Use these light setups to help get a better understanding.

Rembrandt Lighting
Loop Lighting
Split Lighting
Butterfly / Paramount Lighting
Theatrical Lighting

This month I wanted to feature four standard lighting setups that I use on a regular basis. This is lighting which I often use for portraiture and my location fashion photography(as well as one not so typical lighting setup). These setups will add confidence to your photography technique. You can add them to your repertoire, which helps you create unique, dynamic portraits and fashion work. 

To demonstrate how the lighting works, I managed to find a perfect looking mannequin to help show you the effect of the light. I have sprayed the head matt ivory, which shows the best outcome of light on the subject without being an actual subject.

For the benefits of the light source, I am using an LED light from Amazon to create the studio lighting setups. The cost for them is very cheap but gives a perfect look. It’s also important to point out that light is light wherever, and understanding light is critical. These lighting setups are the same for LED light, Arri or film lighting, or studio flash lighting both in a studio and on location.

These few examples of lighting involve using only one effective light source. Of course, you can add others if you like, and some of my later posts will show how this can work. Nothing stops you from adding more lights or reflectors into the mix to fill in shadows or just be adventurous with your studio lighting. Whether you are using continuous light or flash, hard light or soft light, the light will work the same only at different ratios of power and softness. The shadows will effectively be the same, only harder with direct film light or softer with flash and a softbox.

The below examples were taken with a hard light source which cost me £25 from Amazon to make the light pattern more obvious. It is better as it demonstrates the positioning better and the effect of light on my mannequin. So let us jump in and give you some ideas for your own lighting setups.

James Nader’s Own Style – Rembrandt Lighting

I have adapted the Rembrandt style to work for me and my studio/location work. I place the light slightly higher and not at 45 degrees. The light becomes a little top-heavy and shadowy on the face and only some faces suit this. Men and Androgenous Females. I don’t use it all of the time but I would say that for my theatrical on-location look this works well to increase the overall cinematic effect. You have to be careful with shadows in the eye sockets or deep shadows around the eyes.

Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt lighting is named after the famous 17th Century Dutch Painter Rembrandt. He often painted his subjects illuminated by high windows, which produced a distinctive triangle of light on the cheek of his subjects on the shadow side of their face.

When creating the classic Rembrandt lighting, place your lighting at an angle of roughly 45 degrees from your subject’s face. Raise it up to a point down towards your subject’s face at approximately 45 degrees. These angles are only a starting point for you to work from and work for me, both on location or in a studio. I will move the lighting around until it suits my subject and my interpretation of light on the subject’s face. This is because all faces and structures vary.

Rembrandt’s lighting is flattering and quite arty. If controlled, it is suitable for both portraiture and fashion work. This style of light works well on virtually any subject in any situation where light is added to a composition or scene regardless of whether they’re male or female. You know you have the format correct when the light overhead creates a shadow from the nose, which connects with the shadow on the cheek.

This lighting style is excellent for creating either classically styled portraits or dramatic portraits. If you want to create more dramatic portraits using Rembrandt lighting, you could increase the hardness by using the raw light from the flash unit. This means no diffuser such as I did on location in the sample picture.

I created contrast by removing the light control and overexposing the light source on location, which gives a harder light source similar to film lighting or Arri lighting.

This lighting is also perfect for Fine Art Photography when used with figure work and low lit lighting scenarios.

Loop Lighting

Loop lighting is very similar to Rembrandt lighting. However, the shadow from the nose doesn’t quite meet with the shadow from the cheek. Loop lighting is named for the shadow created on the subject’s face in the portrait. This simple lighting pattern is so-called for the “loop” shaped shadow created by the subject’s nose. If done correctly, loop lighting creates a circle-shaped shadow under and to the opposite side of your light.

The size and intensity of the loop vary from small and well defined to softer and more prominent, extending down toward the mouth. But the loop nose shadow does not touch the shadow on the cheek. This lighting technique is very similar to Rembrandt’s lighting, but the shadows on the cheek and nose do not meet.

Loop lighting is effective in studio work for portraits and campaigns. I used this lighting for the Superdrug campaigns and many others. Whilst it still works with direct lighting such as Arri & LED, it’s best suited to using a light source with a soft diffuser. However, for the purpose of this article, I am using direct LED light to highlight this.

To create Loop lighting, position your key light between 30-45 degrees in relation to your subject’s face, and raise your light to just above your subject’s eye level. Just make sure that the shadow from the nose on the cheek does not meet. This would then be classed as Rembrandt styled lighting.

Just like Rembrandt lighting, Loop lighting is a flattering style of light that works well on virtually any subject, regardless of whether they’re male or female. It also works for products so that it is not flat light and does throw light to create some light and shade, which, of course, gives contrast to the product. For me, there is nothing worse than flat lighting or copy lighting. I see this many times more so with some videographers who have no idea how to light and believe that adding two or three lights on a stand at the head height is perfect lighting!

Butterfly/Paramount Lighting

Butterfly lighting (also known as Paramount lighting) is created by positioning your light source directly centred and above your subject’s face. This creates a shadow under the nose which resemble a butterfly (Reason for the name). It is sometimes known as “Paramount Lighting” because this was the style of lighting that was often used by the Paramount movie studio to photograph their leading actresses back in the early days of Hollywood.

A lot of my more cinematic work features this type of lighting. Most of my early research into light as a student was from the Hollywood master photographers such as Sinclair Bull and George Hurrell. This particular lighting I absolutely love. When mixed with Film lighting or, better still, the older hot lights such as Blondes (2K Halogen) and Redheads (1K Halogen), the texture of the subject’s face literally looks like it emulsifies and has creamy looking skin and softens the skin. This is why the Hollywood master photographer’s pictures look so beautiful.

Butterfly lighting is more typically used for photographing women as it can accentuate cheekbones and will soften any wrinkles they may have. Is more flattering and forms a butterfly-shaped shadow under the subject’s nose, which is the source of the name. It is ideal for portraits to highlight the subject’s main features, like the nose and cheekbones. It creates a shadow under the subject’s nose and chin. These shadows make the subject look slimmer, and many cover shots will use this lighting style. Often a diffused reflector will be placed and the relevant angle to the subject. To create Clamshell lighting, you would use this light and a selection of reflectors close to and around the face for a brighter look portrait. Sometimes adding silver reflectors will enhance this look to a high degree and can be used more creatively with an avant-garde look overall.  

Split Lighting

Split lighting uses a single light source to divide your subject’s face in two with light and shadow. It can be quite theatrical and mystical and often works really well when adding a small reflected light source from a reflector or V-Flat. It punches some low-level light back into the shadows giving some detail in the dynamic range, which can be pulled or pushed in post-production.

I personally will do just that in some of my portraits. Still, I might underexpose the reflected shadow area, as I can play around with the dynamic range for highlights, lowlights and clarity in the digital darkroom. It gives a unique effect not possible with film.

This style of lighting is excellent for creating dramatic or mysterious portraits. This is a typical style of lighting used in photographing people in the arts, such as musicians, magicians and artists and fine art interpretations.

If you are clever and can read the light, the split light can be used to illuminate the background. You can also use the light overspill to work for the background and in the shot below. This was one light (Red Head 1K) with barn doors. I used split lighting but positioned the model differently and allowed the light source to deviate and split into two. This allowed me to light the background and add exciting shadows from the barn doors on the light.

When setting up for split lighting, place your light at an angle of roughly 90 degrees from your subject’s face or directly to the left or right of your subject. Depending on your light source, moving the light away from the subject will still create the effect, more so with film lights such as Arri lights or LED’s, as the light projects further and sharper than flash. With flash, the shadows will get softer the further from the subject. To get around this with a similar effect as film lights, simply add a beauty dish with no baffles or diffuser or take off the light control and use raw flash or even a Speedlight.

Everybody’s face is slightly different, so you may have to adjust the position of your lighting (or the direction of your subject’s face accordingly. Remember, if your subject turns around their head, the light pattern on their face will change. If you want to maintain the “Split Lighting “look, you will have to adjust the position of your lights too.

Theatre or Theatrical Lighting

You may have seen this light in some films such as Horror or the Film Noir cinema film from the 40s to 50’s lighting is key to creating atmosphere and a mood. Cinematographers look to mix lighting all the time to create drama and effect.  Uplighting is famous for being used by gaslight theatres from the early days when the gas lights were at the edge and around a stage, and the actor, singer or dancer would stand behind them. It was all about lighting the subject and not designed for any effect.

I successfully use this style of lighting for a more cinematic feel to my images and only relevant to the more creative or avant-garde look for me and my work.

Cinematic lighting can create depth to your composition. It can also add texture and flavour. One light at the height of your waist pointing up at the subject will give an unusual look. It’s not a typical lighting style, but when you ix this lighting with avant-garde clothing and makeup, it can look so good. This lighting creates drama wherever it is used.

Conclusion

Those are the four main lighting patterns traditionally used in portraits.  Once you master the technique for each they map out into any other lighting types from flash to LED.  Getting control of your light to create light, shape and form is essential to getting a diverse style of capture in your portfolio but equally having lighting techniques in your arsenal helps you work  at different level.

Why will I not giveaway my RAW files?

For me, there are many reasons not to give our any raw files unless my usage or buyouts cover this and to be honest, this is a rarity these days. I can safely say that I have only done this once and for a big high street company for whom I had previously shot the campaign and was paid for. It was for one just image, and they paid handsomely for the file.

There are numerous cases of one’s work being stolen and used on social media or high-level campaigns in the creative visual industry. The RAW files are not only proof that the photographer took the photographs but also the owner of them, and so the owner of the copyright.

Previously when shooting pictures with film, the negatives were always with the photographer, and I was never asked for them. There was a process to photography a while back when shooting film, and the photographer was in charge as he was the professional in the process. 

With Raw files, these are the modern digital version of the negatives and so hold the value. It is far easier to pass these across, as clients may have access to someone who could manipulate the Raws. Therefore, it is more of a problem these days where clients often feel they have paid for access to them when in real terms, they have only commissioned the photographer to create the photography.

In today’s photography market, almost all photographs are digitally enhanced to some extent. This takes the images to another level, often better than the shoot itself, and sometimes mixes images in a composite to create an entirely different picture.

When working with a retoucher, they will require access to the Raw file to ensure that the quality is at its best. Most agencies will need these images to pass across to their retouchers or post-production houses. The Raw images are then passed across. My campaigns are where I have been commissioned to light and create pictures that sell a client’s product. I retouch these pictures in house, but a % will go across to a retoucher, and the file will all remain my own as they have not paid for the files. These files will be altered by retouching, but the Raw will still be the owner of the photographer.

As a rule, RAW files are not passed around because they are such large files and quite tricky to send a set across to a client. The client may need to send these on again to a retoucher, Creating a problem. I send my files around with WeTransfer, but sometimes, on more significant campaigns, I would give lower-res files for the client to proof them for me to edit 

Another factor to consider is that the RAW files are unprocessed and have no styling to the images. These files, if shown around, can define your own brand, and as a RAW file, this is not a good look for your brand. Unedited files are not what you want to be released. 

I have always been conscientious for this not to happen. 

As a photographer, you develop your own way of processing your images, and in reality, this is what the client will have booked you for in the first instance. Unless you are passing the raw files across for processing by a retoucher, then the RAW files should stay with you.

Manage your Client’s expectations. Let clients know why the RAW files cannot be shared?

 Before commencing any project, you must manage your clients’ expectations about what they are paying for and what they actually get for their money. Scoping the commission and agreements in advance saves the day and your client’s relationship with you, and it also shows your professionalism and value in your own brand.

Not every client will understand the rules or boundaries, and some actually believe that when they commission you, all content created is truly theirs and that they own it. I have faced this a few times over the years, and it really happens at the lower end of B2B commissions. So, for example, company X has purchased jewellery and has everything in place. The photographer is the last piece of the jigsaw, so most of the budget has already been spent. Mostly the confusion is around the lower budget or startups, wherein my early experience, they feel that they own everything.

I soon learned that managing their expectations is all about what they are actually paying for and receiving after the shoot. Most. of the time, it is all ok, as long as the client is willing to understand. If not simply walk away.

Keep your RAW files.

Advantages of RAW files. 

Some of the benefits of RAW files include:

• Great detail.
  The main advantage of RAW files is that they contain the most detail compared to other raster and vector file types. This gives you a lot more to work with when editing photos.

• Wide color range.
  RAW files can contain millions more colors than a JPEG image, plus increased RGB tonal values.

• Lossless compression.
  This ensures that the quality of your RAW image files won’t drop due to compression.
• Greater control.
  With RAW files, you have the power to make any kind of adjustment, such as converting a black and white RAW file to color and modifying brightness, contrast, and gamma correction, all without changing the RAW image itself.
• Converting potential.
  Try merging RAW files to form HDR or panoramic images you can then edit.

Every few days, I am sent emails from graduates and would-be assistants whose desire to get into photography is a drive for them. I try to reply to all inquiries in a friendly and engaging way, although sometimes it can be tricky with every contact.

I get the occasional Instagram DM message but mainly emails, and I would say that I find this very flattering. To get so many messages of hope from all of the new photographers joining the market is fabulous. I honestly wish I could accommodate more assistants with a lot more frequency; however, I already have my perfect go-to assistant but would welcome a few more on occasion. If I ever need an assistant or looking for someone, it would be best to look at my Instagram and watch this blog as a notification.

In this post, though, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to enlighten the readers about what makes for a good or great assistant, not just in my eyes but for the many other photographers who are booking assistants. I could suggest a few pointers for assistants who want to start working with photographers. So if you’re looking to begin assisting, or you’re already assisting and want to know what photographers might be looking for, this information will be of help for you and represents my own requirements to help or assist me.

I get direct emails regularly, often every week, especially at the end of term two in year three. The requests are from graduates or assistants who wish to assist me and then tag on their CV when reaching out to me. It’s perfectly ok to ask like this, but for me, it’s so crucial that you suggest in your message exactly how you can help and assist the Photographer.

I get so many emails that say, “I really would love to assist you because I want to learn how to be a fashion photographer.”  I have never heard from you, I don’t know you, and more importantly, you don’t follow me on social media. This is THE BEST way for me to notice you and potentially build up my contact list. Most of my bookings for assistants are from me noticing and having a conversation via DM on social media channels. Comment on posts and get yourself seen. This is my way of qualifying a potential assistant.

When I get an email that simply states that they would like to assist me out of the blue, it honestly feels to me, and of course, other photographers like you wish to drain my brain, taking advantage of your opportunity without putting in any real effort. Even though this is what you mean, I don’t necessarily need to hear this. 

Assisting can be a fantastic place to learn skills for your own photographic career; I assisted many leading British Photographers and a few international ones, however, that shouldn’t really be the point. You, as an assistant, are there to make the life of the Photographer during the day so much easier. Having good experience is an asset. However, there are chances that you can get a placement for a week or so; therefore, if possible, you should come to any shoots with a reasonable amount of knowledge. 

For an assistant, this means knowing how to set up lights, use light meters, change lenses on a camera, and the ethics for working on set with the Photographer and team. It’s really ok not to know everything about the job, and it’s also OK to ask the Photographer how they might want things done and his thoughts about lighting and the setup. If you’re going to assist and you don’t have these skills, it’s best to head over to YouTube and review some lighting and helpful videos to enlighten you and get better acquainted with what you will need. The right tools for the job!  YouTube Here

If you are new to assisting, don’t worry, as there are other opportunities to get on set? Here you can offer to be a second or third assistant on a set and maybe even offer to come to your first few shoots for free or cover expenses. As a second or third assistant, you could take direction from the first assistant and be an extra pair of hands. A chance to learn how the kit works, observe what the other crew members do, and get to grips with it all. 

I want to add to this blog post this caveat. I know from experience that many people who wish to assist don’t want to do anything for free, and I understand this. No one should help for free, as this can set a precedent for working without pay. However, being prepared to get experience without pay sometimes is the only way to get your foot in the door. It can show willingness and commitment. This giving of free time should not be seen as a weakness but as a strength and allows you to exchange time in return for valuable knowledge which can take you onto your next assisting job for another photographer.

Sometimes photography assistants may be hired to help plan a shoot in advance, even before turning up on the day; therefore, before the shoot, it’s essential that you check whether there is anything you can do to aid the main Photographer in ensuring they have everything in place for the shoot.
If travelling far to the shoot, do they need to rent any gear, particularly lenses or lighting equipment?

Will a studio be required at all? Maybe space for hair and makeup needs to be organised? Are there locations that are yet to get decided on? Might you be able to help by scouting out and visiting potential spots?
As you work on more shoots, you’ll find that you build up a database of information such as good rental stores, studios and locations. However, it’s essential to do your research before suggesting them.

Always be On Time: 

Obvious, you would think! But if you can arrive on set on time, that makes life so much easier for everyone if you can make it earlier even better. It gives you a chance to get familiar with the kit, location and crew and means that you can be ready to go and start setting up whilst everyone is getting prepared. 

Be Friendly:  Be a nice and a friendly person to be around, be engaging and helpful and be a pleasure to have you around. Do this, and you’ll get hired over and over again. Photographers want to be around happy people. I enjoy the company and helpfulness of my assistant and the fact that I can trust him not only the way he is but mainly because of the way he acts around my clients. I trust him to be professional and engaging as he becomes an extension of my brand. The client will get a better experience on the day if all of my team effectively represents my brand and me.

Let the Photographer introduce you to the clients and use their example to acclimatize to the situation. Remember that it’s not about you. You may well gain a lot from the experience, but your role is secondary to the photographers. A shoot is never about the Photographer, it’s about the client wanting a solution to their problem, and the Photographer is there to achieve this. Your priority should be to ensure that everyone gets along and works together.

Showing initiative: good assistants will only need a brief introduction to how the day works and is included in my own vision and the client’s expectations. However, an assistant is expected to work independently to the correct process. This means lighting, camera setups, lens choice, backgrounds. It might even mean the odd cup of tea or running down to the shops to get lunch for the crew on occasion.

It’s important to note that not all photographers will expect you to do all of the work on set, and I personally get involved and help my assistants by giving direction and asking the correct questions, so they learn on the day. So, whenever on set, look around and ask yourself if there is something that you can be doing. How can you make things easier? 

Study The Photographers’ Work: I think that most assistants will know the photographers’ work. It’s crucial to take a moment and study what they do, how their work looks. How do they like to light their images? What is their compositional approach? Is their lighting avantgarde or softer, or do they like a harsher look? Do they use styles of lighting such as Rembrandt or split lighting? If you can arrive on set with some decent knowledge of what the Photographer you’re working for will want/need, you’ll be very appreciated, and you will have a basic understanding about how they may be thinking of lighting the set.

This is a generic idea of how to be effective in assisting a photographer like me. The job entails so much more at a higher level but this will happen over time. Use this as a guide to help you think about what to do and when to dio it.

Rank number 1 on Google for Photography and SEO for Fashion Photographers. Many Photographers really struggle with the concept of working with Website SEO and letting their web content or photographers portfolio get seen – Search Engine Optimisation. I rank on page one of Google for the keyword search Fashion Photographer UK or fashion Photographer London. My website www.jamesnader.com

What a result, it has been this way for over 12 years and even though it fluctuates on occasion mostly it works. It drives interest to my work and has repeatedly got me bookings and has enabled me to escape the clutches of photographers agents who rake in over 20% of your hard-earned cash.

So what do I do? How did I manage to get listed so highly on Google and in Google rankings? I am going to give you some simple tips that will help you out which will be followed later this year with a full course to learn the Business of Photography where I share my tips and tricks to get photographers better acquainted with success

1. DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH.

So ranking for Fashion Photographer is a major investment with time, but it can be done and doesn’t happen overnight and possibly not at all but it will push you up the rankings. There is any point trying to rank for a one keyword phrase as this narrows down your options so and if the photographers keyword only gets a small amount of traffic – similarly you need to know if you are trying to rank your site for a highly competitive keyword, as it may be beyond your capabilities to do so. It’s important that you find a keyword string that will allow you to get seen and probably most have gone. The best way is to initially use google to type in your keyword choices and see what comes up. There are many tools that can be used to help you manage your keyword search and final choice of photographers keywords. I will post the links below.

2. ALLOCATE CERTAIN KEYWORDS TO CERTAIN PAGES.

Once you have a positive search string such as mine Fashion Photographer UK. Then you need to weave this into your pages. It’s also a great idea to weave this keyword into your website pages to echo the same as the home page. Its also wise to look at slight variations on your chosen keywords and weave these into relevant pages i.e. Location Fashion Photographer, UK FashionPhotographer or Fashion Photographer London or New York Fashion Photographer
allocate certain keywords to certain pages of your site – a common mistake is to keep allocating the same keyword for lots of different blog posts – try to keep your main keyword for your home page only and spread your other keywords throughout the site.

3. SEO FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS – USE IMAGE ALT TAGS AND ALT TITLES.

Alt tags are like descriptions for your images, they translate your image for search engines. Without them, your images are pretty much non-existent for the worldwide web. Every image that you submit to your WordPress or website should be highly optimised. In plain English, images to be edited and then named relevantly to your webpage where they will sit. When you upload most website hosts, WordPress or third-party hosted websites will allow you o enter your alternative tags and image tags. Thes tell google what is there and helps description of the page and thus you get a ranking. Your pictures will also turn up in search results for google images which is another way that people can search for you and your work.

Images should be at 72dpi and you can use https://tinyjpg.com/ to render your images even lower in size, optimised websites are quicker to load and Google prefers to see fast loads and this helps your ranking overall. Use this link to see if your website fast https://tools.pingdom.com/

4. BUILD LOTS OF INTERNAL LINKS BETWEEN SITE PAGES.

Google wants to rank sites that provide a good customer experience – good site navigation between pages is fundamental. Ensure your site menus are logical and easy to use. Throughout your blog posts and site, pages ensure you link to other relevant pages on your site – this makes it easy for Google’s bots to index your site, and also increases the time your clients spend on your site. The bot likes to travel around a website’s content and not through it! keep it engaged!!!

5. PHOTOGRAPHERS H1 TITLES AND TITLES FOR PHOTOGRAPHY SEO.

Headings are a way to logically organize content on the page. The heading tags – H1-H6 – are also intended to allow designers to control the style of the page.  A good large header H1 tag where ever is good for Google. It shows to Google that this is relevant and more important text, however, sometimes the font looks far too big for your design so the header or title tags can be reduced to H2 or H3 titles.

Headings signify topics, which is why they are important for SEO. The largest words before a body of text are very likely to give a clue about the content of that text. 

6. PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO WANT TO GET WEB SEO IN PHOTOGRAPHY NEED WORDPRESS.

So once upon a time, I was a director of my own production and interactive agency and we had hand coders which were great but slow. These days it’s easy for photographers to display their work on various portfolio websites such as Squarespace, Photoshelter, Flowthemes, etc. However, there is one major problem with using these online portfolios. They are generally not that good for SEO for Photographers or for optimising your photography keywords for success. I have used them all and for a while but the best way for every photographer is the way I will be explaining in one of my live seminars.
Getting to page number one on Google and many times at position 1 has been a great achievement. The most success has been with being in control of my own website and yes this is a comprehensive learning curve but the power of this knowledge gives you the edge over your competitors. WordPress is a free platform and you can either use their hosting with a free account or install a free-standing version into the route of your domain www.jamesnader.com/blog so Blog is the directory where mine is. This is a process I will go through you personally in a webinar video you can sign up to. So many ways to do this but my way works and I have been successful with my website ranking high on page one for Fashion Photographer UK for over 12 years.

I will post a link to more info here soon. Register your interest here by just letting me know your email

7. PHOTOGRAPHY BACKLINKS ARE IMPORTANT.

Your website gets listed higher if you have super backlinks from good-standing companies, people or blogs.
If people like your work, allow then do feature you and your work in their own blogs. Students love to fond work that inspires them and then reflects on this in their own blogs. This is classed as a backlink. You can buy these from Fiverr but DON”T as these will damage your ranking. The offered services from portals to get 1000’s of backlinks are not going to work and they farm these. They are bogus and do nothing at all! It’s best to build up relationships online and get people to feed off your work.

8. SUBMIT A SITEMAP TO GOOGLE.

For your website to show up in search results, Google has to know about all your site’s pages and index them. This can happen organically over time, but a sitemap is a faster way to “help” Google. If using WordPress, this feature should automatically be included in the excellent “Yoast SEO”  plugin

9. YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE.

Google owns YouTube. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. Google, therefore, loves to show your videos. Start creating content or slideshows of your portfolio work, upload them to YouTube using the same process of headings, titles, tags, and descriptions. Then embed that saved YouTube video in a blog post on your website. You can also add a backlink to your site on YouTube as part of the description of the video.

10. SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS ON YOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS BLOG.

It’s a good idea to use your website and add social sharing buttons. If your website is interesting, people who read your content and like it will share it with their social media. You should also try using Quora to answer a post relevant questions.

11. SUBMIT TO DIRECTORIES SUCH AS ENTIRE WEB.

It’s important that when you have a completed photographers’ website or fashion photography blog, that you submit the URL to all of the major search engines including the main ones Google and Bing. You can go to the Entire web and this will automate your submission process for all except the latter. It’s also my practice that I submit each post or page also over time.

12. BLOG POST WITH A PURPOSE WITH KEYWORDS AND FOCUS ON OPTIMISED PAGES.

Want to dominate those local search results? Get some nice reviews via Google Maps, and you’ll soon find you start to rise up those A B C D map links 😉  Sadly it’s not easy for clients to do, as they have to jump through Google accounts loops, etc. You might be thinking right about now, “I’m a photographer, not a writer.” However, blogs are proven traffic generators, and they allow you to make your photography more personal. If you aren’t exactly a wordsmith, here are some tips that will help. You can also hire a professional content writer. 

• Use a primary keyword Fashion Photographer UK ( MIne) in the title and the first paragraph of the content, and sprinkle secondary keywords throughout. Keep density to 1 – 3 percent overall.
• Keep it simple and tell a story. On point blogging ins every time. If you have information like this page keep it clean and a simple layout.
• Make the content visually pleasing and scannable, with short paragraphs and plenty of white space
• Use meta tags, H1 title tags, and h1 – 4 tags for headings and subheads.
• Don’t be lame and copy content from other websites. Write your own as it can be traced!

13. Get your address and contact information on the footer of every page of your business

Another signal to Google on your “local” geographic location is, of course, your address It also makes a big difference with potential clients!  The truth is I don’t do this as a rule as numbers and addresses get spammed. I learned the hard way so it’s really down to you. Local business is good for using addresses but national and international I choose not to.:)

JAMES NADER – SILVERGUMTYPE – a quick review of SEO for Photographers but should give you a heads-up!

So you have the basics of getting seen online I am planning a module written by me and a video with me going through what I have learned over the years. I think it’s about time that people help each other and soon I will be producing a subscription video allowing photographers to learn SEO and WordPress and getting your photography business seen Successfully placed websites re great for bringing in clients and business.