How to take a great photo: Put your mouse over the image and right click {New Braunfels Photography}

I'm not being serious in that title. That's NOT the proper way to take a good image. Yet some "fauxtographers" seem to think that's all it takes to get a great portfolio to sell to clients. One of my images (that I know of) showed up on the site of another photographer recently. Take a look at it. If you've followed my work for a few years you'll recognize this image that I took of Morgan about two years ago. Here's a link to the full gallery.

Do you see why I'm feeling a little bit violated here?

Today was my day off. I haven't had a Saturday off in forever and with the busy fall wedding season getting started, I knew that I wouldn't have another Saturday off until mid November. So I made a cheesy little excursion to Wonder World in San Marcos to explore the caves and pet some deer. It was totally spontaneous and fun for the whole family.

On the way home I pulled out my iPhone to check my e-mail. There was a strange message from someone I didn't know telling me that at least one of my images was being used illegally and there was a link to the site. The e-mail came from another photographer. She used a web image search to find me to inform me that this other photographer was claiming my work as his own. I saw the image and gasped. I was floored. I'd heard of this happening to others but I never thought it would happen to me.

It turns out this photographer who'd contacted me had been researching these images all day. She'd found many of the images were taken by others. She found stock images from iStock, and images from other portrait and wedding photographers from around the world. She contacted each of them when she was able to track their origin. I was the first to respond, she tells me.

I'm curious as to where this will go. It appears that they've taken down all their galleries now.

No doubt they are now aware of how serious the situation is.

Now I'd like to get on my soapbox and preach a little to the choir. I know you all are hard working people. You train for your jobs. You spend countless hours learning your skill. You spend a whole heck of a lot of money on learning your career. There are others out there who don't want to take the same time and spend the same money you spent. They'd rather take the work you've done and claim it as their own.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it's easy to snag the work of others, but also thanks to the internet, you will get caught.

Update: It appears that my image was used in advertising for them as well. Take a look at the screen shot my new friend captured on The Knot.

I wonder how many unsuspecting brides have hired these people thinking they are responsible for this image and all the other images you see below my image. If you look them up on the Knot now, you'll see they've removed all the images except one. So that's all they have? Shame on them!

Lisa On Location Photography

And now for something completely different {New Braunfels photographer}

Way back when, 20 years or so now, Lisa got her start in photojournalism photographing sports. She stalked the sidelines of Texas A&M football games, and later covered high school sports for various newspapers. She got pretty good at it. Keep in mind this was back in the days of film cameras, 36 shots to a roll, most of which she developed herself in the dark room. Pretty challenging stuff, even though many photographers made their living at it. I (being Jayme, Lisa's long-suffering sidekick) came to photography much later in life, after the digital revolution, and never had an opportunity to shoot sports. I played around with it a few years back, when I first got into photography, and while digital makes it a lot easier to start out, it's still an incredibly challenging art. The action moves so fast, you have to psyche yourself to shoot what's about to happen, and anticipate accordingly. If you wait until you see something interesting, you're going to miss it.

The Texas State University Bobcats hosted the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the newly-expanded Bobcat Stadium Saturday, in their first home game as a Division I-FBS team (that's Division I-A for old-school folks like me). Since I had to be on hand to deal with media if anything newsworthy happened off the field (the crowd of 30,000-plus being by far the largest ever to descend upon San Marcos) I decided to use the opportunity to practice my sports photography skills. Specifically, I saw it as an opportunity to try out my Canon FD 500mm f/8 reflex lens in the field. Lisa got me that old Canon mirror lens last Christmas, and I converted it to work on modern Canon cameras. The lens is manual-focus only, though, so even with some electronic enhancements, I expected it to be quite the challenge to shoot with.

You know what? I was right. A 500mm manual focus lens is very difficult to shoot action with. The fact that professional sports photographers 30 years ago used this kind of lens regularly is simply amazing to me. I suppose it's just a matter of practice, practice, practice until focusing become second nature, but still. Fortunately for me, digital is a great equalizer, and I was able to see what worked and what didn't immediately and adjust on the fly. I got several decent keepers, and threw away far, far more with missed focus and bad framing.

I can also assure you that a 500mm lens has a long reach. Which is great when you're shooting something far away, but once the action moves closer, it's challenging to make everything fit within the frame. Most of the images I'm sharing here were taken with the mirror lens, but the first, seventh and eighth were taken with traditional telephoto zooms. One way to identify photos taken with a mirror lens is to look for out-of-focus highlights that look like donuts. That's always a tell-tale sign.

It's fun to get out and try something outside of my comfort zone. I'm not anywhere close to making the cover of Sports Illustrated, but with enough practice I could get there. I could see my improvement from the start of the first quarter to the final seconds, and the journey is half the fun, right?

Lisa On Location Photography

Jonny and Krystle are Getting Hitched {New Braunfels wedding photography}

I see weddings almost every weekend and those are some of the most romantic moments in the lives of the happy couple. I am so honored to be a part of those moments. But every now and then I get to share in another special moment that's almost as exciting.

The proposal.

Jonny first contacted me while I was in the Dominican Republic for that destination wedding. His needs were a little more complex than my normal session. You see Jonny is from Houston, not New Braunfels, and he hasn't been here for years. So he didn't know where to pull all this off and needed my help. His plan was to take Krystle for a walk along a river after a romantic dinner during their vacation to New Braunfels, and somehow have her fish with a pole that had a ring tied to the end of the string. She needed to reel it in and find the ring, at which point he would drop to one knee and propose. Only she doesn't like to fish, and she really doesn't like to pose for photos for strangers.

That's where me and my sneaky assistant, Calista, had to get to work. I told him about a lovely romantic restaurant, the Huisache, that's just a few blocks away from the perfect quiet spot along the Comal River. We arranged the time when the sun would be at a perfect spot behind the trees. After he took her to dinner he'd suggest a walk along the river and Calista, sneaky little actress that she is, would approach them and beg them to allow her mom to photograph them fishing because she needed photos of people fishing for a science project she was working on. I would have a pole set up in a quiet picturesque part of the river. The pole would have a piece of costume jewelry ring tied to the end of it. He'd have the real ring in his pocket.

There was another little catch. We'd never met Jonny or Krystle and had just a some photographs on Facebook to go on in picking them out of the crowd of river goers along the river that evening.

Calista's got an eagle eye, however, and spotted them right away. She nailed her lines. But Krystle looked suspicious. "What kind of science project?" she asked her. Calista stuttered, "uh, about fish?" That's when I jumped in and asked her to reel that fish in. She didn't know how to fish, she told me, so Jonny showed her how. She reeled it in, saw the ring, Jonny dropped to his knee and swept her off her feet. She said yes.

They kissed, they hugged, they cuddled, they couldn't wait to update their Facebook relationship status. But they had to wait because I wasn't done with them yet. We stepped right into a little engagement session and fortunately, Krystle looked beautiful. "Aren't you glad I made you brush your hair before we got here," Jonny asked her. She was grateful and now it made sense that he'd be concerned about it when he wasn't usually.

Congratulations Jonny and Krystle. And thanks for calling me Jonny. It was fun to set up and fun to photograph. You two are so great together!

Lisa On Location Photography

I Shot a Wedding in my Bare Feet! {Destination Wedding Photography}

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that I'm a whiner when it comes to shoes. The cute ones kill my feet. I have yet to find the perfect all day wedding shoes that don't look like granny shoes. Is it really that hard to be comfy and cute?

So last weekend was a welcome change for my feet. I was able to photograph the entire affair in my bare feet. Many of the bridal party opted for bare feet as well. I assure you there was nothing unprofessional about my behavior. You see, barefooted is the way to be in the Caribbean. For this grand affair I was flow to a gorgeous seaside resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

I was thrilled to photograph this wedding for this beautiful couple. I met the bride, Lana, when she took my photography class through the New Braunfels ISD community ed program. Photography is very important to her. That's why she opted to not use the generic resort photographer who came with her package. And I was thrilled to help her out! Who wouldn't love a trip to paradise for work?
The Paradisus Resort hosted the beautiful event. The ceremony took place right on the beach with a rain storm headed straight for us. We managed to get all the way through the ceremony and part of the way through the formal photo session before the rain hit. And I've never seen a bride handle rain so well. Lana wasn't the least bit annoyed by it and even agreed to stand out in it for a rain shot for me.

We were all a little disappointed that the reception was moved off of the beach and into one of their ball rooms, but the guests were in great spirits all evening.

I was impressed with how many of the couples friends and family made the trip to the Dominican Republic to celebrate with them. It's great to see so many of their loved ones enjoying a tropical vacation and celebrating their new lives together as husband and wife.

The day after the wedding the whole crew went together on a dune buggy adventure. Many of the guests stayed an extra day or two enjoying the spa, golf courses, and all you cam eat buffets the resort had to offer.

Unfortunately, we had to high tail it home. We had three little children anxiously awaiting our return from paradise with a bag full of cheap t-shirts, magnets, and obnoxious noise makers stamped with "Dominican Republic" only to sport a "made in china" label on the bottom.

But I'm game to go again to the next paradise wedding that should come my way. Anyone up for Jamaica?

Lisa On Location Photography

Photographers Beware of Scams {New Braunfels Wedding Photography}

Nobody is safe from the scammer. Once upon a time a con artist was a smooth talker who played on trusting older ladies. He or she hung out at casinos, gas stations, bus stations. They had a story to tell and needed your help. And they were in your face, looking pitiful and in need of help.

Then along came the internet and the life of the con artist became a whole lot easier. Now the sky is the limit. They can send e-mails out all over and reach thousands of potential marks in one day.

I consider myself pretty savvy at spotting them. I delete e-mails every day from people claiming to represent some millionaire in a foreign country who wants to send me lots of money. A few years ago I took up selling Avon for the fun of it and it wasn't long before I got an e-mail from someone wanting to buy large quantities of products from me and give me a check for the total. The catch was they were in the UK and needed me to send them to an address in California where they would pick them up in the future. I didn't fall for it.

Avon reps aren't safe from con artists. And now it seems photographers aren't safe from con artists either.

I'm going to share with you the exact e-mail exchange I got from a potential con artist in the hopes that others won't fall for this. I didn't pursue this "client" after a Google search turned up the exact same story played on another photographer.

The first e-mail was simple enough:
"Hi, I'm Melissa Brown . Joe & I will be getting married in less than 2 months . We're asking for a package list which includes 6-8 hours of shooting time amongst a few other items . Package to exclude the Wedding engagement/ bridal sessions. Please let us know if you will be available for Saturday, September 15th, 2012 . And get back with your package pricing information. Thank you, Melissa Brown"

It sounds just like any other inquiry I get almost every day. A bride looking to book a photographer for a wedding. So I responded with my usual prompt reply pointing her to my packages and offering to meet with her over coffee to discuss photography.

Then I get this reply and my spidey senses started to tingle:
"Hello Lisa,
I trust you are currently having a great weekend over there. . > However, the Seriously In Love Package with an unlimited wedding day > coverage for- $2,900 works fine with us at this time. I was just going > to be sure you got this right. Ps: Wedding is September 15, 2012...And > in New York, NY. You see, you probably wont understand how hard it is > finding some one locally for the shooting of our wedding . They are > either booked up or not good enough so we decided to check online a > few websites including ppa, photolinks, etc. So we definitely hate for > this to be a waste of time.
> > I will let you know an exact address in the coming week(s) . I will > let you know asap when something has been booked. So the tentative > Wedding address is" The Central Park Boathouse. East 72nd St. New > York, NY 10021. We are expecting about 100-150 guests over . Both in > and outdoor shooting . Meaning we simply want an event coverage of our > preparation, ceremony, and reception.
> > It has been hard finding the perfect photographer for the shooting. > But following your response to my introductory email . I'm optimistic > about this arrangement working. We are currently in Manchester, UK for > an important visit ahead of my seminar. So I hope to work out an > arrangement ahead of my arrival back to the states.
> > You see, I am physically impaired (Hearing). So e-mail works fine > for now . We can work out all of the details ( via email) .A quick > question though, Will you be emailing us something like a standard > contract ( to be signed online ) knowing for sure you will be > available for the 15th?Get back to me soon.

Several things about this letter had me highly suspicious. First, note the really bad English. It's worded like someone doesn't have such a firm grasp of the English language. That's not such a bad thing, really and that by itself wouldn't indicate anything fishy. I've worked with multi-cultural couples in the past and they never gave me this fishy feeling.

Second, the bride conveniently can't talk to me over the phone. She's hearing impaired, or so she says. I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of traveling across the country to a wedding without ever having at least talked to the bride over the phone.

Third, they don't have a venue booked for sure. My first step at confirming if a wedding was to actually take place by these people would be to call the venue for verification but, oops, the venue is not booked yet. Something tells me they would withhold that piece of information off as long as possible.

Fourth, they mention that all the good New York photographers are all booked. I find that a bit hard to believe. New York is the heart of photography. There are so many wonderful photographers in that city that you couldn't throw a flash card without hitting one. Surely, there's someone local who can fill that need.

And finally, the last hint that something was off was the mention that they are not in the country at this time. They are setting it up for a foreign transaction to take place. My assumption is that they are hoping to pay with a foreign check written over the amount of my charges and then ask me to forward the change to them or to another party.

So at this time a part of me is thinking -- cool, a wedding in New York would be lovely. And the other part of me is thinking -- walk away it's a trick.

So I reply once again, just to make sure I'm not turning away a potentially wonderful wedding. I give them my travel fees, ask for information on the hotel they will be staying with and asking which method of payment they would be using. in the meantime I do a quick Google search for "deaf Melissa Brown" and "hearing impaired Melissa Brown" and come up with a few hits for a writer who does book reviews and tends to review books on the topic of hearing impairment. And I'm thinking, if this is her, why is a writer having such a hard time writing the English language. I know that not every person is going to have hits on Google. And if I were to enter just "Melissa Brown" into the search engine I would get many hits because it's such a common name. The con artist is banking on that common name. So I quickly hear back from my sweet con artist.

Here is their response:
"Hello Lisa,
Thank you for your email. Yes, we'll send out the money for your travels along with the deposit check. Everything sounds good to me. I believe we are not too far as it is such a fast approaching wedding. We are currently looking at having something like a phone consultation at the time of our arrival back to the states to be accomplished through a friend, family member, maid of honor, etc. This is because of my disability problems. I hope this is all Ok with you?
I trust the amount you're requesting for your services is in total $2,900.00. That works fine with us as long as you're able to do a neat, creative and a perfect job for us. We're going to be needing this solely for the memory of our children and families. Please reply back with the requested information below . I'm going to have to make an arrangement for at least 50% of your total payment up front ( by check ). And the remaining funds due on the wedding day which ever works best for you . Just let us know ...
We're hoping to find someone that has experience with different nationalities ( skin colors) as we're having about 150 guests coming over for the ceremony...I hope you know where am coming from? Please get back to me with your -;
* Full names to appear on the check payment ;
* Mailing address ;
* Phone number ;
Thank you,
Melissa Brown."

At this point in the exchange I hang up. Or rather stop responding. The English is getting more and more broken and unnatural, they are not answering my questions, and they seem eager to throw money at me without any further photography related discussions.

I do another Google search for "photography scams" and instantly find a forum where photographers are discussing this exact same scam. Sometimes the details are changed. The wedding is to take place in Cancun/California/New York and the bride is currently in the UK or some other foreign country but will be returning for the wedding.

Photographers who have gone through with the scam have received a foreign check for over the amount due to them. Then the "bride" requests that they send the change to the caterer/the DJ/the videographer/etc at a given address. The photographer's bank clears the check temporarily and gives the photographer the face amount. The photographer then sends a money order to the address requested. Seven to 10 days later, the bank returns the check and debits the photographers account for the amount of the check plus fees. Uh-oh, now the photographer is out those fees, plus the amount they just sent on to the "caterer/DJ/videographer" who is actually the con artist himself.

No thank you Ms. Brown, or whoever you are. At this point in time I am no longer available for your wedding in New York. Nice try.

Lisa On Location Photography

Missing: Fly By Night Photographer Leaves Client Hurt and Hardened {New Braunfels Photography}

I got a heart wrenching call today. And you know how I like to share my heart-wrenching calls from clients with you.

Today's call came from a very sweet lady, in her 50s, who hates having her photograph taken. "I was the one who always ran and hid from the camera as a child," she told me. So it was really hard for her to make this call. She had her portrait taken a few months ago by another local photographer (I'll leave her name off here because I'm not going to go there). The photographer gave her a little sneak peek of one of those images and it turned out beautifully. She couldn't wait to give it to her husband.

Then that photographer went silent. No more e-mails, no more phone calls. She didn't put up a gallery for this lady. Wouldn't return her calls. Silence. For months.

So today she decided to look for another photographer. She'd been burned. She wasn't sure if she wanted to try again. She was out money for the fee she paid the other lady. She was out confidence. She was out time. It had taken her years to work up the confidence to schedule that session in the first place. She was apprehensive to say the least.

So she called me. She loved what she saw on my website and wanted me to assure her that if she went through this again, she wouldn't be burned again. I told her that I've never shot a session for a client and then disappeared. That I'm in this for the long haul. This is my life. This is my career.

By the end of our conversation, this lovely lady decided to send me the one photo she got from the other photographer so I can see the type of image she was looking for. I won't duplicate it. That's not my style. I'll better it, no doubt. This lady deserves to be blown away by her next session. She deserves to be pampered and reassured.

And to the photographer who ditched her and to other photographers who set up shop and then bail on their clients, shame on you. You give us all a bad name. And to anyone who's been burned in the past. I promise you, that's not the norm. I can give you a list of photographers who are dedicated to their clients and to the profession. Who won't leave you when you need them.

It's too easy for anyone to pick up a nice camera and hang out a shingle and declare themselves a photographer. I see it every day, it seems they pop out of the woodwork constantly. Most of them are out of business within a year or two. They realize it's not a get rich quick business and it's not all glamour and baby smiles. It takes more than photography talent to run a photography business. Those of us who stick with it are here for you. Even if you don't decide to hire me, I'd be happy to refer you to others who are serious about photography and won't run and hide when they get bored. Call me.

Lisa On Location Photography

Fabulous Wedding Send-offs {New Braunfels Wedding Photography}

When I was a child the old tradition of sending off a bride and groom at the end of their wedding reception was rice. I remember getting the rice bags and throwing it and having a great time of it. It was supposed to represent a new beginning with a wish for good luck and good crops. Then the rumor about what that rice can do to birds who eat it got out and pretty soon bird seed became the norm for sending off a bride and groom. Although, before writing this blog, I Googled it and it turns out that the whole "rice making birds explode" rumor may be just that -- a rumor. Birds eat wild rice from fields all the time, and there have not been any big bird explosion epidemics that we're aware of. It turns out that, in reality, the trend away from rice throwing is most likely traced to massive lawsuits against venues brought on by guests who slipped on the rice and hurt themselves. In response, venues prohibited the throwing of rice and often, they've prohibited the throwing of birdseed as well. In fact, many of them say, just don't throw anything please.

I'm reminded of the wedding I witnessed years ago where the bride and groom thought it would be fun to have Mardi Gras beads tossed at them. They weren't laughing when they slipped on the beads and got themselves on America's Funniest Home Videos. Or maybe they were laughing. They didn't win the big one though.

I've seen a few brides choose flower petals to send off and those seem innocent enough -- although not for the one who has to come through and pick them all up. Venues frown upon you leaving those things behind.

Right now the most popular trend is bubbles. Bridal supply stores are making out like bandits selling little plastic bottles of bubbles.

The bubbles seem safe on the surface. They tend to make the dance floor a bit slippery when little children get ahold of them and blow to their hearts content, often spilling the slippery stuff all over. I have yet to see anyone slip and fall, however. But I have seen jokester groomsmen pour the bottles of the soapy stuff all over the head of the departing groom.

Many brides are opting for send-offs that don't involve throwing anything. Sometimes the guests will receive a noise-maker of some sort -- horns, bells, spinning things -- and send the couple away with enough noise to wake the neighborhood. I've yet to hear of any noise-related injuries from this technique.

Another popular send off technique that I'd like to touch on and preach against at this time is the sparkler. A lot of my brides have chosen this beautiful send off technique. And it is beautiful. And most of the time, the send off goes off without a hitch. But I predict this will soon be a forbidden send off for many venues, soon to go the way of the rice.

I've seen a bride get a hole burned in dress thanks to a sparkler. I've seen children burn their fingers on sparklers -- one of them a quite nasty burn. And now I've seen the gift table caught on fire thanks to sparklers. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread beyond the gift table and only a few gifts were lost, but the potential for disaster was really high.

Sparklers can be lovely, but put together with large groups of people, small children, and often large consumption of alcohol and accidents can happen. An alternative to the sparkler that's just as lovely and not nearly so dangerous is glow sticks.

They come in a variety of colors, they last for hours, children love them, nobody slips on them and they are pretty inexpensive.

Whatever you decide to send you off on your wedding day, make it special and make it safe. And call me to record all the details of it!

Lisa On Location Photography