Why Transition to CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses?

Honestly, I’ve always been a teacher. It’s something that I’ve been reminded of again in recent months. 

It began with teaching group exercise in college and then evolved into more one-on-one encounters with personal training. I moved on to a career in academia developing curriculum to help people move more and eat well. That was followed by using the train-the-trainer model across the state of Kentucky to teach others how to teach others the curricula I’d developed. 

I think in explaining that you’ll see that there is no surprise things have come full circle for me. To a point where what I enjoy most is finding creative ways to teach others how to build skills and confidence in creating their own photos. 

When it came to teaching food and product styling and photography, the way I got into it was all wrong, though.

I jumped into the online teaching world powered by the ideas that I needed a big course that covered everything I could offer with a higher price tag to match. 

And I created that course - Confused to Confident (CtoC). And many of you have taken it. And many of you have let me know how much it helped you - with creating your photography style, understanding natural light, using your camera in manual mode, developing a step-by-step process from stove to set... 

Each time I re-watch it, I’m not going to lie, I’m a little impressed with myself that I put in all the work to create it. I’m extremely proud of it. It is a really great course. 

But having one big course misses the mark in many ways. 

• We all have different goals and one big course may not be focused enough to move you forward in the very specific area that you have your sights set on. 
  
  

• So much content at once can be way too much to take in. Yes, you get lifetime access, but life offers many distractions and there are many people who have not fully completed the course. This honestly makes me sad. I want you to finish the course and move forward.
  
  

• It is out of budget for some. CtoC really is moderately priced when it comes to courses of its size (it’s only $297), but I realize that this can be a lot to pay when you aren’t quite sure if each piece of it is what you need to learn. 
  
  

• Having that course is in some ways holding me back from diving deeper into some subjects and types of photography that I’d really like to teach about. 

So while CtoC will still exist, my focus over the coming months will go to CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses which has really been an idea on the back burner since the day I launched my single course.

I’ve just felt like I wasn’t allowed to create a suite of courses because of the distracting noise of others telling me - that’s not how you do it.

But my goal is to be approachable, accessible, and to teach things or a way of doing and looking at them that you likely haven’t experienced yet. CreatingYOU.® Quick Courses will allow me to do this. 

These workshop-style will be designed to finish in a day or less. Some may be a 60-minute workshops, while others may have a few modules and projects for you to complete as you work your way through. They will range from $29 to $79 each based on the topic and content within. 

Have some thoughts or needs? Reach out to me and let me know. I have an ongoing list of topics to teach about and I’d love to know what you would like to learn. 

The first to launch this summer will be Surface School. You’ll learn to break out of boredom with your photography surfaces in a way that will allow you to create photos that are specific to your style and brand.
More soon!

And free content certainly won’t be going away. Be sure to check out my 15-minute video training:

I also send loads of helpful tips through words, slides, and videos about 3 times a month to my subscribers. Sign up here:

Using Photography Surfaces as Flooring in Your Photos

Watch right here or read below!

I love flooring. I especially love how it can create a scene for photos when you shoot at a high angle or overhead and catch just the tiniest bit of it in a shot. 

But for years, my floor was brown shag carpet. Not exactly the kind of thing that makes you ooh and ahh over a photo. 

Even now, I would have loved to have some rustic concrete or hardwood in my rental studio, but I had to work with the landlord for the most affordable option. And that happened to be boring office carpet.

The solution? Using my favorite surfaces as stand-ins for flooring. And they don’t have to be that big. It just takes a little creativity and movement to capture some fun images and angles. 

Let me show you some examples.

I love my 2x3 vinyl surfaces from Poppy Bee Surfaces. Last week, I was photographing artichokes and I really wanted to get a shot on the corner of the live edge table my husband and I made a few years ago. But, again, boring office carpet. 

So I set this up:

When shooting overhead I had to adjust myself.

Too high and I catch the edge of the carpet and the rug. Too low and I caught the edge of the surface at the bottom. But zooming in and centering myself with the camera gave me the third and final shot. 

Bigger boards take a bit less work, but you still have to capture the right angle. I shot this scene just last week. Laying my 4 x 4 pallet wall surface on the ground allowed me to capture these sangria shots. 

And this shot you saw just last week in the email about Changing Your Angle. This is a vertical of the same scene. The chair is set on a sheet of black painted canvas. This is what it looked like before I cropped and edited for the final image on the right. 

The cocktail should look familiar, too. This one doesn’t use a surface at all, but a scuffed and worn-out black foam core board. 

I hope this inspires you to incorporate some interesting flooring into your shots soon!

How to stop taking 100s of photos of each set

We’ve all been there. One food, product, or recipe results in 100 + photos on the camera card. 

Question. How many times have you put all or even 50% of those photos to use? 

Right. 

Listen, you don’t need those photos. If you are like me, I suspect what you really need is the time back that you spent taking them all and sorting through them in Lightroom to find one you like best. 

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The urge to take a 100+ photos of one food or product results from two things:

• A lack of confidence that you nailed a good shot. 

• A lack of a clear vision for your photo. 

In a professional photoshoot, the goal is to nail the hero shot. A few extra angles and orientations are only thrown in for good measure and to make sure you have some options. 

Apply this approach to your shoots for your own business. 

Gaining the confidence that you’ve nailed it comes with practice, but there are other things you can do to end the day with a handful of very usable photos versus 100+ you’ll never touch again. 

• Know the number of photos you need. (e.g. 1 for a product website, 3 for your blog, 5 for a client to review). 

• Focus on one hero shot. Style and shoot to that shot only. Nail that one shot. When you see it, it should evoke the words - yep, that’s it! You might even shout YEESSSS! if you are alone. I speak from experience. 

• Take a few variations (e.g. overhead, horizontal, tight, pulled out) based on photo needs and to have some extras for your portfolio in case you find other uses in the future (maybe a cookbook, submitting for a story request in a magazine or ad, even future prints). We’re talking 5 to 10 photos max. 

There is no reason to have a portfolio of 100s of unused photos of a subject. Focusing on a hero shot:

• Saves you time shooting - work more efficiently

• Saves you time editing - more productive

• Saves storage space on your hard drive - more organized

• Focuses on building your skills and creating the shots you envision - become a better photographer for your business

Each time you create a photo the photo speaks to that moment in time. Some people refer to it as the photo telling a story. I prefer to say that the photo captures the moment and serves a purpose. One soup, smoothie, or bowl of berries can’t tell multiple stories and capture multiple moments at once.

Focus on the one thing. 

Nail the hero shot.

~ Lori

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These blog posts originate as weekly emails to my subscribers. But not all emails make it to the blog so if enjoyed this post, hop on board and don’t miss a helpful tip or a learn-from-my-experience moment that I share. ⬇️