Inspiration from an Igloo

Yes, I am Canadian and I live in a place where it's freezing cold all the time. However, as I lay in bed last night, I had an inspiring thought! Here it is ladies and gents....

TIN FOIL!

(or aluminum foil)

What is so intriguing about tin foil? We use it for lining baking pans to reflect the heat so why not use it to reflect light? This is especially great if you are in an outdoor setting.. just have a roll of tin foil in one hand as you are shooting to direct the light where you want it!

Isn't this great? Not to mention, it only costs $0.99 for  a decent size roll!

Now to get the best effect of this awesome cost saving solution, use a fresh roll every time so you don't get crinkles in it. If your tin foil has crinkles in it, it will reflect uneven lighting and make harsh lines appear on your subjects faces. So unless you want your mother-in-law to look more wrinkled, use fresh tin foil. 

I also found that by holding the camera in your left hand, you can reach the button better and it gives you a nicer depth of feeled. (By the way, I don't know why they call it depth of feeled.. is is because it makes the picture look like the subject can be feeled or felt or however you say it?) 

Other uses for Tin Foil

• Take a Red Solo cup, line it with tin foil and tape it so it's secured. Then put it on your pop-up flash and it will give you the same effect as one of those big daddy flashes.
• If you have a camera on a tripod and you want to take a selfie, tape the tin foil behind your camera so you can see yourself through the viewfinder.
• Wrap tin foil around your lens so it stays warm in the winter time. Just make sure you wrap it with the shiny side it so it won't reflect the heat out and make your lens freeze.
• If you ever lose your lens caps, take tin foil and wrap it over the glass to keep the dust off
• It also makes a great prop for little kids. Ball it up and they can play with them on the grass :)

Hope you enjoyed todays inspiration and tips!

Have a great day!

Frieda

Pro Faux-tographer Pricing Strategies

I get asked ALL the time - How do I set my pricing for photoshoots?

The answer is simple...I DON'T! I deal with each person individually based on what their budget is. If they can only afford $10, then I give them a $10 photoshoot. Yes, even for newborns! I mean, what new mother can afford HUNDREDS of $$$$$$ to get photos taken of their baby? Its just ridiculous in my opinion. I had one new mother call me up and ask me if I could take pictures of her baby, but she couldn't afford a high-end photographer. So I just did a free (yes, FREE) photoshoot of her new baby and gave her the CD with all 50 high-res pictures on them. And you know what? I felt great!!! I had the greatest freaking feeling ever! I not only helped out a new mom, but I also got a new potential client. I still don't understand why she never called me back though...strange, eh?

So since I don't set my pricing, I can hardly be called an expert in this area, but I do have some guidelines that you can follow if you seem stuck. (Just remember, pricing usually varies by season and your location.)

• Weddings
• Again, I see what the client's budget is. But as a good starting point, it usually takes a whole day of shooting, plus a week of editing. 
• If you have to travel, don't worry about charging for the travel expenses. (Unless you spend over $300 in gas, then I might consider it)
• I usually end up getting paid around $200 each wedding. I mean, who needs to get paid more? Its a pretty good job if I can get paid $200 just for ONE day of snapping photos!
• FYI I never calculate in the time I take editing :)
• Newborns
• I never offer shoots for free, but if someone asks me to do one pro-bono, then I will. 
• I generally get paid between $25-$50 for a newborn shoot. I only end up taking about 1/2-1 hour MAX to do a newborn shoot. (Babies usually end up getting really fussy at the 45 minute mark for some reason...)
• DO NOT calculate the cost of your props into the price. Its not worth it. 
• Family
• GO BIG OR GO HOME! The bigger the family, the bigger the discount! I once shot a family of 50+ people and only charged $30!!!! It was so special since they did the shoot for their great-grandparents as an anniversary gift. Not only was it special, but it was so CHEAP! I felt so great being a part of that family's gift. 
• Other
• Just trust your gut. If you feel you should be charging less, charge less.. If you think your clients can afford a bit more, charge more!

So this is my summary of pricing strategies..hope they help you out! 

Have a great night, EH?

Freida the Fauxtog

Newborn Fauxtography Basics

Perhaps one of the easiest facets of good fauxtography is taking pictures of babies. If your a mom, then this is perfect because you can take pictures of your own kids!! Some people think that being a baby photographer is hard work and you have to have 2-4 hours set aside for a session, but this is just ridiculous! Babies are very compliant and flexible so you should only need to have a half hour max in order to get good photos. I thought I'd try to copy this photo I found online by N a Wink Photography. I thought this should be easy enough to do... after all, you just have to place the baby in something and snap away!!

This look easy enough, eh?

So I found a friend that had a baby. He was only about 10 days old. Apparently this is a good age for photographing newborns, but in my experience, you can do newborn photos until about 3 months old. They are still newborn looking, just a big bigger.

Here's my version. Selective colouring is awesome!

Here's what I did to make this photo awesome.

1. Grab something to put the baby in. My daughter's baby doll crib worked great!
2. Wrap something around the baby. I just used the receiving blanket in his carseat.
3. Gently place the baby in the prop.
4. Interesting backgrounds make for an artistic looking photograph. I carefully selected this place because of the rug and hardwood flooring. I thought it made an eye-appealing contrast of patterns.

I also used the selective colouring on the baby's soother, just to make it more visually intriguing. 

Next, I did some Photoshop/Picasa magic. Since I just use the kit lens, it doesn't give me that blurry look.. I can't remember what its called.. (something that sounds like bookieh)??

Added fake blur in Picasa (Free program) and white vignette

Since I didn't have any studio lighting or natural light, I just used the Photoshop
lighting effect filter to make the lighting different.

Anyways, I'm really happy with my end result. I only charged the mom $25 and gave her the disc with all the original photos on it. She seemed pretty happy and I also gave her a $25 Walmart photo card so she can get all her prints developed! 

I still don't understand why all those high-end photographers charge and arm and a leg for pictures.. I mean, it only took me a few hours to edit all 100 pictures and I only charged $25 for my time... and I'm still alive, eh! Anyways, I will save my pricing strategies for another post. 

Have a great day everyone!

Freida

Does the first post have to be interesting?

Hi my name is Freida and I am a professional fauxtographer. For those of you who don't know what a fauxtographer is, let me explain. I take photos of people, pets, landscapes, food, dumb items I find laying around the house, and pretty much anything in sight. I charge anywhere between $25-$75 for a photo session and my weddings run a smashing deal of $150! You receive all photos, edited and unedited on a disk and I don't get you to sign a contract because all that legal stuff is just plain silly! I generally don't plan wardrobes either, because that's just dumb, eh! I mean, who seriously wants to have colour coordination these days? I got my first camera for Christmas from my hubbie (Yay!) and I expanded my lens collection to a second kit lens. I could go on about how much I LOVE the kit lenses but I'll save that for another post. Here's one of my first pictures I took with my camera. I just love it!

I love the fact that these girls let me take a random photo of their belts! I love this photo because its off centered, you can't see their faces and they look really cool eh? By the way, this was taken in December right before it snowed. I think snow would've made it look better. Perhaps I should add some?

Yes.. much better now eh? I realize I forgot to put my watermark on my first photo.. I hope no one steals it.

This picture is still missing something now that I think about it...

Ahh yes! That lens flare just tops it off! Well, thats it for tonight. I'll post some more tips in a bit! Have a great night!