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Top 5 Tips for Reinventing your Brand

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Feb 15Categories: How to Become a Photographer No Comments

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As a wedding photographer, what helps you stand out from others in the industry? Setting yourself apart from photographers who have similar qualities as you can give you an advantage when it comes to attracting and booking your ideal clients. Although discovering your unique qualities helps you and your business, it can sometimes become difficult to create a new strategy to market your brand.

In our Live Event Recording with legendary photographer, Joe Buissink, he shared how you can reinvent your brand and make it new again. Your past work speaks to who you are and the experience your clients will have when they book you. So you can properly use your content to attract the clients you want to work with, here are the top 5 tips for reinventing your brand.

1. Find Unique Qualities

As you begin to reinvent your brand, look at your past images and study them. After a bit of studying time, you will find yourself in every one of those photos. This helps you find your unique qualities because it gives you a look into why you shoot the way you do.

“You cannot possibly hit the shutter without leaving a piece of you in the image.” – Joe Buissink

When you study your photos, think about why you take certain shots. What from your background makes you who you are? Because your experiences shape you as a photographer today, your style will be represented in your photos.

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6 Simple Ways to Select the Best Black and White Images

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Feb 10Categories: Wedding Photography Ideas No Comments

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When a typical wedding shoot is over, how many images do you usually upload onto your computer? Chances are, you shot thousands of photos for the event; some from the getting ready, the ceremony, the reception, and the exit. After you send your images to a photo editing company, like ShootDotEdit, you receive back color corrected photos which you can then add your artistic style to.

Depending on your style, you may consider converting some of your images to black and white. Choosing which images should be black and white can be an easy process, as long as you know what to look for. So you can quickly work on your images during your post-wedding photos, here are 6 simple ways to select the best black and white images.

1. Shoot for Black and White

As you shoot the wedding day, pay attention to the moments and photos you are capturing. Just as you should shoot for the story of the wedding day, shoot for images which would look best black and white. After you snap a few photos, take a look at your camera to see what they look like. Training your eye to know what moments would translate properly into black and white can help you immensely during your post-wedding workflow.

wedding ceremony bride and father

Image by David West Photography

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19 Hashtags You Need to Use on Instagram

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Feb 08Categories: Social Media Tips No Comments
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Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms for wedding photography business owners. Using Instagram to attract new clients and grow your wedding photography business is a smart strategy, but where do you turn to attract viewers to your Instagram page? Hashtags are the #1 way to drive traffic to your Instagram account, and we’ve done the research on the top wedding hashtags on Instagram.

Download our free Instagram Guide here, with over 20 pages of Instagram tips and tricks from 10 successful wedding photographers!

Hashtags on social media are not a new concept. Other social media platforms allow you to use hashtags, as well. On Instagram, though, hashtags are one of the top ways to skyrocket your reach to find and book potential clients. Using hashtags properly allows for you to get noticed by couples that are in your target market. But how can you find the most relevant hashtags for your account?

Over the past year, we’ve gone out and done the research for you. ShootDotEdit is the first choice post processing partner for the professional wedding photographer. We provide wedding photo editing for pro wedding photographers and portrait photographers. Here are the 19 hashtags we’ve found you need to use on Instagram, along with a few advanced tips and tricks to maximize your Instagram strategy. Lastly, don’t miss the bonus we have for you!

Wedding Hashtags for Instagram

When a bride is searching on Instagram for inspiration, she will likely search for wedding-related hashtags. Including wedding-related hashtags on your posts, even ones you wouldn’t think have a lot of traction on them, help place you in front of clients who are ideal for your business. Bridal hashtags on Instagram that are best to use for your wedding photography are:

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5 Wedding Photography Email Templates You Need

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Feb 02Categories: How to Become a Photographer 4 Comments

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When you are constantly meeting and booking new clients, your workload increases and you receive more tasks and projects which must be completed. Incorporating systems into your business to help you quickly master your workflow is necessary for you to succeed. Here at ShootDotEdit, we understand how important it is to have multiple systems in place, especially when it comes to tasks which take up your time.

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Wedding Photographers Reveal their Source of Inspiration

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Feb 01Categories: Wedding Photography Ideas No Comments
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Take a moment and think back to when you first decided you wanted to become a photographer. What was the first thing that made you decide to do this for a living? One of the biggest reasons may be the passion you have for capturing stunning photos of your couple’s special day. Even if you also love the business owner portion of your job, running a photography business is not always the easiest task. So you can continue to grow and improve your business, even when you feel discouraged, we reached out to a few industry pros to find out what inspires them to create the best photography business possible.

Discover Your Value

With the multiple tasks constantly on your plate, how do you maintain your happiness and take care of the tasks which will contribute to your overall goals? Rachel Rossetti, Pittsburgh wedding and portrait photographer, finds inspiration through understanding what is valuable in her life.

“Real inspiration to grow my photography business did not happen until I realized that my time is valuable. My personal relationships are valuable. My health is valuable.  I am valuable. Real inspiration was discovering what I loved about photography, and separating that from the menial tasks that stood in the way of me getting better at those parts.” – Rachel Rossetti

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Top 5 Tips: In Person Sales for Wedding Photography Business Owners

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Jan 28Categories: How to Become a Photographer No Comments

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When you decided to become a photography business owner, there may have been a few areas which you were unsure of, specifically in person photography sales. As the artist behind the camera, do you desire to reach out and master in person sales photography but feel uncomfortable doing so? What if you could create a service for your clients rather than feeling like a pushy salesperson?

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Lightroom vs. Photoshop: When You Should Use Each

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Jan 26Categories: Lightroom & Photoshop Tips No Comments

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As a photographer who is busy working with clients, shooting their engagement and wedding photos, and spending hours on your post-wedding workflow, incorporating tools that help you decrease your time spent is crucial to your success. Of the workflow options you have, two of the highest regarded programs for photographers are Lightroom and Photoshop. Each of these post-wedding workflow systems assists you in quickly working on images to send to your clients. They are also programs you can use after your images are color corrected by a wedding photo editing service, such as ShootDotEdit.

Sometimes, it can be confusing to know which one you should be using during your post-wedding workflow, especially when you may be knowledgeable about both. For you to have the fastest workflow possible, we wanted to share with you what the appropriate times are to use both Lightroom and Photoshop.

Retouching

During the wedding shoot, you do your best to make your clients look flawless. Sometimes, there are unflattering elements in the photos, such as stray hairs or blemishes which are apparent in the image. When you are looking to quickly fix these issues, Photoshop allows you to use various tools, like the spot healing brush and patch tool to retouch your photos. Lightroom also has some great tools for basic retouching. If you want to do basic blemish removal and skin smoothing, you can stay in Lightroom to perform your edits. When you are looking to perform heavy retouching, which requires the liquify tool and others, you can use Photoshop for this.

Related: How can creating a strong and recognizable brand through your images skyrocket your bookings?

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How to Keep your Gear Safe in Dangerous Conditions

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Jan 22Categories: Wedding Shooting No Comments

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As a wedding photographer, your photography gear is part of the reason you have the ability to take gorgeous photos. Regardless of how expensive or new your equipment is, keeping your gear safe is crucial. When you shoot the engagement session or wedding day, there is always a chance you may be working in conditions which are not ideal, especially for the safety of your gear. Purchasing gear can become quite the expense for your business, so replacing it every time you shoot in unpleasant weather may not necessarily be feasible for your bottom line.

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24 Keywords you Need to Include in your Blog

Author: ShootDotEditOn: Jan 21Categories: How to Become a Photographer 1 Comment

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If you jotted down the hours you spent writing, publishing, and sharing your blog, how much of your workflow are you spending on these tasks? Your blog is key to attracting ideal clients to your photography business, so the time you put into it should be strategically planned out. Focusing on mastering the techniques necessary to rank higher on search engines can assist you in reaching clients who are perfect for you. Incorporating keywords which your ideal clients search for is crucial to placing your content in front of couples looking for a photographer.

When an ideal client types a keyword into a search engine, your blog can be one of the top posts if keywords (and SEO) are added correctly. These keywords can be featured in your blog posts (your images, title, and Yoast SEO). As well as using typical keywords such as “photographer” and “wedding photographer,” including more specific keywords into your blog posts gives you a larger chance of reaching clients. But, how do you know what keywords will work for you as a photographer? Starting today, use these 24 keywords in your blog posts to help reach your ideal clients.

Share Your Specialty

In your blog posts, include keywords to share your specialty with searching couples. A bride and groom who live in Northern California and desire to have an outdoor wedding will most likely search for keywords that match their vision for the big day. Keywords which share your specialty can be:

1. Destination Wedding Photographer: This description informs your ideal client that you are a photographer who travels to shoot weddings.
2. New York Wedding Photographer: When each of your weddings are shot in one location, use a keyword that shares the location to inform ideal clients of your specialty.
3. Outdoor Wedding Photographer: Including a keyword which shares your unique specialty narrows down the clients who you will reach (which means you will have more ideal clients to share content with).

Tip: Discover the most popular keywords with Wordtracker or Moz. These tools can help you learn what keywords are most popular for your ideal clients.

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