Advice Column - Oversaturation, Instagram, and my Gear Setup

Welcome to the first episode of Get the Picture? — the photography podcast for anyone who wants to learn more about breaking into the photography industry without getting overwhelmed by all the technical stuff. In this episode we’re talking about oversaturation, zoom lenses/my gear setup, and how to come up with content for Instagram. Whether you’re brand new to photography or just looking for a little inspiration and a photo friend, you’re in the right place!

~

LINKS & DISCOUNTS

30% OFF Honeybook (CRM): https://share.honeybook.com/tori8974653

Amazon Storefront: https://a.co/d/09bGJF9a

~

SOCIALS

Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getthepicture.pod

Photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torielisabethphoto

My Website: https://torielisabethphotography.com

~

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@torielisabethphoto

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@torielisabethphoto

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/telisabethphoto

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/torielisabethphoto

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, welcome to my very first episode of Get the Picture. My name is Tori Elizabeth. I'm a full-time wedding and travel photographer based in Arizona and Southern California, and I am so excited to be talking to you today. This podcast has been such a long time coming. I've been talking about starting it for forever. The like kind of gauge I gave myself was once I hit 15K, I can start my podcast. And I just recently hit 15K on Instagram, and so here we are, I'm starting my podcast. This is gonna be your go-to photography podcast for everything from how to shoot a wedding, wedding photography, um, all the way to how to get started as a business owner, gear, um, photography, hot takes, horror stories, community versus competition, all of those things. Anything that's happening in the photography industry, I will be talking about it. Obviously, we're gonna get into AI, all of those things too. I want this to be your comfort podcast. I want this to be the podcast that you can turn on when your kids are in the car. I want you to download all the episodes, binge them on plane rides, binge them in the car when you're driving the shoots. I want this to be your comfort podcast. With that being said, I am gonna keep the first few episodes shorter just because I'm still getting the hang of it. Um, so I'm not gonna give you like hour-long podcasts yet. We're gonna do like little 15, maybe 20 minute kind of bite-sized episodes at the beginning, just while I get started and start, you know, getting some listeners. So if you guys like the podcast, make sure you follow, subscribe, like all those things. But basically, for this first episode, I hate when people start their episode and immediately start talking all about themselves because it's like, I don't know you yet. Why do I care about how you got started in this business or how you got did whatever? Like, I don't care about you yet, so why are you talking about yourself for 30 minutes? So I'm gonna kind of skip the intro episode and I'm just gonna go straight into what I do, which right now is photography education, and I'm just gonna be going through advice column submissions that I got on my Instagram story. I put out a question box and said, give me all your photography questions, and that's just what I'm gonna be going through answering those questions today, um, as well as some other comments that I've gotten on TikTok with questions as well. So, just all of your guys' questions, that's what I'm answering today, and that's what the next couple are gonna be as well. In a few episodes, I'll do like a true intro episode. So I promise you will hear about me, but we're just gonna get right into it for now. I'll give you my SparkNotes version though. Um my name is Tori Elizabeth. I like I said, I'm a full-time wedding photographer. I'm based in Arizona. Um, I'm about five hours from San Diego, which is where my parents live, where I grew up, so I shoot a ton there. Like I'm going to shoot there at the end of this week. Um, so I'm frequently in Southern California, Arizona. I am mostly travel-based. For example, I only have one local wedding in Arizona this year. I am going to nine different states. So most of my shoots are actually out of state as well. For example, I have a wedding in Oregon in June, and I'm like clustering my Oregon shoots around that wedding. So I'm going to Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin. I have a elopemen in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. I'm going to New York for the first time, I'm going to Texas for the first time. Um, I have weddings in Idaho, which is where I was previously based. Um, I'm going everywhere. So if travel photography is something that you've been wanting to get into, I promise I'm gonna have a podcast episode on that. So keep watching. I'm planning on doing that one pretty soon, but I love doing photography. I've been doing this for about five years now. My husband and I have been married for three years. We have our dog Luma, who will probably be in every episode in some sleeping position. She is my love. I love her. She is so cute and sweet, and she really needs a bath right now. But recently, my obsession has been like designing and decorating um everything in our house. We, you know, are renting this house so we could have this extra room for my office. I will put like a video of my office on the screen if you're watching on YouTube. But it's my pride and joy. I love it in here, like it's so pretty, it's like immersive, like vintage. Like you walk in and you're like, oh my gosh, like it's just so cute. I'm obsessed with this. So, anyway, that's kind of about me. You'll hear more about me as we go through the podcast. And like I said, I'll obviously do like a real intro episode, but right now I just wanna start giving you guys some value, start giving you guys free photography education. So let's get right into the advice column submissions. The first question I'm gonna answer is kind of the reason I'm so passionate about photography education. It says, How on earth do you stand out in such an oversaturated market? Will I ever be able to make it? Um, and another question that said, like, how do you stand out? Any tips for someone who's starting out? This is exactly what I'm passionate about as an educator. Um, is teaching you that it is not too oversaturated, you can stand out. There are not too many photographers, there's a photographer for everyone, and you can do this. So, this is why I wanted to start with this question. That's kind of the reason that I started educating and the reason I'm passionate about it. I dropped out of college to start my business. My husband says I shouldn't say I dropped out, but I did. I dropped out. Um, I dropped out because this was my dream job, it was what I wanted to do, and I was not making it in college. And doing this has allowed me freedom and gave me my confidence back. I felt like a failure when I dropped out of college, but when I was able to do this full time, I felt like I really had made something of myself, and I want that for other people. I want creative people with ADHD and all this pent-up creativity who want an outlet for it, to know that they can do it. There are not too many photographers. It is not only a realistic career, but also a profitable career. And I want people to know that they can do it and to feel confident and feel empowered. So, to answer your question, no, the market is not too oversaturated. It is saturated, but it is not oversaturated. Oversaturated means there's too many people and you won't be able to make it. So, in my opinion, it's not oversaturated, it is saturated. There are a lot of photographers, especially I started my business in Idaho. I was close to Utah, I would shoot a lot in Utah. Utah is incredibly saturated with photographers. So if you're somewhere like that, or like California, Arizona is pretty bad too, like places like this, yes, it is saturated. It is hard to stand out, but that's exactly how you combat saturation is by standing out. So, the how do you get over that? How do you stand out in a saturated market? First of all, stop telling yourself that it's oversaturated. If you tell yourself it's oversaturated, you're kind of like shooting yourself in the foot and you're you're giving yourself an excuse to not succeed. It's not oversaturated, it's saturated. So stop telling yourself that there are too many people. Instead, look at what other people are doing and look at how you can do it differently and how you can stand out. For example, there are a lot of people trying to get into photography education right now. The way that I grew my following and have gotten into the photography education space is by doing something different on Instagram. So for me, that started honestly as doing really simple text posts. So, for example, I noticed that when I got on TikTok, everyone, you know, puts text on their sliding posts, on their like regular photo posts, and I realized no one really does that on Instagram. Like it's kind of only like like big companies or like people who do graphics and stuff like that. And I was like, oh, that's kind of strange. I noticed that the ones with text did well on TikTok, and I was like, hmm, what if I put that type of content on Instagram? How would it do? And they blew up. I mean, they started blowing up. I was getting 500 followers on posts, and I had I was still at like I think 6k when I started doing this, so this was like a lot of growth for me. And I realized like people want information. This is saveable, this is shareable. Like, I just because other people are not putting text and it's not aesthetic to put text on over your photos does not mean that I can't do it. That was kind of my holdup was like, oh, it'll mess up my grid, it won't be aesthetic anymore. I'm a photographer, it has to be aesthetic. So I realized I can just pick a cute font. Just because other people are doing it doesn't mean I can't, and I started doing these text posts and they blew up. And so the way that I'm breaking into the photography, the photography education space is by doing it a little bit different than everyone else. Now, obviously, the only thing I'm doing isn't just putting text over my photos, but that's just an example of you have to kind of think outside the box and you have to do it differently than everyone else is doing it, and then you'll stand out. And even if people copy you, you are still the first one to do it, or one of the first, and you will stand out. So that's how you combat saturation and feeling like everyone's doing the same thing, is don't do the exact same thing, do it differently. I have a friend who is trying to get into the videography space. If you feel like there are a million videographers, like, how are you gonna stand out? Do it differently. Like, take it from a different perspective, do a little bit of a different style, have a different edit. Like do what you like, but do it different than everyone else. Find some way to take a different angle than everyone else is doing. Do it originally and you will stand out. It's gonna take a lot of brainstorming, it's gonna take a lot of looking, figuring out what you do best and where your strengths are. But really, the best thing is to take a different angle than everyone else, because then you will find the clients that want exactly what you're doing. No one else is gonna be doing it. Those are also the same tips I have for someone who's starting out. Just look at the niche you want to get into and start practicing, start shooting for free, all of those things, but try to just take a little bit of a different angle than everyone else is taking. Like if you notice that there's a lot of people in your area who do like silly, happy, candid photos, maybe you try to take a little bit more of like an editorial, a little bit more of a like fashion-inspired look to your photography. Just something a little bit different. It has to be something you're passionate about and like, so it can't just be something different to be different. You need to be excited about it. But if you can do something different than everyone else in your area, you will stand out. I guarantee if there's a gap in the industry and your area, that means there's a gap with clientele. There are clients that want what you're gonna do. I guarantee that if no photographers are doing that certain type of look, there are probably clients out there who want that look and just can't find photographers for that. So there will be people who flock to you when you do something different. Okay, this one is another good question. Um, I'm laughing because this is kind of controversial, but um pros and cons between the 24 to 70 and the 28 to 70 Canon lens. So let's talk prime versus zoom, first of all. If you are a prime purist, I'm sorry I'm about to offend you, but I'm a zoom lens girly all the way. I started on zoom lenses, I never even got into the prime game. I I have primes, I have never touched them. I mean, like I've I've used them once, then they sent my camera back and collect dust. I don't use them. I really love the convenience of zoom lenses. Honestly, I like the look of zoom lenses. I feel like it matches the more documentary whimsical vibe that a lot of Gen Z photographers are kind of going for. I feel like zoom lenses kind of fit the way the photography industry is headed right now. No hate if you're using prime lenses. I love a good prime lens. Everyone loves a good 50mm. You can never beat the look of like an 85 or something, but I feel like zoom lenses are where it's at right now. So if you're thinking about getting the 24 to 70 or 28 to 70, let me tell you the pros and cons of both. Pros to the 24 to 70 are obviously that it is cheaper, much cheaper, much more affordable. 28 to 70 is a very pricey lens. The pros to the 28 to 70 are that you can go down to f2 instead of f2.8. Um, that that's huge, especially with a zoom lens. You're not shooting on a prime lens, you can't go down to f1.2, or even if you have a cheaper one, f1.8, you're at 2.8. So it's a lot harder to get that nice, like creamy boca in the background. So if that's the look you're going for, if you're looking for like a more blown-out background, like a more blurred background, um, more separation, you're gonna want the 28 to 70. For perspective, I shot on the 24 to 70 for about a year and a half, two years before I got my 28 to 70. So I have used both. I still have my 24 to 70. I have it as a backup. I don't think I would ever grab it instead of my 28 to 70. Actually, that's not true. The one time I have switched it out is during a wedding reception because when I'm shooting dance floor photos, I'm at like F like 5.6 or something anyway. I'm not going down to F2, so I don't need to be on my 28 to 70. I'm shooting on my 24 to 70 because I'm holding my camera up above my head, and the 28 to 70 is so heavy and it's like hurting my hands. So in that case, I will switch to my 24 to 70, but like I'm even thinking about selling my 24 to 70 because I rarely use it. So that's kind of the only bad thing about the 28 to 70, besides the price, is that it is really heavy. Um, it's not as bad as I thought though. You really do get used to it. Like your arms really do just get stronger. If you're someone with like incredibly shaky hands, if you ever have to hold like the veil with one hand and your 28 to 70, like your camera with your 28 to 70 in your other hand, it is really hard to like hold it still. So I have to like crank up my shutter speed sometimes, to be completely honest with you guys, because I know I'm like shaking a little bit. So the only reason you would not want the 28 to 70 is if price is a huge concern, like a huge factor in this, or you have like really shaky hands or like really weak arms or something like that. But if you're thinking of getting a new lens anyway and you can swing the price difference, I would go with the 28 to 70. I feel like if you get the 24 to 70, you're just gonna want the 28 to 70 eventually anyway. And so, girl math, you're saving money by just buying the 28 to 70. So that's my opinion on that. 24 to 70 is also great. Like I said, I shot on it for like a year and a half. Great lens. I mean, you can't go wrong with either both are amazing lenses. You just can't get the look of a 28 to 70 with a 24 to 70. So if you like that lower F stop, you need the 28 to 70. In my opinion, it's worth the price difference, worth the weight, worth how big it is, like it's worth it. This kind of goes into the next question. What camera do you use and what is your go-to lens? I shoot on a Canon R6 Mark II and the 28 to 70 millimeter uh F2. I am probably about to buy the Canon R6 Mark III, so once I get that, I'll have to do like a little comparison video for you guys on YouTube. But I love my setup, I love my Mark II. I mean, the autofocus is just so good. That's what I'm excited for on the Mark III. I've heard the autofocus is even better. I love that setup. I'm using my R6 Mark II to record right now because it does great video. There is a huge difference between the R6 and the R6 Mark II, and I'm assuming there's gonna be a big difference between the Mark II and the Mark III. So if you have the R6 and you're wanting to upgrade, the R6 Mark II is definitely worth it. And it's also like on sale, like it's marked down right now because the R6 Mark III came out. 200 to 400, I think, dollars cheaper than it previously was. Family photographer starting to do weddings. Do I start a new Instagram for that content? It depends. So if you are first of all, I'm a big fan of keeping everything all in one space. There are, and that's a little bit controversial, there are a lot of like educators that teach, you know, separate everything, create a separate account for everything. I personally feel like having less to manage is better. I also feel like, for example, I I'm not supposed to touch my mic.

unknown 16:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

For example, when I started wanting to get into photography education, I actually created a separate Instagram account and I was like, oh, I'm gonna put all my photography education stuff over here. And then I realized that that was stupid. I'm gonna put it all on my one account. And so I think I still need to delete that account. I never did anything with it, but I'm so glad I didn't start posting on that account instead because I never would have hit 15k on my regular photography account, and I'm so glad that I did because that 15k is gonna do so much more for me than two separate accounts with like 5k or something, because growth is exponential on social media. So I am a big proponent of keep everything all together. The only reason I would separate them is if you want to stay doing families long term. So if you're transitioning from families to weddings and you want to like eventually not shoot family sessions except maybe one here or there, and you want to be full time with weddings, I would just transition your one account and just start filling it with wedding content instead of family content, and hopefully your audience will transition with you. But if you're wanting to continue to do family sessions for the rest of forever and then also do weddings, I would probably do two separate accounts because those are two very different audiences. And when a when a couple is looking for a wedding photographer, if they go on and every other post is a family session, it just feels like you're not an expert. It feels like you're not specialized in weddings. So in that case, you would want two separate accounts. But if you're trying to just transition from families to wedding, just keep it on the same account and just transition your content. This question was about motion blur on a wedding day. Um it says motion blur where the bride and groom are not blurry but the bridal party are. So if you're watching on YouTube, I'm gonna put a photo on the screen of what this person is talking about. The way you get a photo like this is by lowering your shutter speed. You make your shutter speed low enough that movement will be blurred, and then you tell your couple to stand right in the middle, have them not move, tell them you're gonna kiss and you're not gonna move a muscle, you're gonna stand perfectly still, and then you're either gonna use a tripod. I know a lot of people use a tripod for the shot, or you're just gonna hold your camera perfectly still, and then you're gonna tell the wedding party to like basically run around them in a circle type of thing. Like go back and forth across the lens, run in a circle around them, and you're just gonna have all this movement blurred and you're trying to catch focus on the couple in the middle and get a photo of them still and everyone else blurry around them. So, for example, a good shutter speed for this is like one over 50. I typically default to one over 50, 1 over 60, and then adjust from there. So if you're having everyone go and they're not blurry enough, you'll either tell them to move faster or maybe tell them to move faster and lower your shutter speed a little bit. Or if you're finding them to be super blurry and you can't even tell that they're people, you need to raise your shutter speed. That's a good starting point for this type of photo though. If it's during a wedding day, you're likely doing this when it's pretty bright outside. So you're probably gonna have to put your ISO all the way down to 100 and then raise your F-stop up if it's too overexposed still. So you might have to be shooting on like, you know, ISO 100, shutter speed one over 50, and your F-stop might have to be like, I don't know, 5.6 or something like that, something a little bit higher so that it's not overexposed. Okay, the last question I'm gonna answer today is one that I feel like a lot of you guys have, and the question that I really get asked the most, which is how do you come up with new post ideas? I don't know, you guys, they just come to me. No, I'm just kidding. Um, but I do a couple things. First of all, I have a note in my phone and it's like a running list of all my ideas that I have for reels, for posts, TikToks, YouTube videos, whatever. And now podcast episodes, actually. Anytime I think of something, I will add it to that list. I listen to a ton of podcasts. I'm trying to read books and I travel a lot. So anytime I'm in the car, I'm like listening to a podcast or just listening to music and thinking, and I'm like brainstorming ideas while I'm driving. I'm just multitasking all the time, always trying to come up with new content ideas, and then I will tell Siri to text myself and hey, text myself this idea while I'm driving because I can't forget it, and then I'll write it down in my notes later. So that's how I keep track of all my ideas. How I actually come up with the ideas a lot of the time is based on my feed. So I use a feed planning app. I use plan only. This is not sponsored, but unless they want to sponsor me, they can, but I will put a photo on YouTube of what it looks like. But this is how I plan my feed, and what I'll typically do now is I'll you know drag my photos around, figure out which photos look good in my feed, and then if I it's like let's say I drag this photo of a bride running through a field, and I'm like, oh, this one looks really good in my feed. I really want to post it. I'm like, oh, I've already posted that wedding before. Well, how can I do a different spin on that wedding? Well, instead of just posting the wedding again because I've already posted it before, I'm gonna say, my 20 favorite, I don't know, like 20 candid photos I took at this wedding. Bam. Like, I actually haven't done that post. That's a good one though. Someone else steal it. I just think, like, I want to post these photos. How can I post them in a different way than I have before? And that's kind of what gives me my ideas. So the other day I had realized that I don't post a lot of my blurry photos in my grid, and I was like, oh, that's stupid. I love blurry photos. Why do I not put them in my grid? And I had this one blurry photo I had really wanted to post, but I had already posted that session the post before. And I was like, well, I can't just post the session again two times in a row. It's kind of weird. So I was like, well, I'm gonna make it into an informational post. I know a lot of people have questions about blurry photos, so I turned it into how to take a good motion blur photo or how to capture motion blur or something like that. And I turned it into an informational post because I wanted that photo in my grid. So that is kind of the way I decide a lot of them now is like, I want to post these photos, how can I take a different angle on them before than before? So I would encourage you guys to try that. How I come up with reels and good content ideas is you've gotta, if you want to do well on social media, you have to consume it, like you have to be a consumer first. And so you do have to scroll, you've gotta scroll, and you'll see someone else's reel, and you'll be like, oh, that was cool. I could do something like that, but I'm gonna put my spin on it and do this. So you've gotta be consuming enough content that you're feeling inspired by other people, and you need to steal like an artist and do it in your way. Don't just copy them, do it in your way. And so I feel like because I do consume so much, I listen to so many podcasts, I uh doom scroll way too much, I'm always like bombarded with all of these ideas that people are doing, and it makes me think, how can I do this in my own way? So if you're at a point where you can't come up with content ideas, I want you to scroll, find a good reel, and then say, How could I do this differently? So again, you're not copying them, okay? Do not copy people. You're just getting inspired and thinking, how can I do a different take on what they did? What do I like about their video? How can I do it in a different way? Or think, how could I post this wedding in a way that I haven't before? Or how could I post this session and share different information about it than I did before? Maybe I share, maybe I share some behind the scenes this time, maybe I explain why I delivered the photos that I did. Instead of just posting 20 photos, maybe I explain that these 20 photos are sneak peeks and why I selected each of these photos as a sneak peek to send to my clients. So just try to look for a different angle than you typically do look for. I feel like that is the best way to come up with new content, fresh content. So I hope that helps. Well, thank you guys so much for watching. We are out of time for today, but I am so so excited for this podcast. I'm gonna do another advice column submissions episode for my second episode. So make sure to come back for that. Whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever, thank you so much for listening. Um, subscribe, leave a comment if you're on YouTube. Make sure to follow and download all the episodes. If you want to, check out my work on Instagram. My Instagram is at Tori Elizabeth Photo. Elizabeth is with an S. My TikTok and YouTube and Pinterest are all at Tori Elizabeth Photo. If you want to follow me on Facebook, it's T Elizabeth Photo because I can't figure out how to change my Facebook username. So thank you so much for being part of this journey. I am genuinely so excited. Have a great day, you guys, and I will talk to you next time. Bye.