It’s Friday so it’s Q&A Friday once again. These are questions sent in over the past week that we’ve chosen to answer here. Details about Q&A Friday’s are below after the question and answers.

Question: You have said for a photographer starting out to shoot everything and anything. You would rather see someone shoot something free then someone shooting something for a hundred dollars. At what price does a image have a valve. - FN

Answer: There are two things here. First, when you are starting out as a photographer you usually don’t have a specific vision for exactly the kind of work you want to shoot. So with that in mind I tell those starting out to shoot anything and everything so they can get a feel for the kind of work that excites them and they’re good at.

As you get more and more practice and established you’ll need to narrow your vision down a lot to be known for shooting a certain one or two genres of photography.

The other thing is my comment on pricing. To me when someone offers to shoot a band for say $100, it worse than offering to do it for free. In my opinion when you charge say $100, you have then put a value on that photograph. You have just said that photo is only worth $100.

But when you shoot something for free, there’s no perceived value attached to it. The person knows they’ve gotten a huge deal. To them the value could be $1,000 or more. I’m not advocating shooting for free or for cheap. I’m just saying be careful about charging to low. You don’t want people to put a low value on your work and photography in general.

Question: I’ve looked at your videos, your images, and interacted with you on Facebook and email.  You’re such an unassuming person, so where does that creativity come from?  Do you psych yourself up or turn it on before a shoot?  How do you mentally prepare for a shoot? -LS

Answer: First, thanks for the compliment. Sometimes I do get very nervous before a shoot and sometimes I show up knowing I’m going to kill it. Just like golf, your success in photography is greatly determined on your mental state. You have to psych yourself up sometimes.

For me I put on some good, loud music, pray to God and just put myself in a good frame of mind. I also try to do as much pre-planning/production for the shoot as possible. There’s no worse feeling that showing up to a shoot knowing you’re ill-prepared. I’ve done that a few times and God has always come through for me, but it is hard on your nerves.

As for the creativity, I walk around life being inspired by every little thing. Some people walk by buildings, cars ,women, fashion, trees, etc. and merely see “things.” I see beauty and inspiration. That’s what it takes to be a successful artist of any kind; to see beauty in the everyday, ordinary.

Question: Lighting intimidates me. After attending your workshop last year and experimenting with pocket wizards, I would like to start taking steps into the world of lighting. So, what do you suggest I begin with? I mainly shoot portraits and weddings. Thank you. -S

Answer: I would begin with some inexpensive strobes from Alien Bees. They are the absolute best in their cheap price range. I would start with just one light and an umbrella or softbox. Don’t try to get fancy, just use the one light. I would say 70% of my portraits are shot with one light.

There are many sites dedicated to learning lighting. One is strobist.com. But I would say the greatest/quickest way is to find a photographer in your area and assist for them. Assisting is a sure fire way to see lighting in action in real world situations.

Also, some photographers, including myself offer private instruction in lighting.

Question: I’m a college student that is going to be graduating soon. If I’m going to start a career as a photographer of any kind, preferably a commercial photographer, where in the world do I start? -B

Answer: I’m going to answer this with some of same of the advice I gave the person above. As soon as you graduate find a photographer who’s work you respect and offer to assist. Even if you have to do it for free, you will learn more in 6 than you did in all of your schooling.

Once you’ve done it for free for a short time and proved yourself, seek paid assisting positions. IF you find a photographer who’s willing to actually teach you some things as you assist. Be assured most will.

Besides that I recommend building up a portfolio of personal work that relates to the type of commercial work you want to shoot. For example, if you want to shoot fashion, get some models and go out and do some shoots with the mindset that you’re actually working for a real client.

Once you start building up a portfolio you can then take it around/show it to the types of clients you want to work for.

Besides that, try your best to learn and pay attention to how the business side of commercial photography works. It’s a complicated world sometimes. As a primer on pricing I would pick up the book “Pricing Photography.” Best to you.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Q&A Friday's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.