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All responses Most smiled responses
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The metering process really doesn't change when you switch your camera to BBF. You'll still use the half press of the shutter to meter for your subject. Hope that helps!
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Thanks so much!
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Not a dumb question at all! When shooting groups rather than an individual or a couple, we do a few things differently. We usually move to a higher F stop so that more of the subject is in focus. A 5.6 vs. a 2.8 will make a big difference in how much of the image is blurred out. Since you want the whole family in focus you want to make sure you do this first. Also, if the subjects are posed all on the same plane (or distance from the camera) they should all be in equal focus anyway so it doesn't matter too much which person you focus on. As a general rule though, we tend to focus on the eyes of the person in the middle. If they are staggered in distance from you, we typically choose the middle front person's eyes and just make sure we've closed down the f stop enough. Hope that helps!
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We shoot AF-S 99% of the time - we find that this setting tends to produce the sharpest images. However, you should technically be able to do the same on AF-C if you are shooting moving subjects and want your focus to change as the subject moves. We just rarely switch it because we prefer the AF-S mode and it fits our style and comfort level the most.
As for the metering mode, that doesn't really have anything to do with focusing. Metering is all about how your camera interrupts the exposure of the shot. Matrix metering takes a look at the overall scene (all light sources) whereas, Spot metering exposes (or tells you how to expose in manual) based off only a small area of the image - wherever your focus box is located.
For example, if your taking a shot where the subject is backlit with matrix metering you're subject will probably be dark since the camera is looking at the whole scene with the bright lights behind them. If you're shooting manual - as we do - you would have to know that you need to "trick" your meter by over exposing the subject so they will not be dark. In the same set up on Spot metering your exposure for the subject would probably be more accurate.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any more questions! -
asked by bgreening
Sorry it took a while to respond, but we decided to answer your question on our blog :-) http://simplyknotphotography.com/blog/?p=4806 We'll address sharpening in a couple of days. THANKS!
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Not really - we've got a 101 in 1001 list that we've been working on for a while though (http://simplyknotphotography.com/blog/2010/02/101-in-1001/)
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If I tell you, I'll have to kill you! JK! Although a lot of photogs are stingy about sharing their "secret" shooting locations, it's not too big of a deal to us. We certainly weren't the first to shoot there and we won't be the last!
Honestly though, I'm not totally sure which street it's on, you just have to kind of stumble on it. It's tucked in between a bunch of shops - probably on Main or 1st street between Scottsdale Road and Brown Ave.
- Denise -
Hmmmm. Well, that's kinda hard to say exactly. We both shoot full manual so we change settings A LOT whenever there are changes in the lighting environment. I guess I’ll just describe our thought process in the most common lighting situations rather than exact settings.
OUTDOORS: We shoot at a 200 ISO, Auto WB with as low of an f-stop as we can to get the area of focus and depth of field were looking for (I’d say a 2.8 on average). We tend to prefer that the background is a little blurred, but not completely unrecognizable in most of our shots. We adjust our shutter speed as needed to get the right exposure. We typically meter on the subject’s face and set the exposure for them based on our in camera meters. We don’t worry too much about the background exposure unless it’s more of an environmental portrait.
INDOORS (no flash): Depending on how much light we have to work with we probably shoot at between a 400 and 800 ISO on Auto WB and again with as low of an f-stop as we can to get the area of focus and depth of field were looking for (I’d say between 1.4 and 2.8 depending on the light and lens we’re using). We adjust our shutter speed as needed to exposure for the subject’s face. I do typically stay at a shutter speed of 1/80 (preferably 1/100) at the very lowest because I know I can’t get sharp shots if I go any lower. Ryan has a steadier hand than I do so he can go a slow it down more, but I tend to up my ISO before risking too long of a shutter speed.
INDOORS (with flash): For receptions we shoot at between a 400 ISO on Auto WB with flashes set to TTL. Whenever possible, we bounce the flash light of a ceiling or wall to avoid the yucky direct flash look. We tend to keep our ISO a little higher to pick up more ambient light (although you can also do the same thing with a longer shutter speed since the flash will freeze the motion.) We still use lower f-stops where possible unless we want a wider area of focus (like for dancing or a group shot) where as we might move to an f-stop somewhere between 3 and 8. We typically set our shutter speed at 1/60 or at a 1/40 if we want extra ambient lighting.
I guess that’s about it! Hope that helps! If you have a specific situation you’re trying to plan for let us know some details and we’d be happy to offer any advice we can. Thanks for the question! -
That's always a tough one and something that we're constantly working on for our own business. We're not marketing experts so I guess the only advice we can really share is what has worked for us. We specialize in weddings a lot more than portraits so our story is pretty geared towards that part of the industry. Hope you find it helpful anyway :-)
When we started out, we mostly just told everyone we knew that we were starting a photography business and offered to do some shooting for free (like family photos and things like that). Friends and family sent us our first clients (paying and non-paying). We also did some second shooting for other wedding photographers and shadowed others to learn the ropes. Once we had been shooting for a while and had some work for our portfolio, we set up our website. We signed up for any and all free online photography listings we could find, but you're a small fish in a big pond with those type of things so we never saw much come from it. We finally decided to put an ad out on craigslist for a wedding package special. I know, I know, it sounds kind of terrible, but we seriously booked our first 6 or 7 weddings off of it which is was really got our wedding business started. There are A LOT of "cheap" photographers on craigslist, but the reason I think that it worked for us is that we had a professional website, a good portfolio, professional looking print materials and sample albums so when we met with people they could tell that we were serious about photography as our business and not just wanting to take pictures for the fun of it. We did our best to treat those first clients like gold and they in turn sent more clients our way.
Once we had been shooting weddings for a while we were able to build relationships with some wedding vendors (planners, venues, etc.) that started to refer their clients to us.
We would also suggest that you build relationships with other photographers because they can send you clients when they're booked. This happens to us during our busy season A LOT and we like to send the clients that we can't work with to other photographers in the area that we trust. There are networking groups that can help you meet other photogs (let us know if you want more info on that), or you can just contact another photographer who's blog you stalk (you know you do it) and just ask them to lunch. We've done both and have built some great friendships because of it!
Here are a few other little things we do that have helped get our name out there:
1.) We gather emails at every wedding we shoot and email the guests when the photos are up on our blog and online gallery. It brings people to our site and our clients love it too! We take care of spreading the word for them so they don't have to send out a mass email to all their friends and family.
2.) We also use these emails to send out newsletters on occasion. It's always good to keep yourself in the front of people's minds so when they do need a photographer or hear of someone that does they will think of you first.
3.) We post our blog preview posts and images on our Facebook page and tag our clients so that the photos show up on their profile. Its super easy and again, our clients love it as it helps them share their images without having to do any extra work. And of course, it makes the photos available to them so they can have a cute new profile pic!
That's pretty much how things have worked for us! Most of our business really has come from referrals and (other than craigslist), we've never done any advertising. It's just a matter of putting yourself out there and doing a great job for your clients when they do come your way. Hope that helps!
- Denise -
That's a great question :-)
It sounds kinda silly, but I think that the ultimate complement we've received has been when our clients have sent us more clients! So much of our business has been based on referrals from our past couples who loved their photos so much that they shared them with others and that brought us more couples. Nothing makes us feel more warm and fuzzy than when a prospective client says, "Bride & Groom X just raved about you and how much they loved their photos!"
As far as a literal "compliment"? Hmmmm. We've been lucky to have some pretty awesome ones. We once had a prospective client say,
"you guys made a backyard wedding look like the Ritz!". That was pretty cool.
Pretty much any time our couples have said things like these, we've considered it the greatest of compliments:
"you totally captured our personalities"
"I cried when I saw the photos"
"I didn't even know you guys were there for that moment!"
"we had so much FUN with you guys and we LOVE our pictures"
- Denise -
Nope, haven't found "the one" yet :( Hopefully soon though. It's a lot of hard work trying to find a house.
-Ryan -
Well, we've crossed ONE goal off the list (see most recent blog post), but there are a lot of BIG GOALS in the works too! Hopefully a lot more will be getting crossed off in the next few months.
- Denise -
Love to help, but we need a bit more info. How exactly is it "not cooperating"? Send me an email at denise@simplyknotphotos.com and I'll see what I can do . . .
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Ha ha! Nope. It's actually on hold for the moment until we get into a new house. Hopefully soon though!
- Denise -
Our ideal wedding would be one that's full of personality & style. We love it when our couples really shine and guests walk away from their day saying, "That was SOOO them!" Those are the ones that we love to photograph. We are naturally storytellers and having lots of personal touches just makes the story that much easier to tell. A couple other things that make up the "ideal" wedding: great use of color, distinctive attire (outside the ultra traditional), thoughtful details, lots of unbridled emotion and a couple that's totally and completely in love and NOT afraid to show it!
- Denise -
It's a good story :-)
He fooled me into thinking his boss "gave him a gift card" to the Melting Pot as an excuse to go out to a nice dinner. I was clueless of course and happy for a fun night on the town. When we came back to my apartment afterwards, he said he had a present for me and had me stand at the back of his car with my eyes closed and hands out. When I opened them I found . . . a hubcap. Romantic huh? Of course, my car WAS missing one so I was actually pretty excited about it. (I later realized that this gift was just to throw me off the trail in case I was starting to suspect something.) When we went inside I opened the door to find the room filled with TONS of candles and flowers everywhere! I actually thought we were interrupting something my roomie's BF was planning for her so I told him we should leave. He oh so cooly said, "Or . . . it could be for you?" (Yep. I'm a huge dork.) He asked me to sit down and gave me another present - a box with a little white pillow in it. And then he took the pillow from me, put it on the ground and got down on one knee. It's true. I have the sweetest man ever!
- Denise -
Yipeeee!!! Thanks for the tip! We totally just went and bought tickets the second we saw your question. You ROCK!!!!
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Chandler & Gilbert mostly, but we're open to parts of Tempe, Phoenix and Mesa as well. It all depend on where the right house happens to be!
- Denise -
We designed them ourselves, but we order through an online printer called Overnight Prints. (http://www.overnightprints.com/)
- Denise
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The Gotchers (Simply...’s Bio
We are a pretty awesome husband and wife photography team.
