10 things to know before getting paid for your photography

What is it that makes a professional quality image? When you look at photographs what differences do you see in that gorgeous high quality photoshoot your cousin in Virginia had last April that you're still drooling over vs. your friend's mom's new photography Facebook page. (not dissing the mom-tographers here*)

We all know each photographer has a different style, but even with so many styles to choose from, it's still easy to differentiate a great quality photograph from a mediocre one.

Being paid for my photography has taught so many priceless lessons. 

The main lesson: *** LEARN EVERY DAY and charge according to what you have learned. 

If you're just starting out, okay, sure, take $300 for an 8 hour wedding day with 16 hours of editing, 3 hrs of communication, 2 hrs of research, 2 hrs of location scouting, & 2 hrs of driving for a grand total of $9.09 an hour (before taxes & your drive through lunch) 

10 things to know before getting paid for your photography: 

1. Lighting, lighting, lighting. Did I mention lighting? Simply having "light" in your photographs doesn't mean you understand lighting. Learn what styles of lighting flatter your subject and why. One year ago, if you asked me, "What's the most important aspect of photography?", I would have said, "Composition, my friend!" But over the course of the last year, I've really had the opportunity to understand why I wasn't originally getting the results I wanted. Learning lighting early on in the game of photography (not years down the road like me) will get you ahead much quicker. 
2. Proper focus. During the first 6 months *no joke* of using wide prime lenses (aka the pretty bokeh lenses) I struggled... HARD. What I struggled with was constantly getting blurry images. I would say to myself "Just keep shooting and you'll figure it out..." X, Wrong answer! The truth is I did figure it out, eventually, but that wasn't soon enough. Once I accidentally came across the focus modes in my Canon EOS 7d, the learning curve was painful, but I'm so grateful for it.
3. White Balance. Green and blue colored processing is cool (literally) but it's not always realistic to life or memories. GUILTY AS CHARGED. I am a huge fan of over processing images and making them into a dream world full of false unicorn colors. Why not?! It's fun. But I quickly realized after shooting my second wedding just 3 years ago, that the couple also needed the original colors so guess what that meant for me, re-editing 1/2 of the images all while grinding my teeth. 
4. Format, format, format. Did I mention format? Formatting your card to remove old post archived data before a photoshoot can save you so much hassle rather than sitting there in front of your client deleting old images. *raises hand* Yep, I learned this the hard and embarrassing way. Even though you may actually "delete" the images from the card, it will still fill up quickly unless you reformat. 
5. Find out the client's and your own GOALS for the photoshoot. Having a clear conversation with the client about their goals for the photoshoot and sharing your own personal goals will get you miles ahead to making them and YOU happy with the end results.
6. The dance between ISO, shutter speed & aperture. Who leads, when they lead, and why. Without going into a mumbo jumbo of camera geek jargon, just know that to be paid as a professional photographer, you should not be shooting in straight auto mode. That does not and never will give you as much freedom as manual modes with specific settings that create the look you have envisioned for your photograph. Cheers to learning! *Ding*
7. Sunset = Magic Hour. People ask all the time, I love that soft orange and yellow glowy look in xyz photo, can we do a photoshoot at 12 pm and can you edit it like this soft glowy orange and yellow photo? Yes, I can do that but no it will not look the same. To get beautiful glowy sunflares and that soft sun haze feeling, we're better off shooting during the hour of sunset. That's when the sun is at its lowest which means softer, more even lighting, and less harsh shadows on faces. 
8. Shoot RAW.  I know, it sounds like some kind of gang term, but it's not, my g-unit. Setting your images to be created in a raw format vs. the standard JPEG gives you more freedom in bringing out highlight and shadow information in the final image. 
9. Calibrate your computer screen.  Again, guilty! I made a royal mistake in the very beginning of my wedding career by editing an entire wedding on a cheap Sony Viao laptop. The colors on my laptop were presenting the images great, but as soon as I viewed them on my Mac 27" big daddy, everyone's faces were sunburnt and the brides hair looked blue. Yes, I had to fix that entire album too. It was about as fun as jumping off the diving board into a pool after a 7 year drought. So, the point is, calibrate your computer screen to make sure the colors you are seeing are the most accurate. I use and recommend ColorMunki Smile. 
10. Have FUN! While writing this list, I was afraid I'd hit a blank and run out of tips but now as I approach the last number it seems perfectly fitting to end off with the most important aspect of photography, having fun! If you're not having fun, your clients aren't having fun either. Which means they're not going to enjoy the session and they're probably going to feel the same about their final images. Photographers who can set the tone of the photoshoot by loosening up and having fun get the most realistic energy from people and, in turn, get photos that show people's true inner personalities and joy. 

Now, it's time for sleep. #thislisttookmeforevertoblog #hopeyouenjoyedit #goodnight

xo - Tasia