Wedding Photography Project

June 19, 2007

The “Cool Photo” Contest!

This website is all about teaching each other cool tips, tricks, techniques and philosophies.  So here is our first contest to convince people to send me some cool tips, tricks and techniques.

Send me a cool photo (c@coryparris.com) that you took at a wedding.  Include with it a short paragraph about how you shot and processed it.  If I like it, I’ll publish it.  If it’s the best entry (judged solely by Cory Parris, no complaining), meaning that you have a really cool photograph and included some cool thoughts or ideas on how you did that could help another photographer, then you win a brand new Boda Bag!

To show you what I mean here is an entry from me (I’m not going to judge myself the winner - I already have a Boda).

wpp-sampleentry.jpg
I took this photograph at Hill’s Resort in Priest Lake Idaho.  The couple loves the lake and mountains, so I had them go out on the dock and used a telephoto lens (85mm on a 30D) to compress the distance between the couple and the mountains in the background.  I used a small aperture (f7.1) to have some detail and definition in the mountains.  When I processed this, I used a neat trick that I just discovered.  For the last few years, when I want the colors to really pop, I create a duplicate layer and change the blending mode to “Overlay”.  This time I sandwiched a black and white layer in between the original layer and the Overlay.  This created the high-contrast, desaturated and intense look.

Here’s the prize.

bodabag.jpg

I can’t wait to see your entries!

October 24, 2006

Getting the clients you want! By Cory Parris

When you are shooting, whom are you shooting for? Are you creating images you think will sell, or are you shooting to get the clients you want?

About four years ago, I stopped trying to shoot what I thought my current the clients wanted to buy and started creating images that were more representative of what I wanted my portfolio to look like in the future. This is a very important difference in the way I was approaching wedding photography.

As a result of my new mindset, my work improved, my clients’ satisfaction levels went through the roof and most importantly, I was much happier.

The second part of this is only showing the things you want to sell. Don’t show what you think your clients want to see. Show what you love to do and what you excel at. I stopped showing any group portraits on my site or in my sample books.

Eventually, I started to find new, different clients from my old clientele. They wanted what I was showing, were eager to have me at their wedding, and were willing to pay more for it.

This goes for everything you show. Use the albums that you love. Show the wall samples like you want them to buy. Print up postcards that show your favorite image, not the one you think will be the best seller. Unlike with other businesses, if you captured one percent of the market, you would be overloaded, so what we, as photographers, are trying to do is find the RIGHT clients, rather than just any clients.

cory-parris-portfolio-baker.jpg

Cory Parris is wedding photographer in Seattle, Washington. He loves his wife, his kids, owning his own business, and photography. He is constantly mixing them together to see what he comes up with!

You can find Cory on the web at www.coryparris.com and here!

Powered by WordPress