robgomez

<p>Hello my fellow photographers,<br>

I use Lightroom 3, and I want to know how I can text edit my Preset so that it not only snaps both the black and white points to .01%, just like in Levels in Photoshop, but also includes the step of "enchance monochromatic contrast", and "snap to neutral midtones"......... or let me know if "enhance per channel contrast' is better.<br>

I starting using this technique in Photoshop years ago, and 95% of the time, it gets the colors and contrast right.<br>

Or .... am I wrong to do this? Let me know. <br>

Thanks!<br>

Rob</p>

<p>I would still like an answer on this. Sorry, very new to all this, as obvious as it is for seasoned photographers.<br>

r</p>

<p>Hey guys, <br>

what do you think of sites like <strong>http://www.behance.net/prosite </strong>or <strong>http://cargocollective.com/ </strong>for creating your photography business and portfolio. <br>

The reason I am thinking of moving to one of these is, of course, ease of use. I don't want to have to deal with HTML everytime I have new work to put up, even though I am alright at it. I just want to simply hit a few upload buttons, and poof, the pics are sharp, presented simply and consistently.<br>

They are for $9-11 a month. I am currently paying $10 to HostGator for space.<br>

The only downside to leaving Host Gator would be I can't have multiple sites for just $10 a month. Currently I have a band site and my photo site. <br>

Let me know what you think, or if you have other suggestions.</p>

<p>Thank you,<br>

Rob</p>

<p>I agree with everyone, this is good stuff. <br>

Yeah I am just getting started with all this, but I'm very serious about it and try not to be stubborn of what I do or need to change.<br>

It is hard to stay focused on my personal photography yet run a business that plays the game and has to give a broad bride audience what they want. <br>

I really do enjoy doing this: both my personal and wedding jobs. <br>

$600 I find is a good starting point from the experience I have. Yes, I haven't done a whole lot of weddings, but am good about delivering the photos as expected, as I explain to them the level of quality I give at the moment. I would like to hear more on pricing and site structure.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Rob </p>

<p>Hello smart smart people,<br>

I have a website that is my photography business> http://www.confectionphotgraphy.com<br>

Please take a quick look and give some constructive criticism ... but mainly on this:</p>

<p>I have noticed that the site has scared off some potential wedding clients simply because my business does not specialize in it. I'm sure that brides most of the time want a dedicated wedding business to shoot their special day.<br>

So my question is this: Should I make a link in the site to ANOTHER site that is totally dedicated to weddings .... or should I keep it all together?</p>

<p>Thanks so much,<br>

Rob</p>

<p>How come every photographer I see, 8 times out of 10, .... it's a Canon?</p>

<p>R</p>

<p>Even with all the red tape and all the stress of this, even when I am in the middle of it all, I still tell myself everytime: I would rather be doing this than a LOT of jobs. Would rather do this than work for the man.<br>

That's just me. And in the case, I love PHOTOGRAPHY.<br>

Thanks everyone.<br>

R</p>

<p>Hello,<br>

I am a freelance photographer that runs his own business, doing weddings, headshots, or anything else I can do.<br>

The site is called www.confectionphotography.com</p>

<p>I am also an artist that loves to express deep feelings and to show my work in galleries and places.</p>

<p>SO, I have been thinking of changing my Confection Company name to my name, RobGomez.com, or something like that.</p>

<p>How do you all feel about this? Do you need your name in the URL? Is this a must?<br>

Do you connect your business with your artistic portfolio. How do I do this in the best way? Should we separate this stuff? </p>

<p>I am changing things around. I need the best of both worlds. So, one site, or two?</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

R</p>

<p>Hello,<br>

I have now done a couple weddings and engagements and have decided, this is GOOOOD money. For the price that each one is, I figure in this unstable economy that if I get at least 2-3 gigs a month, I am alright for the time being. Coupled with a part time job of course.<br>

So, I have a website and cards that I pass out. Word of mouth has done ok for me, but not nearly fast or good enough.<br>

I have decided: I want to chase them now, not just wait for the newly engaged to come to me.</p>

<p>So I was thinking: How would I go about finding newly engaged couples to offer my photography packages to, and how do you feel is the best way to approach them?</p>

<p>Thanks so much, always smart people on here.<br>

Rob</p>

<p>Thanks, I understand how to do that.<br>

But what I also want are some tips on your workflow. Is it possible to make a preset in Lightroom that takes every photograph's unique balance and applies what it does in my photoshop script above? <br>

How do I change the options for Autotone in LR.<br>

R</p>

<p>Hello smart smart people,<br>

I have just gotten into the business of headshot and wedding photography. <br>

I have seen all kinds of photos from different wedding and portrait photographers and one thing is for sure: these images are batch processed using very fine tuned custom made scripts that get the look they want. They are not done one by one, at least for the most basic color and level processing. </p>

<p>So I have been doing research on how to create scripts and actions and use them in Lightroom. The easiest I made was a simple action of something that 99/100 times gets the colors, exposure, and levels right for me> Which goes like this><br>

Levels dialogue, options, Enhance per channel, snap to neutral tones, and done. </p>

<p>So I made this action, exported it as a droplet for Lightroom, and now have it as an export option. <br>

Heres the thing, I want these droplets/actions as Presets in Lightroom, so I can keep everything in Lightroom and don't have to make multiple exports for every droplet/action.<br>

I understand that some jobs might be too complicated for Photoshop NOT to be used. The only things I want to open Photoshop for is for more complex things Lightroom can't do.</p>

<p>This is not laziness, this is practicality. With the amount of photos we have to process for every photo job (100s or 1000s), people don't have the time to manually edit all these settings that 99/100 times work for them. How do I do them in Lightroom?</p>

<p>Thank you,<br>

R</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hello everyone, you have all been such a great help!</p>

<p>I want to list how I organize my photos on my computer, and then ask if I'm missing something or if there are improvements I can make.</p>

<p>With the-built in Apple iMac SD card reader, I empty all the cards into ONE folder titled YYYY_MM_DD_name_of_client. I back up to my Time Machine hard drive. <br>

I open Adobe Bridge and delete the obvious bad shots (blurs, blinking eyes, etc.). I also delete shots that I know I won't use. <br>

I import the whole folder into Lightroom, using "Sort by Capture". I append Metadata.<br>

Batch rename using date setting above plus _000 number sequence.<br>

----<br>

Edit in Lightroom.<br>

----<br>

After I export the photos, there are 3 folders now. One folder is the untouched RAW. One folder is the edited photos exported as TIFFs in Lightroom using Adobe RGB Pro. One folder is of JPEGs, smaller photos for the client using sRGB. I explain to them this is only for Web use. </p>

<p>Back up to Time Machine.</p>

<p>I burn DVDs of only the TIFF and JPEG folders. Give to client.</p>

<p>I have a company called Confection Photography. The final organization looks like this on my computer> Desktop> Confection Photos> Weddings> YYYY_MM_DD_wedding_client> RAW, TIFF, JPEG. </p>

<p>Sound good to you? Am I missing anything? Should I append the date format on every folder I make? </p>

<p>I have two Time Machine hard drives. One I keep by my computer, and the other at a friends house 30 miles away. I swap them every 2 months or so. I never archive to DVDs. Should I?<br>

Thanks,<br>

R</p>

<p>Hello,<br>

I just rapped up my second paid wedding job a month ago. This couple were a friend of my mom's, and I am new to wedding photography, so I worked with them to get a deal. <br>

The first meeting I told them the whole thing would be $500 for about 1000 digital pics, a photo book, an personal online gallery, and 3 8x10 prints. <br>

Then they said they wanted a projector screen with a slideshow. I said "sure, but it will cost another $150". They asked if it could be included. I basically say "you guys are getting me for $500 already". So they agreed to pay the $150, so $650 total. I split up the payments in 3 ways. Half for booking me the day of interview, 1/4 a week before the wedding, and the rest on delivery of photo album, prints, and DVDs of high-res pics. They would receive these in about a week after the wedding.<br>

Wedding day comes, and everything goes great.<br>

Two days after the wedding I send the gallery via email and they like it. I proceed to work on the album. A day after that they said that they want to pick which pics go into the album. It was originally agreed that I would choose. I said "fine, from the online gallery choose the ones you want and send me a list of the numbered pics". <br>

I wait 2 weeks for this, sent them a reminder email, and about 2 hours later get the list with an email saying "Please send us another gallery of the pics we picked so we can approve them". I do it, send it to them, and say "please choose the pics for 8x10s, too".<br>

I wait another week, and send them another reminder. An hour later, get an email saying that his wife now wants to take some photos out and put some in. <br>

I send him this email:<br>

Ok, just let me know. In the meantime I am working on the pics that you listed. The next edit you send me will be the last one, after that I will send the album off to the printers, in event order. After I receive the album I will head over to you to drop it off along with the pics on DVDs. I must receive the remaining payment at that time. Please try to choose your 8x10 prints soon, too.<br />Thanks for understanding,<br />R<br>

This email was sent just now. That brings us up to speed.<br>

I know that this is all my fault, I know I have to change my whole system around to avoid this stuff in the future.<br>

So my questions are: How do I avoid this kind of stuff in the future? What kind of system do you guys have? Do you let the couple ever choose? Do you receive full payment <em>before</em> the final delivery so the couple has an incentive to work with you better? Is 6 weeks a normal turnover for the work? Was I too harsh?<br>

Thanks guys,<br>

R</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hello everyone,<br>

my girlfriend and I just announced we are starting a photography company called Confection. A very young and humble outfit right now, but wants to grow larger with models, musicians, and actors.<br>

We have been getting most of our clients from an acting/talent agent my girlfriend knows personally. They are good enough friends that this agent sends over their clients to us every time they want or need new head shots.<br>

We have been shooting a model or actor about once every two weeks. We want 3 or 4 every week.<br>

I was wondering, how do we go about finding more agents to hand over their clients to us to shoot portraits?<br>

Thank you,<br>

R</p><div></div>

<p>Hello fellow photographers,<br>

I am obsessed with the photographic look in the 80s, from photography to movies, mostly movies. The way the grain looked in advertising in magazines. How John Hughes films and other greats looked with .. uhh I can't describe it. There were just these wonderful cold backgrounds with saturated colors accenting them.<br>

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone here was working at that time that could tell me if certain types of films or processing was used on purpose for that style, or what was it. What types of cameras, ISO of films, and maybe printing. <br>

If you don't know, what do you think is the best way to find this stuff out? Should I contact cinematographers of that time? Is their equipment list any good for photographers?<br>

Thanks!<br><P>

Rob</p><P>

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<p>Hello hardworking creatives, <br>

I wanted to know how the economy has effected your freelance work. Have you seen a dramatic slowdown in demand, or is work steady?<br>

Take care,<br>

Rob</p>

<p>Hello fellow photographers,</p>

<p>I am trying to earn a little bit of extra cash by freelancing. I have gotten a few bites on Craigslist in the last year, so I'm happy about that, but I was wondering if you can steer me to other avenues I'm missing. Other online ads, forums, promotion houses, etc. I know the workings once I get the gig, but I would appreciate some hints on how to get them.</p>

<p>Thanks so much,<br>

Rob</p>

<p>Hello everyone.</p>

<p>Right now I am trying to become a better photographer through it's cenceptual value. I am doing reading on philosophy and theory. I would be thrilled if someone could take a look at my work here and comment if I lean more towards haptic or visual. What color keys if any. Figure or background. Any criticism at all is welcome.</p>

<p>Thank you,<br>

Rob</p>

Hello everyone.

I am exhibiting 6 11x17 Fuji Crystal color prints at Brown University this weekend. I have them dry

flush-mounted to black foam core, and will hang them just by themselves, no frames. Have you guys ever hung

flush-mounted prints to wire suspended in air? How would I go about doing this in my own little space in a big

room? What materials?

And also, I am a beginner photographer who's exhibiting for the 2nd time. I have spent some time and money on

these prints. Would pricing them $75 each be too much?

When you guys sell a flush-mounted print by itself, how do you package it for the buyer?

Thank you,

Rob

Hey everyone, how's it going?

I have an exhibit coming up, and I really want awesome color and classy printing for my epic toned prints. I was

wondering if you guys have recommendations for a good printer in Boston. I need color 11x17s, on archival photo

paper.

So far I've looked at Boston Photo Imaging, Dorian, and South End Photo Lab. Also PortlandColorFrontier.com .

Any of these good?

Thanks guys,

Rob

Thank you so much. Yeah, I am loving the screen of this thing. I had a CRT for the past 6 years, and YES, it has aged. Now that I have the MacBook Pro, I can't believe what I was editing my photos on all these years. The screen for this laptop is so crisp and bright. I haven't played around with too many high end displays, so maybe this is amazing cause of that. I do need some extra room though, the screen is too small to do serious work for HOURS. I was just really asking about the quality, cause if the quality stands up to separate displays, than I can suffice for a while. Maybe 6 months.

Rob

Thanks guys. So do you suggest I never use the calibration tools that come with the OS or video drivers, or other free ones? I should go out and buy one? Got any suggestions? I would like to keep the price for that under $50. Don't laugh.

Rob

PS. So when I calibrate two different displays to work with each other, do I run the calibration on each of them, or do I save a calibration file, and have one of them open that? (Sorry, new to all of this, and I like to hear from the users, not random reviews on the net.)