Helpful Hints | Jamie Coupaud Photography - Weddings and Portraits in Dallas/Fort Worth

welcome!

I am so glad you found your way to the Jamie Coupaud Photography blog! Please enjoy the portrait session sneak peeks, wedding teasers, and the other random tidbits I post.

Just a little bit about me – I am a mom to two boys – a crazy 3 year old and gorgeous 6 month old who amaze me every day. I am a creative person who enjoys learning to look at the world in new ways. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved photography. I can remember shooting tons artsy pictures with disposable cameras as a kid and driving my parents crazy begging to get all the film developed. Then in June 2006 I got my first DSLR – a Nikon D50. It was my absolute dream camera at the time and I had so much fun with it. Since then I have upgraded several times, but I still use Nikon.

But more important than all the equipment in the world is that I love what I do! I feel so blessed to meet new people all the time and get to know them while I am working. One of my favorite feelings in the world is when a client becomes a friend.

Feel free to browse the blog and also check out my website to see more of my work. I hope to hear from you soon!

Archive for the ‘helpful hints’ Category

before and after :: Denton TX Photographer

June 16, 2010

I have never done this before on my blog but thought it might be fun (and possibly educational?). Here are a couple of shots SOOC (straight out of camera) compared to the final edited versions.

I shoot in RAW, which means that the color in my pictures is pretty lackluster without any editing. I like it this way. I like starting out with a totally clean slate when I edit my pictures. When I edit, my goal is to give the image some kind of pop (whatever my vision may be for that particular image) without sacrificing the subject’s skin tones. This can be a little tricky at first, but with practice you can train your eye to know when you’ve gone too far with the editing.

Next time I’m going to show black and whites, so stay tuned!

Tags: before
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A friendly reminder to back-up your images :: Denton TX Wedding Photographer

February 18, 2010

Before I start, I just want to say that my favorite part of this image is the little head bobbing up in the bottom left corner. He was so happy to see his mom get married!

How long do you want your wedding photos to last? 5 years? 10 years? I am going to guess everyone would say FOREVER!

In the days of film, most couples were given just one copy of their wedding images in an album to last them a lifetime. But what happens if there is a fire and that album is lost? What if your photographer did not save the negatives? Those memories from your special day are gone.

Now that the photography world has mostly moved to digital (for the record, I still believe there is a place for film in this industry) we have so many more options for image back-up.

Here are some of those options:

1. Back-up DVD or CD
On the informational PDF that I include on image DVD’s, I make sure to tell clients to create a back-up copy right away. DVD’s and CD’s degrade over time. You don’t want to pull out your wedding DVD in 8 years just to find that your computer won’t read the DVD.

2. Put the images on your hard drive
Not only does it make it easier for you to access your images, you’re much less likely to lose your hard drive than you are to lose a little disc!

3. Put the images on your OTHER hard drive
What? You don’t have another hard drive? Well, run out right now and get one! My husband, the computer guru, always says that it’s not a matter IF a hard drive will fail, it’s a matter of WHEN. Your hard drive will fail. You can count on it. Here’s an external hard drive that I recommend for backing up your important files.

4. Off-site back-up
So you may be thinking, “Even if I do all of the above, my images will still be lost if my house burns down!” You’re absolutely right. First of all, you can keep a fireproof safe in your home to store your files, but there are a couple of ways you can back-up your files off-site. I know many people who keep their files on DVD’s in a safety deposit box at the bank. If you do that, just make sure to periodically update your DVD’s, as we’ve already learned that they degrade over time. Another way to store your files off-site is to use a service like carbonite. It’s very affordable and definitely worth it.

The responsibility of the photographer
As a photographer, I cannot guarantee that I will have your images in 20 years if something happens to your copy. There are just too many unknowns. I will absolutely try my best though.

I have all of your final images backed up off-site (I personally use Angel Back-up because I have far too many files for carbonite to handle). Not only that, but all of my files are backed up on mirrored hard drives automatically.

I hope you’ve found this post informative, and I sincerely hope that none of my brides ever have to be faced with the possibility of losing all of their precious wedding memories.

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Do’s and Don’ts of using images from my blog

November 27, 2009

I saw this post on mom*tog’s blog and I thought it was super helpful. Thankfully, she has generously given permission to copy this information.

First of all, I want to say that I love it when my clients post their professional pictures on their facebook profiles, personal blogs, etc. I frequently tell clients that they are welcome to “steal” images from my blog and I have not disabled right-clicking for that reason. There are, however, a few things to remember when using these images.

1) DO ask your photographer what their specific policy is on taking pictures off of their blogs. Some photographers encourage it and some don’t allow it. If this is important to you this is something you should ask BEFORE you hire your photographer!

2) DO include your photographer’s name and website under the images (a link would be super nice!). That’s just the polite thing to do

3) DON’T crop out their logo. Most photographers use their blogs to advertise their work and do so as a courtesy to give their clients a sneak peek. If a client crops out the logo then how will other people know who took the picture?

4) DON’T edit the picture in any way. Taking the pictures is only half of a photographers job. The other half is editing. If you think you can do a better job or want to edit out some of your wrinkles or use selective coloring please don’t show and/or tell your photographer. That is super insulting. If you don’t like your photographers editing enough to want to edit it yourself than maybe you need to find another photographer next year.

5) DON’T try to print from the files on the blog. For me specifically I know that the files I upload to my blog are too small to be printed in a 4×6 size. It’s not cool to invest in a family session and then print the images off of the blog and not pay for prints. Make sure you know how much the prints cost before the session to avoid sticker shock. Same goes for scanning prints that you already bought. Not cool!

So there you go. I feel like a lucky photographer because in general my clients have been very courteous and thoughtful when using blog images. Thanks to all of you!

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