance at the school for 20 consecutive years. The photos were supposed to be informal, displaying a loving family enjoying each other's company and conveying some of their personality.

Location

I chose Gasworks Park in Seattle because there are a few locations there where I can get very clean backgrounds to accommodate the magazine copy around the portraits. I'd much rather have a clean background than a "cool" one.

Lighting

The shoot was timed to begin exactly at sunset. My plan was to get a few natural light images using the setting sun as the key light, then after the sun went down light the family with off-camera flash.

Most photographers wouldn't deliberately schedule a shoot to take place mostly after sunset. But why not? This time of day can produce some really interesting looks when combined with off-camera lighting.

Gear

I brought one body (my 5D) and one lens (50mm f1.4). For a shoot like this, nothing more is needed. I just wanted to keep it real simple. My lighting was either natural light or my LumoPro speedlight mounted on a monopod with shoot-through umbrella.

My assistant Paige and I arrived about 15 minutes before the shoot start time. We walked to the exact shoot locations so I could quickly test what the light looked like. No matter how fancy you get with your lighting, nothing beats plain old setting sun for the nicest light.

(1) Here's a test shot of Paige - the light at 20 mins before sunset looks darn near perfect. You can see she's holding a monopod on which I mount my strobe. Then she holds onto the monopod like a flag bearer at a parade. This is a much quicker, flexible setup than moving around light stands.

(2) This was one of the first shots of the day. Natural light only. The purpose of starting with a shot like this is just to warm up my subjects and get them used to being in front of the camera. The magazine probably won't use this shot.

5D/50mm, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/500 sec

(3) Okay, nothing new here - many wedding photographers do this with the wedding party. Meant for the inside story, the purpose of this image is just to reflect the family's personality. At this point it was literally 5 minutes before the sun set. This was the last natural light shot of the day. In addition to the nice golden light on my subjects, notice how blue the sky is at sunset.

ISO 400, f6.3, 1/800 sec.

(4) This was the first image I took that was meant to be a candidate for the magazine cover. First of all, it needed to be a vertical to conform with the magazine shape. It's always a challenge to pose 6 people for a vertical shot. To do this, I put them on 3 levels, sitting, kneeling and standing. I organized them by age with the youngest on the bottom and parents on top.

The background was selected because - especially after deliberately underexposing the ambient by 2 stops - I knew it would be very dark. This makes it easy to place copy over the background. One 40" umbrella covered the entire family with no discernable light falloff.

ISO 400, f5.6, 1/125 sec

(5) This was the other candidate for the magazine cover. This time using the sky to make a nice clean backdrop to place copy. Again, the ambient was underexposed by almost 2 stops and a single umbrella covered the family nicely. The key to this shot was the pyramid shape of the pose, as well as their relaxed expressions. I got the laughs just by asking them to goof around.

ISO 250, f6.3, 1/100 sec

(6) The last shot of the day was not really for the magazine, I did it for the parents so they could have a professional shot of their boys.

ISO 250, f6.3, 1/100 sec

For your next portrait session, try something different and shoot after sunset. You'll get something very different than what all the other photographers out there are offering!

Laurence Kim Workshops

available in Seattle or via Skype

2nd shooter: Chantal Andrea

It's been a while since I posted a wedding. I'm still on a natural color kick - no actions (other than sharpening) have been applied to any of these images.

(1) left: 5D/24mm, ISO 1000, f2.0, 1/30 sec

middle: 5D/24mm, ISO 320, f2.5, 1/50 sec

right (Chantal): 5DMkII/35mm, ISO 400, f2.2, 1/160 sec

(2) left: 5D/70-200mm @200mm, ISO 400, f3.2, 1/1000 sec. Nothing makes your clients look as good as a portrait taken @ 200mm.

right (Chantal): 5DMkII/35mm, ISO 320, f2.5, 1/250 sec. I often chimp with my clients - always a good way to keep them loose and engaged.

(3) Top: 5D/70-200 @135mm, ISO 400, f3.2, 1/3200 sec. The fashion shoot took place in the middle of the day. The sun was brutally harsh. However, don't let that stop you from taking beautiful portraits. Just put the sun to your subject's backs and you're good to go.

Bottom (Chantal): 5DMkII/35mm, ISO 400, f4.5, 1/160 sec. A good second shooter should always be capturing a different angle than the primary shooter. I'm shooting down, so Chantal got low for this one.

(4) Don't be so eager to always shoot wide open. Stop down a little bit. Your clients will appreciate having both of them in focus. Many photographers I talk to are afraid of stopping down because they mistakenly believe the greater depth of field will make their images look like snapshots. Believe me, a well executed image (composition, lighting, subject interaction) won't look like a snapshot, even with a large dof. It will just look like a beautiful, professional image.

Left (Chantal): 5DMkII/50mm, ISO 400, f8, 1/125 sec

Right: 30D/17-55mm @55mm, ISO 320, f3.5, 1/500 sec

(5) Left: 30D/17-55 @43mm, ISO 640, f2.8, 1/250 sec.

Right: 30D/17-55@24mm, ISO 640, f2.8, 1/250 sec.

Yes, I'm still using my old, obsolete Canon 30D. Why? A few reasons I'm still using this old workhorse: (1) it enables me to use Canon's best zoom lens, the incredibly sharp 17-55 f2.8 EFS IS. This lens is far superior to either the 24-70L or the 16-35L, yet can't be used on a full frame body. (2) It's practically worthless, so I'm not worried about it being stolen or broken. (3) I sometimes like the extra dof I can get with a crop sensor. I can get more in focus, even if I'm at f2.8. (4) the 8MP raw file sizes are nice and small and (5) it still takes crispy images! My advice: put your money into your retirement account instead of always buying the latest and greatest gear. What, are these images not sharp enough??

(6) 30D/17-55 @17mm, ISO 800, f2.8, 1/125 sec.

I processed all of the black and whites using my favorite conversion method - just hit the "grayscale" button in Lightroom, adjust contrast to taste, and voila!

(7) Left (Chantal): 5DMkII/24mmL, ISO 320, f2.0, 1/500 sec.

I knew I'd take this image - or in this case, delegate it to Chantal - way in advance, as soon as I found out that Julie and Seth had written their vows on note cards. Always ask if the couple has vows or speeches written out - they make for great photo opportunities.

Right: 5D/24mmL, ISO 320, f3.5, 1/25 sec.

(8) The pre-ceremony cocktail hour.

(9) Left (Chantal): 5dMkII/24-70mm @28mm, ISO 400, f3.5, 1/125 sec.

Right: 5D/70-200 @ 130mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/1250 sec.

(10) The cutest flower girls ever.

Left: 5D/70-200 @200mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/2000 sec.

Right: 5D/70-200 @200mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/2000 sec.

(11) During the ceremony it's important to get both tight shots of the couple at the altar and some shots pulled back showing the entire scene.

5D/70-200mm @70mm, ISO 400, f4.0, 1/1000 sec.

(12) Left: 5D/70-200 @200mm, f5.0, 1/1600 sec.

Right: 5D/70-200 @95mm, f3.2, 1/2000 sec.

(13) It's easy to get lulled during the ceremony, but you have to be hyper alert to not miss the kiss, which sometimes only lasts a spit second. I'm happy to report that I've never missed one yet!

Left: 5D/70-200 @200mm, ISO 100, f5.0, 1/640 sec.

Right (Chantal): 5dMkII/24-70 @24mm, ISO 125, f4.0, 1/40 sec.

(14) 30D/17-55 EFS @17mm, ISO 250, f4.0, 1/800 sec.

(15) My standard setup for formals: manual metering mode, 35mm lens, f5.0. This will give you all the DOF you need. A little fill flash (ettl, -1 FEC) keeps everyone tack sharp. Shoot from the kneeling position to make your composition much more interesting. Stop shooting everything at eye level!

Left: 5D/35mmL, ISO 500, f5.0, 1/160 sec, -1 FEC.

Right (Chantal): 5D/24-70 @24mm, ISO 250, f7.1, 1/160 sec. I usually have people shooting right beside me during the formals. Doesn't bother me, but I do have to remind everyone to look at my camera. The little guy next to me is a future wedding tog.

(16) Left: 30D/17-55 @18mm, ISO400, f3.5, 1/200 sec. Always keep an eye out for little kids. When they run around during the day they can lead you to some interesting compositions.

Right: 30D/17-55 @55mm, ISO 400, f3.5, 1/125 sec. Hugs right after the speeches are important - be ready.

(17) The entire wedding party had to walk a couple hundred yards to the barn for the reception. I knew way ahead of time that I would get this shot, so I ran ahead then stood there at the end of the path and just waited for it.

30D/17-55 @51mm, ISO 200, f3.5, 1/6400 sec.

(18) Details (Chantal) with the 35mm f1.4L.

I usually delegate almost all of the detail shots to my 2nd shooter. It frees me up to wait for images like #17 above. By the way, the middle image is my plate - the Freestone Inn puts out a mighty fine spread!

(19) Reception collage. All images taken either with my 5D/24mm combo or Chantal's 5dMKII/35mm. We both were using a bit of bounced flash, as it was quite dark in the barn.

My rules on bouncing: When I need to light up more than just my subject I bounce. When I want to light only my subject I use direct flash. In this instance the room was not lit up with dramatic reception lighting - it was just dark all over. In that case, I needed to spread the light around a bit more, thus my decision to bounce.

ONE-ON-ONE WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE

IN SEATTLE OR VIA SKYPE

What does the iPad do? Basically, it is a giant iPod touch. With the iPad you can:

- read books (either with the iBook reader or with the Amazon Kindle app)

- listen to your iTunes music library

- watch tv shows and movies

- view photos

- surf the web

- email

- thousands of other tasks/functions/games using third party apps

Here's the iPad next to the Amazon Kindle and iPod touch:

Compared to the Kindle

I read at least two books a week - electronic only, I'll never read a paper book again if I can help it! As a book reader, I prefer the iPad. The screen is slightly larger, and it is backlit, so I can read it no matter what the ambient lighting. In very dim light, you can switch from black letters on a white background to white letters on a black background - this makes it much easier on the eyes. I also like the fact that you turn pages with a flick across the screen versus hitting a physical button on the Kindle. MaryBeth wouldn't let me read my Kindle in bed because the clicking of the button drove her crazy. No problem with the iPad. And of course, using the Kindle app you can read all of the books you purchased for your Kindle on your iPad.

I have not tried the iBook application, so I have no comment on that. There are some reviewers that claim that the Kindle's non-backlit screen is easier on the eyes, but I have not found this to be the case.

The only downside compared to the Kindle is the heavier weight, but I'm willing to live with that.

Compared to the iPod touch

The iPad and iPod have basically the same functionality. Pretty much anything you can do on the iPad you can do on the iPod. However, the screen on the iPod is so small that I never even bothered with some of the functions. Email and web surfing on the iPod is just plain painful. With the exception of simply listening to music, everything is much more fun on the iPad. Watching movies, reading, email, web - it's all better on the iPad's big gorgeous screen.

Compared to a laptop

So if the iPad is better than the iPod, isn't a real laptop better still? Not really. A laptop is definitely far superior to an iPad if you're doing some serious work, writing long emails, etc. However, it's much more cumbersome. If I'm on the road and I'm eating dinner at the hotel bar, I'd much rather pull out my iPad and have it instantly on rather than trying to boot up a big laptop. It's just much more unobtrusive. Try lying down on the couch reading a book on a laptop - not so fun.

The cover

Apple sells a case that in my opinion is required. You definitely need something to protect that big gorgeous screen from scratches. This cover does that job, but it also folds over to prop up the iPad. This puts it in a nice position for reading when you're at a table. At $39 it's overpriced, but you still need it.

Any complaints?

Yes, one major drawback. The iPad does not support websites built using Adobe Flash. HTML only. This of course limits your web browsing severely. Thumbs down for Apple on this one. They could have enabled Flash, but in their rivalry with Adobe they decided to freeze them out. Despite their weak explanations, this was clearly a business decision on Apple's part - not a technical one. Supposedly they're working on a fix. It can't come soon enough.

For photographers

For photographers, the biggest reason to love the iPad is to have your portfolio with you at all times on a big, beautiful screen. If you meet your clients at Starbucks, this would be a handy tool to have.

The bottom line: If you read a lot, travel a lot, or both, and have $500 to spend, there's no reason not to get the iPad. It will make life much more pleasant.

Laurence Kim Workshops

email to book your one-on-one session

in-person or via Skype

This workshop is designed for wedding photographers just starting out, or for more established wedding pros that want to relaunch or simply jumpstart their businesses.

Topics include:

- Gear: including minimum required gear, where to spend your $$, and where NOT to

- Marketing: how to get the most for your marketing $$. Where to advertise, where NOT to. The best way to market. Blogging and social networking tips.

- Website: what vendors to use, what to include, what not to.

- Portfolio: how to build a portfolio. How to edit it to make you look like an amazing photographer.

- Pricing: How much to charge for that 1st wedding, 5th, 10th, etc. How to design price lists that maximize revenue. How to design packages. How to charge for albums.

- Workflow: From downloading your cards to delivering the album - how to process your images in the minimum amount of time.

- Vendors: I discuss all my vendors, from print shops, to canvas printers to album providers.

- Sales: how to structure your sales meetings

- Contracts: I go over my own contract line by line

All this and more, if time allows.

Tuition is $350 for an all day session. Contact me to register.

If you cannot make this session for whatever reason, I can customize a Skype session one-on-one for you.

Laurence Kim Workshops

Now it's time for me to take a break. I've never been busier in my entire life than I am right now, both personally and professionally.

Every minute I spend on this blog is a minute of attention that my family isn't getting, my clients aren't getting, and those darn overgrown weeds all around my house aren't getting.

Something has to give, so I'm cutting back on blogging for now. I'm not stopping entirely, but expect maybe one post a month rather than once a week. Don't bother checking it every day - please just subscribe via the RSS feed and you'll know when there's new material here.

I'm still continuing with the workshops.

One-on-one workshops can be done:

• in-person in Seattle
• over the phone
• via Skype

My next live group workshop is the May 22 "Starting a Profitable Wedding Business" workshop in Seattle. Seats are still available.

Laurence Kim Workshops

Here's my thought process behind a recent family formal portrait.

• Subjects: parents + their 2 adult children and one of their spouses

• Selecting the background: the parents live right on the Puget Sound. The grounds are immaculate - the grass almost looks like a putting green. I knew the background had to be the view from the backyard - no real discussion here, this one was obvious.

• The pose: most photographers would probably set up a shot like this:

Now there's nothing wrong with this shot. If I had to shoot 30 family formals in 30 minutes (like at a wedding) I'd probably shoot something like this. But the problem is that there is no concept behind the shot. It's just a bunch of people standing in a row.

I wanted to do something more interesting. If the client does not have a particular concept in mind, then I just make one up of my own.

My concept for this shot: I imagined that this was, say, a family that ran a prominent business and a story about their lavish estate was being run in Town and Country Magazine. I wanted a more 3 dimensional pose, which showed them in a more interesting and relaxing setting.

Here's my diagram of the final shot:

I set up two lawn chairs, one about 3 feet closer than the other, and placed the parents in the chairs. Then the "kids" went behind them. I wanted everyone to be relaxed, yet still in a more formal position than you'd typically see in one of my lifestyle portraits.

Using these chairs gave me 3 levels to work with: sitting on the chair, sitting on the arm, and standing. Placing the 2nd chair 3 feet behind the first adds a 4th level. These levels contribute to the depth of the image.

The key, however, to any family portrait (formal or lifestyle) is to show the closeness of the family members, which is why I made sure they were touching each other. The smiles came from me just joking around with them.

Here's the final image. No Photoshop was required - this is straight from Lightroom.

Here are the technicals for the shot:

(1) Set the camera on manual mode, evaluative (matrix) metering. I used the following as a default setting: ISO 100, f8, 1/200 sec. Camera was a Canon 5D with 70-200mm lens @ 70mm.

(2) Take a test shot, view histogram to judge exposure. In this case, my initial settings were just fine. It gave me about -1 stop of exposure, just where I wanted it. Why underexpose the ambient light by one stop? Two reasons: it really turns the sky a nice blue on a sunny day or makes the clouds more dramatic on a cloudy day. Second, it will really make your subjects pop out when lit with off camera flash.

(3) My 580exII flash was on a stand to camera right. I did not use any umbrella or softbox. This was just straight, direct flash. Why no umbrella? To be honest, it was simply too windy to use an umbrella. However, because I had my flash pulled back some distance away from my subjects (to cover all of them without any significant light falloff between the nearest and farthest person), an umbrella would only have made a minor difference anyway.

(4) I set my flash on manual mode, 1/2 power and took a test shot. It was slightly underexposed so I bumped up the power a bit, but I was still less than full power.

(5) I kneeled down on one knee to get a low camera angle and fired away. I took about 6 shots from this position. Remember that a low camera angle always adds drama and power to a shot. Taken at eye level this shot would not have been nearly as interesting. Get down on that knee!

That's pretty much it. When I opened the image in Lightroom, exposure was perfect. I did not have to move the exposure slider at all. The only thing I did was add a tiny bit of sharpening. Remember that a sharp lens, f8, and perfect light all contribute to an image that's already going to be sharp.

In the end he convinced me to get a auto/home package that gave me better coverage for less money than I was spending before. In short, he up-sold me. Far from being annoyed, I was pleased. They key was that he was up-front about what he was presenting to me, and I ended up getting something better than expected.

That's the way it should be done. However, just about every single wedding photographer I've talked to is leaving lots of money on the table when it comes to album sales. This problem is easy to correct.

Here's the way I do it:

(1) Start out by including wedding album credits in your packages, not actual albums. I learned this from Gary Fong. By the way, if Gary Fong is not on your list of photographers to admire and emulate, he should be. He was earning $10k + per wedding at a time when it was simply unheard of.

Okay, back on topic. For example, instead of including a 30 page, 10x10 album in your wedding package, include an album credit. If you charge, say, $40 per page for a 10x10, then include a $1,000 credit instead.

Why credits instead of actual albums? If you include a 30 page 10x10 album in the package, then your clients will expect a 30 page 10x10 album. The "30 pages" becomes imprinted in their brains. They begin to think that a wedding album should be 30 pages, nothing more. Any attempt to get them to buy more pages will give them the impression that you're just trying to bleed them for more money. By contrast, an album credit leaves the # of pages to be an open possibility.

(2) After the wedding, design the first draft without any client input. Two reasons: first, if you wait for your clients to select images then you could end up waiting for a long time. In some cases - years. Second, your clients have never designed an album before so how would they know which images would make the best design?

(3) I tell my clients up front that the 1st draft is my ultimate album design. The design I would make with the images if it were my own wedding. A no-limits design. My clients know up front that my 1st draft averages 50-60 pages. I also tell them that they are free to make edits, add or remove pages.

(4) A few weeks after the wedding I email my first draft album design. I again remind them that they can edit the pages, remove pages or add pages. Usually they make a few image substitutions and also typically cut out a few spreads. That's okay.

(5) After a couple of rounds of changes, they are usually left with an album around 40-46 pages. Since my album credit included in my best selling package (your best selling package, by the way, should alwyas be your "middle" package) is only enough to buy 24 pages, I usually end up with an after-wedding up-sell of about $1,000. This is an extra $1,000 that most photographers leave on the table. And the client is never surprised or upset. They want the extra pages, because they have had time to emotionally bond with them. And they were expecting a big album up front.

That's pretty much it. I'll be discussing this topic and many others in greater depth at my May 22 Starting a Profitable Wedding Business workshop.

Laurence Kim Workshops

May 22, Seattle, Starting a Profitable Wedding Business: seats available

One-on-one workshops available via Skype

But there's one technology that is just too useful for me to ignore any longer.

I got on Skype for the first time last week, and I'm convinced it is the best way to do a remote workshop for photographers unable to travel to Seattle.

Why Skype?

• The calls are FREE. You don't have to tie up your phone or use any precious cell phone minutes.

• It's easy - sign up only takes a minute and you're ready to go.

• The sound-quality is much better than a regular phone call.

• Most importantly, using Skype my workshop students can VIEW MY SCREEN during the session, so now I can do more than simply verbally go over an emailed PDF presentation. I can now show my students in real time how I use Lightroom, Photoshop, design albums, etc.

Just email me to schedule a Skype session. Cost is $100 per hour and potential topics include (but are not limited to):

• Lighting: natural light, on-camera flash, off-camera flash
• Shooting: metering, camera settings, focusing
• Posing: kids, brides and grooms, seniors
• Color correcting and proofing using Lightroom and/or Adobe Camera Raw/Photoshop
• Portrait retouching using Photoshop
  
• Marketing: a system for bringing in qualified portrait clients
• Pricing: how to design portrait price lists and wedding packages
  
• Products: what to offer, where to get it, how to price it
• Sales: how to dramatically increase your portrait averages and upsell your wedding albums
• Gear: what gear you need, what you don't need, and what to buy at every budget
• Building a wedding photography business from scratch
• Building a profitable portrait business from scratch

Building a Wedding Photography Business

Saturday, May 22, Seattle WA

Seats still available

I don't use any special album design software. I just use good old Photoshop. It's really easy and gives you the most degree of flexibility. With template software, you get boxed in by the template designs. In Photoshop, any design is possible.

Below is an example of how I lay out a spread.

Step 1: Create a new Photoshop document

In this example I'm creating a 10x10 album. Therefore the size of the spread is 20x10. In Photoshop, go to file/new and you'll get this dialog box. Set your document size to 20x10 at 300 ppi. I like to design albums on a white background so I set my background white. By the way, all of my album designs are square. Why square? It's the most flexible because with the push of a button you can resize it to any size without worrying about a change in aspect ratio. I can make a 10x10 album for the bride and groom and at the same time make a 5x5 for the parents without doing any re-designing.

Step 2: turn on grid lines

Go to view/show/grid to turn on the grid lines. These lines will not print, they are there as a visual guide only.

Step 3: create guide lines

Go to view/new guide. I create vertical guidelines at 5, 10 and 15 inches and a horizontal guideline at 5 inches. These guidelines will help you lay out your images evenly. The 10 inch vertical guideline also shows you where the center seam is.

Step 4: Save this file.

I usually name it "template". You can save it as a jpeg. Every time you create a new spread you'll call up this file, work on it, and then save it under a new name (e.g. "page 07-08").

Step 5: Now you're ready to start designing! The first thing I do is to visualize what I want the spread to look like. I usually design the spread in my head. However, you may want to sketch it out on a piece of paper. In this example, I'm designing the spread with the wedding details. As I mentioned in Part 1, I usually design the details as a collage with smaller images, since each detail is not - by itself - important enough to justify a really large image.

Step 6: Pick and prepare images in Lightroom

Now I leave Photoshop and head back to lightroom. My mission is to pick out 8 detail images for the spread. Once I've picked out the 8 images I'll use the crop function in Lightroom to crop. In this case - square.

Step 7: Export the images

Highlight the 8 images for the spread then hit the "export" button and you'll get this export dialog box. You'll see I have the resolution set to 300 ppi. I also resize to 4.5" x 4.5". Why this size? Well, if I am going to put 4 images on each side that's 10" wide, then I want my total image width to be about 9". This will give me some white margin along the sides. If I wanted the page to be full-bleed (no white space showing), then I'd size the images at exactly 5x5. Lastly, I have a droplet that sharpens as I export. In this case, I'm running the Kevin Kubota Magic Sharp action on export. I wrote a tutorial here on how to set up a droplet for Lightroom.

I export the images to a temporary folder. As soon as I finish laying out the spread, I empty the folder because (1) I don't need them any more once the spread is finished and (2) always working with an empty folder means that as I'm working on a spread I don't have to sort through any images, I know that any image in this temporary folder is one that I'll need for the spread I'm currently working on.

Now I jump back to Photoshop. My template is still open. I open up all the images from my temporary folder. There should now be 8 images in the folder, all perfectly sized at 4x5 x 4x5.

Step 8: move the images onto the template.

Pick the Move tool, which should be the first tool on your Photoshop toolbar. Click and drag the images onto your template. Using the blue guidelines, it should be really easy to line up the images.

Step 9: complete and save the spread.

Here's the final spread, with the grid and guidelines turned off. It is critical that you save the file as a PSD file and NOT as a jpeg. Later on if your client asks you to substitute one of the images you'll have to start from scratch if you save as a jpeg. If you save as a PSD you can swap out an image just by deleting the layer that it's on.

Quick tip: name your file something like "page 09-10". Do NOT name the file "spread 5". Why? Because clients somehow get very confused about page numbers. Some of them somehow think that a two page spread is only one page. I'm not sure how they get confused, as every book they've ever read in their entire lives has been 1 page = 1 side. Nevertheless, by naming the spread "page 09-10" it is absolutely clear that they are looking at - and paying for - two pages here, not one.

A couple more notes:

- You'll obviously resize the image in Lightroom according to your design. For example, if I want two vertical images on one side, then I'll size them at about 6.5". For a full-bleed panoramic image I don't resize at all. You will probably need to grab a corner and make the image slightly larger to fit a 10x10 two page spread.

- Before submitting to your album manufacturer you'll need to convert the PSD files to jpegs. To do this I use Bridge. Highlight all the spreads, then go to tools/Photoshop/image processor to convert to jpegs. This will only take a minute.

That's pretty much it!

In part 3 I'll review my process for overall workflow and selling albums.

Laurence Kim Workshops

Starting a Profitable Wedding Business, May 22, Seattle WA

Workshops available by phone:

- Location Lighting 101

- Building a Profitable Portrait Business

- Starting a Profitable Wedding Business

After all, wedding photography can be a great business, especially for part-timers. Shoot one wedding per month and you've got your mortgage payment covered. That's pretty sweet.

Okay, so now what do you do?

This workshop is designed for photographers that are new to the wedding photography business. It is geared for togs that have 0-2 years in the wedding photo business (although I'm sure more experienced weddings togs could pick up some valuable info as well). It will take you step by step from where you are now to running a successful business.

Topics include:

• Gear: what you need (and what you don't) to begin shooting weddings. How to build the gear you need at a minimal cost.

• Portfolio: how to build your wedding portfolio when you're starting from zero. It's tough to build a portfolio when most established photographers won't give you a chance to 2nd shoot for them.

• Pricing: how much to charge for your 1st wedding, your 2nd, your 3rd, and so on. How and when to move up the pricing scale. A la carte or packages? How to design packages. How to charge for albums. How to sell extra album pages.

• Shooting: although this workshop is focused primarily on the business side of wedding photography, we will review tips on how to quickly and professionally shoot the bride/groom portraits, wedding party and family formals.

• Your website: how to set it up. What vendors to use. Understanding what makes a great website design.

• Music on your website? the pros and cons.

• Marketing: how to book clients. How to network. The best places to advertise. Where to spend your money (and where not to)

• Selling: how to conduct the sales meeting and get booked! How to upsell your albums.

• Booking policies: how to book a wedding. What to say when a potential client asks you to hold a date without a signed agreement and retainer. What to say when they ask you to tell them if anyone else is interested in their date.

• Legal: how to construct your wedding contract. We'll review my current wedding contract line-by-line.

• Workflow: how to efficiently process your wedding images.

• Vendors: what vendors I use for printing and albums.

• Wedding albums: how to design them using Photoshop. (if we have time)
  

Laurence Kim Workshops

My album design philosophy is simple: keep it clean! When I see overly designed albums, I just cringe. Things that make me want to stick my finger down my throat:

- images with fake edges on them

- extra non-functional design elements - lines, swirlies, words

- lots of low-opacity image overlays

- too many images crammed in a single spread

- images inside circles, hearts, etc.

I want my images to stand on their own. The images are the star of the show, not the design. I also don't want my album designs to ever go out of style. They should look as great 30 years from now as they do today. I don't want anyone to look at one of my album designs years from now and say "what was he thinking?".

Here are some sample spreads from a single album, along with some commentary to let you know what I was trying to achieve with each spread.

(1) This double page spread is the ultimate in simplicity. Maybe even too simple for some people. At this wedding the bride was getting ready in a totally white room - white walls, white drapes, white carpet, white bed linen. I decided to take this look even further by using Photoshop to paint over the image until the background was completely white. Is all that white just wasted space? I think the isolation and simplicity makes a more powerful image than if I filled up the space with extra images.

(2) This is a fairly typical 3-image layout for me. Clean, full-opacity images simply laid out on a white background. The images should be laid out in a way that tells a story. I think of it as if I was a director laying out the storyboard for a movie. The left image shows the tearful bride coming into the church with dad. The middle and right images show the expectant groom watching his glowing bride and her proud dad.

(3) Nothing is more powerful than a full page spread of a single image. In my book, when you have a church with a balcony to shoot from, an image like this is just about mandatory.

(4) When you see a "signature" image, you'll know it. Signature images deserve to be in their own spread. This image of the kiss at the altar was taken by my 2nd shooter Ning.

(5) The bride and groom fashion shoot always gets big images. Usually 1 or 2 images per spread, never more than 3. These are all signature images. In the first spread below, you'll notice that the two images are adjacent to each other with no gap, while in the 2nd image there is a gap between them. That's because the dark sculpture on the right edge of the left image has enough contrast between it and the other image to make a gap unnecessary, while in the bottom image you can see that it would be messy to have the two images adjacent without a gap.

(6) This shot of the girls deserved its own spread as well. I'm always careful to make sure the center seam does not go through the middle of anyone's head.

(7) I usually put details in a collage. Each individual detail is not important enough to deserve a large image on its own, so I often put 8 or more detail images in a single spread. I usually size the images the same and place them in a symmetrical layout. I always lay out my spreads using a white background. I've seen many albums with black backgrounds, and I think that images just pop out more nicely on a white background. It also feels more uplifting than black.

(8) I usually place 3 or more images per spread for receptions. Significant images like the cake cutting are placed within other candid images that tell the story of the day. I select images that show emotion, energy or fun.

(9) I only have one rule for the closing spread: it should always be an image of the bride and groom alone together. Quite often I end up using an image from the first dance, often in bandw to remove distractions and put the focus only on the couple.

That's pretty much it. Album spreads like these will never go out of style. Clean and simple is better. And not only that, it's quicker and easier to lay out as well!

In Part 2 I'll go into detail how I lay out my spreads using Photoshop.

Laurence Kim Workshops

The phone version of these seminars last about 2 hours and cost $200. As we talk on the phone we'll be reviewing a very detailed PDF document that I'll email to you.

Can we really cover the content of an 8 hour workshop in 2 hours? Yes we can cover all of the most important topics for two reasons:

• It's only one person asking questions instead of 8. This dramatically reduces the amount of time we need.

• We obviously won't be doing the on-location exercises, which take up a large chunk of time as well.

The 2 hour time is not a hard cut-off. If at the 2 hour point you still have more questions we can keep going for a while.

As a reminder, here's the brief agenda for the two workshops:

"Location Lighting 101"

• working with natural light
  • getting great looking portraits in harsh sunlight
  • how and when to use window light, open shade and closed shade
• on-camera flash
  • how and when to bounce (and when not to)
  • which metering modes to use
• off-camera flash
  • understanding the gear your need
  • how to meter your camera and flash
• combining on-camera, off-camera and ambient light (like at a wedding reception)

"Building a Profitable Portrait Business"

• marketing: how to fill your calendar with quality shoots
• products: which products to offer
• shooting: what to shoot to get the order for the big print
• pricing: why most photographers get this wrong and how to do it right
• selling: how to conduct pre and post-shoot sales sessions - exactly what to say and when to say it

Unless my subject has unusually clear eyes and the lighting is perfect, most eyes need some retouching. Because in most situations your light will not be perfect, eyes appear darker than they really are. Some retouching and brightening will make a huge difference in the final image.

So here's how I do it:

You might remember this image of Carly. I used it for my tutorial "how I retouch". I'm going to use it again to demonstrate eye retouching. Here is the original, unretouched image.

(1) I first use the patch tool to clone out any visible veins or blotches in the eye whites. This by itself usually makes a big difference. In Carly's case, her eyes are relatively clear to begin with, so it makes just a subtle difference.

(2) Next, I open up my secret weapon, Kevin Kubota's "Eyes and Teeth Enhance" action. You can find this action here. You can do the job without the action, using a combination of dodge, burn and the selection tool. But trust me, the results are much better and faster using this action. I had the good fortune of having Kevin Kubota teach me how to use this action in person 4 years ago, and I'm passing that instruction on to you here.

(3) When you run the action, you will see that it opens up several new layers on your layers palette. Click on the "eyes brighten" layer first. A soft brush will automatically be selected for you.

(4) Use the brush to paint over the entire eye white. In this closeup you can see that I've just started to paint the left side of this eye.

(5) Here are the eyes after I've painted over them at 100% opacity.

(6) As you can see, this is waaaay too bright, giving her that alien look. (note: I see this look on a lot of photographers' work - waaay overdone eye brightening!) Here it is after I've toned down the opacity to 50%.

(7) My next step is to desaturate the eye whites. This will remove pink/red eyes. Just click on the "desaturate" layer in your layer palette then paint over the eye whites just like you did in Step 4.

I usually leave the opacity around 75%. Why 75%? At 100% the eyes turn a bit too grey. 75% leaves a bit of the color in, giving the eyes whites a more natural look. Here are the eyes after desaturation.

(8) Now that I'm done with the whites, it's time to give a little love to the irises. The first thing I do is to click on the "darken shadows" layer.

(9) Using a small, soft brush, I paint over the outside of the iris. Don't paint the interior of the iris, just the edges. This will darken the edges and define the iris, making it pop out. I set the opacity around 50%.

(10) Now, I paint the inside of the iris using the "dodge" tool on the regular photoshop tools palette. This is to give some light onto the iris, as if it was well lighted with a close softbox.

(11) This is obviously way too much. Carly looks over-the-top evil, like a werewolf in transition! I back down the opacity here to around 35%.

That's it! So here's the "before" closeup:

And the "after" (after some sharpening as well)...

Just keep it natural. If it looks too obvious, then back off the opacity. Just remember that dull eyes make a dull portrait!

Laurence Kim Workshops

Location Lighting 101, March 20, Vancouver BC: seats available

Their website asks "remember the first time you saw HDTV"? It calls it's prints "AluminArte", and describes them as being high definition.

I decided to give them a try. Prints are offered with a high gloss, satin, or brushed satin finish. IW recommends satin for portraits, so that's what I had made.

The print was not shipped in a box, it was actually shipped in a heavy plywood crate!

It came mounted on a black-edged aluminum frame and was ready to hang.

Okay, so what's the deal? The print is very, very nice. It has good color, is reasonably sharp, and the mounting/framing is clean and modern.

However, based on the marketing hype (and the high price!) I was expecting more. While it's a nice print, it doesn't look any sharper or more vibrant than the canvas prints I get from Simply Canvas. It looks like a nicely printed Fuji luster print that I get from my regular lab. For the price (about $300 for a 16x20, including framing and shipping) I did expect more.

If you look at the sample images on their site, most of them are of very vibrant subjects like underwater images of colorful tropical fish. I think that this product would indeed make stunning high gloss prints for landscape, wildlife and architectural prints - but for portraits, I think I'll take a pass.

3.5 stars out of 5

Laurence Kim Workshops

Building a Profitable Portrait Business, Feb 27, Seattle: Sold Out!

Location Lighting 101, March 20, Vancouver BC: Seats Available

Umbrellas are a great place to start, but eventually you're going to need a softbox. Why? Because - especially when shooting indoors - you want a large light source that is directional. Shooting indoors with an umbrella, unless you're in a very large room, will result in lots of light spilling all over the place. To control the light better you'll need a softbox.

Which softbox to get? If you're shooting with speedlights, there's pretty much one softbox of choice: the Westcott Apollo.

The Westcott Apollo is a softbox that is mounted on an umbrella shaft. That's important, because it means (1) near instant setup and (2) you don't need speedrings or adapters - just mount the softbox to your umbrella clip and you're good to go.

You can find the 28" softbox here and the 16" softbox here. BandH sells them in various kit configurations, some including stands, umbrella mounts, etc. It'll be the best 100 bucks or so you've ever spent.

I have the 28" version.

I used this softbox for this quick snap of Shinji, one of my one-on-one lighting students.

These are a bit more processed than you're used to seeing from me, but I based my processing on what I believe my client was trying to achieve.

Gear for this shoot was very simple, a single 5D body and two lenses, my 35mm f1.4L and 85mm EFS 1.8. I used my Lumopro flash with a shoot-thru umbrella on maybe half the shots with just natural light on the other half.

By the way, the Canon 85mm 1.8 is a great lens. It's sharp wide open, focuses twice as fast, and is 1/4 the price of the 85mm f1.2L.

(1) 85mm, ISO 100, f1.8, 1/1250 sec, no flash. It was a very bright sunny day. This image was taken about 10:30am. I used full shade for this shot. BandW conversion was done using TRA2 "Brooklyn" action. I added grain in Photoshop using the noise filter.

(2) 85mm, ISO 100, f8, 1/200 sec, flash camera right at about 1/2 power. Even though it was late morning I was trying to simulate night with this shot. BandW conversion in Lightroom. Grain added in Photoshop.

(3) 85mm, ISO 100, f1.8, 1/1600 sec, direct backlit sun at about 11:00am, no exposure compensation, no flash, TRA2 "Lux soft" at about 50%. A tight headshot with a telephoto lens shot wide open with backlight is an easy setup to create and always looks great.

(4) 35mm, ISO 100, f11, 1/200 sec, flash w/shoot-thru umbrella camera right. I underexposed the ambient light by close to 3 stops then set the exposure on Chris by adjusting flash power. Desaturated in Lightroom. The structure behind Chris is a crane for off-loading railway cars. I took this shot lying on my back to get it in view.

Laurence Kim Workshops

"Building a Profitable Portrait Business" Feb 27, Seattle WA: 1 seat left

"Location Lighting 101" March 20, Vancouver BC: seats available