A little while ago we talked about the Joys of Plastic Cameras, part of the fun being wild vignetting, halos, smeary soft focus, and light leaks.
If you think you can get by without the light leaks, there’s now another option for enjoying the joys of plastic camera photography while using the same camera you have now.
Holga is selling a package of plastic lenses they call the Digital Holga Kitchen Sink Kit. All the fun of plastic lenses without the need to wait on the film to come back from the lab.
What used to be a Canon 5D MKII precision photographic instrument manufactured to insanely high tolerances will be transported back to the days when Reader’s Digest used to give away plastic cameras when you signed up for a subscription. Or, what they call the “Digital Holga”.
No, you won’t get any sophisticated focusing motors, either. In fact, the whole concept of “focus” when applied to Holga products should be implemented with a bit of latitude.
The kit comes with the Holga 60mm, the Fisheye, a 2.5x telephoto lens, a 93 degree wide angle lens and a set of close-up lenses.
Not surprisingly, you can also use this kit with your Holga plastic camera, in case you already have one. Come on, you know you’re going to miss the light leaks.
Compatible with most SLRs, except for the Olympus PEN and Lumix G series. Priced around $109 and available from Holga Direct.
Wedding photography is a tough business - by Lee J Haywood
Wedding photography is often the first paying job for many interested in a career in photography and the bread and butter for most professional photographers. It’s also the one facet of photography that you’re most likely to fall into by happenstance.
Many times a career in photography has started with a friend or relative getting married but are too poor to afford a photographer. If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a professional photographer, that’s probably where your journey will begin as well: As the unpaid photographer for someone you know getting married on a tight budget. That will be in spite of many good reasons not to take that job.
If you’re still determined to pursue this career option, here are my tips for getting started in the business.
Expect Fierce Competition
While you may be able to luck your way into a decent portfolio, luck will not keep you in the business. Wedding photography is a brutally competitive field, more so now than in times past. As full-time employment becomes harder to find, more people are looking for ways to start their own business and, for anyone with a decent camera and good eye for taking pictures, one of those ideas will inevitably be wedding photography.
Complaining about people new to the business is a part-time occupation for professional photographers, but what I’m hearing lately from my associates in the business is a level up from the normal background griping. Many are having a tough time making ends meet right now, bookings are down across the board. Competition is one of the the greatest challenges you’ll face getting started in the business.
Learn About Running a Business
On top of being able to sell yourself and compete, you have to understand cash flow, advertising, billing, collections, taxes, insurance, licensing, liability, and incorporation; the basics of running any business.
Take general business classes at night and see if your state or county has any programs to help new businesses get started. This will be a lot easier to do if you still have your day job.
Learning about contracting is absolutely crucial. That can be the difference between making it and getting sued for everything you’re worth. You don’t have to become a legal expert, but you have to know and implement the basics.
You can also think about investing in some books specific to wedding photography, like this one by Dane Sanders.
Get Insurance
Organizations like Professional Photographers of America (PPA) can help with training and connections but the most valuable aspect to joining is the insurance coverage. Memberships now come with $15,000 in equipment coverage and E&O insurance. They also offer group discount rates on liability insurance.
Good insurance can save you when things go wrong. When you’re holding the broken components of your Nikon D300 with a wedding to shoot that weekend, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Study The Industry Tirelessly
My friends in the wedding photography business are fantastic photographers. Not just good, scary good. On top of that you still have to stay on top of the trends and expectations in your own business.
Many of those trends that more brides want require a substantial investment in equipment or partner companies to supply that gear. That means rental equipment, contracts, and extra time and effort moving gear around. Does your liability and theft insurance cover rented equipment? Better know the answer to that before you pick it up.
You can’t just learn about the industry, you have to live and breathe it and that includes the technical aspects of the business, the expectations of your customers, and any value added service you can provide to give yourself a leg up on the competition.
Avoid Debt Like a Plague
Being in photography requires a continuous balancing act between cash flow, eating, and investing in equipment. The biggest mistake I see people new to the business make is going into debt to get started. All it takes is one mistake, one bad month where you miss that payment, and you’re out of business.
In wedding photography, cash flow is going to be a big deal. You’ll be slammed for four months out of the year, sometimes double-booked on some weekends, covering morning and afternoon ceremonies. It’s critical to get in the habit of putting away a cash stash to last through the fall and winter when there will be fewer bookings. Learn this skill or die your first year.
Some photographers slip into the habit of borrowing money during the slow season and pay it back over the spring and summer. Don’t do that. One bad year, one accident where you can’t work, and your business and financial future are dead.
If your kids are wearing mask, take a couple shots with the mask off so you can identify them years from now
Even though adults have pretty much co-opted Halloween these days, it originally was more of a kid thing, and still is in a lot of ways. Parents will want to preserve those memories, if for nothing else as blackmail when they get older.
Move The Flash
For the best results you’ll want to use an external flash, preferably one capable of communicating with your camera’s e-TTL system. Those don’t have to be expensive, you can find a reasonably good external flash for most Canon and Nikon models for around $80 and a sync cord that also works with e-TTL for about $20. For less than $100 you can have an external flash you can move around to different angles. If you want to spend a bit more you can get a wireless flash controller.
Having a flash you can move around will give you the option to hold it below the subject, which is called “ghoul lighting” for a reason, or off to the side for a more dramatic effect.
Get In Close
The biggest mistake most photographers make is being too far from the subject. Move in closer, frame the shot so tight that you start losing part of your subject around the edges.
Better to be too close than back so far your pictures have a lot of distracting background.
Break Up The Police Line
Most people group everyone together in a pose reminiscent of a police lineup. Here are some tips from a previous article to break up the line.
It also gives you the chance to let the kids do something fun and be more expressive.
If They’re Wearing a Mask, Take Two Photos
If any of your kids are wearing a mask, take one picture with the mask on and one with it off. That way you’ll be able to identify the kid behind the mask years from now.
External flash brackets are another one of those subjects that can turn into War and Peace. The concept is relatively simple: A bracket that attaches to your camera and allows the attachment of a flash next to it. Simple, right? Not exactly.
Bracket technology has advanced over the years to include a bewildering array of options, some so complicated they look like the International Space Station. These aren’t your grandpa’s flash brackets anymore.
Okay, actually this is your granpa’s flash bracket. A basic folding bracket with a hot shoe attachment for the flash. A quick release button on the side allows you to flip it from horizontal to vertical.
The basic flash bracket has a plate with a mounting screw along the bottom, a handle on the side and a brace that holds the flash across the top. The top brace usually pivots to allow the flash head to pivot so the flash can still be over the lens whether the camera is oriented horizontally or vertically.
Like the basic bracket but is hinged so you can flip the camera from horizontal to vertical without moving the flash.
These come in all kinds of configurations. Some have multiple extensions on the flash extension, like a tripod leg for really getting your flash up there.
A variation of the basic bracket built with a track that the bracket handle pivots around for changing camera orientation without moving the flash around.
Besides the rotation track, there are usually articulated arms that allow a longer extension and more options for positioning the flash above and off to the side of the lens.
As you can see the options, and price points, are limitless.
At some point in your photography career you’re going to consider going full time. Or you may be working in the business already, either full or part-time, and might be wondering if it’s worth joining a professional organization.
There are several professional organizations aimed at photographers, but the biggest and most popular, at least in the U.S., is the PPA, Professional Photographers of America.
The annual 2011 dues for professional photographers is $323 a year, which you can pay off at $27.92 per month if you wish. There’s also an Aspiring Photographer’s option that is $194 a year, but does not include a listing in their referral database and you’re limited to two years at that level before stepping up to a full membership.
So what exactly does that money buy you? Quite a lot actually. Because the PPA can offer vendors real buying power, they can offer discounts on services like data recovery, shipping, music licensing, office supplies including discounts on Adobe, Apple and several other hardware and software vendors, even discount financing for new equipment purchases.
You’ll also get access to their online learning resources (for six months) and Professional Photographer magazine.
Probably the best learning resource is having access to the local chapters of PPA, where you can get together for events with other local photographers. Those might include things like lunches, photo walks, charity events and TFP shoots with local models.
By far the biggest benefit that comes with your membership is the PhotoCare equipment insurance, that covers up to $15,000 of your gear against loss or theft.
You also get access to PPA’s malpractice Indemnification Trust when things go wrong on an assignment for which you might be liable.
In addition you get access to discounted liability coverage for your equipment and studio.
The insurance and local PPA meet-ups are worth the price all by themselves. Having coverage can really save you in case of an accident.
The best part is professional association dues are generally tax deductible. Provided the organization is not primarily devoted to entertainment, like a country club, the dues are generally a write off.
