So, imagine how many photos you have on your hard drive, and multiply that by 10 or more for me. I’m regularly taking around 75 GB (gigabytes) of photos at EVERY wedding. That adds up pretty quickly. How do I keep from drowning in files and running out of hard drive space? Well, there’s more than one answer to this question.

Here’s the thing, when you begin to think about storing your photos, you have to consider two things: short-term storage vs. long-term storage. How long you want to store your photos will determine what kinds of storage solutions you use. Let’s start with short-term storage.

Short-term storage is anything from a few days to about a year. These are images you recently took and are waiting to edit, upload to a website, create an album, and/or share with family and friends. Obviously, quick access is key to short-term storage. You don’t want to be digging for a DVD of images every time you need to access them. At the same time, you need to be assured that you’re not going to loose all of your photos if your hard drive crashes. And it will. Trust me. Hard drives like to crash. It’s only a matter of time before yours goes kaput.

So, you need some sort of system of redundancy, where your photos are backed-up in more than one place. For mac uses, I’ve heard the Apple time machine can be a good solution of automatically backing up your files, though there’s still the risk that the external hard drive will fail. And then there’s the Apple Time Capsule, which wirelessly backs up your files. But the biggest storage you can get is a 2TB (terabyte), which sadly, probably won’t cut it for most professional photographers who are regularly working with thousands of gigabytes of photos. At this point, you’re looking into multiple external hard drives and some sort of RAID system that will automatically spread your data across multiple drives to minimize the risk of a drive failing. If you’re fairly good with this sort of thing, I’m sure you can figure out a good system to rig, but if you’re like me, who doesn’t have time to figure out what kind of hardware and systems I need, then a Drobo might be the best solution for you.

Drobos use a proprietary system of backing up your data which allows for the failure of several hard drives without the loss of any data. Sweet. All you need to do is get some hard drives, load them into the Drobo, format everything, and start using it for all of your short-term storage needs. It’s that simple. The Drobo handles all the rest of the complicated backing up stuff. This is the solution I use for my short-term storage needs. Of course, I bought my Drobo several years ago, and they have since come out with even bigger and better products, so you’ve got lots of choices in terms of storage size. I currently have about 4 terabytes of usable storage (using about 8 terabytes worth of drives). Because it’s a redundant system, you will end up with about half of the storage capacity of the drives you use. It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind. In fact, I did have a hard drive failure last year. But it was a piece of cake to fix. All I had to do was take out the defective drive and put in a new one. Woila! No files were lost, and I was up and running again in no time.

Here’s a photo of my lovely Drobo…and if you look closely, you’ll see a layer of dust underneath it. Nice.

But, that kind of system isn’t going to store my photos for years. Even if I bought the biggest Drobo and stuffed it with lots of terabyte drives, one day, I’d run out of space. Besides, I don’t really need to pull up someone’s wedding from 2007 on a regular basis. What kind of solutions are there for long-term storage? Well, there is the old burn a DVD of images…but I honestly think that’s a very poor system. Who knows if we’ll even be using DVDs in 10 years? Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure what turns technology will take and what will be around in 20 years, but I have a feeling that the internet, in some form or another, will still be around. Not to mention, I think the days of the home computer as we know it are limited. You want a long-term storage solution that will give you access to your photos from anywhere in the world.

Clearly, that’s an online storage system, which is exactly what I use. Disregarding the funny name, Smugmug is a great photo sharing and storage website, of which I’ve been a pro member since 2006. Of course, there are plenty of photo sharing and storage websites out there, like flikr, snapfish, and google’s picasa, and they might work great for the average consumer photographer who’s just taking photos of their family, but I don’t think they’re good solutions for professional photographers. The only exception may be flickr, but then you need to buy a pro account to have unlimited storage. And just between you and me, I hate flickr’s layout…it’s so cumbersome to try to look through photos. Not to mention, it’s easy for anyone to copy your photos for free.

With a professional account with Smugmug, though, you get unlimited storage, an incredible array of privacy options, the option to upload and store videos and RAW files, and incredible customer service. I not only use Smugmug for my online proofing, but I also use it for my long-term storage. Once I’ve finished a wedding and delivered all of the products to the client, including their DVD of images, I delete all of their photos from my Drobo, keeping only an online copy of all the high-res jpegs. I’m sure you could ask, “Well, what if Smugmug’s servers permanently fail and you loose all of your photos?” In that case, yeah, I’d loose all those photos…but honestly, I’m not too worried about that. I’ve already fulfilled my contract at that point. As for my personal files, yeah, I’d be disappointed to lose those, but again, the photos most important to me I have in other places, ie, in picture frames in my house. In the end, you’re going to have to accept some risk…even storing hundreds of DVDs of photos in bank safe doesn’t guarantee you’ll never loose those photos.

One more anecdote–when I was traveling this spring and doing several shoots, I used my MacbookPro for editing. When finished, I immediately uploaded all the photos to the website. In an unfortunate turn of events, my Macbook got some tea spilled on it and it basically got fried. What if that had been the only place where I stored those photos? I’d have been in trouble. Fortunately, I had them all on Smugmug, so I simply downloaded them again to my home computer and created a DVD of the images for the client. No skin off my teeth.

In conclusion, when thinking about your storage needs, you need to consider short-term vs. long-term solutions and have good systems for both.

As you become an expert at something…or at least a perceived expert at something, you’ll quickly find people asking you for advice. I know I certainly ask my SEO guru friend questions about SEO all the time. Which is why friends, family, and internet readers often ask me about what camera and gear they should purchase. I’m an expert, right? Yes, in some respects…I do know a lot about cameras, at least the ones I use. But in reality, the question “What camera should I buy?” is mostly dependent on who’s asking the question. I actually wrote a more philosophical answer to the question earlier in the year, I thought I’d try to be more specific this time around.

To answer the question, you need to consider a few things.
1. What do you hope/plan to use the camera for? Are you a mom wanting to take better photos of your kids playing? Are you an enthusiast looking to go pro in portrait and wedding photography? Or are you just looking for a nice camera to take on vacation?

2. How much money are you looking to invest? What’s your budget? $200, $1200, $2000?

3. How long do you see this purchase lasting you? Are you planning on upgrading again in a year? Do you want this camera to last you 4 years? Is this just a step towards bigger and better things?

4. What’s your interest in learning to use the camera’s settings? Do you just want something that only requires you to point and shoot? Or are you actually interested in learning how to use the camera’s functions?

5. Are there any must-have features? Do you want video capability? Face recognition?

Once you answer those questions, you can begin to narrow down what you need. I’ll give a few examples and answers to help you out. Just remember, technology is constantly changing, so what’s current today will be outdated soon. That’s not to say your camera will stop working though! Also, all my recommendations are Canon, because I am more familiar with their line of products. If you are interested in Nikon, just look up their equivalents on their site…they’re a great brand, too.

Example 1: Mom who wants to take better photos of her kids in action, has a budget of $600, wants to use the camera for several years, interested in learning settings, but doesn’t need video. I would recommend the: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS (a.k.a. 1000D) SLR Black Camera Kit with EF-S 18-55 IS Lens. If her budget was $900 and she wanted HD video capabilities, I’d recommend the: Canon EOS Digital REBEL T2i (a.k.a. 550D) SLR Camera Kit with EF-S 18-55 IS Lens

Example 2: Vacationer who wants a portable camera, has a budget of $300, plans to keep the camera around, not interested in learning settings, would like video but doesn’t need to be HD. I would recommend the: Canon PowerShot D10 Compact Digital Camera, 12 Megapixel, WaterProof to 33 Feet, 3x Optical IS Zoom. It’s even waterproof!

Example 3: Hobbyist who has a budget of $1500 is looking for several year investment, is interested in learning settings, but doesn’t need video. I would recommend the: Canon EOS-50D Digital SLR Camera Body only Kit (without lens) and purchasing the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens to get started. Honestly, though, I’d probably look for a good used original Canon 5D camera–you can find them for about $1000, but it won’t come with a warranty and you’ll have to do your homework. Or, if you’re looking for video and only have a budget of $500, I recommend the Canon PowerShot G11 10.0 Megapixel Digital Camera. It’s not an SLR, but it will give you plenty of room for controlling settings.

Example 4: Enthusiast who has a budget of $2500, is looking for a long-term investment, is interested in learning settings, doesn’t need video. This is a tough one. You could blow all that money on the Canon EOS-5D Mark II Digital SLR Camera body Kit (without lens), but then you’d need to buy some lenses. In the long-term, good lenses will retain their value, while cameras are quickly outdated. In this case, I’d actually recommend looking for a good used Canon 5D camera (it’s full-frame…not cropped like the 5D and 7D), and then using the leftover $1500 to buy a good lens or two: maybe the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM Wide-Angle Camera Lens and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens. Of course, that may take you over your budget, depending on what you pay for the 5D. You could also try finding those lenses used for a lower price.

So, as you can see, there’s not one answer for everyone. The key thing is to find out what you need/want and then do some research. Obviously, what you purchase will be constrained by your budget. Of course, if you have about $15,000-$20,000 lying around, you could just buy everything I’ve got….and this isn’t all of it.

But if you think you don’t need anyone else to help your run your business, then you’re definitely in for a rude awakening! Networking and learning from others is just as crucial for photographers as it is for other professionals. I know I’ve certainly learned a lot from getting to know other photographers. Fortunately, in the internet age, there’s a lot of options for networking. If you’re an aspiring photographer or an established one looking to grow their business, I definitely recommend networking. Here are some avenues to explore:

1. Ye Olde Fashioned Meeting Face to Face. Yep, even in the age of texting and twitter, meeting in person is still one of the best ways to network. For photographers, that means actually meeting with other local photographers. Although you might be tempted to view them as your “competition,” in reality, they are really more of your colleagues. Once you’re booked, you’re booked. The same is true for your competition. So when they’re booked for a date, they can refer potential clients to you…and vice versa. Not only that, you can learn from one another, talk shop, and improve your business as you share a similar market. Getting to know my fellow wedding photographers here in Pittsburgh has helped me grow my business tremendously! Not only that, I’ve gained some awesome friends! So don’t be shy, get out there and meet!

2. Blog Reading. OK, sounds a little strange, but if you’re looking for inspiration and tips and techniques, I do recommend subscribing to several blogs that inspire you. Don’t be afraid to comment and learn! That’s where the networking comes in…you may learn about what’s new in the industry and gain a partnership in the process. At the same time, don’t go crazy and subscribe to 20 blogs…you’ll quickly loose your own sense of creativity as you seek to copy others’ work (plus you’ll never get anything done because you’ll be reading so many blogs!).

3. Forum Friends! Online forums aren’t just for nerds…well, OK, maybe they are…but there’s a forum for every nerd! Join one! There’s actually A LOT of photography forums out there…with varying levels of skills and membership requirements. Some forums are brand specific, like Photography-on-the-Net, catering to Canon aficionados. Others are associated with a company, like Digital Grin, which was started by Smugmug. These types of forums don’t generally charge for membership–anyone can join and participate in the discussion. The upside of which, is, well, that’s it’s free…the downside of which, is that well…anyone at any skill level can join. Then there’s a whole swathe of forums that require membership dues: places like the Digital Wedding Forum (DWF), the [b]school, and the i.c.e society. A lot of these forums were started by one photographer…and are generally filled with their groupies. I tried the DWF briefly, but was quickly overwhelmed by the number of members…and I didn’t see much of an advantage of it over any free forum out there. That’s not to say it’s not a great place for learning and connecting…just not for me. So what is my forum of choice? Well, it’s a small, rather unknown forum (but whose members are some of the best photographers in the world!) that my friend Milla introduced me to, the Foundation Workshop Forum. Although Jay likes to joke with me about hanging out with my “forum friends,” I can definitely say it’s helped me develop as a photographer and business owner in the few months of my membership. So, I definitely recommend joining an online discussion somewhere…get some critique and learn from others!

4. Sign-up for Workshops. Consider workshops as continuing education and a way to network. You’ll gain knowledge and get to talk with folks who are highly skilled and respected in the industry. We all have room for growth and areas for learning, so research workshops that will help you grow and develop. I just recently attended the OneLight Workshop here in Pittsburgh, which was excellent. Remember, there’s no magic bullet for success out there, so I’d avoid things that promise such fortune.

5. Lastly, Attend Conferences. Yes, even this old-fashioned form of networking is useful in today’s digital age. Not only will you hopefully learn from some of the brightest, but you’ll meet many folks like yourself, who can offer you insight and inspiration. I can definitely say attending WPPI in March this year helped me grow my business…plus it’s a lot of fun to see how many other photographers are out there! You’re definitely not alone….though you may be sitting at your computer all by yourself right now…

In conclusion, get connected!

Wedding photojournalism is one such term that is often used but rarely defined. What does it mean for your photographer to be a wedding photojournalist? Do they show up to the wedding sporting a media badge and a vest with a bunch of pockets for film and such (from old school days)?

Well, not exactly. While many wedding photojournalists do in fact have a background in photojournalism–working for a newspaper or magazine–many others do not. I am one of those others…I’ve never worked for a newspaper or magazine. But, what I aim to do during a wedding is very similar to what photojournalists do working for a newspaper: they aim to capture the story of events.

Weddings are incredible stories–they not only include intricate details and fantastic moments, but they also encompass family relationships through a life-changing event. There are literally hundreds of stories within each wedding day story–from getting ready and walking down the aisle, to all the little “in-between” moments. A wedding photojournalist aims to capture those moments, without regard to whether or not the moment is “pretty” or “expected.” After all, sometimes it really does rain on your wedding day. And that’s part of the story!

For me, I must say I’m not strictly a wedding photojournalist, meaning that I never direct or never take any “posed” photos. While the majority of the photos I take are candid, I also spend some time taking expected, posed photos. Even those photos, however, I try to conduct in a relaxed and fresh manner as possible–aiming to capture who the couple is–not cheesy grins.

So, if you’re a bride looking for a photographer and they describe themselves at a “photojournalist,” definitely make sure their work agrees with the statement. But also know that if you hire someone to tell the story of your day, than that’s what you’ll get! And enjoy the moments they capture–even if they’re unexpected!

But, the other fun news is that the nice folks at Rosco sent me the Strobist package of gels, predesigned to fit on your flash. As far as how to connect them to your flash, a friend found these clips from the UK. I can’t say whether they work or not…anyone else have suggestions? I’m thinking a clip or velcro of some sort.

Have a great weekend!

But back to the OneLight workshop. How shall I describe it?

Enlightening (no pun intended). Informative. Cool. Awesome. And Wow.

It’s one thing to be good at what you do and know your craft, it’s another to be able to teach it to others. Zack is one of those people who excels at both. While he didn’t shy away from the technical, he also explained and demonstrated it in such a way that creative right-brain minds can understand. And of course, left-brainers had no problems, either. It was especially wonderful to attend the workshop with Jay, and I can’t wait to start incorporating what we learned into our work. And if you’re still wondering what the workshop was all about and you don’t care to visit the website–it’s basically a workshop on off-camera lighting. Sounds way more boring than it was.

Take a look. After a morning presentation, Zack set up practical examples for us to work with. (A big thanks to Laura and Rebekah, our wonderful models!)

Then we headed outside to mix in more ambient light with our flash.

Here’s a photo without off-camera flash. Obviously Rebekah’s face is way underexposed.

And here the only thing that changed was the addition of light. My camera settings were the same.

And no, it did not suddenly get dark outside. Just the use of flash.

A dumpster. The perfect location for the next shot.

You see, flash doesn’t have to be obvious either.

How can this possibly look good?

And even when it gets really dark, your flash can still help you. Ambient light:

With flash.

First things first: Did you know that color has temperature? It does. You can read all about it here. Basically, it’s given on a scale of 0 to 1,000, and for some reason, it seems opposite of what you might think. Blue and purple are warm, red and yellow are cold. I don’t get it, especially since the lower numbers are blue, higher are red. Either way, I just remember daylight (and light from your flash) is about 5500-6000 on the kelvin scale, incandescent light is around 2700. And of course you’ve got a smattering of colors and light in between.

So, white balance is just another term to describe correcting the color of the photo to the right temperature. Now, you could do this manually as you shoot–most likely your dSLR camera has a setting where you can choose white balance as “kelvin” and then manually set the temperature, depending on what light you’re photographing in. Or, you can just let the camera decide using “automatic white balance.” I prefer the latter because I don’t want to worry about switching my color temperature as I move from one light source to another throughout a wedding day. And for the most part, the camera does a fairly decent job of getting the correct white balance.

But there’s a couple of places it really struggles. One is when there are multiple light sources (generally in dark rooms with incandescent lights and fluorescent lights). Here is a recent example from Siresha and Harish’s Indian wedding. This first shot is straight from the camera. No flash was used.

That photo is way too orange for my taste. So, I manually corrected it in Lightroom to this:

Much better. It was easy to correct all the colors in that photo because I didn’t use a flash. But, when you bring a flash into the picture (no pun intended), you are introducing another color temperature. Whereas the temperature for the reception room is around 3300, let’s say, your flash temperature is 5500. Everything your flash lights up will be that temperature, while the rest of the room is another. Here is an example from a wedding last year.

The couple are lit primarily by bounced flash, but the rest of the room is dark and a different color. Here’s another example.

The photos are obviously fine looking…and I’m probably the only one to notice the color differences. But, it’s painstaking to try to color correct photos like that with two competing light temperatures. Enter gel filters!

I’ve recently begun to use translucent gels with specific color temperatures as filters on my flashes to make my job so much easier. Depending on what color temperature you need, you can find just the right gels. I recommend starting with these Rosco Cinegel filters here and here. I place them over my flash (only ones that are on-camera). Now, don’t be alarmed when everything at first looks a little yellowish/orange. This is what the photos will look like straight out of camera:

Then with a few quick clicks in Lightroom (you can either use the white balance dropper or set it manually)…

You get this:

You’ll hopefully notice that instead of just the people closest to the flash having the right color temperature, everyone has it. Without a filter, the bride and groom might have the right white balance, but then folks in the background might be a different temperature. And with Lightroom’s ability to apply one photo’s settings to multiple pictures, you can easily color correct the rest of your flash reception photos. I also often use these gels when taking formal group shots at the church, since the same principle of different color temperatures applies. Yay for things that make my job easier!

So, you may ask yourself, “Why don’t I get my wedding photos back instantly?” And you may be wondering what exactly I do with all your wedding photos before you see them.

True, most people don’t expect to see their wedding photos immediately…but I think there is some lack of understanding as to what kind of work is involved post-wedding. In reality, the amount of time I spend photographing a wedding is only a fraction of the time that I spend editing it. So, what exactly is my editing process? After 50+ wedding and events, I’ve certainly streamlined my system (though there is always room for improvement!).

Here’s what I do:

1. Download all the files to my computer/external hard drive (I’ll start this process while I’m working on something else because it can take upwards of an hour or more).
2. Import all my files into Lightroom and organize them. I shoot only in RAW format (which, is like it sounds–an “uncooked” type of file which must be edited).
3. Select which files I will most likely keep by starring and flagging them.
4. Color correct (white balance), crop (if necessary), and adjust exposure (if necessary) for all starred files. At the same time, I’ll also probably cut out some more files which I think are duplicates or just aren’t good on closer inspection. This step is usually the longest for me. It’s also something I’ve contemplated outsourcing but haven’t yet.
5. Export all files from Lightroom into JPEG format (at this point all the adjustments I made are actually applied to the photos).
6. Open up Adobe Bridge and batch convert specific photos (which I’ve already starred) to black and white through Photoshop. I have created a specific action in Photoshop that I use for all of my black and white conversions.
7. Select which photos I will blog and run final Photoshop actions on them, including stamping my logo.
8. Blog wedding.
9. At this point, if there is an album to design (and depending on how quickly I’ve gotten everything else done), I will design the album and upload it to the website.
10. Run final actions on all remaining photos through Bridge and Photoshop. For me, I like to keep it simple, so my the actions I use are very clean. I will also individually edit photos if there are some visible major blemishes on the bride and/or groom.
11. Batch rename files (I do this now because I may have cut out one or two more photos).
12. Upload files to website and notify bride and groom their photos are up.
13. Make any album changes, if necessary.
14. Burn DVD of images and send to bride and groom.
15. This is a step I have a habit of omitting but I want to do more often: update website and blog with new photos.
16. Delete RAW files (this step doesn’t happen immediately (usually), but I eventually discard all my RAW files. There’s no need for me to keep them at this point.

Technically, I would like to add some more steps involving sending files/photos to vendors on a regular basis, but I haven’t gotten to that point.

All in all, you can see there is quite a bit of time and effort involved in editing photos. Shooting is only the first step. As far as my turn around time goes, I think I am one of the fastest in the industry. I usually have all the photos uploaded to my website within a week or two (and blogged it before then). I know of people who wait 3+ months to get their images back from their photographer. For me, that’s just too long… So, while you won’t see your photos immediately after your wedding, please know you’ll see them very soon (and I’m working very hard on them)!

As an example of the changes I do on the photos, see below. I’ve been editing Kerry and Josh’s wedding…

The first photo is straight out of the camera. It looks OK, but it’s perhaps a tad underexposed and very flat looking.

After all my editing, this is what I get. Much better!

More to come from this wedding soon!

And for any of my current and former brides and grooms, if you’re interested in having a fun post-wedding session, let me know. You don’t have to immerse your wedding dress (though you can) to have a fun session. Just take a look at Kristen and Brett…(now that they’ve had time to enjoy their wedding photos, I’m sharing these workshop ones with them). Oh, and you can help me achieve goal number 9, which is to shoot two trash the dress sessions…

At the time, Klavon’s ice cream parlor was closed for the evening…but I returned a month later with Jen and Brian.

Kristen, you are gorgeous.

Thanks for being such great models, Kristen and Brett!

What is perfect photography? Is there such a thing? How can I recognize it? These are the sorts things I ask myself. I understand that photography, like all forms of art, is largely subjective. What I prefer aesthetically may not be what you prefer. This is no more evident than in the photos I pick as my favorites and the photos my clients choose. Sometimes we like the same images, but often I’m surprised at what people prefer. Of course, that’s because they see a personal significance in a photo where I only see its imperfections.

How can I be a better photographer, then, when the target is constantly moving?

It may seem simple and obvious, but the key to becoming a better photographer is to become a better observer. This is something I’ve been slowing coming to realize. In the past, I might attribute some of my favorite candid moments to luck, but luck really has little to do with good photography. A good photographer sees the moment before it occurs. They perceive the subtle in the obvious. They observe the fantastic in the mundane.

A good photographer does not simply hope to catch an interesting moment; they find it before it happens and visualize the best composition.

This, I believe, is what sets me (and other professional photographers) apart from the “Uncle Bobs” with their fancy SLR cameras. Camera gear, as I’ve written about before, does not make you a professional photographer.

Still, I know that I am not the photographer I will be. That’s because I’m constantly growing, learning, and developing my ability to observe. It never fails that when I edit a shoot I think of ways I would do it differently…I chastise myself for not seeing something that I should have noticed…for not composing a certain image differently. Yes, the truth is that I’m not perfect. The photos I took last year are nothing compared to what I produce now. And what I am creating now will seem as nothing to what I hope to one day make.

This gives me cause for optimism as I strive for the unreachable goal of perfection.

I’ll end with a photo from Saturday’s Indian wedding…more to follow soon.