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Freaking Out In Slow Season? Build Your Photography Business:

Published

on November 13, 2008

in Canon, Gavin Seim, Nature, PPS Photography Tips, Portrait, ProPhotoShow, Software and Weddings

. 0 Comments

building-photography-business Freaking Out In Slow Season? Build Your Photography Business: by Gavin Seim — With winter coming on, as well as an economic downturn (at least in the USA), you may find yourself looking at the numbers in horror. OK maybe I’m going too far, but I have seen people chatting about grabbing new work their schedule. I am blessed, and while I’m booking weddings well into next year, I still need more on my calender.

I’m going to keep this short and list six tips to help bring in bookings. I also found a nice article by Sean Clayton about this very thing.

I’m not the chief authority however. What works can vary greatly by your situation. What are you doing in your market to drum up photography business? Share your tips. There’s rarely a magic bullet, but we know business is hard work. Share your ideas in the comments.

1. Send a newsletter:
I collect email addresses of clients, and people who sign up at weddings and events. Then I send an occasional newsletter. I’m about to send my fall edition to over 800 emails as a way to get past and future clients thinking about my work. If you want to see mine, you can sign up on my photo site. Sending a newsletter is a great way to put your business in front of many eye’s for a low cost. It does take time to build your list, but it’s worth it. Just don’t email too often, and don’t buy lists of emails or you’ll be marked a spammer for sure.
2. Send Images to Venue’s:
Sending out prints with your logo or name on them is a great way to make venues remember you. It’s also a great way to use that extra time during the slow season. This year I plan to send a simple venue packet with a letter, some free images taken at their venue, and plenty of business cards.They’ll appreciate the free images, and you may well get some free advertising, and that’s the best kind.

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Be A Better Photographer In 90 Seconds: One Line Tips

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on September 26, 2008

in Gavin Seim, Nature, PPS Photography Tips, Portrait, ProPhotoShow and Weddings

. 2 Comments

I get email from photographers asking me to look at their photography, and give my thoughts. In ten seconds I can usually tell them how to improve it. Other pro’s can see things in my photo’s as well. There’s nearly always something we can improve, no matter the experienced we have.

Many rules are universal to any photographer, of any style, any experience level. Of course rules are made to be broken, but we all need inspiration and reminders. These are things that I try to remember in my own work, and I’ve spend the past week compiling them. Share yours in the comments, then post some of your work in the forums and get some personal feedback. OK let’s go…

Omit needless objects:
Simplicity is at the heart of great images:
Bold colors make bold photographs:
If a background is too cluttered, blur it:
If a background still doesn’t add to a scene dump it:
Light; Where’s it coming from? how can you leverage it?:
Don’t center everything. Use the rule of thirds. It works:
Eye’s? Watch them close. They control emotion:
Blur used right can be magical:
Keep it vivid. Watch your shutter speed, and movement:
Crop out needless space:
Harsh sunlight is usually bad:
Shadows are dramatic. Use them:
Clouds are your friend, they give shade & put you in control:
Go with your gut. Have an idea? Then try it:
If the weather is foul, it doesn’t mean pictures will be:

Images & Content By Gavin Seim

Pro Photography Roundtable 8 - PPS #48

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prophotoshow

on July 13, 2008

in Dennis Zerwas, News, Nikon, Podcasts, ProPhotoShow and RoundTable

. 27 Comments

<<Click To Listen - Photography Roundtable #8 PPS#48

Like the show? Rate us in itunes, or Vote on Podcast Alley

Todays Panel…
Gavin Seim ~ Seim Photography - Effects & Presets
Kerry Garrison ~ Camera Dojo - L7 Studios
Dennis Zerwas ~ DZ Photography

Show notes…
Episode Forum Discussion

Nikon launches the D700, the Sb900 flash, and two new lenses.

A cool article about sharpening in Photoshop

What brides and clients think of photo websites.

Is NILMDTS (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep) doing things right? (@27:10)

The Hassleblad H3d has 50mp. A nice camera.

Boda Bag. Looks interesting, but is it all that great?

Tamrac Modular Accessory Belt is what Gavin uses to carry gear during shoots. He just attaches MAS pouches to it.

Dynamic Photo HDR. A PC only HDR program that looks pretty cool.

Kerry has been reviewing out the Photo Basics Strobe Lights. from photobasics.net

Ken Rockwell has articles on setting up your camera.

Rocket Air for cleaning sensors.

Visable Dust is a popular cleaner for heavy duty cleaning.

Picks of the week.
Kerry Likes the Black Rapid R Strap.

Dennis says Phanfare is now his anti-pick because they have taken away features.
Smugmug is his new most favored one.

Gavin is excited about his MP3 Tape

HDR Portraits, Wedding & Fashion Photography 2nd Edition

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on June 18, 2008

in Gavin Seim, HDR and PPS Photography Tips

. 2 Comments

~by Gavin Seim~ Last year I wrote an article about using true HDR techniques with people. Yep, portraits, fashion, and wedding images can be utterly amazing using High Dynamic Range photography. HDR is not just reserved for nature and still life shooting. We’ve been using it at Seim Photography for over a year now! Here goes six nitty gritty tips and tricks to get you moving with HDR, and a few of my own HDR portraits to start things off.

1. What is HDR all about anyways?
First lets cover basics. If you’re already an HDR master you can skip this part. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It’s better seen that talked about, so other than the images I’ve included in this article, you can see some of my latest HDR portrait work on my HDR portraits set on Flickr. You can also check out my HDR nature work. Essentially however HDR is the combining of multiple images taken at varied exposure levels, and then blended using software like Photomatix, Photoshop, or another HDR program.

Basically this software blending allows the photographer to selectively choose how much lighting he wants in various parts of the image. You’ll have a light to dark range that’s much higher than that of a normal exposure, thus giving you a LOT more control over the finished image.

You can also check our two PPS episodes from last year, that talk all about HDR portraits in detail, and will also get you started on HDR in general… HDR Podcast Part1 & HDR Podcast Part2

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HDR Portrait, Fashion, and Wedding Photography

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on July 21, 2007

in Gavin Seim, HDR, PPS Photography Tips and ProPhotoShow

. 7 Comments

See The Updated Version June 08 - Read HDR portrait techniques version 2

Don’t start using HDR. I want to be the only one… This phrase is often pretty close to what goes thru my mind when I think about the potential of properly implemented HDR photography in todays market. So much so that I have thought of refraining from the subject and keeping the ideas to myself. My thought is this… “If nobody else is using HDR, that will make my work that much more unique” But alas that’s not what PPS is all about, and we’re here both to learn, and to help others learn, so here I go again.

In recent months I have been working to become a sort of guru of HDR. Whether I have succeeded or not will be left up to you, however I do feel that I have a strong enough knowledge of HDR techniques, and its possibilities in the portrait & wedding world to ask other photographers, and organizations What are you waiting for?

Now don’t get me wrong! HDR will boom before long, and when it does you can bet that organizations that are supposed to be leading the industry like WPPI, and PPA will be all over it. Since it’s my job to talk about the latest ideas in the photo world however I will speak on about this topic right here and now. In fact you’ll see that PPS has a special link in the nav bar just for special HDR posts, articles, and news.

What is HDR all about anyways!

You mean you don’t know yet? Well at least after today you’ll have no excuse to avoid trying it out. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It’s better seen that talked about, so other than the images I’ve included in this article you can see some of my latest HDR portrait implementation in my HDR portraits set on Flickr, as well as on my website of course . Essentially however it’s the combining of multiple images taken at varied exposure levels, and then blended using…

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