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Practical guides on headshots, portraits, business photography and video, written by Rob Docherty for people and businesses in Louisville, KY, Shepherdsville and Southern Indiana.
Solid colors, clean fit, no busy patterns and no big logos. The practical guide to showing up for your headshot session dressed right, without overthinking it.
Read the guide →For BusinessI set up a studio in your conference room, each person steps in for a few minutes, and your whole team gets one consistent look. Here is exactly how the day runs.
Read the guide →Headshot TipsYour LinkedIn photo is seen at postage stamp size by people deciding whether to trust you. Here is what makes one work, and the common mistakes that quietly hurt.
Read the guide →For BusinessA headshot is one clean portrait. Branding photos are a library of you at work. The difference decides which session your business actually needs, and when.
Read the guide →For BusinessOnline, your photo is your product. The three kinds of product photos a Louisville small business needs, where they earn their keep, and when phone photos stop being enough.
Read the guide →Business VideoA talking head video is you, on camera, greeting every homepage visitor in person. Virtual production puts you in a designed set that makes a small business look established. Here is how it works.
Read the guide →Business VideoInstead of a cold contact form, your website asks questions on camera and visitors answer by tapping, talking or typing. What interactive video is, where it beats a form, and what filming one involves.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearRoom light changes every time a cloud moves. A strobe gives the same clean light on the first frame and the five hundredth, and that is why headshots use them.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearA softbox does not soften light by magic. It makes the light source bigger, and bigger light wraps around a face. Here is the plain English version.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearKey, fill and hair light. Three lights, three separate jobs. Once you know what each one does, you will start seeing them in every good business portrait.
Read the guide →Photo CraftGrey is not the boring choice, it is the reliable one. It flatters every skin tone, survives every outfit, and lets a whole team match. Here is why.
Read the guide →Photo CraftThe hour before sunset flatters everyone. Noon sun does the opposite. Here is what changes, and how I handle outdoor portraits when the schedule says midday.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearCatchlights are the little reflections in your eyes, and they do more work than any other detail in a headshot. Here is how they happen and why I check them first.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearThe 85mm is not tradition for its own sake. It is about distance: stand at the right distance and faces keep their real proportions. Here is the simple version.
Read the guide →Lighting and GearAperture is just how wide the lens opens, and it controls how much of the photo is sharp. Smaller number, wider opening, softer background. That is most of it.
Read the guide →Photo CraftTethered means the camera is connected to a screen, so every photo appears big the second it is taken. You pick favorites live, and surprises disappear.
Read the guide →Photo CraftA RAW file keeps everything the sensor saw. A JPEG is a finished version that has already thrown data away. Here is why I shoot RAW and what editing really involves.
Read the guide →Product PhotographyWhite background photos answer what is it. Lifestyle photos answer what is it like to own it. Most good listings need both. Here is how to split the work.
Read the guide →Photo CraftMegapixels sound like a score, but they are really a size. Here is how much resolution each real use, screen, print and billboard, actually calls for.
Read the guide →Product PhotographyWhen a customer says the color is not what they expected, the photo pipeline is usually why. Here is where color goes wrong, and the boring steps that keep it right.
Read the guide →Business VideoIf you ever see raw footage from a video shoot and think it looks washed out, that is on purpose. The grey is information, and grading is where the picture gets finished.
Read the guide →Business VideoFrame rate is how many pictures per second the camera takes. The choice changes how motion feels, and for a talking head video the answer is simpler than you think.
Read the guide →Business VideoFake looking green screen is rarely the green screen's fault. It is spill on the shoulders, light that does not match, and a background that never moves. Here is the fix.
Read the guide →Business VideoPeople will watch a slightly soft picture. They will not sit through echoey, distant audio. Here is how lapel and shotgun mics divide the work on a video shoot.
Read the guide →Business VideoAlmost nobody should memorize a homepage video script word for word. A prompter, used right, reads as eye contact, not reading. Here is how we film them.
Read the guide →Photo CraftThe rule of good retouching: if anyone can tell it happened, it went too far. Here is what I fix, what I refuse to change, and why that line matters.
Read the guide →Photo CraftA new hire photographed in March has to blend into a team page built in October. That is not luck, it is a recipe: measured lights, same backdrop, saved settings.
Read the guide →MarketingMost photography bookings from Google come from three unglamorous basics done well: a complete Business Profile, real reviews, and pages that match the search.
Read the guide →MarketingYour Business Profile is free, takes an afternoon to set up properly, and then needs feeding: real photos, current services, posts and answers. Here is the routine.
Read the guide →MarketingA local photo ad works when it shows your real work, makes one clear offer, targets only the people who can hire you, and lands on a page built to book.
Read the guide →MarketingThere is no magic number. Start with an amount you can afford to learn from, judge it by cost per real inquiry, and scale only what proves itself.
Read the guide →MarketingNear me searches are specific, so the pages that win them are specific too: one page per service, written for the people in the places you serve.
Read the guide →MarketingLikes are not bookings. Instagram books work when it shows real sessions, answers the next question, and keeps a door open for the ready to hire. Here is the method.
Read the guide →MarketingReviews grow from a system, not luck: ask when the client is happiest, send the direct link, make it take a minute, and reply to every single one.
Read the guide →MarketingRetargeting is showing your ad to people who already visited your site but did not book. For services people think about before buying, it is the polite reminder that works.
Read the guide →Tell me what you need photographed and where. I will bring the studio to you and we will make a plan together.
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