Saving the World One Pixel at a Time

When a customer or client has a good experience with your studio they tell two people. When they have a bad experience they’ll tell ten people, so the odds are not in your favor. There are lots of other of these kinds of “rules” that affect your profitability: A prospect must encounter at least 18 “impressions” of a studio before they’re converted into a billable client. 80% of the gross income of a studio is derived from 20% of its customers. If you don’t believe these rules apply to you then you’re an exception. In speaking with owners of both large and small studios, they’ve agreed that these “rules” are true for them.

How we handle client complaints is sometime more important that the quality of our photography. Bad news travels fast but word about a bad photography shoot travels at Warp 9. We all try to do a good job but on some day’s we’re Francesco Scavullo and other days we’re Frank N. Stein. Correcting problems is an important component of the eighteen “impressions” a photographer must make before a prospect becomes a client. Some of those impressions happens when you deliver photographs and the client isn’t happy? Recently, this happened to a photographer I know and here’s how it was handled:

They asked for a face-to-face meeting with the client to review the images and go over her problems with them. At that meeting, he found out what was really bothering them. The truth is that the work wasn’t bad. It wasn’t as good as a similar assignment the studio had done a year ago but was within acceptable levels of professional performance. Because this particular client spends a lot of money, they agreed to reshoot several — but not all —of the setups. They also discovered that the real reason the customer was unhappy was that they preferred working with a different photographer from the studio and that’s why it was decided that this. person would handle reshoot. This client had been a source of many referrals and my friend wanted to keep it that way. Reshooting was cheaper (out-of-pocket costs were low) than loosing a valuable client. The client was impressed that one of the studio’s owners cared enough to meet with them and work out a way to solve their problems. So what’s the big deal, you say, anyone would have done the same thing? The difference is that I would do the same thing even if a client spent very few dollars with me and has never referred an assignment.

Making impressions begins with knowing your capabilities and who you are as a photographer. When a prospective client calls me, instead of being ready to shoot any assignment regardless of whether I have the proper equipment or expertise, I’ll refer them to a photographer who can do what they need. Most callers are astonished at this and before I hang up, I remind them about my own specialties and ask when them to call me when they need those particular skills. I want to make sure that this impression has been favorable and that, over time, when they’ve accumulated the other seventeen or so impressions they’ll remember me. Movie buffs will recall this is the same kind of customer service “What! Macy’s is sending people to Gimbles” exemplified by the classic film “Miracle on 34th Street.” Every now it works the other way. No too long ago, an aerial photographer sent me one of their clients who needed some shots made on the ground.

Joe Farace is the author of “Studio Lighting Anywhere” that’s available in all the best bookstores as well as Amazon.com.

Dick Stolley who many consider to be Time-Life’s best Managing Editor once told People magazine’s photographers that a successful image elicited a “Gasp Factor” from the viewer. Stolley said  if the image stopped the reader, forced them to take a second look at it, read the story’s headline, and then perhaps the rest of the story, the photograph passed his test. Often the best photographs—those “Gasp Factor” ones—are made under less than ideal lighting conditions. These images are often made on dark cloudy stormy days, at the crack of dawn, at sunset, or in the dark of the night.

0.4 sec at f/3.5 and ISO 2000

There are few if any secrets about capturing images when light is low. The ingredients are a simple witches brew that include fast lenses, high ISO settings, and an appropriate camera support. What sets a successful image apart from a less successful one is how these ingredients are combined and what you did before the image was made. A sunset can happen rather quickly, so it’s important to have most of your work done ahead of time. Before snapping the shutter, you should already know which ISO setting and lenses you’re planning to use so that’s why it’s a good idea to scout the location and determined the best spot to place your camera. Knowing the exact time of sunset will let you be in position so that when that golden hour arrives (and quickly departs) you are free to concentrate on the proper exposure and properly framing the image.

Just as with sports cars, bullet trains, and Internet connections, being fast is great for camera lenses too. It’s much easier to take photographs in low light with an f/1.4 or f/2.0 lens than with a f/5.6 lens because it produces a bright viewfinder (or Live View image) and gives you more choices for a matching shutter speed. Lens companies don’t bury us with choices, usually selling just two or three similar lenses in the same focal length range and designed to work under normal lighting conditions. In photographic terms, “normal” means outdoors on sunny day. Out here in the real world where we all live and make photographs, “normal” lighting may be overcast weather, under the shade of trees or buildings, or in brightly lit rooms (one with skylights or maybe large and plentiful windows.) Basic zoom lenses supplied on point-and-shoot cameras and bundled with entry level SLRs have maximum apertures ranging from f/3.8 to f/4, f/4.5, and even f/5.6. Some point-and-shoots cameras only have an f/6.3 maximum aperture!

Not surprisingly, zoom lenses for SLRs come in fast or slow varieties. Many of the slower zoom lenses have a floating maximum f/stop. That means the maximum opening changes within the lens’ zoom range. A 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens is a good example. At the widest focal length of 24mm the maximum aperture is the f/3.5. As the lens is zoomed toward the telephoto end, that maximum aperture shifts to f/5.6. The downside is that fast lenses cost more and with digital SLR’s performance getting better and better at high ISO’s, is the fast lens going to go the way of the passenger pigeon? I don’t think so because; right now anyway, nothing can replace that big, bright image in the viewfinder.

Joe is the co-author of “Better Available Light Digital Photography” published by Focal Press.

TIP: Ask owners to remove any placards that are placed under their windshield (windscreen if British) wipers.

It’s getting to be car show season again: If you get to the show early and you should placards may not have already been placed under the windshield (windscreen if you’re British) wiper and the added benefit to being an early bird is that it’s also less crowded so people won’t walk into your shot. Most owners can talk for hours about their cars because there never was a restoration project that didn’t have some interesting twists and turns. While chatting ask them to also remove any show placards such as the identification cards placed on the dash or under the windshield wiper. Don’t do it yourself!  Always ask the owner before touching any part of his or her car! It’s best to have them to remove any show placards, so ask politely

You don’t have to be an expert on a particular marque or even cars in general, but you should be curious and polite when inspecting a car that might make an ideal photographic subject. If you see the owner, ask them a question. People who own interesting cars often have interesting stories to tell about their cars before it reaches the state where you would want to photograph it. If the owner is not around and the light is perfect, just shoot it as it is and try to select and angle that minimizes the placard or makes it easy to remove using Photoshop later in the digital darkroom.

This Nissan-powered hot rod (above) was photographed at the SEMA auto show in Las Vegas—with the hood up! (Sometimes you can’t always get what you want.) Exposure with a Canon EOS 5D was 1/40 sec at f/4.0 and ISO 800.

This Allard above was captured using a Canon EOS D30 that had been converted to infrared-only capture (www.lifepixel.com.) Exposure through an eBay purchased Russian 16mm f/2.8 lens was 1/160 AT F/16 and ISO 200 in Av mode.

Joe Farace is the author of a new e-book called “15 Tips for Better Car Photos” that’s available from Flatbooks.com.

Guest post by Jason Anderson

No matter where you are in your photographic path, you can always pick up nuggets of information, tips, and tricks from others.  That’s part of why it’s important to stay networked with others in your field.  I know many wedding photographers who have had conflicts and referred clients to friends.  These sorts of referrals are worth their weight in gold because it almost always comes back tenfold.  One of the best things I have gained from other photographers though, is insider tips and tricks for saving a photo, taking pictures in tricky lighting scenarios, and insights for working in other challenging circumstances.

 To that end, here are five tips I’ve found extremely helpful in my own photographic endeavors.  Enjoy!

1. Blown highlights are not necessarily a bad thing.  Convert the image to black and white, add a vignette and the photo can become quite powerful!
2. Use your on-camera flash!  We all are likely aware of the downsides of an on-camera flash.  In a pinch though, you can still use it for fill though.  Got a piece of paper (or even a cocktail napkin)?  Tuck that around the flash to diffuse and soften the light a bit, and you can get that photo you may otherwise have missed.
3. Quick Field Metering! Need to get a quick white balance measurement in the field?  Put your camera in manual focus mode and stick your hand in front.  Use that for a quick custom white balance in a pinch where a gray card isn’t available.  (Believe it or not, I actually use skin as a white balance point in Lightroom!)
4. Do’t be afraid of ISO!  Traditional wisdom has actually shifted here.  In the early stages of digital photography, ISO was always  recipe for disaster as the noise (grain) in photos would quickly render images useless.  This is no longer the case.  Canon, Nikon and the rest have made high ISO much more manageable, as have software programs when you go into post production.  So, if you need to, don’t be afraid to crank the ISO up to help capture your images!
5. Look for emotion!  This especially holds true in photo journalism, but all images can benefit from capturing the essence of human emotion.  Whether it’s a laugh, anger, crying, or the intimacy of a kiss between a bride and groom, these will almost always be in your “keeper” lists, because emotion trumps all else in photography!

Like these tips?  Visit Jason over at his website for more useful tips, tricks, articles, insights and more on how to make and take better photographs!