Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

Daily Photo: Grappling Tournament

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

The Estimate Doctor: Reeling In a Novice Client

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/features/pdn-online/e3ibadf593c28401ee84d64b34e4dfba061

The Estimate Doctor: Reeling In a Novice Client

This is the first of a series of estimating case studies provided by John Harrington, author of the newly released second edition of Best Business Practices for Photographers.

It can be challenging enough to get your asking price from an experienced client, let alone a novice client subject to sticker shock. That weighed on photographer Mark Finkenstaedt’s mind when he got a call from Granny Roddy’s, a small two-year-old company in Annandale, Virginia that makes Irish soda bread mixes. The owner, operating out of her kitchen, had realized her product packaging needed a more professional look if her business was to grow. 

 “My first thought was, she is never going to pay what I want,” Finkenstaedt says. “She’s going from her husband’s point-and-shoot photography to me, and she has no idea.” 

 To his surprise, Finkenstaedt got his price--$4,000 including creative fee, expenses, and usage. He did it by juggling the numbers, and going out of his way to make the client feel more comfortable than she might with other photographers. “I didn’t know who else she was talking to, but I knew $4,000 would be really easy to beat,” he says.

The client’s inexperience was obvious from the start. She had found Finkenstaedt by Googling Virginia photographers. She liked the food photography she saw on his Web site, although he had shot it primarily for editorial clients, not commercial ones. He asked about her budget, but she didn’t have one, “and didn’t have a clue how much it would cost,” he says. 

 But as he quickly sized up her business, Finkenstaedt learned that Granny Roddy’s had distribution through several Whole Foods supermarkets in the Washington, DC area. So he took the inquiry seriously, asking the client why she wanted the photography and how she envisioned it. He found out that beyond her packaging, she wanted to use the images on her Web site and in trade show materials. 

Initially, Finkenstaedt was under the impression that she wanted product shots on white seamless. But then she mentioned the packaging of a competitor’s product that she liked. Finkenstaedt looked at the competitor’s Web site, and saw that their packaging was “more pictorial” with still life shots of the bread on a table, juxtaposed with key ingredients.

“I thought it was a $1,500 job, but when she mentioned [the competitor’s] packaging, I realized there was a lot more too it,” Finkenstaedt says.

At that point, he momentarily set aside his concern that he was going to be out of her price range. She had complimented his work several times, so Finkenstaedt decided to try to “set the hook” with a sales pitch. He simply put himself in her place, imagined what her anxieties must be, and addressed them.

 “Because she was just being a beginner, I didn’t want her to feel that she had no control,” he says. He suggested doing the shoot at her house, and mentioned that he would shoot it tethered so she could see the images as he was creating them. “I made her feel that she would basically be art directing. I was trying to give her a good feeling by describing how we would nurture her. I figured she wouldn’t get that from my competitors. So if everyone came in under my price, she would remember that I was going to take care of her.”

When he got off the phone, Finkenstaedt called John Harrington for some pricing advice. Finkenstaedt used to freelance steadily for the Washington Post at a fixed rate of $175 per day. 

When he started doing other freelance work, it was Harrington who “brought him up to snuff” on pricing jobs, he says. “I credit him with teaching me how to be successful and win jobs.” 

His discussion with Harrington revolved mostly around the creative fee, the usage fee, and what the client might be willing to pay for the entire job. 

“There are natural break points for any consumer making a [buying] decision,” Harrington explains. “That’s why you see prices like $.99 or $99. I’m always asking myself, what is the client’s ceiling likely to be?”

For smaller clients, natural break points occur at $1000, $2,000, $4,000, $5,000, $7,500 and $10,000, he says. Based on the size of Granny Roddy’s business, its location (Google Maps showed that it was in a residential neighborhood; she wasn't a big commercial operation), and the client’s experience, Harrington and Finkenstaedt guessed that her limit was $4,000. Even that number might shock and dissuade an inexperienced client, they thought. But they couldn’t select a lower ceiling because Finkenstaedt decided that his creative fee alone had to be between $1850 and $2250, based upon his experience and his market. “That’s the number I want on average for this type of work,” he says. “I’m past those times when I would go out for any price.”

Harrington arrived at $2250 for the creative fee, figuring a product shoot in the market is generally worth $1,800, but this job merited a 25 percent premium because of the creative input required. After all, the client wasn’t asking for two shots on white seamless or handing the photographer comps. 

Finkenstaedt calculated expenses on his own, allotting $200 for an assistant, $375 for capture and post production, $55 for output to DVD, and $25 for delivery, for a total of $655. 

Harrington had asked if he needed a digital tech as well as an assistant. Finkenstaedt said no, because he had to keep expenses to a minimum. With the $4,000 ceiling in mind, Finkenstaedt also decided to recommend the client hire a food stylist separately, to keep a $500 line item off his estimate but still get the best results for the client that he could. 

From that point, the usage fee was a matter of reverse engineering. Finkenstaedt had asked the client how the images would be used, but forgot to ask how long she wanted to use them. So he and Harrington assumed a license for the life of the product. They also assumed it would remain regional. Prompted by a price range suggested by fotoQuote software for those usage parameters, they valued the usage at around $1,500. But the creative fee and expenses already added to nearly $3,000. So Finkenstaedt decided to charge $1,050 to keep the total cost just under $4,000. 

The reason for avoiding a round figure such as $1,000 is psychological, Harrington explains. “I’d make it $950 or $1,050. I learned that from Cradoc Bagshaw, who developed fotoQuote. He never has an even number. That way, if I say $560, you think it’s $560. If I say $600, you think you can negotiate.”

When Finkenstaedt submitted his estimate, he combined the usage fee and creative fee as one line item for $3300 for simplicity’s sake. He explains, “[The client] was looking at the bottom line, and separate line items would just confuse her, I imagined.” With expenses, the grand total came to $3,955. 

Granny Roddy’s hired Finkenstaedt within a week of receiving the estimate. The client didn’t try to negotiate the fee. Finkenstaedt is convinced his sales pitch made all the difference. “She wanted to work with me because she felt like she was going to get the service,” he says. She also took Finkenstaedt’s recommendation to hire a food stylist, and a good thing, too: the stylist noticed that a sheaf of wheat the client provided as a prop wasn’t wheat after all. “Had [the client] blundered along with just me, she would have had a sheaf of weeds in the picture,” Finkenstaedt says.

Asked if there’s anything he would have done differently in the way he estimated the job, Finkenstaedt says no, but cringes at one careless error. In his enthusiasm to provide the stylist’s contact information, he sent her Web address to the client. Then he realized the stylist’s Web site features images “by five other great photographers who shoot food all day long.” But by then, apparently, Granny Roddy had eyes only for Finkenstaedt, and the job was his. 

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

Daily Photo: Trial Fights

Daily Photo: Des Moines First Fridays October

Daily Photo: Des Moines First Fridays October

Daily Photo

Des Moines First Fridays October

Daily Photo. 2008 Floods of Cedar Rapids.

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

10 Tips For Great Telephoto Photography

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-tips-for-great-telephoto-photography

Canon 1Ds Mark II + 600mm f/4 Super Telephoto Lens

One of the most exciting aspects of photography is working with Telephoto and Super Telephoto lenses. While out of the price range for most to buy, this lens family is easily accessible through lens rental services online or through local camera stores. Telephoto and super telephoto lenses enable photographers to explore a variety of subjects in new ways. Such lenses are often used in wildlife photography, but they can be used for a variety of subjects. Here are 10 tips and ideas for great telephoto photography:

1. Use A Tripod For Sharp Photos
By and large the vast majority of subjects photographed with telephoto and super telephoto lenses need to be tack sharp. Due to the narrow field of view and magnification of telephoto lenses ever so slight movements have an amplified impact diminishing image sharpness. The first thing you can do to ensure that you’ll capture sharp images is to use a tripod and a tripod head that can support the weight of your lens & camera. While this isn’t the only step to take to ensure sharp photos it is the essential first step. Using a tripod or even a monopod will also save your back and arms from unnecessary pain and fatigue.

2. Use A Shutter Release
Any movement is amplified when looking through the view finder of a camera using a telephoto lens. The simple act of pressing the shutter on your camera will cause even a tripod mounted camera and lens to shake when photographing a distant subject. To minimize camera shake use a shutter release. Quite simply a shutter release is a shutter release button on an extension cord. Minimizing movement of your camera and lens while mounted on a tripod will reduce unintended bluring of your photo.

Bonus Tip:
If your camera has a Mirror Lock-up function this in addition to the use of a shutter release will remove much of the mechanical vibration your camera itself can create. The mirror in the camera box of your dSLR allows you to see from the viewfinder out your lens. When you trigger the shutter the mirror will flip up out of the way so that light coming through your lens hits the sensor or film in your camera body. Mirror Lock-up will prompt you to trigger the shutter twice, first to move the mirror into a ready position and second to open the shutter. After the first trigger of the shutter you should wait 2-5 seconds for the internal mechanics of your camera and resulting vibration of your camera to settle to the point of being still before you trigger the shutter a second and final time.

3. Turn Off Lens Image Stabilization / Vibration Reduction for Tripod Mounted Cameras
When you have Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction active on your lens the internal mechanics detects movement and counter acts it producing a sharp image. When your camera and lens are mounted on a tripod movement is removed, but your lens can errantly activating its IS/VR mechanism creating an image that is less than sharp. For this reason its a best practice to turn off your lenses IS or VR functionality when it is mounted to a tripod.

4. Telephoto Effect - Bringing Far and Near Together
Telephoto lenses have a unique optical effect in that they flatten scenes with great depth. Fittingly this is referred to as a Telephoto Effect. Making use of this effect can be very useful in composing graphically striking subjects and scenes. Unlike shorter focal length lenses that can provide a great deal of depth to a scene the flattening of a scene with the use of a telephoto lens can give the illusion that multiple subjects separated by great distances are actually very close. This effect can generate a great deal of impact with viewers.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 840mm

5. Tightly Frame Your Subject
The most obvious use of a telephoto lens is to magnify a subject so as to close the distance between you and what you’re photographing. This can be of extremely valueable if you’re photographing wildlife and would like to get closer with out putting your life at risk. Beyond wildlife using a telephoto lens give you creative license to get extremely close to your subject in some instances. This is particularly useful in highlighting details that would otherwise be lost with shorter focal length lenses.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 2x teleconverter for a total focal length of 1200mm
Taken on my last Sea Otter Photo Tour

6. Isolate Your Subject
Telephoto lenses are great to more distinctly isolate your subject. While this can be done with shorter focal length lenses telephotos enable you to have greater reach to subjects that might be too far off otherwise. This is a middle ground use of telephoto lenses where you’re not looking to crop in too tightly or close the gap between subjects that are far apart.

Canon 1Ds Mark II + 70-200mm IS f/2.8 lens at 200mm

7. Make Use of Ultra Shallow Depth of Field
Telephoto and Super-Telephoto lenses share an optical characteristic that can produce very shallow planes of focus. As a result an often discussed secondary characteristic of long lenses, Bokeh, is the optical signature of out of focus portions of a photograph. Use of shallow depth of field can provide a non-distracting background to your subject enhancing perceived focus and its isolation from competing background elements. Understanding how Bokeh will look from one lens to another will enhance your ability to produce the highest quality image.

Canon 1Ds Mark III + 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 420mm
Lens provided by BorrowLenses.com 

8. Think Macro Photography
 If you’re not into photo yoga an alternate way to shoot macro photography is to use a telephoto lens. Extension tubes in combination with super telephoto lenses shorten the closest focusing distance of a lens. Working with a larger lens will not give you every vantage point that a smaller lens can provide, but it will enable you to obtain other unique perspectives all while saving you from getting your pants dirty.

Canon 1Ds Mark III + 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 420mm
Note these clusters of flowers are smaller than a US Quarter

9. Panning for Action
 Panning with a telephoto lens can provide high impact photos of almost any moving subject. Maintaining a sharp subject can be tricky requiring some practice. The added dimension of motion blur bring telephoto and super telephoto lens photos to life. This is a perfect technique for wildlife and action subjects alike.

Canon 1D Mark II + 70-200mm IS f/2.8 lens at 190mm + 2x teleconverter for a total focal length of 380mm

10. Experiment with Astrophotography
With a big enough lens your camera can become a low power telescope. Photographs likely won’t be in the exact same class as a true astrophotography taken with a telescope, but you’ll certainly get eye catching photos none-the-less. The key to successfully using telephoto lenses for astrophotography is:

1. Setting up in an area where there is little light pollution
2. Use of a tripod 
3. use of a cable release.

The slightest vibration will be enough to blur a photo with a long lens so special care should be applied to avoid this. For greater drama in post-production with a high enough resolution sensor you can crop down your image while maintaining mouth dropping detail.

Canon 1Ds Mark III and 600mm + 1.4x teleconverter for a total focal length of 840mm
Cropped in Photoshop for an equivalent focal length of 1800mm 

Jerry Courvoisier Tutorials

http://www.jerrycourvoisier.com/tips-tutorials/

Daily Photo. Iowa State Fair at Night

Photo of the Day-Ghana Waiting for medical clinic

Photo of the Day-Ghana

Photo of the Day-Ghana

Photo of the Day-Ghana

Photo of the Day-New York

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

Photo of the Day-August First Fridays Des Moines

First Fridays Des Moines

Photo of the Day-9YO Grappling Tournament

Take Low Light Photos Like a Professional

http://www.lightstalking.com/low-light

Low light photography can be a lot of fun. And you don’t need to trade your soul for an expensive camera to do it. You just need to have one that has some manual setting options. I’m focusing on digital here, but I think most of what I’m going to talk about will apply to film cameras too. The only real difference is that with digital you get to view your results instantly, which allows you to adjust your settings on the fly and you can switch ISO without changing your roll of film.

You’ll have to adjust your methods to accommodate for film a little and keep better notes to track what you’re doing. I recommend keeping a small notebook with you no matter what you shoot with to track what you did so you know what works and what doesn’t.

OK, so before we get started there’s a few things you’re going to need. Here’s a list:

• * Camera
• * Tripod
• * Flashlight
• * Remote shutter release (this is optional if you have a timer on your camera)
• * A subject to shoot. This can be anything; a person, landscape, an object, whatever. I recommend starting with landscapes or inanimate objects to keep it simple.

So, get your camera mounted on the tripod and either set it to timer mode or attach your remote trigger. You want to trigger the shutter remotely or use the timer to keep from jiggling your camera when doing long exposures. The remote is the best way since you never actually touch the camera, but I’ve also found that a solid tripod, a light touch, and a two-second timer work just fine. That gives the camera/tripod combo some time to stop moving if you bump it. If it’s not enough time switch to the ten-second timer.

I shoot with a Canon 1D Mk2n in Manual mode, so at this point I’m going to tell you what settings I use and you can tweak as needed to fit your camera’s capabilities. I use the following settings as my starting point:

ISO 100, 20 second exposure, f-stop 22. If you want a shallow DOF, you’ll have to cut your exposure time down drastically when you open your aperture. I use a small aperture to keep the subject sharp and I’ve come to the conclusion that 20 seconds is a good starting point for my camera and lenses. Usually the only thing I change is the shutter speed. I only change the aperture if I can’t get enough light with a 30 second exposure. I don’t use the bulb setting very often. I’m kind of ADD and my mind wanders after about ten-seconds of waiting for the shutter to close.

What’s the flashlight for? Well, it’s for two things. The most important function is for focusing. If you’re shooting in extreme low light conditions you’re going to need some light for your autofocus to work, especially if you’re using a point & shoot camera that won’t allow manual focusing. Even if you have the option to focus manually, you might still need the light to see whether or not your focus is sharp. It’s easy to be close and still be out of focus when its dark.

The flashlight is also for painting with light. This is a lot of fun. You can use a flashlight, a laser pointer, a hand held flash fired manually, basically anything that emits light. I like using a mini Maglite for still life subjects. One of the things I like about the Maglites is that you can adjust the beam diameter from a tight focused spot to a soft wide glow.

So, now you are ready to experiment. Keep it simple to start. Just pick an object from around your house and rig a black backdrop for it. I usually do this after dark so I don’t have any stray window light. I also like to go down to the waterfront late at night. The glow from the city lights and the street lights in the parking lot are more than enough light to shoot by. And experiment with light painting. It can be a lot of fun.

Spider Baby 02

Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)

Aperture: f/5

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 800

Single light source (clamp type shop light) from stage left. Lots of layers and adjustments in CS2 afterward, but no dramatic changes to the basic lighting effects from the original.

Red Queen & Black Queen

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/4

Focal Length: 17 mm

ISO Speed: 100

These are the same photo, except I converted one to B&W. This is an example of painting with light. It’s an abstract style and not normally my thing, but it was a fun experiment. I set the camera for a 5 second exposure and waved it around. When I got home I uploaded the photos, picked the most interesting area and then cropped it and mirrored it. Some of them I mirrored bilateral and others quadrilateral. Outside of contrast and curves adjustments in CS2, I didn’t alter anything else.

Reentry

Exposure: 5 sec (5)

Aperture: f/5.6

Focal Length: 75 mm

ISO Speed: 100

One of my favourites despite the fact that it reminds me of a Journey album cover.

Skull Baby

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Single light source (3 D cell Maglite) from stage right. I use a large piece of black poster board for a seamless backdrop for small objects like this baby head. The skull face was painted in Adobe CS3 and several layers of grain in opposing directions were also added later.

Deer Skull & Antlers

Exposure: 30 sec (30)

Aperture: f/32

Focal Length: 200 mm

ISO Speed: 50

This is another light painting. Black poster board background, pitch dark room, and a mini maglite. I set my focus with the lights on and then shut them off. I triggered the camera with a remote and then painted the skull and antlers with a mini maglite. This is a perfect example of trial and error. I think it took me around 15 shots to find the right combination of settings to get this photograph. So, if you don’t get it on the first try, don’t be discouraged. Remember that when you’re looking at someone else’s photos they’re showing you the two or three good ones…not the five hundred that went in the trash. Shoot, shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more!

Waterfront at Night

Exposure: 20 sec (20)

Aperture: f/4.5

Focal Length: 22 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Tripod, remote trigger, and a hint of sunlight on the horizon. For all intents and purposes it was dark. I mean, we’re talking just barely a glow on the horizon.

Baby Head & Laser Pointer B&W

Exposure: 30

Aperture: f/22.0

Focal Length: 70 mm

ISO Speed: 100

It’s that damned baby head again! I know…it’s my favourite subject for low light shots. This was shot with no light. I focused with the lights on and then switched to manual to keep the focus from changing when I hit the remote trigger. Then I just painted on it, scribbled really, with a three dollar laser pointer. It’s not the most exciting photo, but it gives you some idea of what you can do with a laser pointer.

Joe Graziano is a professional freelance photographer who also has some great photojournalism shots worth checking out. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter and check out his page on Facebook!