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FAQ : Wedding Photographer Makeup
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M y mother was a stay-at-home mom, homeschooled five children, and planned field trips according to bus routes that ran from our home to Downtown Los Angeles and back in time for dinner. She was like Super Woman with a clipboard, but instead of a cape, she donned pink sweatpants (a fashion indiscretion we'd like to forget). In the little downtime she had, my mother took part-time jobs to help my dad pay the bills. One of these jobs was selling makeup and skin care at parties.
When my mother received her instructor kit's filled with 85,823 eye shadows, she practiced applying on my 10-year-old face. Go ahead, judge. All I knew was the time my mom spent applying rouge to my cheeks and gloss to my lips were some of my favorite childhood memories.
Perhaps she instilled a love for makeup at a young age and it's gotten worse better through the years. When I get gussied up for work, I wear makeup. In 85,823 shades. However, being a photographer isn't all that glamorous. There's usually heat, sweat, and stress involved with photographing a wedding and for a while it looked like I washed my face in Crisco at the end of a long night. It was bad.
Six and a half years into shooting weddings and I finally found a mix of products that keep my make up on and not smudged on the back of my camera. Amen.
A few months ago, I was melting in Miami Beach and I couldn't keep makeup on my face if I had gone to Home Depot and had it professionally painted on. I walked into Sephora and this Cuban in white pants and an unbuttoned shirt told me this was like Botox in a bottle...and I trusted him?! Makeup Forever's All Mat basically acts as a primer before I put on any makeup and mattes my skin (I use this instead of lotion). |
| After I use my dual-fix compact from MAC, I use the MAC Prep + Prime Eye before I put on my eyeshadow. This seals my lid and locks in the eye shadow until the end of the evening...love it. |
| Once I finish applying all my makeup, I use two sprays of MAC's Fix+ Brume Fixante, which seals everything in place. |
So, yup. Those are my three favorite makeup tricks to keep my makeup in place after lonnnng days photographing a wedding. I feel a little foolish blogging about this girlie stuff, but I simply thought I'd share because it'd make Rue Paul proud.
Happy Tuesday! |
    
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FAQ : Managing Client Expectation
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Dear Jasmine,
I shot a wedding a couple of weeks ago and told the couple beforehand that it may take 4-5 weeks to edit the images and maybe even a little longer if I have a busy wedding season. It has been 5 weeks now and I got a very rude email from the bride this morning. She said they don't want to wait any longer since they have paid good money and I should stop putting off their wedding. I replied nicely that this was not the case and reminded them that it has been a busy season and that I'm sorry it has taken so long. And I assured them that I will do my best to finish them as soon as possible. Now she's not replying. Still, I'm very sad that she got so rude. And of course I worry that I will get no or a bad recommendation. Maybe I should mention that I did send them a couple of images for their thank you notes 2 weeks ago, so it's not like they haven't seen anything.
Can you give me some advice?
Kind regards,
As Soon As Possible
Dear ASAP,
I got waves of nausea reading this email. But that's how I roll. Nauseous. Whenever I become nervous or overwhelmed, my first inclination is to throw up, which I think is way tacky, and terrible if wearing cute shoes. Anyway, I'm sorry you're sad...enduring a person's rudeness isn't any fun. I'm sure you're feeling bad enough and her lack of response is unsettling. However (and you knew the however was coming!), I can't say I disagree with the bride.
The key in most business interactions is to manage expectations. It sounds so simple, but it's often overlooked. If you told the bride it was going to take five weeks for her to see her images (even if you added a caveat about needing more time during busy season), the only thing she heard was five weeks. Seriously. We're talking about a bride who's insanely excited to see her wedding images and if you didn't meet the stated deadline, it's easy to understand her frustration.
What you're saying is you're busy, but what she's feeling is overlooked. You even stated she asked you to "stop putting off the wedding" which leads me to think she has reasons to think she was placed on the back-burner (even if that's not the case).
If in the future you suspect you'll need more than 4-5 weeks to process wedding images, always buffer the timeline so you can under promise and over deliver. For instance, next time tell a bride you'll need 6-8 weeks to process the images, then deliver them earlier than she expected for optimal results. In business, there's no such thing as trying...you either did or you didn't. Sure, you might've been trying really hard to get the photos completed in five weeks, but at the end of the day, the bride is still a dissatisfied customer who won't likely recommend your services. And that's the last thing anyone wants.
Wow. Am I Debbie Downer today or what?! Let's chat about how you can remedy this situation (even if you don't feel at fault...remember, the customer is always right):
1. Do everything you can to finish the wedding edit and get the photos to the bride...we're talking about a code red rush now...haul booty and get it done! The longer she waits, the more upset she'll become.
2. Offer her a small album or a canvas print as a way to make amends. You'd be surprised just how far a gift can go to smooth things over.
3. Send a hand-written note expressing how much you appreciate the bride as a client.
4. If you're in busy season, this isn't likely the only wedding you're stretching the 5-week processing time. In light of this, I'd strongly caution you to take active strides to ensure this doesn't happen again with other recent clients. If this becomes a pattern, your business may suffer serious repercussions. If you're behind in editing, buried in work, or simply need to take a break, I strongly suggest you outsource your wedding processing to a professional company that'll take great care of you. I'm particularly fond of Photographer's Edit as their customer care and 7-day turnaround is stellar. If you'd like to try them out, feel free to use the jstar2012 code at check out for a 20% discount.
I wish you only the best as you work at keeping your clients happy and managing their expectations. When this happens, recommendations will pour in because people feel like you kept them a top priority.
Stay Fabulous,
j* |
| Pee Ess: I added this happy photo because I didn't want this post to be a fast train to Bummerville. It's from a recent shoot and I'm excited to share the result soon! What makes most these shoots special is that I get to work with everyday, non-model couples for a day of happy photos. If you'd like to model for a future shoot, feel free to send me an email with a photo of you and your significant other...perhaps our paths will cross in the near future! |
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FAQ : How to Photograph a Wedding Dress
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W hen I first started my business, I read on a photography forum how important it was for a photographer to shoot a each wedding as if seeing the day with fresh eyes. Regardless if a photographer had photographed a multitude of weddings at the same venue, it's imperative to not shoot the wedding in the same way. Just because I can shoot a bride in the same location, doesn't mean I should. It's easy to fall into a pattern or routine, but it could also impede creativity.
In order to articulate my point further, I'll illustrate it with a recent example. Last week I photographed Chris and Elise's wedding at Pelican Hill, but I had also photographed another wedding there the week before. Pelican Hill is one of my favorite venues, but after shooting in the bridal suite over ten times it's easy to feel stifled by the same location to photograph wedding details, like the wedding dress. Elise was an easy-going bride who truly valued photographs, so I asked permission to take her dress and photograph it elsewhere on property, away from the bridal suite. Elise readily agreed.
When possible, my goal is to photograph the wedding dress in two locations for diversity's sake. Because Elise was having a garden-inspired wedding, I took the dress to the most garden-y area on the Pelican Hill property and captured a couple photos in an environment that would lend itself to the album design at a later point in time and enhance the story telling of the day. |
| I was also lucky enough to have the coordinator bring a dress form to the wedding. In light of this, I also documented the wedding dress indoors against a basic background should Elise decide later she prefers this set up. I, of course, captured more photos than the ones I'm showing here, but this is to provide context for what I'm referring to. |
| The goal for every wedding is to approach the day's details in a way that reflects the theme/story/color scheme, maximize natural light, and reflect the bride's personality. If you'd like to see a behind-the-scenes video tutorial on how I photograph a wedding dress on a wedding day, feel free to check it out here |
| I'm incredibly thankful to have brides, like Elise, who'll extend their trust to allow me to be creative and produce images in new ways given the same location. |
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FAQ : Finding Pocketed Natural Reflectors
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I often feel badly for being unable to respond to every email I receive...no, really, it keeps me up at night and I craft responses IN MY HEAD, but never have the time to write back. I could probably be a professional emailer if I didn't restrict how much time I'm tethered to my laptop. I often use blog posts to address questions I'm repeatedly asked, one of the most popular being: How do you shoot in hard or tricky lighting?
I've referenced my use of Natural Reflectors (here, here, and here), and I go into depth about finding Natural Reflectors in harsh afternoon light during my photography workshop. I'm actually hosting a workshop here in Orange County in November, so if you'd like to attend, be sure to register!
At a shoot last week, JD and I were photographing the bride indoors, but it wasn't the best lighting conditions. Whenever I'm faced with this difficulty, I immediately look for natural light...and reflectors. What I found was a outset window with white paneling. The natural light streamed in and created a pocket of reflected light...and then I died.
Here's an UNretouched snapshot JD captured of my working condition and to show what I'm describing...yes, that's my camera on the left side.... |
Using the 35mm lens, I was able to crop to the photo in-camera in a way as to not reveal where the white paneling behind the bride ended. I asked her to tilt her face slightly toward the light source and the white panel behind me (the natural reflector) bounced light back in her face so one side wasn't too dark.
f/2.0 1/200 200 ISO |
| I refer to this type of light as a pocketed natural reflector (light that's bounced from two or more light sources). I hope this helps and if you'd like to learn more about my approach and how to use difficult light in small areas, I'd love to meet you personally at the Jasmine Star photography workshop....ugh...I just referred to myself in third person. I'm ending this post now before it happens again. |
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FAQ : How to Capture FUN Engagement Photos
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| When I started my photo business, I was desperate to learn everything I could about the technical aspects of my camera. I read everything I could find online, dog-earred my manual, and participated in photo forums with a plethora of questions. As the months passed, I found myself practicing every day and becoming more comfortable learning to shoot manually and understanding exposure (that wasn't to say I was great at it...I was simply getting better). However, when the moment came for me to work with people in a real photo session (and not practicing with a chair, orange tree, or my dog in the backyard), I fell flat. I felt like every technical thing I learned didn't matter because I couldn't get two people to look comfortable in front of my lens. Learning exposure was just the first step in a gajillion. That's, like, a lot of steps. |
| As I continued practicing the technical aspects of photography, I started practicing ways I could get my clients to represent my brand and photographic aesthetic. Early on, I knew I wanted my clients to have fun in front of my camera, but I didn't know, exactly, how to make them have fun. I mean, that's incredibly hard...you can't exactly look at a couple and say: Go ahead, be FUN now! As the business grew, I added Fresh and Editorial to a list of words I wanted clients to use as they described my work. Once I outlined what I wanted, I then needed to find ways to achieve it. |
So, let's focus on the word fun and I'll try to outline how I approach this during a photo shoot (following the same pattern and approach with Fresh and Editorial). If the goal is for my clients to look like they're having fun, then I need to give them fun things to do. Sure, this sounds slightly lame, but I discovered over time it really helps making clients loosen up in front of my camera.
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| I started by making a list of Fun Things To Do and memorized these prompts before heading into an engagement session. Now, my version of fun isn't everyone's version of fun, but it doesn't matter...the main idea is merely to capture a single moment displaying the couple's truest personalities. |
Over the years, my approach has changed--and still changes with every shoot--but my early FTTD list consisted of some of the following:
*Girl drags boy (along with his weighted resistance) - side angle, front angle
*Boy wraps arms around girl and she tries to get away
*Girl runs and jumps on boy's back - shooting continuously
*Girl and boy stand parallel to each other and have a dance off
*Girl leans into boy from a distance, the falling of her weight will knock him off balance
*Boy lifts and spins girl |
| Sure, this list may seem trite and silly, but this list was the very thing that helped me find my voice, develop my style...far before I knew it was even possible. Of course, I wasn't as planned and strategic in following the list precisely, but it served as a nice starting point, as well as mixing in planned ideas for Fresh and Editorial poses. Having a mix of ideas really helped diversify my portfolio and get my ideas going when I was in a pinch. |
| I hope this helps explain a bit of my early approach and the ways I tried to move past my insecurities to approach a shoot with confidence. If you have tips or advice you'd like to share, please feel free to do so...I'm always looking for new ideas, too! |
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