Endless Summer Collective

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Endless Summer Collective

Tools to take your photography business to the next level

Contracts | Presets| Guides | Mentorship

03/02/2022

Today I gave a webinar on escaping the mid market trap with and I’m offering a free Covid contract addendum and copy of my slide deck from todays presentation for anyone who signs up for my mailing list today. Link in bio!!!!

05/24/2021

I think 6 years ago I made a mission to go to Iceland and shoot a wedding. This was right when that was becoming a “thing.” I had seen a music video shot on this stunning beach that had really touched my soul but I never looked up where it was. I loved it so much I got lyrics from it tattooed on my body. A stroke of luck found me actually booking a wedding in Iceland, and I was so excited. But the most magical moment by far was when we walked out to the ceremony location, one I hadn’t researched in advance, and there we were. The EXACT same beach. That’s the power of manifestation, my friends. Dream big.

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05/21/2021

THE SITE WENT LIVE TODAY GUYS! Follow the link in bio to check out my Lightroom develop presets, InDesign album design templates, contracts, and mentorship options.

05/19/2021

So the site goes live this Friday. I’m nervous! But I hope you guys will check out my new offerings of Lightroom presets, album design templates, contracts, and mentorship options. I recently did this shoot with a former bride of mine turned good friend. She had decided to create her own definition of femininity and just shave her head- I think it looks incredible. These photos are FIRE. Love the light airy-ness with an edge. I know I always have a hard time motivating myself to take on personal projects, but I never regret them once I’m actually doing them.

04/21/2021

How to capture the most emo ceremony photos

This may be such a “duh” moment to a lot of you, but it took me a bit to figure this out.

When people are reading vows, don’t be shooting the person reading, be shooting the person listening.

If you have a second shooter or have extra time, the second angle for this moment is straight down the aisle, full length, horizontal, waist up, or zoomed in on just the hand’s paper.

Mid-word is not typically our most attractive moment. Obviously there will be exceptions, but if you are all alone shooting, 100% choose to be shooting over the shoulder of the person reading and capturing the person listening for the best shots.

04/20/2021

Becoming an entrepreneur is not for everyone. It’s only for people who have the interest and wherewithal to keep going in the face of obstacles, financial hardship, negative feedback, even failure.

One of my favorite podcasts is How I Made This. You listen to all these wildly successful entrepreneurs across all industries talk about their startup story, and almost unilaterally all of them failed 1-4 times before they made it. All of them committed in the face of doors closing in their face and having not succeeded before. I highly recommend you give it a listen if you’re feeling discouraged or even are in need of some tips. You don’t have to do this on your own.

For the record, I used to be OBSESSED with Micheal Jackson and since that documentary, I’m just inclined to believe victims. But this quote is still legit.

04/19/2021

Can you spot what makes the first picture better than the second?

I’ll tell ya: These photos are backlit, and in the first image I stood on my tippy toes and managed to *mostly* tuck there heads under the horizon of the backdrop. This put a halo effect around their outline. In the second, I’m shooting directly into the sky, which made it blown out and hazier- ie: harder to recover in editing.

There’s not really a right and wrong, and there’s always a time to break the rules. And sometimes you just got what you got and you have to work with it. That’s why I’ve developed presets to fix these editing obstacles in two shakes of a lambs tail- coming soon! But as a rule I tend to always make sure to tuck heads under a horizon line or in front of something obstructing the light to get the most out of backlighting.

04/17/2021

Ever wonder how your favorite photogs get such a consistent look? It might have a lot less to do with editing than you think.

Good editing starts in camera. That means shooting intentionally, being as in control of the setting and lighting as possible, and therefore setting yourself up for success later in editing.

One of the easiest ways to make your editing process cut down by half is being more consistent in how you shoot. If you’re reinventing the wheel every time you pick up the camera, you’re going to have to reinvent it in each and every image you edit as well. Pick a style that speaks to you and try to schedule all your shoots in times and locations that make that possible. It’s okay to make it clear to the client that you can’t just do their photos whenever, wherever, if they want them to look consistent with the samples shown on your website. It’s okay to say “hey, not all houses work for indoor shoots, mine certainly doesn’t, so if you’re wanting something with a lifestyle feel, how about we rent a space with great lighting!”

They’re deferring to you to know what’s best so speak up!

Look at your favorite photographer, identify what lighting they are usually shooting in. If it’s a dark/moody/mossy aesthetic shot on the Isle of Skye, you’re going to have an uphill battle trying to recreate that in a sunny desert. If it’s bright/warm/glowy look, trying to make that happen in November in Portland is going to be tough! Let your environment inform how you edit a bit and know that if you ever catch yourself trying to force an image to look like something it wasn’t, you run the risk of making the photo look way over-processed. Halt. Make it the best version of what it IS, instead of a broke down version of what it wasn’t.

I personally almost always try to shoot either in shade or backlit, preferably late evening/golden hour light. Shade/overcast is just really forgiving and gives you the freedom to play around in the photo without blowing out shadows or highlights. Backlight creates a halo effect around the subject, popping them out from the background. It looks flat in camera, but that can be easily saved in the edit (and I’ve got the presets for you!)

On a wedding day, these options aren’t always available so I’ll hunt down some shade. If I STILL can’t find a suitable place, I’ll suck it up and shoot in full sun and then use flash to fill in the harsh shadows, but I don’t post those images to my feed because they aren’t the aesthetic I prefer, they don’t look consistent with the other images, and I want to only highlight the type of work I like doing. More on that another day! Recently I’ve played around more with direct light, but it’s definitely not my go-to.

Moral of the story: think you’re spending too much time editing? Try being more consistent in the lighting you shoot in, the settings you use, and the compositions you create. It makes it much easier to batch edit and it shows the client that you are able to deliver a consistent aesthetic.

04/16/2021

In a world full editing trends that come and go, what aesthetic is the one that really speaks to you? Are you having a hard time nailing down 1. What it is and 2. How to consistently achieve it?

Personally I really like to mute and cool down my highlights, deep warm shadows, and I do like to manipulate HSL on a lot of colors in a consistent way across my portfolio (the key) but I do still want some vibrancy, especially in moments like these where the vibrancy of the place is a big part of the story.

Categorically I always hate the way lawns look in photos. Something about cut grass in a photograph, I can’t make it look good, I think it throws off skin tones and then when you fix the skin tones it then throws off the grass to look super unnatural- I literally avoid doing golf course weddings for this reason, even though golf course weddings are gorgeous to the eye haha. I find it hard to achieve my chosen aesthetic in that environment.

Even when editing using my own presets, I’ll tweak the vibrancy or the saturation of a single image if there’s something about it really special I don’t want to lose in the edit. These pinks and yellows, I probably would have toned them down if they were in someone’s outfit, making it busy or distracting, but in this image they are part of the story. Don’t be afraid to break your own rules from time to time.

Are you ever frustrated or feel stuck with your own editing? I can help! Want this edit? I’ll be selling my presets soon!

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Twin Lakes, CO

Website

http://endless-summer-collective.com/

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