PixelatedImage Blog

Being visual professionals it’s crucial that every element of our self-promotion and each piece of our client deliverables look as good as possible.

It’s my goal to wow my clients, not just meet their expectations. If you feel the same way then those of you who present digital files to clients probably already do it with some style, something that reflects your branding and wows your clients.

Here’s a great tool for those of you wanting to take it up a notch, or make your current system even easier or better.

It’s called Jewelboxing, professional-grade dvd and cd packaging that’s customizable and hassle-free. You get the boxes, the labels, the templates - everything you need to drop in your designs and give a custom package to each client, or for delivery digital portfolios. I like the larger dvd-sized cases.

If you’re looking to take things up a notch, check it out here: Jewelboxing.com

When I was 16 I wanted to be a professional photographer, shoot for the yellow rectangle, all that. I think in part because I felt like I wouldn’t be a real photographer unless I was making a living from it. Then something clicked and I think one of the reasons I dodged doing this professionally for many years was because I didn’t want the demands of vocation to steal the joy from something I loved so much. But I was still dogged by words like “amateur” and “hobbyist,” if only because it felt like I was being defined by what I wasn’t - a “professional.”

Pursuing your vision and loving your craft has precisely nothing to do with how you make your living. The real photographer is the one who shoots what she loves and is committed to learning her craft well. Money often just makes it unnecessarily complicated.

In fact, abstaining from career photography can have advantages, and as a follow-up to yesterday’s post about “going pro,” I wanted to add a little perspective to the would-be converts. Abstaining from career photography:

Can mean having a day job to fund the gear you want. Pros are often forced to spend their money on necessities: marketing materials instead of the 14/2.8L lens they want. The hobbyist gets the cool lens, the pro gets postcards.

Can mean the flexibility to shoot what you want to shoot without the demands of clients hemming in your artistic impulses.

Can mean being free of the pressure to create on demand.

Can mean the freedom to pursue the art of your vision without commercial concerns or distractions. Ideally a working photographer finds/makes the time for personal projects she is passionate about; it just doesn’t always work out that way.

Can mean the freedom to love your images without feeling like they’re only truly good photographs if someone buys them. Allowing your vision to be validated only by dollars is a terrible trap.

In the best-case scenario, doing this for a living is as good as doing it as a hobby. Sometimes more so. Doing this for a living can mean doing it more, pressing deeper into the art simply from necessity, and being able to write off some cool gear. I love doing this and making a living at it, right now I wouldn’t change that for anything. But the notion that you aren’t a real photographer until people are paying you is rubbish. Vincent Van Gogh didn’t sell any of his work during his lifetime. Sure, he went crazy and lopped an ear off, but he was incontrovertibly an artist.

So if “going pro” allows you to both make a living and pursue your vision - go for it. If remaining a hobbyist allows you to pursue your vision without the pitfalls of making it your trade, go for it. Either way, serve your vision with passion. Shoot what you love, even if it costs you (and it will!), that’s when you’re a real photographer.

I just read an article online that’s pushing me to react. It’s an honest account by a man who’s giving up the freelance life in favour of going back to “working for the man.” Good for him for being so honest and candid, but the article saddened me. So, I’m reacting and writing another of those advice posts that always, months or years later, seem so presumptuous.

So, if you’re thinking of making “The Switch” and going freelance or professional, here’s a couple thoughts. I’m going to use the word “freelancer” rather than “professional” because it’s often more accurate. I’ve known hobbyists that were very professional; and I’ve known people who do this for a living that are far from it. Making a living at this ought to mean you’re a professional, but there’s professional and then there’s Professional. If ya know what I mean.

1. Go in with your eyes open.
This is not easy. Very rarely will your phone start ringing relentlessly the moment you print a business card. It takes deliberate time, effort, and money to gain momentum. Plan on it.

2. Go in with your wallet full.
Things might take much longer to get rolling than you initially thought. Meanwhile camera’s break, marketing materials cost money, and the bills and rent still need paying. Going in with 6-12 months of reserves in the bank is a very good plan.

3. Go in through the back door.
Want to quit your day-job and live the dream? Who doesn’t? Are you getting clients now? Why leave the safety net until you’ve got enough clients to (1) sustain you financially and avoid months of a totally empty calendar and (2) give you experience and feedback. Going through the backdoor is my metaphor for building a small base of clients while still in the safety of your day-job. It’s a lousy metaphor, but solid advice if your circumstances permit it. Shoot part-time as long as you can, flex your business and marketing muscles while the Boss is still under-writing your efforts.

4. Go in slowly.
Why rush this? While you have a so-called “real job” you have resources to spend on gear, you likely have medical/dental insurance, you have the luxury of planning your transition - make the most of it.

5. Don’t Go In Alone.
Going into this without honest fans, critics, and mentors is foolish. Find someone who you can talk to about this whole thing - listen to their stories, learn from their failures. If you are lousy with numbers and finances, find a great bookkeeper and account BEFORE you launch this ship into a harbour full of hazards.

6. Go in LOUDLY (or find someone to do your shouting.)
What do you know about marketing? I used to be in show business and the saying went, “show business is 10% show and 90% business.” So too with photography. The ratio might be different, the principle is not. You must know how to market yourself or have someone in your back pocket who can do it for you. Read up on marketing, establish a relationship with a designer, and have a plan.

7. Go in Balanced
Want to keep your friends and family? Want not to burn out? Set some boundaries, find some release mechanisms. Do what you love and love what you do, but don’t mistake it for the entirety of life. Find some balance - it’s as pragmatic as it is idealistic - it’ll give you inspiration and rest from the pressures.

I love what I do, and I love the life it has given me. I’ve been self-employed for my entire adult life with very brief early forays into the real world from which I always recoiled in horror. Being your own boss (and your own janitor) has its rewards, as well as its stresses. For some people this is truly the dream, for others it’ll be less so. Going in with your eyes open will give you a fighting chance at making this a dream and not a nightmare.

My Self Promotion for Photographers series (start here) has been one of the most popular series I’ve published here. Many photographers dream of joining the ranks of people who making a living at this. To do that you need an excellent product (you, your images) and an excellent way of promoting that product. Eventually Flickr won’t cut it anymore and you’ll be moving on for greener pastures.

Building on that, here’s some resources particular to building your portfolio - either the book or the online presentation.

Articles Related to Building Your Portfolio

Freelance Switch - 9 Insane Portfolio Designs to Make You Drool - Link here
Freelance Switch - 5 Tips for a Better Online Portfolio - - Link here
Digital Web - The Perfect Portfolio - Link here
Photopreneur - Creating the Perfect Portfolio - Link here
Photopreneur - 3 Steps for a Better Photography Portfolio - Link here
Digital Photography School - 99 Remarkable Photographers Portfolios - Link here

Great Portfolio Suppliers

Lost Luggage - Link here - Want books that look awesome? These are them. Want more coolness from the same folks - Case Envy - Link here
Evrium - Link here
Clickbooq - Link here
BigBlackBag - Link here

A Couple More

BrandEnvy Blog - Link here - This one’s a must-read about branding for photographers.
Brand Envy Branding Presentation Notes (pdf) - Link here
Portfolios The Sell, Selina Oppenhein - Link here

So you read the post about why you should(n’t) have a blog and you’ve decided to start one, or resucitate your current blog. Here’s ten non-canonical blogging tips for running a blog that is a solid resource for the community for which you are writing. In no particular order:

1. Pick a target.
Making some intentional decisions about who you are writing for and why you are writing will keep you focused. The best blogs appeal to a niche audience and serve that audience well. You won’t find me posting about my knitting circle here. I know who I am writing to and why, and that determines what I write and how.

Read the rest of this entry »

A while back there was much discussion on the Travel Photographers Network about photographers and blogs and whether the twain should meet. Then I dug a little deeper in other places - places less civil than the kind folks who populate TPN - and was amazed by (1) the polarity of the opinions and (2) the animosity with which those opinions were expressed.

Are there good reasons to write a blog? You betcha. Are there bloggers who oughta shut things down and put their efforts elsewhere? Definitely. Here’s some reasons…

Read the rest of this entry »

This is the seventh installment in the On Design series looking at basic design principles and thoughts intended to help photographers produce better self-promotional pieces.

The final P in the “Make your stuff look like CRAP” is Proximity.

This principle implies that related elements belong together. Don’t make your prospects look everywhere for information, create an appropriate place for contact information, for example, and put all the contact information together. Here’s a quick and dirty before and after on a card with a design I’ve seen way too many times, the contact info everywhere.

Just the simple gathering and alignment of related information makes the mediocre card stronger. It’s still mediocre but it’s a B+ mediocre instead of a D-

This principle is not just for contact information, but for all related information or elements. The underlying reason for all this is to make it as easy as possible for prospects to find what they’re looking for effortlessly. Anything less and it will (a) be harder for clients to find what they need, (b) look amateurish and cause your prospective client’s confidence in you to diminish.

It could be way stronger, and much more creative. So that’s where your next assignment comes in.

THE OFFICIAL CRAPPY DESIGN CONTEST
I want to see your business card designs, current or new, based on the CRAP principle - but they have to be real. None of this fake-o stuff like the junk I’m pawning off on you in this series. Real business cards, using the CRAP principles - and they have to be yours.

I am giving away a Lexar 4GB 300x CF card to the best of them - if I get more than 10 entries. Less than that and I keep the card. Send your files - no wider than 350 pixels so I can post them here easily - to me here: info AT pixelatedimage dot com. Deadline is April 30 and I will be posting as I get the designs.

Now for the fun of it, let’s push this card a little harder, give it the full CRAP treatment. Here’s what it might look like if you pushed the contrasts a little harder, played with the repetition of elements, strengthened the alignments and proximity, and threw in die-cut corners. Could it be done differently? Sure, a hundred ways, some of them much stronger.

If I were taking more time I’d space my text differently and be much more specific with the leading. Probably choose a different font entirely. But design is about decisions, and assuming this design reflects the personality of the photographer it represents, and speaks to the market in which he works, it’s solid

OK folks, send in those business cards.

If you’re following the On Design series you know we’re half-way through making your promotional design look like CRAP. If you’re not following this, I suggest you start at the beginning. We’re looking at basic design through the helpful lens of Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity in hopes that we can make our design efforts a little less haphazard.

The principle of Alignment implies that strong lines lead the eye better than random, weak ones. The surest sign of someone who has just started doing their own design work is the way in which they fearlessly ignore any semblance of a straight line, and run straight to centre-justification as their design panacea. Centre-justification has its place, but it ought to be used for a reason, not for lack of further creative options. Using centre-justified type immediately destroys most chance of using strong lines to lead the eye, and limits your options in laying out other elements. Here are two business card layouts, one using centre justification, the right. Which one is stronger? (I’ve added a guide to each so you can better see the alignment - click the thumbnail to enlarge it)

Notice how the card on the right uses alignment to form a strong vertical line down the card, even aligning with the subject - this line allows you to guide the viewer’s eyes without resistance or confusion. The harder it is for your prospects to quickly ingest the impact and information you are providing them, the easier it will be for them to put the piece down and forget you.

Let’s do another one with a few more elements.

This postcard uses a few more implied lines to make a stronger, more cohesive design than it would have been without them. Notice how the headline is aligned along the dog’s gaze, how the positioning statement below it is aligned on both the left and right of the headline and how all the type aligns on the right and down past the dog’s nose on the bottom.

You should also by now notice how the other CRAP elements come into play - the strong contrasts, the repetition of several elements, and the alignments all make for a strong, professional looking piece. So does the proximity of related elements, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves now. We’ll handle that tomorrow. Lastly notice how we moved from high impact/low information to high information/low impact as we moved from left to right and from top to bottom.

Exercise. Pick up an old magazine, grab a sharpie, and go through the full-page ads - take notice of the alignments the designers have used and draw guides like the ones I have done above. Some will only have one or two - simple design is not simplistic, or weak, design. But find every strong line, really work it. Do this for about 30 ads and you’ll start to have a stronger sense of alignment.

(Unlike the other fake-o examples, these are drawn from some playing around I’ve been doing for one of my own businesses, so the usual copyright warnings apply to these. )

Remember the idea behind this? You want your stuff to look like CRAP - Contrast. Repetiton. Alignment. Proximity. Yesterday we talked about contrast, today I want to approach repetition.

Repetition of key elements adds interest and cohesion to a piece. It gives a piece consistency and that alone is a key step in getting your stuff a little closer to professional.

I had several things to say about repetition but at the last moment I found an article on Peachpit Press’ website that does a better job than I would have done - so I’m going to take the easy way out and refer you there. Think of it as a guest post by someone who knows her stuff better than I do. Plus, it’s longer and better illustrated than it would have been if I’d written this installment.

Liven Up Your Design Through Repetition - Robin Williams - Click HERE

I’ve seen a couple sources now that helpfully encourage you to make your stuff look like CRAP, and I’m going to perpetuate this as well. C.R.A.P stands for Contrast. Repetition. Alignment. Proximity. This is not a magic pill to make lousy design brilliant, it’s a reminder as you create and place your elements. I’ll introduce all four over the next few days. Remember, I’m only introducing you to the concept, for a more complete primer on design I recommend Robin Williams’ (not that Robin Williams, the other Robin Williams) book The Non-Designers Design Book (link HERE - don’t let the really ugly cover throw you off it)

CONTRAST is not only the difference between white and black. It can be contrast of colours, shades, weights, styles, etc. The examples below are a mix of contrasts between shades, weights, colours,styles, and sizes.

Where contrast helps is in drawing attention to different elements, adding distinction between them while keeping them a unified whole. So in one sense the contrast has to be complimentary, while not being similar. Remember, you’re still trying to communicate something - so two elements that contrast and conflict at the same time is a bad idea.Here’s a ludicrous example of that:

Likewise, you don’t want contrast to be too subtle. Here’s a two sans serif fonts - different fonts from different font foundries, but too similar for the contrast to be anything but confusing to the eye. It accomplishes nothing but distraction as the viewer tries to decide if they are different or the designer forgot to changed one and not the other, or if the viewer is just finally losing their mind.

A stronger choice would be a contrast between a serif and sans serif, or keep the font the same and use a contrast of weight or shade.

The above examples are type-related but the principles can be extended to all your elements. Intentionally introducing contrast makes for stronger designs, but keep in mind what you’re trying to communicate, and make your contrasts consistent, not conflicting or confusing.