Photography Tips: How to start out a Photography Session the Right Way.

Photography Tips: How to start out a Photography Session the Right Way

Have you ever noticed that when shooting a portrait session with a family or model or almost anyone your first shots are usually the worst ones out of the bunch? I have. I will even tell the client this. They say “Ha! No, they will be fine.” I know they won’t. 

The reason is because at first they are neither comfortable with you nor you with them. As a professional photographer it is your job to make them feel comfortable. That is why you get paid. They want results, you want money. If you can get them to like and trust you they will buy more and you will make more. Everyone gets what they want! Everyone is happy. 

So the question is how to you get them to relax? I do several things that work well. I joke, I smile, I talk to them and if they have kids I might give them nicknames like “Miss Taylor Swift” or “Stinky” for a boy who stepped in dog poo. They laughed and we had fun. We made great photos. 

You can also start the shoot out with a fun shot. I like to have people jump up as a family. This is fun for them and you will also get a great shot most of the time. This is even something you can sell.
in the end everyone is happy and when your customers are happy they tell their friends and people they work with. If you want to grow a business fast make sure the people you photograph like you. Any good salesman know that people buy more from people they like!

Brian Johnson is the owner and writer for Buffaloz Photography Training. He also owns and runs Missoula Photogrpahy School and Ayres Photography. He did something stupid the other day and promised his followers one post for 30 straight days. He is now regretting it but doing his best to keep his promise! Wish him luck. He has three more weeks then he will pass out!

Photography Training:New Work

Photography Training:New Work

If you follow me on facebook you know that I have a goal of writing one post for 3o days in a row. I am going to do my best to keep this promise. But tonight I am so tired that I think I’m gonna crash so I hope you don’t mind if I just post some shots from my photoshoot I had today with the Lovely Esther. She is a mother of two about to be a mother of three. I Think she will be happy with the shots and I would love to hear what you think about time too. Anyhow, tonight I am just going to post some of my newer work!

 

Buffaloz Photography Training is run and written by the extra smart and very tired Brian Johnson. He wants to crash but still have a bit of work to do! 






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Photography Training: It’s Good to Shoot with Friends!

Photography Training: It’s good to shoot with friends.

A lot of times when learning photography you are sitting in front of a computer look at a blog or website  watching a video or reading a post. Does this sound familiar? Haha!! Your doing it right now! There is nothing wrong with it and I it is a great way to learn. I recommend it! But, to really learn you 

need to practice. You need to read and learn and then go out and shoot! I love to go out and shoot! I do it a lot. I will go downtown at night and just shoot for an hour or two at night sometime. Sometimes I get up early in the morning and go out for a drive and take shots for an hour or two.
You know what is better than going out alone? Going out with friends or other photographers. You can learn so much quicker when you are helping each other out!
I run a photography school in Montana and we did this tonight. We went out with a few of us and took shots for a few hours. It was so much fun! We got a ton of good shots!
So If you want to learn quicker, join a local group, hang out with other photographers and read this blog!

Brian Johnson is a Professional photographer who owns Missoula Photography School and also Runs Buffaloz Photography Training. Brian doesn’t sleep a lot! 






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PhotographyTraining: Understanding Depth of Field

PhotographyTraining: Understanding Depth of Field

When you start out in photography you usually just pick up a camera and start shooting. Then after a while you decide to learn more. You want to get better. One of the first things you need to understand is Depth of Field. It will really help improve your photography.
Basically, depth of field refers to the section of a photograph, from the nearest to the furthermost points from the camera, which appears to be in sharp focus. 
Here are some examples of Depth of field.

When I took this shot I was using an f/stop of f/16. The thing that controls your Depth of Field the most is Aperture. Aperture is the opening in your lens. Bigger apertures let more light into your camera and smaller Apertures let less light in. This Shot was taken with a small Aperture. A small aperture will give you more depth of field. When I shoot landscapes I will usually use a small aperture. That way I know that all of the shot will be in focus.

This is an example of Shallow depth of field. This was taken with a large Aperture. It was taken at F/1.4. You can see that a lot of the background and foreground are out of focus. When shooting portraits it is a good time to use a large aperture. That way your subject stands out from the background

When you learn the basic of photography and how to set your controls you will improve and photography will become much more enjoyable!

 Buffaloz Photography Training is owned by me, Brian Johnson. I do everything right now but soon Things will change! 







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Photography Training: Conflicting Thoughts on How to Photograph

Photography Training: Conflicting Thoughts on How to Photograph

As some of you know, and most of you don’t, besides running this blog by myself, right now, and running and portrait business, I also have a photography school. Yes, I teach photography locally too.  I will post a link to the schools site if you are interested in learning more about it.
Anyway, an interesting question came up in class last week and I have heard this particular question a lot. Here is the basic version of the question. “I was told by a professional photographer to shoot this particular way. Why?” The exact question I was asked was “A professional photographer told me to always just shoot in Auto light balance mode. Why?” It was interesting to hear the answers especially because I had two serious professional photographers sitting in there watching.
One of the professional photographers questioned the “sanity” of this so called pro. If you have a backlit subject in sunlight and have your camera set to auto light balace you shot will turn out blue. She is right.  When shooting with mixed lighting this can issues can also arise. She was right again.
So, this guy was a pro right? He was teaching a class to future portrait professionals and he told them to shoot in auto light balance? What the?? He’s got to be crazy!
Well, maybe. but I have to say that I almost always use Auto. However there is the thing. I know not when to you use it and when to use it.  I know the reasons. I know how it will affect my shot, and I know the results of not getting it right. Do you? You need to know the basics. The most important part of any trade is to learn the basics. You need to know about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, RAW and jpeg, and light balance.
Here is the other point I would like to make. Everyone has a different opinion. I know photographers that will only shoot in RAW. I know photographers who always shoot in Aperture Priority Mode. I don’t, but they do. That is what works for them. There are professionals who shoot portraits at f/22. Everyone of their shots are done this way and they look amazing! I shoot wide open most of the time(do you know what that means?). It doesn’t make them wrong, it’s just their opinion. Part of growth as a photographer and developing a style is learning how you like to shoot. So you need to learn what you like. Then you will form your own opinions! Learn the basics!

Do you know these things? If you don’t your photos will never improve and you will be stuck in a rut. You are here reading this so I know you don’t want that. Seek out your answers. You can search this blog for these questions. You can search online. You can take  class. Hey, you should take one of my classes! Haha!

Here is the link I promised you to my photography school. Thanks for visiting!
Missoula Photography School Link 

Brian Johnson is the owner and writer and pretty much everything right now for Buffaloz Photography Training. He also owns Ayres Photography and Missoula Photography School. 

Photography Training: Finding Your Style

Photography Training: Finding Your Style

I must say that when I started out I thought I was ok. And I was. I was 14 and shooting my first wedding. I was using a Yashica FX-D with on camera flash. The wedding turned out pretty good and I made 300 Dollars. Not bad for a 14 year old. That was 1987.

Even though I was proud of those shots and they were good, if I was shooting the same way now I would not be happy with myself. A lot of photographers get stuck in the one mode the learned to shoot in. They don’t challenge themselves. They don’t learn. They don’t look. They become stagnant.

I could not do that. A few months ago I looked at my work. I do good work and my clients love it. I loved it. But then I looked around at what inspired me. I realized I was not shooting what I wanted. I was not taking the images that I admired. I was taking shots that I knew I could get.

I decided it was time for a change. So. I changed. I have decided to change my business model. I have decided to shoot the type of shots that inspire me.

So, if you are not shooting the type of shots that inspire you maybe you should ask yourself why? I went looking for a new style. I found it on Tumblr. There were other places too but I was inspired by a specific look and a specific blog. My work does not look the same but this woman’s blog was my inspiration.

These shots are some of my new work. I have gone with a more intimate idea of work and portaits. I am looking forward to this weekend. I have my first client to shoot in my new style. I will let you know how it turns out!

Brian Johnson is a professional photographer and the owner of Buffaloz Photography Training. Missoula Photography School and Ayres Photography






If you are interested in being a guest writer for this site please contact me at ayresphotography@yahoo.com

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Photography Tips: The Most Important Thing When Starting a Business in Not Nice Equipment.

Photography Tips

The Most Important Thing When Starting a Business in Not Nice Equipment.

So, your starting out and you have limited funds. You want to buy the nice shiny new camera that all the professionals have right? You want to have all the nice lenses that make every other photographer on the planet envy you right? We all do. Showing off is fun. But you have a business to run. You want to make money at photography so you need to understand something really important. Photography equipment is not the most important thing you need when you are a start up business.

So, what is the most important thing to spend money on when you are starting a business? I mean there are a ton of things you need and if money is tight there can be a lot of pressure to get things right.

The answer is Self Promotion.  You need to let others know you are out there. Yeah, you can do a lot of free promotion these days. There are a ton of sites that can help with it but spending money on to promote yourself can be one of the best thing  you can do for your business. 

I learned the hard way. I spent years just doing everything for free. I didn’t think I needed to spend money on marketing so I spent all my time on social media(which wasn’t a bad thing) and what I had left I spent on equipment. The thing is I couldn’t buy that much equipment because I wasn’t making money. 

Then after about a year of this I started to market myself and spend a bit of money. I was surprised at the response I got! I started to make more money than I ever had before! So, I put it back into more marketing, and more marketing. Now I can afford to spend money on equipment and now when I want a lens or camera I buy the one I want, not the one I can afford.  

Too many photographers starting out spend their money on the wrong things. I know a lot of successful photographers that started out shooting with crappy cameras. They started out with one lens or maybe a basic digital camera with no bells and whistles. That’s what I did. It’s o.k. You don’t have to have the nicest gear to make you a great photographer! Now, go out and spend some time and money marketing so you can get the nice camera you have always wanted!!

I will be doing more posts very soon on how to market you photography business for free and where to spend your hard earned cash to get the most out of it!

Brian Johnson

Owner of Buffaloz Photography School

Missoula Photography School

Ayres Photography

If you are interested in being a guest writer for Buffaloz Photography Training please shoot me a message at ayresphotography@yahoo.com

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