Got tethering issues? You’ve probably found this post because you’re in the middle of a shoot and your tethering stopped working.

If you’re like me, tethering is integral to your workflow. It’s not just plugging in a cable—it enhances your creativity and allows you to take better photos in real-time. 

Tethering connection issues are frustrating. Trust me, we’ve all been there. The only way to remedy this is to go through a troubleshooting checklist.

Quick Tethering Connection Issues Tips

Here, I’m going to share my top tethering troubleshooting tips so that you can get back into your creative workflow stat. These are:

1. Check that your camera is supported
2. Restart your computer
3. Turn your camera on and off
4. Unplug and reconnect
5. Check your memory card
6. Confirm your camera is recognized
7. Turn off sleep mode
8. Try a fully charged battery
9. Check for updates
10. Test another cable
11. Check for a loose or damaged port
12. Consider whether you need a booster
13. Wait to make upgrades and updates

Try these tips before you do anything else

1. Check that your camera is supported

This should be the first thing you do: make sure your camera is supported by the software you’re using. 

Sometimes, older cameras are the problem—but new cameras can have just as many issues. It can take a little while to update the software and get in, so you want to check that your camera is working with the software.

2. Restart your computer

In many cases, a computer restart just fixes things! I know that it can be annoying to take the time to restart—but if it solves your tethering connection issue, it can be the fastest way to get you back to your shoot.

3. Turn your camera on and off

This is the troubleshooting tip that works for me the most often. Super simple to just switch your camera off and then back on—and it just might solve your problem!

Still having issues? Run through these quick tips

If the above three tips didn’t solve your tethering woes, we’ll need to move on to some other solutions. Move through these quickly and see if one of them will take care of the issue.

4. Unplug and reconnect

Unplug your camera and try plugging it back into your computer. If possible, try using a different port. I can’t tell you how many times this has worked for me!

5. Check your memory card

Memory cards are different depending on your camera make and model, and sometimes the formatting of the card can be wonky. Try tethering with the memory card in, then with it out. If it’s still not working, grab a freshly formatted memory card and try that.

6. Confirm your camera is recognized

Most cameras have a little icon to let you know that they’re connected to the computer. My Nikon has a symbol that says “PC” and I know when I see that symbol, the computer is properly reading the camera.

7. Turn off sleep mode

Sleep mode can definitely interrupt your tethering connection. If sleep mode is on, make sure you turn it off before trying to tether.

8. Try a fully charged battery

If all else fails, grab a brand new battery to make sure that your tethering connection issues aren’t the result of a dead or dying battery,

No luck? Let’s dig a little deeper

I’ve taught thousands of students how to edit and faced lots of tethering problems from the community. While these solutions might seem a little obscure, give them a try!

taught thousands of students how to edit

9. Check for updates

Update to the latest software or check for a firmware update for your camera. These are super important and unfortunately, they take a little longer to try, but keep them in mind if nothing else seems to be working. 

10. Test another cable

It could be your cable, so I recommend testing another cable—like the one you use for your hard drive. Sometimes it’s not something you’ve done but a faulty cable from the start. Trying a new cable can eliminate this as a potential problem. 

11. Check for a loose or damaged port

In some cases, you can loosen or weaken the port that the cable plugs into on your camera. Usually, this happens because you’re not using a tether block to keep the cable stable—and it’s nearly impossible to fix.

You’ll be able to identify this as the problem if your tethering connection bounces in and out if you move your camera. You might lose your connection, but then it returns once you put the camera down. Push the cable into the port really hard and tape it there. If your connection stabilizes, it’s a good indication that your port is damaged.

If you have a damaged port and you can’t afford to get a new camera, try using a tether block. This will make sure your cable is stable and won’t move around at all. 

12. Consider whether you need a booster

Long cables sometimes require boosters. If you’re using a cable that’s longer than 3 metres or 9 feet, a booster can help stabilize your connection. This isn’t always an issue with newer computers and newer cameras, but it’s something to keep in mind!

13. Wait to make upgrades and updates

If nothing else works, it might just be an issue with the software—and sometimes fixing that is beyond our control. You have to wait for the company to release an incremental update that might solve the problem. 

I don’t tend to update my software right away. I usually wait a bit to see if the community notes any issues. If there aren’t any, I’ll go ahead and do the update myself. 

Kick your tethering workflow up a notch

My workflow relies heavily on tethering, so I know how annoying it is when something breaks. I hope these tips have helped you get back up and running! 

If you’re ready to discover what a professional tethering workflow could look like, check out my mini course, Tethered Flow. 

The post 13 Quick Tips for Fixing Tethering Connection Issues appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

This post may contain affiliate links from products and services we love and trust.

Have you ever taken a shot and the subjects at the edge of the frame feel like they are ‘falling out’ or tipping over? Something’s off, it just looks weird. 

The reason behind this is what’s known as perspective distortion. It has to do with the combination of focal length (from your lens) and the distance to our subject from the camera.

The ‘why’ behind this has to do with the relationship between the focal length of your lens and your positioning. 

If you’re looking to capture beautifully straight, commercial-quality beverage photos then let’s check out some tips to avoid perspective distortion.

In this post, we will check out the results of using a full-frame versus cropped sensor for the 200mm, 105mm, 50mm & 35mm lenses. 

Choice of Lens Matters⁠⁠ with Perspective Distortion

Perspective distortion has to do with your choice of lens and the distance the subject is from the camera. This occurs mostly with wide-angle lenses. Photographers try to get closer with their wider focal lengths.

When we do this, the size of your subject will look disproportionally large compared to the background. Make the drink look weird.

Try to avoid wide-angle lenses and instead use a narrow focal length.

Shoot With a Narrow Lense Instead

When using a narrow lens you want to position the camera further from your subject. Sometimes you’ll be super far away – that’s ok. It’ll provide you with excellent compression that also gives straight lines and glassware.⁠⁠

Here’s a good rule of thumb for which lenses to shoot with.

FULL FRAME CAMERAS	CROPPED SENSOR CAMERAS
200mm (70-200mm zoom)	90/100/105mm macros
90/100/105mm macros	60mm
85mm	50mm
60mm	35mm
50mm	18-55mm zoom lens
35mm

Let’s take a look visually at perspective distortion when photographing drinks with the above lenses for a full-frame camera.

Reduce Perspective Distortion: Get Further From Your Subject

Photography is expensive and if you’re just starting out, you might not have a range of lenses to choose from. If you can’t use a narrow lens as recommended above, my advice is to get further from your subject and crop the image.

Rather than getting close-up and having your drinks feel like they are tipping over.

Want to learn more? Read these related posts.

2 Types of Distortion That Will Harm Your Food Photos

32 Awesome Drink Photography Tips to Improve Your Drink Photos

The Ultimate Guide to Lenses For Food Photography

The post Tips to Avoid Perspective Distortion When Photographing Drinks appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

It’s no easy task to make a bowl of liquid look appetising. The smell, the flavour… that’s what makes soup so good. As a food photographer, you have to take your viewer on a journey of what the taste is going to be like.

Here, we’re going to break down one how-to-style soup, gazpacho, to look incredible on camera.

Prefer to watch this blog post? Check out the video on YouTube.

The Base: a Red Bowl of Soup

When I blended the soup, I didn’t try to get it smooth—I wanted a little bit of texture. I made sure to check the soup as it was blending and stopped once I was happy with the consistency.

The recipe called for basil, but blending the basil in the soup resulted in a less-than-beautiful brown colour. Instead, I cut the basil up really finely and gently mixed it through the soup on set.

This tells the viewer about the flavour: they can expect to taste a bit of herb in there.

Garnishes: Hinting at the Flavours

The garnishes we use help the viewer understand what’s in the soup, what kind of taste they can expect, and what kind of texture they will find. This is very important when it comes to how you style soup.

With this gazpacho, I had three main things to use as garnish: cucumbers, onion, and basil.

• How can I create those garnishes with different cuts and different looks?
• How can I bring interest to this dish?

Cucumber

I didn’t want the cucumbers cut in a typical round or half-moon shape—I wanted to show off the beautiful seeds and colour. Going with a rectangular cut that would be different from the size of the onion.

I used my tweezers to place each bit of cucumber into the soup, rearranging and adding more so that it felt organic and had natural movement.

Red Onion

The red plays really nicely with the cucumber! I cut my onion finely and scattered it across the top to help style the soup. I took a shot and thought that it needed a bit more—so I added a little more and then took another shot.

Best practice: Start with a little bit less and add more as you go. It’s easier to add than to remove some if you put too much!

Basil

I like to use the rule of odds, so I chose an odd number of leaves in different sizes. I placed them in the bowl so that they were moving the eye around—not pointing in the same direction. This helps the eye take in all the different textures.

If you have some hero basil, you can pop it outside the dish to reinforce the tastes that are happening when you style the soup.

Salt & Pepper

Never underestimate the power of a little bit of salt and pepper!

When you’re ready to take the shot, sprinkle a bit of salt—I like using crystallized salt that breaks up in your fingers so that each grain is a little different. Then, a sprinkle of pepper. 

The liquid will absorb the salt and pepper, so make sure you’re ready to capture that hero shot right after you sprinkle your salt and pepper.

Quick Recap: How to Style Soup

When you’re styling soup, you want to think about:

• Colours
• Textures
• Shapes
• Sizes

You should always be asking yourself, how can I make this interesting? When you’re ready for the client shoot, you can play with different spoons, napkins, and other props to see what works best.

Happy styling!

The post Step-by-Step Tips to Style Soup for Photos: Gazpacho appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Let’s talk about Lightroom hacks! You’ve planned your shoot, captured great images, and now it’s time for post-production. Whether you’re still getting your footing in Lightroom or are a seasoned pro, hacks to make photo editing easier are always welcome.

Lightroom is powerful, and it’s full of features that can give your post-production workflow a little boost. Some of them are obvious while others fly a little more under the radar.

I’m breaking down some of my fave hacks—the ones you’ll want to use all the time—that can help you use Lightroom more effectively and efficiently. 

Lightroom Hacks for Colour

1. Change the background colour

Right-click on the background of your image and select your desired colour. 

2. Change the colour of the local adjustment overlay

Open up any local adjustment and in the Masking Panel, select the little coloured square to change the colour of the mask.

Workflow Lightroom Hacks

3. Sort your images by those that have been edited

You’ll find this option in the Develop module. Look at the bottom toolbar under filters, in between starred and flagged images.

4. Easily see your edits

This one uses the Magic Alt Key—Alt or Option on a Mac. It will apply black and white tone so you can see your edits at a glance or reset adjustments and sliders.

5. Rotate or flip an image

Make sure you’re in the Develop module. Right-click on your image and select Transform, then choose how you want to adjust it. You can rotate or flip horizontally or vertically.

6. Apply the same edits from your previous image to the next

Don’t need bulk edits? In the Develop module, select the image you just edited and click on the next image to which you want to apply those edits. Simply hit Previous to apply them one by one!

This is a button that I use a lot in my workflow to save time and edit as I go.

7. Show/hide adjustment panels

Right-click on your right-side adjustment panels to show or hide them. Expand them all or choose solo mode to open them one at a time.

8. Create virtual copies of your images

Creating copies of your image lets you easily compare different edits. Right-click on the image and select Create Virtual Copy.

Organisation Hacks in Lightroom

9. Personalize your identity plate

Right-click on the Lightroom identity plate in the top left corner. Select Edit Identity Plate to customise.

10. Start a new catalogue for new calendar years or different types of clients.

Under the File menu, choose New Catalogue or Open Catalogue.

11. Export to DNG

Want to send someone a raw file with your edits? Right-click the image and choose Export, then Export to DNG.

Ready to turn your RAW files into WOW files? Learn how to use all the tools Lightroom offers to find your editing style and improve your images with my Lightroom Magic masterclass.

You’ll get access to everything you need to navigate Lightroom like a pro:

• Step-by-step video demos of every tool in Lightroom Classic
• How to use Masks and layering
• Learn Editing for 6 Different Moods from Dark to Light.
• How to Use Lr CC For Mobile.
• Managing Catalogues + Backups.
• On-demand access

Join today to level up your post-production and get your work noticed!

If you enjoyed this post on Lightroom Hacks, make sure you also check out:

• Don’t Use The Rule of Thirds: 6 Composition Grids to Use Instead
• How to Choose The Best Food Photography Backdrops
• Dynamic Symmetry Basics: What it is And How it Improves Composition

The post 11 Essential Lightroom Hacks to Save You Time appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

If Lightroom has always been your preferred editing platform, learning the equivalent tools in Capture One can seem daunting.

Capture One doesn’t have every tool that Lightroom does, and vice versa. This is because Adobe and Phase One use different algorithms and image decoders. 

You’ll notice that in certain tools, some sliders might be combined or function differently simply because of the way the tool processes data in the image. But generally speaking, editing tools are similar and you’ll be able to use your favourite tools on both platforms.

Buckle up! We’re breaking down where to find all your go-to Lightroom tools in Capture One—and we might even help you find some new ones that you won’t be able to live without.

If you’re new to Capture One, here are the tips you need to know.

Navigation and Workflow Tools

Here’s where you’ll find all the basics. You know—how to import, where to access presets, how to navigate between Library and Develop modules, and where to view the histograms. 

It might take a minute to smooth out your workflow in Capture One, but these tools are where you should start.

Masks and Layers

You’ll find your all-important masks in the Local Adjustments tool tab. You’ll notice some different names—like Draw Mask instead of LR’s Brush—but generally speaking, these should be fairly easy to get used to.

Masking Lightroom Tools in Capture One look like:

Cropping, Orientating and Removal

These tools are located in the Lens or Composition Tool tabs, and Color or Exposure tab. There’s one tool you might rely on in Lightroom that you won’t find in Capture One: red-eye remover.

Individual Lightroom Editing Panels

If you’re looking for the Tone Curve panel, head to the Exposure Tool tab in Capture One. You’ll find that most colour and detail tool names are consistent between the two platforms, though Capture One combines some noise reduction tools into the Color slider.

Here’s a full breakdown of the various editing panels and Lightroom Tools in Capture One.

Lightroom Tone Curve Panel in Capture One

Lightroom HSL Panel in Capture One

Lightroom Color Grading Panel in Capture One

Lightroom Details Panel in Capture One

Lightroom Lens Correction Panel in Capture One

Lightroom Transform Panel in Capture One

Lightroom Effects Panel in Capture One

Capture One is a very powerful and customisable program. These are the default places where you’ll find your compatible Lightroom Tools for Capture One users.

It’s no secret that Capture One is the most powerful editing tool you can get your hands on. If you want to use it to its full potential, Capture One Magic is here for you! You’ll get access to everything you need to navigate Capture One like a pro:

• 7 workshop modules with quick + actionable tool video demonstrations
• Transition from Lightroom to Capture One
• 3-Step Core Editing Formula
• Learn Pro Colour Correction, Masking + Workflow
• Get Started with + Improve  Your Tethering
• Easy Install Workspace & Export Recipes
• On-demand access

Join today to level up your post-production and get your work noticed!

The post Your Ultimate Guide to Lightroom Tools in Capture One appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Throughout my years of teaching editing, I’ve found that color grading feels daunting for many photographers. In this post, I will share 3 simple ways you can think about incorporating color grading in food photography.

It’s definitely something that takes time to be done well, but most people just aren’t sure where to begin. I’ve created 10 simple Color Grading Adjustment Presets for Lightroom to help you dip your toe into the water!

What is Color Grading?

Firstly, let’s cover what color grading is!

Color grading involves adding colored tones to your shadows, midtones, and highlights—independently or globally.

It’s common in photography, videography, and film because it helps give an image (or video) a specific look and feel. 

For example:

Add blue to your shadows, yellow to your midtones, and orange to your highlights without adding those colors anywhere else in your image for a creative look.

Add a golden-orange color globally—to all tones—to create a warm feeling in the image

Color grading can be intense or subtle. In food photography, subtle is the way to go to add mood and emotion.

Color Grading Editing Tools

No matter what editing program you use, you’ll likely have access to color grading tools.

The Color Balance Tool in Capture One

If you use Capture One, color grading is called the Color Balance Tool. It’s very simple to use. Simply select the Tone Wheel you want to add color to, (Shadows, Midtones or Highlights) and drag the middle cirle to the desired color.

The Color Grading Panel in Lightroom

In Lightroom, you’ll find color grading in the Color Grading Panel with four sliders:

• Balance: Helps you balance the shadows, midtones, and highlights that you adjust
• Luminance control: Gives you control over the color correction of very specific tones in your image
• Blending: Helps you seamlessly merge all the colors you adjusted

Of course, it’s a little more nuanced than just moving some sliders around! To get to know all the ins and outs of these advanced editing programs, sign up for my Lightroom Magic or Capture One Magic course.

3 Simple Ways to Use Color Grading in Food Photography

Throughout my years of teaching editing, I’ve found that color grading feels daunting for many photographers. It’s definitely something that takes time to be done well, but most people just aren’t sure where to begin.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

Use Color Theory:

Consider your analogous, complementary, and monochromatic colors when you’re deciding which ones to use for shadows, midtones, and highlights

Add Warm For a Comforting Feeling:

Warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows will offer a warm, cozy, comforting feeling

Add coolness For a Fresh Feeling:

Cool colors like blues, greens, and purples will make your image feel cool, crisp, and refreshing

Want to dabble in color grading for food photography? I’ve created 10 color grading presets to help you get started! They’re compatible with Lightroom Classic or Lightroom Mobile and include step-by-step instructions for easy installation.

Got color grading questions? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 3 Simple Ways to Use Color Grading in Food Photography appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

This post may contain affiliate links from products and services we love and trust.

Hard light food photography has become more and more popular and it’s not hard to see why — it’s beautiful!

This post is an advanced lighting tutorial for those wanting to create filled hard light for their next photoshoot. I’ll be using my Profoto Strobes and a few modifiers to get this look.

Prefer to watch instead? Check out my YouTube video.

Gear I Used to Create This Filled Hard Light Shot

I tend to mostly be a minimalist when it comes to my gear or lighting setups, but it’s also important to challenge yourself with larger, more intricate setups.

Here’s a list of lighting gear items and modifiers I used for this shot:

1. Profoto B10 250 w/s + Profoto B1 (discontinued)
2. Profoto 2′ x 3′ Softbox
3. Aputure Barndoors with Honeycomb Grid
4. Manfrotto Boom Stand
5. Strobepro 7′ 2GO Lighting Stands
6. Black Foam Board
7. Plastic Lid of tupperware container + indoor plant

The main reason that we are using two lights here is to help ‘fill’ the hard shadows. Hard light can often have deep, contrasty and unforgiving shadows.

What is Filled Hard Light and Why do we Fill it?

Hard light is a type of lighting and is categorised by shadows that have ‘hard edges‘. This happens when the transition between the light and shadowed area is abrupt. It creates a defined edge or ‘hard shadow’.

Side note: Hard light isn’t always ‘harsh’. Calling lighting ‘harsh’ is a judgement call. It’s not a type of lighting. The correct term is hard light.

The best way to think about hard light is in the midday sun on a clear sunny day. The shadows on the ground have a hard edge, and the shadows are usually deep, (unless filled!)

Hard light can be both filled or unfilled.

When we ‘fill’ hard light, the shadows essentially become lighter because we are using light to ‘fill’ or bounce into those areas.

If you’ve ever sat under a tree in late summer, surrounded by dead grass or concrete, you’ll notice the shadows feel lighter — because they have been ‘filled’.

Using Modifiers to Create Filled Hard Light Food Photography

People often refer to hard light as ‘harsh light’ but hard light isn’t always harsh. The lighting in this shot isn’t harsh feeling. It’s quite calm and warm feeling thanks to the filled shadows.

If you’re after a bright summer feeling, dappled-filled hard light is a great way to light your photo.

Let’s go through the lighting modifiers I used to create hard light food photography.

Aputure Barndoors with Honeycomb Grid

The barn doors are used to shape light. Often if you use a bare strobe, the light tends to shoot out in all directions. You use the flaps on the barndoors to control the shape of the light to control spill.

I’ve used it here to create a very concentrated, rectangular beam of light.

Paired with the Honeycomb Grid, I can control the amount of light.

Plastic tupperware Container Lid

This is literally the lid off a container of flatware (props) and you can think of it as acting like a diffuser. At its height and position, it’s creating very slight diffusion to help soften the light coming through the barndoors.

My typical diffusers or a sheet cut too much light out.

Indoor Plant

I used a strawberry plant that I had left over from another shoot and placed it on the side of the frame. The idea here is that the light shoots through the plant’s leaves to create dappled light.

Just like you see sitting under a tree in summer. You can use any indoor plant that you have, small sparse leaves work the best.

Second Light with Profoto 2′ x 3′ Softbox

The idea behind the use of the second light is to create ‘fill’.

Now, I didn’t want to point it straight at the scene because I don’t want it to be the key light. Pointing it up at the ceiling, the light will indirectly bounce off the ceiling and onto our scene — creating fill light.

Where to Position the Lights

Now that we’ve covered what hard light is and the modifiers used to create filled-dappled hard light food photography, let’s talk about the placement of the lights and modifiers

The Key Light: Profoto B10 250 w/s with Aputure Barndoors

I placed the key light for hard light food photography high above your scene and pointed down towards the setup.

I had my lighting stand extended fully at 2m (6.5ft) tall — almost touching the ceiling. It was approximately 1.5m (5ft) distance from my scene. Positioned to the top right of the frame for directional lighting.

The black foam board is to further control spill light and is just in front of the key light without being so close it cuts out light completely.

The Fill Light: Profoto B1 (discontinued) with Profoto 2′ x 3′ Softbox

We also positioned the fill light to the top of the frame, but on the left side. The most important position here is that the light and softbox are pointing upwards towards the ceiling.

The light will bounce off the ceiling and create ‘fill’ on our scene and creating light, hard shadows.

The power of the light is also very low. It’s below half the power of our key light.

Modifiers: Tupperware Lid + Indoor Plant

I placed these to items closer to the scene to act as a very light diffuser (the tupperware lid) and to create dappled light (strawberry plant).

I played with the position and height of the strawberry plant so as to create dappled shadows in the bottom corner of the frame and not over the hero food.

Further reading: if you’re interested in reading more about Lighting setups –

How Learning Low Key Product Photography Improved My Creativity

Photography Flags: Add Stunning Dimension & Contrast to Your Food Photos.

Softboxes For Product Photography: What You Need to Know.

Create Dappled Light Using a Speedlite: How to Guide.

The post Get The Look: Filled Hard Light Food Photography Setup appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Photography backdrops are the backbone of our photos. I can’t emphasise how important they are! They can literally make or break our images.

When I first started out as a food photographer I didn’t have a lot of money and tried to make my own backgrounds. They were ok, but I soon realised that investing in quality backdrops for food photos was one of the most important things I could do for my food story and composition.

I get a lot of questions about the backdrops that I use, and while this is not an exhaustive list of places you can buy from, I’m sharing the photography backdrops I own, where I got them from and their names, (if I can remember!).

Here are some of the backdrops in my collection I use the most, in alphabetical order:

• Backdrop Shoprs
• Bessie Bakes Backdrops
• Captured By Lucy Backdrops
• Duo Boards by V-Flat World
• Food Styling Backgrounds
• JipyFondos
• Poppy Bee Surfaces
• Texturit
• Woodville Workshop

How to Choose The Best Food Photography Backdrops

After shooting food for over ten years, I’ve learned a few things about what works in camera with backdrops, (and what doesn’t!).

When it comes to choosing a photography backdrop, the things I look out for are the following:

• Texture — oodles of it. Real-to-the-touch texture plays really nicely in camera. It’s something that’s hard to get on printed boards.
• Matte — shiny boards are tough to control and need a lot of editing. Choose something matte.
• Variety of hues — boards with specs of different hues feel more natural than solid colours.
• Size — you need boards you can set up a scene on.

What is the Best Sized Photography Backdrop?

Let’s talk about the size a bit more. Every photographer creates differently, but the larger the backdrop the easier it is to photograph fuller scenes.

My favourite size to use is 72cm х 120cm – 28″ x 47″ or a dining table size. I definitely have smaller surfaces and my vinyl surfaces are typically 60cm x 90cm – 2′ x 3′. I would generally not go smaller than this.

Vinyl or Wood Backdrops — Which Are Better?

The age-old question. A lot of us have been burnt by vinyl and there is some pretty poor-quality vinyl out there. I’ve been there!

But I also have some incredible vinyl surfaces, with quality details, colours and texture reproductions.

Vinyl is great for:

• Portable and transportable due to lightweight.
• Easy storage for small spaces or home studios.
• More affordable.
• Reduced shipping cost due to weight.

My favourite vinyl backdrop companies are:

Wood is great for:

• Real-life texture that adds to photos.
• Easy to change and stand boards up during a shoot.
• Can buy custom textures and sizes.
• Usually, give the best quality in photos.

My favourite wood photography backdrop companies are:

Generally, if you choose cheap vinyl, you’ll be disappointed and your photos will suffer too. The vinyl companies I’ve listed here, I love the quality.

What Colours Should I Include in My Collection?

I used to be really scared of using brightly coloured photography backgrounds. Now, it’s one of my favourite composition techniques.

If you have a limited budget, however, you’ll want to try and make your collection go as far as possible. Therefore, I recommend sticking to neutrals.

Staple colours:

• Textured Off whites and greys.
• Subtle blues and blue-greys.
• Dark greys, charcoals and textured blacks.
• Warm and cool-toned woods or faux wood.

It’s also nice to have a few coloured options for clients.

Bolder colours:

• Blush pink.
• Bold blues.
• Burnt orange or rich brown.

Of course, you can have as many colours as you’d like. These are the colours that I recommend getting started with so you can make your collection go as far as possible for variety and client needs.

Do you have a favourite backdrop company, colour or size that I haven’t mentioned? I love to know so I can keep an eye out. You can never have too many backdrops, right?

Interested in learning how to make your own backdrop? You can check out this post on Best DIY Backdrops.

If you enjoyed this post on choosing the best backdrops, make sure you also check out:

• Don’t Use The Rule of Thirds: 6 Composition Grids to Use Instead
• 11 Essential Lightroom Hacks to Save You Time
• Dynamic Symmetry Basics: What it is And How it Improves Composition

The post How to Choose The Best Food Photography Backdrops appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

While it’s not always realistic to use composition grids when you’re shooting, guides like the six I’m about to share with you are super helpful when it comes time to crop your images.

You’ll find all of these in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Capture One—but not every guide will work for every image. As the photographer, it’s your job to figure out what feels most natural, balanced, and interesting to you.

Exploring the visual impact of cropping is an amazing way to improve your image. (And spoiler alert—I have 38 composition cropping guides that you can start using right away!)

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to working with composition grids, but it will give you a good start! Let’s dive in.

Composition Grid #1: Rule of Thirds

You’ve probably heard of this one before—it’s one of the first composition theories that most people learn. Now it’s time to unlearn it.

The rule of thirds divides the frame into nine equal areas—3 x 3. Then, you place important elements in your photo along one or more of the lines where they intersect.

The five other techniques we’re going to discuss are more powerful for creating tension, balance, movement, and interest. But the rule of thirds is a great introduction to getting out of the habit of framing your subjects in the middle.

Composition Grid #2: Golden Triangle

The golden triangle is just one of the guides that relies on the Golden Ratio—a naturally occurring ratio of 1:1.618 that is perfectly balanced and aesthetically pleasing.

This guide divides your frame using a diagonal line and two smaller, reciprocal lines from the other corners to meet the main diagonal line. The result? A series of triangles and intersecting lines on which to place the elements of your image.

Composition Grid #3: Diagonal

Diagonals help create movement, energy, and emotion in your image.

The diagonal and reciprocal lines are part of the golden triangle we just talked about. Artists tend to intuitively place subjects on these intersecting diagonal lines to strengthen the image and reinforce tension.

Composition Grid #4: Phi Grid

The phi grid divides the golden ratio frame into 1 : 1.618 : 1 portions horizontally and vertically. You’ll place your main subjects along the intersecting lines. 

While the rule of thirds can seem too obvious and sometimes create imbalance, the phi grid looks more natural, balanced, and visually pleasing.

Composition Grid #5: Fibonacci Spiral

The Fibonacci spiral is based on a complicated series of squares, which help position elements. The spiral then gives you an idea of how the scene in the image should flow—through curved leading lines to a focal point. 

Also known as the golden spiral, this tool is perfect when you’re dealing with curved lines or compositional movement.

Composition Grid #6: Dynamic Symmetry

Dynamic symmetry is a compositional grid system that uses vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines to create rhythm, unity, and movement in your images—to make them aesthetically pleasing.

You can use it as a cropping tool or placement tool when creating and composing still-life images. You can also use it while tethering and adjusting your subjects in real-time.

Want to do a deep dive to master this concept and learn tips that will help composition come easier to you? Sign up for Composition Essentials and you’ll get:

• 7 modules of video tutorials focusing on composition
• 5 in-action styling photoshoots (from setup to final capture)
• Instructional food styling videos
• 5 creative photo assignments
• On-demand access

You’ll be on your way to finding your trademark style—and learning how to evolve it!

If you enjoyed this post on 6 Composition Grids, make sure you also check out:

• How to Choose The Best Food Photography Backdrops
• 11 Essential Lightroom Hacks to Save You Time
• Dynamic Symmetry Basics: What it is And How it Improves Composition

The post Don’t Use The Rule of Thirds: 6 Composition Grids to Use Instead appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Improving your composition improves your photographs. It’s really that simple!

Importantly it’s not about ‘experimenting’ or ‘trying things out’ until you get what you’re looking for. There’s a method you can use to help you get that amazing shot every time—so you’re not taking 300 photos when you could take 10. 

Dynamic symmetry is a game changer. 

My Composition Essentials course will teach you everything you need to know to master composition and create your signature style—but for now, let’s dive into the basics of dynamic symmetry.

Exploring the visual impact of cropping is an amazing way to improve your image. (And spoiler alert—I have 38 composition cropping guides that you can start using right away!)

It’s a Fancy Term for a Compositional Grid System

Dynamic symmetry helps you compose images and organise objects in your frame. 

Essentially, it’s a set of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that can help create rhythm, movement, and unity—in other words, make your images aesthetically pleasing.

How to Use Dynamic Symmetry

You can use this as a cropping tool or placement tool when creating and composing still-life images.

Examples of using the 2:3 Dynamic Symmetry Grid.

Your goal? Get objects to line up with the diagonal lines, with subjects or objects touching diagonal lines or where the lines intersect:

• Large subjects go on diagonal lines
• Edges of subjects touch diagonal lines
• Interesting or key features go on intersecting lines

Since it’s a grid and cropping system, you don’t have to memorise these—you can always crop after the fact.

Alternatively, you can also use it while tethering to place your subjects and then rearrange them in real-time.

Want to do a deep dive to master this concept and learn tips that will help composition come easier to you? Sign up for Composition Essentials and you’ll get:

• 7 modules of video tutorials focusing on composition
• 5 in-action styling photoshoots (from setup to final capture)
• Instructional food styling videos
• 5 creative photo assignments
• On-demand access

You’ll be on your way to finding your trademark style—and learning how to evolve it!

If you enjoyed this post on Dynamic Symmetry, make sure you also check out:

• Don’t Use The Rule of Thirds: 6 Composition Grids to Use Instead
• How to Choose The Best Food Photography Backdrops
• 11 Essential Lightroom Hacks to Save You Time

The post Dynamic Symmetry Basics: What it is And How it Improves Composition appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Are you thinking about raising your prices but not sure how to go about it?

When your work improves to the level where you’re confidently executing quality in a timely manner, you should consider charging more.

How do you know when that time has come? Let’s dig into it a bit further.

Knowing When it’s Time to Raise Your Prices

As you start to improve your business and further your photography and styling skills, two things happen:

• You get better at shooting and can execute a job in less time
• Your styling and composition get stronger to produce higher-quality images

As you move forward, you’ll start charging more—either per hour or per concept—since you don’t take as long to complete a shoot and the quality of your images demands a high price. Generally, this is around 12 to 18 months, once you’re having regular commissions and working to produce quality personal projects.

I have seen it done in 6 months for real go-getters who’ve got the time to devote.

Raising Your Rates: When Work Really Picks-Up

You should also consider raising your rates when you’re getting a lot of work, repeat clients, and a heap of new inquiries. Like all businesses, you’ll eventually reach a point when your prices are below the quality and time it takes to produce an image. Clients know they’re getting value for money, so they’ll flock in.

This is when you want to work less but for the same (or more) pay. To achieve this, you’ll increase your rates.

At The Start of Each Financial Year

As you grow, it’s a good idea to review your prices at the beginning of your fiscal year. You’ll need to consider your overhead expenses and adjust your prices accordingly.

Raising Your Rates – Won’t Lose Your Business

You might feel resistance from your ego to charge more. You might also worry that you could lose clients and business. If you produce quality work, have a unique selling point, and have a fun and easy-to-work-with approach, clients will keep coming and keep paying.

Sometimes it’s as simple as educating your client that your rates are increasing in the new year. For loyal clients, you can get them to pay upfront for their next shoot to lock in your current rates.

This is a nice little cash boost and makes your clients feel appreciated.

For more business tips in the world of food photography, check out business or pricing and licensing articles on the blog.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Most clients pay on time and don’t need you to chase them—but you need to set expectations with them before the shoot.

When you start freelancing, you might want to take on every job that comes your way. Consider, though, that clients who don’t pay and make things harder for you generally aren’t worth the extra hassle. If budget is an issue from the outset, think about whether the job is worth the time and effort you might need to spend just to get paid.

Setting expectations from the beginning lets your clients know that you’re professional and expect them to act the same way. 

Get Paid: How to Avoid Payment Issues

Here’s how you can help your client understand that you’re a business and weed out potentially bad clients.

Communicate When The Deposit is Due

Use your initial correspondence to let your client know that a deposit must be paid before the shoot.

Do Not Hold The Shoot Date for the Client Until They Pay

I know it can feel awkward when talking about getting paid. This lets the client know that you have regular work and systems in place to handle workflow. They must pay a deposit to secure your services.

Ensure The Client Signs a Contract Before You Book Them In

This will help weed out clients who aren’t serious or are unlikely to pay. Even having them sign an estimate agreeing to the terms and fees is better than nothing.

Getting Paid Hot Tip: Require Full Payment Before You Release Images

This works well for small businesses. Magazines usually require images before they’ll pay you, but they’re less likely to deny payment. I always stipulate this in my contracts.

Add a Clause in the Contract that Images Cannot Be Used Without Full Payment

If your client uses the images before paying you, this constitutes a breach of copyright.

I use this for jobs that have a tight turnaround. Clients may pay after the supply of the images or the money may be an international transfer that takes up to a week to receive.

If your client is paying instalments or with a payment plan, do not transfer approval to use the images until the final payment is complete. In these cases, you’d outline the terms in a signed agreement.

If you found it helpful reading about how to get paid you might also be wondering, ‘Should you increase your rates?’. Find out when it’s time to charge more.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing) 4 Tips For Getting Paid appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Here we are at one of the trickiest topics: Image Licensing. Pricing for licensing isn’t easy. After all, you have to work out the value of a photo in line with how much your client will profit from it. There are agreed-upon values and subjective values—and then you have to consider what your client is willing to pay.

As I said, very tricky. Let’s explore how you should approach licensing.

How to Determine Image Value

To determine the value of an image—and therefore its license—you need some information from the client:

• What the image will be used for
• Where the image will appear—website, social media, in print, TV, billboards, etc.
• How long the image will be used for—one time only, three years, etc.
• Image size—⅛, ¼, ½, full page
• Size of exposure/audience—print run, circulation, distribution

There are some great tools—some paid, some free—that you can input these figures into and get a price for image licensing. That said, beware of tools that are outdated.

My top pick? Getty Images. Once you get the required information from the client, you plug it into Getty’s Rights Managed category search to help you find the price. Most countries have a regional Getty website that will give you a quote in your local currency. It’s a quick, easy way to find figures for what you can charge for your licenses.

A word of warning though, any Getty prices are a place to start not a final figure. Their quoted figures are often far higher than you’d charge.

Stop chasing your clients for payment! Here are my 4 top tips for getting paid.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

How many images should you give your client? You know those cop-out answers—“It depends”? Well, I’ve got one of those for you. The number of images you supply after a shoot will differ depending on the client and the job.

Your initial estimate should include an outline of how many images you’ll supply in each of your pricing packages so that clients get a feel for their needs when you supply your rate card. This number is the best and easiest way to provide (or remove) value in the negotiation stage.

Some General Guidelines: How many images should you give your client?

Let’s break this down by the type of job. In my experience, there are two types of jobs: editorial/commercial and small business.

Editorial, advertorial, and commercial shoots

In these shoots, the client will usually want a small number of images—typically 1 to 5. These are magazine and agency clients who know that the value per image is high. And while the client may ask you to shoot an entire concept, they will likely only use one image.

These jobs tend to be simple. The client comes to you with an outline of their needs, and they’re easy to work into your pricing since it’s only a handful of images.

Small business

On the other end of the spectrum is the small business client. Event-type photography falls under this umbrella, too. These clients usually expect a lot of images. When you take these jobs, you’ll need to spend more time educating the client and adjusting your pricing.

Since each job is so different, it’s hard to come up with sweeping rules about how many images to supply. Instead, let’s take a look at some examples of how many images I supply in my rates (or in the past for other jobs).

Note that I adjust these guidelines based on the job—but if the client asks to see my rate sheet, they’d also see a guide of how many images they’re likely to receive.

How Many Images Should You Give Your Clients: When to Provide More?

There are two situations in which you should give the client more images:

• The client’s needs and/or brief require it
• ‘Surprise and delight’—a few bonus images from a great shoot add value to the client’s investment and create a repeat client

There’s not really a time when you shouldn’t give more images—but if you’re supplying more images, you should charge extra or remove some other value. There should be a fair trade between money and more value.

We can’t talk about value without discussing licensing! Learn how to price for it.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need To Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

The post How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More) appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Your estimate is important because it helps your client understand the value they’re getting for their money. Once they decide to work with you, your client estimate is one of the first things you’ll provide. It should be inclusive so that the client isn’t hit with any surprises when they get your final invoice.

Different photographers do things differently. In general, though, estimates should include similar things across the board. Let’s dive into what those are.

What to Include in Your Client Estimate

Here are some of the non-negotiables that you should always include in your client estimates.

• Client name
• Brief description of the job
• Your fees
• Outlined production costs, where applicable—studio hire, stylist, prop hire, etc.
• Ingredients and food—at cost, where applicable
• Number of images you’ll supply
• Type of licensing
• Deposit amount (and when this is due!)
• Total amount
• Disclaimer

It’s worth noting that the disclaimer is a key part of your client estimate. It lets the client know that what you’ve given them is an estimate, not an invoice. Translation: some fees, like production costs and ingredients, are subject to change. Don’t skip this!

Photo by NORTHFOLK on Unsplash

Estimate vs Final Invoice

You’ll send the client your estimate in the negotiation stage—and it should be labelled an ‘estimate’ so that it’s clear to the client that the final total will probably be different. In addition to the disclaimer, you should communicate this to your client via phone or email.

Here’s an example of how you can go about this:

Hi [client name],

I’m really excited to work on this project with you! Please find attached my estimated costs for this commission.

As discussed, my fees will be $xx for the two concepts (excluding any prop hire and ingredients, which are additional).
I’d love to make your vision a reality, so please let me know if this falls within your budget. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,
Rachel

Once the job is done, you’ll send your final invoice. To produce this, you’ll simply take your estimated fee items from the estimate and include the final numbers. Make sure you take into account any deposit the client paid when calculating the total owed.

Always chasing payments? Check out my post on tips for getting paid promptly.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

The best way to ensure smooth paid shoots is to educate clients on the work that’s involved.

Sure, you’re the expert—but your clients want to know that the amount of work matches their investment. You want to get them the best value-for-money package.

Educating clients can be difficult at first—especially if you’re dealing with a heated client who disagrees with your rates.

Generally, though, clients are receptive and will be willing to work with you if they like your art.

Onboarding and Educating Clients

1. Why You Need to Do it
2. What Do They Need to Know
3. Image Quantity
4. Deposits
5. Copyright and Licensing
6. Shoot Timing
7. Image Delivery Time

Why Do You Need to be Educating Your Clients?

Let’s look at it from the client’s perspective. Photography isn’t their area of expertise—which is why they’re commissioning you.

Maybe they’ve had five different photographers create images for them in the past. Each one ran their business differently. Some were inexperienced and didn’t know who owned copyright or how to license their images.

Perhaps some handed over every image they shot and/or they didn’t even ask the client to sign a contract!

Then, they hire you and suddenly there are ‘rules.’ Clients usually go one of two ways—they’re either impressed and feel like they’re in good hands because you act professionally, or they wonder why you’re making things difficult and won’t give them every RAW file you shot.

Remember that your clients love your work and want to work with you. They will appreciate you taking the time to educate them about your processes and ensure that the work you produce for them is of the highest quality.

Only once in my career thus far have I had a client tell me to go jump because he didn’t believe that I, the photographer, owned the images.

This isn’t the type of client you want to work with and they’re doing you a favour by walking away. There are clients for all kinds of photographers—find the ones willing to play ball with how you do things.

Educating Clients Check List: What Do They Need to Know?

In general, you want to be educating clients about basic workflow and legal items. Your processes may already cover some of this information, but sometimes you may need to have a more in-depth discussion with them.

Here are some of the key things you’ll want to cover with each client.

#1. Image Quantity

The best return on investment for your client is quality images over quantity. They have a split second to capture someone’s attention on social media—and that’s done with a few high-quality images, not a bunch of mediocre ones.

Fewer images don’t equal less professionalism. It’s actually more professional to deliver three killer, jaw-dropping images than 50 that are just okay.

#2. Deposits

From the outset, set the expectation that your client will need to be a deposit to secure the shoot. If they’re being difficult about providing a deposit, they’re probably going to be difficult in other areas, too. 

#3. Copyright and Licensing

This is a huge topic, and it usually only comes up if the client has previously worked with photographers who don’t understand the concept or weren’t confident enough to price on it. You should educate your client on copyright and licensing in any correspondence and on your estimate, invoice, and contract.

#4. Shoot Timing

If you’ll be working on location with the client, it’s important to educate them on how long it takes to perform a shoot. If you’re shooting from home or a studio and your client is working remotely, this may or may not come up.

#5. Image Delivery Time

The turnaround time is how long after the shoot your client will get the images. You want to discuss this with them so that they don’t contact you asking for the images—which wouldn’t make for a good client experience.

If the client wants their images sooner than your turnaround time, you can charge an additional fee.

Learn how to provide clients with an estimate for their shoot.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

The post Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to do it appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Let me start by saying that there should be no such thing as free work.

If you’re not working for money, you should be working for value or opportunity.

The sooner you start to think like a business, the better you will get at spotting good opportunities.

Here’s how to determine whether ‘free’ work is worth it and how to handle it.

How to Handle Free Work: Assessing ‘Free’ Work Pitches

If someone pitches you ‘free’ work, assess the value of the opportunity it will give you in return. If it will give you the right kind of exposure or the right clients, take it! The trickiest part is identifying those opportunities.

Here are some questions to help you decide:

• Does your ideal client follow this business?
• Does this opportunity align with your values, and brand and/or have an aligned following?
• Will this brand or business give you exposure, or are they scamming you for free content? Will they highlight your services?
• Is there enough value or opportunity to be worth your time? How long will it take to complete? Will it take you away from other promotional activities?

If a pitch feels like a ploy to get free content from you, it probably is. Big brands have the budget to employ creatives.

Of course, sometimes the best way to learn is to take a chance and measure the outcomes. It will help you decide which opportunities to pursue in the future.

Negotiating Your Terms

So, you’ve decided to take on some free work in return for value or opportunity—congrats! But make it on your terms.

Here’s what that could look like:

• Adjusting the offering or amount of work that you will do
• Requesting that the client share the work on certain channels—these should always be the ones that your audience is most engaged with
• Negotiating the number of images, when you’ll deliver them, and how long the client can use them (aka add licencing terms)

Any work you do should benefit your brand. If it isn’t offering enough value or opportunity or you can’t agree on reasonable terms, don’t hesitate to move on to something else. Your time and talent is valuable—don’t sell yourself short.

Ready to get down to business with a client? Learn how to educate clients about the ways you work (trust me—you’ll be doing everyone a favour!)

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

Is there a “secret” to finding new clients for your business and for paid work? Well, one thing is certain in your career: you’re always going to need to create the best content and images you can—and create a lot of them. 

Like with SEO, it takes time to see results from your efforts. But it only takes one post to go viral. One post to be noticed by the right people. One post for that client to connect with you.

The work you put in today? It’s going to benefit you in the future. And you will get noticed by the right people—but you have to give it time. The biggest mistake most people make is quitting too quickly.

Let’s dive into how you can get started finding new clients for your business and secure paid work.

Finding Clients: Leveraging What Works For Others

Start by trying strategies that you learn from others—but don’t expect that they’ll all work for you or yield the same results. Figuring out what works for you and your business will require some degree of experimentation. Find a starting point and then test, adjust, and master.

Remember, too, that just because a particular strategy doesn’t work for you right now doesn’t mean that it won’t work in the future. It also doesn’t mean that your work isn’t good enough. It is—for the right client.

Pushing through in the face of uncertainty is the hardest part about being a freelance photographer. But you can do it. You’ve got this.

WATCH — Failures & Setbacks: 10 Years of Running a Food Photography Business.

Researching and Finding Clients

When it comes to researching clients, most photographers will open Instagram and make a list of brands they want to work for. Easy peasy—but it’s not that simple when finding new clients. 

What really matters is finding the types of brands that are the best fit for your level of experience and image quality. That isn’t always so easy.

So who can clients be? Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• Large or small brands with food or lifestyle products
• Large or small magazines
• Local publications
• Branding and social media agencies
• Local cafes and restaurants
• Small startup brands and local businesses
• Small international businesses
• Stock agencies
• Chefs, bloggers, business owners, and personalities

Feeling overwhelmed? I can relate.

Instead of creating a long list of clients all at once, try spending your time on social media a little more wisely. Start small while still keeping an eye on larger clients you’d like to work with. Remember that small doesn’t always equal no budget! I’ve worked with lots of small businesses culminating in commissions of more than $10,000 over time.

A Rundown of My Clients

Work can come from many different places, so be open. With that in mind, I want to share some of the types of clients that I’ve worked with. Some of them approached me, and some of them I approached.

• National and international publications
• Local and state-based publications
• Local restaurants, cafes, shops, and bars
• Small publishers creating magazines, bookazines, and books
• International supermarket chains
• Social media and production agencies who need social and editorial content for clients
• Small businesses—butchers, online tea stores, dieticians, naturopaths, tablewares and pottery, food brands, health coaches, authors
• International food and hotel chains

One of the best things about food photography is that you can do it remotely. It’s the reason I’ve worked on some crazy assignments—a burger menu for a Malaysian restaurant chain, colour-themed imagery for sample print brochures for an Italian luxury paper company, and images for a UK bakery to name just a few!

More clients need our images than you can imagine. My hope is that this gives you some insight into the different avenues that you can explore for finding the right clients for you.

Have a free work opportunity? Learn which opportunities and worth it and how to handle them.

Interested in learning more about the business of food photography? Read all of the articles in our Food Photography Business Series:

Everything You Need to Know About Client Estimates

Knowing Your Worth: How to Handle Free Work Opportunities

Stop Chasing Clients! A Quick Guide to Image Licensing

How to Get Paid (Without Any Chasing)

Signs You Need to Charge More – 3 Tips to Raising Your Prices

How Many Images to Supply (And When to Give More)

Onboarding and Educating Clients—What it is and How to Do it

The post Building Your Base: Finding New Clients for Paid Work appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

In this last post, I want to share some pricing tips when it comes to talking about pricing with clients and getting paid.

If you haven’t read the other posts in this series, make sure to check them out:

• Pricing Influences — Part 1
• Calculating Figures — Part 2
• Pricing Tips — Part 3

Tips For Confidently Pricing Your Food Photography

Most of my tips come from experience and mistakes I made early on! Here are some tips to think about when pricing your food photography:

• TIP 1: It’s better to increase your prices later than decrease
• TIP 2: Prices in writing command authority
• TIP 3: Give estimates over final project costs
• TIP 4: Only give discounts for future work
• TIP 5: Ask for a non-refundable deposit

We will cover these more in detail below.

It’s Better To Increase Your Price Later Than Decrease

It is much harder to go backwards and decrease your prices because you made a mistake or find clients aren’t willing to pay those figures than to increase in the near future.

This doesn’t mean that you have to undercharge but err on the side of caution when starting.

Increasing your pricing six months down the track looks like your business is flourishing and you’re gaining more skills, than reducing your pricing because your current skill set didn’t match up with perceived value.

If you find that you’re working too much or rarely hear ‘no’ from clients, it might be time to increase your rates.

Prices In Writing Command Authority

It’s as simple as that. Prices that are in writing are more believable.

This should be on a formal estimate with details of the services you’re offering, with your branding and details. Or you might have a pricing list on your website.

Because food photography commissions are always unique, not like other niches, it’s hard to have packages tailored to all clients.

In lieu of a written price list, when you’ve got the full brief details, send the client a written estimate, branded with your logo, contact details and business number.

This looks much more professional than just typing it into an email.

Give Estimates Not Quotes

Because you can’t guarantee production costs, it’s best to give the client an estimate over a final project cost.

Clients should be paying in addition to your creative fee:

• Groceries and ingredients at cost
• Studio or prop rentals
• Talent frees
• Overtime
• Retouching per hour

Not every job will have these things, except ingredients, and it is hard to know the final cost of these production fees.

Add them as a line on your estimate and make sure it’s clear that ‘final production fees are subject to change’. Labeling this clearly as an estimate and using this word with the client will further strengthen the idea that the final invoice will be different.

Only Discount Future Work

Usually, I would recommend not working for less money. However, if you have a repeat client, it can be a strategic move to give them a discount if they hire you regularly.

Letting the client know that you will give them a discount for future work gives them the incentive to work with you over someone else.

If you give them a discount on the first commission, then you aren’t rewarding them for repeat work, yet. Communicate via email, phone or in your agreement/contract that any discounts will be given for subsequent work.

Pricing Tip: Always Get A Non-Refundable Deposit Before The Job

I highly recommend asking for a non-refundable deposit to book your services.

If a client backs out, you could be left with fees for studio or prop rental, food you’ve bought, (which is often $100’s when working with food), etc.

Not to mention if you block off time for a client and they don’t pay a deposit, you will be turning away other clients.

Very rarely have I not asked for a deposit before I start a job. When I haven’t asked for one, it’s usually because there are no upfront fees.

For more pricing tips, make sure to check out my Pricing Tips: Mini Guide. Jam-packed full of well-kept pricing secrets, to creating a robust food photography pricing strategy that helps you charge what you’re worth.

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The post The Complete Guide to Food Photography Pricing: Pricing Tips appeared first on Two Loves Studio.

This is the part that everyone wants to know! Gimme actual figures to understand how to calculate your rates as a food photography!

Most new photographers will charge per image, but there are so many methods and strategies to how you create a price list. Which one is the best will come down to the client and the job.

But first, you need to think about your costs and how much you want to earn.

This is the second part in a three-part series on food photography pricing.

• Pricing Influences — Part 1
• Calculating Figures — Part 2
• Pricing Tips — Part 3

Get Started Calculating Food Photography Pricing Figures

Now you’re probably not going to have the perfect figure calculated the first time around. The aim of this post is to help you learn how to calculate your rates and get you better paid than if you just pulled a figure out of thin air!

When calculating your photography pricing, we need to factor in things like:

• Amount of money you want to earn per year
• How many weeks out of a year you want to work
• Quantity of jobs per month you’d like to shoot
• Any overhead if you rent a space or hire an assistant
• How many hours it takes you to complete a job

I’m going to assume that you’re a new photographer who is working solo from home. So your overhead comes down to basic ‘home office’ expenses.

Want do You Want to Earn Per Year?

Now hopefully, you had a think about this if you came from Part 1 and come up with a figure that is reasonable and achievable for a new freelance photographer.

If you’re unsure, you could start with half of your 9-5 salary.

Or, ask yourself questions like:

• How much do I need to make to contribute to my household?
• What is the minimum I need to bring in to keep a roof over my family?
• What would help my family maintain their lifestyle and commitments?

How Many Weeks Per Year Do You Want To Work?

Kind of a weird question, but it’ll help you figure out a ballpark figure for each photography job — a great place to start.

The reason we work this out is if you want to work 8 months of the year, you’ll need to charge more to meet your salary goals, than if you worked 11 months.

This is a good question to ask because maybe you can only work part-time and you’ll lower your salary expectations. Perhaps you have the capacity to work full-time.

If you’re unsure, do with the standard working weeks for your country.

How Many Jobs Would You Like To Shoot Per Month?

This point is similar to the above. When working out how to calculate your rates, the fewer jobs we do per month, the more we need to charge. Think about your time commitment, how long it takes you to do a photo shoot (on average) and how many commissions you can take on in a month.

If you’re just starting your business, maybe 4 times a month, so once a week seems reasonable.

Now, The Figures: Food Photography Pricing Tips

The good thing about this ballpark figure is that it’s easy math.

It’s simply =
(annual salary) ÷ (working weeks ÷ 4) ÷ (jobs per month)

The trick to make this work is that you need to get the number of weeks you want to work into months. So you take weeks and divide by 4, (as there are 4 weeks in each month).

The other thing you could do is just say how many months you want to work. Don’t get too caught up on this though.

Remembering we’re after ballpark figures here.

Let’s look at an example.

Say you wanted to replace an average 9-5 job. So you go with $45,000. You want to work 48 weeks, (48 weeks ÷ 4 weeks per month = 12).

And a job a week, or 4 per month seems achievable.

Each job would, therefore, be worth $937.50. This is your starting point.

How to Calculate Your Rates: Adjust Based On Pricing Influences

Now that we have this figure, we think back to the factors that influenced food photography pricing, covered in Part 1.

Like:

• Quality
• Perceived Value
• Confidence
• Competition

We take the rate we came up with and adjust from there.

Maybe $45,000 is too much for our first year starting out. Maybe we lower that and take on one more job per month.

Now we get:

Then we take this figure and see how it ‘feels’ for us. Is it too much? Or does it feel right?

Is This a Side Hustle or Are You Working Part-time?

Maybe this exercise has you asking, is this a part-time thing, or is it currently a side hustle?

I often encourage photographers to work on their business slowly. Financial stress is known to kill creativity. If you want to start out part-time taking a few jobs here are then — that’s great!

Just remember you should be paid well for them regardless of how much time per week you spend on client work.

Perhaps you want to make $15,000:

Always assess your figures. These are starting points and don’t take into account the pricing influences we learned from Part 1 or overhead costs.

Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense to you yet. Pricing is hard.

I have a low-cost done-for-you Pricing Calculator to help you create a pricing strategy you’ll feel confident about.

Next up, we’re going to get into some pricing tips and things to think about when creating your pricing and talking to clients about photography pricing.

READ NEXT: The Complete Guide to Food Photography Pricing: Pricing Tips

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