Photography Advice and Know-How

The following is from an e-mail I received from a friend. While it is certainly a good thing to know the current names of fraudsters, it is probably more important to know their schemes. If someone contacts you with something that sounds even remotely fishy, check that person’s references to make sure he or she is legit. An online search can also reveal much information about scammers. Please note that this is not legal advise of any kind and that I am not responsible for the following account.

I hope everyone is doing well this morning.  As you all probably know by now, when I take valuable time from you and from me to write an email, I like to share positive news or invite you to an upcoming event.  Unfortunately, this time it is to warn you about a fellow photographer.  It is in all of our best interests to watch for this guy.

 

Jessie Smalls (better known to authorities as Darien Small) is back in the D.C. area.  Feel free to google “Darien Small” and you will see countless stories about this guy, including taking downpayments for weddings and not showing up for the event, and not delivering photographs from events that were shot.  We have learned that he has recently hired several local photographers to shoot jobs and then didn’t pay them, he has “borrowed” equipment from most of these photographers and will not return it, and he has bounced checks to the people that he has attemtped to pay.  He led us, and countless others, to believe that he was an “agent” for ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  In violation of ABC’s non-disclosure agreement, he has shown footage of the future episode of Exteme Makeover to several people to gain their confidence.

 

By the way, Pilot Imaging was involved in helping ABC with a local family in Poolesville.  This episode will air on September 22 - We had a very positive experience with ABC and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition staff.  Jessie or Darien is not affiliated with ABC in any way.  Because of their efforts, people like Jessie Smalls (Darien Small) have found a way to prey on businesses that willingly give to needy causes.  He also seems to prey upon photography students. 

 

We have also been informed that Mr. Small (s) created a donation box that was located in the V.I.P. tent of the Extreme Home Makeover staging area that he allegedly kept for his own use.  All of this information has been given to us in confidence by several reliable sources.  He has stolen from us and others in the photographic community.  If you run into this guy, please call the Montgomery County  Fraud Office: 240-773-6330.  He was arrested and charged in May of this year.  They might want to have some more words with him.

Many people have heard that one should never ever and under no circumstances photograph against the sunlight. Hence, most people shoot others with the sun hitting the subject’s face, which causes very off highlight-shadow combinations which usually come along with squinty eyes or grimaces.

My wife is not much into photography, when asked, she actually hates it. Not being much into a photography and having grown up with the belief that you should never shoot against the sun, we went to a family picnic in New York. While I was playing some ball with the kids, my wife grabbed my camera to take a few pictures of us.

She showed me her first pictures, which were taken the way she learned it, never shoot against the sun. The results were shadows, highlights, squinty eyes. I asked her to take some pictures the other direction, and voila, compare the results. The first picture was taken the “common belief” way, the second picture was taken my way.

I bet many of you have heard a quote along this line before, usually followed by “Target only charges (insanely low amount) for a portrait. I tell those clients to go to Target to have their portraits taken and come back to me when they aren’t happy with them. Other people ask, why I charge so much for an 8×10 print if they can get it at Costco for $2.

The answers to all these questions are simple. Target and other stores side-sell the portraits, which means that they sell them at a very low price, expecting that you will purchase other stuff in the store while you’re there. Despite that, Walmart closed about 200 in store photo studios last year, simply because it wasn’t profitable enough to an extent where they even lost money despite the customers buying other stuff.

When you buy a print from me, you not only pay what the print itself costs, but also the work I put into each print. While I charge fairly reasonable rates for the actual sitting, I have to calculate post-production costs into the print. That means for me that I have to deliver outstanding results every time, or else I will lose money, because the customer doesn’t want to buy the prints. (more…)

First of all, if you don’t know the difference between touching and groping, you may want to look it up. Some photographers seem to be very concerned about touching a subject, I am more concerned to keep models from touching me. Just joking.

From my experience, touching a model or any other subject can very much ease tension and build a certain level of trust. Of course, you should not touch someone just for the sake of the touching, but to move the hair or help with the pose or expression. It shows the subject that you are trying to make him or her look the best. The subject is not able to see what you see and what the camera will capture. (more…)

Alright, Folks. A big problem in this industry is flakery. Flakery means, you have set up a shoot, maybe even rented a studio, lighting and props, thought of ideas, etc. and the model or the photographer does not show up. These flakes tend not to let you know until after shoot, but some also tell you a few minutes before that they won’t make it. Since most of the flakes in this industry tend to be models, I will henceforth just talk about models. Substitute with the word photographer at your discretion. Since most models are female, I will refer to model in the female form.

Flaking is not limited to models you shoot TF, but does also include for hire models. So just because you spend a few bucks, does not mean the model will show up.This primer is supposed to help you weed out the flakes. Of course, I take no responsibility for you missing out, or a model you weeded out was actually the most reliable person out there. You were given a brain, use it.

There are some really good options that you can use to at least protect yourself if a model flakes. (more…)

The thing about posing is, we want it to look natural, which is somewhat of an oxymoron. Several books have been written about how to pose models and a few little tips and tricks. I will not concern myself or you with that now, but will cover some simple basics that are very often not covered in these books. If you have problems posing your models, I would recommend you to have a look at these books. At the end of this article, I will give you some personal recommendations on books. If you work with an experienced model, your job as a photographer will be significantly easier, but you still need to pay attention to some details. I realized that many experienced- and professional models while being able to move into astounding natural looking poses from one click of the shutter to the other, they often fail to pay attention to their hands. Sometimes you have a composition and a pose that really flows and when you look at the final image, you realize that her hand looks like she had a cramp. Look out for such details. (more…)

First of all, let me clarify something. A professional photographer, by definition, is not someone who mastered the art of photography, but someone who makes a living with photography. Frankly, many professional photographers have less skills and talent than many dedicated amateurs, but they know how the business works, and that makes them professional. That said, this article was not written to help you take better pictures, but to help you understand the business of photography. (more…)

Photographing weddings is a tough job to do, especially if you have no idea where to start or what to take pictures of. If you follow a few simple guidelines though, and know at least the basics of photography, you should be fine. To help you understand the implications of wedding photography and the different steps involved in the process, I wrote this article. (more…)