Janet Klinger’s Photography Blog

Loosing my inner control freak, and training the miracle do-all employee; two of my career-long struggles. What a gift to hear from like minded, articulate (and funny) photographers Me Ra Koh, Sara France, Marc Weisberg and Dane Sanders describing their all-consuming post processing. They have each struggled with whether to keep post processing in-house vs. outsourcing. “Four’s Company“, a video from Shoot Dot Edit, allows me to be cyber-present during such a personally poignant conversation. I feel as if I’m sitting in the living room sharing ideas.

If you have personal experience with Shoot Dot Edit, renowned professional post-processors, or their competitors, I’d love to hear from you. Our busy time is upon us, so further personal opinions that might help me decide on a post processor to help support our in-house, overworked staff are gratefully appreciated.

The over loaded post processor blues.

These two wild and crazy guys ( yes the Belushi Brothers should come to mind) put on an entertaining and informative show. Joe Buissink and Yervant personify two diverging paths, each an inspired dance down the road to the 5 star hotel called Success.

Yervant likes to be in control both during shooting, and then again during the PhotoShop “finishing” of his vision. Creating images is so important to Yervant, he does not cover the reception where it makes sense for events to unfold naturally.

Joe prefers his hired “main” shooter to be in control of posed groups while Joe shoots from a quiet, playful place behind the scenes. He only gives a set of proofs at the end of the day. I love the idea that he rewards his brides for collecting orders from family and friends by adding extra images to the album for each $1000 collected. Talk about a great win-win. I also love the Day-of-wedding Parent Gift. Before the wedding the bride & groom purchase a wall portrait, usually for a parent or two, to be delivered during the wedding reception. After shooting “formals” an image is sent to his studio to be printed, matted and framed, then is delivered to an ecstatic parent while still enjoying the wedding reception.

Joe “assisting” Yervant by holding a video spot light.

I call this a “show” because they each performed leaving little time for the initially encouraged “Ask us. We’re here for you.” Still much was covered, and well worth the investment of $200.

Added bonus was the company of a couple of my favorite photographers : Susie Hamidi and Sharlane Chase. After a full day we went to Tom Douglas’ inspired Palace Kitchen for dinner. Who do I spot in the window but this Dennis Reggie-alike. Embarrassed but willing, Susie and Sharlane accompanied me to get our picture taken with him. This photo was taken by his dinner companion. Thanks to you both. You made our day.

Janet Klinger, “Dennis Reggie”, Sharlane Chase & Susie Hamidi. (Notice Joe Buissink-alike serving drinks in the background.)

Blogging eats time. Writing, image selection and photo prep are basics. I ache to have something pretty (well gorgeous actually), functional yet personable and still get to work with my awesome clients from time to time. Help is on the way. At least with the “pretty” part.
Jennifer Apple at Photoshop support shares concepts on design, functionality and links for templates & add-ons. Finally we have a favicon thanks to her clear simple explanation (and my Can-do staff person, Jane Patterson!).

Through Jennifer I discovered a link to the site of helpful God of the Blogging Universe, Paul Stamatiou. After hours of reading (Burp- scuze me!) you realize that this man is smart and enormously generous with his knowledge. Paul, if I ever meet you in person, forgive the bear hug.

Paul helps encourage “lurkers” to come forward to mutual benefit. (I’ll reveal Myself when I get some more TIME!) As suggested, we’re now registered with Technorati and are building our own Ping Configuration page.

I’ll stop here. Needless to say, the time-saving is all relative. Getting referred to these sites saved time in research. My time was spent reading high quality, relevant information presented simply. Gads. Look what time it is…

Portrait clients love to get value by upgrading a One Hour to our Deluxe One Hour session. For this $50 upgrade receive an 8×10 proof catalog of all images, or add one later for $100. The larger 10×13 spiral bound book is a $90 upgrade or add the 10×13 later for $180.

For more information on portrait pricing, please visit my Janet Klinger Photography website and choose “Cost”. (There are also prices there for Wedding and Pregnancy sessions)

From top to bottom: 10×13 interior (6 images/page, each 2.5 x 3.75″); 8×10 interior (6 images/page, each 2×3″); 8×10 cover image (1-8×10)

We now offer Birth Announcements, Holiday, Invitations and Thank You cards. If we ever have a slow season, I’ll post a few of our new ones…

I am awed by photographers who, despite living full, successful lives, somehow find time to post blog entries regularly. I’m talking great blog entries.
Being swamped with weddings, portraits, hiring a new studio manager, training a new intern, designing a new logo/website, and trying to see my husband, and of course my 3 year old daughter before she graduates high school, I’m falling behind in blog posts. Many are written, but the photos are at the studio. I never seem to be able to select and prepare images. When at work, well, I want to work.
How are you successful people managing to fit “it all” in?! For an example of excellent blogging style and content, check out the strobe master, Matt Adcock’s Flash Flavor. He’s an expert at off camera, portable flash lighting for weddings, and details down to the bolts “how to”. Thank you Matt. But what I really want to know is, how do you make the time?

The Strobist is David Hobby’s informative free on-line “lighting workshop”, and a can’t-miss site. David will also be coming to Seattle in August to do some in-person lighting workshops

Remember my post about Stock photography adjusting to the addition of microstock? Well, if you want to see CNN Money’s perspective on the David vs Goliath effect, check out this CNN article Jonathon Andersen of Blend Images sent my way. It looks like Getty, Corbis, and anyone making a living from stock photography will be feeling the downward spiral sooner rather than later.