Tutorial learning:
Digital Photography School
Photoshop Killer Tips
PhotoArgus
Photocritic
Photo Tuts
www.slrlounge.com
www.togtips.com

Lighting tips:
Strobits

Lightroom & LR presets :
Lightroom Queen
Totally Rad Actions
PresetsHeaven

Forums:
Wedding Togs SA
OpenSourcePhoto
Photo.net

Be sure to check out these cool articles about: Top 10 photography articles as well as the brand new South African Photography forum. Sign up and learn from others! Wedding Togs SA.

*Side Note 1: All tips for photographers will be uploaded under the Q & A category on my blog. I will however be uploading more “tutorial like” and other photography related things on my Facebook page under the Note’s. This is a place where you can ask questions and interact with other photographers. So if you’re interested in learning more, head over to my fan page.

*Side Note 2: The photo is a quick pic of what my office looks like. Small but cosy :)

ps. Please remember that these answers are MY opinions, other photographers might have other views on these subjects, but this is how I see it :)

Ilanie asked: I see you use a flash at the receptions, but how do you get your lighting to look like you do? I also use a flash and I stuck a white piece of cardboard to the top, to bounce when I’m in a thatch roof or dark room space, but it’s not working as I’d like it to work. What would you suggest?

Illanie, firstly I’m not a big fan of flash, because I love soft light. I don’t like shadows or hard light, but in most receptions I have to use one because the ambient light is not enough. The big thing for me, when using your flash, is not to use it directly at the subject and if you do always use some sort of a defuser. I mainly have one 580Ex flash on my canon body and I twist the flash in a 45 degree angle up. This will bounces some light onto my subject, but it will be much softer than direct lighting. I also use a Gary Fong Clear Lightsphere on my flash most of the time, especially in a venue with a very high ceiling or a thatch roof venue. The Gary Fong has a curved dome that acts as a “ceiling” for the light to bounce of. Other items that work for softening the light from the flash is the Sto-fen Omni-Bounce. Both of these items are available at Orms in Cape Town.

Kaycee asked: What do you do in really harsh lighting where the sun is so strong and there isn’t much shaded areas?

This is a hard one! As I said above I’m not a fan of shadows and hard light, so I make a point of it to explain this to my clients when I meet with them before hand. I always try to organize my shoots in the “sunset” time of the day or at least early morning or late afternoon. If I do end up with only harsh light and no shaded area, I will make sure that they are in a full sun lit area, no mottled light. Also make sure your subject is either standing facing the light directly (will be difficult as they will probably squint, but I always ask them just to turn their faces sideways a bit), or with their backs to the sun, shooting directly into it (this will probably result in some lens flair, but can be great :) If you don’t want lens flair, make sure you have someone blocking out the sun for you with) Remember that you will be blowing out a lot of background with this if you only use natural light and expose correctly for the couple. So to even out the light a bit and add a bit more pop to the shot I use my reflector to bounce some sun light back into the shot.

Kaycee asked: How do you get good detail shots if the reception is indoor and there isn’t any natural light? Do you move the centerpieces outdoors to get good lighting?

I shoot all the decor/details of the wedding before I go to the bride. This gives me enough time to get everything in detail. Many times the reception is not very well lit, so I use a tripod. I like to use natural light, over flash, but the shutter will probably have to stay open a bit longer than what I can achieve hand held, so I just put the camera on a tripod. For details this is perfect, everything is standing still, so you just wait for the shot to be properly exposed. I also use a very fast lens (50mm 1.4F and also my 135mm 2F) for my details, so if I bump up the ISO to about 800-1000ISO and have the F. on about 2F I get great hand held shots. Most of the time the candles aren’t lit yet, so I make a point of getting those shots just before all the people enter the reception. I did try a few different things at Helena & Henri’s wedding (check out the cake shot), as it was a super dark venue with hardly any light. I popped a 580Ex (with Gary) on my canon 5D mark2 and then I had a separate flash on a tripod that acted at a slave unit. Both flashed triggered together and it created quite a nice look :)

Pierre de Villiers: Im doing research on flash units and was wondering whether you have any specific ideas that is worth while to mention? I have spoken to a whole bunch of sales people but you know, there is nothing like getting advice from someone who knows, BUT doesn’t want to get money out of you! ;)

As mentioned above I use the Canon 580EX flashes with the The Gary Fong. For off camera flash I use the Pocket wizard units. I’m still not a pro when it comes to off camera and I’m not sure if I really like it, but I’m learning as I go :)

Yesterday was probably the worst day in my career so far! I felt my heart race and I felt like a heart attack was right on my heels, I felt numb and every thing stood still. But thank the Lord all worked out well. It’s probably something very little photographers will write about, as it puts you in quite a vulnerable position. But something I realized was that we are all human! We ARE vulnerable, we do make mistakes and we will make mistakes! And the quicker you realize it and accept it, the easier it will be for you… ok, so all of you are wondering what happened, well, here is the story:

I did a shoot and while I was editing I realized that some of the photos were missing. Ok, NOT COOL! I checked my 3 backups…Yes I run 3 backups of all my shoots. I basically download my cards and then I copy that same folder on 3 different external hard drives, to make super sure nothing can fail on me. I have a very set system and it’s NEVER failed me before, but as I say, we are human and technology can fail, so as I checked the files I realized that there was a gap in the time zone, which meant that those photos were missing and missing on all 3 hard drives! So I went back to my cards, but they were already formatted. So they were gone…

But then I started reading up on recovery software and I first bought Sandisk Rescue, but I had no luck, then later that day I came across Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery. This is the program that saved my files!! I ran the program over the formatted card and I got all my RAW files back. In full quality! As if it was still on the card! This is a program you hav to buy! It’s only 38$ and a must have for such a situation. I still don’t understand how this happend, as it was only about a quarter of the photos on the original card that I was missing, so for some reason they were never downloaded.

I jotted down a quick check list for those of you who don’t have a set system yet, this might help to illuminate situations like these:

• While shooting, make sure you put your clean cards in one bag/holder and the full cards in a separate one. I use the sandisk bags to separate mine. I hook them on my shootsac, so that they are close by. I use the white sandisk bag as the empty cards and the red one for the full ones.

• When you get home, create a new file on your computer or external hard drive. I use external hard drives as this gives me freedom to travel with my files and it doesn’t fill up my computer. I use a filing system with the following sub divisions. A year division eg 2009, then I have a division for COUPLES, WEDDINGS, CORPORATE etc. Under the weddings I create a new file for my client, but I put their date first. In this way all my files will be sorted in the shoot date and not the name eg filename: 20091011 John & Adri

• In the past I use to dump all the files in that folder and then it’s done, but NO!! Don’t do it! Your files names might over write each other especially if you shoot with more than 1 camera, so to keep track of exactly each file make a file for each card, eg in “20091011 John & Adri” you make a file “1″, “2″, “3″ etc and after each card is downloaded make sure you check the original files on the card and make sure you have the same amount of files in your file as on the card.

• Copy this same file on 2 other external hard drives/flash disks so that you have all the originals in case one fails.

• If you ever format a card and you need the files, DON’T shoot over it!! Use Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery and recover your lost photos!

I hope this post helps some of you and that you’ll never have to go though what I went through yesterday!

I recently received many questions about my new website. It seems like many of you would like to know who created the website. Today you can watch a video that iaan made (from PlusPlusMinus Design & Development) to explain how the site works. I hope this helps you to understand the AWESOMENESS of WordPress and all that it can do for you as a photographer.

My website is entirely built on WordPress as a Content Management System. This allows me to update and make changes to my website very easily and without any maintenance fee or having to wait for the developers to make the changes. These videos only explain the most basics aspects of my website.

If you find this interesting and would like to learn more about how WordPress works and what happens behind the scenes, please leave a comment or ask some questions and I can get iaan to make more videos for you to learn from. We would love to help you understand everything around WordPress, but we need the questions, before we can write the answers :)

Christine Meintjes Photography Part1 from PlusPlusMinus on Vimeo.

Christine Meintjes Photography Part2 from PlusPlusMinus on Vimeo.

I want to ask you a few questions on how you got started. How do you start to get clients? What kind of advertising would you suggest? Did you use any advertising or is it all word of mouth? How do you differentiate yourself from all the other photographers out there?

I’m sure all of us ask this when we start out and as I said at my workshop the other day, you’d probably jump to getting a businesscard & website running and then you’d start advertising on sites etc. I don’t believe this is wrong, but I do believe that there are “less expensive” ways to get the word out and in the long run these will bring in more business than you can imagine!

Word of mouth will definitely be your best advertising in the long run. Make sure you build good relationships! Relationships take time, effort, requires honesty and lots of love! So it’s not a quick fix, but it’s something that will multiply and at the end be much more worth than a cold advertisement!

When I started out I did many free shoots. Any opportunity that came my was grabbed with both arms! Shooting for free will give you the oppertunity to improve your portfolio and it will increase your word of mouth support. So I encourage all of you to shoot as much as you can to make sure you improve your portfolio.

A few months ago I wrote a short piece about starting your business and getting your name out there. I suggest you read it.

To differentiate yourself form all the other photographers is a very personal thing. It all depends on what you’re good at and how you want to be known. I believe they should relate to one another. If you’re good at something and you focus on it, it will probably be the thing for what you are known. Find something in your personality that makes you “YOU” and then bring it into your photos and business. Focus on it in the way you market, shoot and present your work.

When I started out I knew I was a perfectionist and I loved detail. I tend to want everything very neat, clean and well designed and thought through, so I started to use these “themes” through my photos as well as the way I run my business. When I look at my work I see these things in the photos and that makes it “real” and “honest”. It’s a reflection of who I am. So my suggestion would be for you to do the same. Make it who you are and that will differentiate you automatically.

Mark asked: I’m Mark from Belgium.  I stumbled on your website in search for some good wedding photography tips or examples. I was wondering if you could get me some insight on how you got those wedding pics of Alexé & Raynie so great. In the prologue you mentioned the presence of great light, but it seems to me it was very sunny that day.  For me that would be hard, because it tends to create a lot of hot spots in the photograph (white dress + face).  With your photographs that does not seem to bother. Could you please give me some tips?

My favourite light to shoot in is very consistent and soft light, such as a shaded area or overcast weather. With this light you wouldn’t get hotspots or lots of contrast, but unfortunately we don’t always have those conditions, so you still have to make it work!

When I photographed Alexe & Raynie’s wedding it was full sunlight. There was hardly any shade and it wasn’t easy, but in those situations I’d either shoot against the light or into the light. To get consistent light on your models faces you have to turn their faces either into the light (which was to bright that morning and it made them squint, this works better if you have sunset light) or you turn them against the light (meaning your lens will be facing the sun). This will result in a lens flare shot if your lens is not in the shade and probably a blown out background. (I’m not so concerned about the blown out background, but try and find a middle way.) A good idea is to have an assistant with a reflector in the front, to bounce back some light into their shaded faces. If you have your models with faces half turned towards the sun the one side will be blown out and the other side will be to dark, it all depends on which look your going for, but those heavy light/contrast shots are not my style.

If you’re shooting, you as the photographer have to make suggestions where the couple should stand. You have to make sure you choose the best spots in terms of lighting. Scout the area before the shoot. Many times a client would want a photo in front of a door or fountain etc and the light might be very bad. Remember they are probably looking at the object and not the light (probably the biggest mistake photographers make when they start out with photography :) Look at the light! and then the person you’re shooting). I’ll still take the photo, but then I’ll show them that the light doesn’t work there. I’ll then make the suggestion of where they should stand. Remember people are hiring you as a professional. So don’t feel bad when you have a “better” suggestion. Just do it n a considerate way.

I hope this helps! x

Email form Jo:
I’ve been dying to ask you some questions so was very happy to see that you welcome them. I am a mother of 3 and part-time photographer from New Zealand. I was a photographers assistant for 4 years when I left school and have been just doing part-time since then (in between having children). I found the experience of being an assistant was great and I learnt heaps but always wish that I had done more photographic training. Digital photography wasn’t around then either so I am totally self taught on photoshop and would love some confirmation that I’m doing things right.

I felt like this too when I just started out. I didn’t have any formal training in photography either. Our design course at varsity stated that it had a photography section as well, but the only thing I did that was worth it was to create my own pin hole camera to understand how a photo is formed. But that’s about it, so don’t feel like you are any less a photographer than someone that has formal training in a photography school. Most photographers I know didn’t have any formal training either. So there is hope for us…just read up online, look at other people’s work and shoot as much as you can!

Can you please tell me what method you use for vignetting? Do you use the lens correction filter?

I use the vignette on lightroom under the “vignettes” toolbar. Just a slide of a bad and you have some beautiful vignettes!

What are the basic steps you use to edit an image – without getting into artistic techniques. ie.. do you crop to a certain size or leave full size and what resolution do you use? Do you use levels or curves?

After the shoot I download the photos to my external hard drive. Then I import them into lightroom. I then do all my basic editing like exposure, colour correction and clean up the light with the spot tool (If I had any dust spots). I hardly ever crop images. I try and shoot them as I want them. So cropping only happens if I want to make the shot a bit more artistic, such as a narrow landscape or a square, but mostly I don’t crop. After I edited the RAW image I export them into 300dpi Jpegs. (remember your clients will not be able to open RAW files)

I remember reading on one of your blogs that you love to use your 50mm lens. Do you use it for portrait work and do you have a favourite aperture/shutter setting?

Yes the 50mm is my absolute favourite lens! I can shoot almost anything with it! I love it, because it’s very easy to handle, very light and has great depth of field. I do most of my portrait work with it. I love 2.8F as well as taking it super wide to 1.8 or even 1.4. (But be careful with the the wide aperture, you have to keep the camera very still and any movement could make the shot totally out of focus, so it takes some practice) (see my upcoming shoot with my sister, Lydia and her best friend Marelize, everything shot with the 50mm)

Your lighting is always lovely. Do you use any kind of portable lighting?

Thanks Jo, but I hardly ever use external lighting. I prefer to shoot everything as natural as possible. I’m always on the lookout for spots with soft natural light, like placing a bride in front of a big window (which acts as the light source) or to place a couple under a shaded area. If I shoot at night I’d use a flash, but try and bounce it. I’m not a big fan or extra lighting. I recently bought pocket wizards and hope to try it out this season, but as I said natural lighting will always be my favorite.

Also remember that the answers to the questions is my opinion and not all photographers will agree with me. I’m sure you’ll get many different answers when asked to different photographers.

The first set of questions was sent my 17 year old Alexandra. She’s currently looking into the photography world as a possible career and here are a few questions she asked me.

1. Where did you study?

I studies BA Graphic Design at Stellenbosch University

2. How long did you study for?
I studied four years. But remember this course was not a photography course. It was graphic design. It was great, but not the course you’d want to do if you want to become a photographer. The course definitely benefitted my photography, but it was my assisting job that gave me the foundation for my photography. I worked for a photographer on weekends from the age of 14…so I had about 8 years experience by the time I started my own business. Assisting is the best way to learn!! It doesn’t cost much…just your time. And you’ll learn more than any course can teach you!

3. Would you be willing to take on a paid intern next year?
Unfortunately I already have 2 full time assistants. In my opinion you wouldn’t easily find a job where they’ll get pay you for intern work. If you’re a qualified editor or shooter with a strong portfolio it’s another story, but if you’re only starting out and you want to learn, you should see your first 3 years as your education years. (That is if you didn’t study and you have no experience)

Remember when you assist a photographer it’s not just the shooting part. That’s only 10% of the job, there is lots of admin, editing, album layout and deliveries etc. All of that needs to get done and if a photographer is going to let you help them out, they will have to put lots of time into training you. In my opinion it’s better that any course! But it’s going to cost you you’re time and if you get any pay it will probably not be much. It’s more of an exchange agreement. Education and experience for your help.

4. Do you enjoy what you do?
Absolutely! Like any industry there are things that are tough, but the job satisfaction is absolutely amazing! I love my job! I totally believe in the quote, “If you love what you do you wouldn’t work a day in your life”

5. What’s your favourite thing about being a photographer?
It’s creative, it’s always changing, every situation is different and it’s a quick medium. I like to do something and see the result. I think off all the art forms photography is the one for me. I’d never be able to do something like sculpting, because you need lots of patience! I like things a bit quicker.

6. How long have you been working for?
This is the 3d year of having my own business, but as I said, I worked for a photographer from the age of 14, so about 6-8 years of assisting and 3-5 years of shooting.

7. Have you always known that this is what you want to do?
I’ve always known I’d like to do something creative, but my interest in photography became really strong from around the age of 17.

8. What are the main characteristics you should have to be a photographer?
mmm…I think this is a personal one, it all depends on your field of photography I would say. But if I had to give a few characteristics in the wedding/portrait industry I would say:

• Passion for what you’re doing.

There is nothing like passion. Without it you’re either going no where, or you’re going to burn out. Passion is the petrol of the engine. You need it like fresh air. I truly believe that if you have a passion for something, you’ll make it work. And most of the time you’ll make a great success, just because you love it so much!

• Be daring & play.

Push boundaries, don’t always play it safe. When I shoot, I always get some shots I call the “safe shots”. Those are the “all in focus” well framed, classic shots. Then I get a few with very wide aperture eg 1.4F and a few random angles etc, those are the more dating shots, but those are the ones that excite me and most probably become my favourite shots of the day. Those are she shots that make you learn and grow.

• Be critical of your work.

Know when it’s a good shot and when a bad one. You have to be very selective, this will help you grow. Through out all the bad ones. I mean ALL the bad ones. Rather only have 10 good ones, than 50 ok one. If you’re always happy with your work you’ll never grow. I don’t mean this in a negative way, but you have to push yourself all the time. Never become to comfortable!

9. Graphic design — is it necessary?
It all depends on what you want to do. I wanted to combine the graphic design skill with my photography in some sense, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. If you want to be a photographer and you’re not that keen on graphic design don’t do it. And if you want to do both, I suggest you don’t do a combo course, but rather do a specialized course in photography and a specialized course in design (eg 4 years at university or collage) There are very little schools that offer a good combo course. Make sure you do lots of research about your school, talk to previous students and ask them about their experiences. That’s the best way to find out that’s really going on.

Even though I’m a trained graphic designer, I’ve learned that  if you really want to be successful in photography, you can’t do both. My design stills helps me when it comes to composition and general design, such as logos and websites (which is a crucial part of your image).

I use to design all my marketing material myself, but now I’ve come to a point where I’m outsourcing most of it to designers that devote all their time to design. In this way I’m focussing on my photography and I’m opening up time for me to focus on other things.

Remember the first things people see with your photos are you logo and your web/blog design. If you’re not an expert in that I suggest you pay someone else to help you to get the job done.

I hope that helps! If you have anymore questions about editing, lighting, equipment, running your business or anything else, please mail me at info[at]christinemeintjes.co.za and your question might be on the blog next week.