Moms With Cameras

Today I am excited to share this week’s Lighting like a Mother installment.  The oh-so talented Beth Forester shares one of her great lighting setups. She writes:

“In my studio I use a variety of lighting set-ups and techniques, depending upon the set, the subject and the mood I want to create in an image.  I use window light, studio light and sometimes a blend of both.  This particular lighting set-up is is a 4-light set-up which I use with seniors all the time.  Using a large Larson soff box and a reflector for the fill, I add little separation from the background by using a kicker and background lights.    The image you see is shot at 100 ISO at 1/125 sec at f 4.5 with a Cannon 1ds Mark 3 and a 70-200 lens.

In the second image, since the subject was leaning on the wall, I could only use a main light and a reflector for the fill.  So basically this is a one light set up I sue anytime I have my subject leaning on any of the painted walls I have in the studio.  I finished the image with an overlay from our newest photoDUDS release Ambience. The overlay is set to Linear Burn blending mode.  This newest set was inspired by the advertising designs in both Anthropologie and Free People.  You can check it out on our new website at http//:www.photoDUDS.com and take advantage of our 20% off everything in the store in celebration of our new launch.”

Beautiful as always Beth! Thanks for sharing!

MWC on facebook | twitter.

Do you remember being a child and hearing adults tout the benefits of teamwork? I believe the same holds true in business ownership, especially concerning marketing. When you work with other like-targeted businesses, your overall costs decrease and the benefits increase. Here are a couple of ways that co-marketing haw worked well for me:

1. Mailings: When you pool your contact lists together (with permission of course!) you avoid the costs of buying a (frequently faulty) list and split up the printing and postage costs. One way to use mailers is to have a joint offer with another company. For example if you team up with a day spa for a Mother’s Day Promotion you could have an offer like a complimentary upgrade for a spa day for a regular package price + a small framed gift print with a regular session as special gifts to Mom. Another way to use mailers is to just divide the space up and have 2-4 featured companies that target the same market on the postcard or brochure.

2. Events: I love event marketing, especially when I host an event that includes other companies who love my demographic. In a few weeks I am hosting my third Girls’ Night Out event and we have 11 vendors participating, including my company, that all target women in a certain age and income range. We have split the costs of the venue, food & drinks, music and promotional materials (posters and postcards) so it is a very reasonable cost for each business participating. It creates a lot of buzz for all of our businesses and we also do things to raise money for charitable causes so we all feel great participating.

Other ways I can think of using co-marketing:

- Swap gift certificates for an entry-level amount . . . each time you get a great client, you give them a certificate from this other business and they do the same for you.

- Displays in each others’ businesses

- Each holding a giveaway of the others’ product for a great contest (like referring the most friends)

Think about other businesses who target the same market in your area . . . how can you guys get together and make some marketing magic? Have a great day everyone!

MWC on facebook | twitter.

Yesterday my family and I had to have our portraits taken for our church directory. On the horrible blue backdrop. (How did that come about as the standard color?) When we walked in to the room to place an order, I have to say I was surprised by their pricing. While they did have a “base, unretouched” product that was pretty inexpensive, their fully retouched pieces quickly rose to a higher dollar amount than many of my local peers. It made me think . . . if they are charging this price for their product and the “session” was a total of about 7 minutes (AND was on an unforgivably ugly backdrop), why are so many professional photographers charging so much less for their art? I really encourage all of you who think you may be undercharging (and therefore undervaluing) your work to re-examine what your product is really worth. If this big-box company can command a decent price for their product, surely you deserve to command a good (or even great) one as a custom portrait artist. Especially if you’re using any background other than a blue one!