If you have, then you are either an uber-nerd or a photographer that’s editing. I happen to fall into both categories. Welcome to my geeky world where an hour of listening to investigative reporting on the effects of toxic investments on the economic meltdown sounds like a pretty good time while achieving natural skin tones.

When it comes to processing images, podcasts have become my life-savers. I have found several sixty-minute, thirty-minute, and fifteen-minute podcasts that I basically use to time myself during afternoons of culling and editing. Cull an engagement shoot? That’s an hour-long This American Life. Edit the blog images from a wedding? A thirty minute interview from Fresh Air. Receive a wedding back from ShootDotEdit and finalize for proofing? I’ll cue up a fifteen minute 99% Invisible podcast with Roman Mars.

But this wasn’t always the case. Before we started using Photo Mechanic to cull our images, I needed an entire AUDIOBOOK to finish a job. Watch my quick screencast and see how we use Photo Mechanic to quickly and effectively cull, sort, tag, and prep our images before editing them in Lightroom 4. Our culling time was cut in HALF with this simple, easy, and inexpensive program!

Which is why I am so excited and honored to be a Celebrity Photographer on Chic Critique during the entire month of April!

Chic Critique is THE elite resource for women who love photography. Their Celebrity Photographers (I’m one of them!) encourage, inspire, teach, and critique members. This forum is so stinkin’ cool so at the very least I would go get your CHIC on and join the forum to increase your confidence and improve your images!

During the month of April I’ll be doing Image Critiques for photographers via video! What better way to improve your images than from somebody you trust? Eh, eh?

Ok, so what exactly is a “4-week Critique”? A “4-week Critique” is a private class where Chic members simply post images once a week for 4 weeks and get VIDEO critiques from a Celebrity Photographer.

• All critiques are given in VIDEO format so that you can listen and watch what the Celebrity is referring to
• Lessons & assignments are not given, simply critique
• Each 4-week critique starts the first Monday of every month
• Each active student posts 3 images once a week anytime between Monday-Wednesday
• The Celebrity Photographer responds to each active student’s image post anytime between Thursday-Saturday
• Each Critique class will consist of only 10 active students
• A private classroom on the forum will be setup for each 4-week Critique
• Offered exclusively to members and costs $89 per active student and $45 per “Chic Peek” silent student

My Photo Critique begins April 1st-April 28th, 2013. Only 9 spots left!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO SIGN UP.

Okay, not really. But we had an experience not too long ago that I debated about sharing, but in the end decided that it might be helpful and encouraging for my friends. This isn’t a look-at-us sort of post, but more of a what-we-wish-we-had-known-earlier sort of post.

When I was first starting out, I sat down to write some lofty business goals and came away with a pretty good list (I say “I” because when The Youngrens started it was actually Jeff Youngren Photography, and Erin’s only role was listening to my crazy stories and wiggling her way into being an assistant from time-to-time. I’m glad times have changed).

One of the goals – which at the time was completely serious – makes me laugh when I think about it now.

I wrote down that I would know that I had “made it” as a wedding photographer when I was able to photograph a wedding of more than 200 people at the Hotel Del Coronado with the ceremony on the Windsor Lawn and the reception in the Crown Room at the same location. The Hotel Del is an iconic fixture in San Diego and hosts all kinds of weddings – from casual intimate affairs on the beach to modest weddings in the gardens to grand over-the-top events with atmospheric budgets. Lots of people shoot at the Hotel Del, but those incredible high-end weddings with big commissions generally take place on the Windsor Lawn and the Crown Room, so it was this specific combination that would mean that I would be able to plant my flag firmly and proudly in the ground, having made it in the world of wedding photography.

I’m sure there is a similar high-end venue in most cities where everybody longs to book a wedding. Where all of the top vendors in the area regularly make an appearance, casually dropping the coordinator’s name while sipping scotch and smoking cigars in the hotel lounge, sharing war tales of the countless weddings they’ve worked there. You know that once you shoot at that venue, you’ll earn your spot in the “big time club”, no longer peering in from the outside windows but donning your very own smoking jacket to saddle up next to them at the mahogany bar.

Last September, after 6 years of shooting, we shot that wedding.

I had completely forgotten about this until Erin and I were walking into the Hotel Del to photograph the rehearsal dinner. I stopped dead in the parking lot, staring up at the famous red spires of the turn of the century hotel, and shared this with her. She laughed for the same reasons I laughed. WOW. How the scale of success has changed for me. I’m not saying that shooting there was a let down because it wasn’t – hooooo boy, it wasn’t! This was quite literally one of our favorite weddings of all time because of the couple, their friends, and their families (to save you the digging, here’s a link).

We laughed because it’s just so funny what I perceived as a newcomer to be the measure of success in the wedding photography industry. I thought it was about the contents of the photography package, the status of the location, the size of the invoice, and the prestige of the vendor list. That once we had that perfect combination, we would have made it.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. And that makes me so happy.

How could I have known that the factors that I attributed to “making it” would be so short sighted? Success is not a profit margin, a vendor list, a venue, or even a six-figure income. It’s all about the couple and your art. Period. End-of-story.

For us, success is when you connect with a couple on such a deep level that serving them through photography is as natural as friendship. When the connection is so strong that you’re moved to tears as the bride walks down the aisle to marry her groom under an oak tree in a park on a warm summer’s day. That’s when you’ve made it.

It’s when you get a call from the mother of the bride that says that she’s tried ten times to write a thank you letter but keeps bursting into tears and just had to call to thank you for capturing the love that her daughter and her son-in-law share. That’s when you’ve made it.

It’s when when all the bridesmaids have walked down the aisle, and you’re left with the bride, her dad, and your camera as they share those last few moments of thick quietness before he walks her down the aisle and gives her away. And you are able to see and capture that thick quietness in a simple, breathtaking photograph. That’s when you’ve made it.

It’s about that moment when you’re minutes away from the First Look and  you get the chance to prepare a groom to experience the love of their life. It’s when you get to tell them to be still, and that it’s not going to be about photographs – it’s going to be about them seeing one another for the first time. That’s when you’ve made it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you have this lofty goal of what it’s like to “make it” in this industry, change your goal. Or at least revisit it. Make sure it’s based more on the ways you can bless your couples, make their lives better, and thrive in your art as opposed to perceived or actual status.

That’s where the win is.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that in spite of any business success we might experience, the thing that keeps me going and excited and makes me want to do this as long as I possibly can is when I have the chance to love a client with everything I’ve got and they receive that and let me into the moments that make up their lives. That’s what keeps me going.

Now go and make it. I know you can. I’ve got a hunch that maybe you already have…

But that’s just the thing. We didn’t want to put a workshop together just for the sake of doing a workshop – in order to feel good about ourselves or gain respect from a crowd. We didn’t want to treat workshops as if they were an unspoken and inevitable ‘next step’, like a rite of passage into a higher level of success within the industry. We knew that this kind of rockstar mentality wouldn’t get us very far for very long, and until we could teach something from our hearts – until we knew in our gut that we were in this for the right reasons – we wouldn’t move forward.

So for those three years, instead of doing workshops, we focused instead on our clients and learned how to make them happy. We built systems, analyzed costs, and navigated the swiftly changing wedding market. And over those years we discovered something that changed everything about the way we did business. We discovered our ideal client, and we learned how to help others discover theirs.

Our industry has been rocked and scarred by workshops that teach the “learn to be me” path to success, and we all know that this ultimately doesn’t work. Instead, we teach the “learn to be you” path to success. We’ll share our story and teach you our methods, but we’ll also help you unlock the artist that’s begging to burst out.

So why do we offer a 100% money back guarantee for our workshops? Because we believe in our gut that this idea of discovering your ideal client is transformational and we want to hold up our end of the bargain.

Our workshop is chalk full of awesome content, but we thought we’d spend 2.5 minutes and tell you all the stuff you NEED to know about the workshop.

Hope to see you there! Click here for dates & to register.

In this screencast, I demo how Jeff and I edit our wedding and engagement images in Adobe Lightroom 4. This isn’t a tutorial on how to use Lightroom, it’s simply an explanation of the editing process we use to achieve our natural style for our wedding and engagement shoots.

I even give away our ‘secret ingredient’…

This screencast is open to our newsletter subscribers only, so sign up to receive our updates and you’ll be sent the exclusive password for subscriber-only content just like this. For those of you who’ve been with us a while, the password is the same as last time. If you’ve forgotten it, just enter your e-mail address in the subscribe area to the right and you’ll be sent the password again (don’t worry, you won’t end up with multiple subscriptions!)

Enjoy!

It’s the same with our shoots. Think about it – isn’t it when we’re able to fulfill our couples basic physical and emotional needs (whether we realize it or not) that we have the most fun in our shoots? That our couples really loosen up in front of our cameras? When we’re able to capture the best stuff?

In other words, it’s only when we’re a great host that the party really starts.

Being a great host to your couples by creating that comfort and connection is much easier than you think. In fact, the best place to start addressing these two needs is right in the middle of your basic posing technique, and we have four easy tips that pack a powerful punch in the comfort and connection zones.

Tip #1: Steer Clear of Negative Language

When a nervous couple arrives at a session – hair done, makeup perfect, outfits pressed – the world in front of your camera should be nothing but positive. Nothing helps people feel more at ease than a kind upbeat spirit, so let them know that they look perfect, the light is great, and their outfits are fabulous. Keep up the encouragement throughout the session, and always remember to give constant positive affirmations, particularly while you’re posing.

You don’t need to be a bubbly personality beaming with a sunshine smile in order to make people comfortable. But you definitely need to spin your demeanor and language to the positive side of things.

For example, when posing someone, avoid saying things like “don’t hang your arms by your side” or “don’t face that direction.” Even if it’s said with smile, words like ‘don’t’ undermine a individual’s security with themselves and your camera. Instead, spin things around and say with a smile, “put your hand on your waist” or “turn towards the window.” And always follow up your directions with a kind affirmation like “that looks great” or “you guys are doing perfect.”

Along those same lines, if you set your clients in a pose or location that just isn’t looking fab on camera, shoot a few frames and then move on with a quick, “Perfect guys, follow me over here.” The worst thing you could do in those moments would be to acknowledge that the setup isn’t working. Even if you tell your couple that it’s the light or the background that doesn’t look good, it can still allow a hint of negative insecurity to creep into the session. No bueno.

Tip #2: Anticipate Their Questions

In the hours upon hours that we’ve spent shooting and posing couples, there have been three questions we’ve discovered that every subject wants answered immediately.

(1) Where do I put my hands? (2) Where do I look? and (3) Do I smile or not?

If you’re able to answer those three basic questions while posing your clients BEFORE they ask, then you’ve done 80% of the legwork in helping them feel comfortable. So incorporate those three items into your posing dialogue and you’ll find that your clients will not only loosen up, but they’ll trust you to make them look gooooooood.

Tip #3: Avoid the ‘Maybe’s’

Use confident language when you’re shooting and posing and avoid using non-specific unsure words such as ‘maybe’, ‘kinda’, ‘I think’, etc. This can be a lot harder than it looks – if you really stop and listen to yourself posing, these words come out A LOT. But the less you use them, the more you come across as confident and in control – even when you may be nervous or unsure.

By this I don’t mean that you should bark orders at your couple in order to come across as strong – there’s a big different between being in control of the shoot and being controlling. What I do mean is that you should pay attention to your posing language and start filtering unsure filler words that undermine your confidence.

Tip #4: Use Their Names

The last crazy simple tip for better posing is to simply use their names. When we’re in the heat of a shoot with a million thoughts racing through our head – the light, the couple, the pose, the settings – we can lose track of the connection we’re working to build with our subject. This is when we might start to point and say, “you stand here, and you lean on his shoulder.” Even if we’re sweet and positive, we can seriously up the connection points when we remember to simply use their names.

“Eric stand here, and Amy lean on his shoulder.”

Doesn’t that sound – and feel – so much better?

Start incorporating these crazy simple tips into your posing and watch your couples flourish in front of your camera. Remember that it’s your party, so be the amazing host that you are with some kick butt comfort and connection. I’m sure we’re not the only ones that have figured out ways to do this, though. What are some other crazy simple tips for better posing that you guys can share? How are you a great host with your brides and grooms?

It was as if everything came crashing together into the perfect tornado of photo-love-session-awesomeness. Only it was better than that.  And it was because of the attendees.

The 14 folks who got to be a part of The Youngrens inaugural Two Day Workshop were PERFECT. The one-of-a-kind content that we wrote specifically for this workshop fit their hearts and minds and souls like a sleek leather glove. With soft cushy wool on the inside. On a snowy day in December. With a Chai latte in hand…

Jeff and I spent two days workshopping with the attendees, and I was seriously humbled by their hard work, relentless ambition, and sponge-like minds. As soon as we started teaching to these incredibly loving individuals, my anxiety over my outfit and hair and schedules and plans and breakfast and logistics and dear-Lord-everything-that-could-go-wrong melted into a deep belief that this content is POWERFUL. Even if the walls of the house fell down around us, we all knew that we would walk away with business-changing knowledge.

The best part of the entire two days? Watching the ‘ah-ha’ moments occur. When people’s eyes lit up because all that they had been hearing about this mysterious ‘ideal client thang’ finally made sense. When they finally learned – and truly believed – that they themselves have clients who love them because their ideal client had just become shockingly crystal clear. Theirs. Nobody else’s.

It was pretty stinkin’ powerful folks – if I say so myself.

Day one of the workshop was spent discovering everybody’s ideal clients, learning how to attract those clients through content marketing, and figuring out how to make them crazy happy with a unique client experience. Yes, there was Starbucks, and yes, those are everybody’s customized drinks. Boo(to the)yeah.

For the rest of the day, we had plenty of mugs for tea and coffee with tiny chalkboard wine charms that Jeff handmade himself. Jeff is a man of many talents. I’m thinking we should open an Etsy shop…

While I was wringing my hands and triple-checking my hair, Jeff was quite literally jumping with excitement for the workshop to start. Thanks to Stephanie Villa Davis for these photos!

Day one was guided by this little gem – our workshop workbook that I researched and wrote myself. By the end of the day, everybody’s workbooks were completely filled out and overflowing with notes and info outlining their particular clientele’s likes, interests, needs, and values. Holla!

Day two was our shooting and workflow day, so we headed out to a nearby beautiful field and did some serious shooting. Thanks to Tim King for helping us out both days and for these awesome photos! Check out our images from the shoot at this post here.

I call this “The Man, The Myth, The Youngren.”

Our fabulous couple, Jonathan and Lisa, workin’ it for the crowd.

We chose to shoot at a time in the morning that would be during less than ideal lighting conditions in order to reflect the circumstances of an actual wedding day. Cheers to gettin’ real!

Side note: I seriously don’t know what’s going on with my hair. That thing sticking out the back? It’s not supposed to be doing that…

The whole crew – love you guys!

After the shoot, we headed back to the workshop house and Jonathan and Lisa answered attendee’s questions about their experience in front of the camera. Like I said, we were keeping things real! We then spent the day processing the images and teaching on digital asset management and post-production workflow, and ended the day with a wine and cheese night sponsored by KISS Wedding Books. A big thanks also goes out to Colorati for sponsoring our yummy lunch that day. We couldn’t have done this without you guys!

Our Two-Day Workshop is coming to cities all across the U.S., so learn more about our workshop and sign up to be notified for upcoming dates and registration!

Bonus Photo: The lovable Justin surprised Jeff with a gift during our wine and cheese night. It’s called a Wine Yolk. Hands free baby! LOL!

First, congratulations. It takes a lot of courage to do that.

Second, be strong. Because as much courage as it took to hang out your shingle, it takes even more courage to keep it hangin’ out there when the going gets rough. As many of us have learned these past few years, there is no magic Easy Button in this business.

By the way – could someone please get on that? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

So here it is folks – a list of ten things Jeff and I believe that you should do in your first year of business as a wedding photographer, in no particular order.

And keep in mind that this is just our humble opinion – the comment section is where we want to hear your voice. I have a feeling that there are quite a few of you out there with some itching opinions on this very topic. We’d love to hear from you below.

1. Shoot Your First 100,000

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, says that every expert has to put in 10,000 hours of their particular craft before they can be considered a master. That typically equals somewhere around ten years.

It’s so important to be shooting consistently when you’re in this business. Your camera needs to feel like it’s an extension of your hand – natural and easy – and that only comes with time behind the shutter. And this practice doesn’t stop after your first year. I’m sure any seasoned professional would agree with me that when we go a few weeks without shooting, we can get stiff. I know that it takes me longer to get into the groove of a shoot if I haven’t shot for a week or so. So the key is consistency.

Not only do you need to shoot consistently, but you need to shoot a LOT in your first year. For me, I like the benchmark of shooting 100,000 images in one year. I’m using the number of 100,000 loosely, but I like using a tangible number that’s tough to reach. It creates a clear, driven goal. It took me a year and a half to shoot my first 100,000 images (I tried so hard to reach that one-year goal!) but I attribute my quick learning to the large amount of time I spent using my camera. (And keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be in your first year – you can challenge yourself at any time to shot 100,000 images in the next year).

So how can we shoot 100,000 images if we’re still looking for work in our first year? Beverly Hills photographer, Roberto Valenzuela, gives great advice on the subject. He says that instead of packing up our camera between shoots, we should keep it handy with a memory card inside so that we can pick it up at random and shoot around our house for fifteen minutes every day. You don’t need to photograph people, just objects around your home. You can shoot a bowl of peaches and study how different light moves across it because the peach skin is similar to people skin. A teddy bear will help you study body shape. Shoes on your nightstand or the dishes in your kitchen can help with getting ready and reception details.

In short, your 10,000 hours begins now. Start shooting.

2. Find New York

I once heard my friend Dane Sanders say that if you know that you’re going to New York, then finding the road to get there is easy. It’s when you don’t have a destination that you’ll get lost.

You’re going to be working with your nose to the grindstone to build this business, so begin developing a clear idea of where you’re going and why. Write down what you want your ideal business to look like – is it a part-time gig that will pay for your kids’ college education? Is it a full-time business that will replace your day job? Is it a large studio or a one-person show?

In short, what is your New York? You won’t get anywhere until you know where you’re going.

3. Build an Online Presence

Alright, we’re coming down from the clouds and getting into the nitty-gritty of building a business. Whether it’s a blog, website, or Facebook page, you need to create an online landing page where people can view your work and begin hiring you. When building this first landing page, remember that the point is to give people the tools they need to hire you easily and efficiently, so even if you don’t have a solid brand yet, just focus on the essentials: an about page, a sample of your work (which you’re creating while you’re shooting your 100,000 images), and your contact information.

Make it easy for potential clients to contact you. Keep it to the point, throw in some of your unique personality, and when people inquire, be quick to respond.

(Check out Copyblogger for great insight on building online landing pages that work)

4. Buy the Right Gear

What gear you ultimately invest in will depend on a lot of factors: your budget and needs, your style of shooting, and your specialty (wedding, portrait, pets, travel, fashion, etc). But here are two great rules of thumb:

1. Don’t go into debt to purchase gear. Once you’ve purchased your first camera and start getting paid for shoots, invest in upgrading and building your gear set. If a particular piece of gear will help you book more shoots and get paid more, then buy it. If it’s just fun to use – maybe wait a bit.

2. Only buy gear and lenses that will reflect your style. Your gear is only a tool to aid your particular vision, so figure out what works for you. Just because ‘everybody’ has a certain lens doesn’t mean that you’re required to have it, too.

(Read more about what gear we use and why)

5. Read 10 Books About Business or Branding

You need to have an insatiable appetite for learning in order to succeed as a small business owner, so begin those good learning habits now by ingesting good, valuable content frequently. Here’s our recommended list.

I suggest beginning with The E-Myth Revisited.

6. Invest in a Computer and Backup System

Along with your camera and shooting gear, you will need to have an adequate processor for your images. A laptop will not work. Don’t even try. A laptop just won’t be powerful enough to process your large image files quickly. You’ll also need a large monitor that can be calibrated.

Our main color machine is a decked-out 8 Core MacPro & an Apple Cinema Display. The new iMacs are totally sweet and great machines, and you get good bang for your buck if a MacPro is out of your budget. Keep in mind that all the iMacs have glossy LED displays, which means that you need to be able to work in a somewhat dark room to minimize glare and keep colors true.

You will also need to have a game plan for backing up your images or else your business is in jeopardy of ending before it even begins. Here’s our backup system, so take a look and modify it for your own needs and budget.

7. Notify Your Funeral List

One of the biggest mistakes I see new photographers make is that they spend quite a bit of time and resources on building their online presence, buying gear, and crafting an amazing pricing structure (all important!) but then they forget to tell the people they know in real life about their new venture…

Make a list of the people in your life that you believe would be at your funeral and let them know what you are up to. Tell them that you are just starting out and that you will provide incredible service to anyone who trusts in you during these beginning stages. Then treat those first clients like gold and start building your marketing strategy.

As you’re coming up with your funeral list, remember that the people on the edge of your network are the most powerful. What do I mean by the edge of your network? I mean that your cute friend from work who has a completely different set of stylish friends from you is more powerful than your mom (I love you mom!) This is because a direct connection (like your mom) seems like a forced referral, while a casual acquaintance talking about you to her friends actually carries some real weight.

8. Give to Your Ideal Clients

While you’re shooting your 100,000 images in that first year, you will want to be shooting anyone and anything just to gain experience. This is definitely ok.

But as you’re shooting, start identifying your ideal clientele (the people you vibe with most), and figure out ways to begin attracting and photographing those ideal clients. You will most likely need to make a lot of concessions with your time, pricing, and resources in order to make this happen, so be generous. If you can start building an ideal portfolio in the midst of your shooting now, you’ll be ahead of the game in the long run.

When you find your ideal clients, give to them. Be known for generosity, caring, and consideration. Doing this will be the biggest driver in helping thou land more ideal clients.

Working with your ideal clients can be one of the most fulfilling things you’ll do in this business – and we’re passionate about helping other photographers discover who their ideal clients are. If you’re interested in learning more, we’d love to invite you to one of our workshops.

9. Build a Community of Colleagues

Photographers have an incredibly lonely job. We work and build our businesses from home – alone. We dream and think of new business ideas – alone. We shoot – alone.

So it’s incredibly important to get out of your shell and build relationships with like-minded photographers that are in the same stage of business as you. Having other people to lean on, ask questions of, talk through ideas with, and basically connect with is absolutely priceless. Local photography groups are a great way to connect as well as online forums and conferences.

Our favorite online forums are the [b]shool & the Pictage Forums and we LOVE our local PUG group for connecting with local photographers. If you don’t have a community group in your area – start one! It doesn’t have to be crazy official – simply getting together with 4-5 photographers in your area for coffee (or vino) once a month will do wonders for your business.

10. Develop Your Style, Begin Your Brand

So you’re shooting your 100,000 images right? This is the best way to start honing your style and developing your brand – which is the toughest part of the entire job. Keep a journal and start digging into your heart. Who are you? What makes you different? How do you want to present yourself to the world? To your ideal clients?

For most people, it will take a number of years to build a solid brand, so don’t feel discouraged if it doesn’t come right away (it took Jeff and I four years to develop our current brand). The point is to keep working at it until you get it right. In fact, I would suggest that most folks shouldn’t hire a graphic designer until they’ve been in the business for a few years because it will take that long to figure out who you really are. Or, if you DO hire a graphic designer in the early years, just be aware that you’ll need to revisit your visual identity at some point and do it all over again once you have a clearer picture of what your brand actually is.

One of our favorite quotes around here is from Walt Disney who said “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.” This will take a long time – it takes everyone a long time, but you must stick with it.

 11. Make your Business a Business

Okay, I know we said 10 things, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the importance of making your business a business. You can follow all the advice above, but at the end of the day, if you don’t operate your business like a business, you will fail. Ouch, that kind of hurts to write – but it’s true. Oh so true. Did you know that 90% of photography businesses fail in their first year, and 80% fail within 5 years? Staggering – and I’ll tell you that it’s not because of their images; it’s because they didn’t make their business a business.

Hear me on this. Before you accept a single paying client, you MUST file all the paperwork with your state and local governments, hire an accountant and a lawyer to make sure you’re set up correctly, and make sure you’ve got your business insurance dialed in. This is just for STARTERS – there’s a lot more, but we’ll cover that in a future post all dedicated to business practices. For now, a great resource is Jason Aten’s blog for Starting Out Right in Business. Bookmark that bad boy.

These are just a few concrete things that we believe are solid practices for your first year of business. But remember that there is no magic key that will unlock success. It’s all about time and hard work. So don’t be discouraged if your dreams don’t come true in one year (or more) – but begin building a foundation for those dreams now and you’ll be in great shape.

Now it’s your turn. What are some concrete practices that helped you in your first year of business? Or what are some “wish-I-had-done-this” pieces of advice for those starting out?

Now have you ever recorded a 20 minute screencast? Ick, ick, ick.

ICK.

I had to crawl under my desk when I heard my voice play back on this – my very first ever screencast. The sound of my own voice felt like somebody completely different. Am I really that high-pitched? Is that why everybody backs up when I speak? I always thought it was my breath… But Jeff just smiled at me from across the room, leaned back in his ergonomic desk chair, stretched his arms up high, yawned, and said, “Great job sweetie. That was pretty awesome for your first time.”

In this screencast (again, my first ever), I demo how Jeff and I edit our wedding and engagement images in Adobe Lightroom 3. This isn’t a tutorial on how to use Lightroom, it’s simply an explanation of the editing process we use to achieve our natural style for our wedding and engagement shoots.

I even give away our ‘secret ingredient’…

This screencast is open to our newsletter subscribers only, so sign up to receive our updates and you’ll be sent the exclusive password for subscriber-only content just like this.

Enjoy!

Things we referenced in this video : Jared Platt’s Lightroom Workshops