Advice

Recently DC Mag featured the Four Golden Rules to Photographing Real Estate, recommending the best cameras, lenses and kit for the highest standard digital photography of properties for sale or to let – also listing basic lighting and composition tips for first-time success. Our aim is to help both improving and professional digital photographers to become as knowledgeable and versatile across their trade. Whether property and interior image capture is an area of specific interest to you, or an interesting way to find a supplementary income, the ability to offer a wide skill set is an advantage in an ever-competitive world of digital photography and image editing. Practical advice and up to date knowledge in a number of specialist, niche areas of photography should help digital photographers improve the chances of creating an adequate income.

What Aspects of Interior Design are the Most Universally Appealing?

We’ve researched the real-estate experts that have years of property selling experience to bring you the most appealing decor and interior design features that both add value to a home’s sale price, while bearing in mind how, as a photographer, to best capture a home’s best features in listings for a quick sale.

Most potential buyers look for period-appropriate finishes across a potential home, and are overwhelmingly attracted to listings of properties that look like they could be moved in tomorrow with minimal disruption and alteration. This means that across the board, wooden floorboards and complimentary doors, plaster and moldings that fit the style of the property are essential, and as such these features should be captured in property photography using techniques that not only flaunt the natural appeal of these materials, but enhance them using creative lighting and compositions that give an attractive feeling of space.

Why Wood?

Realtor’s real estate expert, Leslie Piper, agrees that wooden floors have universal and timeless appeal, and that properties that feature a polished wooden floor will always gain more interest and sale value. For a photographer, focus on the natural textures of waxed, stained or polished wood is important. The colour and texture of a floor or foreground can be utilised to compositional advantage, and making sure the natural lighting through windows in addition to artificial lighting can capture a polished floor to achieve a beautiful warm and opulent image.

For more info on flooring see GJP Flooring London.

Five More Composition Tricks

If you have invested in the installation or restoration and refinishing of wooden floors, flaunt each room in your property feature. Wooden floors are a relatively inexpensive way to create the idea of more versatility, luxury and value to your property.

Take images from the corner of a room to create as much negative space as possible.

Remove rugs to expose the density and colour of any high quality wooden flooring – this again creates more sense of space.

Natural lighting should be used wherever possible, however, to capture a texture contrast or a little reflection or shine, use additional light for a subtle and glamourous sheen to your images.

Successful photography of interiors should be light and bright. To avoid over-exposure in a lighter shaded room, use a long exposure with small aperture. This will also avoid deep shadows in your images. The use of a tripod to prevent blurry images when using this technique is absolutely essential.

How often have you heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, it remains true, regardless of how many times it’s repeated. Pictures are powerful and your duty as a photographer is to capture this power on film.

High-impact photos inspire a reaction in readers. Think of all the iconic photos you’ve seen. These could be the recent photos of the Brussels Airport bombing or those of the blizzard that hit the mid-Atlantic and parts of the US East Coast in early 2016. They could even be pictures of colours flying during the Holi Festival in India, or a simple photo of a dog lying next to his injured owner. These photos are memorable to readers because they cause an emotional reaction. That is the power of photography.

A truly high-impact photo will cause the audience to cry, laugh, cringe or sit in quiet contemplation. Such photos can be raw, stark and emotional. They can shock, motivate and shake people out of their comfort zones. Above all, they can never be dull or forgettable.

Media companies such as Louise Blouin Media are continuously looking for such pictures. They are looking for incredible and creative photos that inspire, educate and leave an impact on readers. If you want to pursue a career in photography, these are the kinds of photos that will help you make your mark. Yours is to find a new way of stretching and firing up your creativity to capture fascinating photos. Present such photos in front of media houses, art galleries and other employers and they are sure to be noticed. If you want to learn more about Louise Blouin Media and the sort of work they do, their website is quite enlightening.

The following tips can help you go about creating high-impact photos:

Be alert.

First off, you need to be alert to your surroundings. Always carry your camera with you, as you don’t know when the perfect moment might present itself. Pay attention to what’s around you when you’re out and about. Even relatively common occurrences can surprise you with their inherent beauty.

Focus on what you want to convey.

What message do you want your photo to send? Most important of all, what is your subject in the shot? Focus on the subject, their gestures, movements and expressions, and find what fascinates you about them, then try to capture it.

Play around with lighting and angles.

In order to capture dynamic photos, you have to find new ways of presenting what is normally seen as commonplace. The trick is to fiddle around with the lighting, shadows, colours and details of the subject. Instead of taking the normal shots with the tripod or camera at shoulder height, experiment with a different angle. Try getting down on the ground and shooting upwards, or look for a way to elevate yourself above the subject. This will create a different and interesting perspective.

Remember the rule of thirds.

You can capture fascinating shots by using the rule of thirds. This is a technique where you draw imaginary lines through your viewfinder, breaking the image into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. You can then play around with different subject placements in any of the resultant intersecting planes. Where you finally position your subject will depend on the story you want your image to tell.

Be creative and imaginative.

As a photographer, the onus is on you to be as creative and imaginative as possible in your photographs. Test out different ways of creating mood and presenting your subjects and your photos will have an impact on readers.

Other than that, never lose your love for photography and don’t be afraid to let your personality, humour and unique perspective on life shine through your photos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsO9IObsaRA

Everyone has days when they don’t feel very enthusiastic or particularly creative about their work, and in many ways that can be perfectly normal. Many people have a little downturn in their energy from time to time, perhaps towards the end of the week or the end of a hard-working month.

It’s important that a good work/life balance is maintained so that individuals can bring a healthy and fulfilling personal life into the workplace and use that positivity for innovation and invention. A creative industry thrives on such positivity, and this can come from a number of places.

Being comfortable outside the working environment

People who have a good home and family life are generally less tense than those who may be having relationship problems, and even though the workplace may be stressful at times, the positive outlook from one’s personal life can allow the creative juices to flow. It helps if the job is enjoyable, and most people who work in the creative industries get into the business because that’s what they really want to do. If they are then encouraged to create freely, this can make a real difference to the workplace atmosphere and have a beneficial effect on other employees.

Other things that can have a positive impact on well-being include being surrounded by friends, taking regular exercise and eating a healthy diet. Leisure pursuits can also contribute to feeling and being positive at work, helping to ensure high levels of creativity can be put into projects. Maintaining a rosy outlook on life has many creative benefits.

When things go wrong

One down day in the workplace is understandable, but if the down times appear to continue, then there may be problems ahead. This is where a creative business needs to try to assess what the problem or problems affecting a particular employee may be.

Someone who is showing evidence of work that is inadequate, producing results that are later than expected or agreed upon, or displaying a lack of creative flair may be suffering from the effect of a negative lifestyle. This matters to the business because it can affect the quality of work produced, potentially having a negative impact on the how the business is perceived by clients and customers. There is also the possibility of an employee being a danger to fellow colleagues if the behaviour becomes more extreme.

Causes and solutions

Talking to an employee who seems to be in trouble is important to try to get to the bottom of things. It may not always work, especially if the individual is in denial about a problem.

Certainly a poor home life may contribute a person’s feelings of negativity, but it could be that there is a problem with substance or alcohol abuse. No business can put up with poor performance for long, and many organisations are putting methods into the workplace to help them identify problems of abuse. Using a simple oral fluid lab test, for example, can help identify the root cause and allow a solution to be found.

Solutions will often depend on a company’s policies. It is possible that there could be a policy in place for mandatory dismissal if an employee is found to be taking illegal drugs. However, some companies want to work to help people with problems, especially if in the past their work has been creative and to a high standard.

Checks and balances

Businesses are entirely within their rights to keep their employees safe, so if something does seem to be going wrong with an individual, carrying out checks and making a balanced decision as to the way forward can be helpful for everyone involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Y-T_guM1I

If you can master the craft of quality corporate event photography, you’ll have no shortage of clients to improve your cash flow, in between your personal creative projects or more seasonal work opportunities. Setting yourself up as an outstanding corporate event photographer is about more than just your photography skills. This article will prepare you for making a great first impression, securing more money for your work and ensuring everything runs smoothly on the day.

Before the event – consulting with your client

Once someone has shown interest in your services, request a job description from your client outlining how much of your time they want, what deliverables they expect and when, as well as if there’s travel involved. Work out how much you want to charge and stick with that figure. You can’t afford to end up delivering substandard work because they’ve offered you an insufficient figure, so don’t ask them what their budget is – just tell them your price. When you get back to them with your price, detail what you’ll do while you’re there and how your services will make their jobs easier. In the corporate world, a higher fee is often reassuring to potential clients – provided that you can support it with an impressive portfolio.

Some photographers find it hard to talk about their fees. It is all about formalising the arrangement according to event experts Super Events Sussex. “Once they’ve agreed to your overall price, draw up a contract in writing with clear terms and rates. Even if you’ve agreed together on a total price for the event, break this down into your daily or hourly fee, the hours you’ll work during the event, and the activities you’ll be undertaking for the hours you are charging. You can include a section for out-of-pocket expenses, such as CDs or USB sticks”.

If the event is one you’ll have to travel to, get the client to either book and pay for your accommodation along with all the other guests, or invoice them for your accommodation expenses before you travel. If you’ll need to cover the costs of eating out while you’re away, be sure to include meal allowances accordingly. You can always retract some of these from your final invoice if some meals turn out to be provided.

In your written contract, ask that you receive a significant deposit (25-50%) before the event. Any client worth your time will be willing to pay this. Having the deposit in your bank account before the event starts will make you much more comfortable handing photos over at the end of the day without wondering when you are going to see any of your fair dues. You should make it clear in the contract that any full or partial cancellation of your time must be communicated to you with a week’s notice. This is why it’s important to set out in the contract what your hourly or daily rate is.

Once you’ve signed the contract – how to prepare for the main event

Save a template of need-to-knows and put the relevant questions to your client:

• Can you get a schedule for the event in advance?
• Will there be Wi-Fi access?
• Where in the room(s) can you shoot and work from?
• Do you need video footage as well as stills?
• What OS does your client mainly use?
• What’s the total number of attendees?

The team managing the event will likely have a group of tables set up somewhere with access to power, internet, and anything else you need. You should always bring your laptop with you to an event so that you can process photographs as you go during the day. This way you’ve got something concrete to deliver at the end of the event, and you’ll avoid pulling too much overtime processing the photos later on. And wherever you take your laptop, you should take your laptop lock too.

Pack any gear that you could possibly need and spares of key equipment if you have them. It’s always better if you can go unnoticed at events, so find out the dress code and pack something appropriate, especially if it is a formal event like a wedding.

Taking – and creating – the shots you need while you’re at the event

Arrive early and adjust your settings for the lighting that you’ll be able to work with for the day. You’ll probably have to adjust this later if the venue uses natural lighting, but it’s a head-start, anyway. You may be asked to not use a flash, or keep the flash to times when the guests are socialising, rather than when lectures or activities are taking place. When you’re moving around the room, move slowly and avoid attracting attention. At any event, but especially corporate events, a photographer should distract from the proceedings as little as possible.

Since you’re hoping to process all your shots while you’re there, it’s alright to not be constantly snapping. But to make sure you do your job consistently and completely, stay aware of who’s on stage and what’s happening around you.
A good client will give you a clear idea of exactly what photos they expect, and even a bit of warning whenever something important they want captured is about to happen – an award announcement for example.

Regardless of what your client asks for specifically, you’ll want to provide the best possible spectrum of VIPs and attendees in a range of activities and compositions. Keep in mind what these photos might be needed for – publications, in house documentation, promotional materials, staff profiles, company websites, etc. If you take really great photos showcasing the venue, venue management may even pay you for a few copies.

• Reception shots
• Photos of promotional material
• Group staff photos – some staged, some candid
• Candid photos of attendees interacting
• Candid shots of individuals listening or participating
• Guests speaking on stage
• Ribbon-cutting or awards announcements
• Emotional photos – laughter shots, strong moments on stage
• Several shots of the main speaker with different stakeholders
• If the event is catered for get a couple of photographs focusing on the food.
• Plus a few fun shots and a few shots of the venue

After the event

At the closing of the final day of the event, give your client a copy of the processed photos. Processing while you go is easy once you nail your workflow and get used to importing, checking and rating photos as you go. Taking two or more SD cards with you means that you can leave one uploading to your computer while you move around taking more photos. Once a batch has imported, assign any good photos with a rating between 3-5 out of 5 (don’t give the client anything worse), and add some useful tags to the files, which you should leave with automatic time/date filenames to save time and confusion. Choose the best photos from each of the important categories, and export them all to a small external hard drive, which you’ve already formatted after finding out which OS your client usually works with. If you didn’t find out before, there should be techies around who you can double-check with.

Wrapping everything up

After handing over your deliverables, don’t stop working! Be polite to everyone on your way out, take a few extra shots, and politely give business cards to the people you’ve met, without selling yourself. Keep up your professional cool for as long as you’re in the company of the guests, and promptly submit a clear invoice with a personal message thanking your client for their business.

Despite what some food photographers – keen to show off their success – say, super-expensive cameras are not necessary investments if you want to take lovely food photographs. Entry-level digital SLR camera are reasonably priced, and perfectly adequate if you’re shooting for food blogs. Regardless of how much you’re able to spend on getting the right kit or just a nicer lens, what really matters is how you use whatever technology you’ve got. If you can apply these tips and tricks well, even a smartphone can photograph food beautifully.

Lighting

When photographing food, you may be tempted to go with a consistently bright camera flash, or under a beam of beautiful strong sunlight. Direct sunlight is too harsh – the reflecting areas wash out the colours of your food and replace them with white patches. The strong shadows created by harsh natural light are usually distracting and make the image look flattened. The best way to photograph food is in diffuse natural light. Pick a spot that gets indirect light from several windows and from different directions if possible. This might mean shooting somewhere other than your kitchen. You can soften strong sunlight pouring in through a window by draping a white sheet over it.

Composition

This is a broad term meaning the arrangement of all the elements in your pictures. “The scene you want to shoot might offer a wealth of objects and colours vying for your attention, but well composed photographs make it clear what the most important subject is” say Super EventsSussex, specialist wedding caterers. If you are taking photos for a wedding you should check out this post.

Composition helps to create a tone for your photograph too: placement of objects can suggest action and playfulness, even when everything is perfectly still. For example, you can make a great food composition with Canape catering in London. The backgrounds and props you choose to include with your food can suggest the whole scene and mood of a meal – the same food on the same plate will look like the perfect choice for a casual brunch, romantic candlelit dinner, or party food, all depending on your styling decisions. Surface texture and colour, plate shape and colour, cutlery and nearby objects all influence the mood of your photos.

Macro photography

It’s common in food and nature photography to use macro shots that naturally blur out some of the features of the background, helping to focus the viewer’s gaze on the main attraction. Taking at least a few macro close-ups is a great idea if you’re working with anything very fresh or very small – you’re showing that even under a microscope, the subject is super fresh, or at least super tasty (candy sprinkles photograph well with macro shots too). There’s no excuse, however, for a photo which is just generally blurry, even a little. Always make sure that at least one cookie, one forkful of pasta, or one blueberry is in perfect, sharp focus.

Keep it real and raw

Food photography isn’t about showing a perfect finished product, though you’d be forgiven for thinking that. Highlighting your cooking skills or celebrating the ingenuity of a chef is more complex than showing off a finished, static product. It’s about getting viewers and readers excited about the raw, organic process of cooking and eating the food. The best food photography captures the taste, scent, texture, and even sound of food as well as its appearance. You recreate all these sensations for your audience using visual cues that suggest freshness, certain flavours, how crunchy something looks, and even the atmosphere with which it was created. There’s something intrinsically inviting about food photography showing a perfect arrangement of little bowls full of measured ingredients waiting to be stirred and spooned into each other, but an image of splattered sauce or a huge piece of cake that crumbled off the knife and fell onto the floor might be more evocative.

Always take a tripod with you

Once you’ve spent all that time crafting the perfect composition, you don’t want to dismantle your ‘set’ or drive home work from a visit and find that your shots were blurrier than you realised. Even for standard shots, a tripod is a wonderful tool. For any exposure more than one sixtieth of a second, you could use the help of a camera tripod. tripods are especialy usefull when taking photograph for a Corporate Event

Angle

Some recipes or parts of the cooking process will look their best when shot directly from above, whereas other foods will look better side-on. If you want to show layers or inner texture, you can get really close to your subject. If the recipe post or article you’re illustrating will use several finished images, experiment with several angles. If you’re not sure which angle a subject will look best from, a good rule of thumb is to show food off at the angle you’d see it just as you were about to reach out and take a bite.

Keep it quick

Most food subjects begin to lose their visual appeal long before you’re ready to photograph. Try to have your gear set up and ready to go beforehand with the settings you plan to use, and keep leafy greens in the fridge until the last moment. For some professional tricks and tool to keep food looking fresh when it unavoidably won’t, keep reading.

Enhancement

Give meats, veg and just about anything cooked a very light brushing of oil. Any vegetable oil you have to hand will do, and some professional food photographers have been known to use WD-40 in a pinch. For fresh fruit and vegetables, leafy greens, iced lollies, and the outside of glasses (if you’re shooting smoothies or cocktails etc.), instead use a spritz of water. This will transform any lifeless leaf into one that looks crisp and freshly picked.

Steam

It is notoriously difficult to capture the steamy moments of fresh food on camera. Industry professionals recommend hiding incense or cotton wool soaked in boiling water behind the food, out of your camera’s view. If you want to make the steam curling from your dish or coffee really pop, try taking your shot against a darker background.

Even if you’ve never photographed a wedding before, if you’ve ever attended one, you know that the family portraits taken after the ceremony can sometimes be filled with slightly less than congratulatory emotions. It’s an especially difficult part of the day for a wedding photographer, even working with the most well-behaved, drama-free families.

Starting the right way

The best way to begin the family portraits is actually long before the big day. Start by having an in-depth conversation with the couple, showing them your previous work, discussing time limits, cost, etc. From there, move on to making a list of all the detailed poses that the couple wishes to include in their session, especially any shots that involve family members. Offer up a list of traditional wedding groupings, and then ask if there are other groupings that the couple would like to include. This provides the opportunity for the couple to branch outside of their parents, grandparents and siblings and possibly include aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Once the groupings are decided upon, ask for a first name for everyone in the group and add this to your list. This extra little note will be tremendously helpful on the day of the wedding when positioning changes are needed and you’re able to address the clients’ families by name.

Estimate timing of photo sessions

Determine, with couple, what the time frame for taking family photos would be like on the day, giving a rough estimate of how long each portrait would likely take to set up, explaining that this could vary depending on the size of the group. Wedding caterers and event organisers, Super Events Sussex, say “A lot of keeping people happy at weddings is about managing their expectations so that they are relaxed. If people are eager to get on to the next stage of the wedding and feel nothing is happening then they can get frustrated. Having a good framework schedule for the day, and communicating it, makes a huge difference, and keeps things on track.

In some cases, couples may decide to do ‘day after’ shots to include family members unable to make the big day, but other times, late-comers can dramatically hold up the process of family portraits and would thus cost the couple some other wonderful pictures if you have a specific time schedule set up. Suggest to the couple that an announcement for family members to remain behind for pictures after the ceremony ends might be a good way to save on time. The last thing needed before the big day, is to let the couple know that having family representatives on both sides to gather together family members for portraits is also a great time, and stress, saver.  Also remember to set aside time to take photographs of the food as well.

Understand the venue

Ask the couple about the venue. At the most basic level is it indoors? Outdoors? This will help you work out appropriate lighting. Will the bathroom be a long walk from where you’re taking pictures, affecting the time you may have to take pictures of family members?

Consider visiting the venue yourself so that you’ll be more prepared on the big day. This also includes information on “backup plans.” The wedding might take place outside under normal circumstances, but the rain might force the wedding indoors to the chapel. Keep a good check on the local weather, and consider bringing a setup that would assist with such changes. These questions and thought are very important, especially when considering indoor weddings and large groups. Typically, indoor weddings require the use of flash photography due to poor lighting. With the smaller groupings, using your more basic flash gear, you can achieve the adequate lighting you need for good portraits, but with larger groups, a larger lighting set-up is required.

This can also change the amount of time it takes for you to achieve your photos. If a larger flash set-up is required, typically it takes anywhere from ten-to-twenty minutes to set up that gear. For those on a tight time schedule, this could mean setting up directly after the ceremony and losing the potential for emotional congratulatory pictures with immediate family. Lastly, will alcohol be offered, and if so, will the family members have access to the alcohol before the wedding photos? Alcohol can sometimes be a turning point between good family photos and bad ones. If drinks are available to the party, consider suggesting that the family members only start out with one or two drinks until pictures are finished.

Gather your notes for the big day

On the big day, take all the notes that you have collected about the wedding and use it to make sure that you are fully prepared. Pack extra memory cards, flash gear, and everything you need for your entire shoot. Weddings can be very emotional days, especially for brides who want to ensure their day is perfect; you should treat the wedding as a Corporate Event. Forgetting a major part of your gear can easily turn the beautiful moments into total meltdowns. Consider packing two cameras if you are able, even if it means borrowing one. Equip each camera with two different lenses, a wide lens such as a 200mm and a short range lens that would allow for close, detailed shots. The wide lens will accommodate the larger group photos, especially if your venue doesn’t provide ample room for your shots. Having both camera would allow for a quicker, easier transition between groups, which is also a time saver.

If, despite taking all these measures, something changes the mood and family turmoil ensues, give your best attempt at reminding everyone in the group of the importance of the day for your clients. If your clients are obviously shaken by whatever has occurred, consider taking the two of them aside for a quick pep talk and shooting a few photos of just the two of them. This provides the opportunity for the couple to take a small break away from their family and to refocus themselves on the beauty and importance of their day. This may be a good idea even if emotions are still at a stable point because a long procession of photos can sometimes be overwhelming for couples as well, and a short romantic shoot can help center a tired couple. This might also be beneficial to give family members a quick moment to partake in refreshments, restroom breaks, or any other activity that might normally take time away from the shoot.