IN[FOCUS]

Thanks to Sonicfire Pro for the background music for the presentation (above).

To reiterate, even though these kids are in the wedding day attire, these pre-shoots are done days, and sometimes weeks before the wedding.  It’s not uncommon for LDS (Mormon) couples to see another in dress and tux well before the date .

But for your couples, it may be more likely that you can build a relationship with them using a different kind of pre-shoot,  and(e)ngagment shoot or a save the date video.

Regardless, the advantages of (1) choosing the time of day to shoot, (2) shooting during the week, and (3) entering the wedding day with a deeper connection to the couple apply.

Here is the final product from one of the pre-shoots featured in the b-roll above:

Beau + Sarah Preshoot from David Perry on Vimeo.

Jones

Chris P. Jones began Mason Jar Films 10 years ago in his garage. He still has no idea why y'all would vote for him for EventDV25, but Thanks!

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I would be silly to think that I don’t have blind spots in my life – what I mean is that there are plenty of areas of my business where I’m not very good at identifying things that need to happen or not happen. So, one of the most important things that I’ve added to my business is a board of advisors – a group of wise souls who are able to speak honestly about me and my business to encourage the success of my business.

There are a total of six guys that are a part of my board.

What I do at a board meeting

I limit my meetings to 2 hours and I also buy dinner from PF Changs for everyone… I review the business since we last met, discuss the present situation, and reveal goals for the next few months or year. I hold nothing back… if there’s a weakness in my business that I’m aware of – I let them know. Likewise, if they see a weakness in my business – they let me know. If they don’t know everything I know, they can’t help.

We meet at my house, so it’s not overly formal, and it matches my personality/business model (although for all client meetings, etc., we meet at our office – NOT at my house!). We hang out for a few minutes as each board member shows up, then we eat and catch up for about 30 minutes.

Prior to the meeting, I will have already emailed out some basic thoughts on what I want to present to the group, and if I am super-organized, I will have emailed them a more specific agenda for that evening. If they don’t have a copy of the agenda, I’ll pass it out along w/ pens and encourage them to take notes. They let me have their sheets at the end of the evening so I can refer back to their notes later.

I then perform a Keynote presentation (kind of like Powerpoint, but WAYYY cooler. Sorry Microsoft). I also make sure to have a pen and paper nearby to write down any ideas they have as we chat. The idea is that it’s pretty informal – anyone can speak up as ideas come…

(One idea I just realized as I am typing all of this out – it would be AWESOME to record the conversation… so much good stuff is said, it would make sense for me to go back and take another listen rather than try and scribble as thoughts are exchanged.  I can put that Zoom H4n to even more good use!)

Anyway – I try really hard to respect their time and so I try to excuse everyone when we’ve reached our time limit. I will then follow up with everyone the next day and see if there were any other thoughts that came up on their drive home.

Who should you choose?

1. Choose people that have different strengths – especially different from your own. You know what you’re good at doing, you need to make sure there are people on your board that will be able to help you where you don’t care to spend your time and brain power.

2. Make sure they are for you. Being married and having a kiddo are more important than my business… knowing that my board wants me to succeed at being a great husband and a great dad – above being a great business owner is a necessity. If there’s anything for them to gain other than the satisfaction of helping you succeed, be wary… In this situation, you want your board’s focus to be YOU – period.

3. Give them a clear idea of what the commitment consists.  I meet with my board two times a year. I also will send emails to the board throughout the year. Also, ask for a year’s commitment and reevaluate at the year marker. If it doesn’t make sense for you or for them to continue, be forthright and let them go.

4. Choose people that have more life experience than yourself… which is a nice way of saying: Get people on your board who are older than you. It’s foolish of us to think we have nothing to gain from those who have gone before us.. older/wiser people are just WAITING to be tapped for their knowledge.

5. If you have a spouse or significant other, have him/her to evalute board choices.  Typically your better half will know if the person(s) you are considering will be a good addition. And if she/he doesn’t know the person(s), make sure they meet before you make any final decisions.

Final Tips

Don’t forget to show your appreciation; dinner – or some sort of a meal – is almost a must.  Show your gratefulness with small Christmas gifts, cards, and hugs.  It’s a small price to pay for those who are showing commitment to you, your business, and your family.

Make sure your expectations for everyone are clear. If conflict ever arises, DO NOT try to fix it over email. One-on-one and face-to-face will be the hardest to do, but will be the most rewarding.

My last piece of advice: as business owners, it’s very easy to think, “I’ve brought my company this far without any help…” or “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” Well, I would just say that something “magical” happens when you get in a room with people who are older and wiser than yourself.

Thanks for reading… now start brainstorming – who would be a great fit for your advisory board?

Koral. Out.

Ryan Koral

Epic Motion is a photo + video studio specializing in weddings and events. Based in suburban Detroit and led by Ryan Koral, Epic Motion has been named one of the Top 25 Event Filmmaker Studios in the World.

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As an avid DSLR video shooter I am often shooting under very low light which means a wide open aperture, or close to it, and a very shallow depth of field. Occasionally I venture outdoors and end up shooting at something like f16 or f22 and there have been times when I’ve noticed dark spots or blotches on my footage. If these spots appear on the same part of your video, in different shots and with different lenses, then you dust on your sensor! (Well, to quickly clarify, it’s not actually on your sensor but on a filter or glass cover over the sensor).

The first step in cleaning your sensor is to actually be able to visually identify how dirty the sensor is, and my favorite way to do this is with a sensor loupe from VisibleDust. With your choice of 5X or 7X magnification and built in LED illumination, it’s easy to spot the offending particles.

My next step (and this is something I do before each wedding I shoot) is to use an air blower such as this Giottos Rocket Air Blower.

I personally don’t like to use the compressed air blower canisters as there is a risk of spraying moisture into your camera (if you do use one, give it a short burst of air before beginning cleaning, and also make sure to keep the canister upright during cleaning). Dust is attracted to your sensor with static electricity, and one way to combat this is with this new Zeeion Blower from VisibleDust, which claims it’s unique compound reduces static charges.

The next step would be a dry cleaning method such as the Arctic Butterfly. Here is a manual with details on the cleaning process, but basically you gently clean with one uniform pass and then make sure to remove the brush and keep it away from the camera before turning on the spinning bristle cleaning function.

If your sensor is extremely dirty you may need to resort to a wet cleaning methods such as those offered by DustAid or Photographic Solutions. Here is a video from DustAid on cleaning the sensor of the Canon 5D Mark II.

For more information on sensor cleaning, I recommend two articles: one from Luminous Landscape and another one on the Thom Hogan website.

If you maintain yours differently, I would be interested to hear from you in the comments section below.

Happy cleaning!
Vlad

Vladimir Chaloupka