Digital ProTalk: 12 Mistakes New Photographers Make When Starting Their Business – Part 1

I woke up to a foot of new snow today and it is still coming down hard.  The family decided to stay home from church since we live on the side of a hill and the roads are treacherous.  My eleven year old son just suggested that we go outside and play some catch with the football today.  That should be fun in the snow!!

I usually don't blog on the weekend but was checking out David Ziser's blog from earlier this week and really enjoyed his post about the 12 mistakes new photographers make.  As you know, I am one of those "new" photographers David is referring to.  The mistakes he lists seem to be common sense to me, but are certainly worth thinking about.  I have not linked to any of David's posts before so I thought I would give it a try.  Here goes... 

Digital ProTalk: 12 Mistakes New Photographers Make When Starting Their Business – Part 1

Have a great day and I'll see you Monday.  Now for some football!!

What's all the Buzz about?

The Photog Buzz is an online diary (some might prefer to call it a journal... which certainly sounds more manly) that follows Ryan's day to day successes and/or screw ups as he strives to start a home-based photography studio in the basement of his house.  Ryan has never worked in  a studio or even as a professional photographer.  He has, however, taken a lot of pictures, absolutely loves photography, and has owned and operated a very successful non-photography business for twelve years.  If you want to learn more about Ryan check out "Ryan's Story."  There is a link to it under "Buzz Info."

Here's the deal.  Ryan has always loved photography and figured he would become a photographer after he retired from his "real" job.  Ryan still has his "real" job, but the economy sucks right now and as a result work is verrrrry slow, giving him a lot of extra time.  Rather then sit around, he decided to speed up his plans by about fifteen years and start a photography studio NOW.

There is an amazing amount of information available on the internet and that is Ryan's main source of knowledge.  He also follows several blogs, attends conventions, and studies photography through Kelby Training On-line.

So... you're probably wondering if this guy can really become a successful photographer.  Ryan believes he can.  After all, he already knows how to run a successful business and has a strong work ethic.  All he needs now is to apply that knowledge and drive to photography.  The only way you'll know if he's successful or not, though, is to follow this blog.

Here we go!

Shooting in Snow

I woke up yesterday morning and this was the view out my kitchen widow.

We got about a foot of snow yesterday and I spent most of my day shoveling the driveway.  Needless to say, when I was thinking about what to post for today's blog I had  snow on my mind.  So I figured, write something about shooting in the snow.

When you shoot in snowy, cold conditions there are a couple of things to remember.  First, batteries drain very quickly in cold weather, so take extra batteries and keep them warm by carrying them in an inside pocket close to your body.  The second thing to remember is that when your camera tries to read all that white it has a tendancy to underexpose.  Bump up your exposure at least 1 stop.  For this picture out my window I increased the exposure almost 1 1/2 stops.  Play around with your camera and you'll figure out what works best for you.

You may also find that your LCD screen doesn't always work in very cold conditions.

Long underwear and a good pair of gloves ain't a bad idea either.

Keep shooting!

Ryan