Why photographers should wear black: San Antonio Day 2

FREE REPORT SERIES: On-the-ground from San Antonio, Texas
It’s Day 2 here in San Antonio at the Ultimate Money-Making Photography Workshop and we spent half the day divided into groups of travel photographers and stock photographers.
We’re learning at this workshop how to sell photos to a dozen or more different photo markets, but our roots are in travel and stock photography so that’s where we’re spending the bulk of our time.
My group included ten attendees, one model, professional photographer Niels Johansen, and me.
Niels does a lot of fashion photography so I was excited when the model we were assigned as a group looked like she just walked off the pages of Vogue magazine.  I couldn’t wait for Niels to work his magic.
And he did.  I posted some of the photos attendees got today, here:



“We’re going to do our best with this light today,” he told me.  “These aren’t ideal conditions and we’ve only got a few hours to get all ten attendees through the lights but if they can focus on composition and getting creative, they can learn and practice the technical stuff later.  It’s the creative part that’s the hardest to learn and teach so that’ll be my focus today.”
And success!  I’m so proud of the photos my group is walking away with.
Keep in mind that this is just day two of this conference and they had just two hours to shoot with nine other attendees at their elbow.
If they can do this in two hours with just one day’s training, imagine what they can do with a full day to shoot and no one to stand in their way or distract the model!
Here are two tips Niels gave us today to help make it all happen:
1. Wear black.  We struggled with the light today and needed reflectors and extra white table cloths to bounce as much light as possible back on to our model.  “White is great for reflecting light,” he said.  “And we need it today because we’re desperate for more light.  But if you’re wearing white and you’re in a situation where you’ve got too much, you could create another problem for yourself by reflecting more light than you need on your subject.
He then told us about a jewelry shoot he did once where he wore blue and his blue reflection was in all the jewelry.  Today, he always wears black to a shoot.
2. If you ever doubt whether you’re holding the reflector right and bouncing enough light on to your model’s face, just ask your model if she can see the light source in the reflector.  If she can’t see the light reflected in the reflector, then the light can’t see her either.
Stay tuned for tips on selling your photographs tomorrow.
Yesterday in our opening presentation, when I asked the attendees here how many thought that they might be the most beginner person in the room, over half the class raised their hands.  And when I asked how many felt intimidated by their equipment and figured most of the class must know more than they did, more than 85% of the room raised their hands.
Today, after just two days of instruction, I think everyone feels different.  The photos we got this morning are proof positive that even the most beginners can do it.
And Ralph Brannan, an attendee in the front row, told me that he’s been to three workshops with us now, and that he’s sold photos from every one of them.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]