My previous post contained a behind the scenes video of a photo session I did for a friend’s event models agency. He wanted me to photograph 15 of his girls in a uniform way, so that he could use the pictures for his website and printed material. All pictures had to look the same to be consistent.

We looked at the options and settled for a simple yet professional lighting scheme which works well photographing women. The lighting setup I describe below makes them look young and dynamic, and the photos are nice. For some of the girls we also used a wind machine.

I also made sure they had a good time, had some drinks, smiled a lot and enjoyed the experience, as you see in the session video. Some of them had never been photographed before! Here is a quick selection. You can see the rest at hostessenpool.de.

The Lighting Setup

The key light comes from a strobe above the camera equiped with a grid. It gives a strong light and focuses on the face and upper body of the model. The remaining lights (hair light and strip lights on the back) are there to create highlights around their bodies, emphasizing curves. The gobos create shadows to improve contrast and accentuate the highlights.

Give the lighting setup a try and don’t forget to show me the results!

Back in October I photographed 15 girls from a friend’s hostess agency. It took me some time to cut the video, but here it is finally! Enjoy!

Earlier this week I posted a review of 2009. I went through the ups and downs and tried to understand why the year went as it went. Summarizing 2009 helped me identify the strengths and the weaknesses and in such situations I believe it is important to focus on the strengths.

I believe one should always focus energy on strengths and not spend time trying to improve weaknesses. Being very good at a few things is better than being just good overall.

iStockphoto was strong

Getty Images was weak

Focusing my portfolio was strong

Not investing money wisely was weak

2010 should be a better year and to achieve that, I am going to outline the goals I set for myself. Defining proper goals is important and for that I used the SMART methodology.

To keep you updated, I will post quarterly blog posts with a report on how I am doing on my goals. Sharing the goals and quarterly reports with you will motivate me and help me stick to them. You can always snap at me, if I miss my targets!

Goal 1: Increase Production by 25%

In 2008 I produced 111 images and in 2009 I produced 110. In 2010 I want to increase image production by 25%, which results in 138 images.

Goal 2: Sell Exclusively on iStockphoto

All imagery I produce in 2010 will be sold exclusively on iStockphoto. The aim is to reduce sales channels and the efforts associated with selling. This will also apply to paid jobs: in 2010 I will not actively search for paid jobs anymore and will only do them if my complete fee is paid.

I want to focus my efforts on the sales channel which brings the highest reward. A side-goal will be to have 15% of my 2010 images accepted in the premium Vetta Collection.

Goal 3: Reduce Production Costs by 25%

My production costs consist mainly of studio rental, hair and make up, wardrobe styling, model fees and equipment rental. My costs in 2009 were almost double those of 2008, for the same amount of images. In 2010 I must invest wisely: I will reduce my overall costs by 25%.

Goal 4: 50% of my Images will be Produced On Location Outside the Studio

Working on location is challenging, technically, logistically and creatively, but more rewarding, personally and financially. In 2010 50% of all images should be produced outside the studio.

Goal 5: Produce Two Photography Workshops in the Area of Glamour Lighting

In 2006 and 2007 I organized and carried out workshops for iStockphoto. Those were fun experiences and I want to repeat. This time the workshops will focus on the area of photography in which I am most active: commercial glamour. The first one should be in early Spring.

And finally (not a goal because it is not measurable) I want to continue working on this blog, improving my relationship with my readers, sharing tips and tricks and learning from you.

So there you go! Those will be the 5 goals guiding all my business decisions this year! The challenge will be to keep quality while increasing production and reducing costs. I believe this is possible.

What do you think? Possible or impossible? What goals did you set for 2010? How are you monitoring them? I would be interesting in learning about them, post a link!

For my photosession with Laura back in October, I chose a simple lighting setup which is common for beauty productions. The trick for such productions is to have a very good looking model with a great skin and a good attitude: Laura matched all the requirements.

Here the lighting setup. It consists of placing a Profoto beauty dish with a grid slightly above the model, not too high. The black gobo on the left adds some shadow to the right part of her face giving the picture more structure and dimension. Without the gobo the picture would look too flat.

Do you use a beauty dish? Do you have any samples?

P.S: Here is an update after reading Oscar’s comment. I do not use a light meter, instead I use the histogram on my camera to ensure that I am not loosing any details on the photo. Here you have more information about the picture. Hope it helps.

The redesign work has finally been completed! In December the blog had reached 830 unique visitors viewing just over 3000 pages. It was time to ensure the design was up to the task and offer the possibility to grow in 2010.

So I started searching for nice WordPress themes but found nothing which suited my needs. I ended up mixing two WordPress themes, tweaking them and modifying the underlying PHP code to get exactly what I wanted.

The goal has been to make this place a better place, more attractive and easier to use. Here are the main new design features:

- Quick Navigating: Simple menu on the top left, allowing you to access each part of the website quickly. The categories are visible above each article, also simplifying navigation.

- Reduction of Categories: Categories are a great way to organize articles, but only if they are focused and structured. That is why I reduced them to the main topics on which this blog focuses.

- Easy sharing: You can now retweet your favorite article and share it with your friends. At the end of each article you will also find links to share at various other social communities.

- Featured Video: The newest video will always appear on the top right of the blog

- Improved layout: the general layout is simpler and allows for more information in the same space without appearing overcrowded.

I’ve tested the design on Firefox and Safari and things were ok, there still are some small issues on Internet Explorer.

Have a look around and please give me some feedback or improvement suggestions. I’ll integrate them into the design

Happy New Year!

Chris Guillebeau posted a very interesting review of his year 2009 and encouraged others to do the same. He went through his numbers, his business results and drew conclusions from them. His process appealed to me and I applied it to my photography business. I want to share it with you and would be very interested in knowing how your photography has done in 2009. How has you income evolved? What have been your costs? Has your business strategy worked?

So what are my conclusions for 2009?

Large increase in investment

in 2009 I invested almost twice the amount of money in productions. I always had a wardrobe stylist at each production and bought all the clothes necessary for each photo session. I also worked in rented places more often. These two elements considerably increased the cost of each photo session, some photo sessions costing over 1500 Euros.

Despite the big investment, I produced the same amount of images in 2009 as I did in 2008: in 2009 I produced 110 images (45 for iStockphoto and 65 for Getty Images) and in 2008 I produced a total of 111 images (81 for iStockphoto and 30 for Getty Images).

The decision to invest more was focused mainly on Getty productions. Since my royalties at Getty Images did not increase during this period, I conclude that the investment was not as profitable as I would have expected.

Nevertheless, the risk was necessary in order to best evaluate the profitability of Getty Images.

A considerable increase in royalties at iStockphoto

In 2009 my royalties on iStockphoto increased by 29% while my total download count only increased 2,6%.

Despite having produced half as much for iStockphoto in 2009 as I did in 2008 (45 images in 2009 and 81 in 2008) I still managed to earn a 29% increase! Tell me which employer gives you such an increase working half as much!? There are three main factors explaining the increase:

- The introduction of the premuim Vetta Collection: If you compare 2008 and 2009 you clearly see that between September and November there is a steep rise in sales. My amount of downloads for that period in 2008 and 2009 is identical. But if you look at the royalties it is clear that after the introduction of the Vetta collection in August 2009 my earnings increased.

- The continuous expansion of the microstock market

- The yearly increase in prices: every year prices go up and in 2009 my images sold more expensive. Even though prices increased my total number of downloads remained constant. This is very encouraging since it disproves the claims that higher prices scare buyers.

Poor results at Getty Images

Despite producing twice as many photos for Getty Images as I did in 2008, and the higher investment in production, I experienced no increase in royalties. My portfolio doubled its size but my royalties stayed constant. This translated into a considerable fall in royalties per image. I do not have a clear explanation for this, but here are my theories:

- Getty Images image price decreases: In order to face competition from the microstock agencies, Getty Images has restructured its pricing resulting in a large decrease of prices in certain of its collections and image sizes.

- Descrease in market share of Getty Images

- My images are not appropriate for the Getty market buyer: My images might not satisfy the demands of Getty buyers. This is an assumption but I cannot base it on facts. I would be interested in seeing earning reports from other Getty photographers in order to verify if my image style is the reason I see no increase in sales on Getty.

Specialisation of my portfolio

When I review the images I produced this year I observe a clear specialization in the area of commercial glamour. This has been a conscious decision. It is an area where I see potential and where competition is still low, but where demand is healthy.

This review will allow me to set new targets for 2010 and change my business strategy to achieve those goals. In a second post this week, I will go through my targets and share with you how I plan to achieve them.

Until then I would be very interested in hearing your opinion on my review. Did you see the same trends? Have you performed a review of 2009? What are you results?

Looking forward to hearing from you!