4 Tips for Shooting in Manual by Mike Adrian

1. Manual White Balance

Basing your exposure and white balance on skin tones is the best way to get consistent and beautiful results when photographing wedding or portraits clients. I like to use manual with balance when shooting my events. I use the Kelvin Scale, which goes from 2,000k to 10,000k. It’s easy to remember because it’s just like regular temperature, warmer skin tones equals a higher kelvin number, cooler skin tones equals a lower number. Common kelvin settings I use when I am shooting natural light are as follows; (Daylight 5200K), (Overcast 6000k), (Shade 7000k). For indoor lighting I use the following settings; (Tungsten 3200k), (Fluorescent 4000K), and for flash shooting, I tend to shoot around (5,500k). Remember that these numbers are approximate numbers, and can be adjusted up, or down, based on personal preference. Adjusting that temperature and basing it off skin …

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Visualizing the End Product by Mike Adrian

It wasn’t that long ago that I noticed that my business had shifted gears, it was the day when I realized I was consistently creating the images that I had visualized prior to a wedding. With digital photography so popular, the market is flooded with new photographers and those that can simply click photographs seem to be a dime a dozen.  So what separates an amateur wedding photographer who can snap off hundreds of pictures and ‘spray and pray’ from a professional wedding photographer who can consistently produce quality images?

Many well known and successful photographers have used visualization to see a moment in their mind before actually taking the photo.  By projecting their sights on where and how the images will be viewed, used, and shared, many of them seem to magically conceptualize a final image before the camera is even taken out of the bag. This folks, is what …

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Smart Marketing for your photography business- 3 tips that will save you time and money! by Mike Adrian

We are so excited to have Mike Adrian as a guest blogger on the Pictage Blog.

One of the subjects I discuss most with photographers during discussion groups is the topic of marketing. Smart and effective marketing can play a big part in the success of any business. Marketing your business effectively can help elevate your business to the next level and expand your exposure to potential customers. One false misconception is that marketing is expensive and time consuming, that’s not true. Here are 3 tips to add Smart Marketing to your business without breaking the bank! Smart Marketing Tip #1: Know your market by understanding the needs of your client. You need to know who your clients are. Knowing your clients, their like and dislikes, spending habits, demographics, etc… will give you useful information that can be digested to make very sound and smart decisions so that you can tailor your product and services to your clientele. If you …

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