There's One MAJOR ISSUE with Fuji Instax Mini Film!!!
There’s a major problem with instant film - Let’s talk about it!
As a photographer, I had a this brilliant idea for my wedding. Every wedding has this guest book that people wait in line forever to sign. And after the wedding, all you end up with is a book of signatures. Not very exciting at all. But, my idea was brilliant. People were already going to wait in line, why not make what they were doing fun! Instead of signing a book, I had a couple of instant cameras on hand and tons of instant film and we had our wedding guests snap a photo and sign the picture.
Everyone LOVED it. They would snap their photos, sign their pictures, snap a pic of their instant pic, and drop them in the box. Our guests just talked and talked about how much fun it was. We were happy it was a huge hit. But, there was a problem we hadn’t thought about when I came up with this brilliant idea…
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH ALL THESE PHOTOS?!?!?!?!?
After our wedding, we put them all in a box. The box was shuffled from place to place in our house, we moved a few times and each time would ask “what’s in this box?” before we would open it and say “oh yeah…”. Of course we didn't want to throw them away but we really didn’t know what to do with them.
In the mean time, we were still snapping instant photos like crazy and there were mountains of these pictures piling up and filling up boxes in our house. We loved them, but being in a box made it difficult to ever pull them out and look at them and enjoy them.
This is the problem almost everyone has with instant film - we love the film, we love taking pictures, but we don’t really have a good place to store all of them.
WE NEEDED A SOLUTION!!! In a digital world, having tons of physical images became all of the sudden inconvenient. So we turned to an old school solution - photo albums!
Photo albums are an absolutely perfect way to safely store and display your instant photos. We’ve purchased several instant photo albums now and are absolutely loving them! We can set the albums out in a place that’s accessible without worrying that they will be damaged. We can actually organize the photos by date or event so that they tell a really beautiful visual story of our lives. Instant Photo Albums literally saved our photos!!!
Here’s a few recommendations on albums from my own experience!
The Ablus 288 Pocket Mini Photo Album
The Albus 288 Pocket Mini Photo Album
This was the first album we bought, honestly because it has decent reviews and it was cheap. But its actually a really great little photo album and since it holds 288 photos, it put a HUGE dent in a mountain of instax photos we had piled up! Its easy to use and very durable. It does have kinda a cheap looking translucent plastic cover. But you can see through it to get an idea of what’s in the album.
If you’re looking for something affordable and practical - THIS IS THE ALBUM FOR YOU!
The Albus 64 Pocket Mini Photo Album
Another fantastic little album. We really like this one because it holds less photos and allows us to sort of create our own little visual story books! The only issues is that the pictures are laid out horizontally instead of vertically. But the best thing about this one is our little kids can handle it, flip it around a lot and not mess up the images.
The Rhypez Desktop Photo Album
So this little album is great because we can actually put it out for people to see. I have one on my desk and love the fact that I can flip through it, change the pages from day to day. Its just a lot of fun! It doesn’t store a lot of images, but its great to load images in here just so that you can easily share them with others.
You can Pick One Up for Yourself by Clicking Here!
There are of course a lot of other options out there. These are just the three that we have used and really like! Amazon literally has a huge variety of albums and ways to sort, organize and display your Fuji Instax Images. Just don’t let them sit in a pile, get destroyed by kids or pets, or shove them in a box to never be looked at again. These images are of some of the most precious and candid moments of your life! Hold on to them, protect them, and fix the one major issue everyone has with Fuji Instax Images!
Click here to check all of the options Amazon has for Instax album!
Also don’t forget to follow us on instagram - @shutterjunkies
Prints or Digitals and Why You Should Care!
She wanted to meet at a local coffee shop she had heard great things about. But when we arrived, the inside seating was closed due to Covid. Fortunately, because this is Texas, there’s always a Whataburger near by. Before Covid, I met almost all of my clients in coffee shops. Now I meet them in Whataburger’s because there’s always one nearby and they are open.
Our first face-to-face meeting started off just the way they always do. She was already frazzled from the work of planning her wedding but as she showed me her ideas and we talked about her plans, everything was absolutely beautiful! As a photographer, I love all of the beautiful creative work that brides and their friends and families pour into weddings to make them very beautiful and also personal events. We chatted and the conversation naturally moved on to planning and organizing the photography, I mean after all, it was the reason we were both there!
At some point, usually about half-way through the discussion, the bride-to-be always asks “Now, am I going to get all of the digitals”
“STOP ASKING ABOUT DIGITALS!!!” I screamed at the bride as I flipped the table over in a fit of rage.
Well, not really. But there is an unhealthy obsession with digital images. Brides and families always want the digitals. But digitals aren’t really what brides should be worried about!
The truth is, digital downloads are not actually the best way to get your images, display your images, or preserve your images! Most brides are concerned with digital downloads first and printed images second, but that is actually BACKWARD!
“Ok,” you might be thinking, “so whats wrong with digitals?”
Everything actually. I could write a book on what’s wrong with receiving digital images as your final wedding product from your photographer. Let’s take a brief look at some of the issues
Long-Term Storage
You downloaded them from a gallery, or received a flash drive and then downloaded them to your hard drive and you assume they will be there forever. But hard drives crash, flash drives get lost, and your gallery expires eventually. Digital storage is prone to corruption and loss more so than I am personally comfortable with. Every digital image I have is backed up with triple redundancy because I don’t trust digital storage for the long term. It has failed me too many times. And losing all of your wedding photos because of a crashed hard drive is just tragic. After all, who wants to be showing your grand children screen shots of wedding photos from Facebook because you lost all of the images in a hard drive crash 30 years ago?
Quality
Most of the images you receive digital are compressed and not the full resolution. The high resolution images that us photographers take and store are really large. What you are downloading is not the best image. Its good don’t get me wrong, but its not the best.
Display
Most people’s digital images never get seen. They show up on social media memories every once in a while, but that’s it. You can print the images yourself, but the print quality isn’t usually that great. I guess your desktop wall paper is a good option for displaying them. But who wants icons all over you and your spouse?
Prints actually fix all of these issues!
First, photographic prints last for hundreds of years (when printed professionally). They do take up physical space, but so does the computer or hard drive you are going to store them on. Print quality is also significantly higher when professionally printed. You can select from a variety of papers and finishes as well, not to mention sizes and frames! Printing an image literally moves it from being pixels on a screen to being a work of art hanging on a wall or a preciously moment sitting on your desk. Plus you’re paying tons of money and it just seems silly to not get a physical product.
We feel so passionately about prints, we’ve changed the way we do business!
As a wedding photographer, I’m not just trying to sell you prints. I actually believe in the power of prints personally. I still use my cell phone to take photos, but in the process, I order a print of every image I take! For our personal family photos, I print every image I take! We have wonderful photo albums full of our story and we can sit down as a family and share those moments again and again together.
When you book with us, you will get prints first! And also digital copies but our main focus is to give you an amazing and beautiful collection of masterfully created images, printed on real photo paper in a lab by professionals, ensuring your moments will last for centuries. Digitals, are a great back-up and we aren’t try to keep them from our brides and families, but they shouldn’t be your main focus! Get the prints! Get the photo book or photo album! Get them framed and decorate your home with those precious and beautiful moments from the first real day of your committed lives together!
And please, when we meet, you can ask about the digitals, but don’t forget to ask about the prints!
Delegation - The Best Way to Have an Easy, Fun, and Amazing Wedding!!!
Delegation can make a huge difference in making your big day a joy instead of a nightmare.
Your wedding day has been something you’ve dreamed about for a while, maybe your entire life. And as many couples approach their big day, your big day becomes something you begin to stress about more and more. Your fiancé isn’t much help (he can’t help it, guys just aren’t that good this sort of thing), your family may or may not be easy to get along with. There are so many decisions to make and so many people asking you questions it just becomes overwhelming. As a photographer, I hear brides say something that just breaks my heart at almost every wedding we shoot. “I just can’t wait for this day to be over, because I’m over it.” So how does the day of your dreams become a nightmare so quickly?
The answer is simple; brides try to take on too much. A wedding is a ridiculously difficult event to plan. Its a special day not just for you, but also for your family and guests and making sure that the day flows and is as beautiful and enjoyable as you want it to be is more than a full time job for one person. So how can you possibly get everything done and still enjoy the day? How can you make all of the arrangements, all of the phone calls, all of the negotiations and selections and still be sane? You have to learn to delegate.
Depending on your personality, delegation may not be the easiest thing for you to do. Some of you out there only feel comfortable if you are in total control. While some of you may be just relaxed and want to go with the flow. The good news is that delegation can work for every personality type!
The Pastor/Officiant
I know, I know, your cousin has been to church a few times and has offered to get internet ordained so he can do your ceremony. I’ve seen this done several times and let me tell you, it never goes well. Ever. Inexperienced officiants get nervous and often don’t have any idea how to craft a beautiful and timely ceremony. Find an experienced member of the clergy or officiant to handle your ceremony and things will go much more smoothly. And, you can tell them everything you want in the ceremony and they will take care of those details! They can also help a lot at the rehearsal to make sure things flow smoothly and that everyone knows where to go and what to do. Once you have a the right pastor or officiant, you can relax and let them do the work to make sure your ceremony goes smoothly!
The DJ
This is probably one of the most over-looked roles in the wedding. The DJ can literally make or break your reception. We’ve seen so many couples decided to save a little money and just play songs off of their iPhones. This has never, ever, ever worked. The DJ is a professional that understands both sound and how to move a party along. I’ve seen talented DJ’s take a reception to from lame to fame in a couple of songs. They keep the events moving and fill in the awkward gaps with music and fun. They also come prepared to handle different technical problems that can arise. One meeting with a professional DJ and you can get all of the details of your reception figured out, planned, and then you don’t have to worry about it again!
The Photographer
I know, your aunt just spent $600 on a new camera and has taken a few senior pictures for your cousins and now you can save a bundle by letting her shoot your wedding. But a photographer does a lot more than take pictures. Photographers can help you plan and organize to make sure you get amazing photos and capture every single moment. Its not just about snapping photos, its really more about telling your story and an experienced photographer can make sure that happens. You can communicate everything you’re wanting, send all those cute/romantic/beautiful picture ideas from Pinterest, and trust your photographer to make sure everything gets done. Also, the quality of lenses, cameras, and lighting that a professional has can make a huge difference. We have spent a lot more than $600 on our equipment (more like 20 times that amount) and the quality of image we can take is a lot higher that what you aunt can get!
The Wedding Planner
A professional and experienced wedding planner can make a huge difference in making everything come together. The decorations, the cakes, the flowers, the details, and coordination is honestly a full time job the day of the wedding and as a bride, you won’t have time to handle any of it. Instead of fretting and trying to solve problems while you’re getting ready, you can delegate that to the wedding planner and trust that things will get done right. Many wedding venues provide a wedding planner as part of their packages, or some offer a planner for a nominal fee. Definitely worth asking about when you are shopping for a wedding venue!
After spending a ton of on hiring other professionals, many people don’t have the money for a wedding planner. Often, they ask a family member or friend to fill the role. Unlike the DJ, photographer, and officiant, we’ve actually seen some novice wedding planners do a good job. You just have to make sure and someone with the right personality type. A good wedding planner is going to be someone that can pay ridiculously and almost absurd attention to even the smallest of details. Get someone obsessive and dedicated to doing the job right and they can help you so so much.
Conclusion
Weddings are just so much, its way more than one person can handle. Find professionals that can make sure everything about your day goes smoothly can make a huge difference. Family and friends can also be a big help. Make sure to include them as much as you need/feel comfortable. As your big day approaches, you should find yourself doing less and less and those you’ve delegated to doing more and more. You do the work of organizing and delegating up front and then your staff of friends, family, and paid professionals will handle all the details you’ve planned out!
Announcing Our New Online Film and Vintage Camera Store!
We cannot get enough of shooting photographs on film. It is truly a magical experience and requires so much more presence in the process. But if there’s one thing that’s been a huge headache when it comes to shooting film, its getting the supplies and equipment you need out here in rural east Texas. After years of ordering film online and waiting a few weeks to get it, or looking for a camera only to have to buy it from someone who wasn’t even sure if it worked, we’ve had enough and we wanted to find a solution that would help us as well as our community of growing film photographers here east of DFW.
Beginning Friday, April 24th, we will begin to offer select film stocks available for local pick-up or delivery through mail. Our selection of film will be limited at first but we will be growing our selection as quickly as we can develop the supply chain. Initially, we will be offering Kodak films but hope to grow to stock some more obscure and interesting film stocks. We are also expanding our developing services so that you can drop of your film and get it back the next day.
We are also offering vintage film cameras, that have been thoroughly inspected and tested to ensure everything is working properly. You can purchase your next film camera with confidence knowing that it will work properly instead of hoping what you bought on Facebook Marketplace works. We will be offering a wide range of cameras, from point and shoots to DSLR’s in 35 mm, medium format, and Polaroid formats. The selection will of course depend on availability, so check our online store often to see what we have in stock!
We are putting the final touches on our online store and website today and everything should be live tomorrow (Friday, April 24th).
Let’s Talk about Covid-19
There is no doubt that these are, in so many different ways, unprecedented times. We have all suffered major disruptions and have no idea when it all could end. It’s all just so physically, emotionally, and financially draining.
But Americans have always been resilient people and I believe that we will come through this pandemic and be better for it. We are taking precautions and following all guidelines, but we are still taking photos. To help out all of those seniors who are facing such huge disruptions and families that are facing some pretty serious financial situations, we will be waiving our session fee for any seniors that want to book a session from now until May 31st. This means you can get your photos taken for free, edited and uploaded to our gallery for free, and can decide later if you want to purchase any prints or digital copies.
We don’t want to let this situation stop you from honoring all of the hard work your seniors have put in over the years and even if there may not be a graduation ceremony, graduating is still something that should be celebrated!
Contact us to talking about booking your session today and stay healthy and happy out there!!!
Senior Year Essentials
Yes, we are still in the middle of a sweltering Texas summer, but the school year is right around the corner and for the Class of 2019, it’s going to begin and fly by. You seniors will be graduating before you know it! It’s just insane how quickly it passes. And with that in mind, here’s a handy guide to help all you seniors and your families make sure you don’t forget any of the essentials that will make your senior year unforgettable!
Senior Pictures
Of course I’m going to mention those first! But I do so not only because I’m a photographer but because of years of experience of working with high school students and yearbooks. Honestly the best time to get your Senior Portraits done is in the fall, between August and October. So many things depend on and require these pictures, getting them done early takes care of a lot of potential problems up front! Your senior year has a tendency to crazy as things move on. Demands from family, friends, school activities pile up and every year we have a flood of students who put off getting their pictures made that end up trying to get them done at the last second, only to discover that all of the photographers in the area are booked up. Make it easy on yourself and get your session booked and on the schedule while things are still manageable.
Homecoming
Your last homecoming as a student has to be special! Mums and garters that reflect who you are and all that school spirit you have bottled up inside are the way to go! And if your school hosts a homecoming dance afterwards, don't forget about planning what you are going to wear and who you will be going with!
Cap and Gown
Pretty early on in the school year, your school’s slected vendor will come by and take orders for caps, gowns, and other items. This is your one chance to order your graduation gear. Most vendors (balfour, josten’s, etc) will allow you to place your order and pay in installments. Just be aware that you cannot get your cap and gown until your order is paid in full and you cannot walk with your class unless you’re wearing a cap and gown. Most of the time, you can expect to pay in the range of $80 for your graduation outfit.
Yearbook
Even if you’ve never ordered a yearbook in your life, trust me, you do not want to miss out in getting a copy of your senior yearbook. It is something that you will appreciate having in a few years. If you can order your yearbook early, you can save a ton of money! Most yearbooks sell at a 30% to 50% discount at the beginning of the school year. It just makes sense to get your book ordered early and get it done! Once yearbook orders close, there may or may not be any copies available after everyone picks up their orders. So seriously don't delay. I missed out on buying some of my high school yearbooks and I have regretted it a lot!
Prom
From picking out the perfect outfit to taking those awkward photos with your parents, prom is a special part of the year and can be a lot of fun. Since proms usually involve more than just going to a school dance, you will want to be on top of planning for your event. What are you going to drive? Or maybe we should get a limo? What about the dress or the tux? Are we going somewhere before the prom to eat or hang out? Its a lot to consider and plan and it happens to come up really fast, especially since several schools have moved their proms pretty far forward in the year.
Invitations
No, you aren't expecting everyone that you send an invitation to to come to your graduation. Most schools limit the amount of guests that you can have attend anyways. Fortunately there's a lot of flexibility here. The idea of an invitation is fading pretty quickly and now most people prefer to create a graduation announcement or choose to invite everyone to a graduation party that is set at a convenient time for the graduate and their family rather than inviting everyone to the actually ceremony. Regardless of what you call it, you're going to need to make sure people know you are graduating so that you can get some of those sweet graduation gifts! There are a lot of great websites out there to order lower-cost but still really high quality announcements/invites. Most of these will let you customize your announcement with custom photos and text and many provide you with a variety of templates to make your invite stand out from the crowd. It is definitely best to get your senior photos done early so that you will have these in time to get your invitations ordered. Generally, you would want to get these out at least six weeks ahead of your graduation date, so your rich family members can make sure and get you the perfect expensive gift to celebrate the big day.
baby pictures
Graduation is a perfect time for parents and grandparents to be sentimental and most schools oblige this by having a really cheesy slideshow featuring you and all of your classmates as goofy looking babies and super mature looking semi-adults. You and your parents are going to have to sort through all 28,752 photos that they have of you and pick out the absolute cutest or most embarrassing photos or whatever photos of you. It takes time so plan a day when you don't have a lot going on to bust out those old photo albums, or hard drive or whatever they're stored on and get to work finding the perfect photos for the occasion.
Senior ads for the Yearbook
Speaking of goofy baby pictures, if you're looking to buy up some real estate in your yearbook you're going to need those baby photos, some of your senior photos (they keep coming up, see how important they are!), and some sweet and sentimental words from your parents and/or other family members. If you want to save your poor yearbook teacher/sponsor a lot of heartache and grief - go ahead and get all of your photos together, get your messages from your parents ready, and get everything converted to digital and put on a flash drive. Scan your photos to a decent resolution and save them as a .jpg or JPEG. Do not take a picture of the picture with your phone. Do not scan your photos to a .pdf file. Put all of the content for your senior pages on a flash drive and deliver it to your yearbook teacher well before the deadline. It helps them to have your stuff early and it ensures that you get a decent spot in the book.
One last fun even with your friends
Its crazy how quickly after graduation that everyone begins to go their own way. Take time and plan a day with your friends to go do something fun. It doesn't have to be expensive or elaborate, just a day together reflect and enjoy one another's company. Take lots of pictures and make the day meaningful! You will appreciate the day and the photos for years to come, I promise!
It will be over before you Know it
It really does go by so very fast. So stop reading and make a to do list now! Stay on top of everything you have to get done and it will make your year less stressful and much more enjoyable! An easy way to start is to go ahead and get your senior photo session scheduled now. Before the year gets too wild you can just get that major component checked off! We love taking senior portraits and we would be happy to get you scheduled so just contact us and we will get you taken care of!
Good luck, Class of 2019! The fun is just beginning!
Shifting Gears - Moving from Easy Trends to Providing Quality for My Clients
Photo prints - the old but new way to do business.
It’s really easy, you just hit copy and then click paste and all the little 1’s and 0’s that make up your images go flying onto a flash drive. Some of them will get uploaded to social media, get a few views and comments, and then fall into the obscurity of the masses. They become lost in the noise of an image driven digital society. This is the fate of almost every photo I’ve taken for clients lately and frankly I grown to hate the digital photo cycle. It’s time for a change.
Digital is easy. It’s fast, it’s effortless. Most photographers edit and format for digital distribution of the images they take because of how easy it is. And our clients perceive the digital-only world to be easier and more affordable and so they go along with the digital trend. But in the end, the ease actually cheapens the product and delivers to our clients a product that is easily lost and puts more of the work back on them if they want to preserve or display the photographs that they just paid a lot of money for. So I am making a change in the way I do business. At the heart of my decision is my desire to provide the absolute best quality images to my clients. And not just quality, but also a product that will last. Something more tangible than files on a flash drive.
Why You Should Demand Prints Instead of Digital
Digital has essentially become the new disposable. We look at them for a second and scroll on down and we never see them again. When you pay out $100, $200, $300 or more for photographs you deserve to receive a product that will last! That’s the first reason you should demand prints. And I’m not just talking about prints that roll off of an inkjet printer. Kodak and Fuji now have printers to optically print digital images to real photographic paper. The benefit of photographic paper is that it will last for hundreds of years and is extremely resilient. It’s coated in multiple layers and designed to withstand a lot of abuse. It takes the ease of digital photography and melds it with the permanence of those 70 year old photos in your grandmother’s photo album of your mom in those crazy pants with that ridiculous hair-do. It means your moments are going to last as tangible objects that can be viewed for generations. No need to try to scroll back through 30 years of facebook photos. It’s right there in your house, in the box or photoalbum. Easily accessible and unchanged by the passage of time.
The second reason you should demand prints, and I probably shouldn’t be announcing this to the public, but preparing a photograph for print demands more higher quality work from your photographer. I suppose it’s partially a psychological thing. With digital images we apply presets, edit a few blemishes, and bam - your photos are done. When you’ve edited 200 images and you secretly know that your client is only going to look at them on their phone, there’s no need to make the image absolutely perfect. At phone or even computer screen resolution no one is going to notice the little things you didn’t do as a photographer. But when an image is going to be printed, every little detail is visible and important. Preparing images for print takes more work but produces better images. In the end, it’s absolutely worth it.
But Won’t Prints Drive Up the Cost of Photography?
Not really! It is a matter of shifting from quantity to quality. Instead of getting 100 to 200 mediocre digital images you get a handful of images that are works of art. You’ll be able to permanently adorn the walls of your home with the photographs you’ve invested in instead of just enhancing your facebook or instagram feed for a few moments. What increases may exist are more than justified by the value of the product you receive.
Digital arrived on the scene two decades ago and changed everything. It was a new tool in the photographer’s tool box and many new photographers used it to attract clients by touting the affordability and ease. They stopped printing images and instead gave you hundreds of very similar photographs at varying quality levels and the consumer in all of us was satisfied. More for our dollars, it makes sense. But now digital photography has matured and as a photographer I want to use the tool to the fullest and this is how doing so is going to look: I take digital images, edit them digitally and provide you with amazing physical prints from a professional lab that will last well beyond your lifetime. Of course we aren’t throwing away the digital images and you will still receive copies of those, but by showcasing your prints instead of the digital images, I’m giving my clients the absolute best I can provide in terms of service and product. It’s good for you and that’s all that matters to me.
An Anecdotal Conclusion...
A few years ago, I was the yearbook sponsor at a public high school. Part of the yearbook includes Senior Pages, a personalized page that parents could purchase for their students that contained messages and photos of their choosing. As we worked on those pages, I ended up with stacks of prints on my desk from many many different students. They included family photos, baby pictures, old school pictures, just all sorts of images neatly stacked up on my desk as they awaited processing for the yearbook. Throughout the day, every day, I had to constantly tell other students to stop picking them up and looking at them. At first I just thought it was a fluke thing but as the days passed I noticed it was an ongoing practice. Students were drawn to the stacks of photos like moths to a flame. They couldn’t resist picking them up, flipping through them, staring at each image like it was a work of art in a museum. All day, every day I had to tell students to put the photos down and leave them alone. It became such a constant problem that I had to collect them all and move to a place out of sight. But in spite of the aggravation, I was surprised that the students, who have thousands of images on their phones that they never scroll through could not stop flipping through the stacks of prints. Ultimately, I discovered that it’s a human thing. The physical aspect of the printed photographs begs us to look at them. To study them. We glance and continue scrolling with digital images, but when you hand someone a printed image, they view it differently. They study the details, they take time to observe and consider what the image is. If it is worth printing, it becomes something worth viewing. Beginning with this year’s Senior Portrait Season - we are changing our business to provide you with something worth viewing! It’s exciting for us, and for you too! Keep an eye out as we revamp our packages and make changes to our website. And look for more helpful info about how you can print your own images, even from your cell phone or tablet, so you can preserve those amazing moments for years to come!
Learning and Growing
I love photography and I work hard to constantly become better at it. It’s fun work and I enjoy learning new techniques and tricks because the results are always worth the effort! But what no one ever tells you when you start talking about delving into the world of professional photography is that you constantly have to get better at your business practices too! And that can be a very daunting and confusing task for someone who knows very little about business. You constantly have to re-evaluate, reorganize, and adjust your plans and practices so that you can get your products to your customers. Learning new business techniques are just as important as learning new photographic techniques!
My first big challenge came earlier this year when I had the amazing opportunity to shoot the Kaufman County Junior Livestock Show. It was the most fun I have had in a while and I got to meet and work with a lot of amazing people. But I ran into a problem, in that my workflow and fulfillment methods weren’t up to the task and that caused me to be very late in getting images out to my customers. Yuck 😞 I want more than anything for my customers to get their images quickly and to be happy with the quality, not just because it’s good for business, but because photographs are beautiful reminders of special moments and they last a lifetime! After struggling through the process, I learned a lot of valuable lessons and we have put all those lessons to work as changes to our workflow and fulfillment process. What took us well over a month to get done before will now only take a couple of weeks at most! It was a huge struggle but the learning process was definitely worth it as we have learned how to deliver photos better and faster to our customers.
I owe a huge amount of thanks to all of the Kaufman County family for the opportunity but mostly for their patience and understanding. Most of the parents out there were very kind and understanding of our delays as we tried to process through the literal 10,000 total images and get multiple prints out for them. These last couple of weeks we have put all of our new procedures in place and developed some new partnerships to help us get your photos to you faster. I’m just as excited about this as I am about any new photo technique because what good are photos if we can’t get your orders to you!
Thanks again KCJLS, with over 200 individual customers our first county show was a challenge, but it was a blessing as we got to meet and work with some very kind and gracious people and improve ourselves along the way. Hopefully we will get to see you next year!
I Want to Buy a New Camera, Which One Should I Get? - Part 1
I get this question a lot. Having been trying at photography for such a long time now people who have no idea where to start with cameras have often come to me for advice. And over those years, my advice has changed. In the beginning, I was a hard-core gear-head. I told people that they should spend a lot of money and get expensive and complicated cameras because that is what I was trying to do. Honestly, it was bad advice. Since I've started, I've wanted every new camera that has come out. I've watched every review of every new piece of equipment on youtube. Heck, I've even added a lot of cameras to my cart on online stores just to see what the cost with shipping and some of the options I was wanting would cost. I've shopped for and used a lot of cameras over the years and I'm here to tell you that I've finally settled on a philosophy for the eternal question, "which camera should I buy" and I want to pass on what I've learned to you!
Where to start...
Deciding on a camera that is going to be best for you really starts with asking yourself a few simple questions. The trick however, is in being very honest and objective in answering these questions. Honesty here is going to make all the difference and could save you thousands of dollars! You could easily spend too much and get a camera that you cannot figure out how to work and get terrible pictures. Or, you could spend too little and get terrible picture quality. Or you can just get the wrong camera for your application all together and just stay frustrated because the pictures you are getting don't look good at all. When it comes to cameras, honesty is the best place to start.
How Much Do I Have to Spend?
This is the most important question you can ask yourself. There is a belief out there that if you spend more money on your camera, that you are going to get better pictures. This couldn't be further from the truth though. I've taken some really fantastic pictures on some really crappy cameras and lenses. Your skill and ability are the true determining factors of what makes a good picture. Equipment is a secondary factor. I know so many people who have gone out and dropped $1000 to $6000 on cameras and gear and their pictures are absolute trash! Then they are disappointed and the brand new camera sits in a closet for years. "Oh, you're a photographer! I bought a camera a few years ago and I took a few pictures with it but now its just sitting in the back of my closet." I've seen a whole lot of brand new cameras that have hardly been touched. So sad :( Set your budget and stick too it. Don't get sucked into the features or the megapixel trap. Megapixels don't make better pictures either! There is always a lot of upselling in the camera world so don't get trapped and spend more than you intended. I promise you'll regret it later!
What am I Going to Use this Camera For?
Knowing this in advance helps a lot! If you've going to be shooting a lot of stock shows, you need a camera that's good at low-light. If you're going to be taking photos of sporting events, you need a camera with a long optical zoom and a fast shutter. If you're going to try to do some professional photography you will need a camera with some options to that you can do a variety of work with your tools. Now, video capabilities are also something to be considered and the quality of video and audio have to be examined as well. Make a check-list of everything you think you might use the camera for, and prioritize them for clarity. There is no one magical camera that does it all. Just like you can have a smooth ride and great gas mileage in a car but can't haul a travel trailer you can't get every thing in every camera, you have to pick and choose. After you make your list and feel pretty confident start with good old fashioned googling to see what cameras work best for what your number one priority was and just go from there!
What am I Going to do with the Pictures I Take?
Let's be honest, no one really prints photos any more. Most of us are just going to post them to social media or email to friends and family. Sometimes they just sit on a card or a hard drive indefinitely. If you aren't going to be printing images, you need to consider how you are going to store the images long term. A camera with a lot of megapixels is only going to produce really large files and you have to find a way to store them. Also, do you have a way to transfer the photos easily from my camera to my computer or phone? Wifi or cable connection or card slots are an important thing to look in to before you purchase a camera. So many times people pull their cameras out and find out after taking their third picture that the data card is full, and they really can't delete any of the existing pictures because they haven't downloaded them yet. Keep your workflow and convenience in mind when it comes to digital storage. If you are interested in printing your photos, then more megapixels might actually help you get better prints if you are looking to print larger than 8x10's. Printing and producing physical photos is making a comeback so this may be an actual thing you need to think about when purchasing a camera. If you go into a store, take an SD card with you and put it in the display cameras and take a few photos and then take them home and print them and see which ones turn out the best! Its a great free way to try out the camera without making a purchase!
Something to Think About...
I hope I've given you enough to think about for a little while. My next post will focus on some of the actually differences between the types of cameras to help you get a better understanding of which camera may work better for you!
How to Get Great Bluebonnet Photos
If you’re looking for a few tips to help you get GREAT Texas Bluebonnet photos - then you’ve come to the right place! This quick guide will help you get some amazing bluebonnet images this spring!
How to Get Great Bluebonnet Photos
So, I'm gonna start off and say that if you want the absolute best bluebonnet photos, then you should just schedule a session with us and let us take your amazing bluebonnet photos... Just throwing that out there.
But, seriously, here are a few simple tricks to making sure that you get great bluebonnet photos with those precious kids or grandkids or dogs or tacos or whatever you love and want to frame with bluebonnets.
COMPOSITION IS KEY
Framing up your photo, or the composition of your photo is one of the key elements to getting a great pic. Traditionally, most people take photos standing with their subjects kneeling or sitting in the flowers. It adds a lot of great perspective however if you, the photographer, kneel down as well. It creates a neat effect, especially with younger children. Kind of an "on their level" look. The lower you can go, the better! While most people like to center their subjects in the frame, don't be afraid to try some different angles! Bluebonnets and beautiful from every angle. Get creative and try something different. Who knows, you may start a new Texas Bluebonnet trend on facebook or instagram!
An example of a shot from standing position.
The bokeh (blur effect from the lens) makes this image much more interesting. Well, except there's a highway in the background... But you get the idea.
Lighting, Aka the Tricky Part
Lighting either makes or breaks any photo. Most of the time, people parking on the side of the road to snap a bluebonnet photo are using a cell phone or a smaller point-and-shoot camera with a very minimal flash. The biggest mistake most people make is not lighting their bluebonnet photos correctly. Time of day plays a big part in this equation, because the midday sun produces harsh light and even harsher shadows making the highlights of your image super bright and the shadows super dark. This is a very undesirable effect. Early morning or later afternoon are definitely the best time of day to take your photos as the natural light is way more accommodating.
Taking Photos Facing the Sun
Here’s our 2019 Bluebonnets pic, facing the sun.
Once you're out standing in the middle of those beautiful blue flowers, you basically have two options for lighting. The first, is to have your subjects face the sun directly, which can be a nice effect lighting up the subject and the background beautifully. The problem with facing the sun is that often times you are still dealing with some harsh shadow plush some very squinty-eyed subjects. It is really hard to get a good bluebonnet pic when your subjects’ eyes are watering and they are trying to smile through the pain of the bright Texas sun.
These are available on Amazon and are cheap and easy to use!!!
You can purchase a diffuser to take with you. They are usually between $20 to $40 on Amazon and they are so easy to use. Besides the diffuser, you’ll need a stand or a volunteer to hold the diffuser during the photo. I personally recommend using a volunteer! To use, position your subjects facing the sun, then deploy your diffuser so that it casts shade over your subjects. You want to specifically get their faces, but you need to make sure there’s no harsh shade/sun line where the diffuser ends. You’ll need to play around with the angles a little to get it right, but using a diffuser will result in a beautiful golden image with softened shadows and no risk of your subjects going blind.
Taking Photos Facing away from the sun
This photo of my daughter, facing away from the sun, using a reflector to help fill out the shadows
Or you can choose the second option and put the sun directly to your subject's back and use a flash or a reflector to light your subject. I generally choose this second option and use a high powered flash or a reflector. Your phone won’t have a flash powerful enough to light your subjects, so your best bet is to pick up a cheap reflector from Amazon.
Most reflectors come with reversible covers that allow you to adjust how the light is bounced back on your subjects. You will have to play around with the reflector to see how each surface affects the light, but they are amazing and relatively inexpensive! Here’s a link to one on Amazon that I’ve purchased and keep in my car just in case! Just position it in front of your subject, but out of the frame and move it around until the lighting on your subject looks the best. Try to be on one side or the other of your subject, it will give them a nice light side and slightly shadier side making the photo more interesting.
The Camera App - The Thing We Take for Granted
The default camera app on iPhones and Android devices are ok, but not great. Instagram takes reduced sized images and Snapchat equally doesn't give you much room to really edit your image. I really love the VSCO (pronounced "visco") app for the iPhone. It allows me to take 'raw' images, and gives me a ton of editing options. There are also a lot of premade filters that you can get for free or purchase that will make your photos look amazing. You can take the photos and make edits, and then go back and change those edits later. It is a great app to have and use!
Don't be Afraid to Have Fun
A rare photo of me, in the bluebonnets. Probably one of the best photos of me every taken...
Not every bluebonnet photo session is going to go smoothly, so don't get frustrated when your kids don't cooperate. We recently tried to get some bluebonnet photos of our little ones and it just turned into a screaming disaster. We didn’t stress, instead we took some really hilarious photos of the kids loosing it in the middle of the beautiful fields of blue and then packed them up and planned to shoot again on a different day.
Main, just have fun and enjoy the moment. The best pictures are made when everyone is having a good time. Those smiles and those flowers are what make Texas Bluebonnet Photos a time honored tradition. Remember that you aren't really making pictures, you're making memories.
We were quarantined during the 2020 bluebonnet season, but we used a patch in our back yard cause you can’t be a Texan and not get some bluebonnet pics of your kids!
