You are very welcome! So the Elements question has been coming up a lot. The template will work in any version of CS BUT I also found out from one of our fab reader's Krystal B. that:
Album Cafe has a great effect that opens grouped layers to become usable in Elements. http://www.thealbumcafe.com/ElementsUsers.html (IT'S FREE!)

I order all my canvases from Simply Canvas. They are awesome! You can do the saw tooth or paper back but I don't and the real reason is that it's so much easier to hang them without all that stuff.

I have canvases all over my house and they are hung with tacks because I move them around so much. My clients always think that's hilarious.

I don't do anything special. All of mine are 1.5 and I make sure I have enough room for the image to wrap around the sides. I've done .75 wrap for one client because we were putting 2 16x20's in the entry and they would be behind the door when it was opened so we wanted to be sure that they would not get hit by the door.

So exciting for you! I can't wait for you to get it... My canvas deliveries always make me the happiest!

Most of the time I'm shooting in AWB (Auto White Balance) but if it's particularly cloudy or a very yellowish indoor situation I will set the white balance setting to the appropriate setting. Sometime if it's really bad and I can't get the right coloring then I will use Kelvin Color Temp and set it myself.

When I shoot in studio with my lights I just throw up a white sheet of paper and color balance myself. I learned from a good friend of mine, Leroy Hamilton that is doesn't have to be as fancy as "they" make you think it does. Leroy will just grab someone wearing a white shirt, snap a picture filling as much of the frame with white as possible and custom white balance to that.

As far as sharpening... Yes! I do mildly sharpen almost every image but I'm careful about it. I use to way over sharpen and it made the images loose resolution quality. Trying to sharpen a soft image doesn't work, I know... I've tried. Now I look for light, sharpness and expression for my final selections that the client will see. In PS I use my favorite action, 'Powder Room' by Coffee Shop (it's free) but at a very low opacity and then at the very end I use a high pass filter and erase the effect off of all the skin. There is a great post about sharpening on the Go{4}Pro Blog by Amy Wenzel (http://www.go4prophotos.com/inspiration/10-tips-for-sharper-images-by-amy-wenzel/)

This is a really great question! I do not do a lot of trespassing. I always want to look very professional and it's just not going to be professional if we are running for our lives cause we are on some guys property and we missed the sign that said 'trespassers will be shot' :D

I have my certain locations that I love to go to and I call in advance and build relationships with those places so that I can use them whenever I want to.

I also reciprocate the love when people are kind enough to let me use their property! For example there is a local Christmas tree farmer who lets me use his land frequently. I give shout outs and links to his website on mine plus I send a little thank you and gift for him and his wife at the end of the season just so they know how much I appreciate them!

It's been years so I really don't have anywhere to send you. But what I would do is often search out a specific technique or tool. For example, 'how to use curves' 'how to crop' (yes I did have to google that one!) 'how to use clipping mask'. Each time I ran into a challenge that I didn't know how to use I would go into You Tube and search until I did. I have to admit it was a very slow and time consuming process. Maybe I could create a little class or make a couple videos and show you guys how I edit. It's nothing fancy, I'm very basic. I like to have my session completely edited from start to finish in under 3 hours.

It's going to be easiest to have them all in focus if they are all on the same line. So imagine a chalk line, if everyones eyes are lined up to that chalk perfect then they will all be in focus but as soon as one person steps back and one steps forward then only the people who are still on that line (as long as that's what you lock your focus on) will be tack sharp.

Since that's probably not the only way you want to pose, you'll want to just bump up your aperture. A great rule is to have your aperture set no lower then the number of people you are shooting (especially if they are not all on that chalk line). So if I'm photographing a family of 4 I would want to keep my aperture at 4.0 or higher, 7 people... 7.1 or higher. Of course the higher the aperture the more light you will need. I frequently shoot at 60 SS and bump my ISO up to 1600 (I'm on a Mark II that's not something I could have done on say my old 40D) and even at 1600 (if I have to) I still get great printing results.

I save images only as JPG in a color and black and white option. If I change my mind about the edit then I go back to the original SOOC and would start again. I already fill several external hard-drives, I can't even imagine if I was saving both what kind of space I would take up!

I also only shoot in JPG format, not raw. I did this to force myself to learn to get it right in camera and to keep my workflow as easy as possible. The SD Cards gets unloaded, 20 to 30 images are selected for retouching (typically I've shot between 60 and 100). Those images are sent to my own retouch artist who I trained and it takes her about 2.5 hours per session to edit.

Hi Mama Bear!

I'm so excited for our upcoming session on __________________. I wanted to touch base with you about your email in regards to the poses and editing style you shared with me. I am so excited that you are being so proactive in your session! It's really fun to see that and I want to give you images that you will love! I have a signature shooting and retouching style for Awesome Me Photography that you can get a great feel for on my blog (linked). We can absolutely spend a little time working to get these more traditional poses and we will mix a little bit of fresh fun in there too. I'm so glad that you've sent me these images as they give me a great idea for what you're wanting.

Can't wait to meet you!

You

:D I have no idea how it turned into a question FROM me? Someone asked me and all of a sudden it was being answered, and I have no idea how to fix it. LOL.

Now I see why you're so confused! I'd never seen that the answer was chopped. I'm sorry! Well I don't know how, 'the m' was going to start so here is answer 2.

We do want to be very respectful of the musicians we play on our sites just as we're always hearing photographers harp about being respectful to the photography we post.
Your two choices for purchasing would be Song Freedom & ... Shoot, I can't remember the name of the other company. But just google something like, 'Music for Photography'.
I know people also find local artists to their own area and ask to use that music with credit of course.
For me personally, I'm using instrumental music from my church that was commercially available.

I'm very grateful for my faith. I learned about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when I was 20. That single action was the turning point in my life. It's the best thing to ever happen to me. I am a 100% different person because of the LDS Church and I don't believe that I would be anything that I am if I hadn't found it. I am the only person in my family to have been baptized a member of the LDS church but all of my siblings say that the change in who I am now to who I was is night and day and it's all for the better!

There was a lot of pain in my growing up years, a lot of bad bad stuff. I didn't know how to be happy, how to have good things (I mean goodness not possessions) and good relationships. I was very lost and unsure of my place in this world. Without question, I owe every good thing I have and am to my faith in Jesus Christ and at the top of that list is my husband and my children.

This is the GREAT PLAN OF HAPPINESS and it's all laid out with in the pages of The Book of Mormon. How can I not share what I know? How could I withhold this knowledge that transcended my life into what it is today? If I could give one person the joy that I have in life then I will know that my life was worth it and the only way to share all of what I have is through the LDS Church.

I am so proud to be a "Mormon" and it's exciting to get to share my faith with the world however I possibly can. I would never want to deprive anyone of having the opportunity to have all of their questions and sorrows resolved as to why we're here, the purpose of life and the key to real, long term joy! So I share happily!

BTW - if anyone want to know more about what I'm talking about you can either check out Mormon.org or I would be ecstatic to share my full story and chat with you on the phone myself!

That's the short answer. :)

Start with the items that will help you make more money. I always let the profitability factor come first! The next thing that I like to think about is marketing. If I feel like a certain prop could help me with a promotion. Let's say I want a couch or backdrop and I'm planning to make a mini shoot event around it... That would be the next purchase. My basic thinking is that I want to purchase the things on my list that will help me afford the rest of my list.

Absolutely!!! There might be a little you need to know about preparing your full business for this if you're looking to sell the whole thing in it's entirety. Or if in relocating, you're looking to sell just your list you have options as well. I would probably sell my list for a base price and a % of the revenue that comes from my clients for the first year. I would do this because it would help ease the initial investment for another photographer while giving me reoccurring income while I establish myself in a new area.
Great question!

Yes. All my "employees" are set up as contracted to work with me so they are responsible to pay their taxes.

It sounds like you know the answer to this one. People are sometimes (very unfortunately) more respectful of their money then of peoples time. Always collect the session fee upon scheduling. In fact it won't even go onto my schedule without a credit card number. It also has this funny way of giving them more a sense of your legitimacy as a business! I'm not sure why, I only know that I've seen that time and time again in my own business.

Not nearly as often as Canvas. I offer it more to show a boutique variety of options and I do have a huge framed print in the studio for people to see as a sample but very rarely is that the choice.

We do plan to record the Go{4} Profit web event but since technology has been known to have a glitch or two, I would hate to make promises that I can't deliver on. As long as all goes well, the recording will be available for purchase but only to those who were registered for the web event. The recording will be available to attendees for a nominal fee of $19.

http://www.go4prophotos.com/shop/workshop-seminars-mentoring/go4profit-web-event/

I do heavy marketing to get into my target niche but perhaps not the kind your thinking of (great phone consult conversation) and then I can start relying on fabulous referrals to begin to follow!

I first tell them how honored and grateful I am that they chose me, next I go into a little about my business and philosophy and last I go into details about what they can expect during and after the shoot. I end by letting them know that I'm available if any questions arise.

The m