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THE MAGAZINE FOR WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS RANGEFINDERONLINE.COM JUNE 2014

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THE MAGAZINE FOR WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS RANGEFINDERONLINE.COM JUNE 2014

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SEO Musts10

Self-Publishing Your Photo Book

Turn Instagram Followers Into Profits

PLUS:7 Must-Tap Mobile Apps

Affordable 4K Cameras for Video Shoots

The Official Magazine of

the Marketing

issue

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[52]

contentsJUNE 2014 / VOL. 63 / N°06

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Features38 Photographer You Should Know

Polish fashion shooter Weronika Kosińska. By Libby Peterson

46 What’s In Your Bag? Ten photographers spill their contents. By David J. Carol

The Marketing Issue 52 How to Convert Instagram Followers into Dollars

Monetizing the social media app. By Harrison Jacobs

58 Three Roads to Self-Publishing How to get your photo book down on paper. By Jessica Gordon

66 The Formula for Great Online Marketing Photographer Rob Greer explains his blended approach. By Rob Greer

70 High Fashion, Small Market Pulling together the logistics of a fashion shoot in any city. By Jeff Rojas

76 Branding with Blair A Q&A with Junebug Weddings co-founder Blair deLaubenfels. By Jacqueline Tobin

78 Rangefinder Asks... What’s the Most Customized Gift You’ve Given a Client? Compiled by Jessica Gordon

80 Product Roundup: 7 Must-Tap Apps Imaging apps that help you take your editing on the road. By Theano Nikitas

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JobClientMedia TypeLiveTrimBleedPubs

PEMA0142_DSizeCanon None7.75” x 10.25”8.375” x 10.875”8.5” x 11.125”Rangefinder

Job info

2014

Notes

Art DirectorCopywriterAccount MgrStudio ArtistProofreader

Alexis RoubilladNoneKaty WrightLauren MoiseNone

Approvals

FontsHelvetica Neue (Regular), Gotham Narrow (Black Italic, Medium Italic)

Images3836_01b_COS120630_0049_swop3v2.tif (CMYK; 375 ppi, 373 ppi; 63.85%, 64.25%), 3894_blackbar_Swop3v2.tif (CMYK; 254 ppi; 118%), 3836_02e_camera_lockup_swop3v2_SIMP.psd (CMYK; 265 ppi; 113.16%), 3894_X.ai (73.16%), 3894_1DX_logo.ai (28.49%, 26.63%), 3894_canon_logo_Swop3v2.psd (CMYK; 326 ppi; 45.95%), SPLASH_Proof-ing_Bar_Vert_2012.eps (100%)

Inks

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

Fonts & Images

Saved at 100%from nyc01lmoise by Printed At

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DETAILDETAIL

The new EOS-1D X off ers the most advanced focusing, exposure and low-light performance of any Canon DSLR. With the newly designed 18.1 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor and a wide ISO range, you can shoot confi dently in any light with the ability to capture low noise images even at a high ISO. And when used with its 100,000-pixel RGB metering system and the new radio-based wireless Speedlite 600EX-RT fl ash system, you will shoot with total control in the most challenging situations.

pro.usa.canon.com/detail

S:7.75”S:10.25”

T:8.375”T:10.875”

B:8.5”B:11.125”

225104_01a_PEMA0142_DSize.indd 1 12/10/13 8:45 AM003_RF_0614_CanonDentsu.indd 3 5/9/2014 8:58 AM

4 RANGEFINDER JUNE 2014

contentsJUNE 2014 / VOL. 63 / N°06

Columns30 Light Reading

The physics of a portrait. By Jim Cornfield

34 From the Cubicle Discovering what defines you. By Jason Groupp

84 RF Cookbook: Vanessa Joy Creating light with off-camera flash.

By Jacqueline Tobin

86 Digital Guru New video cameras from NAB. By John Rettie

92 First Exposure Software that simulates film looks. By Stan Sholik

96 DSLR Video A new generation of 4K cameras. By Ibarionex Perello

104 Photo Finish: Ashly Stohl By David J. Carol

Departments8 From the Editor

By Jacqueline Tobin

12 From the WPPI Director By Jason Groupp

14 Editor’s Pick: Matt Henry By Libby Peterson

16 Focus By Libby Peterson

26 From The Blog RF Weddings of the Week By Jessica Gordon

103 Ad Index

ONLINE NOW:

COMING THIS SUMMER IN PRINT:

Extended photo galleries and slideshows from our print features, at rangefinderonline.com

The Portrait Issue From pets and babies to seniors and glamour shoots, become an expert at lighting, posing and drawing out your portrait subject.

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Stationery Gift Items Home Decor Albums & Books PackagingBusiness & Promotional Prints

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Folio Fine Art PrintsPrinted directly on our LOFT triple-thick paper, Folio Fine Art Prints are ready to display, no additional mat or mounting required. Prints come standard with 2-sided printing for your image on front and your logo on back.TRIPLE-THICK

FOLIOPRINTS

48 point thickness 2-sided printing on each Print

Folio BoxEach Folio Presentation Box is handcrafted per order. Wrap your box with your favorite image or choose from an array of premium fabrics or faux leathers. The interior lining is available in your choice of black or white with a matching pull-ribbon inside for easy access to your Folio Fine Art Prints.FOLIO BOX

Folio Box is available with fabric, faux leatheror your photo cover

Visit blackriverimaging.com/rffolio for more information.

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Stationery Gift Items Home Decor Albums & Books PackagingBusiness & Promotional Prints

Black River Imaging | M–F 8am–10pm CST | 1.888.321.4665

STAND OUT with a FOLIO COLLECTION

Enter code RFFOLIO254(thru 07/31/14)

$25 OFFwhen you spend $100+ on Folio Collection (online only)

BE DARINGThrill them with a bold alternative

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THE FOLIO

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Folio Fine Art PrintsPrinted directly on our LOFT triple-thick paper, Folio Fine Art Prints are ready to display, no additional mat or mounting required. Prints come standard with 2-sided printing for your image on front and your logo on back.TRIPLE-THICK

FOLIOPRINTS

48 point thickness 2-sided printing on each Print

Folio BoxEach Folio Presentation Box is handcrafted per order. Wrap your box with your favorite image or choose from an array of premium fabrics or faux leathers. The interior lining is available in your choice of black or white with a matching pull-ribbon inside for easy access to your Folio Fine Art Prints.FOLIO BOX

Folio Box is available with fabric, faux leatheror your photo cover

Visit blackriverimaging.com/rffolio for more information.


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8

from the editor

JACQUELINE TOBINEditor-in-Chief

When it comes to promoting your brand these days, it’s like a juggling act as you try

to create eye-catching printed pieces, have a top-ranked website, write a blog, and balance your time between

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Vine. (Did I miss anything?) Call me old fashioned, but whatever happened to good old word-of-mouth referrals or just having really strong images to do the talking for you? The reality is, you’re not just artists—you’re entrepreneurs who have to keep yourselves out there while staying fresh and competitive. In this issue, we try to aid in these goals—discover how to turn Instagram followers into profits, how to get your personal projects turned into successful photo books (even if you can’t find a publisher), how to better implement SEO and how to personalize gifts that make your clients feel special. In the end, of course, all the branding and self-promoting in the world is useless if it doesn’t lead to solid, long-lasting relationships with clients, vendors and other photographers.

Photographer: Weronika Kosińska Camera: Canon 5D Mark IILens: 85mmExposure: 1/160 at f/8 ISO: 100Location: Cracow, Poland Comments: “This was taken in my apartment.

We wanted everything calm and relaxed, so my team gathered at my place, prepared everything, moved some furniture around and we began. During the shoot, a huge package of exotic spices, dates and hummus arrived from my friend, totally unexpected, so it was a very pleasant day!” (See more of Weronika’s work on p.38) Stylist : Agnieszka Wachnik Hair: Aga Niedopytalska, Creative Cut Makeup: Lucyna Rossa Model: Nadia Khivrych, AS Management

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline TobinSenior Editor Jessica GordonAssociate Editor Libby Peterson

Senior Technology Editor Dan HavlikContributing Editor John Rettie

Creative Director Adana Jiménez Group Production Director Daniel Ryan Production Manager Gennie Kiuchi

Contributing WritersDavid J. Carol, Jim Cornfield, Rob Greer, Jason Groupp, Harrison Jacobs, Theano Nikitas, Ibarionex Perello, John Rettie, Jeff Rojas, Stan Sholik

For list rental information contact:Mike Gangel (646) 654-5318

Senior Vice President, Photo and Jewelry Groups John McGeary (646) 754-5174

Vice President, Emerald Expositions Photo GroupLauren Wendle (646) 654-5811Associate Publisher Mark Brown (646) 654-5795Senior Account Executives Mike Gangel (646) 654-5318Lori Reale (858) 204-8956 Account ExecutivesJon McLoughlin (646) 654-7255Garet Moses (646) 654-5774Director of Sales Melissa Kittson [email protected]

For subscription information and customer service, call:(866) 249-6122 or locally, (847) 763-9546

Operations Manager: Neeta Lakhani Marketing Director Michael Zorich

Rangefinder Magazine 85 Broad Street, 11th Floor

New York, NY 10004

CEO, Emerald ExpositionsDavid Loechner

CFO, Emerald Expositions

Phil Evans

Executive Vice President, Gift & Home,

Photo and Jewelry Christopher McCabe

Senior Vice President, OperationsLori Jenks

Vice President, Finance

Denise Bashem

Vice President, DigitalTeresa Reilly

Vice President, Manufacturing & Marketing Services

Joanne Wheatley

®The Magazine for Wedding and Portrait Photographers

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On theCOVER

© 2014 Samsung Electct ironics America, Inc. All rights reserved. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. All products, logos and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.Screen images ssimulated. Reprinted from www.reviewed.com, with permission. © 2013, 2014 Reviewed.com. All rights reserved. *Based on results from models in the same price range: Nikon D7000, Canon EOS-60D, Canon EOS-70D.

S A M S U N G N X S Y S T E M C A M E R A S A R E FA S T E R , L I G H T E R A N D S M A R T E R T H A N D S L R .:LWK�OLJKWQLQJ�IDVW�VKXWWHU�VSHHGV��XOWUD�FRPSDFW�GHVLJQV�DQG�VPDUW�VKDULQJ�FDSDELOLWLHV��6DPVXQJ�1;�6\VWHP�FDPHUDV�RXWSHUIRUP�'6/5�LQ�YLUWXDOO\�HYHU\�FDWHJRU\� �,WpV�WLPH�WR�#DITCHtheDSLR�

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JASON GROUPPWPPI Director of Education and Membership

[email protected] (646) 654-5786

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It’s June, which means many of you are deep into wedding season. Hopefully you’re using everything you learned at WPPI 2014 to help you reach your goals this year! We’ve been quite busy here in New York City as we, believe it or not, line up our

program for WPPI 2015. I’m super excited by the proposals coming in from everyone—we’re going to have some great new speakers and lots of new programs this year—so make sure to mark your calendars now for the big show, February 26-March 5, 2015!

We’ve also made a ton of exciting announcements recently, including our partnerships with LulaWed, ShootDotEdit and the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP), each making membership to WPPI more valuable than ever (see blog.wppionline.com for more information on these partnerships).

Join me in the second month of the #mypicrfwppi Instagram contest where we share our favorite photo of the month. As a reminder, here’s how to play: On the 15th of each month, I’d like you to post an image on Instagram, tag @rfwppi and use the hashtag #mypicrfwppi. The image must have been shot in the last month (honor system please)!

It doesn’t matter what the subject is, what it was shot with or how you made it. To make this even more fun, I’m going to give away three free conference passes to WPPI 2015 each month! I hope you will join me, and I’m looking forward to growing alongside you guys this year. Good luck!

MGM GRAND LAS VEGAS

CONFERENCEFEB MAR 26 - 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EXPO MAR MAR 2 - 4

www.wppionline.com

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editor’s pick

When I first came across Matt Henry’s work, a couple of cu-riosities immediately caught my eye about the conceptual photographer’s most recent series, “Blue River Falls.”

The first is that he has a serious infatuation with 1960s- and ‘70s-era America, yet he was born, raised and is now based in the U.K. Secondly, he purposely pairs two images together to incite perceived narratives, but he refuses to affirm those narratives, nor explain his own—but perhaps for good reason.

“I never explain the story behind my work, I think it closes things down for the viewers,” he says. “Everybody brings their own experi-ences and builds their own appropriate story. I don’t want to ruin things for them!”

His paired images serve a dual purpose, functioning also as an ab-breviated form of storytelling. “I felt single images were limiting, but I

wanted the ability to tell lots of stories quickly, without having to draw up a large series for each,” Henry says. “The paired images are a great solution; the human mind naturally compares, contrasts and tries to fill in blanks between the beginning and the end.”

While Henry may not give any details about the underlying stories behind his image duos, the attested mood he creates in “Blue River Falls” may point the viewer in the right direction.

“I’m interested in dark subject matter,” he explains. “I think sometimes there is something in dark subject matter that has beauty and intrinsic worth—like, the correct response shouldn’t be to look away, but to explore.”

To replicate the feel of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Henry builds sets for his shoots, a now-habitual practice that actually began by accident; he eventually found it much easier to construct his vintage-inspired

Matt HenryBY LIBBY PETERSON

ALL PHOTOS © MATT HENRY

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www.rangefinderonline.com 15

visions from scratch rather than to spend time scouting the perfect locale. “I have quite a graphic, cartoon-like style, so building the sets allows me to control what’s in the image,” he says.

Having complete direction over what and how certain elements play out in each image is especially crucial considering “Blue River Falls” is full of fleeting snapshot stories with somewhat complex psy-chological underpinnings.

“This body of work began to consider the inherent neuroses that

set into relationships and warp our views of the world,” he says. “I liked the idea of portraying a town where the relationships of the en-tire populace were damaging and destructive in some way. I had a working subtitle of ‘The Town that Love Forgot.’ It’s a kind of super-natural B-movie, I guess, an exaggerated mirror of some of the prob-lems we encounter in relationships with power, lust and jealousy.”

See more of Matt Henry’s work at www.matthenryphoto.com.

Above, left and right: In the series “Blue River Falls,” Matt Henry conscientiously pairs two seemingly separate images together in order to inspire a narrative in the viewer, one he prefers not to specify but concedes that he takes a fairly dark approach.

“I think sometimes there is something in dark subject matter that has beauty and intrinsic worth—like, the correct

response shouldn’t be to look away, but to explore.”

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News, Products, Exhibits and MoreBY LIBBY PETERSON

ICONIC STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Henri Cartier-Bresson, the legendary candid street photographer, will be having another posthumous book release dedicated to his vast repertoire of work, called Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now (Thames & Hudson). It’s hard to believe that Cartier-Bresson, who famously coined the term “the decisive moment”—the pre-cise moment when all of the esthetic and compositional elements come together within a frame—still has work out there that is largely unseen. But printed in the 416 pages of this photographic compilation are familiar and unknown pieces, printed in color and in Cartier-Bresson’s signature black-and-white. Tracing Cartier-Bres-son’s roots as a photographer to his role as a journalist, activist and artist, readers can expect the shooter’s early explorations around the streets of Paris in the 1920s and Africa in the `30s. No matter where this pioneering photojournalist traveled, he went beyond mastering skillful technique to embodying an innate un-derstanding of how to compose powerful coherence from chaos. PRICE: $70 WWW.THAMESANDHUDSONUSA.COM

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Clockwise from far left:The cover of Henri Cartier-Bresson: Here and Now; “Course cycliste, Les 6 jours de Paris, vélodrome, Paris, France, November 1957”; “Behind Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris, France, 1932.”

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JULIAN WASSER’S TIMELESS PHOTOGRAPHY In the days before celebrity culture took over newsstands and entertainment platforms, Julian Wasser was there with his camera capturing both the public and private lives of stars in 1960s- and ‘70s-era Los Angeles. Starting as a copy boy for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., Was-ser became a contract photographer for TIME magazine for decades, and his photos have adorned the covers of LIFE, Vanity Fair, ELLE, Vogue, GQ and more. In a recently released book titled Julian Wasser: The Way We Were (Damiani Edi-tore), the photographer has gathered some of his most well-known work, such as the 1968 photo of Joan Didion leaning against a Corvette Stingray in Hollywood, as well as his less familiar photographs, like the image of the Fonda family sitting and talking together on their family sofa and that of a young Jodie Foster playing basketball. Fascinated by California’s counterculture, Wasser includes both posed portraits and candid shots of pop culture icons such as Elton John, Jayne Mansfield, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scors-ese, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles and Steve McQueen (shown on the cover above).

PRICE: $60WWW.DAMIANIEDITORE.COM

The LED lighting manufacturer Fiilex, which serves the pho-tography, video and broadcast industries, has launched a new LED light to headline its latest Quasar collection. The much-anticipated Q500 LED light uses Fiilex’s patented Dense Matrix LED array by packing a large amount of LED chips into a tightly arranged pattern, which makes for a very bright light with pointed illumination. This light is Fiilex’s first to have a built-in DMX control panel, with an LCD that displays 512 addresses, a connection

through the Q500’s two XLR ports and RJ45 ports, plus the ability to adjust light intensity, hue and color temperature. The Q500, which comes with a magnetic accessory mount that’s compatible with other Fiilex accessories, can be tuned between 2,700 and 6,500K. Dimmable from 100 to 7 per-cent, it has an adjustable beam angle of 27 to 50 degrees with the included 5-inch Fresnel lens and barn doors.

PRICE: $2,495 WWW.FIILEX.COM


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Focus continues on page 21

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MOVING FROM NATURAL LIGHT TO CREATING LIGHT WITH VANESSA JOY“Because of the B1 I’m no longer limited to always having to shoot around natural light. Now, I can shoot anywhere, at anytime and create something amazing.” – Vanessa Joy

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SUNPAK’S QUICK-RELEASE TRIPOD Fast-paced photographers on the lookout for gear that works as quickly as they do will be particularly delighted by the release of Sunpak’s UltraPro 423 tripod. This lightweight, eight-layer carbon fiber contraption is not only perfectly portable, the instant-locking pistol grip ball head, which acts with a quick squeeze-and-release mechanism, also makes it one of the fastest performing tripods on the market. The UltraPro 423 has reversible folding legs, making for an even more compact piece of equip-ment, and the legs can be locked into place with user-adjustable flip-lever leg locks that accommodate three different level settings. An additional short anti-rotation center column makes for a simplified experience taking photos from lower angles, and with 360-degree rotation, the UltraPro 423 is also ideal for taking video with panning movements.

PRICE: $149.95 WWW.SUNPAK.COM

KUBOTA IMAGE TOOLS RELEASES WORKFLOW TUTORIAL FOR LIGHTROOM 5

Award-winning workflow trainer Kevin Kubota has created a complete workflow system for Lightroom 5 for any photographer familiar, acquainted or unfamiliar with its inner workings. Broken down into easy-to-follow sections, the five-hour tutorial digs into organizing and backing up files, creating custom presets, making basic and advanced adjustments, printing, publishing and more, all to help shooters work quickly and more efficiently in the pro-gram. The workflow tutorial also includes the Kubota Lightroom Presets Workflow Collection, which comes packed with 100 multi-functional presets. Purchasing the Lightroom 5 tutorial will trigger

an automatic email with links to stream or download the chapters, and those who have already bought a Kubota Lightroom tutorial will get a discount.

PRICE: $99 (first-time users); $50 (previous users) WWW.KUBOTA.COM

PROFOTO RFI SOFTBOXES. IT�S MORE THAN A SOFTBOX. IT�S A LIGHT SHAPING TOOL.Photography is all about light – about controlling and shaping light. Therefore, a photographer’s tools should be designed to do just that. This is where Profoto’s RFi softboxes enter the picture.

RFi softboxes come in all sizes and shapes, and are compatible with all major flash brands. To ensure full control for the photographer, they have a deeper shape, a recessed front, double-layered diffusers and a highly reflective silver interior. Optional accessories are available for even more precise light shaping.

In short, an RFi softbox is more than just a softbox…

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LUXI: A CLIP-ON INCIDENT LIGHT METER FOR THE IPHONEWedding and portrait photographers know that good lighting is every shooter’s best ally, but when tricky lighting situations inevitably come around, sometimes a DSLR’s built-in light meter just doesn’t cut it. The camera and smartphone accessory company Photojojo released Luxi, a small iPhone-attachable light meter designed to gauge accurate and esthetic incident lighting. While DSLR cameras are built with in-ternal light meters, they only project readings based on reflected light from an entire scene, meaning that photos taken of a scene with unusual or sensitive lighting cir-cumstances—such as sunsets—will likely come out over or underexposed. Luxi aims to solve that problem by measuring the level of brightness hitting the subject before it is reflected with a smartphone that photographers will likely have in their pockets anyway. Working in tandem with the Luxi app (which is free), the small diffusion dome that fits over the iPhone’s camera functions just like a professional incident light meter by capturing all of the light from a 180-degree angle. The clip-on gizmo works with any iPhone 5 or 5s, and at an affordable price, photographers may want to consider the option over pricier light meters on the market.

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THE MET REVEALS “NOW YOU SEE IT” EXHIBITION FROM CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHSOne of photography’s deceivingly simple-seeming purposes is transformed into a photo exhibition: to reveal something previously unseen. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is putting on “Now You See It: Photography and Concealment,” highlighting pho-tographs that showcase the hidden, obstructed or otherwise secretive. “Some of the artists featured here use the camera to reveal subjects or places ordinarily hidden, as in Vera Lutter’s majestic view of the interior of a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant or Miguel Rio Branco’s lush image of a tapestry’s seamy underside,” reads the exhibition’s statement. “Others address instances of geopolitical obfuscation: Fazal Sheikh’s aerial photo-graphs of the Negev desert in southern Israel record the traces of Bedouin villages that have been transformed into forests or farmland, while Mishka Henner collects images of stylishly censored high-security sites on Google Earth.” Works on display have been curated from more than 100 years of photographs; the oldest includes a photo taken by late 19th-century shooter Pierre-Louis Pierson as well as a contem porary piece by Thomas Demand called “Vault (2012)” of a storeroom in Paris full of paintings and sculptures recently discovered from a 2011 police raid—and per-haps pointedly, the paintings face the wall, hidden from view. “Now You See It,” which will feature 25 works from Diane Arbus, Lutz Bacher, Jack Pierson and more, is showing at the Met through September 1, 2014.

WWW.METMUSEUM.ORG


Above: “Jimmy ‘One Eye’ Collins After Arraignment, 1946.”

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BILL CUNNINGHAM’S “FACADES” EXHIBITIONThe fabled fashion photographer behind The New York Times’ “On the Street” section has gotten his own exhibition at the New- York Historical Society museum highlighting his eight-year proj-ect documenting the rich architecture and fashion history of New York City. Though Bill Cunningham is most famous for his candid street photography today, “Facades,” which began in 1968, was a staged project—the street shooter sifted through thrift shops, auction houses and street fairs on his hunt for vintage clothing and, having scouted locations on his bicycle, posed models (in-cluding his long-time muse Editta Sherman) donning period cos-tumes in front of historical buildings. While some of the photos may cause the viewer to momentarily question in which era they were shot, others create an interesting juxtaposition between prim aristocracy and urban grit. Cunningham donated 88 silver gelatin prints from “Facades” to the New-York Historical Society back in 1976, so the museum has put together a show to honor his work almost four decades later. The exhibition is currently on view through June 15.

WWW.NYHISTORY.ORG

Right: “Federal Hall (built ca. 1842, costume ca. 1910), ca. 1968-1976.”Below, left: “Editta Sherman on the Train to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, ca. 1972.”Below, right: ”Central Park bridge, New York City, ca. 1968-1976.”

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TWO PHOTO LABS JOIN FORCES The Cedar Falls, Iowa-based company American Color Imaging (ACI) has recently bought the Massachusetts photo lab LustreColor, a move that representatives from both companies call a suitable next step. “ACI’s acquisition of LustreColor repre-sents a natural fit, as both organizations share the same mission of providing high-quality photographic products and image-related products,” says ACI’s president and CEO Mark Lane in a statement. “Together, we will continue to live up to this mission and hold ourselves to providing the best

customer experience, second to none. Given the overlap of products and ser-vices the two organizations offer, custom-ers will now have superior selection and convenience, while ACI ensures a seam-less operational and cultural transition.” “We are thrilled that we were able to team up and become a division of a great company like ACI,” says LustreColor’s Ken Wilson. “I have known and been friends with Mark Lane for many years and have been impressed with his commitment to excellence and innovation in servicing professional photographers and their profession.” WWW.ACILAB.COM

Congratulations to esteemed photographers and WPPI speakers Bambi Cantrell, Doug Gordon, Tamara Lackey and Blair Bunting, all of whom were named as new Nikon Ambassadors in late April. They join the ranks of James Balog, Dixie Dixon, Jerry Ghionis, Cliff Mautner and 12 more talented shooters who continue to inspire and influence photographers from every genre all over the world. As stated on the Nikon website, “From workshops to trade show platforms, online learning and social media, Nikon Ambassadors represent the most versatile and ambitious photographers today. These vi-sual artists are respected around the globe for their vision and accomplish-ments.” Kudos to all! WWW.NIKONUSA.COM

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from the blog

Vintage-Style Estonian Vows

Photographer Stina Kase, whose home base is Tallinn, Estonia, creates gorgeous, often vintage-inspired fashion, portrait and wedding images that have allowed her to travel for shoots in France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. For the wedding of Elis and Ergo, however, Kase stayed close to home, photographing at an Estonian manor called Porkuni where the couple first

met 12 years ago. Although many of Kase’s

images from this shoot look like old tintypes or collodion processing, she says that’s just the beauty of modern technology. “Most of my Photoshop gets done in camera RAW and I’m using VSCO actions. They make my workflow much easier and it’s cool to experiment with colors.”

SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THIS WEDDING AT BIT.LY/1IYUGHL

Photographer: Stina Kase || Bride and Groom: Elis and ErgoLocation: Porkuni manor in northern Estonia || Camera: Canon 5D Mark II || Lenses: Canon 50mm f/1.2 and 35mm f/1.4 || Post: Photoshop using VSCO actions

RF Weddings of the WeekTwo recent standouts from our PhotoForward blog

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William Innes. Changing Photography with 4K Video. With the new Lumix GH4, William Innes is discovering how easily 4K cinematic in-camera memory video recording with Fast Tracking Full Area AF, plus simultaneous 8.8-megapixel HD photo frame capture adds value to his portfolio. You can too. At under $1700* it's the ideal solution for quickly integrating hybrid photography into any photographer's sales kit. The LUMIX GH4 delivers in-camera creativity across video and stills through an innovative touch-LCD. And with 22 lens options and growing, your creative possibilities are endless. See William Innes’s GH4 wedding stills and 4K video at www.LumixLounge.com.

William Innes. Changing Photography with 4K Video. With the new Lumix GH4, William Innes is discovering how easily 4K cinematic in-camera memory video recording with Fast Tracking Full Area AF, plus simultaneous 8.8-megapixel HD photo frame capture adds value to his portfolio. You can too. At under $1700* it's the ideal solution for quickly integrating hybrid photography into any photographer's sales kit. The LUMIX GH4 delivers in-camera creativity across video and stills through an innovative touch-LCD. And with 22 lens options and growing, your creative possibilities are endless.

www.LumixLounge.com.

"As a wedding photographer, combining Lumix GH4 4K video with my photography expanded my portfolio options to meet and exceed the changing demands of my clients.”

— William Innes, Hybrid Photographer and LUMIX Luminary

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from the blog

Into the Woods

Photographer Lucas Mobley overcame the challenge of shooting a nature-filled, wooded wedding while documenting a gorgeous ceremony on a family property near Bremerton, Washington, overlooking the Hood Canal.

“It was a quintessential Pacific Northwest setting [for couple Rachel and Jimmy], but it was so dark,” says the Seattle-based Mobley, who tackled these lighting obstacles by shooting at 1/200 f/2 at 3200 ISO. “Even a couple years ago, it would

have been really hard to get clean images in a situation that dark,” the photographer says. “With good prime lenses and improved high ISO performance, so much more is now possible!”

Mobley continues: “The dance floor was in a carport, but luckily the DJ brought some rad lenses and glow sticks.”

In the end, Mobley sums up, “the view was beautiful, dancing was epic, food was great and the camping [that ensued by guests] was necessary after so much fun.”

SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THIS WEDDING AT BIT.LY/1NPW3VD

Photographer: Lucas Mobley || Bride and Groom: Rachel and Jimmy || Location: Bremerton, Washington || Cameras: Canon 5D Mark II and III || Lenses: 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2, 100mm Macro and 16-35mm f/2.8

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P hotographer, author and popu-lar teacher Roberto Valenzuela is probably best described as a pas-

sionate observer of nuance. In his first book, Picture Perfect Practice, he pulled out all the stops to outline his own systematic, detail-based approach to im-aging. It’s become a sort of bible to his acolytes and workshop attendees. In my review of that book (Rangefinder, June 2012), I ascribed this preoccupation with intricate minutiae to his former career as a classical guitarist. Then—as now—I couldn’t imagine anyone more profoundly sensitive to a single missed cue or overlooked detail than a soloist in the unforgiving acoustic vacuum of the concert stage. Valenzuela took that sensibility with him when he exchanged his guitar for a camera.

Now we have his latest contribution to the world of photographic how-to lit-erature: Picture Perfect Posing: Practic-ing the Art of Posing for Photographers and Models. In what seems to be the season for the proliferation of so-called

“posing guides,” Valenzuela has, predict-ably, made something of a science out of this critical phase of the relationship between photographer and subject. An equally crucial relationship he broaches is that less tangible one that prevails between a photographer and his own self-respect.

A PATH OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONEPicture Perfect Posing invokes the uncomfortable truth that most shoot-ers—maybe from pure laziness, but more commonly out of insecurity—tend

to harbor a personal repertoire of stock poses we default to with most of our subjects. These, Valenzuela writes, are “comfort-zone poses.” The majority of us, he claims, “have five or so of these…

The Physics of a PortraitBY JIM CORNFIELD

Above, left: Valenzuela’s “Hand/Arm Context System” at work in an exterior portrait. The diagram suggests the careful placement of the model’s hands and arms to frame her face and anchor her pose without distractions. Above, middle and right: The author demon-strates the “risk areas” of a portrait with color coding. The red dots indicate body positions that threaten the integrity of this glamour shot. The blue dots are “safe areas” that are easily altered to create the vastly improved version seen on the right.

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Picture Perfect Posing: Practicing the Art of Posing for Photographers and Models By Roberto Valenzuela New Riders Publishing www.newriders.com 336 pages

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CATEGORIESBridal Portrait

Bridal Party

Wedding Reception

Destination Weddings

Wedding Details

PRIZESOne grand-prize winner will receive:

A $500 B&H gift card

A Full Conference Pass to WPPI 2015

Five first-place winners will receive:

A $100 B&H gift card

A Photo Group membership

The 2014 Rangefinder Wedding Photography Contest winner’s seal for use on your website and promotional materials.

DEADLINEJuly 30, 2014

ENTRY FEES: Professional: $35/image or photo essay

Amateur: $25/image or photo essay(Receive a 30% discount with a Photo Group Membership)

All winning images will be featured on Rangefinderonline.com and in the October issue of Rangefinder magazine, which will be seen by over 60,000 readers.

Please visit www.rangefinderwedding contest.com for the most up-to-date list of judges.

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and regardless of whom we are photo-graphing, we just force our clients to fit into those five poses, so we don’t lose face.” With this cringe-worthy reality out in the open, he proceeds for the next 300 pages, to steer us out of our collective posing phobia. He calls his (characteris-tically) drum-tight regimen the “Picture Perfect Posing System,” (P3S for short), and breaks it down into 15 points, each carefully explained by a set of meticu-lous images, graphics and comprehensive solutions to real-world posing situations. Many of them are drawn from wedding scenarios—Valenzuela’s personal spe-cialty—but all apply to practically every imaginable portrait challenge.

It’s forgivable to assume that the personal interactions required in positioning your portrait subjects are matters of instinct. The social skills involved are definitively that—the largely unteachable qualities that make you a likeable, persuasive person, inclined to inspire your subjects’ confidence in front of your camera. But even the most amicable relationship can produce a portrait fraught with the minor imperfections that undermine the warmth of such a moment, no matter how well you seem to be connecting with your sit-ter. Those imperfections are more questions of physics than friendship. They’re the functions of plasticity and angles and gravity—all of which Valenzuela manipulates, in exhaustive detail, to transform otherwise lackluster im-ages into compelling portraits.

THE SYSTEMIn an especially instructive prelude to P3S—and something unique among posing tutorials—Valenzuela, with ac-companying medical illustrations, delves into the anatomy of the human spine, the centerpiece of all postures a person can assume in front of the camera. The actual practical value of this chapter is

Top, left and right: The importance of hands in any portrait is emphasized by this pair of bridal pictures. The strained angles and finger positions at left detract from an otherwise beautiful photograph. The soft angle of the hand in the shot at right, directs attention to the bride’s face but is otherwise neutral in the shot. Middle: Creating the appealing “S” curve—indispensable to this sexy shot—by careful attention to placement.

in one summary paragraph—one of the little sidebars the author refers to as “flash cards”—where the three regions of the spine are listed by how they affect a pose: the cervical area “directs the head to where you want to focus the viewer’s attention,” the thoracic region “should be elongated...” to encourage confidence and strength, and the lumbar spine he credits as “responsible for slim-ming someone down. It should always be curved [in a picture]. It creates a very sexy quality to a pose.”

The 14 chapters that ensue follow Valenzuela’s signature formula approach to the minutest subtleties of the pose. There’s a chapter on weight distribution

with both standing and seated subjects; an entire section discusses joints and the application or avoidance of 90- degree angles, which can be death to a single subject portrait, but attractive in couple shots, if the subjects are properly directed. Amply illustrated with overlays and diagrams, every “point” in the P3S dissects even the subtlest details that can make or break a portrait’s effectiveness.

In a chapter devoted to his “Hand/Arm Context System,” Valenzuela devotes 26 pages to dealing with those annoying appendages we all have that can drive a photographer to distraction, as they have to every actor and model, who at some point has to confront the

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age-old question, “What do I do with my hands?” One especially useful discus-sion comes under the rubric of “Point-of-Contact” in Valenzuela’s 15-point schema, addressing the subject’s en-gagement with the camera (and thus the viewer). He summarizes this notion in simple terms, and they’d probably improve at least half of every shooter’s single-subject portraits, if properly heeded. “Generally speaking,” he writes, “your subject’s eyes should be the closest object [sic] to the camera, because the eyes are the soul of an image.”

With wedding imagery, a major priority for Valenzuela and, no doubt, many of his readers, the dynamics of poses in the ubiq-uitous two-shots and groups that consume so much attention among shooters in this specialty figure prominently in the P3S. There are specific protocols for dealing with “mirroring” of hand and arm positions in groups and couple shots; there are details on interactions such as hugging and hand-holding, the relative arrangement of faces and eye lines and the direction of noses in the familiar warm-and-fuzzy bridal couple images. Returning to the subject of hands, Valenzuela gives detailed advice on dealing with that ever-annoying effect produced by a concealed arm wrapped around another person in a shot, creating a disembodied hand on the opposite side of the person being embraced. One chapter actually deals specifically with this problem and no other. The solution: simply separate the pair slightly to reveal a portion of the arm connected to what, Valenzuela writes, would otherwise become “the creepy hand.”

If it occurs to you that Valenzuela borders on being obsessive, you’re probably not far off. Obsession is frequently the mother of great ideas. So, if the formalism of his method seems a bit rigid—memorizing solutions and the color coded charts and visual aids—you can still freely cherry-pick the sound nuggets of advice that fill these pages. No matter how long you’ve been photo-graphing people, you’ll recognize the minute you flip through this amazing book that at least some of Valenzuela’s advice on the arcane skills of posing was aimed straight at you.

Also On Our RadarThe Photographer’sPlaybook: Over 250 Assignments & IdeasBy Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern

The rich, eclectic resources of the Aperture Foundation just debuted a fresh new title that is a long overdue, beautifully conceived eye-opener.

The book comprises 250 self-assignments and ideas for improving, editing and adding sparkle to your photography—fascinating and creative tips for ramping up new projects, mixed in with personal anecdotes from some of the craft’s greatest luminaries.

Photographer’s Playbook launches a new theme in Aperture’s history as the authoritative storehouse of photographic scholarship. It represents a new approach and the Foundation’s hope to “inspire all photography enthusiasts to take their interest to the next level.”

A product of the apt skills of Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern—seasoned photographers-turned-editors and authors—Photographer’s Playbook is a fun, rewarding collection of experimental musings that is sure to get everyone’s creative juices flowing.

From Aperture’s more familiar cerebral bandwidth comes this new title in its series, Aperture Ideas: Writers and Artists on Photography.

“At this transitional moment in the field of photography,” goes the series’ promo, “how should we consider what is to come for the medium?”

In 25 separate essays, noted photo critic David Levi Strauss explores this idea and the changing role of photography in the world. There are revealing examinations of images by our most visionary photographic artists, among them James Nachtwey, Sally Mann, Susan Meiselas and Robert Bergman, plus thoughts on the writings of Susan Sontag and Jean-Luc Nancy. The whole package is informed by the acute mind of Strauss who looks forward through the haze of current events like 9/11, the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street to define where the photograph fits in our evolving notions of tomorrow. This is a must-read, especially if you’re planning on being around to watch it happen.

Words not Spent Today Buy Smaller Images Tomorrow: Essays on the Past and Future of PhotographyBy David Levi Strauss

WWW.APERTURE.ORG


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L ast month, I went to an event to listen to one of our industry’s most iconic photographers, Albert Watson. I studied

this guy in college, admired him, and worked tirelessly to emulate his style. After graduation, I littered his studio with resumes and phone calls hoping for a chance to be one of his assistants, but to no avail. I never had the op-portunity to meet him in person, and I was very excited to hear him speak after all these years.

As he showed a long slideshow of his work over the last three decades, it was like a time warp, reminding me of when I first saw them and bringing back memories of my days in the studio as an assistant and student.

To me, Watson is most outstanding for his portrait work and the sense of intimacy he brings to the subjects he photographs. He

flourished in the 1990s, shooting countless celebrities—from Steve Jobs to Jay-Z—and creating iconic images that helped define the person in the photo. Ironically, he didn’t do this with elaborate sets or hours of post-production. My favorite images (and the ones he’s best known for) are on white backgrounds or on muted backdrops. The lighting is, of course, impeccable, and each one has some-thing magnificent to study in not overpower-ing the subject, but enhancing the image.

The talent he has for consistency in this style fascinated me; this was his signature, his style, his brand—it was his “who” as an artist. In this issue on marketing and brand-ing, you’ll see this kind of “brand identity” is something we strive for as artists. Achiev-ing this kind of recognition is not an easy task, but after seeing Watson or any other successful artist speak, you’ll always hear them talk about their self-dis-covery process.

When his slideshow con-cluded, a member of the audi-ence asked Watson about his thought process for selecting the images he included—which varied in style. I loved the question, and the crowd definitely leaned in for the an-swer. He laughed and said,

“I know this slideshow is all over the place,and there’s very little continuity in the work.” He went on to say, “It’s funny you make that comment because many of my reps and managers have complained that my work is way too all over the place.” He then joked that he was an “artist” and shot for himself, always doing what made him feel good. “I can’t be pigeon-holed, I would die as an artist,” Watson said.

Of course, the crowd loved this response—we’d all love to say the same. But as I rode home on the train that night, I laughed to myself as I thought that as artists, we often shun the one thing that defines us. We spend a good portion of our careers trying to find

Discovering—and Accepting—What Defines You

BY JASON GROUPP

from the cubicle

“The talent [Albert Watson] has for consistency in his style fascinated me; this was his signature, his style, his brand —it was his ‘who’ as an artist.” P

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Below: Kate Moss in “Torn Veil, Marrakech, 1993,” by Albert Watson is a good example of the photographer’s simple, intimate style.

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from the cubicle

ourselves, only to throw it away for one reason or another, sometimes just out of boredom. I learned a valuable lesson from him that night: even the biggest photog-raphers in the world manage to steer off course—it’s perseverance that makes them successful.

As you read the articles on branding and marketing in this issue, think about the dis-covery process that every great artist goes through; it’s in this discovery that we find something that clicks, that defines us, and gives us a slight edge to make us stand out.

Going to see others speak about their work is a great way to inspire your artistic identity. During my evening out, Watson said one thing that made all his work make sense to me. “The way I create intimacy is simple: we perfect our lighting, prepare for the shot, ask the subject to join on set and then I turn everything down. I turn down the music, I ask people to leave the set and then it’s just the two of us.” He went on to say, “We converse, but I do it in a way to make them comfortable. I’m always looking for that one vulnerable moment.” I thought to my-

self, my gosh, that’s how he does it! This is how he creates those iconic shots, yet two sentences earlier, he was making fun of his reputation for pigeon-holing his creativity. Sometimes our brilliance blocks us in.

Case in point: the I Heart New York brand that I built over the last few years. Defined as “stylish photo shoots featuring you in the great-est city in the world,” it started with my en-gagement sessions, and I knew the idea was

easily scalable into many different markets. The key to building on the brand was to shoot as many short sessions as I could at an afford-able price for clients. Originally, the shoots re-quired a lot of prep, took too many hours to shoot and weren’t very profitable. Fortunately, I had my business partners, Tim Co. and Karen Seifert, join me, and they were able to help guide my ideas into something more profitable and consistent. Take heed in the people you surround yourself with, and learn how to turn your ego off. Your career may depend on it!

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Left and below: As promised, here’s my photo of the month. I joined my business partners Karen and Tim for a surprise proposal in Washington Square Park in Manhattan. On any given day, hundreds of these stories take place there, and while battling the elements, fighting traffic and stressing about “missing it” is far from glamorous, they’re waiting to be documented. Tim and Karen have worked hard to gain visibility as one of Google’s top-ranked New York City proposal and City Hall Wedding photographers—something I would have pushed off as a waste of time—yet it continues to be a great revenue stream and build their core business.

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Weronika

KOSInSKAArtful with a hint of whimsy and melancholy, Weronika

Kosinska’s fashion and beauty photography exudes youthful style and elegance. It’s no wonder then, having

attracted big-time clients like NIVEA and Christophe Gaillet for L’Oréal, that what inspires the Polish photographer’s work most is the women who pose before her lens.

“They are beautiful, inspiring, mysterious creatures,” she says. “I love the way they change in every shoot. Fashion works like a costume, giving way to create new character, mood and history.”

Having been published in larger European publications such as Harper’s Bazaar Romania and Elléments Magazine, her shooting style is refined, yet Kosinska—who, after a brief bout with film in high school, returned to photography with a DSLR in hand just three years ago—is completely self-taught.

She pairs her Canon 5D Mark II and III cameras and her top lenses (especially the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro and the 70-200mm f/2.8 L) with a host of lighting gear: softboxes, beauty dishes, snoots, umbrellas—and she even builds her own makeshift equipment using aluminum foil, fabrics, flashlights and colorful filters. Even with her editorial and commercial projects, Kosinska manages to add personal work into the mix, too. “I have too many ideas and too little time, but it’s interesting to observe how the most important ideas stick with me and the rest just pass by,” she says.

This Polish fashion shooter

not only takes on editorial

and commercial work, but also

began “Humans of Cracow.”

BY LIBBY PETERSON

Opposite page: Kosińska shot a series of images of Kaja Wojakowska for fashion label Mrovca but has worked with the model on several other fashion and beauty editorial projects as well.

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photographer you should know


One of those projects is her own take on Brandon Stanton’s “Humans of New York,” which a friend of Kosinska’s passed on to her. “I saw it and asked her, ‘Why don’t we have something like this in Cracow?’” she remembers. “And she said, ‘So do it.’ So I did.” Today, Kosinska’s ongoing “Humans of Cracow” has a reoccurring segmented spot in Krakow Post.

Experimenting with an international project that she’s call-ing “Connections,” Kosinska is also exploring a film still-type approach in which she photographs five human relationships and emotions in five different countries. She’s already made “Black-ened Kiss,” a series of a man and a woman in Cracow (for which she won the fashion category in the awards show for Polish lifestyle magazine Viva! last year) as well as “Written in the Scars” (pictured below) between two men and one woman in Bucharest. She’s keeping the last three concepts a secret but reveals the tentative locations: London, Madrid and L.A.

New Avenues of CreativityKosinska taught herself what she knows today, but her humble character is quick to credit others with helping her, including


Clockwise from below: Laura Giurcanu poses for the “Written in the Scars” series of Kosińska’s “Connections” project; from “Under Your Spell,” this springtime shot of model Viktoria Kowalska made the cover of Krakow Post’s April 2014 issue; from the “Fears” series, shot exclu-sively for Beauty Scene.


“You don’t need a lot of space to shoot something wonderful.”




those who got her interested in fashion and beauty photography to begin with. She began working with her webmaster’s girlfriend Lucyna Rossa, a makeup artist, and from there “fell in love with fashion [photography],” she says. “All the pos-sibilities that makeup and styling give—I love it.” Beauty photography quickly followed after her friend and retoucher Dawid ƲƧdło suggested she try it out. And with new genres of photography come new avenues of creative thinking, too, she says.

“You don’t need a lot of space to shoot something wonderful,” Kosinska explains. “A lot of my pictures were taken in my apartment, simply on the wall. So I always try to remember that the lack of creativity and willingness is a problem, not a lack of possibilities and space.”

The City of ContrastsThese days, Kosinska splits her time be-tween Cracow, Poland, where she grew up, and Bucharest, Romania, a choice she calls unexpected and a bit accidental.

“Bucharest was a very modern, cosmo-politan city, a cultural and political center with beautiful architecture,” Kosinska explains. “It was called ‘Little Paris.’ You can still see it. But then the war came, and then communism, and things began to change. The city was damaged, not only by bombs but also by new architecture. A lot of beautiful facades were replaced by ugly blocks and government buildings. All this created a strange landscape, full of surprises and things that just don’t fit.”

Visiting friends the first time around, Kosinska stayed in Bucharest a second time after attending Feeric Fashion Days,

“It’s me behind the camera, and that always gives me great possibilities.”

Above: From the series “From Lure to Lure” for website Design Scene, Kosińska worked with Rossa and model Gabriela Szuba. Below: Retouched by friend Dawid Żądło, this shot of model Nela Ly from the series “Awakening” appeared in Les Professionnels Magazine.



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Evoke emotion

Brooke Shaden as Marlene Dietrich | Photographed by Sue Bryce | ™ & © 2014 Marlene, Inc. All Rights Reserved.To request more information see page 103

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and after a third visit, she was completely taken by a city so architecturally evident of post-World War II reconstruction that she fondly refers to it as “the city of con-trasts”—and in it, she’s found her place.

Though familiar with the local model-ing agencies (Gaga, MRA Models Agency and HOOK, to name a few), Kosinska will occasionally find talent on the bustling streets. And while she builds her net-work in-person and on social media with friends and colleagues, she’s learned to

open up to freelance offers and new talent recommendations.

“I must admit, I have my team I love to work with, and I stick with them as much as possible,” Kosinska says. “But it’s also very nice to get to know and work with new people.”

Mastering the DetailsYet finding her footing in the industry didn’t happen overnight, and even today, Kosinska says she is still learning. One of the lessons she carries came from the New York-based photographer Ryszard Horow-itz, a fellow Cracovian whom she met last year at the Viva! awards.

Horowitz, who was the president of the jury at the awards, looked through Kosinska’s photos and pointed out details she didn’t fully consider when she shot the photos: the exact, pinpoint positioning of the model’s hands, eyes, hair, dress, for example, and even the framing of the shot.

“I remember every little thing from that conversation, and it helped me a lot to put even more focus into details,” she says. “He was the master of details and was able to see so much in every part of the photo, so I learned how not to over-look some things. And now I try to stay as focused as I can, going through a lot of aspects of the photo in my head first.”

Compromising with ClientsHaving a solid vision before shooting is one thing, but when it comes to creating work for clients, as Kosinska often does in commercial photography, it’s all about compromise—and that’s not always easy.

“I often need to stick to the mood board, storyboard or any other board I get,” she says. “[Compromises] are use-ful in life, so I get over it. It’s me behind the camera, and that always gives me great possibilities.”

Her tenacity in commercial photogra-phy has helped her in more ways than one, including in getting magazines and other publications to publish her work, both by networking online and making her presence known via snail mail.

“My tip? Be patient and don’t stop trying,” she says. “Mail gets overlooked, people have bad moods and sometimes we need to give it many chances before something works out.”


Above: Nadia Khivrych poses for an editorial called “Painted in Blue” that appeared in EksMagazyn, a Polish publication. The photographer’s makeup artist friend Lucyna Rossa worked with her on the series.


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Any good photojournalist’s ensemble includes a big scarf that not only adds panache but also functions in a myriad of ways including (but not limited to) a tourni-quet, sling, sunscreen, scrim and towel.

I use a Think Tank modular waist pack because I already have two cameras on my shoulders and it’s essential for small people like me to be able to distribute gear weight properly.

I like to roll with two 5D Mark III cameras, which I usually cover in Gaffer’s tape to discourage the curious, and 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2 and 135mm f/2 lenses. I also carry a 600EX-RT speedlight or two, along with the magical transmitter that allows for full remote wireless control and high-speed sync. Extra batteries are a must, and I always have my press pass.

Sometimes I take notes in my reporter-style Moleskine notepad, but more often I prefer to do so with my iPhone.

Lastly, I always carry my thick, gilded-edge letterpress business cards that, oddly enough, work better than my press pass in some access scenarios.

WWW.MELISSAGOLDEN.COM

The second chapter in an ongoing series.BY DAVID J. CAROL

Every photographer has certain equip-ment he or she becomes attached to and over time, our camera bags and

the personal items we schlep along on shoots begin to reflect our own personalities.

Last year, we featured the camera bags of ten photographers whose specialties included sports, weddings, photojournalism and fine art. There was only one caveat: the photo had to show everything they carried with them. Well, I’m at it again, this time asking ten new photographers, “Hey, what’s in your bag?” Here are the responses.


MELISSA GOLDEN, PHOTOJOURNALIST

BAG?WHAT’S IN YOUR



Here’s my full “bag-away” kit. Most times the cables and the computer stay in the hotel; locally, I move around with half this amount of stuff or on an as-needed basis in the Lowepro bag there. Pictured are hard drives, a few prime lenses, a 24-70mm, diopters, a pair of extra emergency glasses and shades, computer, memory cards, po-larizer, cables, teensy tripod, Sharpies, and things to keep lenses and sensors clean and dry. There’s a folding portable poncho I still use, and then there’s the lighting kit that I try not to use whenever possible.

WWW.KENSCHLES.COM

KEN SCHLES, MAGAZINE, PORTRAIT AND FINE-ART PHOTOGRAPHER

I take the black bag (shown above, left) on transatlantic flights and use the small tan bag (above, right) for day-to-day stuff. Plus, I take 200 rolls of film in my backpack.

WWW.JASONESKENAZI.COM

Inside my Lowepro Flipside 400 AW bag are a camo shirt and head-gear for blending in with the vegetation; hand warmers, lens cloth and lens caps in a baggie; a Spider holster for carrying my 400mm on a 5D2 on my hip; BlackRapid strap for carrying my 500mm on my shoulder; a Petzl headlamp; Quest energy bar; and a paintbrush for dusting off the camera when I shoot anywhere sandy.

WWW.MELISSAGROO.COM

JASON ESKENAZI,EDITORIAL AND FINE-ART PHOTOGRAPHER

MELISSA GROO,NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER

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what’s in your bag?



• Canon 1Ds Mark lll for the high-res stills, usually locked with the 24-70mm for quick grabs, preloaded with 8GB CF card.

• Canon 7D with the 70-210mm for quick-grab long shots and to be a back-up body on jobs. I also use it as a second camera for HD when we combo a photo/video shoot.

• Two capture cables, so I can plug into wherever I do connected, live-capture ses-sions with celebrities or whomever.

• Radio Slave and backup is for my or any-body else’s remote-firing strobe packs.

• The color card is good for when I need to represent true color, like on a catalogue.

• Promo cards never hurt. People like to see them, and sometimes they can be helpful in reassuring the subject that you know what you’re doing. Oh, and maybe to help get a job!

• Batteries and chargers...you’ve got to make sure everything has got juice!

• Manuals, in case your local assistant de-cides to change all your functions for fun.

• Extra contact lenses, in case of wind storms and other contact lens blowouts.

• A pack of matches to set a rescue fire or to light final smoke.

• Miscellaneous change to turn screws and buy off kids selling gum. WWW.IANWHITE.COM

IAN WHITE,CELEBRITY AND ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHER

MELISSA GROO,NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER

For street shooting, I prefer not to carry a bag as I like to be nimble and have the ability to move around freely. Normally, I carry a Leica M with a 35mm or 28mm lens (28mm Rokkor pictured below), a Canon 430EX flash equipped with a wire-less trigger (I’m shooting Canon when not using the Leica), a voice recorder, a few business cards and my HTC One smartphone. That’s about it.

WWW.MARKUSHARTEL.COM

MARKUS HARTEL,STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

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I carry my gear to games in a Calumet (R.I.P.) BP1500 backpack. The basics of the kit are the two Nikon D700 bodies, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 300mm f/4 lenses and two SB-800 flash units. I have to be prepared for pretty much anything, so I have doubles and backups of as much gear as I can. I’m normally walking around the arena during the game, so I have at least 50 percent of this equipment on me using the BlackRapid double strap and Think Tank Photo’s belt system.

WWW.ADAMPANTOZZI.COM

ADAM PANTOZZI,SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER

I am not a super technical person, so I like to use very little equipment. I photograph people and I like to make them comfortable, especially as I am often in intimate and personal settings. I just have my two camera bodies, which I love and know very well by now—the Mamiya 7 II—one with a 65mm lens and one with an 80mm lens. But no tripod, no lighting, nothing. And then I have two sets of film: Kodak Portra 400

and Kodak Portra 800 (in case I am working in low-light situations). I always have extra batteries, just in case, and then also aluminum foil, as sometimes the film does not seal completely and I need to shield it. Very basic and primitive…but I love it!

WWW.RANIAMATAR.COM

RANIA MATAR,PORTRAIT, EDITORIAL AND FINE-ART PHOTOGRAPHER

PHOTO © ADAM PANTOZZI

PHOTO © RANIA MATAR

what’s in your bag?



I am currently working on several personal projects that each require different equip-ment, so I bring it all with me! I use a view camera of one sort or another for just about everything I do. The entire back two-thirds of my Explorer is filled with all the equip-ment shown in the photograph (at left), strategically placed by one of four doors of the vehicle for easy and specific access: 8 x 20 camera, 8 x 10 view camera, 4 x 5 view camera, stereograph camera and a digital point-and-shoot camera for note-taking; two tripods; dark cloths; step ladder; platform set-up for my “Still Lives” portraits; smoke grenades; light meter; loupe; notebook; two bubble levels; prints to share with folks I meet; film holders for all cameras; film-changing tent; and a reflector.

WWW.ELIOTDUDIK.COM

• Canon 6D• Canon 5D (backup)• Canon 600 flash• Canon 580EX II flash• Canon 35mm f/1.4 L• Canon 50mm f/1.4• Canon 85mm f/1.8• Canon 24-70mm

f/2.8• Canon 70-200mm

f/2.8• Eneloop recharge-

able batteries

• Plenty of SD and CF cards

• Chapstick• Business cards• Lens wipe• Pen• Mini reflector • An assortment of

nuts, because you don’t want to see me “hangry”

• Polaroid 195• Polaroid 680

ELIOT DUDIK,LARGE-FORMAT LAND-SCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER

AZUREÉ WIITALA,WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

WWW.XOAZUREE.COM

With weddings, you have to be prepared for all sorts of different circumstances and lighting situations that come your way. I love taking an SX-70 or the 195 along to shoot Polaroids throughout the day. Those always turn out to be favorites and everyone is so wowed at the fact that they can see their printed picture right away. Also in my bag:

PHOTO © ELIOT DUDIK

PHOTO © AZUREÉ WIITALA



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The Marketing Issue

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When Los Angeles-based wedding pho-tographer Logan Cole

first heard about the social media and image-sharing app Instagram in 2011, he had only been shooting profession-ally for a little over a year. His business was so nascent that he had yet to set up any professional social media accounts. He started by posting, as he calls them, “blurry photos of whatever,” but, after playing around with a few photo-editing apps, something clicked. He began treating his feed like a client, posting the honest, vintage-inspired photos that became his hallmark. His following grew exponentially. Today, with over 21,000 follow-ers, @logancolephoto has become a force on Instagram.

In short order, Cole’s Instagram feed has netted him wedding clients, a gig teaching for online photogra-

phy website the Define School, an all-expenses paid trip helicoptering around Alberta, Canada, and pro-motional partnerships with brands like Red Bull, Boxed Water and Artifact Uprising.

Cole’s success on Instagram is the kind you might expect from a 21-year-old millennial, and pho-tographers across the industry are starting to wake up to the money-making potential of the app.

TURNING FOLLOWERS INTO CLIENTSUsing Instagram to promote your wedding and portrait business is a tricky endeavor. It requires a light touch, but, if done well, it can pay off in huge dividends.

Seattle-based photographer Sean Flanigan was shooting a wedding in San Francisco last year when a bride told him that she would be promot-ing a custom hashtag for guests to

HOW TO CONVERT IN$TAGRAM FOLLOWERS INTO DOLLARSBY HARRISON JACOBS

Spread: Images from wedding photographer Logan Cole’s Instagram feed, which currently has more than 21,000 followers.

The Marketing Issue



post photos with during the day. With just under 10,000 followers, Flanigan (@stanflan) decided to post a few of his shots halfway through the reception. When guests looked at the hashtag feed at the end of the night, they were blown away—Flanigan’s photos stood head and shoulders above the stream of amateur shots from friends and relatives.

“It was free publicity for me,” he says. “Everyone that went to the wedding saw them immediately. You never know who is planning a wedding.”

Within a week, Flanigan had booked two couples that attended the recep-tion—not bad for a spur-of-the-moment decision. Now, he posts shots to his Ins-tagram feed at every wedding he goes to. So does Cole, who says he’d rather have guests look at his professional portraits than squint at Aunt Susan’s bland snaps. For both, it’s all about brand awareness.

“Guests see the photos and start follow-ing you,” Cole explains. “When the maid of honor gets engaged in four months, she is going to remember you, because she’s been liking all your photos.”

The strategy is working. Flanigan estimates that he’s booked more than ten weddings this year from Instagram refer-rals; Cole estimates that a quarter of his wedding inquiries come from Instagram as well. While he notes that he does not book the majority of them, the referrals have more than paid for the time that he’s invested.Above and below: Images from the Instagram feed of wedding photographer Sean Flanigan (who

was one of PDN’s 20 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography in 2011). Flanigan estimates he booked more than ten weddings this year from Instagram referrals.

ALL PHOTOS THIS PAGE © SEAN FLANIGAN

The Marketing Issue



BUILDING A CAPTIVATED AUDIENCEOne reason Flanigan and Cole’s strategy works is that they have combined a savvy photography tactic—posting at weddings—with an already established following.

As Canadian wedding photographer David Guenther explains, when he posts photos to Instagram (@davidguenther) on the day of a wedding, one of the key things that gets guests’ attention is that, by the time they scroll through the feed, his photos already have hundreds of likes. Guests find it impressive and it gives him credibility. Cole agrees; when potential clients see that he has tens of thousands of followers and his photos get thousands of likes, they automatically have respect for

him. “They think that if you have large amount of followers, you must be good or you must be ‘somebody,’” says Cole. “I don’t agree with it, but honestly, it works for the business.”

The question then becomes: how do you build the following? Brian DiFeo, a co-founder of Instagram advertising agency the Mobile Media Lab and a pioneer of the platform, offered us some hints: “The most successful influencers are the ones that balance what the audience wants to see and what you want to show as a singular voice,” DiFeo says.

DiFeo formed his agency in 2012 along with fellow prominent Instagrammers Anthony Danielle and Liz Eswein. In just two years, the company has completed

successful campaigns for some big-name brands, including Samsung, Honda, Coach and Armani. The Mobile Media Lab maintains a network of 300 influen-tial Instagrammers, who collectively have 50 million followers. When brands agree to a campaign, DiFeo finds Instagrammers in his network to hire.

While DiFeo concedes that crowd-pleasers like pretty sunsets and cute dogs do well in the short term, they don’t build what he calls “an audience that antici-pates your next post.” According to him, that comes when you hone in on your distinct artistic voice and stick with it.

For wedding-to-lifestyle crossover phenom Max Wanger (@maxwanger), that means having a feed that, while including

6 THE STRATEGY1. Have a Brand and Stick With It The key to building and keeping an audience on Instagram is having a dis-tinct artistic voice. The most successful photographers are those that stick to their passion, whether its intimate por-traits of people on the street or dreamy landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.

2. Interact Before You Post Mobile Media Lab’s co-founder Brian Di-Feo teaches new Instagrammers to fol-low the 80/20 rule: When trying to grow your account, spend 80 percent of your time consuming and interacting with other people’s content and 20 percent of your time posting. Before you can be an influencer, you have to understand and participate in the network.

3. Build Organic Relationships Instagram is a social platform, and being social is the key to succeeding. “It starts with commenting on the photos of Ins-tagrammers that you admire, and they comment back,” says Canadian wedding

photographer David Guenther. “Conver-sations start based on photographs and then you build friendships that can turn into collaborations and mentions.”

THE TOOLS4. Send DSLR Images to Your iPhone Wirelessly While Instagram purists insist on shoot-ing and processing with only their iPhones or Androids, our photographers noted that while they use their mobile devices most of the time, when they want to put some extra “oomph” in their images, they turn to their DSLRs. To get those images to Instagram, photojour-nalist Ben Lowy uses an Eye-Fi ProX2 card and the Eye-Fi app to wirelessly transmit his images to his iPhone for easy uploading.

5. Take Your Pick of Post-Production AppsPost-processing on Instagram is just as important as with any other type of photography. To get the signature look that will set your shots apart from the

pack, our photographers unanimously recommend VSCO Cam, which has become the standard mobile shooting and editing app for pros. Other popular apps include Snapseed (by photo soft-ware stalwart Nik Software), Afterlight as well as Squaready, which formats your images for Instagram while main-taining their aspect ratio by placing a border around the image.

6. Go For Sharp ImagesThe biggest reason that photographers think their DSLR images get more engagement than mobile shots is the upgrade in quality and sharpness. Up until last fall, the only option to upgrad-ing your smartphone’s camera quality was the addition of an awkward lens, which was useful but did nothing to in-crease the resolution. When taking your DSLR along isn’t possible, the Sony DSC-QX100 can give you both the con-venience and quality you’re looking for. The QX100 is a lens and sensor combo that clips onto your iPhone and delivers DSLR-quality images from its Carl Zeiss lens straight to the phone.

TIPS FOR BOO$TING YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED

While every Instagrammer we talked to called the growth of his followers “organic,” it didn’t take much prying to figure out that there was more to the story than a few lucky breaks.

We collected the tips from our Instagram experts, who collectively have more than 350,000 followers and millions of likes and comments.

The Marketing Issue


shots of his baby, sticks to the whimsical negative-space portraits he’s known for. It’s like shrinking his style down to a 1 x 1-inch square. “My artistic photos tend to get more likes because they stand out,” says Wanger. “It’s hard to be artistic with everything, but if you take photos a little differently and inten-tionally, it has its benefits.”

Meanwhile, Flanigan posts a combina-tion of dreamy landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, intimate portraits and the occasional wedding shot. The fact that it all fits with his brand and style isn’t an accident. He approaches his feed with an eye toward quality control. “When I’m posting things to Instagram, I try to think like a company shipping a product. Is this something that I want to ship? Is this something I want attached to my brand?” says Flanigan. “I always want to post, but I don’t want to flood followers with less- im-pactful photos. It’s difficult.”

Cole is even more particular about quality control. Once a week, he goes back through his feed and, like a good photo editor, strikes posts that he thinks aren’t up to par or don’t fit in with the group.

“When people are just glancing through my profile, I want consistency in the pho-tos,” explains Cole. “I have to make sure everything flows and looks cohesive.”

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESESWhile the Instagram feed can be an effective way of netting new clients, all of our photographers say it’s an even more effective way to communicate with exist-ing ones. As Cole says, “I’m constantly on people’s minds because I’m in their feed.”

While Flanigan agrees, he finds that it’s not just about clients seeing his photos, but about him seeing theirs. “If I’m liking clients’ photos, they are reminded that I exist,” Flanigan says. After engagement sessions, he always follows his clients on Instagram. “I can see how their wedding is coming along and stay in contact so they

Once a week, Logan Cole goes back through his feed and, like a good photo editor, strikes posts that he thinks aren’t up to par or don’t fit in with the group.

Left and above: Images by David Guenther, who spun off his own Instagram feed into a photo collective with Canadian photographer friends called @greatnorthco., which has since been approached by the Tourism Authority of Alberta, along with other companies, to Instagram on their behalf.


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know that I care.”Cole, Flanigan and Guenther have all

noticed that almost all of their clients are already following them by the time they get to the engagement shoot. The heightened

frequency of interaction all makes for a more personal client-photographer relationship.

“They get a stronger understanding of who I am as a wedding photographer after following me,” says Guenther. “My feed is my brand and my brand is myself.”

BEYOND THE WEDDING WORLDWhile Guenther has used Instagram to boost his wedding business, he has recently discovered its potential for other avenues of photography. Though he has been using the service since 2011, a year and half ago, he decided to bring his feed to the next level, only posting professional-quality images that reflected his brand: a mix of storytelling portraits, breathtaking landscapes of the Canadian wilderness and a sprinkling of his signature wedding work.

The response was immediate. His fol-lowing grew and he began connecting with big Instagrammers with a similar esthetic. After a few choice mentions and months of steady, beautiful work, Instagram added him to its “suggested user” list. When he looked at contempo-raries on the list—big brands like Red Bull and Nike—he knew he was onto something big. His following soon hit 50,000.

Guenther decided to spin off his brand into an account for Canadian wedding photographers called the Great North Collective (@greatnorthco). After he and a few photographer friends Insta-grammed weekend excursions in the wilderness for the collective, followers began to flock to that feed as well. Soon after, a public- relations representative for the Tourism Authority of Alberta called, offering an all-expenses-paid trip helicoptering and snowshoeing, given that the photographer Instagram the trip. He, of course, accepted and the trip was a success.

Since the Alberta campaign, Guen-ther has been approached by a number of other brands looking to co-opt his unique imagery and rabid following. As Guenther hints at an upcoming cam-paign with “a massive brand” that he can’t yet reveal, it is clear Instagram has changed his career. “With that influence

comes the opportunity for brands to hire you,” explains Guenther. “It’s becoming an extension of my career.”

That type of brand partnership is becoming the norm for influential Instagrammers. It’s what the Mobile Media Lab is built on. Despite the Lab’s success, DiFeo is adamant that there is plenty of room for any photographer to get a piece of the pie.

“Any influencer can work with a brand if either they find a brand or the brand finds them,” DiFeo says. “You could be creating great content and have a big audience, but until you approach some-one or someone approaches you, you don’t know if that’s a possibility.”

NEVER STOP INNOVATINGBecoming fluent in Instagram is an increasingly important part of being a photographer today. According to pho-tojournalist Ben Lowy (@benlowy), who has used Instagram to cover the Super Bowl for ESPN and Hurricane Sandy for TIME, the power of Instagram is that followers are already primed to want to see your work. Photographers can then direct their following to whatever end they want to achieves. For Lowy, that means that when a publication hires him to shoot a story exclusively for Instagram—which happens often—it knows that his more than 111,500 fol-lowers are coming along for the ride.

“It’s important today to build an awareness of what you can create with a client or brand,” says Lowy.

At the end of the day, creating that buzz demonstrates that you understand how to leverage technology to your ben-efit. It’s all about reinventing yourself for the social media age.

“Using Instagram lets people know that I can innovate,” explains Lowy. “I can shoot things differently. I’m not just the photographer creating the content of the photograph but also recognizing how that photograph is used.”

With likes, comments and shares turning increasingly into dollar signs, it’s no wonder that a photographer’s net-work is becoming almost as important as the photographs themselves.

“My feed is my brand and my brand is my-self.” —David Guenther

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Does the desire for a tangible record of your photographs have you up at night, reaching for your phone and Googling “How to Publish a Photo Book”? If you want complete control over your book and a big publishing house is not your scene, self-publishing could be the way to go. With online publishing companies like Blurb adding a bevy of new features and partnerships (see page 64), the time has never been better to harness the resources of the self-publishing realm. Whether you’re looking to create a self-promotion piece to distribute to clients or simply wish to compile a personal project for your coffee table, check out the experiences and processes of three photographers who’ve created (or are in the process of creating) a proper photo book in the past year.

This page: A hardcover binding by Artifact Uprising; the company’s pages are 100 percent post consumer recycled with dual matte finish.


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GET PERSONAL ATTENTIONMICHAEL WILSON, NORTHBOUND

Photographer Michael Wilson had spent six years assisting photo legend Martin Schoeller in New York City when he decided to move to Maine and strike out on his own in 2013 with mwphotographic.com. Wil-son—who had shot weddings on the side during his time with Schoeller—decided his first project as a freelancer would be capturing portraits of hikers on the Ap-palachian Trail, where he was trekking for six months while on honeymoon with his new wife. “About a year leading up to it, I decided it would be a great proj-ect,” Wilson says. “There are so many photography books about the nature [of the Appalachian Trail]; the one thing I had never seen and thought was miss-ing was portraits of the people. With millions of people setting foot on the trail every year, it’s kind of like a social experiment in the woods. I have heard it referred to as ‘The People’s Trail.’”

Wilson knew pretty early on that he would make the project into a book: “I had a professor in college who used to rant about how bad students’ books were—I really want to make a book that tells a story,” he says. But, “I didn’t think too much about the book itself when I was shooting; I was just trying to take as many diverse pictures as possible.”

So Wilson set out with a Canon 6D and his 40mm and 85mm lenses, and shot more than half of his portraits within the first six weeks, setting up a portable studio at a Damascus, Virginia, festival called “Trail Days” that at-tracts 30,000 past and present hikers. “I rented someone’s carport and set up a tablecloth in the background,” Wilson says. “I used ambient light and bor-rowed additional lights from another photographer-hiker. I made the most makeshift of makeshift studios.”

When Wilson and his wife finished the thru-hike in September 2013, he spent about a month preparing to create a book that he wanted to be more hefty than a typical, uploadable softcover. “Originally I thought I would do a ‘print-on-demand’ book, and I had a test book made,” Wilson says. “I wasn’t unhappy with the print quality, I just wasn’t satisfied. The biggest thing was the size restrictions that the print-on-demand houses have; I really wanted a book that felt serious in your hands.”

So after reading numerous blogs on the topic of self-publishing and getting crowdfunding through IndieGoGo.com, Wilson reached out to Berkeley, Califor-nia-based Edition One (editiononebooks.com) to create a portrait-orientated hard-cover that measures 12.5 x 9.25 inches. “It’s a small production company, they don’t mass produce books, and in talking to them, they’re so easy-going and easy

to communicate with,” Wilson says. “I got the first test prints back and I was floored with the quality. There was no doubt in my mind what I was going to do.” One of the reasons for Wilson’s enthusiasm is Edition One’s paper quality—the com-pany uses super smooth, uncoated paper; for photobooks, its standard is 162gsm (equivalent to 60-pound cover stock).

Edition One founder and owner Ben Zlotkin describes the production compa-ny as a “short-to-medium-run” publisher that will print as few as five books per run for a photographer, but an average of 100 to 200 copies. “Working with us is personal because you have to interact with someone here to do it—we don’t have any shopping cart on our site or online ordering,” explains Zlotkin.

“ “I wanted a piece that I could send around and use as promotional materials for editors or ad agencies.”

Above: A production proof of Northbound, which photographer Michael Wilson created with independent publisher Edition One.

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“We actually look at your files, make sure we understand your job, proof the book for you and discuss the proof. We can do that because we’re small and we focus on the professional designers, fine-art pho-tographers, galleries, etc. These custom-ers have high standards; there is no way to automate things and get them what they need and deserve.”

Wilson had originally intended to pro-duce 100 copies of Northbound, but after being 207 percent over-funded (he raised $15,000 with the promise to give donors copies of the book and limited-edition prints), he printed 225 copies in Febru-ary 2014. Between printing, packaging and shipping, Wilson estimates it was a break-even project, but like most book producers, he didn’t do it for the money. “I wanted to end up with a piece that I could send around and use as promotional materials for editors or ad agencies,” the photographer says. “I also printed softcov-ers, which saved a substantial amount of money and are lighter, easier to ship and good to use as promotional materials.”

While a book about the Appalachian Trail doesn’t so obviously translate to wed-ding clients, as Wilson explains, it serves a very specific purpose in proving his photo-graphic capabilities. “For wedding clients, what I’ve always pushed is the ability to tell a story in a day,” the photographer says. “So this [book] is to show that this is what

I do. All I do is photography all day, every day. I want to make sure people under-stand that it’s not a hobby, it’s important to me and [on a wedding day] I wouldn’t let anything slip through the cracks.”

COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CROWDMICHELLE GARDELLA, RIVER STORY

For the past five years, Michelle Gardella’s bread and butter has been wedding pho-tography at michellegardella.com (see “30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography,” Rangefinder, November 2013), but while she loves the stories she gets to tell from nuptials, three years ago, she says, “I got this feeling that there was another story I was inclined to share.”

The seeds of that story were planted during an editorial shoot Gardella was doing on the Salmon River in Connecti-cut. “It was 100 degrees out, the model was miserable, everyone [on the shoot] was really cranky,” Gardella explains. Upon going to the next location, the crew realized there wasn’t room for everyone in the truck, so Gardella decided to stay with the model and walk to the next loca-tion together. “I happened to be wearing a white sundress and she was wearing this beautiful bridal gown,” Gardella says. “I felt so bad for her, so I took off my sundress and told her to put it on and go jump in the water and cool herself off. She did, I took photos and fell in love.”

From that image of a woman in a sundress, quietly bathing in a river—and the significance of the Salmon River (“I’ve always had an upstream life,” Gardella says)—the photographer got the idea to cre-ate a book featuring women photographed in rivers across the U.S. And like any free-thinking idealist, she would do it while traveling around in her 25-foot Airstream trailer, husband and two children in tow.

Though Gardella is a dreamer, she’s also social media savvy, and in order to fund the project on her own, she took to Kickstarter. “I chose Kickstarter rather than seeking out a publisher and agent because I wanted it to be a collective process; I wanted it to be other people holding up the book all together rather than on my own,” she says. “The first person who pledged was Julie Comfort, who owns a photography studio in Costa Rica, and I fell down on the floor of the Airstream because [her donation] made it real. [To have people sharing and par-ticipating] was a feeling of affirmation, to have people saying ‘I believe in you.’”

As it stands, Gardella’s project has raised $20,751 with backers receiv-ing various levels of thank-yous, from signed hardcover copies of the book (which she promises to have delivered

Above: Portraits from Northbound, Wilson’s pho-to book about hikers on the Appalachian Trail.

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Photos this page: Portraits of women in rivers throughout the U.S. were Gardella’s focus in the upcoming River Story.

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in 2015), to their names listed in the pages. Gardella will finish the project this summer, shooting with her Nikon D3S and 35mm lens, and will then publish the hardcover River Story exclusively with online self-publishing company Artifact Uprising (www.artifactuprising.com). “I love that they are owned and run by women, have sustainable practices [the company features 100 percent recycled

pages], and they were the first business to step forward and say, ‘We believe in what you are doing, and what you have to say is important,’” says Gardella, who previously used the company for fine-art prints and personal projects. “I trust them completely.”

Artifact Uprising’s model and user-friendly online interface allow photogra-phers to customize and upload just one



Photos this page and next: Luis Del-gado’s self published book Le canto por un pan was printed on his Epson inkjet and features various folds.

book (a square, 8.5 x 8.5 hardcover, for instance, goes for $69) or go through the company’s Enterprise program for bulk discounts on 100 or more books.

“People approach us for this kind of book when they know they have an audience that is deeply invested in the work they’re doing,” says Katie Thurmes, Artifact Uprising co-founder. “Kickstarter is a great way to test the waters of interest. Publishing is such a beautiful way to share your art, but the burden of the cost can be great, so if there’s a way to gauge interest or use a pre-order system with your audience, you know you’re not biting off more than you chew.”

Thurmes also suggests smaller runs

for photographers who want to test the waters of printing. “With wedding photographers—for instance Reg Camp-bell—we see people printing lookbooks or softcover books to distribute to wed-ding planners and vendors that include pricing and details,” she says. “The softcover is a great way to market your business.”

Once the first run of River Story is printed in hardcover, Gardella isn’t necessarily looking to gain greater fame or more business—part of what reso-nates with her is keeping things special and thoughtful. However, she says, “It’s important for my kids to have something tangible to see that all those hours Mom-my was working were not for nothing.”

KEEP IT HIGH-END AND DIYLUIS DELGADO, LE CANTO POR UN PAN

For those photographers who want to create something truly unique—and maybe get their hands dirty—fine-art photographer Luis Delgado has the prac-tice down. With an Epson inkjet printer and a custom binder on speed dial, Delgado specializes in handmade, one-of-a-kind, small-edition bookmaking for himself and other photographers with his imprint Malulu Editions (malulu.com).

He most recently published his own work in Le canto por un pan (I sing for bread), featuring black-and-white portraits of street musicians in Mexico, Spain, Malasia and the U.S. The book

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PHOTOS THIS PAGE © LUIS DELGADO



WHAT’S NEW?FEATURES FROM VARIOUS SELF-PUBLISHING RESOURCES.

• BLURB EXPANDS. In April, Blurb announced its users will be able to sell and distribute their books globally through Amazon.com, even if they only sell one copy. The popular online publishing site also acquired MagCloud in May, a self-publishing platform for maga-zines formerly owned by HP. Blurb has also added design software BookWright to its arsenal, allowing authors to design, publish and print ebooks all from the same file. (blurb.com)

• FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES. If budget is holding you back, try crowdfunding your book project through IndieGoGo, which has two different funding models, or the behemoth Kickstarter, which successfully facilitated funding of 5,528 publishing projects (at time of writing) since its 2009 inception.

• INSTA BOOKS. You know and we know that some of your ‘grams are too good to simply live in the app. Many of the self-publishing services mentioned here (Blurb, Artifact Upris-

ing, Shutterfly) offer photo books for your Instagram images, but Prin-stagram, in particular, specializes in Instagram prints (printstagr.am) and offers some lovely, 38-page hard-cover books for $25.

• ONLINE RESOURCES. Sites like Self Publish, Be Happy (selfpublishbehap-py.com) and the Indie Photo Book Library (indiephotobooklibrary.org) celebrate self publishing and provide great resources and creative examples to get your book off the ground.

is unconventional in the sense that it has more than one cover and different folds that open to illustrate photos in landscape formats. The audience for this type of book, he says, is very particular, mostly fine art, and segmented into special collections and large institutions.

“The runs are small—25 max for a specialized high-end market,” Delgado explains. For cost, Delgado estimates that the inkjet is $10 to $20 per square foot to print, plus design time (if you’re doing it yourself or working with a designer) and binding, which is $200 per book de-pending on materials and size. “The cost is high, but there’s definitely a particular market for it,” Delgado says.

The photographer says his bookmaking learning process has been long, beginning

with collaborations with designers like Tolleson Design and Bob Aufuldish (of Aufuldish & Warinner), and by observ-ing other fine bookmakers. For creative ways to bind, Delgado looks to Alabama-based Vamp & Tramp booksellers (www.vampandtramp.com), Datz Press in Korea (www.datzpress.com) and book-art programs at universities.

Although hand-making a book is much more tedious than going online and click-ing through a few options, Delgado says the appeal of the finished project—from

materials to binding—is that it’s “my concepts and my ideas.”

“I enjoy the process of making them, telling a story and having them held in major institutions and museum collections,” Delgado says. “It’s good company to be in, and I just got a commission to design and produce a book based on a Brazilian collector’s diaries after he saw 47 Diaries, a 20 x 24 book using the diaries of Ruth Troeller. Handcrafted things come with funky little defects, but you have to understand it’s part of their charm; it’s special.”

PHOTO © LUIS DELGADO

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We’ve all heard terms like “paid placement” and “SEO strategy”

bandied about, but what do they really mean for your photography business and how can you put them into practice? Photographer and online expert Rob Greer breaks down the basics of good online marking and explains how to put them into practice today.

BY ROB GREER


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There’s no perfect strategy for online customer acquisition, but in this article—as in my seminars—I teach photographers to use a blended approach.

Effective online marketing starts with fully understanding your customer; take a moment and jot down the information you know about your last five clients. Does it match what you want to see in your next five clients? What about the clients you hope to work with next year? Examine client demographics (age, gender, ethnic-ity, profession and income) as well as psychographic characteristics (interests, behaviors, attitudes, values, esthetics and lifestyles). This allows you to develop a granular and customer-focused marketing message.

Think about where you want to be and start moving your online marketing efforts in that direction.

What I’ve found to be most successful is a formula that includes social media, paid placement, publishing buzz, search engine optimization, mobile optimization and proper presentation.

SOCIAL MEDIA BASICSEven if you’re not a fan of Facebook, Twit-ter or Instagram, many of your customers are, and the most basic level of engagement starts with social media.

When you post a photo to your wall or feed, always include a link to your website. Make sure the photo is “public” if you’re posting to your own private Facebook page. For apps that don’t support live URLs in the comments—such as Instagram—include the suggestion: “Check out the link in my profile for more info!” You can’t assume that potential customers will actively look for your website, so make it easy for them.

Also, in the photo’s description, ask your clients and everyone viewing it to tag their friends. You’ll see an exponential increase

in interaction for that photo than if you didn’t suggest tagging. With those tags, your photos will show up in friends of friends’ feeds, even if they’re not directly connected to you, which can mean greater exposure for your studio. I’ve booked sev-eral large jobs because a friend of a friend saw a sneak peek photo I had posted to my personal Facebook wall.

Finally, make sure that you include a watermark on every photograph on your website, on social media and on your blog. If your photos are ever widely shared, your watermark can point to your website—even if there’s no direct URL link from the shared image. Adding a watermark also adds legal protection to your work beyond the basic protections afforded by copyright.

PAID PLACEMENTThere are various online outlets for placing yourself where potential clients will see you. Although paid advertising requires capital upfront, if you examine your man-hour costs related to generating traffic in other ways, it’s often more cost effective.

First, check out online directories; for wedding photographers, advertising in popular paid directories such as The Knot and WeddingWire is one of the best ways

to receive maximum website exposure. If you’re considering advertising on either site, purchase a featured listing, which showcases photographers on the first page of search results, and thus garners you the lion’s share of customer exposure.

Social media sites also offer effec-tive methods that can help you acquire valuable website traffic. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you can create a highly targeted Facebook advertisement that is only shown to the users meeting your specifications. For example, it’s quite easy to create an ad that is only visible to engaged female users who are between the ages of 25 and 30, who live within a cer-tain radius of your zip code and who are also fans of Beyoncé. With proper research and testing, and by using varied demo-graphic and psychographic information, you can fine-tune your advertising to the point where it will yield amazing results.

All search engines also offer paid place-ment advertising. For example, with Google AdWords, you can bid on popular keywords and phrases. Operating like an auction, if you have one of the highest bids, then your clickable advertisement is shown in Google’s search results right next to the organic search results. But, before you set aside a budget and start experimenting with keyword advertising, use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to do your home-work. Make sure that you’re using science rather than guesswork when you start bid-ding on your favorite keywords.

PUBLISHING BUZZ If you’re interested in a strategy that involves minimal monetary investment, receiving recognition for your photogra-phy can also generate significant website traffic. One way to receive targeted traffic is by getting published on wedding blogs like Style Me Pretty, Wedding Chicks or

Left: A photo featured in a Lawn & Land-scape magazine cover story. The photo editor found Rob Greer by searching Google for “Los Angeles Photographer.” “My website was listed on the first page of search results, and that was enough to get her to call and book my services,” Greer says. Opening spread: Because of his venue-centric search engine marketing, this engagement photo was discovered by a reporter who interviewed Greer for a story in the local newspaper. “SEO is the gift that keeps on giving,” says the photographer.

Photographers can now expect 20

to 30 percent of their website traffic to originate from mobile devices.



Offbeat Bride. Two Bright Lights is a great portal that wedding blog editors use to find photographs to use on their sites. In exchange for the use of your photos, blogs provide valuable backlinks to your website.

Likewise, for the small cost of an entry fee, receiving awards and recognition from well-respected sources like Fearless Photographers or Junebug Weddings’ “Best of the Best” cre-ates long-standing links that last for years.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATIONAlthough search engine optimization (SEO) is often thought of as the best place to start with online marketing, SEO has become one of the most challenging ways to market your website. In fact, it’s so difficult that photog-raphers looking for short-term results should first explore other marketing methods before spending much time and effort on SEO. That being said, if you’re moving forward with SEO, some of the factors you may not have considered include content, website speed and mobile accessibility.

As search engines become more sophis-ticated at recognizing and understanding text, content has become one the most important ranking factors. It’s crucial to create quality content that is compelling, fresh, interesting, lengthy and—most

importantly—unique. In order to achieve the best possible

results, you should strive to include a minimum of 200 words per page, with 500 words being a better target. And if you really want to grab attention, create pages with 2,000 or more words of origi-nal content. Simply said, if you’re shar-ing lengthy information that is valuable and unique, Google will often rank your pages higher than similar pages featuring less content.

Search engines also track dozens of factors that are directly related to website speed. Put simply, faster websites will often rank higher than slower sites. Did you know that 47 percent of consumers expect a website to load in under two seconds and 40 percent will abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load? Use Google PageSpeed or Pingdom’s Speed Test to check your own website. MAKE SURE YOU’RE MOBILE Mobile compatibility is more than just a nice-to-have option for websites—it’s tied to search results and placement. Search results for phone and tablet users actually take into account whether or not a website is optimized for mobile devices. Photogra-phers can now expect 20 to 30 percent of their website traffic to originate from mobile devices, so if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s time to rethink it. This online marketing consideration can’t be overemphasized. PRESENTATION COUNTS For all of your social media outlets and portfolio, make sure to present yourself in the best light. Use profile photos that stand out (striking colors typically work best). Finally, when visitors click through to your site, make sure that they’re immediately wowed with amazing photos presented on a modern website. Although portfolio presentation warrants its own article, some providers to check out include 4ormat, Good Gallery, SmugMug, Squarespace and Zenfolio.

Rob Greer specializes in wedding, portrait and product photography. Based in L.A., he is also the founder and managing director of Good Gallery, a company that makes better websites for photographers.

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Below: Website popularity can be a great in-dicator for search engines like Google. Greer’s weddings site saw a big surge in traffic after his engagement album was awarded First Place in this year’s 16x20 WPPI Print, Album and Filmmaking Competition.

10 SEO Need-to-Knows

1. Google uses more than 200 different factors to determine your search engine ranking and position.

2. The page title is the single most important factor in SEO. Choose wisely.

3. Google knows how long it takes your website to load and gives precedence to faster websites.

4. A hugely important SEO factor is the number and quality of web-sites linking to your website.

5. Only use a keyword two or three times on any single page. Avoid unnatural repetition.

6. The amount of content on every page matters. Don’t create pages featuring thin content.

7. 30 percent of all website traf-fic comes from mobile devices. Google prefers mobile-optimized websites.

8. Establish credibility with search engines by providing a physical address on your contact page.

9. Don’t create duplicate page titles or textual content. Google doesn’t like duplicate content.

10. Search engines change algo-rithms daily. What works today may not work tomorrow.



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BY JEFF ROJAS

Putting together a high-fashion editorial is possible, no matter where you live.

I’ve spent the last two years working along-side one of the best entrepreneurs and photography instructors in the industry:

Lindsay Adler. While our home base is New York City, we’ve spent time shooting across the U.S., in Canada, the U.A.E. and Turkey. We’ve taught in dozens of small cities and towns, sharing our knowledge of fashion and beauty photography, and meeting thousands of photographers.

Many of the photographers we meet, however, argue that it is not possible to create high-end shoots in their markets; they believe that unless you are in a major city like Los Angeles or New York, certain types of shoots are out of reach. Lack of creative talent—including hair styl-ists and makeup artists—or the inaccessibility to clothing (as well as a slew of other excuses) are reasons that a specific type of fashion shoot seems unattainable.

My argument is that there is always an oppor-tunity to create stunning images for those willing to get creative on finding solutions.

For instance, this past March I had received commissions from Elléments Magazine and the Dubai-based Velvet magazine to produce new content and editorials. I decided to give myself a challenge and shoot these editorials in my hometown of Orlando, Florida—hardly a place

HIGH FASHION, SMALL MARKET

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I’d consider a “high-fashion” mecca. Would it be possible to create that

high-fashion look without being in the “Big City”? I decided to take my chal-lenge further and photograph four edi-torials in two days with a team I’d never worked with, in a studio I’d never seen and with assistants I’d never met.

Fashion editorials often involve produc-ing a minimum of six to eight strong im-ages, featuring a different outfit for each “story” or editorial. Emerging fashion photographers like myself shoot editori-als on spec for the experience, exposure, to build our portfolios and to create new work to show clients our capabilities. They become marketing pieces and also

lend credibility to our work. Furthermore, having images in magazines may draw the attention of advertisers (or other art buyers reading the publication), and the true profit is in landing advertising and commercial clients.

When I decided to make these editorials happen in Orlando, it was going to either be utter genius or a train wreck. Either

way, it was a challenge to address the concerns of the “smaller market”

photographer.

THE RIGHT TEAMTo grow your business, you need the right team. When you work with hair and makeup professionals (in-stead of doing it yourself or leaving your subject “as is”), you can focus on your strengths: composi-tion, lighting and directing the subject.

But what happens when you live in an area with a limited number of talented creatives? For my shoots, I discovered it was all about networking, and

social media became invaluable. Because I’m so open online with

providing photography tips for free, I’ve amassed a great group of photographers in my social network, some based in Orlando. They were able and willing to provide me contact information of stylists and makeup artists in exchange for busi-ness advice over a cup of coffee. Simple.

I reached out to each creative individu-ally and asked them to participate in my editorial. Although that sounds easy enough, I had no budget for this shoot. So how did I get professional creatives to work for free?

First, I made sure I was clear in com-municating my shot concepts. I provided them with a series of images expressing the direction of the shoot so they could envision their contributions and an-ticipate the final images. I described the passion project they could be part of and communicated my own excitement for it to get their creative neurons firing!

Next, I reminded them that although they wouldn’t be monetarily compensated (and neither was I), their work would be published in international publications. The resulting tear sheets would be great for resumes and as bragging rights in getting future jobs.

Luckily, this tactic worked, but if I’d had no contacts in the city where I was shooting, I would have gotten a bit more creative. To find makeup artists, I often visit a local mall and network with staff from Sephora and MAC Cosmetics—many of whom freelance on their days off. The best part about being able to visit a storefront is that you can see

Above and below: Although I had no budget for this shoot, I was able to convince all of my creative talent to work for free.

To find makeup artists I often visit a local mall and network with staff from Sephora and MAC Cosmetics—many of whom freelance on their days off.

The Marketing Issue


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first-hand their work and their personality with clients. My recommendation is to not go into a store graciously handing out busi-ness cards; instead consider “shopping” around for products and casually discuss-ing your work with the staff. (Nothing scares off people faster than a quick hard sell.) This could work similarly with hair stylists at a local salon.

THE RIGHT SUBJECTOrlando is a lifestyle/swimsuit market, plain and simple. The female models were curvy and often surgically en-hanced, and the male models were generally too muscular and didn’t fit the esthetic for the photo shoots I had in mind. I started cold-calling local model-ing agencies with my exact criteria for models one month before beginning the project. I explained that I was looking for models with a sophisticated and high- fashion look, not traditional “sex appeal.”

By being specific, clearly explaining my concept and reaching out to agencies more than a month in advance, I had ample time to research and make model selections.

I didn’t, however, get all my models from modeling agencies. If you live in a smaller market, you may not even have an agency to reach out to. What do you do then?

Before planning my shoots, I also looked through Orlando-based photogra-phers’ Facebook pages to see if they had previously worked with a model I was interested in working with. Sometimes I’d contact the model directly by searching his or her name or tag. Other times, I’d ask the photographer in my network for an introduction.

By the time I was in Orlando, I had many local aspiring and professional models seeking to work with me for their portfolio and for tear sheets, like others on the creative team.

Finally, I was able to find wardrobe styl-ists by speaking to other photographers and doing research on Model Mayhem (a social network for photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, models and wardrobe stylists). I found two aspiring stylists who sourced clothing from local designers, cre-

ated some of their own pieces and borrowed from designers in other cities.

THE RIGHT SHOOTBy the time I arrived in Orlan-do, I had gathered my entire creative team. I had planned four shoots with two female models from agencies, one male model from an agency and one female model through Facebook. I was even able to find several local assistants who worked for free.

Through talking to other photographers, I found a local studio to rent called Studio One, and this was my only true cost for the entire shoot.

I shot two editorials a day, each lasting five hours, mak-ing for long but exhilarat-ing days. Everything ran smoothly, and I was fueled by the passion of my cre-ative team. While shooting, it was thrilling to show ev-eryone the images on my laptop—I could see their eyes light up about the images we were creating.

THE RIGHT PUBLICATIONFor each editorial, I selected about five to eight final images to retouch and turned those images into the magazines that had commissioned the pieces. I also began shopping around to new publications for the other two shoots.

Since I began shooting fashion, I’ve been compiling a list of potential maga-zines. I send low-resolution images to publications I think would be a good fit via PhotoShelter.com, which has made it extremely easy for me to provide editors with access to low-resolution and high- resolution files with a click of a button.

I also shared these images with some of my “dream clients” via email, and to art buyers and editors. I even sent sneak

peeks of the shoot to designers I want to work with, and art buyers at com-mercial companies with whom I hope to collaborate. (So far I’ve gotten lots of good feedback and I’m talking with some magazines about future collaborations.)

The resulting images shot in these four editorials are slated to come out in four different international magazines in the next couple of months, including Velvet. Not only will this help my credentials, but the images we created are some of my favorites in my portfolio.

The bottom line? All of this was achieved in a smaller, non-fashion market. Even though it was a lot of work to put these shoots together, you don’t need to be in a city like New York or Los Angeles to find the right resources and produce striking fashion imagery; you can make it happen anywhere—even in your own hometown.

Right: The resulting images were published in magazines including Elléments and Dubai’s Velvet.

The Marketing Issue


^^ �PU[LYÄ[WOV[VNYHWOPJ�JVTExpanding your creativity

Interfit Photographic Ltd.420 Industrial Court WestVilla Rica, GA [email protected]

www.interfitphotographic.com InterfitPhotographic

Expanding your creativityInterfit Photographic Ltd.420 Industrial Court WestVilla Rica, GA [email protected]

www.interfitphotographic.com InterfitPhotographic

Production Image Courtesy of: Vanden King Photography

Image Courtesy of: Jason Lanier Photography www.jasonlanierworkshops.com

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With more and more clients looking for their photographers online, I decided

to ask Blair, one of our 30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography nominators, for a few tips on developing a strong brand that attracts the attention of clients, photo edi-tors and wedding planners alike. JACQUELINE TOBIN: How can a photographer make their website or blog more impactful?

BLAIR DELAUBENFELS: You have to cre-ate a cohesive look that incorporates your logo, layout, images and search engine-friendly content. Your design should cel-ebrate your distinctive style and highlight the kind of work you want to pursue.

The most common mistakes I see pho-tographers make online include the use of disparate design elements, showing too much work in galleries and blog posts, the failure to develop navigation based on a client’s perspective and the lack of a clear call to action.

Great photographers who are also effec-tive at creating online sales know how to edit their images for maximum impact and how to communicate their brand through-out the user experience. They also know how to write content based on what people are searching for and how to connect with them through their bio and contact pages.

Effective branding can make a photog-rapher with even average skills stand out, while the lack of it can make even the most outstanding photographer look bad.

JT: Do you discourage photographers from having multiple sites?

BD: If a photographer can show an ex-traordinary body of work in more than one area, or if the subjects they shoot are very different—like weddings and professional sporting events—it’s best to keep the sites separate in order to attract potential clients. If the subjects are similar, like wedding and boudoir photography, show them on the same site in order to capture additional sales from the same clients while demonstrat-ing versatility.

JT: What are some tips for attracting potential clients to your website or blog?

BD: First, learn basic SEO techniques for writing content and creating titles and meta descriptions (read more about SEO on page 66). Having a website or blog without attention to these elements is a little bit like building a beautiful house with no road. It may be a lovely place to visit, but no will come to your party if they can’t find your address.

Next, create interesting, consistently updated content. Don’t show one simi-lar shoot after the other. Find multiple creative ways to speak to your audience. If you are a wedding photographer, show more images from weddings than from other types of shoots. Five engagement shoots in a row or ten posts of family pho-tos can confuse your audience and dilute your ability to get more of what you want.

JT: Is it hard to get work published?

BD: No, it’s actually rather easy to do when you keep in mind the following:• Identify the publication or blog that

you are most interested in and then find the editors’ contact information. Be meticulous with the spelling of their name, title and publication.

• If the publication has an online form for submissions, follow the directions to the letter.

• Let the editor know why you love his or her style and how your brand matches it. Showing that you have enthusiasm for their vision, and that you’ve done your homework, can go a long way to developing a long-term relationship.

• Send submissions that make it easy to tell stories and identify trends.

• If you are submitting a wedding or editorial shoot that includes details, be sure they look harmonious together.

• Consistent lighting and processing are a must when it comes to edito-rial spreads that feature lots of small images.

• Always choose publications that match your brand. So, if the wed-ding is very high-budget, look to publications like Grace Ormonde Wedding Style or Town & Country. If the wedding is an outdoor event full of vintage details, consider submit-ting to Green Wedding Shoes or Style Me Pretty. Look into picture sharing platform like Two Bright Lights that helps you submit work to numerous blogs simultaneously.

• As soon as your work has been published, acknowledge the publica-tion on your website, blog and social media. After you’ve been published several times, create an online press page or add logos with links to the publications on your home, bio or contact pages.

In the coming months, Blair will tackle a gamut of industry topics including “Women to Watch,” “Building Your Press Page,” “Getting Published and Winning Awards,” “What’s Trending Now in Wed-ding Photography” and more.


Branding With BlairINTERVIEW BY JACQUELINE TOBIN

Blair deLaubenfels, the co-founder of the popular wed-ding planning resource Junebug Weddings recently sold Junebug to a media investment group and launched Get to Bizness (www.gettobuziness.com), a consulting compa-ny that help artists and entrepreneurs grow their brands and revenue online. The main focus is on marketing, SEO- friendly content that drives sales, smart web design, social media strategies and solid business planning.

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What’s the most customized gift you’ve ever given a client?

COMPILED BY JESSICA GORDON

BRANDED FABRIC ALBUM HOLDERS AND RECYCLED CARDBOARD CD CASES “The fabric bags are very simple but classy—drawstring bags in the colors of our logo, with a silk rib-bon to tie them. I sew a few at the beginning of each month and give them to my clients who buy al-bums and canvas prints. They take maybe 15 minutes each to make and cost about $2, but they make my products look so much more high-end. My customers love them because they keep their products free of dust (especially the albums). I also include any flyer, coupon or brochure with discounts I have going at the time so it is a great op-portunity to create a steady stream of income.

“The recycled CD cases are super simple to make. My staff takes some time each month to cut recycled paper into a set template I already have. I first run all the sheets through my printer with our logo and it looks very organic and clean. Once they are printed and cut, they just glue

one end of it and voilà! I have some real pretty tulle ribbon and twine that match my colors, which we wrap around the case for a classy touch. Each CD case comes out to about 60 cents, and they look much more expensive than anything you can purchase. Plus, the recycled feel of it appeals to many of our customers.”

FRANCES OTERO Newborn and Family

Photographer McKinney, Texas

francesoterophotography.com; www.yourlittleprints.com

PHOTO EMBROIDERIES“I make a lot of different mixed media of clients’ photographs to give as gifts, including handmade magnets with their photos or wood trans-fers. But my favorite gift is a photo embroidery—I print the photos I've taken on thin cotton and sew details onto them. On average, it takes about 45 minutes to create one and sup-plies cost about $10 (not including the time). I usually surprise clients with it as a thank you and they LOVE it! I've received tons of feedback and have actually been asked to do a couple art shows with these pieces. A lot of people have seen photos I've posted of these on Instragram and have asked to buy them, so I decided to start selling them on Etsy as well.”

CHERYL GROFF Portrait and Lifestyle Photographer

Los Angeles, California

shantycheryl.wix.com/ cherylgroffphotography

Rangefinder Asks…

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www.rangefinderonline.com 79 www.rangefinderonline.com 79

HAND-EMBROIDERED FRAMES“As a photographer, I loved being in the darkroom, but with digital photography everything is on the computer, so I looked for an activ-ity to replace the craftsmanship that comes from being in the darkroom. My grandmas both taught me to sew as a kid, and after many years of not sewing, I picked it up again.

“I started creating the hand-em-broidered frames because I like my work to be functional and have a purpose, so I combined my love of photography and sewing. The pro-cess of making them is pretty simple: Get fabric (I began with muslin and

I’ve recently started using linen), iron on the design, sew and mount. I give them to clients on very special oc-casions like a wedding or new baby, and I’m working on some for a series I’m doing about Mexico.

“The cost of the materials var-ies, but usually it comes out to be around $30. Depending on the complexity of the design and size, a frame can take as little as a day or up to two weeks to make. I don’t like to go smaller than 8 x 10 with a 4 x 6 opening because it gets hard to make small stitches. I’m currently working on the section of my website where custom

frames can be ordered, as well as creating portrait package pricing that includes an embroidered frame.”

BETTINA CHAVEZ

Lifestyle and Pet Photographer Los Angeles, California

www.bettinamonique.com

CUSTOM PACKAGING A NECESSITY“At a shoot this past fall, my repeat client realized she didn't have lip gloss or lipstick with her (we were shooting at her second home on Lake Michigan). She asked if I had any and I happened to have my favorite shade of Buxom—a lip-plumping gloss with great color. It looked gorgeous on her, and after our session together, I bought a special set of six glosses in miniature form from Sephora for her. When I arrived at her ordering session, I surprised her with a Marmalade Photography custom box with pink tissue peeking out. She took the Buxom set out and immediately popped a couple in her purse and tried on another—she loved them! I love doing things like this for clients; gifting things not related to photography is a nice way to have your product/services in the forefront of your client’s mind without it necessarily being related to photography.”

MARIANNE DRENTHE Children and Family Photographer

Chicago, Illinois

www.marmaladephotography.com

The Marketing Issue

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These mobile imaging apps will help you take your editing on the road.

7 Must-Tap Apps for Photographers

BY PETER KOTSINADELIS

ORGANIZE ON THE GO

ADOBE LIGHTROOM MOBILEPhotographers have been clamoring for a Lightroom mobile app for a few years now, and with wedding and senior photography season in full swing, Adobe picked just the right time to introduce Lightroom Mobile to help organize and edit images on the go. Thanks to Lightroom 5’s Smart Previews feature, the app easily bridges the gap between desktop and iPad (iPad 2 and iOS 7 or newer) by using space-saving proxies to sync image files between the two. Files are auto-matically updated in your Lightroom catalogues when returned to the desktop—all you need is a standard WiFi or cellular connection. Images from the camera roll can also be edited in the app.

Lightroom Mobile’s tools mimic those found in the desktop application’s de-velop module and include white balance, exposure, tint and contrast adjustment, just to name a few. Images can be cropped, standard LR presets can be applied, and files can be shared via email and social media. The app is free but requires a Creative Cloud subscription to use, and it works with Lightroom v. 5.4. The least expensive subscription is the $9.99 per month Photoshop Photography Program, which includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom 5 and the mobile app.

PLATFORM: iPad PRICE: Free with Creative Cloud subscriptionWWW.ADOBE.COM

product roundup

BY THEANO NIKITAS

While editing and prepping images on a tablet or smartphone still hasn’t replaced working on a laptop, mobile apps can provide more than just a quick fix on the road. In this iOS-based roundup (our apologies to Android users who don’t have as many apps to choose from), we’ve set our focus on seven Apple-centric mobile apps that address the needs of wedding and portrait photographers, including everything from standard imaging tasks to creative options for motion and video.

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THE SPEED EDIT

FILTERSTORM NEUEFilterstorm and Filterstorm Pro have long been my favorite mobile image-editing apps thanks to their long lists of sophisticated and familiar tools such as curves, levels, clone, masks, RAW file editing, metadata handling and the ability to export to FTP sites.

The latest iteration, Filterstorm Neue, has been totally rewritten for speed and ease of use, and although it lacks a few of the classic version’s functions, including layers and automations, it’s still one of the most powerful photo-editing apps on the market. The classic Filter-storm is currently available, if features like layers and automations (actions) are important to you. Filterstorm Pro, which differs only in that it offers batch editing and IPTC capabilities, is being rewritten with the new Filterstorm Neue code but may be ready by the time you read this.

Both are equipped with a powerful set of pro features that exceed most other image-editing apps. However, wedding photographers who want to apply the same adjustments across images may want to try out the classic Filterstorm first to take advantage of its automation feature or wait for the re-vised Pro version and batch processing.

PLATFORM: iPad, iPhone, iPod touchPRICE: $3.99 (classic and Filterstorm Neue); Filterstorm Pro, TBDWWW.FILTERSTORM.COM

THE ADVANCED EDIT

LAMINAR PROAlthough not the newest image- editing app on the block (it was up-dated for iOS 7 last December), Lami-nar Pro combines a solid image editor with a good selection of popular effects including film emulation, vin-tage, black-and-white and textures—many of which are perfect for select wedding and portrait photos. Plus, Laminar Pro comes with a nice selec-tion of borders to finish the piece. But most pros will probably start off with Laminar’s impressive complement of editing tools.

In addition to standard image parameter adjustments, Laminar Pro goes further than most by offering masking, layers, blending modes, RGB channels, text, lens flare and a host of other pro-level features. Export op-tions offer several file formats includ-ing JPEG, PNG and PSD, a slider to choose output resolution, and the abil-ity to save and share images via email, Dropbox and social media sites. Fortu-nately, users can opt to not watermark photos with the Laminar logo. The app has a slight learning curve only because some of the tools and options are well-hidden, but a little exploration will get you to where you need to be.

PLATFORM: iPad, iPhone, iPod touchPRICE: $4.99WWW.VENTESSA.COM

OVERLAP FILTERS

MEXTURESRelaunched in April, Mextures 2.0 is perfect for photographers wanting to create unique looks for clients by over-laying textures, finishing the image by adding a film look (Provia, Lomo, Holga, etc.), and adjusting traditional photo parameters such as contrast, white balance, exposure and more before exporting. The app comes with 130 adjustable textures broken into various categories such as light leaks, landscape enhancements, grunge, gra-dients and film emulsions. Once you finish the final edit, the process can be saved as a custom formula.

Although Mextures is bundled with almost 200 formulas, including those from other photographers, additional shared formulas can be downloaded for free. What we found particularly inter-esting about Mextures is that it offers unlimited, non-destructive layering with multiple blending capabilities for each layer. Individual layers can be deleted or adjusted during the process so you have full control over the image’s look.

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPad, iPod touchPRICE: $1.99WWW.MEXTURES.COM



SMALL SCREEN MOVIES

PINNACLE STUDIOVideo plays an increasingly impor-tant role in photography businesses, but most heavy-duty editing is constrained to the desktop. Corel’s Pinnacle Studio for Windows and Pinnacle Studio for iPad have been around for a while, but the company just released an iPhone version of this efficient and robust video-editing software. Granted, it’s easier to edit video on the more substantial screen of an iPad than an iPhone, but work-ing on the smaller screen was pretty painless. The user interface comprises standard components including a storyboard and a timeline, with op-tions to add soundtracks, voiceovers, transitions, pan and zoom effects, titles and graphics.

The app supports 24, 25 and 30fps as well as 64 bit for new iPhones and iPads and can export videos up to 1080p. The iPad version offers in-app purchases, including the new Cloud-Pack with support for Vimeo, Drop-box, Google Drive and Microsoft One-Drive, while the iPhone direct sharing is pretty much limited to YouTube, Facebook and Box. But iPhone and iPad apps can share files with each other, as well as the Windows desktop version of Pinnacle Studio for further editing and sharing. Although these apps are more expensive than iMovie, we think they have an edge over the more simplistic program.

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPad, iPod touchPRICE: $9.99 (iPhone); $12.99 (iPad) WWW.PINNACLESYS.COM

SELECT AND ISOLATE

UNION This blending app may not compete with Adobe Photoshop for masking superiority, but Union does offer a bevy of useful options for pros to help when editing on the road (or the couch).

Union allows photographers to com-bine a background (image, color/gra-dient or transparent) and a foreground image or solid color/gradient, and then uses masking to erase selective portions of the image(s) and familiar blending tools (normal, add, multiply, lighten, darken, color dodge and dif-ference) to combine the layers. There’s even a magic wand tool for selection, as well as basic image adjustment op-tions for brightness, contrast, satura-tion and color temperature. Images are exportable to compatible iPad apps like Filterstorm Neue, shared via email and Instagram, for example, or simply saved to the camera roll.

The app is most efficient when used with a stylus when drawing masks with Union’s brushes. This may not be at the top of your list if you’re a wedding or portrait photographer, but it can come in handy if you want to isolate a subject or create a moody double-exposure.

PLATFORM: iOS 7.0 or later; iPhone, iPad, iPad touchPRICE: $1.99WWW.PIXITEAPPS.COM

COMBINE STILL + MOTION

VIDEOLICIOUSMultimedia presentations are great for marketing, whether they’re embedded on your site or shared via social media and tagged with your wedding and por-trait clients’ names. Of course, videos are great add-ons for print packages, too.

One option to create a multimedia show is Videolicious, an interesting but simple-to-use app that combines still and motion into a single video. It works best with landscape-oriented images, but with its Ken Burns effects, verticals are usable as well. Options range from a free (but limited) version, two busi-ness plans and an Enterprise Platform. Differences between the first three plans include the number of shots, movie length and how many videos can be stored on the Videolicious site.

The Enterprise Platform offers more advanced controls including audio mixing and watermarks. An intuitive interface makes it easy to combine still and video files, add a soundtrack from the app’s commercially licensed music library and brand it with your logo. In all but the Enterprise Platform version, editing functions are limited to basic trimming, but that’s generally all you’ll need. Test out the free version to get a feel for the app and check out the site’s comparative chart to see which plan best meets your needs (and budget).

PLATFORM: iPad, iPhone, iPod touchPRICE: Free (personal account); business accounts start at $5/month with an annual planWWW.VIDEOLICIOUS.COM

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Every wedding photographer strives to create that “WOW” image for clients. One way Vanessa Joy accomplishes

this is by using available light…or at least that’s what she used to do, until she got her hands on a Profoto B1 500 AirTTL battery- powered off-camera flash.

“My clients hire me for my dreamy, available light looks,” the Freehold, New Jersey-based photographer explains, “and while I can still obtain that natural light look with the B1, it just takes my images up to another level and helps me deliver a more dramatic final image. It’s like an off-camera flash on crack,” she jokes. “It’s super powerful and super fast, there are no cords or battery attachments and once you try it, it changes everything.”

This image in particular (left) was taken on a bright, sunny day at the 9/11 Memorial in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park (the sun

was behind the memorial columns). Joy’s as-sistant was standing just off-camera, pointing a B1 light on TTL, right at the bride’s face.

“I walked into the area where the bride is shown standing and knew it would be a great location for a stunning bridal portrait—the sun was forming a really cool ring and I wanted to capture that. I first tried shooting the bride and groom together with natural light (right) but that shot went completely white behind them so the effect of the sun and that ‘ring of fire’ around them is blown out white, and not yellow, because I couldn’t balance the exposure all by myself.

“So I was taking those photos thinking, ‘We can get something way better here,’ and that’s when I had my assistant grab the B1 from my backpack and fire it off. It only took two shots to get what I wanted because the B1 does the exposure automatically.”

What’s important to note here, says Joy, is that there are so many photographers who are shoot-ing with available light because by and large, that’s the easiest, most straightforward method of shooting. “The way I’ve decided to start differ-entiating myself,” she continues, “is to do shots that are impossible to do without these lights. So, for instance, uncle Bob standing next to me with his camera at a wedding is not going to get the same picture; mine will look incredible while his will look expected. When I showed my clients this shot, their jaws dropped.”

In terms of post-production on this image and others that she creates, Joy says she doesn’t do a whole lot beyond adding contrast or toning down the blacks. This image was a same-day edit, adjusted slightly in Lightroom (with the Lightroom Retouching Toolkit) to brighten the bride’s skin and face up a bit, as well as reduce redness. “Red skin tones drive me bonkers,” she confesses. “I zoomed in to paint over the bride’s skin and reduced the redness just a bit. That’s all it takes.”

In terms of using the B1 for a range of wedding day scenarios, Joy utilizes them

during most parts of the wedding day, mix-ing it with her natural light photography flow. “I’ve even done family formals with them inside the church, when allowed, and it gives me a nice, even light across all my subjects every time.”

“My clients hire me for my dreamy,

available light looks. The B1 takes my

shots to another level and delivers a more

dramatic final image.”

Vanessa Joy on Creating Light with Off-Camera Flash

BY JACQUELINE TOBIN

Ingredients:CAMERA: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

LENS: Canon 24mm f/1.4

ISO: 100

APERTURE: f/14

SHUTTER SPEED: 1/200 of a sec.

LIGHTING: 1 Profoto B1 Air 500 TT

RETOUCHING: Lightroom Retouching Toolkit (www.lightroomretouching.com)

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A decade ago, the National Asso-ciation of Broadcasters (NAB) annual gathering did not

warrant much interest among pho-tographers; instead it catered to—as its name suggests—professionals in the radio and television industries. And while a good portion of the show is still aimed at those professionals, this year’s show in April pro-vided plenty of interest for photographers getting into video, especially since digital SLR cameras have recently gained popular-ity as a tool for serious videographers.

THE BIG GUNS: CANON, NIKON, SONY AND REDCanon, which has always had a presence at NAB, had one of the largest displays at the show this year, however its em-phasis was focused on its line of lenses. Canon was promoting the fact that more than 100 million EF lenses have been produced since 1987. (Rhetorical ques-

tion: Because there are so many compet-itors with low-cost camera bodies, does Canon see its future profits coming from lenses rather than cameras?)

Nikon, which only began exhibiting at NAB three years ago, had a more mod-est display, proudly showing the video capabilities of the new D4S, especially in low light.

In contrast, it was encouraging to see RED promoting the still-capture capa-bilities of the 19-megapixel Epic Dragon camera. RED had a fashion show with a big banner in the background heralding the ability to capture still images at up to 100 frames per second.

Sony, which has always been a big exhibitor at NAB, described its theme as “4K for all” at this year’s show. Although it was two years ago when 4K first came to the forefront, there isn’t much demand from consumers for 4K televisions or vid-eos. Part of the problem, as with all new

standards, is that the cost of monitors is still high, and for many, the perceived difference between HD and 4K is not enough to warrant upgrading—as it was going from SD to HD.

Because 3D has never caught on, the industry is looking at 4K to gener-ate interest and encourage people to upgrade equipment. There may not be tremendous demand at present, but there is sure to be in the future, so it behooves content creators to future-proof themselves by capturing video in 4K since it is far better to downsize resolution rather than upsize.

Interested in Shooting Video? NAB Show the Place to Be

BY JOHN RETTIE

digital guru

Below, left: RED promoted the still photo cap-turing capabilities of its latest Dragon camera via a live fashion show.

Below, right: Canon chose to promote its lenses as much as (if not more than) its cameras at NAB, as the company celebrated making 100 million EF lenses since 1987.

ALL NAB SHOW SITE PHOTOS © JOHN RETTIE

Highlights from the world’s largest electronic media show.

RF_DigiGuru_Version 2JT.indd 86 5/12/14 3:42 PM

SONY DEBUTS 4K-SHOOTING A7S CAMERAOne of the most talked-about new prod-ucts announced at NAB was the Sony A7S camera (read more about it in DSLR Video, pg. 96). It caught the attention of visitors not just as a camera that can capture 4K video, but also because Sony claims it will produce excellent images in extremely low light. What’s even bet-ter for Rangefinder readers is that it is first and foremost a still camera, not a camcorder.

Like the other models in the A7 range, the A7S has a full-frame sensor. But instead of upping the pixel count, Sony has lowered it to just 12.2 megapixels. The beauty of this adjustment is that the larger pixels allow a top ISO of 409,600 along with a vastly improved dynamic range, ac-cording to Sony.

In a conversation with a Sony product guru, he said photographers are finally coming to the realization that a smaller number of pixels can produce a much better quality image. Perhaps landscape photographers and those producing billboard-sized prints would disagree, but for a majority of photographers, includ-ing wedding photographers, improved dynamic range is potentially a far more important trait.

One “gotcha” with the A7S is that although it can capture 4K, it requires an external storage device to save the files, which can quickly add up to 1TB per hour of uncompressed 4K video. For professionals in the business, external recording devices are fairly common but expensive. For those new to 4K capture, Atomos was displaying several external monitor and record devices including the Atomos Shogun. It’s a new model that will come out once the A7S has gone on sale. Neither Sony nor Atomos have announced any pricing.

THUNDERBOLT 2 STORAGE SYSTEMSOf course, 4K video means there is an ever-increasing demand for tremendous amounts of storage capac-ity and transfer speeds. Judging by the healthy number of companies displaying products with Thunderbolt 2 con-nectivity, this technol-ogy, first promoted by Apple, is finally gaining ground—not just for Mac users, but also PCs. Three

products in particular caught my eye. First was the G-Technology Studio line, which has a new enclosure that matches the style of the Mac Pro. (Mac Pros, inci-dentally, were also very much in evidence on numerous stands at NAB, even though Apple had no presence at the show itself.) G-Tech told me it is also targeting still photographers and wants to become the leader with storage products for them.

A big production house has a need for tremendous storage capacity. LaCie showed off its 8big Rack Thunderbolt 2 rack-mount storage solution. Each rack can hold up to eight 6TB 7200RPM hard drives from Seagate that are fast enough for video editing. LaCie had a unit on display with no less than 22 racks, giving a total capacity of 1056 TB. That’s enough to hold about 500 hours of 4K video in a raid configuration (no price at press time).

When the Thunderbolt protocol was originally introduced, it

Left: The design of G-Tech’s latest Thunder-bolt 2 storage system reflects the design of the new Mac Pro computer.

Below: HP unveiled its newest second-generation DreamColor displays at NAB. The 24-inch Z24x model shown here is aimed at still photographers who value accurate color rendition.



was designed for use with optical cables. However, Intel discovered that cop-per cables would work up to 3 meters in length, and that is what has been offered so far. Now you can purchase Thunderbolt Optical Cables by Corning that provide up to 20GB/s transfer rates through Thunderbolt 2. The cables are thinner and lighter than copper cables and can measure up to 100 meters in length. Although they cannot sup-ply power, they are tougher and more durable than a copper cable. The first cable is a 10-meter length that costs $299. To tether a display and/or storage devices some distance from a computer in a studio, use an optical cable.

HP DREAMCOLOR DISPLAYSSeveral years ago, HP teamed with Dreamworks to develop high-quality monitors for use in its major produc-tions. Because major movie productions use hundreds of technicians, especially in digitally enhanced or all-digital films, the need for accurate colors is critical. It’s important that everyone working on a film, whether they are in Hollywood, London or India, are all seeing the same matching colors.

At NAB, HP announced two new DreamColor displays with HP’s second-generation DreamColor engine. HP says the new displays feature up to 60 per-cent more pixels and deliver 10-bit color with up to 1.07 billion colors.

The 27-inch Z27x model is aimed at moviemakers, as it offers 4K support with a native resolution of 2560 x 1440

and a built-in calibration engine and central color management via Ethernet. It costs $1,499. The smaller 24-inch Z24x model is aimed at still photogra-phers. It costs only $599, as it lacks some of the color management tools and is, of course, smaller. Its native resolution is 1920 x 1200, and it does not offer 4K. Nonetheless, HP says it provides 100 percent coverage of sRGB and 99 percent Adobe RGB, which is almost as good as the Z27x display that manages 100 percent Adobe RGB.

CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR ALLOverall, the most encouraging trend coming out of this year’s NAB is the democratization of cinematography, which is leading to much more affordable cameras and gadgets that have long been used by Hollywood and the broadcast industry. They can empower a wedding photographer to produce high-end “Hollywood-style” packages with video and time-lapse photography using 4K cameras, gimbals, motorized sliders and even drones without breaking the bank or requiring great technical skills.

digital guru

Above: Atomos displayed a Sony A7S under glass along with its upcoming Shogun external recorder and monitor combo unit.

Left: LaCie showed off a rack-mounted storage unit that can hold 1056TB of data using 176 6TB hard drives.


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090_091_RF_0614_BH_lr.indd 91 5/12/2014 6:52 AM


I s film making a comeback? Judg-ing from the increasing number of software programs that adjust digital

images to simulate the look of film, it’s worth a discussion. For now, the future of that classic “analogue” look lies with film emulation software, so let’s look at some of the more popular programs (along with a few others that I think should be more popular). I’ll concentrate on the software that offers both color and black-and-white presets to narrow down the options.

ALIEN SKIN EXPOSURE 6At press time, Alien Skin Exposure 6 (alienskin.com/exposure) was just an-nounced as a replacement for Exposure 5, and the revamped program offers a few key changes, including the addition of Alien Skin’s Bokeh functionality for selectively blurring backgrounds. (At

press time, Alien Skin’s Bokeh 2 was still available as a separate program as well.)Other changes to Exposure 6 include a cleaner user interface for quicker access to the program’s tools.

There’s a new basic control panel that gives you access to sliders for global adjustments of exposure, contrast, clar-ity and vibrance. Exposure 6’s image-processing engine has also been tweaked to make the app run faster, and full-sized instant previews of the effects allow you to compare before and after looks more quickly than in the previous version.

Of all the film emulation programs I’ve viewed, Exposure 6 has one of the widest ranges of available film-style presets, in-cluding black and white, color print, color slide, color and black-and-white infrared, and Polaroid color and black-and-white films. There are also presets for focus ef-fects, tonality, split toning, vintage films,

cross processing, lo-fi (lomography), etc. The custom adjustments include those for color, focus, grain, infrared, vignettes, bor-ders and textures, and a tone curve. Once you create a custom look, you can save it as a user preset.

Alien Skin claims over 450 preset effects can be applied with a single mouse click in Exposure 6, which now integrates both color and black-and-white processing so you don’t need to switch between tools.

When used as a plug-in, Exposure sends the image back to the host program with each adjustment on a separate layer. Layer opacity or blending mode can be adjusted at this point if the host program supports them—a flexible and welcome touch.

Exposure 6 installs as a standalone appli-cation or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS6 or newer, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 or newer and Apple Aperture 3 or newer. (Exposure does not include a browser, but you can drag and drop files onto its desk-top icon or open files from the program.)

With an MSRP of $149, Alien Skin Exposure 6 is available for Windows 7 or newer and Mac OS X 10.8 or newer operating systems.

DFT FILM STOCKS V1.5Less well-known than other film emula-tion programs, Film Stocks v1.5 from Digital Film Tools (digitalfilmtools.com) is the heart of the Film Stocks category of Tiffen Dfx. The plug-in software simulates 288 different color and black-and-white

Programs that Simulate the Look of Film

ALL

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S ©

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BY STAN SHOLIK

first exposure

Want to give your wedding or portrait images a classic but somewhat customized look? Consider these programs.

SOFTWARE REVIEW

Left: Alien Skin Exposure has one of the wid-est ranges of film emulations. The right-hand panel of the program holds extensive adjust-ments to apply once you select a preset.

RF_First Exposure.indd 92 5/12/14 3:38 PM


first exposure

still photographic film stocks, motion picture films stocks and historical photo-graphic processes.

The default interface is quite busy with preset categories below the main preview window, an effects panel to the left and thumbnails of the available presets in the selected preset category on the right. Also fitting into the interface is a magnifier view and histogram. Fortunately, you can show or hide each element of the interface to your own preference.

Presets are available in the following categories: B&W Films, B&W Lo-Fi, Col-or Films-Cross Processing Print and Slide, Faded, Historical, Lo-Fi, Lo-Fi Cross Pro-cessing and Motion Picture Films. Within each category, I couldn’t think of a film for which there is no preset; included are Polaroid 600 and SX-70, and even GAF 500 slide film, which are seldom found in other programs.

With a preset selected, you click the Pa-rameters tab to open the custom adjustment panel. Options are available for Black and White, Film Response, Color Correction, Fil-ter, Sharpen, Diffusion, Vignette and Grain.

Film Stocks also includes some unique features, and allows users to stack dif-ferent film stocks onto one another. The stack is displayed in the Effects panel on the left of the preview. Controls for opacity and blending modes are included in the program, as well as four masking options, including Digital Film Tools EX Mask, for additional blending. When adjustments are

complete, Film Stocks returns you to the host program with a flattened image.

Along with being one of the most com-plete film simulation plug-ins, it is also a relative bargain. One $95 license allows Film Stocks to run in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photo-shop Lightroom, Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Aperture if installed on the same Windows or Mac computer.

DXO FILMPACK 4With two editions of DxO FilmPack 4 (Es-sential and Expert), either can be installed as a standalone program or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Ele-ments, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture and DxO Optics Pro. As a plug-in, you can process RAW files in Optics Pro and move directly into FilmPack. As with Alien Skin Exposure, there is no browser in the standalone version.

With an MSRP of $129 (dxo.com), the Expert edition is well worth the additional $50 over the stripped-down Essential edi-tion. Expert includes presets for about 60 analogue films and 39 Designer presets, along with a range of adjustments.

The FilmPack interface is clean and uncluttered with available preset categories including color slide film, color nega-tive film, black-and-white film, designer

presets and a custom categories you create. The Effects tab of the Controls panel has controls for film rendering, grain, filter, ton-ing, vignetting and blur vignetting, texture, light leaks and frames. There is also a Settings tab in the Controls panel where you’ll find sliders for contrast, saturation, exposure, vibrancy, micro-contrast, hue, lightness and noise removal, along with a tone curve adjustment.

You can print directly from both the standalone and plug-in versions of FilmPack 4 and export your images to Facebook from the standalone version, which also supports batch processing. The plug-in saves your image to a flat-tened layer in the host application.

As much as I liked the look of FilmPack 4, and while it has an effective list of adjustments, it falls a little short in preset options. However, if your RAW workflow includes DxO Optics Pro, Film Pack 4 is likely your best option.

OTHER FILM SOFTWARENo longer available as a separate boxed program, Nik Color Efex Pro 4 is now part of the $149 MSRP Google Nik Collec-tion (google.com/nikcollection), along with Analog Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro and Viveza. While you wouldn’t suspect a program named Color

Below, left: The Digital Film Tools plug-in software simulates 288 different color and black-and-white still photographic film stocks, motion picture films stocks and historical photographic processes. Categories are shown in a filmstrip and film options are shown in the Preset tab to the right of the preview. Below, right: The same panel that displays film types in Digital Film Tools also displays adjustment options when you select the Parameters tab.

Alien Skin claims over 450 preset effects can be applied with a single mouse click in Exposure 6.



first exposure

Efex Pro to be film emulation software—and it isn’t even obvious when you open the program—scattered within the inter-face are film presets. Film Efex: Modern contains emulations of recent color films, but not Fuji Velvia 50 that nearly all other software seem to have.

Another program with hidden-away film emulations is Imagenomic Real-grain 2. A list of color and black-and-white presets are available for fairly recent films, including Fuji Velvia 50. The Realgrain plug-in has an MSRP of $99.95 or can be bundled with other Ima-genomic plug-ins at imagenomic.com.

Replichrome 1.1.2a takes an entirely dif-ferent approach to film emulation software. As a plug-in for Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), Replichrome is designed to apply corrections to RAW format files. In ACR, the presets are based on Noritsu and Fuji Frontier scans of popular color and black-and-white negative films. Replichrome is

available from gettotallyrad.com for $99.While all of the other film emulation

programs have trial software available, the much buzzed about VSCO Film pro-grams from the Visual Supply Company do not—nor did the company respond to any of our emails asking for review copies of VSCO Film. However, the five sets of

these popular plug-ins are available for $119 each from vsco.co/film.

Whether users are truly interested in creating images that duplicate the effects of film or just want a starting point to create their own custom look, film emulation software is worth having in your arsenal.

Above: Replichrome specializes in color and black-and-white negative film emulations. It is unique in that it applies the presets to raw format files in Camera Raw and Lightroom.


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This year has been an exciting one for photographers with several announcements of new cameras

that offer 4K resolution at more affordable prices. Though some cameras were not yet shipping at the time of this writing, manufacturers promise to make 4K re-cording more accessible to an increasing number of photographers.

Despite the fact that there are a limited number of 4K-resolution televi-sion screens to showcase this Ultra-HD format, it still provides ample advantages for filmmakers, not least of which is the ability to crop into the footage and pull out HD-quality video with little sacrifice in tonality and color fidelity.

The marketing of these 4K cameras often targets budget-minded narrative, documentary or commercial filmmakers, but there is a lot to like and desire for event and wedding videographers, too.

Each of these models is very different and offers its own unique advantages. It would be unfair to look at these as direct competitors to each other; they are very distinct models with features geared for particular types of filmmakers.

SONY A7SModeled closely after the A7 and A7R full-frame cameras, Sony’s new A7S could be seen as a smaller full-frame alternative to the groundbreaking Canon 5D Mark III. The camera pro-vides only 12 megapixels of resolution, but its larger pixels promise improved high ISO performance as well as exceptional dynamic range.

Some may lament the low overall pixel count, but it’s important to remember that unlike its similarly named siblings, this is a camera that is promoted for its unique video capability rather than its pixel count for photos. Regardless, there is no doubt that this camera can and will likely deliver quality image files, especially under low light conditions.

Though the A7S still utilizes the AVCHD codec for recording standard HD-quality footage to a memory card, the camera now includes Sony’s XAVCS codec, which supports 4K resolution with color depth of 8 bits, 10 bits and 12 bits. But unlike standard HD, 4K video is outputted and must be saved to an external device such as the Atomos Ninja

(atomos.com). While some may consider this a disadvantage, it is a necessary step to accommodate the larger file sizes.

Sony touts the camera for its ability to take advantage of the full width of its full-frame sensor, which results in less loss of tonal and color data when the files are re-duced and compressed to lower resolutions.

The camera supports Sony’s current line of E-mount lenses, which are some-what limited in number. Thankfully there are adapters that can accommodate other brands and lens types, including Canon and Zeiss cinema optics.

PRICE: TBAWWW.SONY.COM AJA CIONThough AJA may not be a familiar name to many photographers, that could soon change with the company’s intriguing new CION 4K camera. The starting price of the camera might seem high, but it’s impor-tant to remember that photographers are often spending as much—if not more—for the various accessories needed to make an

BY IBARIONEX PERELLO

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A New Generation of 4K Cameras Debuts at Affordable Prices


SONY A7S

AJA CION

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HD-DSLR a viable video-capture device. The CION is a core device that is meant for heavy-duty video production, using non-proprietary interfaces and accesso-ries, which makes upgrading from a pre-vious system that much more attractive.

The camera is built around a 4K, APS-C-sized CMOS sensor that promises to deliver 12 stops of dynamic range. It also includes an electronic global shutter, which eliminates the problem of rolling shutter that is common with shutter-based sensors.

Capable of recording 4K, 2K and HD, the camera records using all Apple ProRes formats, making for a seamless workflow into your favorite video-editing application. It also supports RAW data transfer at a rate of 120fps via its built-in Thunderbolt connection.

The files are recorded to AJA’s Drive Paks, which currently hold 256GB to 512GB of footage. The SSD drives are mounted in a compact but rugged enclosure for security and reliability.

The camera utilizes a standard PL-mount, making it compatible with a wide selec-tion of cinema lenses. The user interface and key function button are conveniently located on the left-hand side of the

device, making it easy to make adjust-ments even when working solo or

with a minimal crew.

PRICE: $8,995WWW.AJA.COM

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-GH4 The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 is another mirrorless camera that takes its physical cues from its predecessors: compact system cameras that have a reputation for delivering amazing video quality. This lat-

est model from Panasonic takes it a step up with its inclusion of

4K recording, which can be stored either to a high-speed SD card or an

external device. Even though the GH4 is designed around a smaller Micro Four

Thirds sensor, the new 16-megapixel chip has already garnered praise for its improved dynamic range and low-light performance. It may not achieve the shallow depth of field popular among full-frame shooters, but the

camera’s ability to deliver beautiful color, even under challenging lighting conditions, continues to improve.

The 4K capability of the camera comes in two forms. The first provides for 4:2:0 8-bit outputs directly to a high-speed memory card. A data rate of 100mbs at 24 or 30fps provides for speedy data transmission. The camera’s updated soft-ware algorithms promise to do this with little to no noticeable data loss. Though the lower bit-rate makes it more of a challenge to grade tone and color in post production, the camera’s new gradation curve feature allows for image tweaking for those times when the footage taken straight from the camera needs to be distributed immediately.

Taking advantage of the higher qual-ity 4:2:2 10-bit data stream requires the use of the Lumix YAGH Interface unit ($1,999.99), which helps to accom-modate an external recording device for all that uncompressed 4K footage. Similar to an extended battery grip, the unit also provides XLR monaural 2ch terminals for mic inputs. It also provides audio-level display monitoring and control for precision recording of audio and video, plus it features 3G-SDI video output terminal for time code when the camera is used in-studio or in a multi-camera setup.

PRICE: $1,699.99 WWW.PANASONIC.COM

BLACKMAGIC URSA Blackmagic Design made quite a stir when it released its Pocket Cinema Camera, an incredibly compact Su-per 16 digital film camera, capable of delivering Cinema DNG Raw and Apple ProRes recordings from a device with an

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ultra-small form factor. This, along with Blackmagic’s Cinema Camera, provided a step up from an HD-DSLR, with the modularity needed to efficiently create a personalized video-capture device.

This year, the Blackmagic URSA is the company’s first full-size camera built around a 4K sensor that’s designed to deliver a generous 12-stop dynamic range. The modular camera design is taken to a level not found with an HD-DSLR in that it can be removed and upgraded easily as new sensors become available.

The standout feature of the Blackmagic

URSA is its 10-inch HD screen, making it easy for a director to monitor the live recording directly. The unit’s touchscreen makes it easy for the cameraperson to adjust key features and controls.

The opposite side of the camera features secondary displays that can be used by an audio engineer to monitor audio levels or provide ample workspace for a focus puller.

Files are recorded to CFast memory cards that are currently available at capacities of up to 128GB. Though they are more expensive than other media, they also offer great reliability and fast data

transfer speeds. One of the biggest advantages that this

form factor provides is easier heat dissipa-tion as compared to cameras with smaller form factors. The URSA includes a liquid cooling system as well as a silent fan to maintain a constant working temperature.

Coming out in July, the camera will be available in two different versions to accommodate either an EF or a PL lens mount.

PRICE: $5,995 (EF), $6,495 (PL)WWW.BLACKMAGICDESIGN.COM

The marketing of these 4K cameras often targets budget-minded narrative, documentary or commercial filmmakers, but there

is a lot to like and desire for event and wedding videographers, too.

TO ADVERTISE IN

PLEASE CALL

Mark Brown Associate PublisherPh: (646) 654-5795 C: (201) [email protected]

Mike Gangel Senior Account Executive(646) [email protected]

Lori Reale Senior Account Executive(858) [email protected]

Jon McLoughlin Account Executive(646) 654-7255 [email protected]

Garet Moses Account Executive(646) [email protected]

BY JACK CRAGERA GROWING PARTNERSHIP SHOWS HOW AS TIMES AND DUTIES EVOLVE, A BRAND LIVES ON.

76 RANGEFINDER APRIL 2014

PHOTO © TIM CO.

3/17/14 12:18 PM

Ever since graphic designer Milton Glaser cre-

ated the “I Heart New York” logo in 1977, it

has resonated with residents and visitors alike,

an eye-catching pledge of fondness for the nation’s big-

gest and most diverse city. Created as part of a tourism

campaign, the slogan took on a life of its own—and in

the hands of native New Yorker Jason Groupp, it be-

came a hot photographic brand.

With I Heart New York (www.i-am-nyc.com),

Groupp established a portrait practice around two ven-

erable forces: true love and the Big Apple (see “Jason

Groupp: I Love NY,” Rangefinder January 2012).

Catering to both tourists and natives, the studio spe-

cializes in portraits backdropped by iconic New York

City landmarks. Initially, Groupp’s emphasis was on

engagement and proposal photographs of couples, as

a corollary to his successful wedding photo business,

and it evolved to include lifestyle portraits of families.

“We love New York City and taking photographs

of the people that love it as well,” says Karen Seifert,

Groupp’s former studio manager and current partner

in the IHNY brand. After recruiting a third associate,

Opening Spread: Shot on the Brooklyn Bridge

overlooking Manhattan, IHNY’s appeal is taking

couples and families to different parts of the city and

giving them an experience, not just a photo shoot.


continues on page 78

3/17/14 12:18 PM

82 RANGEFINDER APRIL 2014

RF WEDDINGS

OF THE WEEKEvery week, we highlight one

notable series of wedding photos

on our blog, PhotoForward, and ask

the event’s photographers about the

experiences had, the gear used and

any challenges encountered along

the way. For the first time since the

feature’s inception last August, we

present three standout Weddings

of the Week in print.

For a fresh wedding each week,

visit www.photoforwardblog.com.

ALL

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OTO

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HA

UN

A H

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ON

3/14/14 10:46 AM


Photographer: Shauna Heron || Bride and Groom: Melanie and

Robert || Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada || Cameras: Nikon

D700 and D3s || Lenses: 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4 and

28mm f/1.8 || Flashes: SB900 and an old SB600

“Melanie was very excited about my work and my documentary

approach and so had given me carte blanche to shoot the day as I

saw fit,” recounts Shauna Heron. “I absolutely love when a bride has

this kind of trust and confidence in me, it just makes the day such

a joy to shoot. These two are an absolutely gorgeous couple, inside

and out, with families as equally loving and gracious.”

SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THIS WEDDING AT: HTTP://BIT.LY/19T8UST

3/14/14 10:47 AM

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What are some tips for great travel

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photography?

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books?

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at home?

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What makes a good photograph?

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my kids?

How should I frame my

shot?

What is the best way to get a self

portrait?

What are some tips for shooting

sunsets?

IS HERE. SPREAD THE WORDAnswers to the photography questions your friends and family ask most. Shutterlove is a new one-stop resource where photo enthusiasts of all levels can fi nd useful tips and gear reviews, share their photos and view great new photographs.

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DEADLINE—20th of second month preceding issue. Count com-pound words (New York, San Francisco), each initial, abbreviation, figure or group of figures, as one word. No charge for zip or area codes. Send copy with check or credit card information to: RANGEFlNDER Magazine, Classified Department, 85 Broad Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10004 or fax to 646-654-5813.

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The Index to Advertisers is provided as a courtesy to Rangefinder advertisers. The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions.

To request more information from our advertisers, and for links to the websites of the com-panies listed below, visit our free Resource Center at www.rangefinderonline.com.

RANGEFINDER IS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION dedicated to the ad vance ment of photographers. Features encompass all phases of professional photography, including: solutions to technical problems, business practices, handling assign ments, equipment test reports, processing techniques and future trends.Acceptance of advertising does not carry the endorse ment of the publishers.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Free to qualified subscribers within the U.S. For nonqualified subscribers the cost is $20.00 for 1 year, $38.00 for 2 years and $55.00 for 3 years. For Canada the cost is $45.00 for 1 year, $85.00 for 2 years and $128.00 for 3 years. For all other countries the cost is $55.00 for 1 year, $105.00 for 2 years, or $155.00 for 3 years. All fees are payable in advance in U.S. dollars. Change of Address: Please allow four weeks for uninterrupted service. Tear off the address label of the magazine and send it with new address to Circulation Department, RANGEFINDER, PO Box 2198, Skokie, IL 60076, or send e-mail to: [email protected] of the material appearing herein can be reprinted without the permission of RANGEFINDER. Un so licited material will not be returned unless sufficient postage is provided. Material submitted for pay must carry “Submitted At Your Usual Rates.” The publishers and editors shall not be responsible for loss or injury of any submitted manuscripts and/or art. The ac ceptance of advertising in RANGEFINDER does not imply endorsement of the publishers. Publishers re serve the right, without giving specific reason, to refuse advertising if copy does not conform with editorial policy.

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© Copyright 2014 by Emerald Expositions.Volume 63, Number 6

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Photographer Ashly Stohl, best known for her images of skate-boarders in Southern California and Cuba, recently started photographing her Darth Vader-obsessed son Charlie, a.k.a.

“Charth Vader,” and posting the images on Instagram (@thereal charthvader) and on Tumblr (charth-vader.tumblr.com.

The series has really taken off and is now in the process of being published in book form, with the profits being donated to the Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. I recently asked Stohl how the “Charth Vader” project took shape.

“Charlie is my third and youngest child, the baby of the family,” Stohl explains. “He’s sweet and funny and lighthearted, and has always been obsessed with the Star Wars Darth Vader character—it’s a way for him to express his dark side.”

Stohl adds that Charlie has a condition called ocular albinism,

which means that even with glasses, his vision is limited. “Things that are simple for others can be difficult for him. Like Charlie, Charth Vader is constantly frustrated by how little power he has. He is willing to use his Jedi powers to get what he wants. I think Charlie is going to need that kind of persistence in life—hopefully for good, not evil.”

While Stohl started taking these pictures for fun and as a depar-ture from her more known work, she says they have rapidly taken on a life of their own. “Now we take a mask with us and shoot as we are going about our daily lives,” she says. “I let Charlie art direct since he comes up with things I could never think of. That’s the beauty of a child’s imagination!”

To see more of the Charth Vader series, visit Stohl’s website: www.ashlystohl.com

CHARTH VADERBY DAVID J. CAROL

Above: Charlie, a.k.a. Charth Vader.

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