PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP CLASS florist
Questions :
What makes you a great florist ?
Can you describe your style ?
What are you good or not good at ?
Which flowers are your favorites ?
Who's your favorite florist ?
Who's your competitors and what difference you do compare to them ?
Do you know their range of price and the average price ?
What kind of clients you want to attract ?
What is your dream ?
SUMMARY
1. Shooting & Techniques
- ICC Profile (sRVB & Adobe RGB)
- RAW vs JPEG
- AUTO mode vs MANUAL mode
- Triangle of Exposure (Shutter Speed, Iso, Aperture)
- Aperture + Focal Length + Distance Focusing (Depth of field)
- Digital vs Film (dynamic range, grain, skin tones, cost)
2. Editing & Presets
- Colour tones (Fine Art, Saturated, Dark, Moody)
- LR & Calibration
- Adjustments & Customised Preset with LR
- Film Lab & Process
- Colour Consistency
3. Branding & Social Media
- Branding
- Marketing
- Packaging
- Social Medias
1. Shooting & Techniques
We will teach you first how to set up your camera/lens before the shoot, we will share all our techniques and vision to take flowers in an elegant and beautiful way.
We will show you which lens (24mm - 35mm -50mm -85mm) is better to use to sublimate your flower creations
Student will shoot first a fine art bouquet and we will observe each student.
After that it will be our turn to shoot the bouquet
In a world of digital pictures, a good colour management is the most important to keep the identity of your colours during each process (camera, screen, printer)
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ICC Profile
An ICC Profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output devicecolor space, according to standards by the International Color Consortium ICC.
On digital cameras there is 2 ICC profiles : sRBG or Adobe RGB
(PHOTO SHOOTING MENU - COLOR SPACE)
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RAW vs JPEG
Shooting in a raw mode bring you more finer control and adjustment potential than JPG
RAW
PROS :
1. Far more shades of colour up to 14-bits
2. Wider dynamic range and colour gamut
3. Finer control and adjustment potential
CONS :
1. Must be post-processed
2. Requires more storage
3. Longer backups
JPEG
PROS :
1. Already processed
2. Compatibility
3. Faster backups
CONS :
1. Lossy compression
2. Limited recovery options
3. JPEG is 8-bit
RAW file + 5 stop Recovery
JPEG file + 5 Stop Recovery
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AUTO mode vs MANUAL mode
Nowadays we can see no differences between a photo took with the phone and a camera in AUTO mode
AUTO mode = Phone Mode = Standard
the MANUAL mode gives you the creative control over the aperture and the shutter speed and to play with the brightness/depth of field in general
In photography, there's 3 variables that determine the exposure of a photo : aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
We call the Triangle of Exposure
One variable balance three of these to achieve the desired result.
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Depth of Field
For this photography workshop we gonna focus on the depth of field. It's an important key to get beautiful pictures of your flower creations
Aperture - Focal Length - Distance Focusing - Camera Sensor
How to photograph flowers ?
1. Avoid cluttered background
2. Photograph flowers on the shadow
3. Found which side is aesthetically the best (knot)
4. Backlight can make your flowers glow
5. Careful of the wind
6. Start to shoot flowers with space
7. Shoot with a shallow depth of fields
8. Try different angles
9. Get Closer
10. Found an eye catching flower
When you shoot your flowers think how may images you need and think they will be used for your look / catalog / online shop
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Digital vs Film
Nowadays most of the people take photos with their phone or digital camera. We are not afraid to shoot many times the same subject and we are sure we gonna at least get one good we can select after.
"Film a good school to learn photography"
Shooting film is another dimension and another way to take pictures. We cannot see the photo after the shot. We take more time and pay more attention about details before click on the shutter because the cost of film shooting is higher than digital.
What is the difference of digital and film ?
As a fine art photographer shooting digital and film on weddings, when there's enough light (sunny) I prefer to shoot film than digital but in a very low light condition digital is better. Each system have their pros and cons and what makes me in love with film pics are the uniqueness of the texture, the grain and the pastel colours. I feel each film pic have a soul, looks like a paint.
DIGITAL
PROS :
1. Great Autofocus
2. Unlimited shots
3. Range of Lenses
4. Good in low light condition
5. Affordable and long term investment
CONS :
1. Dynamic range lower
2. Time to for the Editing
3. Adobe CC Annual subscription
4. Need fast computer + big hard disks
FILM
PROS :
1. Great dynamic range
2. Beautiful pastel colours + skin tones + Bokeh
3. Unique Texture
4. Quality for Portrait
5. No need post-processing/editing
CONS :
1. Quality in low light condition
2. Wait for the film process
2. Cost (Film Roll + Film Process + Shipping x2)
3. Heavy and difficult to find Medium Film Camera
4. Only 16 shots per film roll 120
In the world of Film Photography they are three main company, Kodak, Fujifilm and Ilford who share the film market.
For colours film it's mainly Fujifilm 400h and Portra 400 used by photographers and for black and white Ilford HP5 & Delta 3200 + Kodak 400 TMax
Which Film I will use for flowers ?
Fuji 400h or Portra 400
Things to remember about Fuji 400H…
- Has a cyan base, so it produces neutral tones and minty greens
- When you plan to develop normally, shoot it at 100 ISO for best results
- Fuji 400H is really light hungry, so make sure to shoot it in good light
- Can be pushed 1-2 stops with good results
Things to remember about Portra 400…
- Has a yellow base, so it accentuates golden tones
- Most versatile colour film stock: can be shot in a variety of lighting scenarios and scanned to fit a variety of aesthetic preferences
- When you plan to develop normally, shoot it at 200 ISO for best results
- May have a green undertone in overcast light
- Can be pushed 1-2 stops with good results
when we shoot film, there's a tool we absolutely need to have before shooting ... it's a light meter
A light meter helps to measure the incident light and to shoot at the good speed to obtain a picture with a good exposure.
How to mesure the light ?
Set up first the ISO number on your light meter and hold your meter at 45 degrees toward the ground facing the camera. Then click the button below your view finder to get your reading. This method recreates metering for the shadow under your subject, which is the darkest part. Adding the 45 degrees toward the camera adds another stop of light
Film Pushed
Film roll can be "pushed'' means you don't have enough light when you want to shoot and you need to add +1 or +2 stop on the shutter speed. But pushing fill will increase grain and contrast. Sometimes highlights will turned a bit magenta. It will not bring brightness into your images but just it will correct the muddiness of the shadow.
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DEMO SHOOTING (10-15mn)
(each student will start to shoot first and Vincent will observe and shoot at the last)
1. Measure the light (film)
2. Find the best shoot area (light, reflection, background)
3. Check & observe 360 the Bouquet (side, shape, touch)
4. Set the camera
5. Add the Colorchek near the bouquet and shoot (far and zoom in)
6. Shoot the bouquet with space
7. Zoom in or come closer
8. Shoot details
2. Editing & Preset
The most important part of this workshop is how to edit your photos and how to keep your colour style most of the time for your portfolio
We will create a customised fine art preset with your own aesthetics for each student and it can be used each time when you import your new photos in LR.
We will teach you how to calibrate your colours using a Colorchecker (included for each student)
We will show you in live our workflow and how we edit rapidly our images using LR
Colour tones
Which Colour tones for my brand ?
There's many different style of colours tones you can associate to your brand. Finding and choosing your own palette of colours for your brand helps you to create your identity.
Colours tones = taste & personnality = you
Contelier Flower
Tulipina Design
Fleuropan
Pineapple Petals Studio
Editing
Editing colours on your pictures is a long and fine process.
Specially the difficulty it's to make a consistent result on each photos even it's a different day, different light, different location, different colours
There will be some criteria you need to follow before starting to shoot to be consistent for your portfolio :
1. Same camera & lens
2. Same background and colour
3. Same "window" of time
4. Same light & colour temperature
5. Same area of the shoot
6. Editing with the same computer & screen on day time
To edit the photos we gonna use Adobe Lightroom which is the most popular software for editing pictures
ADOBE LIGHTROOM
DEMO WORKFLOW
1. Introduction Lightroom
2. Import files
3. Tag photos
4. Apply Fine Art Preset
5. Fine Adjustments & Synchronise
6. Compare Reference Photo (Colorcheck / Photo)
7. Export (sRVB)
For hybrid (Digital & Film) photographer, a good calibration and using a photo as a reference is the good way to match your digital photos to film photos
RAW
DIGITAL - Fuji 400h Preset + tweaks
FILM - Fuji 400h
3. Branding & Social Medias
The Importance of Branding
1. Branding shows to your costumers who makes you "you"
2. Branding tells your story & identity
3. Branding builds like-minded connections
4. Gives you a direction and purpose
5. Great Branding growth your business for long term
LOGO - TYPOGRAPHY - DESIGN
The Importance of Marketing
1. Marketing Is an Effective Way of Engaging Customers
2. Marketing Helps to Build and Maintain your Brand’s Reputation
3. Marketing Helps to Build a Relationship Between a Business and Its Customers
4. Marketing Is a Communication Channel Used to Inform Customers
5. Marketing Helps to Boosts Sales
ADVERTISING - BLOGS - EVENTS/EXHIBITIONS - COLLABORATION
The Importance of the Packaging
1. Protect your product
2. Increase the value of your product/ brand
3. Attracts buyers
4. Differentiates the product from competitors
5. Perhaps Reusable for deco
QUALITY BAG - FRAGRANCE - VASE - LOGO PRINTED
Be Proactif
- You're not dependant of your life
- Luck don't exist
- Stop finding excuses
-If you dream it, do it
- Create new things, be inspired, challenge yourself
- developing your aesthetic and signature is a permanent work without end
Is there a client for your brand ?
- The main task is to get 100 to 200 clients per year
- who's your niche ?
- don't be afraid of the competitors, be confident... if there's no competitors there's no market.
- niche = limit. Don't try to attract everybody
-
Marketing is no longer about stuff you make but about the stories you tell - Seth Godin
- your ideal clients are your best friends
- the only to attract your ideal clients is to be yourself and communicate your values, your aesthetics through your brand
- you are the artist
- you need to suggest your clients
- clients chose you because of your signature and style, assume it
The most important for a business is to be visible for your audience. You can have a great brand, a nice website with beautiful photos but
no visibility = no business = no money
Social medias are the best tools to communicate your work, find clients and gain an audience
Social Medias
Instagram & Stories
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How to gain visibility / audience ?
- google search (website)
- social medias (IG, Facebook, Pinterest)
- blogs (B&B, Wedfolks, All About Wedding, Research Wedding)
- magazine
- forum
- exhibitions
- brand event (giveaway)
- collaboration shoot
- meetings with vendors/competitors