1 Tip Which Will Improve Your Color Pop/Selective Color Images

I frequent many photography forums and one topic that comes up often is “color selection” or “color pop” edits.  This is when you have a black and white images and you bring back color on just a couple select spots.  These images are not often well received by lot of pros.  I am amongst this group 🙂 but they do have their place :).
I think the worst part about color selection is just how harsh the color is in the image.  It doesn’t flow well.  This is when I created my own way of doing color selection photos, where you just bring back about half of the color instead of all the color.  It makes a huge difference!  And I definitely much prefer the subtle color to the sharp, vivid color.

How do you accomplish this?  If you are layering a color image over a black and white image and erasing, then erase away at around 30-40% opacity.
If you are using a layer mask, set your paintbrush to around 30-40% opacity.  tada!  Very simple indeed.  This will make a huge difference in how the photo looks after you edit it.

One other tip I have is to pick just one focal point to selective color..a lot of people go a little crazy with their brush and bring back half the image so it’s half color and half black and white.  This looks a bit odd and unnatural and also there is no real concept behind it.  Usually you want to color pop something with meaning or symbolism or a concept (not always but like usually just an item vs a shirt).  In the sample image I am posting here I decided to have 2 color pops so they would balance each other out more but notice the items I picked were small so it doesn’t overwhelm the photo.  I believe my opacity for this image was around 30%.. to do it again I  might bump it up a bit higher, but you get the idea.

This is the image at 100% opacity.. this is the full color image brought back to the black and white image, and this is what most photographers who do color pop do:

^ Color brought back at full strength.

And the photo shown below is the same image with the color brought back around 30% opacity.  It might even be more like 20%. It is a little bit dull but it looks so much less distracting and more natural.. I much prefer it to the full color photo.

^Color brought back around 20-30% strength.

For one more example I’ll show one brought back around 50% opacity.

^Color brought back around 50% strength. This is my favorite edit of the three (I might tone it down a notch but overall the color isn’t too overbearing and “sharp” and it blends much better than at full strength – in my opinion anyway!).

As with all things in photography, which is better is subjective.  Surely there are people who prefer the first to the second.  If you do like the first you could even play around with bringing back the color around 70%-80% so it’s just not so vivid and contrasting.  While I’m not a huge fan of color pop photos, I do find myself much more receptive to them when done in a more subtle manner, just thought/style I would share with everyone :).

-Christine Ann
Duluth Minnesota Photographer
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Step-By-Step Guide For Starting A Photography Business

I got my first DSLR almost 4 years ago.  I started out taking a couple hundred photos a month for awhile, then thousands a month towards the end!  My husband along the way encouraged me to start a business but I wasn’t comfortable doing so.. I wanted my images to reflect a certain quality to them before launching as a business and it’s very intimidating to branch out like that!  So finally (after 5 years..) I did get to that point where I felt ready to become a business (if you are unsure about if you are ready or not take a look at my article “When To Become A Professional Photographer” for some extra insights) I just had no idea where to start or what to do next.  This is a step-by-step guide for what I did, based on my state laws (ALL state laws are different for the legalities aspect of it).  You should consult with a lawyer to be sure you are doing everything legally necessary for you and within your state.  There may also be additional things you would choose – or need – to do but this is just what I did, in its respective order!

1.  Decided on a business name.  I did not think this would be as complicated as it was!  Finally I read a blog post that basically said “just use your own name for your business – you are your brand – stop overthinking it!” and decided to roll with it :).
2.  Registered my business name.  Every state has different laws on this.  Some do not require registration if your last name is in the business, some do; be sure to check your state laws to see if you need to register your name before using the name.  Someone else may be legally registered with your name and you may lose all your work (& be in legal trouble!) if you’ve been creating web sites & business cards under their name.  I used my first and middle name and my state required me to legally register my name.
3.  Decide what type of business you want to be.  Are you a sole-proprietor, partnership, LLC, corporation?  You need to figure it out and register as such.  I decided to become an LLC to keep my business life separate from my personal life.  It cost around $130 and is a one time fee,  however I have to renew my registration every year.
4.  Filed for a tax ID number with the federal government.  I was told that I could use my social security number but they recommend having a federal tax ID number so that you don’t need to give your number out.  A lot of places will ask you for this number (your business bank account, paypal, your web site, anyone who goes into business with you etc).
5.  Filed for a sales tax ID.  You only need one if you are selling things, such as prints, that you would charge a sales tax on.  In my state, even if you sell ONE item one time, you need to pay taxes on it.
6.  Filed for a state tax ID.. so the state can get their taxes from me.
7.  Tried out a few different web sites to decide which web site I wanted to commit to.  Most sites have a free trial so I built multiple web sites before committing.  My favorite site was photodeck.com it was truly a beautiful site.  However for all of the features I wanted, it would have cost $30 a month and for a starting out business, it was too much.  The site that had all the features I wanted for $120 a year ($10/month) is zenfolio.  It is right-click disabled, has a built-in blog, you can order prints from the site (there is an option for them to fulfill with their own lab or you can fulfill with your own lab), password-protected galleries for clients to view their sessions on, ability to download (for free or for a cost – whatever you want to do!) files from your site if you enable it for your customer, custom domain, slideshow.  They have a free site you can start with but you don’t have access to all of these features with the free account.  If you choose to use zenfolio, you can use a referral code from me NKY-FXQ-YCP which saves us both 10%!
8.  Got a custom domain name on godaddy.com.  This removed “zenfolio” from my website and makes it look more professional.
9.  Went through all my photos –  countless files! and built a folder filled with portfolio photos so that I had a way to show my work.
10.  Decided a pricing structure.  This was WAY WAY harder than I thought it would be!  I tweaked it several times after creating it and am still working to find the “right” number!
11.  Built my web site and linked it with my custom domain.
12.  Started multiple business accounts:  a new email address for business, a flickr account, a facebook account. linkd in, tumblr, google account, paypal, a blog (the one on my site plus this one).
13.  Started a mailing list.  Read a lot of advice to do this from the start 🙂 to retain people interested in your business and keep them interested.
14.  Got a google voice number to link with my business so I can keep business separate from personal.
15.  Ordered business cards.
16.  Ordered test prints from multiple printing labs to find my favorite lab to do business with.
17.  Started a banking account for my business.
18.  Created a watermark and logo.  (I’m currently redoing them with a graphic designer as I don’t feel like mine are all that grand but they did the job for starting out!).  Remember with photography you have to build a brand.  Part of your “brand” is your watermark/logo.
19.  Get forms that your client will sign to give permission to use their images for marketing and relieve you of responsibility from the session if they get injured or whatever.  Also will need property release forms if you shoot on private property, and print release forms if you plan to give them permission to print your images (do not confuse this for copyright release!).
20.  Began marketing.  (Also much harder than I anticipated). You are a business now, yay! But now you have to figure out how to get people to know about you! I have read it takes on average, about 2 years – and even as much as 5 years – to gain a clientele.. so be creative and patient.

I would also add to the list find a lawyer to consult with and an accountant/bookkeeper to help with taxes and numbers.  I have family that is helping out with each of these jobs for me :).

I do have more social media accounts to create – quite a few more – but this got everything in motion.  Honestly there are endlessly more things you could do and things I have done since starting up but this is just what got me started :).
Now I just have to keep up with filing taxes multiple times a year and keeping everything updated with the government!
Starting a business has been way – way – more work than I anticipated but it feels really good to be doing something that I love to do and once you get started you  just figure it out as you go and it gets figured out!

-Christine Ann
Duluth Photographer
www.facebook.com/christineannphotos

When to Become A Professional Photographer.

With DSLRs becoming very widespread and photography becoming increasingly popular, many of us have been left to wonder things like “When should I start a business?” or “Am I ready to start a business?”.  I feel the answer to these questions is very situational and there is no way to address everyone’s unique situations however I do have some things for consideration that you can assess to help you decide if you think you are.

1.  Are your good photos “lucky” or intentional?  We all get lucky shots.. the question is when you take a great photo, is it luck or did you plan out the position, location, camera settings, angle etc and take that photo on purpose?  Could you take that same great photo again?  You  need to understand why your photos are turning out well and what hurts them and makes them turn out bad.  What if you have a lucky session and then someone else wants a similar style to it and you have no idea how you did it?  The main way to learn these things is through experience and research.  One example:  taking photos at 3 PM with the sun high in the sky and harsh lighting and then taking photos in that sunlight will make the person have squinty eyes and harsh shadows.  Have you learned things like this?  Do you know how to handle this situation to fix this problem?  (Move to the shade, add some fill light, or schedule the session for a later hour in the day).

2.  Do people want to hire you?  Don’t hinge too much on this because my experience was that people said they love the photos I take however after I became a business people said things like “now we can hire you to do our photos!”.  I don’t think people even realized they could have done this before I was a business.  However it’s still a good thing to consider (but don’t let it stop you either if no one has asked you..!).  Have people made comments about wanting to hire you or asking if you would do photos for them?  Or even do you just get a lot of positive feedback on photos you take?  This is a good sign that people like what you’re doing :).

3.  Can you shoot with manual settings?  Do not leave it up to auto mode to determine your settings!  Auto mode has no qualms about going to 1600 ISO and f/8!  Things like this can & sooner or later will ruin your photos.  On auto you may be photographing children and your camera may be going to 1/100 shutter speed causing motion blur.  You need to be able to accommodate this and know how to increase your shutter speed, and how to lower your ISO.  Knowing your manual settings you can handle all situations and make sure the camera is doing what you want it to.

4.  Do you have a strong portfolio?  You don’t want to launch with 10 photos of your own kids ;).  Make sure you have a legit portfolio that portrays your style and diversity and reflects the type of shoots you want to do.

5.  Do you have a passion & love for photography?  To be frank, statistically, most photography businesses are going to fail.  The ones that succeed are the ones with passionate, driven photographers, who want to spend time getting better and reaching more people.  Your passion is what will drive you to learn more and do better and fight for your business.  It isn’t easy to start a business and you need that passion behind you!

One final thing to consider in regards to starting a business is that once you become a business then you have to begin gaining clients.  You aren’t one day a business with tons of people wanting to hire you :).  It takes time.  Most of what I have read says at least 2 years and up to 5 years to gain a good client base.  If your main reason for not wanting to start a business is you don’t have time then consider launching anyway (if you do have at least *some* time anyway..) because you probably won’t have tons of business right away anyway!

If you think you’re ready check out this Step-By-Step Guide For Starting A Photography Business to get an idea of what to do next!

-Christine

http://www.christineannphotos.com
http://www.facebook.com/christineannphotos