She knew she had to knock it out of the park with every client for her business to grow. That’s why she partnered with the leading client relationship platform for independents.

“I’m all about the experience,” says Seattle-based photographer Jessica Whitaker. Knowing that thriving in today’s market requires more than just delivering great images, Whitaker has built her business by giving clients an exceptional experience from the moment they contact her. Her essential partner in making it happen: HoneyBook. 

Whitaker has been shooting personal branding, portraiture, couples, and families since she was a student, and took her business full time in 2017. Not long after, she decided to stop managing her communications with Gmail. She integrated the HoneyBook contact form into her website and hasn’t looked back. “Once I set up the HoneyBook workflow, it just looked so much more professional to clients,” she says.

Now when potential clients contact her, that kicks off a series of communications giving them an in-depth look at what she offers and letting them schedule a discovery call. HoneyBook follows through with clients who book a shoot by automatically sending out contracts, invoices, reminders, Whitaker’s pre-shoot tips and summaries after calls, and pre-session questionnaires.

“They’ll click into an email and instead of it being plain text, it will have my branding colors and a button that will bring them into their project,” Whitaker explains. “The project is like a portal where they can find their invoice, their contract, and all of their previous communication with me.” The whole process gives her business a consistent and professional experience with every interaction. 

Whitaker doesn’t rely on HoneyBook because she hates handling the business side of things. In fact, she says she loves operating a business. But like every business owner, she acknowledges there are tasks she doesn’t love. HoneyBook‘s customization and automation options allow her to capitalize on her strengths. 

“I value consistent communication with my clients because it makes them feel taken care of,” says Whitaker. “So I love building PDFs for them and plugging them into HoneyBook and writing an email that goes with them.” But she hates nudging clients to pay invoices and sign contracts. “I like that HoneyBook can be the middleman for those business tasks,” she says. “It eliminates the awkwardness. And then for the client only the fun stuff is with me.” 

HoneyBook makes things more fun for her too, giving her an organized, customized view of all of her active projects to make sure she stays on top of each day’s work. Most importantly, the time saved on routine tasks allows her to pursue her passion projects. 

Whitaker runs free workshops with Build + Bloom, an organization she founded to help photographers develop their own businesses, especially young women who are doing photography on the side as she once did. One piece of advice she has for people who want their business to grow: “You hit a wall where you can’t raise your prices if the experience you’re giving to clients doesn’t evolve.” 

Whitaker’s own business continues to grow, along with Build + Bloom, thanks to her smart platform choice. “I wouldn’t be able to spend time on the nonprofit side and also make the experience amazing for my clients if I didn’t use HoneyBook to have everything laid out, organized, and automated for me,” she says.  “And I love to make the experience as amazing as possible.”

You can hear from Jessica Whitaker in person at WPPI 2025, March 16-20 at The Rio at booth #730. Stop by and get all the details on how HoneyBook can make you love building a business as much as she does – and make every one of your clients love what you do. Visit the booth for a 30% discount on your first year of HoneyBook and a chance to win $1,500 in prizes from HoneyBook, Imagen, and Pic-Time.

Register for WPPI 2025, here.

The post Jessica Whitaker Builds Her Business on Exceptional Client Experiences with HoneyBook appeared first on Rangefinder.

The past two years have made many people rethink their spaces: how much they need to live and work comfortably, or what upgrades they can make to turn their home into a sanctuary. But with the home renovation boom projected to slow this year due to the rising cost of materials and labor, smaller investments, such as photo products and prints, can transform a room for a fraction of the price—something professional photographers can emphasize to their clients.

The German photo lab, known for their expert fine-art products, expanded into the U.S. in 2019, with collections that include Hahnemühle posters, high-end acrylic-cover photo books, photo gifts such as coasters and cushions, and ample wall decor options. Here are a few ways that photography can easily upgrade a home or studio space. Spruce up your sales offerings with any or all of these custom photo products, made with ease using Saal’s Design Software.

More is More

As interior design mood boards have shifted from neutral hues, clean lines, and zero clutter to bold colors, eclectic patterns, and vintage finds, Pinterest is predicting maximalism to reign in 2023. According to the trend report “Pinterest Predicts,” the search terms “eclectic interior design vintage” soared 850%, while “maximalist decor vintage” was up 350% this past year.

That aesthetic calls for vibrant imagery on unexpected surfaces, rather than traditional frames. For clients who prefer bold visuals on photo products, Saal’s high-resolution Metal Prints use 7-color UV direct printing on a .01”-thick aluminum surface, allowing images to stand out while lying flat against the wall. For even more luminosity, try the Brushed Metal Prints, which make the brightest parts of a photograph shimmer.

Photo Products that Quiet Workspaces

If a noisy home office or studio is a nuisance, blank walls only amplify the problem. Saal offers a custom photo product, Soundproof Canvases, turning wall decor into a practical, noise-canceling tool. Printed seamlessly from end to end, these canvases are filled with sound-absorbing foam.

Photo Products as Statement-Makers

Favorite photographs deserve to take up space. For people who are more drawn to classic, timeless photo products, a single image printed large can change the mood of an entire room, from an atmospheric landscape to a favorite memory. Saal’s Gallery Print features direct printing on a 2mm panel of acrylic, reinforced with a 3mm aluminum plate. Available in custom sizes and with a glossy or matte finish, the Gallery Print allows for a durable, exhibition-worthy piece at home. For a textured look, try your images printed on fabric, instead. The Photo Canvas features a blend of cotton and polyester stretched over a wood wedge frame and comes in two different thickness options.

Switch It Up with Photo Products

For people who prefer a regular change of scenery with their photo products, Saal’s magnetic Squares make it easy to find new ways to tell visual stories. These aren’t your parents’ multi-image frames. Instead, these sleek, minimalist squares made of PVC foam board feature a double magnetic adhesive system, making it easy to switch images out whenever the mood strikes. Squares are ideal for people who travel often or want to update family photos regularly, or for photographers who keep a rotation of different series on display.

Visit their website learn more about Saal Digital custom photo products today.

The post Little Luxuries: 4 Ways to Upgrade a Room with Custom Photo Products appeared first on Rangefinder.

How the master photographer finally found a robot that could edit just like her—Imagen AI—and it has become the biggest time saver of her career.

“I really wish I could spend more time in front of the computer!” said no photographer ever. But putting in hours of work to process raw files is exactly what most pros do. Now, with AI-powered editing, that’s changing fast. How fast? “Crazy fast,” says Brooklyn-based photographer Susan Stripling. 

Stripling has been using the industry-leading Imagen AI editing solution for her post-wedding work, and it has revolutionized her workflow. “After I’ve culled down the images to my keepers,” she explains, “I put all of the raw files in Lightroom and then send my Lightroom catalog up to Imagen AI.” Then, she says, “I go take a shower, I come back, and all of the images are ready for download.” Job done.

Imagen can edit 1,500 photos in under 10 minutes. “It is hands down the biggest time saver of my career,” says Stripling. “I’m not being dramatic. It really is that remarkable.” With an AI photo culling feature currently in beta, Imagen promises to cut postproduction time even more.

But what about quality? Photographers who have been less than thrilled with results from other automatic editing tools have good reason to be skeptics. With over 20 years as an image maker under her belt, Stripling was one of them. “For the longest time,” she says, “I was like, ‘How can a robot edit better than I can?’” Then she gave the robot a spin and realized: “Of course it can.”

“No matter how good you are as a human being,” Stripling says, “there’s user error when you’re editing your own images. If I just show Imagen what I want to do, there’s no human error.” All it takes to train the AI is uploading an existing Lightroom catalog to Imagen. “It needs to have the raw files with your edits on top of them,” Stripling explains. Imagen uses them to create a unique Personal AI Profile that it will apply to edit your images just the way you would.

And the AI keeps learning. “Every time I get a wedding back from Imagen, if I make any tweaks whatsoever, I send all of the edits back up again so that my profile can learn me even better,” says Stripling. “The fact that you can keep teaching it means that you can evolve your style over the years, and your profile will evolve with it.” Imagen’s new Profile Adjustment feature will soon make fine tuning profiles even easier, and its recently added Subject Mask feature automates local adjustments.

Photographers can create multiple Personal AI Profiles for all the different genres they work in and share profiles with other photographers. You can even use profiles created by Stripling and other master photographers by applying one of Imagen’s built-in Talent AI profiles. If you’re headed to WPPI, you can get all the details from Susan Stripling herself in her workflow class, Editing with AI – The New Workflow. “It’s going to take people all the way from the very first inquiry to the last delivery of images to clients,” she says. “But a big chunk of it is talking about how working with AI has changed the entire trajectory of my wedding workflow.”

The post Susan Stripling Revolutionizes Her Workflow With Imagen AI appeared first on Rangefinder.

Jay P. and Julene Morgan of The Slanted Lens show off their best commercial work through a Saal Digital Professional Line book.

After decades of high-level productions in commercial photography and video, Jay P. and Julene Morgan began sifting through their archives for the most memorable images that had teachable lighting setups.

Since 2010, Jay P. has posted imaging tutorials on YouTube to over 436,000 followers under the moniker The Slanted Lens, working with Julene, his spouse, who acts as art director and producer for their team. But now they had a new format to work with—a printed photo book that illustrated how they achieved their high-impact and meticulously crafted scenes.

“We wanted something that would show our work, but also be instructional,” Julene explained in a recent phone call. “We went through all of our files, finding images that we had lighting diagrams for and then narrowing those down to the top ones that we wanted to show in the book. It took a long time, but it was rewarding to go through all of our years of being in business and seeing all the different work we’ve done.”

They collaborated with Saal Digital on the project, opting for a Professional Line book, which includes a sumptuous acrylic cover, thick pages, leatherette binding, and expertly crafted surface options such as linen, cork or wood-like textures.

They chose a snowy nighttime coffee shop scene for the cover — one of their larger productions that looks straight out of the mid-20th century.

“[The cover] is nice and bright and vibrant,” Julene said. “And the image is protected because of the acrylic surface.”

High-Production Images

Jay P. and Julene sequenced their photo book with some of their most striking photographs, from Full House and Fuller House actor Jodie Sweetin as a 1950s housewife in a kitchen scene gone awry—think stovetop fire and foaming dishwasher—to one of the duo’s signature “fantasy portraits” featuring a model in a dramatic, windy autumn setting. The Morgans’ cinematic taste extend to period and historical reenactment images as well, from wartime-era tableaus to Prohibition-style portraits. Their Professional Line book provided plenty of opportunity for double-spread panoramic images to show off every detail of the scenes.

High Gloss and Luxurious Touches

The Morgans are known for punchy images, so they opted for glossy printing over matte.

“If you do something that’s really calm and serene, or monochromatic, you probably want a matte finish. But we have lots of color, lots of action, so glossy just seemed to fit well.”

In keeping with their taste for elegance and drama, the book has mostly all-black features: black leatherette binding and a matching case, with a dark ribbon inside that helps lift the book out.

As for the total effect, Julene said: “It actually looks and feels like a beautiful piece of art. You feel like you should have white cotton gloves on when you handle it. When you open the cover you are greeted with an all-black glossy spread on the inside front cover.”

Intuitive Layouts

The Morgans organized the book by theme: period pieces and historical reenactments in chronological order, followed by fantasy portraits.

With a background in graphic design, Julene found Saal Digital’s software to be intuitive.

“One of the things I really did like is that I could upload all of the images at once and then pull them into the spreads as I was working on them,” she explained. With different template options to choose from, she could select and arrange each one with ease.

A Personal Addition

After completing their instructional book, the idea struck for a second project, one that was a bit more personal. Like most parents, Jay P. and Julene had a cache of images of their four adult children over the years, from 1984 to 2019. But they also had a collection of images of them all on set together when they were younger.

“We would often take our family to photograph them after the clients left. And so we have this cool collection of family images on these great sets,” Julene explained.

They put together an elevated family album and made four copies as Christmas gifts, a touching tribute to their family over the decades. As for their instructional book, it has found a home in the college classrooms where Jay P. teaches.

“He uses it in his classes all the time, to show students the lighting diagrams, the final images and the build-ups,” Julene explained. “It ended up being a great teaching tool as well as a nice coffee-table-type book to feature the work.”

The post <strong>The Making of a Perfect Photo Book</strong> appeared first on Rangefinder.

One wedding, one lens—that was the easy formula that Los Angeles-based photographer Mark Teng hoped he could solve when he arrived at the Bradbury Estates with his wife and business partner, Toni, to photograph the wedding of Riley and Errol.

Using only one lens on his Sony A7IV mirrorless camera—Tamron’s 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III VXD G2 lens—would allow Mark to remain nimble throughout the day, but he had a backup plan, just in case.

“I had two other lenses in my backpack—a very wide and a telephoto,” he recalls. “But I said to myself, ‘If I don’t have to change lenses, I’m going to see if I can avoid it.”

Mark and Toni have been photographing weddings for eight years together, and they tend to divide and conquer. Mark takes “epic shots” of the venue, guests, and couple, while Toni “has a far more fashion-forward, intimate style,” he explains. “We complement each other—I guess that’s why we found each other.”

At this wedding, Mark was continually surprised at the range of the 28-75mm, which he says hits a sweet spot by losing a touch on the wide end to expand its telephoto capabilities. “Sometimes it’s a little bit that makes the difference,” he says.

Here, Mark reveals how he got three of his favorite shots of the day.

Loosening Up

Ahead of the ceremony, Mark opted for the couple to mirror one another, framed between a laurel-shaped floral arrangement with their hands held. But at the time, their nerves were still raw.

Mark directed them to lean their foreheads close together—“close enough that you can smell what each other had for breakfast, but not so close that you’re bumping heads together.”

That lightened the mood immediately. “I wanted them to think, ‘Okay, if the photographer is not going to be serious, then I don’t have to be,’” he recalls.

Tip: Don’t overthink the lighting. If the scene is naturally well lit, don’t add too many extra ingredients. Mark had one diffuser out of frame to soften the afternoon light, while Toni held an umbrella in the back.

A GQ Moment

Mark adapts his style to the scene, switching between formally composed portraits or a looser editorial mood. For the couple’s portraits at the reception, he opted for the latter.

“In my mind, this is a very Vanity Fair, GQ type of look,” he tells us. “And I wanted to style them that way.”

The pulled-back shot shows Riley elegantly leaning against her chair, while Errol sits at a distance with his leg crossed in a pose of easy confidence. Mark took more intimate portraits of the couple close together as well, and his one lens he was able to handle both with ease.

“It has just enough range that you could get away with it, which is really nice,” he says.

Tip: Take a test shot with your mobile phone. Mobile lenses are typically 28mm, meaning you can frame the scene easily first with your phone if needed.

“Something about using a mobile phone makes seeing compositions easier. Maybe we’re just so used to doing it,” Mark admits.

A Brief Nightcap

If the wedding goes late, Mark and Toni will typically scout out one compelling location once it’s dark for some night shots against a unique architectural setting.

The two took a break from the reception to set up the lighting and composition with Toni as the test model, a backlight on either side of her. They marked the floor with tape, then grabbed Riley and Errol for just five minutes to end the night with some drama-filled portraits to cap the evening.

Tip: Stay flexible within your plan. Mark planned out this session with red and blue gels, casting vivid colors on the composition. But in the end, he wound up removing them to see what the lighting looked like on its own, and was quite pleased, he says, with both scenes. “Nobody could quite agree which was better.”

Learn more about Tamron’s 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III VXD G2 lens here.

The post One Wedding, One Lens: Mark Teng’s Magazine-Worthy Shoot appeared first on Rangefinder.

Opening a boudoir album created by Noël Cosgrove is like stepping into a fantasy world. It’s a world that the Calgary-based photographer has built with her own hands, creating sets that range from fanciful circus scenes to her signature rain room.

Noël ingeniously arranges as many as 10 sets at a time in her 1,400-square-foot-studio and has also taken her rain room on the road in a 16-foot cargo trailer. We asked her to get into the nuts and bolts of set building with us.

[Read: What Is Boudoir? The Boudoir Photography Empowerment Movement]

The post Noël Cosgrove on How to Build a Killer Boudoir Set appeared first on Rangefinder.

Selling photo and video gear you’ve outgrown or just aren’t using can be a great way to keep your kit up to date and make the most of your budget. It can also go terribly wrong. Here are some of the most common gear-selling pitfalls—and how to steer clear of them—from MPB, the world’s largest online platform for used photo and video equipment.

Waiting forever to get paid.

So, you shipped the goods weeks ago but you’re still waiting to hear the cha-ching? That’s no good. Whether you’re waiting for an individual buyer’s personal check to clear or you’re getting the runaround from a used gear vendor, it’s nerve-racking to be left in payment limbo. At MPB, we pay you quickly and securely with a direct deposit or wire transfer.

Shipping hassles.

Save yourself the trouble of running around town or waiting in line to ship your gear after you’ve packed it up. When you sell it to MPB, we send you a prepaid shipping label to print out. Drop your package off for shipping if that’s convenient or schedule a pickup from your own location.

Lost packages.

You boxed your gear up, shipped it all out, and then . . . crickets. When you finally call the buyer, your package is MIA, and the shipping company can’t track it down. Even in our era of high-tech tracking systems, packages can get lost—or even “lost.” [What does that mean, can get lost or even “lost”? Meaning it was stolen?] If yours isn’t insured, you’ll be the one taking the loss. Don’t risk it. When you sell to MPB, the prepaid shipping label for your goods automatically includes insurance.

Lowballing.

Don’t let buyers or middlemen haggle away your used gear’s value. MPB is the world’s largest online platform for used photo and video equipment, so we know what your gear is worth and we always pay a fair price. Use our online tool to get a fast estimate, ship your gear to us for free, and our experienced product specialists will send a price confirmation for your approval before closing the deal. Have a change of heart at the last minute? We’ll send the gear back to you for free.

Scammers.

Whether you’re doing it through social media, an app, or a classified ad site, selling to individual buyers involves the risk of getting scammed. Scammers come up with new strategies all the time, and even if you don’t fall prey to their schemes, you can waste a lot of time weeding them out. Save yourself the headache by selling to someone you know is legit. MPB protects both buyers and sellers to make sure everyone gets a good deal.

Paying instead of trading.

Instead of buying new (or new-to-you) gear and leaving your older stuff to gather dust, consider trading up. With MPB’s online tools, you can sell your older gear and pick up the new tools you need, all in one simple process. You’ll be making the most of your equipment budget—and making a great deal for yourself and the lucky next owner of the gear you trade in.

Get it right by selling with MPB, the world’s largest online platform for used photo and video equipment.

The post How to Dodge 6 Common Photo and Video Gear-Selling Disasters appeared first on Rangefinder.

Putting together a gorgeous boudoir album is the perfect ending to any boudoir photo experience. Julia Holding of Julia Kay Boudoir shares her top 5 tips to producing, selling and upselling gorgeous albums for clients.

[Read: What Is Boudoir? The Boudoir Photography Empowerment Movement]

The post Julia Holding on How to Sell and Upsell Boudoir Albums appeared first on Rangefinder.

Ready for a Softbox Shake-up? Meet the NEW shift in light shaping from GLOW.

In case you missed it, there was a big reveal recently at WPPI 2022 when photographer Jason Vinson demoed Flashpoint’s new 36-inch Glow ParaSnap Octa softbox (it also comes in 44 inches) on the WPPI show floor. Light shaping took on a whole new form as Vinson demonstrated the convenience, speed and high-quality light output of the Glow ParaSnap.

Vinson showed off the exciting, features of the ParaSnap to the rapt audience, including its collapsibility—it lays completely flat for maximum packability. It also has universal compatibility with Bowens mount lights such as Flashpoint XPLOR and Godox X series and more.

Vinson, like all photographers, depends on light in different ways to make his work stand out. When it comes to off-camera light, he says he wants his kit small and compact to take everywhere. “I tend to use hard modifiers because carrying around a big softbox is such a pain.” He also tends to refrain from taking softboxes on location with him at weddings but says that has all changed with the ParaSnap.

“It slides into the laptop sleeve of my rolling bag and lays completely flat, which is awesome. And instead of having the old umbrella mount where you have to get inside the softbox or do all sorts of finagling, you pull a little clip and that lays down flat. Most softboxes can only collapse as flat as the speed ring (4-6 inches in width) but with the Glow ParaSnap softbox it can be completely flattened and fits into all of your shooting bags. Speaking for myself, this is special because as photographers, we’re already lugging around a lot of gear, if I’m able to flatten out an umbrella and put it in one bag, that’s a big help. What else could you ask for?!”

It’s also mountable, he adds, by just about every flash. Jason showcased the direct mount for Flashpoint and Godox flashes, but speed rings for Bowens and many others are also available.  A very versatile modifier is born!  

Another stand-out feature, he adds, is the clever snap design that makes it as simple as possible to get the modifier built and onto your light source quickly. The prebuilt modifier means all you need to do is pull back one half of it and snap it into place on the speed ring side.

Vinson says he was also blow away by the new Glow ParaSnap proprietary fabric the company used—SterlingFibre silver lining inside the umbrella—that outputs the flash at the exact power that you have your flash power set to. The hexagonal waffled lining can capture light from all angles and it comes with two baffles—an internal that snaps into place with buttons and a front baffle that uses a hook-and-loop material.

At the end of Vinson’s demonstration, one lucky winner—Jack Vosburgh walked away with his very own ParaSnap. “I’m over the moon to have won this,” he said excitedly at the time. “I came just to see Jason. I’m a huge off-camera-flash photographer and Jason’s work is amazing. Watching how easy he made the Glow ParaSnap look to use is even better!”

The Glow ParaSnap SoftBox is available in 36” and 44” sizes for $229 and $249, respectively, exclusively through Adorama. Visit Adorama to learn more.

Check out Vinson’s sessions from WPPI 2022:

How to Execute the Shot You Want w/ Jason Vinson

Meet the NEW shift in light shaping from GLOW Parasnap w/ Jason Vinson

The post Why Jason Vinson Loves the New Glow ParaSnap appeared first on Rangefinder.

If you work in more than one genre, and all the separate scheduling, communications, workflows, and branding is leaving you dog-tired, the new StudioZoomies CRM software is a real treat.

It’s never been more important for photographers to establish a strong brand — something that says, “Here’s my niche, here’s my style, and here’s why you should hire me.” Got a few specialties? You’ll need a few brands. Looking like a jack-of-all-trades when you pop up in a prospective client’s search results just doesn’t fly these days. 

But managing different brands and job types can be overwhelming, as StudioZoomies creator Eric Jarvis knows first-hand. “Starting in the ’90s, we were insanely busy, always juggling multiple clients and orders, always in a rush,” he recalls. “I probably ate half my weight in bagels every week.”

He and his partner had built a thriving wedding, portrait, and real estate photography business, completing about 250 jobs a year. Finding no suitable software to help manage tasks and team members, Jarvis used his development skills to build an in-house solution.

Fast-forward to the 2020s, and Jarvis still didn’t see a better CRM for photographers. “The general-purpose ones just weren’t specialized enough, and the photo-specific ones required too much work to enter all the details for a new job, much less a new brand. The setup time made them nearly impossible to work with,” Jarvis notes.

“Clients are much more particular now than they’ve ever been,” he continues. The vision they have for their event or family photos is detailed and elaborate, shaped by online magazines and sites like Pinterest. With search engines and social media at their fingertips, customers look for professionals who specialize in exactly what they want. 

“Take weddings, for example,” Jarvis says. “Couples who are willing to pay well aren’t interested in someone who does a nice job. They want the photographer who does the best job. If you’ve got a website that shows you do 15 different types of photography, then you’re obviously not focused on weddings.” 

Working in more than one type of photography means not just keeping your branding straight, but managing different workflows without skipping a beat. “The requirements of photographing a family reunion are very different from those of shooting real estate,” Jarvis says. But, he adds, all the genres have one thing in common: “The demand for immediate turnaround has really changed how much time we have to deliver. To stay organized and on top of project details is far more important than ever before.”

Journey-based design in StudioZoomies CRM software allows the user to enter information for a job in a series of simple steps. Presets make it a breeze to respond to inquiries and generate contracts and invoices. Unique scheduling tools let you easily create timelines for prospective clients, which can be a selling point in themselves. 

In addition to being your productivity solution, StudioZoomies also optimizes customer engagement by allowing users to communicate with clients on their preferred channel, be it SMS, email, or WhatsApp. “Responding to inquiries as quickly as possible—with highly targeted information—and sending it to where your customer will see it gives you a huge competitive advantage,” Jarvis says.

You can expand your network and reach even further with another unique feature that allows you to easily track other vendors and share images with them for use in their own social media and promotions. They’ll be happy, and you will be happy watching your business grow from their referrals.

StudioZoomies CRM software will empower you to maximize productivity, exceed client expectations, and bring home more bacon. 

The post StudioZoomies CRM Helps Photographers Manage Many Brands appeared first on Rangefinder.