Learn Digital Photography - 3 Steps to Learning Photography

The concept of learning to many of us as we grow older is linked to school or college. Learning as we get on with our lives is not something we do naturally. With photography you have to learn or get left behind. If you are going to improve the quality of your images you need to continually learn and maintain learning journey.

Coupled with the desire to learn is passion. You need lots of it be a photographer as with anything in life. There is always an opportunity to create the perfect image but getting you to the place where your feet are standing on the perfect vantage point is the difference. Passion brings you to that point at 5am and allows you to shoot the magnificent sunset or sit through the heat of the day to shoot the elusive endangered animal. 

It's this desire or passion that will motivate you to learn those tips and techniques that you would otherwise not be bothered with. So here are some keys to learning or improving your photography:

1. Feed your passion

How do you make something grow? By feeding it, a very simple but very neglected concept in photography. Let me simplify it even more. If you love birds then spend time where birds are, buy birding magazines, join a bird watching club that has a strong focus on photography. When you rub shoulders with passionate people and spend time focusing on your passion, it grows. I love photo galleries, especially wildlife and nature and after an hour looking through the images, I want to take my camera and shoot. So how does feeding your passion help you learn? It gets you out taking more photos and thereby practising more and meeting people who are motivating and more experienced. So the bottom line is that your learning curve shoots straight up.

2. Evaluate, compare and improve

You will never learn unless you look at your images and evaluate them against a set of criteria. The main teaching method in my latest book is evaluating your images. By doing this you can see just where the quality issues and technical problems lie and rectify them. You need to have a mentor, a book or course to understand what these criteria are. Then, compare yourself to others that are known to be much better than yourself. These people can be from clubs, authors or photographers with online galleries of note. See what they are doing and shoot similar images. Then work at improving. What pointers can you take out of your books and other materials and incorporate into your images? If you aren't improving then you aren't learning. It is essential to constantly and consistently look at yourself and your photography and ask the question, am I evaluating, comparing and improving.

3. Specialise

Oops! Isn't this going against the basic principles of learning photography or anything for that matter? What I mean is that as part of the learning process work at it using bite sized chunks, one step at a time. Confucius says that the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step. Focus on one issue like learning how to place your subject correctly. When you've mastered that then move on to the next point and so on. All of these little specialisations put together will make the whole learning process easier and fit together quicker. You know the old adage, "jack of all trades, master of none"? Master your hobby by doing it in a lot of small steps.

Photography is a process despite what many might think. You have never really reached the top of your game and there is always something you can do to improve your shots. Dedication and discipline is much easier if you focus on the little things and gradually expand until you are handing the bigger things. Take one step at a time and work hard at each of the disciplines of photography. And, before you know it you'll be taking shots that will leave you dumbfounded at your own talents.

Remember that you are key to your own photography success. Work hard at applying yourself and the rewards will come little by little. Don't be disillusioned if it doesn't all happen at once, we all had to start somewhere. Happy shooting. 

Choosing Your Ideal Wedding Cake

The wedding cake is usually one of the centerpieces of a reception and a highlight of the wedding album, so it pays to be thoughtful when deciding on what you want.

Design

Some brides crave a simple white style, while others may want something playful, colorful or humorous. Start thinking about the style you want - and what you hope to showcase in the wedding photo albums - before visiting the baker.
 
You can use themes and motifs from your ceremony or reception to help influence the design of your wedding cake. This could be as straightforward as having the cake designer match the colors of the bridesmaids' dresses or adding the same types of flowers as in your bouquet. Or it could mean featuring similar flavors to those used in your reception meal or adding images that reflect the choice of venue.
 
Also consider whether you want a square, rectangular or round cake - or something in a particular shape. Do you want tiers or something flat?
 
These days, many brides are choosing to serve up something a little different when it comes time to cut the cake. An assortment of smaller cakes, cupcakes, cookies or even different types of truffles can substitute for one large cake and offer more variety.

Flavors

White cake is classic, but today's brides are increasingly opting for their favorite flavor, whether that is chocolate, carrot or cheesecake. You can also be creative with the frosting and fillings, departing from butter cream to use accents such as jam, whipped cream, cream cheese, custard, strawberries or fudge.

Ordering your cake

Experts suggest ordering a cake a few months before your wedding. When meeting with a baker, bring any applicable pictures, drawings or ideas. Some couples even borrow photos from others' wedding albums to request a similar design.

Bakers will have a portfolio on hand to show you their work. They will also be able to provide you with a tasting of the cake before you place your order. Make sure you ask the baker about logistical issues, such as if they will deliver and set up the cake, as well as if there are any additional charges.

Photo Books For Business And Pleasure

Are there folders after folder son your computer packed with photos from holidays, events and special occasions? And you just don't know how to make the best of these pictures? If you need some help with how to display your many images in the best ways, don't fret, this article will tell you all about the options of photo gifts and business ideas. Firstly you need to sit down and have a good look though all the pictures and think of different themes you can place them in. You could make a "party hard" group of photos, a "family fun" group or a "fab holidays" selection of images. You might actually find this quite enjoyable as you take a trip down memory lane and remember fun times captured on camera.

If you have a career in a creative field such as photography, designing, illustrating or creating graphics photos of your work should be backed up on your computer so that you now can make something out of them. Select photos that represent your work to the fullest to further prosper in your future career choices. These photos are excellent to put together into a portfolio of work to show to prospective employers.

If you need a birthday gift for someone's birthday you could create a group of photos of his or hers life so far - in photos. For a Valentine's Day present collect romantic photos of you and your sweetheart which represent your relationship. For Father's day or Mother's day you need emotional photos of you and your parent which will bring a tear to their eye.

So once you've collected these photos the question is, what do you do with them now? This is where photo books come into the picture. The photo books are simply the best way to print digital photos onto one book; you don't even need to turn them into photo prints first! You simple give the printing company the photos online and they print the digital photos straight into a high quality photo book. It just doesn't get any easier than this to finally make use of all those photos on your computer. It's a fantastic opportunity to create anniversary photo books, birthday photo books and holiday photo books as gifts to friends and family. To boost your career nothing will work better than a sleek high quality photo book portfolio at your next job interview.

Spark Intrigue With Wedding Surprises

This wedding took place at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff. (On a side note, the service, food and hotel staff were AMAZING. I can't say enough great things about them.) When we sat down to design this wedding I wanted to keep the guests guessing and the surprises coming all night. So we took each element, the ceremony, the cocktail hour, the dinner and the party and treated it as its own event, and each event was revealed to the guests as the night progressed. This kept the element of surprise to a maximum and it kept them guessing what would happen next.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was held in one of the longest rooms I have ever stood in. I mean it must have been a good 65 feet or more. It was funny listening to the bridesmaids comment on how long their aisle walk was. The room had full windows behind the couple with a full view of the mountains. I had the hotel remove the curtains and sheers so the view was totally unobstructed. We also didn't use too much décor in this room because with views like that, you really don't need to. We did add some candles and flower arrangements to the aisle. We brought in a faux fireplace, which we filled with candles (battery operated) we also placed close to 200 additional candles on the fireplace, the window sills and some on the frames. These were all real and gave the room a fantastic glow. It was simple, romantic and classically elegant.

The Cocktail Hour

The cocktail hour was held in the room between the ceremony and the dinner area. We had to transport the chairs from the ceremony to the dinner and I didn't want to interrupt the cocktail hour while doing so, we also had brought in winter trees that had glass ornaments on them that were the place cards but we didn't want those unveiled until later. We set up pipe and drape curtains as a fake wall to hide the chair movement and we placed the trees behind the drape as well.

Half an hour before dinner, we took down the draping , revealed the trees and asked everyone to find their place cards and please take their seats for dinner. The place cards were attached to the glass ornaments and strung alphabetically.

We also rented a vintage photo booth to put a spin on the guest book tradition. Guests popped into the booth, took the 4 pictures, then they could drop them off in a vase for the couple or keep them, it didn't matter, they were free so you could take as many as you wanted. It was the highlight of the cocktail hour along with the beautiful ice martini luge which had snowflakes etched into it.

The Dinner

We took the dinner space and utilized the dividing walls of the ballroom. In short, we kept one area closed. The guests were seated and dinner and speeches ensued. There was a great window view of the mountains, and the hotel had lit the trees outside as well. So we brought in our own trees (which I built onsite) to bring the outside in.

We also changed up the head table a little so it was easy for the wedding party and the guests to talk to each other. I am so bored with the long head table...another tradition I feel needs to go away, so we made it an open rectangle.

For the lighting we used a purple gel to compliment the wedding color and create a wonderfully romantic atmosphere. The centerpieces also used branches to continue the outside theme and we lit them with miniature LED lights for a wonderful glow at each table.

It's Party Time

When the speeches were completed and dessert had been served, we had the MC announce that the Bride & Groom would now be leaving. With no explanation to the crowd, the Bride & Groom got up and left the room. This really got the room buzzing. There was no DJ or band set up in the dining area, there wasn't even a dance floor.

So what now?

Well, as the wall divider was pulled back, the 13 piece band started up and the couple was already out on the dance floor. Everyone turned to see the ultra lounge we had created and kept hidden until now. It was party time and this was the place to party. The band was set up on the stage, there was an additional bar with tall cocktail tables, a huge dance floor, and across the dance floor was my lounge. We brought in modern, white leather furniture and created a lounge area to relax and chat when the guests weren't dancing. We also had glass top coffee tables and white leather benches to increase the conversation area. This was also lit in the purple hue so it remained in step with the color theme of the wedding.

Simon's Wedding Design Advice

Take your wedding day and break it into mini events. You want your guests to be talking about your wedding for years to come and to compare every other wedding they go to, to yours. You want to keep them guessing and you want them to be surprised. So treat each part of the day as if it were its own event. Weddings can become boring and predictable, I hate those weddings, and I see no reason why you should settle for one of "those" weddings.

Make sure you have a theme that carries throughout the entire day. This can be a color palette or in our case, bringing the outside in as we did by highlighting the outside view, placing winter trees in the cocktail area, and strategically placing trees in the dining area and the lounge. Make sure you have something to tie your mini events together or it can get really messy and the atmosphere and ambiance can get lost...and you don't want that.

I like to keep the guests guessing, don't lay it all out for them. Keep a few tricks up your sleeve to WOW them later in the night. No one likes predictable, I know I hate it. So if you have some details hidden away to be revealed at a later time, it will create a buzz in the room, and have people talking about your wedding for years to come.

Wedding Photo Album Versus Wedding Photo Book

Following many threads on social media and wedding forum web sites, I repeatedly have come across the question of where to go with your photos if you want to make your own wedding photo album. One common advice is to go to blurb, Shutterfly or other photo book makers. Also, it is often noted that many wedding photo album makers, like Queensberry, do only business with photographers. But should you really get a photo book for your wedding photo album? This article is trying to highlight the pros and contras of photo books in comparison to proper wedding photo albums.

Pros

There are several reasons in favor of photo books. For starters, they are easily available. You can chose between a multitude of different providers, they come cheap with prices starting from 10 Dollars and they are delivered very quickly with e.g. blurb delivering most books within 7 to 10 business days after ordering. Proper wedding photo albums on the other hand are much harder to get your hands on. It is true that a lot of firms do only business with photographers and other wholesale customers. Prices are considerably higher and delivery times vary from 2 weeks to 6 months.

Also, if you want to make your own design, photo book companies often provide a design software, which allows you to put together a simple album layout within minutes. Often the software has an integration into the ordering process, so after designing it is a piece of cake to upload your photos and submit your order. Wedding album makes usually don't provide this feature for two reasons: often the companies are too small to develop their own software and in most cases those programs are not sufficient to create the sophisticated layout design required for a real wedding photo album.

Contras

While all the points mentioned so far are more or less in favor of getting a photo book, there are also some pretty good reasons against it. As said earlier, wedding photo albums are more expensive, but their still are good value for money, if you consider what you get. You get a proper heavy cover made of real or faux leather, which has a substantially better feel to it than the hard or soft-paper cover of a photo book.

The photos in your wedding album are developed with a chemical process. Their resolution is perfect and their colors never fade. This might be true for some high-quality photo books, but the majority of them uses laser-jet printing resulting in a notably lower photo quality. The pages in a proper wedding photo album are made of solid paper or carton (true only for flush-mount albums). Again, this leads to a much nicer feeling when flipping through the album, than the floppy thin pages of a photo book.

And finally regarding the design, if you really want to design your own wedding photo album, it is not at all a bad idea to use a professional software for it like DG Foto Art, Photoshop or Gimp. This requires some practice and skill, but only pro software provides you with the sophisticated fading, transparency, shadow and photo touch-up effects you will need to make a state-of-the-art album layout. The simple self-design software of the wedding photo album makers gets you only half the way.

Conclusion

A wedding photo album is one of the most important safekeepers of the memories of your wedding day and you will look at it again and again, possibly for the rest of you live. Therefore, all the money you invest in it is invested very well. Therefore, I would advice you to go for a wedding photo book, only if you don't care too much about all this "wedding day fuzz" or, if your budget simply does not allow for more. Otherwise, get a proper wedding album, because on the long run it is worth it!

Wedding Tradition - Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

You have probably heard the popular wedding tradition saying before, but not every bride to be knows exactly where it originated from or what the meaning behind the saying is. It is a darling saying and is one of the only wedding traditions in today's society which makes some sense. It is a cute tradition - one which is performed to bring good luck to the newlywed couple.

The traditional saying is:

Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue

And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. This wedding tradition can be traced back to England, and many sources say that it began sometime in the Victorian Era. Each item in this sort poem represents a good luck token for the bride - if she carries them, it is said her marriage will have good fortune.

Something Old: The old item has several different meanings, but one general theme: a link of continuity from the bride's past. Some say this is a desire to remain connected with your family even after you established a family of your own. Other sources say it represents the life you are leaving behind. Another idea is that the tradition of family values and the connection family brings is being passed down to you. It is safe to say that all of these assumptions are correct; the bride is leaving behind her past to start a new beginning, but not to forget where she has been. Things you can use for the something old theme are: jewelry from your mother, grandmother or great-grandmother, an old wedding photo from your family, a love letter from your father to your mother, a picture of your parents in your purse, an old handkerchief, a childhood pillow to hold your rings, a piece of lace sewn into the hem of your gown.

Something New: means optimism and hope for the future. It conveys the message that you and your husband are creating a new union that will endure the test of time. Many brides choose to use their wedding gown, flowers or rings to symbolize the "something new" in this tradition.

Something Borrowed: Again, there are several meanings behind borrowing an item from a friend or relative. Some sources say borrowing something is borrowing happiness from a happily married woman, so that their happiness will carry over to the new bride. Other sources have said it is symbolizes the love and adoration you have for the person from whom you have borrowed the item from. If you borrow an item from your happily married grandmother or mother, you can fulfill both of these meanings. Doing this lets your parents (or grandparents) know that you admire their marriage and the respect they have for each other and that you hope to have an equally happy marriage. The borrowed item also signifies to the bride that she can always count on her friends and family for support. Items that can be used for the something borrowed theme could be: family jewelry, a prayer book from your mother or grandmother, strands of pearls, or your parent's cake cutting set.

Something Blue: The color blue has been connected to weddings for centuries as a symbol of love, modesty, fidelity, good luck, purity and loyalty. Many brides incorporate this color into their clothing, by either wearing a blue stoned jewelry item or wearing a blue garter. However for a modern spin, you could use blue toe nail polish, blue eye shadow, a blue ribbon tied into your flowers, blue underwear, even wear light blue shoes! The possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.

A Lucky Sixpence: A sixpence in the bride's shoe represents wealth and financial security. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be worn in the left shoe. This tradition may date back to the Scottish tradition of the groom placing a silver coin in his shoe for good luck. Many companies sell keepsake sixpence pieces for weddings.

Brides have been honoring the something old, new borrowed, blue tradition for centuries. Although these items are supposed to bring good luck to the bride, many brides are following this tradition to honor people close to them on their wedding day.

Wedding Photography - Receipts and Contract Issues

A pretty difficult subject for people to get their head around being a wedding photographer is the simple question of being paid. You see many wedding photographers do it for the love of the art not for the money. This means that they probably don't have an airtight contract or terms and conditions to start with which means they have no way to ensuring they get paid other than withholding photographs from a wedding.

This post is more for photographers than couples; but if you're a couple reading this then read on. It may just answer some questions as to why I or any other wedding photographer does what they do!

Receipts

First off make sure that you give a receipt to everyone that gives you money whether that be cash or cheque. If you're using PayPal you can sort of get around this, but I have started just e-mailing couples to say the payment has gone through anyway

You need receipts to check what has been paid and when and also I presume your accountant will want to look at these come tax time!

I use a cheap and cheerful receipt book from Staples. It even has that really old-fashioned blue 'carbon' paper in it!!

Contracts

Next up and the most important item is the contract. Go seek some legal advice and get one drawn up that covers you top to bottom, head to foot. I'm not saying people will deliberately try to shaft you (well, OK I am - some people are just like that.) but a contract tells the world and you clients that you are a professional and you mean business. It's telling them that whilst you love you work you also want to be treated like a professional not some part-timer doing weddings for pocket-money. (And don't get me started on that just yet.)

Include in your contract areas for the couple to complete names, address, telephone numbers, wedding date, wedding venue etc. Make them fill it in. It is their wedding so it is their responsibility to get it right.

Think about copyright of your photos. Stick a section in their saying what they can and cannot do with any electronic images you give them. Tell them own owns the copyright - you!

If you use your images for marketing put a section in about that as well.

Think about the reproduction licenses if you sell electronic images or sell DVD's / CD's of your work for clients to print also. Make it crystal clear that they are not allowed to change, sell or do anything to your images without your written consent. Make sure that they no the penalty for non compliance will be breach of contract and your possible refusal to continue to work on their images. Set their expectations that you are a professional and you respect your work so they should as well.

Talk about price; what is included, what is not included, what travel charges you charge for (HMRC is at 0.45p per mile now by the way), bridge or road tolls etc. I even have a clause stating I will charge a little bit extra for sending images outside the UK.

Next big thing is being paid. What booking fee do you need to confirm the date, when you require full payment (I am 4 weeks before the wedding). Leave time for clearing cheques etc. State again that non-payment is a breach of contract and may result in non-attendance of your wedding.

Also think about having a cancellation term my the contract just to make sure.

Get both parties to sign and date the contract.

Being Paid

I use online payment merchant as my payment preference; I live miles from my nearest bank so getting a cheque in the post means about 60+ minutes of time and 25 miles of travel just to put it into my bank.

Using an online payment service also means I can use their great Merchant Services and set up invoices to send out to clients. I also print a copy of the invoice for my client records; or as in one case this week to post a copy of the invoice to a client who for some reason had not had the electronic invoice via e-mail.

If the couple don't get the invoice always follow it up with a paper copy sent recorded delivery - get a signature as proof of receipt. Follow this up with any Facebook contacts etc that you may have with the client.

I try to avoid telephone calls unless really required - I think it's a bit like trying to be the 'debt collector big man' approach.

Think carefully how you would feel if the clients don't pay on time. How will it affect your relationship with them; how will it affect your relationship with your mortgage company?!

Most photographers are happy to talk about costs / payment with clients but you should do this before the payment deadline not after it.

Not paying isn't nice and sours what should be a great relationship.

Your contract should have something along the lines of:

Payment for any outstanding balance is due no later that four (4) weeks prior to the contracted date and is specified in your contract summary. You MUST allow for sufficient time cheque clearance. Non receipt of the full balance by the due date will be deemed a cancellation of the contract by the wedding clients/s.

No payment means either you don't turn up to photograph the wedding and you take a day off or you do turn up and the clients don't get anything until you have paid the balance.

Cancelled Contracts

It happens so it is best to have something in your contract such as a break off clause to handle this.

Think about the extra administration you may have to do; think about the income you may have lost out on.

Summary

So to sum up; if the couple don't pay up you don't have to turn up. If you do turn up you can still claim the balance of your payment or withhold photographs.

Get a contract professionally written

Make sure you keep records of e-mails, Facebook conversations and telephone calls etc

Make sure you chase up the clients to let them know about non payment

Remember - The client isn't always right. Stick to your guns and get your own legal advice if you think you are in the right.