Thank you all for your questions and kind comments in this post! I was really humbled and blown away by the response and challenged by so many of the questions. I've been making my way through them (slowly but surely), and consolidating similar comments into one. Because there were so many questions, I've decided to break them up into several posts, so if you don't see yours yet, it's coming! And I really do want to stress that there's so much I still have yet to learn and I'm excited to keep growing in photography. I don't profess to be an expert but I do know more than when I started out (I didn't know hardly anything, truth be told), so hopefully something I say will help someone. And if you have any questions, please just ask. :) Alright! Here we go...
Lightroom or Photoshop? Is Photoshop essential/a necessity or a friend? What do you have and what do you recommend?
I have Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6 extended, but I only use Lightroom for editing my photos. I used to use Photoshop completely but switched over to LR + VSCO back in May and haven't looked back. Photoshop is great if you're doing a lot of conceptual photography, highly-edited photography, or if you're going to be spending a lot of time post-processing/changing your image later on. In addition, PS isn't just for photography while LR is. Lightroom is streamlined, fast, extremely efficient, and an absolutely incredible and (in my mind) essential tool to have for a photographer. I would recommend buying Lightroom and if you'd still like Photoshop, buy elements which will give you pretty much what you'd need unless you're going to be doing 3D mapping or something crazy (and complicated) like that in PS.
What is your turnaround time for getting photos to clients?
Portrait/Engagement clients, 2-3 weeks, Wedding Clients, 4-6 weeks.
What is your post-processing? What programs do you use to edit? Do you edit with VSCO FILM? Do you edit every picture you post? Can you post a before and after of your editing process? From SOOC to the final product?
I use Lightroom 4 to edit and I use VSCO exclusively for all my images! I use the first film pack and use almost every preset depending on the feel I'm going for. However, my favorite are the Portra presets, and typically I just use the basic Portra 160. If I want an even filmier look, I'll sometimes use Portra 400++, but I'm pretty happy with the feel/look I have right now.
I run every image through lightroom with my basic color or BW preset (from VSCO) and sometimes I'll play around with them, but mostly, I like to keep it simple. Basically, all I did to the color photo was use my standard VSCO preset (Portra 160 or a tweaked version of mine), adjust the calibration, luminance, and saturation, and slightly change the WB. Took me less than thirty seconds. (just another reason why I love Lightroom paired with VSCO!) For the B&W, I bumped up the exposure and shadows and used a B&W preset of mine I made from Tri-X 400.
What setting do you shoot on most of the time? {Manual, Aperture Priority, etc.}
I shoot completely in Manual, all the time.
Are you well known in your area as a photographer?
Nope! Not at all. By the people I've shot for, perhaps, but the majority of photographers in my area have very different styles than I do, or own typical photography studios.
What are your camera settings (shutter speed and such) for when you do a shot of someone whipping their hair?
It's completely dependent on what the light looks like and what sort of motion I want to capture. Sometimes, I like to catch more of the motion, so I have my shutter speed lower to get a little bit of a blur to it, other times I want to freeze the whole shot. Usually around 250-1000 f/stops. :)
How do you get to the photo shoots...like do you have your license or do your parents drive you?
I actually COULD have my license but don't yet, for a variety of reasons…getting going on that soon! Content with where I'm at though and my parents are the best and drive me wherever I need to go. :)
Do you keep your camera close by at all times? Do you take it with you everywhere?
I usually have my camera either in my camera bag on the main level of my house (where I'm usually at), or on top of the piano. That way, I can easily grab it. I actually don't take it everywhere, but I want to get into the habit of having it around more often.
What do you suggest for learning how to use Adobe Lightroom?
I would suggest google! I'm completely self-taught in LR, and so there are definitely still things I can learn. However, I know how to do what I want to do, and if I don't know something, I google it. For me, the best way that I learn is to figure it out myself…whether that means messing around in LR until I understand something, googling tutorials, or reading every article I can find on it, that's what I do. :)
How old are you? Are some clients hesitant to hire you because of your age? Do they take you seriously?
I'm sixteen years old and I've been very blessed to have all my clients trust me and take me seriously. I never try to hide my age or pretend I'm older, and I'm very open and honest about how old I am. I've never been in a position where a client has hesitated to hire me because I'm only sixteen, and for that, I'm very grateful.
What are your thoughts on the way to a photoshoot?
I usually pray on the way to a photoshoot. I pray for the couple, for the evening, for me to see small details, for an enjoyable and joy-filled night, and that I would bless the couple. And It sounds silly to say, but I always have pre-shoot jitters. I'm not nervous in the sense that I'm freaking out, but I definitely get little excited butterflies. So I pray for calm as well.
Second part coming next week! Hopefully something I said helped a little...and if not, feel free to comment and I can try to clarify a bit more. :) Have a wonderful Wednesday!
(photos of me by anne kopca + janelle putrich)
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