Experience doesn't happen overnight

As a professional photographer for close to 3 decades, I often find myself explaining many times throughout the year the difference between my work and someone right out of the gate.  I have to remember that most client’s eyes are untrained when it comes to lighting the body correctly, getting catch lights in the eyes and posing the body for the best angle that reflects their body type as an example.

It is definitely a constant uphill battle to make a living in the business of photography.  I don’t know how it happened over the years, but the theory of just purchasing a camera, buying a cool background was all you needed to hang an “open for business” sign. 

So without sounding pompous, I don’t want to expel any negative comments about photographers giving away the kitchen sink for less than minimum wage.  There are a few photographers in my area who utilize things like online coupon sites, refer to images as “sheets” and give away all the files from their session.

One of the reasons why I continue this online blog is to hopefully educate both the client and perhaps even inspire other photographers to reach higher.  Currently, I am looking for a contractor to do some work on my house.  The pricing differences are amazing.  I know what it costs to do what I am asking.  So basically, it is the quality of the work that will define the contractor.  I surely don’t want a less experienced contractor (although qualified) to just do the job.  I want it to be amazing.    You get “amazing” from experience.  Also, “amazing” comes with a price.  I know that this contractor does not do online coupons, comes fully insured, has a list of referrals a mile long and has a long standing good reputation in the community.  Should he charge more than the newbee?  Absolutely.  At one time, I am positive that this contractor started out as an apprentice, then worked his way to perhaps a small garage, doing paperwork at night and estimates on the weekend.  He continually took classes to update his education on new materials and new methods.  Eventually, this contractor updated his location, added a staff member or two and finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.  His advertising budget was next to nothing because his work spoke for itself.  Referrals were plentiful.

So, why is it so much harder to make a living in the business of photography and who is to blame?  In my opinion, I blame photographers for the most part and digital cameras for the second.  Obviously, not all photographers, but the majority of the new ones.  Those of us who managed to keep our heads above water for more than a decade put in their time and know how to price their work based on their experience.  But it is the new person in town who undercuts other photographers who grasp any client willing to come in for next to nothing to expedite their career.  What they don’t realize is that in all actuality, they are ruining their own future in photography.  How do they expect to eventually raise their prices in accordance to their gained experience when clients know them as the $49 portrait session photographer? (Just using the $49 as an example.)  How does the $49 session fee cover new equipment, liability insurance, lighting equipment, backgrounds, printing, telephone, web presence, lab fees, shipping, car insurance, car maintenance just to start?  We won’t even throw in taking a salary to pay for your health insurance, your rent, groceries and the hot water boiler that just decided to go to heaven.  Is the photographer hoping that the end result of the portrait session will be that the client will purchase a “sheet” of prints to pay for all of this?

Along with the digital files, your client will then take to the local drug store to have your images printed out.  Unfortunately, there is no future for this type of photographer.

By offering the low session fee, the free files, the “sheets” of paper prints, the photographer is, in my opinion, cheapening the art of photography.  I am first and foremost an artist.  It has taken me years and years of education to better myself.  I surely don’t consider myself on the level of such great portrait artists as Annie Leibovitz , Alfred Eisenstaedt, Arnold Newman, Dorothea Lange, Lewis Hine, Anne Geddes, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon and  Ansel Adams to name a handful.  These hardworking, skilled artists of yesterday brought us to where we are.  To make us hold our gaze over an image and think of it’s beauty was a skill.  Sure, they had their bad exposures, their out of focus images.  But what you saw in the end was greatness.  Their negatives were just that.  Not to be given out like green stamps. Their pride and joy… The culmination of years of hard work.

Questions?  Email the studio at lerephoto@gmail.com.  Or, follow the studio on Facebook at Donna Lere Photographer.  Instant gratification can be found on Twitter @donnalerephoto.     www.lerephoto.com

This blog is for not only photographers but for clients who feel awkward about hiring a person they know who is a photographer.

Hopefully those who read this blog are pretty active in photography.  Indeed, there may be some newcomers, but I think for the most part, most of you have been doing this for a while.

So, this week, I thought I would hit a touchy subject…. FREE PHOTOGRAPHY.  Other photographers have asked me many times how I handle this awkward subject.

Case in point…A  distance acquaintance is having an event and just take a guess who’s phone rings once the invites go out?  Or perhaps a friend was blessed with a new grand baby.  Because you are a photographer OR are just good at photography, your phone rings with personal requests.  How do you deal with such requests?

First and foremost, you have to draw a line in the sand.  If you derive an income from photography, more than likely your phone line will ring quite often with requests from all kinds of profit and non-profit groups asking for coverage.  For me, I pick and choose several jobs each year that I donate my services to.  I am a strong believer in giving back and helping smaller organizations who would benefit from professional photography.  I turn down a ton requests every week.  Pretty much, it’s gotten out of hand what people ask for.

As a professional photographer, people think you carry your equipment with you all the time.  I belong to several business organizations who routinely take photographs at their networking events.  I love to chat with folks and make business connections during this time.  The last thing I want to do is work the event with my camera.  At one networking event, an acquaintance was taking photos with her point and shoot.  She sat down next to me and said in a huff… “This is YOUR job!”

If you don’t derive an income from photography and like to do photography on your own for fun, you may want to donate your time to gain experience.  It’s a great opportunity to get your name out there.  To throw a word of caution out there for you.  Once your name is out there doing frequent “free” jobs, your phone handle will be so hot, you won’t be able to touch it.

I left the touchiest subject of all for last…. FRIENDS and FAMILY.    Lets, for a moment, replace the word “Photographer” with say…. “Plumber”.  Would you ask a plumber to come over your home to fix things several times to fix broken pipes without compensating him?

You can choose to do work for free or at a reduced rate OR not at all.  In my career, I’ve done all three.  If you have a friend who is a photographer and have an event that you would like coverage for, it is best to ask them straight up if they would be interested in photographing the job and what would they charge.  Leave it up to the photographer if they want to give you a discount.  Remember that their job doesn’t end at the conclusion of the party.  They still have to go back, edit and clean up the job and present the images.  It is work.  If you are the client and you have a friend who is a photographer, don’t expect something for free.  Of course it is different if the photographer offers to photograph something for free voluntarily.

When I first started my business, the majority of my sample images were of weddings.  I had accumulated an amazing portfolio of stunning brides and grooms.  Thinking I should diversify more, I was scouting out cute kids for a postcard that I wanted to put together.  Out of the blue, I had a mom call me with two of the cutest kids.  (Not that the other kids I had photographed previously weren’t cute.)  These kids were dressed like they just came out of a magazine ad.  Ages 3 and 5, they listened to everything I told them to do.  The result was postcard worthy images.  So,I asked “mom” if I could use one image on a postcard and would compensate them with free portrait sessions.  Granted, I was extremely naïve.  Seven months later, I had done four more portrait sessions with her.  It was never going to end I thought.  I had to pull the plug.  Her purchase each and every time was an 8 x 10.  On my end, she had burglarized my time, cost of film and printing.  I had to put the kabosh on the free portrait sessions.    She was obviously furious.   Me, well, I learned my lesson on giving out something for free.  She did not respect my professional time because it was “free”.

So, in closing, I don’t want to talk any photographer out of giving back or paying it forward.  Just be careful that you don’t get caught up in a snowball of volunteerism and friends and family charity events that can swallow you up.  And your friends should also remember that you too want to sit down and enjoy the festivities without feeling the pressure to capture junior’s birthday cake blowout.  It's different if you volunteer your services and don't mind working the party.  But I warn you that once the word is out in your family that you did it for free, plan on doing every family event for hundreds more full moons.  The option of saying "No" upfront may upset many but you have set a precedence for future requests if you choose this route.

Before I end this blog, I have a disclaimer:  This blog is not directed at any client or family member.  I love, love, love 99.5% of all my clients and most of my family!  LOL

This post is designed to help new photographers just starting out in the business.  If you are a client, you are more than welcome to read on about why a professional must do everything by the book.  Clearly, it helps both the photographer and the client figuring out what's expected.  Enjoy.

If you ever decide to take your photography hobby to the next level, there are certain “must have’s” and “must know’s” that need to be done.

I want to touch a bit in this blog about contracts.  Long gone are the days of the good all American handshake or the pinky swear over hired services.  Once you decide to take on a job for money, you become a bulls eye for any unsatisfied client who can find a loophole to retain their money.  I’m not trying to be negative.  I’m just trying to be real.

In my business, no work is done without a contract for services.  The type of contract varies of course based on the actual type of photography of course.   A contract covers both you as the photographer and actually the client as well.  Knowing what they can expect in a job leaves no questions unanswered.   Lets take the most obvious type of contract and that is for a wedding.

I’ve seen wedding contracts from many photographers over the years.  Some are short and some are pages.  My contract is 2 pages.  If you are just getting into the business of photography, you should never ever do a job without something written.  Even if it is the basics, you have something on paper to show the client that you are in fact, a business person as well as a photographer.

A basic contract should ask the following things in my opinion:

Client’s name(s)

Address

2 Telephone numbers

2 Email addresses

Date of event

Address of event

Starting time of event

Starting time of photographer

Ending time of photographer

Exact services photographer will be offering

Turn around time expected

Overtime charge

What, if any, services the client is expected to provide at the event?

I also have some bullet points on smaller items that I feel are necessary for me to photograph their event. 

Both you and the client should sign the contract and exchange copies.  If you cannot do a paper contract, then write everything down and email it to the client.  Ask the client to confirm the email and by doing so, you will consider this to be a valid contract between the both of you. 

You have to protect yourself is the bottom line.  For some reason, when it comes to photography, many clients drag their feet with payment after the event.   If they have money problems, you are the first to get pinched.  If you have a contract, you have legal footing and take further action if necessary. They can say something like…. “We hired you for 8 hours and you left after 7, so we are not paying you the full amount.”  Were you hired for eight hours?  Did you stay for 8 hours?  If you did stay for 8 hours, then show the client the last photograph you took which has the meta data on the data files showing the time stamp of your last image.  Personally, I always take on or two images before I pack out my bags at every event.  This is your ace in the hole if that ever comes up!

When I first started out in the business of photography, my contracts were small.  I’m sure you contract will be too as you begin your journey.  Over the years, I have added bullet points mostly because I have found that clients can and will find a loophole if they can because of money circumstances.  I am a strong believer that for the most part, clients are honest, trustworthy and respectable.  But I would also be a fool to believe that you can work a business without legal issues.  Outline everything for them and for you.  This way there will never be any questions or doubts.  Don’t leave an opening for a future headache or sleepless nights.   Consider yourself advised. 

This weekend, I will be in charge of photographing all the guest arriving for the 2^nd Lower Bucks Chamber Ball.  The theme this year is “The Great Gatsby”.    Guests arriving early will be escorted to an area where their photographs will be taken in their Gatsby (or not) attire.

To new photographers who are entering the world of event photography, many “newbies” find it all encompassing after attending their first event.  I say this because it has taken me years to perfect and fine tune the amount of equipment and staff needed to photograph a large event such as a convention, a corporate event or anything other than a wedding.  Each job has it own set of equipment lists that span into pages.

Usually, when new photographers are hired to photograph an event, they undoubtedly never bring all the essentials.  So, when planning tomorrow’s equipment last, I thought it would make a great blog post to give you a typical scenario of the massive amount of equipment that goes along with what when set up correctly, looks easy as pie… (HA!)

First of all, lets start with the basics.  Every professional photographer needs liability insurance.  You never know when someone could get hurt in and around your equipment.  It also guards against equipment theft…. Which often happens at events.  Get prices from various companies.  Many times, the venue will ask for a “certificate of insurance” from all the incoming vendors that day.

Moving on, we have the camera list.  You should have your main camera with at least one if not two back ups.  At least 3 lenses.  A light meter.  Several flashes.  A mountain of compact flash cards.

Lighting for the event starts with a decision.  Do I bring the studio strobes or can I use my portable Canon Speedlites ?  This year, I have chosen to use the Canon Speedlites  because they are so easy to bring in and out of the venue.    Since I will be making a “make-shift” studio, I will bring a set of studio umbrellas and light stands.

The background that the invited guests will be up against will be two vertical banners with type.  Normally, the client provides a “Step and Repeat” background which is about 8-9 foot wide and goes from ceiling to floor.  In this case, I have to bring a background to put behind their two vertical background because you don’t want to see the junk between the two vertical banners.  So, naturally, that is another bag with a background and of course a huge background stand.

In a separate case, there will be a lap top computer, 2 card readers and a portable hard drive.  (In the car will be a back up lap top computer.)

Rounding out the list, there will be two Sony Snap Lab printers to print onsite.  These expensive puppies will be cranking out photographs at about 5 per minute.  Don’t forget that we have to bring the boxes of very expensive paper and ink to insert into the printers.  White folios are also brought so that we can insert them making them look oh so pretty.  (About 400)

Lastly, staff…..

One photographer (me)

One person on crowd control and lines

One person posing the couples

One person running the printers & computers

Two volunteers to insert the images in the folios and display on table.

My staff will be four (includes me) with the Chamber having two volunteers to help with the final product.

Just writing this list, I think I need to take a breather!  Whew… sounds a little bit overwhelming if you have never done something like this.  Trust me, I’ve done this so many of these events, that I have it down to a science.  The key to everything is the following:

Know your gear.

Have backup- and then more backup

Arrive way early

Have help.

If something goes wrong, which it always does (something may break), remain calm and go to plan B.

Black and white or color

People frequently ask me if I miss the old darkroom days.  I do not miss the smell of chemicals, stained fingertips, spotty clothing and bottles of chemicals under every counter.

When I got my first job as a photographer for a weekly paper, the deadline for prints was Monday morning.  So, every Sunday, I would develop my film (Black and white of course.), hang it up in the bathroom to dry by noon or so.  Then, in the evening, I would choose the images that I would submit to the editor.  It was then, that the real work began.  I had no official darkroom.  In a back hallway of my home, I would hang a dark out curtain, set up trays with developer, stop bath, fixer and then water.  Set up my enlarger and go to work.

All of this work did not begin of course until I got my young toddlers off to bed.  (Usually around 9 p.m.)  With the radio usually tuned into a talk show, I began my night of printing a variety of assignments from the week.  With each photo assignment, the editor wanted up to five images to choose from.  If I was lucky, he would choose a few since my pay was based on the amount of images that went in the paper.  Frankly, I was making pennies.

After being up for hours printing, I would wash the prints in the bath tub and place them on a screen to dry.  Every Monday morning, my husband woke up to screened trays of prints scattered around the house drying.  Me, I was up early to get the kids off to pre-school with maybe 2-3 hours sleep.  Everything had to be broke down and put away before morning so we could walk in the hallway.  Pretty nuts when you think about it now.

What I do miss, however, is the beauty of a fine black and white print.  To me, black and white stops time.  One’s eye doesn’t wonder about color, it just looks at the intensity of the print.  I struggle all the time about turning my portraits into black and white because I wonder if the client will appreciate the look.  Kinda like wine, a black and white gets better with age!

Now, with computers, the ability to change an image into black and white is fairly easy.  There are a ton of plug-ins that you can buy that you can manipulate an image.  One of my favorites is Alien Skin Software  (www.alienskin.com)   Being in love with vintage black and whites, there are plenty of selections to choose from which give you a variety of contrasts.  In particular, there is one called “Daguerreotype”.  If you are not familiar with this, a Daguerreotype photograph was first used around 1839 with light on a silver covered copper plate.  There was only one made per image.  If you are lucky to see one at a flea market that isn’t beat up, you should grab it.  It essentially looks like it is printed on glass.  The actually picture itself, looks a bit scratchy.

With the Alien Skin Software, you can achieve this same look.  The only thrill of the darkroom was seeing the print come to life on the paper.  Pretty much gone now, it’s all done with computers unless you yourself want to set up your own dark room.  Tell me what you think!  Color vs. Black and white?

Deserted on Christmas eve.

First, let me apologize for not keeping this blog more up to date.  Life happens, snow happens and business happens.  Although the early winter months are predominately slower than the spring months, I use this time to re-evaluate what has worked in the previous year and what has not worked.  I change out marketing ideas, take courses to keep me fresh and work on special projects. 

Being burned out in one’s business is common.  The fall is a typical time when I have to turn down pretty much every invite.  The holiday push starts right after Labor Day and continues right up until Christmas eve.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I had to put an early cut off date for ordering prints.  Otherwise, the madness would continue for those procrastinators. Seven day work weeks are common for about 12 weeks. 

When January rolls around, plans begin for me to find ways to keep motivated.  I am a believer that an artist needs to re-fuel. Whether it’s taking a class, scheduling a photo field trip or just doing something different entirely.  After shooting portraits all year, I hardly ever take the time to re-fuel and do the fun photography stuff. 

This past Christmas eve, I had the wonderful opportunity to go out to dinner at a restaurant located on the boardwalk at Asbury Park.  Arriving a little after 4 p.m., I wanted to enjoy the sun setting, take a walk, enjoy a dinner and head home to catch church.  Before we left, my husband asked if I was bringing a camera.  Knowing that may have been a hot question, he didn’t wait for an answer.  I am so burned out by Christmas not only from photography, but from labs, clients, retouching, packaging, deadlines, and last minute orders.  Throw into the mix holiday shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating, the thought of taking my first free night off in December, taking “fun” photographs was last thing on my mind.  Gathering my coat, I grabbed a camera and one lens.

During our pre-dinner walk along the boardwalk, the wind was brutal.  The temp was less than 20 degrees.  The boardwalk had a few brave soles who enjoyed the ocean air on a December night. I saw no photo opportunities in my eyes at that time.  After dinner, we exited the restaurant and the temp outside felt like it had dipped to a whole new level.  Perhaps it was the ocean breeze that added the chill, but the boardwalk was now totally empty.  It was kinda sad on some level to see an entire boardwalk empty at 6:00 p.m. on Christmas eve.  As I exited the restaurant, the lights from the old casino (which was turned into a throughway) glowed like it was asking for attention. This spot was the place to be 75 years ago.  It’s “heyday” was over.  Sure, there are summer beach crowds, but right now, there was nobody.  Asbury Park, once the most sought after beaches in Jersey is trying to come back.  I felt the combination of the light inside the abandoned casino/throughway, the night sky and the eerie feeling of desertion deserved to be photographed.

My camera was the Canon 5D Mark III

My exposure was 1/50^th second at F 4.0

My ISO was 6400

My exposure compensation was +1

Lens choice was 16-35mm 2.8

People ask me all the time what it is like being a grandmother.  I can bang out on this computer all the gushy reasons about how I feel and you would most likely click out of this blog post in less then a nano second.  In short, there are no words to explain the feelings as you watch the journey your son or daughter take in life.

There are no two mother/daughter relationships the same.  When I photograph women, the conversation of motherhood always comes up.  I am always amazed at the bonds between a mother and a daughter.  Some are strikingly close, while others are surprisingly aloft.  When my daughter was born, I vowed to be a certain "kind" of parent.  In my head of course, I wanted to be a different parent than my mother was to me.  Don't get me wrong.  It was a different era and a different way of raising children in the 60's.   She and my dad did the best they could based on their upbringing roots.  My 2 brother's and I grew up in a home filled with Italian drama, plenty of food and lots of extended family. There was love there, but on a much more "you know I love you so why do I have to tell you!" scale.

Watching my girl grow, struggle with teen years, leave for college and marry has honestly been an education.  Knowing when to step back, keep certain opinions mum and give space when needed is like tuning a guitar.  Not always easy.  Sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't.   But all in all, I couldn't be prouder of who she has become.  And now, a year and a half into my new role as a grandmother, I have accepted the fact now there is a new girlfriend in town.  One that takes up all of my daughter's time and certainly a mountain full of love.  Jealous?  Naaaa.... not me.  True, spending time with my grand baby is amazing.  But, watching my girl, react, respond and parent her baby takes my breath away.  Perhaps my parenting skills rubbed off a bit, who knows.

The picture below was taken when her baby was a few months old.  I found it while cleaning out some old files on my computer sparking me to write this blog.  Yes, the baby is much older now, but looking at this image made me think of this subject.  Best friends... last forever.

Mom and baby

Most printed fashion photography that you see, (if not all) has retouching done.  With the exception of photojournalism, print ads involving almost anything is retouched.  Magazine covers of beautiful skinny ladies keep doctors busy with troubled young teens hoping to shed that last dress size to make it to  size“0”.

For portrait photographers such as myself, images are retouched a bit to enhance color or perhaps cover a small blemish.  For me, when I photograph children, I find it hard enough to get a moving child that I crop later in post.  Clients will ask to see the back of the camera when I am photographing.  I would rather not, because I do have a vision of what the image is going to look like in my head.    I have even had clients shoot the exact same pose the following year hoping to get the same type of image and can’t nail it.  Why?  The answer is obvious.  They are not a photographer, just a picture taker.  If my  dentist were to perform root canal and then next year, in order to save money, I take a plyer to my mouth to perform root canal myself, some would call that ludicrous.  But, people do strange things and trying to be a photographer is one of them.

I am attaching two before and afters.  Here is the scenario of the photoshoot.

The child was 7 months old.  The time of day was about 3:45 in the afternoon on the last week of November.  The temp outside was about 40, and the wind was blowing.  A bit cold.  I was outside in a park in Queens, NY so there was no where to run and get warm.  I instructed mom and dad to bring a blanket.  It was a very grey day and the sky was filled with clouds.  I knew I needed some sort of “fill” flash but did not want to use a speedlight because this little guy was very fair skinned.  I did not want to blow out the highlights on his skin.  So, I used a reflector to reflect back any light that I cold get even though it was cloudy.  If you look closely in the boys eyes, you can see a reflector on the left part of his iris that my assistant is holding.  Without “pop” in the boy’s eyes, the picture would lack kick.  I had an 85 mm lens on and shot this at  F 1/100 @ 5.6.  The ISO was 400 with a Canon 5D Mark II.

The first two images are straight out of camera or "SOC".  Nothing has been done with them.

Straight out of camera

In post, I cropped it to a horizontal.  Added a warming filter.  Softened the dark circles under each eye.  Bumped the contrast.  I also put a small vignette around the edge.  Upon completion, I did an over all sharpen.

Cropped the way I see it.

I always tell my clients that what you see is not what I see.  Trust me.  It's great that you take photographs of your life.  However, if you want "amazing", see me.  Experience counts.

The holiday season is here! Love it or hate it, we have to embrace all the craziness that surrounds the month of December. With that, I thought I would send you an invitation to compete in our first annual "Awkward Family Photograph" contest. Lets face it, there is at least one funny family photograph that you is just to funny or weird to display!   Usually crammed in the back of your desk drawer, you need to pull it out and email it to the studio @  lerephoto@gmail.com

The winner will receive a family portrait session for up to 8 people in my studio.  If you win and choose not to use this, you can re-gift it (shhhh, I won't tell) to a deserving family member or friend!

Some just can't sit still for a minute!

Here are the rules:
1.  The photograph has to have you in it and more than one person.
2.  It doesn't have to be a holiday family portrait, but we would love it if you reached down a bit deeper in your desk to find one.
3.  One gift certificate will be awarded at a value of $175 to be used within 9 months of receipt. (Portrait will be done at my studio with consideration to studio calendar openings.)
4.  We are looking for something "unusual" in the photograph.  An expression, an outfit, an accident.  Something "unexpected".

A winner will be picked on December 20th.  I will not be the only judge.  I have recruited my assistant and another photographer to aid in the decision process.  Images may be posted on blog on Facebook but no names will be used. (Don't worry, we won't reveal to the public that outfit you wore!)

Send us a funny family photograph and you may win this amazing gift of a brand new portrait session.  Scan in your photo or take a good picture of that photo.  Please do not send photos to the studio.  It only takes a minute to email one to:  lerephoto@gmail.com

Good luck!

Donna

A great reflection.

When I was a little girl, I remember my parents telling me how beautiful the fall foliage was.  Sure, I had eyes of my own to view it, but I never really saw it.  Even in my teenage years, fall was a time for school, sports, new clothes and connecting with friends.  What did I care about colored leaves? 

I am a hard core spring girl.  Even now, the change in leaf color means that summer is definitely over, the fun barbeques are a memory. It’s now time to dig in for a few busy months before Christmas. However, as I have grown older, my vision of fall has changed dramatically since my rebel years as a teenager.  Now, I appreciate nature’s way of the last hurrah. At the first cold snap, my studio line is buzzing with session inquiries regarding portraits outside.  So, I thought I would jot down a few fall photographing tips to help you get the most bang out of the leaf show!

1.     The best time is early morning or right before sunset.  Watch for the sun peeking through tree leaves. 

2.     Look for ponds.  A great time to get a reflection off of the trees onto the water.  Shoot at a higher shutter speed to get the reflection.

3.     Look for a very high point and shoot over a ridge.  Early morning is perfect because usually the night dew is just starting to lift and the colors peep through.

4.     Don’t be afraid to shoot up!  The fall sky is just amazing and usually full of color.  Also, where trees come together and a ray of light peeks through is great.  This is a good time to put on your lens shade if you have one.

5.     If you have a tripod, head over to a fast moving stream.  Set your shutter speed to 30^th of a second or below.  Experiment with bracketing.  The movement of the water will be blurry and the leaves around it will pop.  Usually setting the camera on shutter priority will help.  You may need a shutter release cord to help you with the possible camera shake.

6.     Think about using a few of these images in photo cards.  You can purchase the card stock from your local craft store.  Just measure the inside of the opening and based on that, have either a 3 ½ x 5 or 4 x 6 made.  You may need to trim.  They make great cheer up cards, thank you cards and even thinking of you cards!

7.     Put a few images together in a collage and mat them in a white mat.  Place in an area of your home that won’t get lost (i.e. the formal dining room used once a year.)  I guarantee the next time you have folks over, they will admire these prints.

8.     A slightly windy day is also fun.  Find a tree that has plenty of color.  Wait for the wind to blow and photograph the leaves falling off the tree.  Obviously, your shutter speed should be 500 or above. 

The height of the fall colors does not last that long, so your window of getting great color may only be 2-3 weeks.  I love using all my photographs for screen savers during the winter months.  Right around February, when there is not a single shade of color but grey outside, I scroll back to my library and revisit my entire collection of fall and spring photographs.  It is soul food for the mind.  It also gets me over the hump of dark dreary winter days.  The key here my friends, is you have to make a point to get out and do this.  As a rule, great photographs just don’t happen.  Make a memory.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at my studio email.  Lerephoto@gmail.com or for follow my studio on Facebook @ Donna Lere Photographer.  Twitter is available for those who need daily gratification!  @donnalerephoto   www.lerephoto.com  457 Woodbourne Road, Langhorne, PA 19047