Bananas FAQs

Pheewww.... this week is Fan-tas-tic! Mainly, we're all caught up with the major back-load of work that's been pending for quite some time and there is finally time to go through old emails, files, and do some major organization.

I must start this post win a personal apology to anyone who's emailed without hearing back yet. In response to so many of the same requests we get each day for answers on all kinds of things from business to photography to stuff like "can you send me that secret recipe?" we'll be starting a "Bananas FAQ" section of this blog. We'll be tackling a back-log of questions and requests and then move on to any additional FAQs so feel free to post any new ones below :)

Fun stuff!!

The first comes from Cindy in Arizona:

"Hi Liana,

I enjoyed your session at the Chicks conference. I have a couple of questions:

~ what software do you use to design your albums?
~ how do you market and/or how do client's find you as a destination photographer?
~ what software are you using to make your movie shows in?
~ you mentioned showing your movie shows at the reception - are you using your own portable projection equipment?
~ did you mention something about adding video to your new Web site? If so, what video editing software will/or do you use?"

Album Software:
Like I do with most ventures, we've tested out what is know as the http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif"best in the industry" and made our minds up after some use with each. I started using Photoshop but then turned to Photojunction and got great use out of that for some time. After a few constant quirks, we started looking for something with more flexibility and tried out Adobe's InDesign which is our favorite by far! It's MADE for design :) Kevin Swan has a GREAT, quick tutorial available for download/purchase that will tell you get you started real quick. We still use Photojunction for the old albums and they've been super helpful on the phone whenever we need help - so that's a good option too, just not for us now that we've tasted the ease of using InDesign.

How Clients Find me To Photograph their Destination Wedding:
Most of my clients have heard of me through someone they know and then checked out my site online before contacting us. Some hear of us via the WPJA, the Knot chat forums, via Industry publications and forums, and random web searches. I think updating the blog with pics helps a lot too - we have a lot of inquiries come in after I've photographed & blogged about a destination wedding or trip :)

Movie Shows:
I'm not sure if you mean my slideshows that are posted online? For that I use ShowIt Web - it's available at www.ShowItFast.com. Literally thousands are able to enjoy watching pics from a wedding I photographed only days earlier. I've booked jobs off of these alone when my site was under construction.

If you're asking about the actual movies on my liana.tv site we use FinalCutExpress and Apple has a built in iMovie which is easy and quick to use (much easier than any other program out there, in my opinion!)

Slideshows at Receptions:
I hardly ever project a slideshow at a reception unless a client specifically asks us to. We DO however do a slideshow on a laptop at almost every reception. Downloading, sorting, using the "quick collection" function, and slideshow function in Lightroom makes the process SOOOOO quick and easy. I actually go through the exact process in detail on our workflow/Lightroom tutorial that just came out. You can check it out HERE.

Video in New Site:
We're SUPER excited for the new www.liana.tv to premier later this fall :) It's been a work-in-progress for over a year now and will be stock-full of content-rich videos to help clients out. Most of the video is produced in Final Cut but we've got some stuff on YouTube and hidden on our sites now to help in the meantime that is produced on programs that are easier to use like iMovie.