Advice Column - Freezing up while Posing, Social Media, and Gear Recs

Welcome back to Get the Picture? In episode 2, we’re answering more photography advice column questions about freezing up while posing clients, getting behind-the-scenes content, beginner gear recommendations, and whether social media is really worth it as a photographer. It’s a bite sized episode filled with more of the practical advice and answers to questions I wish I had when I was starting out. Whether you’re trying to grow your photography skills or just want to feel a little less alone figuring it all out, this episode’s for you!

~

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

Welcome back to another episode of Get the Picture. My name is Tori Elizabeth. I'm your host and I am so excited to be back. If you're new here, I just started this podcast. This is episode two, and we are doing advice column submissions again today. If you don't already know me, like I said, my name is Tori. I am a full-time traveling wedding photographer based in Arizona and Southern California. I've been doing this for about five years, and I've recently gone to the photography education space. I have told myself that I can start my podcast when I hit 15k. Oops. You good? Sorry, my dog is trying to get comfy. Thanks, Luma. I told myself that I could start my podcast when I hit 15k on Instagram. And I finally hit 15k on Instagram this past week. And so here I am starting my podcast. So I have yet to do like an intro episode. I will get there, but I don't like when podcasts start off by introducing themselves because it's like, I don't care about you yet. I don't want to know your life story yet. So I'm gonna do that in like a few episodes once we have kind of got to know each other more. No, once once you guys actually care a little bit more to know about me, I don't know, once you have listened to a few episodes and feel like we get the vibe. So the goal of this podcast is to be your go-to photography podcast, your comfort podcast, the podcast you listen to while you travel, while you edit, you can listen to it with your kids in the car, it's gonna be clean, all of those good things. So I'm just gonna jump right into it and get into the submissions. Like I said, I have grown my Instagram following quite a bit, and I took advice column submissions on my Instagram story, so I put like a question box and then let everybody ask me their photography questions. That's what we did in episode one. So if you haven't watched that already, go back and watch episode one. Those were those were kind of the biggest questions that I get asked. Today are kind of the more niche questions that are like specific things. Um we're talking like CRM platforms, how to deliver photos, social media, posing, all the things. So we're just gonna get right into it. And obviously, if you like the podcast, please follow, rate, review, subscribe. I'm on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, all wherever you get your podcasts. Um, so you should be able to listen wherever. And if you're on YouTube, you can see like what I look like in my cute office, my dog, and I'll be showing like visuals to demonstrate some of the questions I'm answering on YouTube. So if you are like on your computer and you want to have split screen so you can see my visuals, go to YouTube. Okay, first question. This person asked, What camera do you recommend for a beginner? I want to shoot my grandson's baseball, I guess action shots. That's so cute, first of all. Like you want to take like shoot your grandson's baseball games. Like, I love this. Um, I would say if you are, oh, and they said what size of a lens too. I would say if you are just wanting to do it as a hobby and you don't want to do this as a career, you want a Canon Rebel, just a good old Canon Rebel. I think um a T6 is a really good one. That would be a great camera for you. They he they even have like a preset action setting. Typically, I don't recommend shooting auto, but if you're just trying to capture like some family moments for fun, that's what I would recommend is just shooting auto on a Canon Rebel using their preset for sports and action. Um, if you're wanting to get into it more seriously as a hobby, then don't use auto, shoot on manual. But I would still recommend the Canon Rebel, that's like a great camera for beginners. So, what size of a lens? If you are trying to do sports, you do need a longer focal length. So those kit lenses that come with the Canon Rebels, like a 55 to 105, I think they are, those are not really gonna be very good for you. Um, you're not gonna be able to get very close up. So I would get a cheap 200 to 300 millimeter EF Canon lens, and that is probably gonna be the best for you for just like hobby sports photography. Do I need a new camera? I have a Canon Rebel. So you need a new camera if you are trying to do this full time and you are serious about photography. Yeah, you need a new camera. Um, for reference, I shot my first, I think just my first wedding on my Canon Rebel, and then I upgraded to my Canon R6. I don't think I would have been able to grow as quickly as I had had I not switched over to my R6. At a certain point, your camera will limit you, but I would say that if you have not yet learned to shoot in manual, you don't need a new camera yet. If you're shooting in auto, you need to first learn to shoot manual. Then you need to get a new camera. So you're gonna shoot manual, you're gonna really master your camera, really master manual settings, then you're gonna take the money that you're making from photography, invest it in a new camera, and then you're gonna do even better. But if you just go ahead and buy a new camera, you're just gonna be learning the same things that you need to learn already on your Canon Rebel. So learn manual first, learn your camera in and out, then buy new camera. If you need help learning manual settings, I have so many TikToks about it, but also on my YouTube, I'm posting like how to learn manual settings on my YouTube as well. I have so many free resources on learning manual. So if you if you've been struggling with that, you have no excuses. I can literally teach you everything. Go to either my TikTok or my YouTube, it's also on my Instagram too, but I'm primarily putting everything on TikTok if you want short form, and long form is gonna be all on YouTube, obviously. So go to one of those, you'll be able to learn manual, easy peasy. Okay, this person asked for best go-to poses for photo shoots and how to remember poses. Um, I remember this being so hard for me when I was first starting out, like how to remember poses. I would do like two poses, I would go into like my shoot, like, yeah, I'm gonna do these poses. I would do two and then I would completely blink. And I would be like, Okay, um, guess you're gonna walk again. Like, I have no idea what to do. So, um, what I would recommend for beginners is honestly to have a cheat sheet. I would get a phone mount. I have it, I have one linked in my Amazon storefront, which is linked in my Instagram. So you can go to my Instagram, click on my Amazon storefront, and go to like camera gear, camera accessories. And I have a phone mount linked, and you're gonna buy that phone mount. It's like 20 bucks or something, and then you're gonna have your phone on top of your camera while you're shooting, and you're gonna have a notes app pulled up, and you're gonna have a list of like 10 to 20 poses that you're gonna go to when you blank. Your clients are not gonna know what you're doing on your phone. You, for all they know, you could be taking behind-the-scenes videos. You also should use it to take behind-the-scenes videos so that you get behind-the-scenes content, but you can also have poses pulled up so that when you blank, you know what to do. I'm gonna give you some of the best go-to poses that I think you should put on that list. And again, if you're on YouTube, I'm gonna show my poses, show my photos on the screen. First pose, good go-to is one partner is standing straight up, other partner is snuggling their arm, and they're gonna put their head on their shoulder, like cross a foot or something. So it's a good way to get them both looking at the camera without just standing tummy to tummy and like being smushed up together. It's kind of like a cute snuggle, snuggle the bicep, snuggle the shoulder type of photo, okay? So that's one go-to. Second go-to is go ahead and just have them sit. People feel more comfortable when they're not like doing a photo shoot. When they're just sitting snuggled up, that feels like sitting on the couch watching a movie, like it just feels more natural. I feel like I really get people to open up when they're sitting or laying down in some kind of way. So I love the sit between someone's legs and they like wrap them up in a hug. I feel like that gets them to like relax, like you're being held by your person, you're just like calm, like you feel zen. So wrapped up in a hug, and then have them like shake them around, like rock back and forth. The movement, you know, if you have a girl, like her hair gets swaying, have them give each other like kisses all over the cheek, like that just really opens up a lot of a lot of different options from this one pose. And I feel like this is a really good pose to get little details. So, like her ring, like they're holding hands on her stomach, you know, he has her wrapped up, like grab a detail of just her ring, like grab, they have their heads turned toward each other, like zoom in, catch like just like their noses and lips, like pressed together, like get, you know, her legs are crossed and they're all like snuggled up. Maybe he has his hand on her leg, like get a detail of that, get have them both go cheek to cheek and look at you, get a close-up of their eyes. Like, I find that these sitting poses are where I get a ton of those detail photos. Along the same lines as that, is one of the partners hugging the other from behind, but standing up. You can kind of do the same thing, have them shake them around, but maybe more aggressively, like have them maybe say, like, try to almost knock them over, but don't quiet. And they're gonna like shake around, they're gonna be like laughing, like have the girl like, you know, like pick her knees up, kind of, like move her legs around a little bit, have him kiss her all over her cheek. Um, one she can she can put her arm around his head and turn and look at him like this. There are so many different things you can do with the behind the back pose, and again, you can get all those close-up details. Like, if she's like this, you get up a close-up of her ring on the side of his face, you get their noses turned toward each other, you get his hands on her stomach, maybe one hand is over her shoulder, and then then you grab hands like this, you get a detail of that. Like, there are so many different things you can do with the hug from behind poses. Like, I'm not even kidding, those are really good go-tos. You can get like seven poses out of just one pose. I'm gonna give you three more poses that are like a little bit different, a little less basic, more storytelling. So, if that's what you're trying to get into with your photography, these ones are for you. I remember being so scared to try poses like this when I was trying to get into more of that like candid, really natural feel of photography. Because I was like, what if I try the pose and it doesn't turn out well and they look stupid and like I don't know how to tell them, and like it looks dumb, and then they want to see the photo, or like, and then I don't want to send the photo because it doesn't look good, and they're like, We did this pose, where's the photo? Like, I was so scared of that. But I'm telling you, just try it, it's probably gonna turn out better than you think, and don't be afraid of just saying, like, hey, let's do that one more time, and this time, and tell them to do something different, and just say, like, oh, I explained that bad. Like, this time, can you do this? Or like, don't make it a big deal, just tell them to do it again. Or maybe you just for maybe you just missed the shot. Just tell them, Hey, can you do that one more time? That was so cute. I want to get another one. Super easy. So don't be afraid to redo it. Don't be afraid to try new poses. And again, put all these in your list on your notes app that you're gonna have on that little hot shoe mount for your phone. So the first one is gonna be a little chase situation, like playing tag. You're gonna have them play tag. You're gonna tell one partner, you're gonna chase the other partner, partner B is gonna chase partner A. Partner A is gonna start running, partner B is gonna follow, and then you're gonna say, you're gonna match partner B is gonna match partner A's pace for a little bit, and then you're gonna say now, and then partner B is gonna grab partner A and pick him up, swing him around. Okay. So you're playing doing a little like fake tag situation. You're gonna say, Don't actually catch partner A yet until I tell you go, and then you can catch him. And so that's usually like the shot that I'm going for there is where partner A is running, looking over their shoulder, like, ah, don't catch me. Like, that's the cute shot, okay? You just want to make sure they're close enough together that you get them both in the frame. And again, on YouTube, I'm showing you what I mean by this pose. Another really good, like, storytelling pose is running. Okay, I guess I really like running, but running with like the airplane hands. Now, this isn't for every couple. If you can tell they kind of think some of your poses are a little bit out there, a little bit weird, don't try this one because they're gonna think you're weird. But um you're gonna have them like hold hands and run and then break apart and do like airplane hands, run and figure eight, like whatever. Basically, just go frolic and you're just gonna take photos of them. So, kind of similar to the first one with the airplane hands added. If you think the airplane hands is a no-go, just have them running and then separate and then come back together and make little figure eights toward you. That will be really cute. It gets a lot of like big smiles when they're like, ah, do we let go now? Do we not? And then they're like laughing and kind of reaching out for each other. That just really I feel like tells a story, adds a lot to your gallery. Okay, one more pose for you. I remember being so scared to try this one too, but it's one partner looking at the other, but they're in front of the camera blurred. So, for example, let's pretend I'm one of your clients, you're my camera right now, and you're shooting directly at me. I'm gonna have my husband stand in front of your camera, like halfway in front of it, just in front of the right side, and he's gonna be looking at me. So you're gonna get the back of his head and it's gonna be blurred in front of your lens, and it's gonna create some dimension and separation. So you're focused on me, getting me in focus, and he's blurry, kind of covering like half of your lens. That is like a really cool perspective shot. You can even switch it and do one of each so you can get a perspective of like both partners. And then I often will have the partner who you're focused on like run and like spin in a circle, like throw their hands up in the air. It's just it's giving carefree, it's giving it's giving sound of music, especially if you're like off in the field or a forest or something. It's so cute. So that is another shot that I feel like adds some adds some uniqueness to your gallery, or just tells a story other than just we're sitting here standing and smiling for the camera. I have some more poses that are a lot more out there than those, but those are my like not super crazy ones that if you're nervous to add in different poses, those ones are like good transition ones. Like they're not too crazy, they're just like gonna add a little bit to your gallery. So I'll probably do a different episode all about posing, and I'll give you a lot of like crazy pose ideas, but those are my good like transition ones if you're just wanting to add a little bit more to your galleries. Okay, I love this question. How much time poured into social media is worth it to get more clients? That's a question probably a lot of people are wondering. Um, first of all, I'll just answer the question: is social media worth it? Yes, social media is worth it. I get 95% of my business from social media, my you know, from my Instagram, um, now from my TikTok too as well. I've grown my TikTok to about 5k. I only started it a year ago. So social media is worth it. It does work. If you are a person who has a hard time with social media or you've had a hard time like being consistent with it, I promise you will get there. I used to hate showing my face. When I did show my face, I would put music over my video. I never talked to the camera. Like, this is still out of my comfort zone a little bit. Don't think that this is easy for me. It's not natural to sit in front of a camera and talk. Just like it's not natural to stand in front of a camera and get your picture taken. So if you're having a hard time with social media, keep going, you will get there. So it is worth it. How much time you should put in is honestly, I'm gonna tell you however much time you can. However, whatever the most amount of time is that you could possibly put into it, that's what you want to do. Within reason. While still maintaining your relationships with your spouse, significant other, family, friends, and handling your client work, editing, how much time realistically can you put into social media? Put all of that in. Don't be like, oh, well, I'll save a little bit for this. And no, put all of your time in because the more you put in, the more you're gonna get out of it. There is a direct correlation of effort to bookings for social media. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you put effort in, you will get bookings. As long as you're not neglecting the other areas like growing your work and client experience and things like that. You should focus on feed posts and reels, but you should also post consistently to your story. You want to become a brand that people know about. You want to have recognizable branding, you want to always be popping up. You want your profile photo always popping up on people's feeds, always popping up, even if they don't click on your story, you just want it always there. Like there's always something from your account that's out. You want people to remember that you're there. When they think photographer, you want their brain to go to you, but that only happens if you're always posting. You've got to be a little bit obnoxious with it. I have another one that says, well, it's not really a question, but it says social media, when to post, content ideas, etc. So if you're a business account, you can go into your analytics and see when your followers are most active. I have found the most success at like lunchtime when people are on their lunch break at work, or like 8:30 p.m. I also am a travel photographer, so I have followers in a lot of different time zones, so sometimes it's a little bit iffy. I've found that when people are doing their midday lunch scroll during work, and when people are doing their nightly doom scroll before bed, those are the two best times. So that's for me personally. You have to go into your analytics and see when your followers are most active. Early in the morning, middle of the day, or very end of the day, you don't want to post between like 10 to 12 was like is not a good time range, and like 2 to 5 p.m. is not really a good time range either. In my personal experience, what to post? You want a good balance of feed posts, reels, and stories. You don't want to be heavy in one area and light in the other two. I would say two feed posts and one reel a week minimum. If you can do more than that, great. It's better to be consistent and post less than to post more one week and then don't post the next week. Like don't post in ghost, okay? So don't burn yourself out. Just be consistent with what you can handle. So if you can handle two feed posts and one reel per week and at least like two to three stories a day, that I would say that's like bare minimum. If you can do more than that, I would say three feed posts, two reels, and then try to post like five times to your story every day. In my personal opinion, you don't need to post every single day. I think posting like five to six times a week is ideal. If you find yourself with more time and you're like, oh, I could post every day, I at that point I would start another social media platform like TikTok and try to be consistent on two. You just don't want to neglect the first one. So try not to put all your eggs in one basket, but at the same time, you don't want to split your time and not do well at one. You want to kind of you want to put as much time and effort as you can into one platform, and then once you kind of get the hang of it, you can add a second one. That's what I did, and it worked really well for me. Although I do wish I had started my TikTok a little bit sooner. I think I would have been able to handle it sooner, and I just felt a little bit cringe. So don't be like me, don't feel cringe, it's literally fine. Okay, two more quick questions. The first one is what's the best CRM to use? If you don't already know, a CRM is a client management software like Honeybook or Dub Soto, or oh, there's another one that I can't remember, of course. But I personally use Honeybook, I love it, I feel like it's worth the price, and that's kind of all I'm gonna say because I'm not sponsored, so no. Honeybook is great, and I think it's worth the price. Um you can look into different just look up like CRM platforms, um, and a bunch of them will come up. But Honey Book has been the most popular one for the longest time for photographers and like wedding planners and florists and stuff. Last question when to start using either aftershoot or imagine AI or no, imagine imagine. I think it's I don't know how you're supposed to say it, imagine AI when we don't have many bookings. Um, I would say don't. Don't start using it if you don't have many bookings. If you don't know, Aftershoot and Imagine are for AI culling and editing. I think Imagine does culling too. Aftershoot does AI culling. Um I personally do use Aftershoot. I feel like it is worth the cost, but I'm also not just putting my stuff in, letting it spit it out and sending it right to clients. I would never do that. I let it cull for me or edit for me, and then I go and fix it. So, for example, I typically don't use the editing, it doesn't do a great job in my personal opinion, but I will use it for culling, especially for weddings. It does a great job for family photos, it will select the images where every single person's eyes are open, so that is super helpful. Um, but it is pricey, and so if I didn't have a lot of shoots, it's just not something I think I'd be able to justify paying for it. It's really expensive, and I think if you don't have a lot of shoots, you should have time to kind of edit everything by hand. And I don't really know how how economical it would be to invest in something like that if you don't have a lot of shoots. I would say once you're getting booked a lot and you're starting to need more of your time free, then you should invest in that. But if you don't need to do it yet, I probably wouldn't because it is pretty expensive. It's also just like if you're starting off, it's really good to get more practice doing everything by hand. You need like I think at least 6,000 edited images or something like that to feed your AI profile so that it will edit for you. And so if you don't have like if you don't have enough photos of like your editing and it they're not consistent enough, you're not gonna, it's not gonna do a good job for you anyway. So you need to like get more practice, get more experience, and do it more by hand first before. Gonna be able to get an effective AI profile. Thank you guys so much for your submissions. Those were all great questions. Be on the lookout on my Instagram. I'm gonna ask you guys what you want to hear about on the podcast, what questions that you have that you want me to answer, what topics you want me to cover. So if you're not already following me on Instagram, go to my Instagram, it's at Tori Elizabeth Photo. Elizabeth is with an S, not a Z, so Tori Elizabeth Photo. And you're gonna follow me so that when I post those question boxes, you can give your input. Tell me what tell me what topics you want to hear about on the podcast. Obviously, follow, rate, review, leave me five stars, subscribe on YouTube, drop a comment if you're on YouTube, all the things. Thank you guys so much for watching. Tune back in for episode three coming out super soon. I am so excited to keep doing this. Have a great day, you guys. Bye.