Pro Photo Business Forum

Is there anything more memorable then an amazing portrait of a bride and groom on their wedding day? When I look at wedding albums usually the first thing I see is great shot of the newly weds gracing page one. It sets the tone for the rest of the album and builds anticipation for what lies inside. Instantly the memories of the day will flood the minds of the viewer and chances are the bride and groom will never look this good in a photograph again. It’s a huge responsibility to be sure, but one I always look forward to and strive to improve on with each and every wedding I shoot. 

With that in mind we as photographers can’t afford to take such images for granted, we couldn’t allow ourselves to just show up and hope for the best. What to do? If you’re like me you spend countless hours searching the websites of other photographers, or maybe you’ve subscribed to a few wedding photographers blogs via RSS. Or, maybe your regularly thumb through the pages of Grace Ormond, The Knot, or some other wedding magazines. It’s a great way to get ideas and see developing trends from people in the business. It’s called cognitive stimulation, and there are many hidden benefits to this activity.

Stimulating your cognitive senses is like visual Viagra for the photographer and when put to good use can be just as satisfying in an artistic sense. Several things happen when you feed on a well balanced diet of visual input. First you are making constant deposits in the bank account of your sensory perception – basically your feeding the artist within. Images you like stay with you and are there to withdraw when you need them. As an example, many times I have found myself walking through a venue looking for visual cues for dramatic photographs, an archway, a chandelier, a row of columns, whatever. Unfortunately not every venue has such architectural characteristics and this can leave you feeling somewhat disheartened. However, there may be things that you may not have thought of before, ways of shooting that may not have crossed your mind, or you simply have not used. However, when you have a large amount of images stored away in your cognitive bank account you may remember seeing a similar setting that when lit correctly looked amazing. Believe it or not, those images will pop back into your mind when you need them.

I had recently viewed a blog post by Jasmine Star, wherein she blogged about inspiration. She had posted a photograph of the wall behind her desk that was littered with images, some wedding, some fashion. Were they images of her best work staring her in the face every day as a constant reminder of how good she had become? Nope. Were they their for her clients to see how many magazines she had been published in? Nope, nope… The images on her wall were the works of other photographers she admired and wanted to emulate, the direction she wanted her imagery to head in. Each day that she sees those images the more likely they will be locked away in her mind for future reference. A cognitive billboard on the roadway of her creative process.

Now if you’re thinking that you need to develop your own style or be true to yourself, an original photographer who works are solely your own, don’t give up on this idea. Why not? I’ll tell you a brief story and then you decide if this is for you or not. Way back in 1993-94 when I had decided to renew my love affair with photography I enrolled in a couple of photography classes at the local college. My instructor encouraged us to show him our best work, so I took him up on the offer and brought in an album of what I considered to be my best work. He flipped through the pages of the album much like Jack Nicholson when he was portraying the Joker in the movie Batman. As he thumbed through Vicki Veils portfolio all you could hear him say was crap! While Lee didn’t verbalize that particular term, his saying, “All I’m seeing a bunch of family pictures and a few dime a dozen-landscape shots” was just his polite way of saying crap! He didn’t have much else to say but he did take us to the library and dropped a bunch of photography books on the table. “Look through these.” he said. “This is art.” There were allot of books, far more then you could look through in the hour or so that we had to do it. So I made it a point to visit the library before every class and spend an hour really devouring the imagery of such great photographers. One day I came across a book that included landscape photography and it got me to thinking. “What if I tried to take pictures like these guys?”

Not long after, I subscribed to a few landscape photography magazines to feed the starving cognitive child that had been borne within the confines of the right side of my brain. I began to cut out the pictures I liked and paste them in a folder that I would take with me when I went out to shoot. When I saw a scene that looked like the ones in the folder I would try to shoot it in the same way that those images had been done. Before long I was able to recognize the visual cues in the landscape and how to arrange them in a way that was artistically pleasing. This process went on until I no longer needed to rely on other photographs. Before I knew it I was relying on previous experience and the ability to pre-visualize the image in my head.

A few years later I had entered an image I had taken at Canyonlands National Park called “Days End – Candlestick Tower Overlook”, (google it, it’s all over the net) in the local art museums annual art show. To my surprise the image won the LMAC Award. It’s like winning an Oscar in the photo community of the Antelope Valley. My photo teacher was the only other photographer that had ever won that award. Now here was the student beating out the teacher, and for me the circle was complete.

Interestingly my photo teacher had once said to me that you will need to shoot 100,000 images before you will develop your own style. This is so because no one is a natural born photographer. Think about it, have you ever heard of a child photography protégé? I never have.  This is because photography is a learned medium that takes time to develop. This isn’t to say that you can’t be born with a pre-disposition to be a great photographer, but there are so many technical and aesthetical properties involved that the ability to create amazing images with a camera is a learned skill. Learning by proxy is one way to get on the fast track to developing your own unique vision of the world and allowing your style to emerge.

The other aspect of photography that you are going to have to learn before your style will be allowed to blossom is the nuts and bolts behind every image. You need to learn your gear, and acquire the tools to make it happen. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get by without them, but they sure make the job easier and nine times out of ten better.

The first image is a perfect example of having the right tools. After the ceremony and formal shots were done the bride and groom wanted to get some shots alone on the beach. No problem right? Wrong… The sun had set and it was getting dark. I needed a few things to be able to get a usable image for my clients. First I needed to introduce an artificial light source to illuminate my subjects. Second I needed a way to trigger that light source. And third I needed an assistant to make adjustments and hold the light source. Take away any of these tools and no image, no usable image anyways.

The process of this image had begun long before the day of the shoot. Having and knowing how to use those tools is essential, after all do you really want to be learning how to use your wireless flash setup on paying customers? From previous experience I know that the camera manufacturer’s IR triggering system wouldn’t work at this distance, so I used a set of radio slaves. Having an assistant who knows how to adjust your strobe is definitely a lifesaver. A little training and practice ahead of time is all that’s required.

When I had booked this event the bride had informed we before hand that she definitely wanted images taken by the ocean. Being new to the area I had never been to Galveston before so this required a little homework on my part. Simple stuff like how far was the beach from the venue, what time of day, how much time would I need to schedule in between the days events.

Although I had never been to the Galvez, the other two images were the products of pre-visualization. As I walked into the lobby of the hotel I instantly recognized several areas that I could use to create some dramatic portraits with the right lighting. This was a direct result of the cognitive bank account I mentioned earlier. Once I saw them I could see other images that I had locked away of similar settings and I could see how to use those setting to achieve a similar result but in my own unique style.

So if creating dramatic, romantic, wedding day imagery is your goal, remember to feed the artist within a steady diet of the work of those you admire and get familiar with the tools you have at your disposal. 

Houston Wedding and Portrait Photographer - Scott Villalobos www.rsvpstudios.com

Welcome to the first of an ongoing series of articles about albums for the professional photographer. In this article we will examine the album as a professional value added product. Not just being a material object, the album is another way for your client to have an emotional re-connection to his or her event or moment. Sure, photos will be framed and hung on the wall and there may be a DVD; but unlike these, the album is a treasure to be viewed at one’s own pace. The experience will be an amazing and visceral time. The reason for this impact is that an album is an emotional, artistic and unique platform for photo presentation. It will become a family treasure, a keepsake allowing your client the ability to relive the moment in a stylish and personal way. Most importantly, your client has the ability to bring it anywhere he or she goes. This is what we call mobile marketing.

These are your images that your client will be showing off to everyone she or he knows. With your studio logo and contact info placed strategically into the design on the last page, your work will receive attention and be known as yours by your client’s family, friends and acquaintances. This is a key feature and benefit of adding an album to any package or making it a hot item that your client cannot ignore. An album also allows all kinds of different marketing purposes by getting it to your vendors and by displaying it in the studio so it will highlight and showcase your business and your best images. Beyond marketing purposes, an album is another avenue for studio branding. With an album, you get another chance to show off your style to your potential and current clients. So by adding an album to your current package you are increasing the importance to your package and increasing your earning potential. By offering an album, in a package or a la carte, you are offering another product that helps you, as a professional photographer, stand above all the amateurs and prosumers trying to undercut your business. This is especially true when you offer an album product from a professional album company like Forbeyon.

Through product differentiation, an album is an exciting and unique value added product that allows your client another way to view his or her pictures and reconnect with his or her event or moment. The album is also a professional product that increases your earning potential, differentiates you from the prosumer market, heightens your studio branding, lets you stand out from the other photographers and can be your strongest marketing tool. See your studio take off in this changing economy by adding this wonderful product into your product and service lineup. Next time we will be talking about image selection and how it relates back to the album as a professional value added product.

Jay Michael Stevens
Forbeyon's Customer Care Manager
Forbeyon is the photographer's sole album destination
Find us at:
website: www.forbeyon.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/Forbeyon
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forbeyon-Inc/92723162750

So you’ve hired a logo designer, bought a .com – what’s next? While I don’t recommend those things being your first call to action in starting your “business” – determining what business designation you choose is a very important first step. There’s no magic answer here. Everyone’s situation and where they operate their business can impact the choice they make. Ultimately, it is a balancing act of the tax and legal benefits against your cost of maintaining and incorporating your business.

Sole Proprietor – DBA (Doing Business As) – most photography businesses are established as sole proprietors. In fact I’m still operating as a DBA (but not for much longer). It’s cheap and easy. A trip to the courthouse to file your DBA will cost you no more than a tank of gas. Take a copy to the bank, and they’ll set up your business account. In some states – you have to have a license that must be renewed yearly, so always inquire. You attached a Schedule C to your annual 1040 tax return to report income, and you do this using your social security number as your business identifier – as it’s not necessary to get an EIN. The obvious disadvantage of a sole proprietorship is that you have personal liability for all debts and obligations of the business. With a sole proprietor there is no distinction between you and your business.

LLC (Limited Liability Company) is not a corporation because it does not issue shares, the laws vary state to state if there needs to be more than one owner, and some states do not have the LLC as an option. An LLC, like an S-Corp – sets up a different identity between you and the business. In the event that the business is sued or goes under – your personal assets are not at stake. An LLC however, does not need it’s own tax return. Income is still stated via your personal return under Schedule C. The cost of maintaining an LLC varies state to state, but using Texas as an example – you have to maintain a registered agent or else you will default with the state. A registered agent, simply acts as an intermediary between the LLC and the State. You have to pay the registered agent a fee for this service and maintain it yearly. In addition to that, as a LLC you become liable for Franchise or State Taxes.

An S corporation or S-Corp, for US federal tax purposes, is a corporation that makes a valid election to be taxed under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. Unlike a regular C corporation, an S corporation generally pays no corporate income taxes on its profits. The most important distinction between and LLC and and S-Corp, is after you pay yourself a wage, the profit left over will be deemed a distribution. This distribution will be subject to income tax – but not subject to the extra 9% self-employment tax. While there are tax savings there, let’s not forget that the cost of maintaining an S-corp will result in higher CPA fees, as well as the additional state taxation of the corporation. Generally, you should be earning enough profit to justify the additional cost – but that is not a requirement. You can have an S-Corp that dosen’t make any money. But it’s just not practical.

Mistakes are costly, and can take quite a long time to correct. So always rely on professional legal and accounting advice before making your decision on forum advice. This serves only as a quick explanation so you are somewhat versed in business entities when you meet with your professional advisor.

As my photography business increases and because I’ve set up several brands – my need to incorporate into an LLC has never been greater. Later next month I will be transferring my DBA into and LLC. I’ll use this blog as an educational journey to show you the steps I made to get me there.

Next time- Numbers: Sales Tax ID, EIN, NAICS – What they are and how to get them.

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Houston Wedding and Portrait photographer, Michaelle Janet has transitioned from corporate accounting to working artist and business owner. She is here to help members of PPBF with their accounting questions, but always advises to check with a trusted accounting professional in your area as laws vary in every state.

PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A COMMODITY
by Bryan Lindsey
BCL Photography

A commodity is something that can be obtained from several sources, and as a result, no single seller can control the price. The quality of products is either similar or identical from seller to seller.

It used to be that there were limited products that could be sold as commodities. Groceries, gasoline, anything in town where there was more than one seller of the product (and where there was little variation between the quality of the products from different sellers). The Internet has changed that. Now, via ebay, Amazon, Nextag, and hundreds of other sites, we can compare prices around the world for the exact same product in different locations. The Internet has made products like digital cameras, designer clothing, and automobiles into commodities – we can easily compare similar/identical products from multiple sellers.

Photography is not a commodity. The ‘quality’ of photography varies from person to person, and this makes it difficult to compare photographers and make a decision on who to hire. A person may choose to take the commodity approach to photography – solicit quotes from multiple photographers and then choose the lowest one. This person has every right to do that, it is their choice to make, and sometimes budgets are very tight. Just realize that in the photography business, you get what you pay for. Bargain hunting is not clear cut and limited to price, a photography ‘bargain’ involves getting RELATIVELY high quality at a RELATIVELY low price. If you can help the potential client to understand this, you may have a better shot at closing the sale.

So in conclusion, it would be great if we were able to compare apples to apples when comparing photographers. The decision is a little more complicated when we consider that photography is not a commodity.

Join The Pro Photo Business Forum.

Bryan Lindsey
BCL Photography
Houston Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Oh how I admire the life of the amateur photographer, carefree and skipping about through vast fields of wildflowers (quite literally myself four years ago) looking for the most magical light on the most magical poppy on the most magical day. You know what I’m talking about, the good old days when the only thing you had to worry about was in which order you would frame your favorite prints and hang them down the hall so that you could listen to your friends sing your accolades and ask in wonderment how you ever captured such a moment with your new 300 mega pixel, state of the art, “yeah I spent my whole tax return on it and part of my kids college money too”, digital camera. 

Oh for the good old days of not so long ago. But then something happened, something both wonderful and yet terrifying in the same breath. Those accolades from your friends seeped deep down into your being and you decided to scratch the itch and turn pro. What’s worse, you decided you would turn your passion into your business. Oh don’t worry, your not alone, infact you’re in very good company. Yet for the many who have come before you, being in business for themselves is like being on an alien planet with out oxygen. You’re totally excited to be there but you have no idea how you’re going to survive once you finish holding your breath.

The first step in learning to survive in the business of photography, whether it is portrait, wedding, stock, whatever, is to learn how to be in business period. You have to learn how to breath a different kind of air, and by the way, all that passion you have for creating amazing imagery won’t help you here. You’ll have to change your mindset from photographer to business owner and gain an understanding of all the facets that are involved. You know, those warm fuzzy little things like accounting, marketing, advertising, being an employer, customer service, financial planning, etc, etc…

Did I lose you? Don’t go back to your day job yet. There are resources out there to help you succeed, and the best part is you can tap into many of these for free. We’ll maybe not free, but on the cheap anyways. For example, I photograph competition cheerleaders and sell them various packages with different products. To deliver these products I needed to purchase packaging. This I did through a company called American Retail Supply. Even though I didn’t solicit it, I started receiving emails from the company owner about running a successful business. He would share many insights of his own and of his customers. Many times there were tidbits of info that I found useful for starting and running my business.

Another resource I came across was joining the PPA. While the membership isn’t free, it did come with a one-year subscription to “Professional Photographer” magazine. Now I’m not one to read a lot of magazines but I do find myself reading 75% of it’s content, also I find myself reading it more then once. Joining the PPA doesn’t only provide you with a magazine subscription though; it provides many services to its members to help them succeed in the business of photography. I was strongly urged by a friend to join (I won’t mention any names but Krista you know who you are) and I strongly urge you to join as well. You won’t regret it, and if money is a problem, they will take monthly payments to ease your financial pain and that’s a relief when you’ve quit your day job for your dream job.

And since were speaking of our dream job, if it starts turning into a nightmare the PPA offers a service known as SMS. Studio Management Services (SMS) is a unique PPA program where each studio is teamed with an experienced business mentor and a PPA staff accountant. Together, they will evaluate your business, work closely with you to develop your plan, and provide valuable financial and marketing support. Support service options range from a one-time consultation to ongoing quarterly or monthly plans and hourly bookkeeping services.

There really are too many benifits to list in this short space so I’m just gonna post a link to the benifits page on the PPA website so make sure you check it out here: http://www.ppa.com/benefits/details-nonmembers.php

Other venues for gaining info on being in the business are on forums such as this one where for a small monthly fee you will be exposed and able to access people in the business. You are encouraged to ask questions, I’ve never met a photographer who didn’t like to talk about his business. (Be careful what you wish for though, some of them won’t shut up. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody, I’m just saying.)  

Next, for those of you who like to read there is a seemingly unending supply of books about how to be in the business of photography available at your local bookstore. Many will be specific to your genre of photography while others will be more generalized. Whatever you’re looking for I guarantee you somebody has or is in the process of writting a book about it. One book that I found helpful was “Business & Legal Forms for Photographers” by Tad Crawford. If you’re just starting out this may be just the thing you need as it contains all kinds of forms from image licensing to wedding photography contracts and more. It even comes with a CD of the forms in Word format so you can simply add your info to the form without having to retype the whole thing.

Something Keith Lee, the owner of American Retail Supply, really makes clear in his emails is that to be successful you need to think of yourself not as someone in the business of whatever your business is, but as someone in the business of marketing the business your in. What does that translate to? I use myself as an example. I’m a professional wedding and portrait photographer, but I’m in the business of marketing my wedding and portrait photography. There is a whole lot more that needs to be said about this topic so stay tuned.

PS, for those of you who care to know about the portrait above. This was taken on the wedding day about twenty minutes before the ceremony. If you look at the picture hanging on the wall behind Lauren you will notice that it’s a woman in a beautiful dress much like a wedding dress. I saw this and the lights went on in my head so I thought this would be a perfect chance for life to imitate art. This really was a no brainer, no special lighting other then the table lamp and a little creative dodging and burning in Lightroom and Photoshop. I’ll be posting the wedding highlights on my blog this week if your interested. Just click on the picture to get there.

Next time: “The Business of Marketing Your Business”

Houston Wedding Photographer – Scott Villalobos –  RSVP Studios

Turning Your Wedding Imagery Into Art | The Dramatic First Dance

Through out the wedding day there are certain milestones that must be documented without fail, without deviance, without a doubt. These are the shots that you must perfect, nail down, secure, capture, whatever it takes just get them and everything else is icing on your wedding cake. Why are they so important? Because as a wedding photographer you are there to tell the story of the wedding day. If you miss these images you not only leave your clients story incomplete, but also you can bet your going to have an upset bride, or worse yet an upset MOB. You pick your poison, but I’d rather walk around the mountain if it means avoiding the bite of the Black Mamba.

What does this have to due with turning your wedding imagery into art you ask? Well when you know that you have certain images that you take at every wedding shouldn’t you have developed a certain style? Shouldn’t you have a particular set up? And if you do have a set up you use each and every time, are you happy with it? Could it use some refining? The truth is if your not pushing yourself how will you improve or perfect? We’ve all heard the old saying that, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Really all this is just a cop out to not push yourself to the next level. If this has been your motto, perhaps you could look at it from a different perspective. Maybe something like, “It ain’t broke, but how could I polish it?”

One area of my wedding photography that has evolved over the years is the way I approach the first dance. This isn’t to say that facial expression; eye contact or tears in the eyes are irrelevant, not at all. But wouldn’t it be great to capture those dramatic moments in dramatic lighting? After all, lighting is everything. Don’t believe me try photographing without it. The problem in creating dramatic light for the first dance is often time the venue’s lighting isn’t. Many times the venue’s lighting is quite flat or even worse, fluorescent. But lets just say that you’re shooting in a nice venue with decent lighting, beautiful chandeliers hanging all around as in the photo above. In this case one of the most effective ways I know to create dramatic lighting is to backlight.

Back lighting or lighting your subject from behind can do a few things, some good, some not so good, but when done properly it’s some of the most beautiful lighting I’ve seen. It’s dramatic, it’s colorful, it can create beautiful lens flare or horrible lens flare, and it creates long dramatic shadows across the dance floor and these shadows lead the viewer’s eyes to the subject. Backlighting can be accomplished using one light or several.

Exposure is key when it comes to back lighting. While silhouettes are nice, I like to see some detail in the faces of my bride and groom. To accomplish this you need to balance your strobe with the ambient light, or you can use a second on camera strobe dialed down as fill. But for now lets stick to a one light setup.

Controlling your lighting using one strobe. This is pretty easy, if you’ve done a few weddings you will find that you have particular settings that your always using during the reception or at least within a narrow range of those settings. I’ve found for the most part that I’m shooting at an ISO of around 1200 to 2000 with an aperture of F2.8 to F5.6 for nighttime receptions. My shutter speed will vary from 1/10^th sec to 1/60^th depending on the available light and the look I’m after. The beauty of this is that once you have your basic settings you will be able to control your fill simply by adjusting your shutter speed, while your strobe will remain constant as long as you don’t adjust your ISO or aperture.

You will hear a lot about modern strobes being TTL, ETTL, or I-TTL. My experience has shown these automated “SMART” settings to be unreliable at best and detrimental to creative lighting. The solution I use is to shoot in manual, always. The perks for this is longer battery life because I’ve set my strobe to either 1/8 or 1/16 power and sometimes even to 1/32. I know with these settings my strobes will last 3 to 4 hours on a single set of rechargeables.

Position is key and slight adjustments to positioning will yield quite different results.  You will find yourself constantly moving, twisting, stretching or bobbing to get just the right angle and height for an effective backlit image. In the image above I positioned my strobe directly behind the couple at seven feet high. This meant that I had to squat down slightly to block the light source behind the head of the bride. I wanted the light to be as close too visible as possible without showing. This would ensure the most amount of rim light around hers and the groom’s heads. My ambient light was underexposed about 1 ½ to 2 stops so that I would have detail but not silhouette. What you don’t see is my assistant holding the light, but you don’t need an assistant to pull this off, a light stand placed strategically will suffice, but using an assistant that knows by hand signals where to be is invaluable and if needed they can make adjustments to your power out put without interrupting your work flow.

Remember, backlighting isn’t the only trick in your bag, but for the first dance it sure is a crowd pleaser.

Tech Data: Canon EOS 5D, 17-35 2.8L, Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, ISO 1250, 1/50 @ f-3.5, Canon 580 EX II off camera set on manual @ 1/16^th power.

Next Time: Taking Your Wedding Imagery to the Next Level – “Romantic Portraits”

Houston Wedding and Portrait Photographer - Scott Villalobos www.rsvpstudios.com

With the power of today’s smartphones, we can conduct business from nearly anywhere with cell service. We can have our client database at our fingertips, our calendar available at all times, and our portfolio in our pockets. In the photo industry, potential clients don’t always come from 9-5, Monday through Friday. A smartphone like the iPhone allows us to stay in contact with other clients whenever we want, providing us with more opportunities to win new clients by spending less time in the office. While many of my tips and recommendations will focus on the iPhone, by far the most full-featured smartphone out there, a lot of the suggestions apply to other smartphones or even the bare bones freebie phones.

Portfolio

When the iPhone first came out, photographers drooled over its high-resolution glass display and the elegant photo

application that came with it. And still, showing off a portfolio remains one of the most popular uses of the iPhone for photographers. Your iPhone travels everywhere with you, so therefore so does your portfolio. Having a high quality mobile portfolio means you can win over clients in the field. The great thing about this is that you don’t have to have an iPhone. An iPod Touch will work just as well. If the local iPhone provider has bad service in your area or you are bound to an existing cell carrier, you can still carry around a stunning portfolio everywhere you go.

Personal Information Management with Daylite

Even though your iPhone can play movies and games and do all kinds of other great things, one of the most important uses of your phone is storing your contacts, appointments, and more. That’s where Daylite, from Marketcircle comes in. Daylite is a companion to a Mac-only application which handles virtually all of the informational needs of your business, minus accounting and invoicing (which Daylite partners with another company to provide). Unless the basic address books, calendar, and to-do list, Daylite features powerful Opportunity/Project and linking features which allow you to keep your information organized. All information in Daylite can be linked together. An appointment can be linked to a project or contact, one contact to another as referrer, referee, or any other relationship, and much more. All these features make it easy to keep your clients’ files together without having to resort to paper folders and oversized filing cabinets.

Daylite’s Opportunities feature allows you to store potential jobs, as well as link all kinds of data including email messages, appointments, phone calls, and more to that opportunity. When you book a client, you can easily convert that opportunity into a project, which functions similarly. Daylite has a myriad of advanced features including reporting, integration with MYOB AccountEdge and other accounting applications, and multiple users. It is an expandable solution which can be easily customized to fit any Mac-based studio’s needs. The desktop application starts at $189/user, but the real power begins with the iPhone application.

Daylite Touch is Marketcircle’s iPhone application which allows users to take their Daylite data on the road. Daylite Touch was created exclusively for use with the companion desktop application, and can be synced over the internet from anywhere with a 3G, Edge, or WiFi connection, not just from your local network. The iPhone app gives users the ability to view and modify virtually all the data stored within Daylite. From creating new opportunities when you speak with a potential client on the road to adding new tasks and linking them to their respective projects, Daylite Touch does it all.

Daylite Touch also adds some great little features, which while small, are invaluable when working from out of the office. When using the application, you can quickly dial a contact from your Daylite address book. The contact will be called using your phone, but the real power shows up after the call is done. Once you hang up, Daylite is immediately relaunched with a small window showing the duration of the call, and giving you two options: log, or schedule a followup. Daylite can automatically log the call, link it to the contact or project, and if you want, schedule a followup call for the future. I can’t begin to describe how helpful this is. No more searching through your recent calls to see if you gave a client a call the other day. With Daylite Touch, all your client’s information is available anywhere, on your iPhone. Daylite Touch is free on the App Store, but does require a $49/yr license to be added to your main Daylite server on your Mac.

Phone Call Management with Google Voice

Google Voice is a free service from Google which gives you a local phone number which can ring any phones you choose. I use Google Voice to manage my phones; with Google Voice I can answer a phone call in my office, transfer it to my iPhone, and walk outside without skipping a beat. The best part is: it works with any phone, landline or mobile. Google Voice offers advanced features which can be configured to do all kinds of great things. For example, it allows you to create different groups of contacts, and then have different settings including voicemail message and more for that group. With Google Voice, you can take your phone on vacation and set all calls to go straight to voicemail except your two important clients that you need to speak to. When they call, your phone will ring. You can even do things like set your office phone and your cell to ring during weekdays, but only your cell on weekends, but only between 10AM and 5PM. Google Voice is currently invite only. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to get an invite when Google Voice went public. Google has just announced that it will begin allowing current users to send out invites. As soon as I have some invites to give away, I’ll be happy to share the love with anyone who comments and requests one.

Camera

It’s kind of ironic that out of all the things the iPhone can do, its great camera is mentioned last in an article aimed at photographers. The iPhone camera has come a long way, and in the latest 3GS model, has autofocus, great touch controls, and excellent automatic exposure and color. The iPhone does not offer up manual controls for the camera, so you’ll have to use an app to make the most of the photos after you’ve taken them. And that app is The Best Camera, from famous commercial photographer Chase Jarvis. Best Camera allows you to go through the whole process, from taking the photo, to adding effects, to uploading the image to Twitter, Facebook or other sites. The Best Camera is $2.99 on the App Store. A great camera in a phone is nice and all, but how can you use it to help your business?

Well, you could replace your brand new D3s with an iPhone 3GS and shoot weddings with it, although I can’t see that going over too well with the bride and groom. But that doesn’t mean you can’t shoot iPhone photos at events and use them to personalize your client’s experience. Clients appreciate a quick iPhone snap from an assistant that’s sitting in their inbox when they get home. Even if you have memory cards full of better images, they’ll love the personal touch.

iPhones are also amazing location scouting tools. The iPhone tags each photo with GPS coordinates, allowing you to scout a location, download the photos to your computer, and import them using special software which can overlay them on a map. I’m planning an extended shoot in New York City soon. Even though I did the scouting months ago, the locations are still fresh in my mind since I can pull up Google Earth and see all my photos pinned onto a map of Manhattan. While an iPhone won’t be replacing my dSLR soon, it certainly has an important place in my camera bag.

If I had to pick one piece of technology out of all of the electronic devices I have, it would surely be my iPhone. But this isn’t an ad for the iPhone. While I firmly believe the iPhone is leaps and bounds ahead of its competition, my advice is applicable for anyone, regardless of whether they own an iPhone or not. The point is: use technology to make working outside the office a seamless experience. Whether that’s on an iPhone or not is your choice. But I still recommend it!

Ben Drucker
PPBF Contributing Writer
Maplewood Event and Portrait Photographer: Ben Drucker Photography

It’s not a matter of if, but when.  There is never a good time for your hard drive to fail, especially your primary drive that you store all your weddings on.

That’s what happened to me last week, and I didn’t lose one image.

A back up system is a must when you are a wedding photographer.  The images you create can never be recreated.  I truly feel the images I create are worth so much more than I charge for them.  So it is very important to have a rock solid backup plan.

I’d like to share with you the structure of my back up system before the crash, and how I have now changed my system after the crash.

First, we’re going to refer to this crash as “The Big Crash of 09”.  It was quite scary when it happened.  All of the sudden my hard drive that I store all of my wedding images on would not mount.  Even after transferring the hard drive to all the different computers in the studio, it still would not mount.  And after a call to tech support, it was quickly determined that the drive had failed.

My network of computers are all Apple, and Apple has a backup system called Time Machine which backs up all new information every hour on the hour.  It really gives you a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.  But when it comes time to retrieve that information, you have doubts as to how well the software has been working.  You begin to question if the software has been working at all.

With each wedding I photograph, I make a back up of all the images I have created to DVD.  I then edit those images down to the ones I want my customers to see, and then I back up those images to DVD.  But how do you know that you have backed everything up?  Even though my routine is very strict, you always have a nagging feeling that you may have missed something.

I was lucky this time, and everything had been saved using Time Machine onto a very large eight terabyte external drive called a Drobo.

Before the recession started, I had one person working with me in the studio, and because of this fact I had all of the studio images stored on a server for central access.  But now that I am working by myself, I find that I really am no longer in need of a server, so I have now changed my backup system, which has added one more layer of redundancy.

Attached to my primary workstation, I have now added two external one terabyte drives, and one eight terabyte Drobo.  Inside the workstation are two 500 gig drives.

So, now when I bring my exposed cards in from a wedding my routine works like this.  First, I download the images to one of the external one terabyte drives.  I then back up the raw captures onto DVD.  The second external one terabyte dive is my back up drive, and is an exact mirror of the first external one terabyte drive.  I accomplish this mirror using Carbon Copy Cloner.

As I have said, there are two internal drives as well.  One is my startup drive, and the second is a mirror of the startup drive, again using Carbon Copy Cloner.  This way, if the startup drive fails, I can still operate the computer and album production can continue while I wait for a replacement drive to be installed.

All four of these drives, the two internal 500 gig drives, and the two external one terabyte drives are all backed up ever hour onto the eight terabyte Drobo.

This then is the most solid backup system I have ever created for myself.  A double layer of redundancy.

Aric C. Hoek BFA, CPP, Author
PPBF Administrator
Join The Pro Photo Business Forum
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Houston Wedding Photographer, Aric Hoek

Most on this forum have been in business for many years, but I will start this series of articles as if you were starting from scratch. I’m sure there are newcomers here that are wondering if it is too much of a hassle to become business owner versus staying a hobbyist. This series is for you.

Unfortunately, because photography is seen as a hobby by the masses – often times many that start having paid customers continue treating it as a hobby without worrying about any legalities or industry ethics. Continuing to operate under the table for too long is a mistake that hurts the profession and how the general public views our craft.

Before heading into why you should legitimize your business for legal purposes – let’s start by discussing how it hurts  fellow photographers. Operating your business by not collecting or paying state sales and use tax, as well as not reporting the extra income to the IRS hurts other photographers by driving the perceived value of the profession down. A hobbyist that charges will most likely charge a low amount for his talent because his overhead is next to nothing. Whereas an established photographer – regardless of full-time or part-time status, will have fixed overhead costs that must be factored into their pricing. While it may seem capitalistic to undercut your competition in the beginning, in the long run – the low prices that the hobbyist charges will be harder to sustain.

So when exactly do you stop being a hobbyist and start being a photographer in business? Around the time that you stop keeping your artwork to yourself and begin sharing it online; in an effort to look for opportunities to have people want your photography for themselves. You don’t even have to be getting paid yet; and yes you can still be part-time. The IRS calls a hobby a “not-for-profit activity.” They point to 8 things that show you are in business:

• Do you carry out the activity in a business like manner
• How much time and effort do you devote to the activity
• Do you have expertise in the activity
• Are the losses due to circumstances beyond your control
• Have you tried to increase the profitability of the activity by changing your methods of operation
• Do you depend on income from the activity for your livelihood
• Have you made a profit on similar activities in the past
• Does the activity involve considerable work that could not be considered “pleasurable”

One quick justification that new photographers tell themselves is that they are part-time only, so it is not a “real” business. It could not be further from the truth. Just because your office hours are unique does not mean you are not earning revenue or paying out expenses. Gross income, as defined by the IRS includes “money received from whatever source derived”. Not just what’s on your W-2.

Another reason that people do not formalize their business – in our industry or in others, is because they feel like their operation is so small they would never be caught being a cash business. This of course is not true. If you are flagged for an audit, the IRS will research your bank accounts and ask you to explain all the cash and check deposits over the course of the year.

There are immediate tax benefits to being a business owner. Only businesses can deduct losses from their income. If the IRS decides you are a hobbyist it will take away the business losses. Of course, this does not mean you can use this business as a tax shelter either. If you show a business loss year after year, this will raise suspicions with the IRS.

Let’s keep this conversation going. Comment about when you knew it was time to “be in business” and stop calling yourself a hobbyist.

Next time: The toughest first question: Sole Proprietor, LLC, or S Corp?

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Houston Wedding and Portrait photographer, Michaelle Janet has transitioned from corporate accounting to working artist and business owner. She is here to help members of PPBF with their accounting questions, but always advises to check with a trusted accounting professional in your area as laws vary in every state.

If this is your first ime here, then welcome! I’m so proud of this site and its members!

My name is Aric Hoek, and I have been a professional photographer all my life. 100% of my income has been, and always will be from photography. I’m the host of The Pro Photo Business Forum.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love talking about the business of wedding photography to just about anyone that will listen, so the creation of the Pro Photo Business Forum was a very natural progression for me.

You’re either the type of person that likes to hang out in forums, or you aren’t. There isn’t much in between. If you like forums, then you are going to notice one fundamental difference when you visit the home page of the Pro Photo Business Forum. The difference you see is in what’s NOT there. You don’t see a listing of recent posts. You don’t see forum statistics. You don’t see a listing of members. You don’t see calendars.

What you do see is information that can help photographers, which is what this community is all about. What you do see is a blog, created by the members of the forum. And we’re not just talking about how to take great photographs, but we are talking about the things that really matter to professional photographers. We’re talking about the business of photography.  We’re talking about the bottom line.

Would you like to join us? Would you like to contribute to our blog as a PPBF Contributing Writer?

We’re looking for experienced photographers to help contribute to our new experiment. In return for two scheduled blog entries a month, PPBF Contributing Writers receive the following:

1. Free access to the Pro Photo Business Forum.
2. Recognition on the PPBF homepage.
3. A link to your homepage from the PPBF homepage.
4. A link to your homepage in the signature of your articles.
5. Access to a privte staff forum on the PPBF.
6. Profile page with a listing of all your articles.

Contact us today if you are interested in filling the a position. Currently we have five contributing writers. My goal is an ambitious fifteen. With fifteen Contributing Writers, each writing two articles, the blog will have fresh information for it’s readers every day of the month!

Come and join the ride! Contact us today!

You’ll never be the same. You’ll be better!

Aric C. Hoek BFA, CPP, Author
PPBF Administrator
Join The Pro Photo Business Forum
Educational eBooks by Aric
Houston Wedding Photographer, Aric Hoek