I want to simplify my website. Just scrolling images. But should they scroll horizontally or vertically?

Some photographers have their websites scrolling horizontally, like Bruno Bisang’s. Others have them scrolling vertically. A good example is the Boston Globe’s The Big Picture, or The Sartorialist’s Blog, or like this Tumblr aggregate.

Newspapers and blogs make you scroll vertically. But most photographer websites make you scroll horizontally.

So what’s your opinion?

Sometimes lighting can be very simple! Last Friday’s shooting didn’t require complicated lighting setups. I wanted a simple look, commercial and fun.

Shooting on white background can easily give uninteresting results. You have to make sure you have a smart idea which your model can convey. Lighting is important, as white backgrounds will not give you any excitement, so if you don’t achieve it with light, then your picture will suffer.

My Friday’s shooting was about Valentine’s, but with a fun touch. Clothing had to be casual and cool, but sensual. The Valentine’s look was going to be provided by a big red heart balloon!

As for lighting, I like strong harsh light on a white background. It is bright and the dark shadow gives depth and dimension to the image.

For my lighting I used only one light source, a Profoto Telezoom without grid. Th gobo on the right adds some contrast. Here is the picture and the lighting schema:

What do you think about white backgrounds? Love them or hate them?!

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Last week I posted the lighting diagrams to produce a series of hip-hop portraits. Lighting is a very important part of the production process but just as important is the work you do in post processing.

My workflow is very simple. I shoot all images in RAW format and convert the images to TIFF in Canon’s DPP software. I do very little tweaking on the RAWs. The bulk of my post processing is done in Photoshop.

I clean up the skin and then spend quite a lot of time adding and editing adjustment layers to get the look I want.

As a follow up to my lighting article, I provide you with the original Photoshop PSD file for you to download! You will see the different layers and their effect on the image. Included is also the original image.

Click on the image or here to download it.

So what do you think? Does the processing resemble your post-production methods? What would you do differently?

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Today was this year’s first photoshooting. We had great fun and wanted to share some of the pictures taken behind the scenes.

Great behind the scenes photos all taken by my friend Tom Kettelhut (Canon 5Dm2 50mm 1.4)

Recently, a friend of mine was visiting Berlin. He is originally from Los Angeles and it didn’t take me long to convince him, that we needed to set up a photoshooting together. This shooting was particularly interesting because we had little time but wanted to try out various lighting setups.

The result was a series of portraits each with variations on the lighting. I would like to share the 4 lighting setups I used so you can see how adding more and more light affects your picture. For the complete photoshooting I used my Canon 5D Mark II with the Canon EF 100mm 2,8 L Macro IS USM.

One Studio Light

The first portrait was realized with just one light and a gray background. As light source I used a Profoto Beauty Dish equipped with a glass deflector and a grid (Disclaimer: I have no affiliate link to Profoto. I am just providing the links so you know exactly what I used). I positioned it above the model and slightly to the model’s right.

Settings: 100m f8 1/160

Due to the light’s high angle the shadows convey a dramatic appearance to the image. The glass deflector positioned within the beauty dish creates a dark spot at the center of the light source providing more drama. This lighting setup works well for serious portraits.

The lighting setup: 1 light

Two Studio Lights

The first picture is quite dark and dramatic. My next variation was to brighten up the background. In the following setup I added a Profoto Zoom Reflector with a grid pointing straight at the background.

Settings: 100m f7.1 1/160

You now see the gray background clearly and that provides the image with depth. It separates the model from the background.

The following image was also done with exactly the same lighting setup. I only changed the angle of the beauty dish slightly. You will notice that the model receives light mainly on the head and upper body. The background spotlight creates a great background for the image.

Settings: 100m f9 1/160

The lighting setup: 2 lights

Four Studio Lights

The two light setup is nice. But in order to have the real rapper look I need to separate the model more from the background and give the picture more Dimension. This can be achieved with illumination from the back. I added two Profoto Strip Lights, one on each side behind the model. I also changed the background color to have a funkier look. In this lighting setup I moved the beauty dish to be in front of the model. I wanted it to be more uniform and not provide any asymmetric shadows.

Settings: 100mm f9 1/160

I admit I added some stars with Photoshop But it looks good!


The lighting setup: 4 lights

Four Studio Lights and a Ring Flash

My last variation adds more bling to the picture by including a Profoto Ring Flash with close up reflector. Ring flashes always make the image pop! I kept all other strobes untouched and simply added the ring flash.

Settings: 100m f9 1/160

You will notice that the ring flash light illuminates the complete model, light is distributed from the pants all the way to the head. The quality of the light is very different. Adding a ring flash to your lighting setup automatically gives your image a glamorous look! I kept the beauty dish because I did not want the ring flash effect to be too strong. A little bit is nice, but too much can look bad.

The lighting setup: 5 lights

I hope the step by step diagrams help you appreciate each type of light and their effect on the photos. You should go out and experiment!

How many lights do you use? Do you build up your lighting setup throughout a photoshooting and add more and more lights? If so share your photos, I’d be interested in seeing them!

This article also appeared in german on the Robert Kneschke’s blog.

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I spent some time at an architects shop the other day. I found some pretty neat stuff to use as photoshooting backgrounds!

Imagine all one could do with them!

Happy new year to all! I hope you had a great holiday and a nice time with your family!

January is the time to review the previous year and learn lessons which improve your business. I followed this process last year here and here and it helped me define my goals and measure my success.

In this post I want to review the main items of 2010 and analyse why it turned out as it did. How did 2010 go? Did I meet my targets? What can I learn?

2010: Facts and Figures

I produced 84 images increasing my portfolio by 8% from 1064 to 1148 images. My yearly income increased by 13%. Downloads, however, have plummeted. Here follow two charts which illustrate 2010′s trend:

Royalties started strong in 2010 all the way to August where for the first time they dropped below 2009 levels. In November they even dropped below 2008 levels. 2010′s curve is very different to those from 2008 and 2009. It started strong and ended weak, opposite both previous years.

Downloads have experienced a free fall throughout the whole year. December’s downloads dropped by 50% on December 2009′s downloads.

Analysis

My image production in 2010 has not been as strong as intended. The lack of regular new images and the continuing increase in competition from other photographers and agencies has decreased my portfolio’s exposure to the market. The lack of any Christmas imagery also reduced the chance of new customers viewing my images.

Nevertheless, it seems as if most iStockphoto photographers have not seen a strong increase in sales in their fourth quarter. The following thread on iStockphoto gives you more insight and numbers.

Regardless of market forces, the small increase (13%) in my royalties in 2010 can be linked to my small image production and that is something I can influence in 2011.

Did I Achieve My Goals for 2010?

In January 2010, I set myself 5 goals to achieve. Did I achieve them?

Goal 1: Increase production by 25%
Not achieved I produced 84 images instead of the targeted 138. That is an underperformance by -40% and 25% less images than in 2009.

Goal 2: Sell Exclusively on iStockphoto
Achieved All new images were marketed by iStockphoto. A side-goal was to have 15% of new uploads enter the Vetta collection. Only one image achieved it, meaning only 1% entered Vetta. Making it into Vetta is not as simple as one thinks! Nevertheless, iStockphoto claims that approximately 1% of their collection is in Vetta, therefore making my 1% in-line with the average.

Goal 3: Reduce Production Costs by 25%
Achieved I reduced my production costs by 32%.

50% of my Images will be Produced On Location Outside the Studio
Not achieved Only 16% of my 2010 images were produced outside the studio.

Goal 5: Produce Two Photography Workshops in the Area of Glamour Lighting
Not achieved I only produced one workshop in 2010. Read all about it here, here and here.

Other Highlights From 2010

In 2010 I continued writing my blog and increased by +374% the number of visits I had. That resulted in more than a doubling of my subscribers.

Additionally, I have started a few photography related projects which should bear fruit in 2011. You will hear about them soon.

Finally, at the end of 2010 I was accepted to contribute to all image collections on Getty Images Creative, including Rights Managed photography. Until now I had only been limited to three royalty-free collections. This will certainly play an important role in 2011.

In a follow up post I will set out the goals for 2011 and tell you how I manage to achieve them.

How has 2010 been for you? Have you achieved your goals? What worked well and what worked not so well?

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I recently discovered a tool to create tutorial videos of my Photoshop actions. I found it interesting to film one of my skin beauty retouching and share it with you. In this video you will see a fast forward screencast of a digital skin retouching process with Photoshop.

The overall process took 35 minutes (which is very quick, but necessary considering it is going to my stock photography collection). It gets interesting from minute 2:20 onwards.

Before and After Images

Here you have some before and after images. Simply roll your mouse over the image for the unretouched version.

Any questions!? I could produce a tutorial on this if there is interest


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Part 3 of my series on finding your optimal workflow focuses on Market Analysis. How do you see through the market and create clarity?

In parts one and two we looked at the importance of volume balanced by quality.

But this isn’t enough. Market analysis ensures that you put your efforts in the right direction. Your investment must be profitable!

The reality is, that stock photography agencies give out very little information on how the market evolves and reacts. As a stock photographer you do not have many tools at your disposal, no hard data.

Observe the Market, Be Ahead of Your Competition

I personally do not spend much time viewing images at stock agencies. Instead I look out at pictures I see in magazines, commercials, TV and designs. Visual trends are set by fashion, commercials and celebrities. The images appearing on stock agencies usually trail these trends.

Have you heard of Zara? The spanish clothing company? They were the first ones to be able to spot a fashion trend and within 30 days have such clothes in their shops. They were so fast in covering demand that they became hugely successful worldwide and are one of the leading retail companies today.

You too want to be ahead of the competition! Keep an eye for visual trends, visual languages, the next hot thing and shape that into a stock image, mixed with your own creativity, and you have a winning formula. This will guarantee your images are fresh and satisfy new market demands.

Analyse Your Data Regularly

Just as interesting and necessary is observing your own data. If you have a mid- to large size portfolio (500 images or more), with the right tools you should be able to identify how your images react to market changes and trends.

That data is fundamental!

Once you understand how your images perform, you will know what your strong points are and you must focus on them. So let me use my portfolio and show you how to do it. The question I want to answer is whether it is worth photographing glamour images.

Case Study (Part 1): Comparing my Glamour with my Commercial Images
My portfolio has over 1000 images composed of glamour images and commercial images. I have 212 glamour images and 915 commercial stock images. My data tools tell me the following:

In this first pie chart you can see that my glamour images compose 19% of my portfolio

The next pie chart displays how much income those glamour images have generated since I started shooting. The message here is quite strong: 19% of my images produced 40% of my income!

But most interesting is that in the current year, 2010, my glamour pictures have produced 45% of all my income!

What does this tell me? It is obvious that my glamour pictures are the most successful segment of my portfolio. They generate twice as much money and that trend is growing.

Case Study (Part 2): Comparing the Life Cycle of Images
The second part of my analysis focuses on the life cycle of an image. When does an image produce the maximum amount of money? Is there a difference between my glamour images and my commercial images?

I used my tools to look at the life cycle of my top 5 glamour pictures and my top 5 commercial pictures. Here are my results (I removed all dollar values):


Top 5 Glamour Pictures



Top 5 Commercial Pictures



At first glance it is obvious that my glamour pictures have a very different life cycle than my commercial pictures!

My glamour images all start very strong and make most of their income in the first 6 to 10 months. Afterwards they loose their earning power. Commercial images on the other hand are much more constant. They earn money throughout their whole life.

Case Study: Conclusions
By analysing my data in depth, my tools have been able to show that my glamour pictures are strong earners. However, the market gets tired very quickly of glamour pictures. Once a glamour picture is out of fashion it does not get purchased. My commercial pictures have a longer earning power despite generating less money.

What this market analysis teaches me is that in order to make maximum money I should focus on my glamour images and ensure I generate fresh ones every 6 months.

Your Workflow: Volume, Quality and Market Analysis

We reached the end of the worflow series. Please go through all three articles again and think about all aspects of your workflow which can be optimized to ensure you maximize your profit and efficiency. I have been following these methods with success and hope I could help you too!

How do you analyse your market? How do you identify your strengths and weaknesses to make decisions and maximize your profits?

Share this on twitter so that a maximum amount of people improve their workflow!

Recently a fellow reader contacted me and asked me a few questions regarding models. I found his questions to be very interesting and wanted to share them with you. I have reformulated his questions for simplicity.

Question: I provide models with a 800*600 watermarked image because I am worried that people might steal the images from the model’s website instead of buying them from my stock agency. Do you provide images to models?

Answer: I provide my models (in fact everybody in the production team) all final pictures in full resolution and in top quality without watermarks. Of course, they know, they can only use them to promote themselves, not resell the images.

Why do I do this? Because I believe my professional relationship with models and production team is very important. Models get annoyed when you provide small images or watermarked images and cannot use them properly. Everybody in your team must have a positive feeling when working with you, they constitute your most important business partnership. You must treat them very well!

You should not be worried that stolen images will reduce your sales. People who steal images will probably always steal images. If they do not steal yours, they will steal someone else’s. Chances are very low that they would buy your images anyways if they could not steal them.

So there is no point in risking your very important relationship with your production team, including models, simply to avoid something which you cannot avoid and which doesn’t really harm you.

Question: I do not hire models from agencies because they are expensive and I do not always get a good return on investment on those pictures. What is your opinion?

Answer: Working with professional models is nice. However, model agencies are really expensive when offering you models for stock photography. I do not work with model agencies. It is not justifyable in business terms.

If you have an idea, a nice location, good make up and clothes, then you can make your model look great and produce a very profitable image. Stick to productions which are profitable and invest your money efficiently to produce best results.

What answers would you have given this reader? Let us know!