It is random Faq time!!!

I have been getting quite a few questions (yay!!) and I thought it would be fun to take a few moments to answer some of the most popular ones I get!

What camera and lenses do you use?

I am a Canon girl! I use the Canon 5d which is a full frame camera. I also am a self proclaimed prime lover and use the 85mm 1.8 most. I also have the Canon 50mm 1.4 (only use mostly for newborn and indoor work because on my camera is a bit wider) the 24mm 2.8 which I LOVE for distortion and more fun artsy type photos, and the 50mm macro which is a bit noisy (sound wise not image wise) but works great! My next upgrade will be the 85 1.2L from Canon. I am currently renting it and honestly hooked! I also would love to have a tilt shift and a fish eye some day but I do have a lensbaby composer and LOVE it!
Who did your website for you?

Which one?? LOL! Well I have Bludomain for my flash site. It was a template I purchased from bludomain.com and customized myself. It was pretty easy honestly but I have heard some customer service horror stories so if you are looking into a new flash site I would tread carefully and google first. I have been VERY lucky to have a great experience judging by what I hear all the time! My blog for my photography (http://www.myfourhensphotography.com/blog) was a tofurious template that my good friend Becca from Graffiti chicks helped me set up when I was first starting out. I have since learned how to customize it and pretty it up myself thank you to the awesome Blog101 workshop I took! My shop right here was customized for me. My good friend Breeze Floyd wrote the html from scrap for me and I did all the design work in Illustrator.

I just bought my first DSLR camera. Do you have any advice you can offer?

Honestly this is going to sound super easy and like common sense but read the manual. You have SO much to learn just by reading that little paper booklet. I read mine a few times. Learn what each function does, what each mode is. And if there is something not in the manual you need to learn google, google and google! I have people ask all the time what classes they need, what workshops they should take. I am self taught with NO workshops, no formal schooling. It took me years to get where I am at and some of my first photos..scary LOL! You will def see progress over time though. And a big recommendation I have is to learn manual! When I bought my first DSLR i didn’t take it off manual. My first year the photos are absolutely horrendous but I knew that I wanted to truly know my camera inside and out. I wanted to know how it worked, how to make it work for me. I wanted to be proficient in different lighting situations and different groups of people and its paid off! That and trial and error of course! Also communities. I joined up at Ilovephotography.com right off the bat. It was recommended by a very kind photographer friend of mine and I admit the ground fell from underneath me LOL! Yeah I realized how bad I really was, but it made me want it more. It made me work harder. Now I am rambling sorry lol!! Also clickinmoms.com is another fav hang out of mine!!

I feel like I am FINALLY ready to start my own photography business! Any tips??

This is another question a lot of people ask me. I wish I had all the answers to this one. I can only speak from my experience. If there is one thing I learned at ILP (ilovephotography.com) it is skill before business. This can be somewhat touchy for some. I hear a lot of photogs starting out say my friends and family think I am awesome!! I think that is is great that you have such an amazing support system. And you may well be on your way to greatness! BUT there are a ton of aspects to business. Unfortunately a lot of new businesses (especially photography businesses) crash and burn in the first year. Some photographers are really even genuinely awesome. They just have no business sense. I went slow as molasses getting things together. I made sure that not only did I know what I was doing to deliver a consistent product to my clients but I learned the business aspect as much as I possibly can (and am still learning)I researched vendors, organizations, print labs, equipment, insurance, my target pricing, and the list goes on. I got my license, my tax id number, and all the things entailed to make sure that i was on the legal end of things. I pay my taxes and I charge sales tax. Uncle Sam needs his cut too in my country so I have to respect that! And it is an expensive business to be in! Maintaining equipment, getting the appropriate business material, marketing materials, studio samples, studio equipment if that applies, the cost of props, transportation, editing programs, website maintenance, buying lenses, flashes, camera bodies, childcare if that applies, and even just the cost of your time. You will have less time for your family, less time for your kids. Its a lot of work. Its worth it! It truly is not an easy road though! If I had to give ONE principle to hang on to my biggest piece of advice would be learn your camera. The business stuff will come after. God bless ya if you are still with me lol!!!

Raw of Jpeg??

Ahh the age old debate. I personally shoot raw. I like the control and the wiggle room. I think my ocd takes over and I end up spending twice the time editing (yes I can batch but I need the control lol!) But for me its So worth it.

What is your favorite Action set you have made?

Oy! This question never gets easier LOL! I think the one I use the most would be Little Rainbow from the Freshly Vintage Set and Just Love from the Hippy Dippy Trippy set.

Why don’t you release all of your action sets compatible with elements? Will you eventually have all the Cs and up Versions available for us Elements users?

The reason that I have some that are compatible and some that aren’t is because of the limitations of some of the tools in elements versus the Cs versions of photoshop. I love to create actions but when I am getting ready for a big release I tend to make tons of sets at a time so the CS and versions are kind of a creative release for me. Since I use the cs and up programs it is nice to be able to let my hair down so to speak and edit as I would if I were to edit my own photos. I do definitely plan to convert though. It will just take me some time because it can be tricky! I am hoping they will be all available in November around Black Friday time. (the notorious day after Thanksgiving lol!)

Will you ever make textures and when will those be released if so?

I am in the process of making textures and am shooting for a release during the same time the actions are converted and released!

Will you be offering mentor-ships or workshops?

I am not sure about a workshop but during my off season I may do 2 day intensive one on one mentor-ships online for non locals! Stay tuned for more info on that!

There is just a few of the most popular ones! I will be working on some fun tutorials to be featured this coming October (maybe sooner!)

Have a wonderful day!!!