Sarah Musselman Photography's Blog » Stock Photography

Kristen Class of 2010

Sarah — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:52:03 +0000

By doing senior photography, you don’t get a lot of repeat clients, but you do get siblings. This is the case for Kristen. I had photographed her sister Maddie a couple of years ago and Kristen was keen on having me do hers as well. Both girls were extremely photogenic and possessed an uncommon comfort level in front of the camera. I had so much fun with Kristen, and the results were spectacular!

Allison – Class of 2010

Sarah — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:47:51 +0000

Allison has been a close friend of my sister’s for many years. I was very excited when she asked me to do her senior pictures. Not only because she’s a joy to be around, but also because she’s such a beautiful person inside and out.

Allison came with some requests, like many of my seniors. Her mom wanted tight head shots and she wanted lots of black and whites. I always appreciate these requests, especially if you want black and whites. Doing a simple desaturation is often not enough. Good black and whites often need photoshop tweaking to get the contrast right.

A Glimpse at Summer

Sarah — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:44:14 +0000

A busy summer has prevented me from addressing this blog. To me, doing actual work is more important than displaying it, but nevertheless, as a Marketing professional, I know it’s importance.

Here’s some images I pulled from three of my favorite shoots this summer.

This photo shoot took advantage of my iStock photography discount. This means that you can purchases these images online here. Please be mindful that while these images are royalty free, they are not restriction free, so read the fine print.

I tried a few new locations for this shoot, as many photographers have begun to discover my other locations. These are little more edgy than my typical Senior Shots, but still in line with current trends.

That session can be contrasted with these images which are more experimental. I would not include images like the following in a session, unless explicitly asked.

Finally, here was a fun child photo shoot. I love it when parents ask me to take photos of their children that allow to bring out their personalities. Here’s the result:

Two More from May

Sarah — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:04:04 +0000

Before I started photographing 2010 Seniors, I figured I should finish up 2009. Here’s two more from May. I didn’t have time to watermark the one, so here’s the video:

And, the other chose to take advantage of the iStock discount. So here are some of the iStock files from that shoot:

25 years and 250 downloads!

Sarah — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:33:29 +0000

It’s been a while since my last post. It’s not that I haven’t had work. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite, I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had the time to dedicate to this blog. Expect a few catch-up pics to follow.

Okay, so back to the actual reason for this post. Today I received an awesome 25th birthday present! I reached 250 downloads on istock.com – the stock photography site that I contribute to. This means that I can now go exclusive and reap all the extra benefits that go along with that. I’ve been looking forward to this milestone for a long time and happened to make it on my birthday!

Stock is Fun!

Sarah — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Besides photography, one of my other loves in life is volleyball. I started in high school, played briefly in college, and now occasionally play in local leagues. When I started submitting stock photography, I realized that there was a lack of good volleyball pictures. Most shots looked like they grabbed a $10 volleyball from Walmart and photographed it on white. Problem is, any serious volleyball player can tell right away that the volleyball was not intended for anything other than family reunions.

So, being that it’s volleyball season, one of the first shots I submitted was of a volleyball. It’s been fun watching the downloads increase over time.

The angle is a little awkward to use in advertisements, so I’ll probably be shooting an angle that is better suited for advertising.

In case any of you are wondering, I use iStock.com. My day job is in marketing and I frequently purchase images here to use in the company’s ads. Day downloader, night uploader.

Lighting Experiments

Sarah — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:50:51 +0000

I’ve been working on creating a photo studio piece by piece. Last year, I added a light kit to the collection. But due to space constraints I had to leave it in the box most of the time. This past week, thanks to a garage sale, I was able to free up some space to set up a lighting studio.

My younger sister is taking a photo class in high school and has to photograph a series of things based off a list given to her by her teacher. I helped her set up the shots and couldn’t refuse taking a few of my own.

On a side note… it wasn’t until today that I had photographed two types of glasses.

I think I’ll probably submit the top one for stock. I think the bottom photo has too shallow of a depth of field to be useful for stock.

First Blog Post

Sarah — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:55:05 +0000

I thought I would dedicate this first blog post to describing a little about me and what I am as a photographer and what I’m not.

Am I a professional photographer? We technically, by definition, yes. I have been getting paid to do outdoor portrait photography for some time now and have recently broke into the world of stock photography. Is it my full time job? No. I love photography. It’s my passion, but I also have another passion: marketing. What I’ve figured out is that after all the post processing time, photography is really a hobby that pays for itself while marketing actually pays the bills. Maybe some day it’ll be the other way around, but for now, that’s life.

Is not being a full time photographer a disadvantage? I don’t think so. Full-time photographers are, in essence, business owners. Sure they get paid to do what they love, but they always have to make sure that they maintain profitability. This means that they can’t let their passion take off and run with it. At the end of the day, they have to look at the numbers. By not relying on photography for an income, I’m allowed much more freedom and creativity. This does not mean I’m not professional, can’t handle deadlines, or don’t understand paperwork. Quite the contrary. My career and educational background has more than equipped me in those areas.

Do I know everything there is to know about photography? No. No one ever does. With me, photography is a continual learning experience, and that’s part of the reason I love it so much. The truth of the matter is that there is a huge gap in skill level, even among professional photographers. I am proud of my work and don’t mind letting people pay me to do it, but I will always be aiming higher.

What do I hope to acheive with this blog? I want this blog to be a photo journal, a way to share my talent and experiences with others.

What are my goals for photography? Right now I am focused on improving my skill on the technical side of photography: learning to perfect exposure, color balance, focus, and noise levels all in camera (no computer work). Eventually I would like to have a full understanding of every main form of photography: portrait, stock, corporate, fashion, editorial, music, and photo journalism.

How did you learn photography? I guess photography runs in my family. Ever since I was little, I’ve been around an SLR camera (more or less a professional camera.) When my dad was in high school he had his own dark room where he would develop his own film. It was then that he came accross some old family negatives with amazing composition, which he developed and now hang on his office wall. Needless to say, I was inspired. I “stole” his camera in high school and took a photography class. From that point on, let’s just say Dad didn’t see his camera much. I took it with me to college, and he only got it returned when he bought me a new one. That was when I started being requested to photograph people and submit photos for art shows. I’d laugh when I would be asked for a photo release at the photo lab, but then it occured to me… I could earn money for this! About that time I switched from film to digital, and with the comfort of “instant feedback” from the camera, I began charging for my services. I’ve been doing that for some time. Most recently I’ve added stock photography to the list. With stock photography, nothing less than absolute technical perfection is accepted. So I feel like I’ve enrolled myself back in photography class. But learning to go beyond “good” or “great” images and producing “perfect” images has been the best experience.

Do I ever want to go full-time? I flirt with the idea every now in then. I think if I ever were able to bring my talent to the point that I could charge top dollar for my services, I might. But in all honesty, for all the talent I have in photography, I have just as much, if not more in strategic marketing. Eventually I might split my time more evenly between the two and go from doing marketing 8 to 5 to doing part-time consulting work.

So, that’s me and photography in a nutshell. Comment if you have any more questions!