What Clothes to Wear to a Portrait Sitting

Have you ever had a customer show up for a photo session in clothes that are hideous?  I have. I once had a guy show up with paisley pants!  You might think ”what’s the big deal?” or “So what?”
Well, this is a problem because clothing can be distracting. Usually in a portrait you want the people to be the focus, not pants.

So here are a few ideas to tell clients when the book a photo session. It might be a good idea to have these guidelines on your internet site or in a brochure.

1.  Solid color clothing is usually best. Stay away from busy patterns like plaid, paisley, big polka dots.  Basically stay away from anything that will distract from the main subject.

2. Dark colors.  You ask why? Dark colors make people look slimmer. So if you have a person who carries a little extra weight, this might make them a bit happier with their shots.

3.  Wear long sleeves.  Again, this helps cover up skin and can really help a photo.

4. If you are photographing a group or couple have them wear similar colors.  They don’t need the to be the same, just similar.  This makes the group look like they fit together.

These are just a few guidelines. They are not written in stone so if you want to have a guy wearing paisley pants go ahead have fun!

An Idea on How to Make Money with Photography

So, I was thinking about ways to make money with photography today and I had an interesting idea. This doesn’t happen every often so when it does I treasure it.
I know that this has been done with expensive art but I have never heard of a photographer doing it. So here is my big idea. First, make 30 decent sized prints of
your best work. 16×20’s would probably be best.  Put them in frames and sign them.  Next, go to local businesses(Banks, Dr.offices, Hotels, Hospitals) and
 offer them a Revolving Photography Display!  Every month go around and move the photos from one business to the next.  If you charge 75 dollars a month(you could
charge more) and you have 6 businesses that you work with you will make an extra 450 dollars a month doing this(5,400 extra a year!!!)! There is some time involved
(probably 1 day a month after you get started) and also the cost of printing and framing, but other than that its all profit. You should be able to recoupe
the cost in a month or two and as a bonus, the displays might bring you extra sales or more  clients because you will have your name next to the photo! You
 could even offer to sell the photos while they are on display!  Anyway,that’my idea for the day. Does anyone else think this is a good idea??????? Can you
improve on it?????

Words of Encouragement

I’ve been thinking lately. I know thats a stretch and hard to believe but I have.  So you probably want to know what I’ve been thinking about….
Well, here it is…..
Just do it!  Stop procrastinating!  

I am in the middle of starting to shoot portraits again, building a website for portrait photography, doing Stock photography again and I’m feelin pretty good about it! I’m having a lot of fun!

Here’s the deal. Are you wishing you had your own photography business?  Are you thinking” I’m just not good enough” or “I need a nicer camera?”  Are you stuck?  Get over it!  Read books and learn how!
Start now!

Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

Make a goal to post a listing on craigslist.com  offering portrait photography. Do it now!

Start building that website now!(if you don’t know how go to Wix.com and build a site for free!)

Do you have a lot of great shots on your computer just sitting there?  Sell them on www.dreamstime.com

You could even sell some prints on etsy.com

My wife sells stuff on Esty! Check out my wifes etsy shop  at http://www.etsy.com/search_results_seller.php?search_query=tomnomaly&search_type=seller_usernames

There are a lot of things you can do to make dreams come true.  Is it easy? Nope! is it fun? Yep!

So get off your keester and get going!

Make it happen!

No more excuses!

The End!