Tips for Photographers – Pinterest edition

I have many tools to help me both creatively and organizationally so I thought I would share a few of those in case it inspires someone who isn’t already using them! I’m going to do these one at a time because I tend to get wordy and long winded (I was that nerd in class who actually had to cut down on the amount of words in her essays so that I didn’t go beyond the maximum page count) so that we can keep this (semi)short and sweet.

So, first on my list is Pinterest!

I found out about Pinterest.com a while ago but saw no need for it and thought it actually sounded lame…oh how wrong I was. It’s a site where you virtually “pin” images and videos to boards you create online. All of your pinned images are automatically linked back to the original site you got them from (like a nice little bibliography) so you can easily see more from that site if needed. For instance, I frequently pin sites with tutorials on them, so I just make a note in the caption reminding me that the site has more details for me to look into.

You can can also follow other like minded people and pin the cool things they find. Pinterest has become so much a part of my creative process that it is insane and to think when I put out the call to my Facebook friends for an invite (it’s by invite only, or you can submit to be on the waiting list), it was my MOM who had one and sent me an invite! Then again, my Mom is pretty cool so I’m not surprised that she was hip to it :) By the way, if you want an invite, feel free to respond to this post in the comments and I will send you one so you don’t have to wait!

A few of my boards - both biz and fun

For my business I use it to do the following:

Create boards to hone in my personal brand
This is why I decided I wanted a Pinterest account in the first place. I’m a very visual learner so I needed to physically see who I am by seeing what sort of images, colors, designs, furniture, patterns etc. I am drawn to. Laying them all out together is helping me envision the exact direction for my business brand. I am still fine tuning that board but when I feel I have enough gathered, I am hoping to have a clearer direction and path to further mold my brand. So far I found that I’m crazy over the colors yellow and gray together and have a big thing chevrons, so there may be site changes in the future due to what crops up! I also found that I’m attracted to bright warm colors and images that are soft and almost airy and dreamy…and I really like that feeling for the biz!

Create boards of poses
Posing is a tricky thing for me and many other photographers I know. I prefer to shoot what occurs naturally and observe people like a fly on the wall, but I do also know that this is just one part of a large puzzle and another really large piece is posing. I use these boards to get inspiration for new poses and to figure out natural ways to get people to move into them. I have tons of these boards and it is quickly replacing my binder of magazine clippings.

Use inspiration boards when I need them, like right before a shoot
No, I don’t recommend you pull out your phone in the middle of a shoot and say “hang on a sec, I have to check out my sweet Pinterest couples pose board for some inspiration” but you may want to look at them while you wait for a client, before you head out, while you dilly dally in line and so on. You can look at Pinterest online on your phone and bonus if you have an iPhone because you can grab the app. I use Android (I know, I know, “but I thought you and Mac are married?!” I love Macs but I love Android phones better) so I don’t have access to the nifty app but I did bookmark my pose boards and then I created bookmark links on my phone’s home screen so I can quickly look at those boards whenever I want.

Gather inspiration for styled shoots
I am still working on getting one of these shoots to come to fruition, but in the meantime I am creating boards around styled shoots that I want to do in the future. It’s a great way to gather all of the ideas you have for a shoot from the cake design, favors, invitations, attire etc. An added piece is that you can collaborate with your other fellow styled shoot participants on these boards by giving them posting rights to that board too. It’s a perfect way to share and communicate ideas with one another.

Coordinate with clients for what they should wear to a shoot
One question I get a lot is “what should I wear to my shoot?” – well you can eliminate that by creating boards of inspiration of what a great photo shoot outfit means. Need ideas on what to tell your clients to wear? Sites like Polyvore consist of TONS of outfit inspirations. Pin some of those as well as actual pictures from shoots and your clients can have lots of ideas to pull from after you direct them to that board. I am going to put a link to my shoot inspiration board on my FAQ page that talks about this so that I can help clients before they even need to ask. 2 birds, 1 stone.

Get my name out there!
Yesterday I was pinning some of my own images to a master board holding some favorites to reference what I liked so much about them and I saw that other people have been pinning my work as well! Even better, OTHER people have been re-pinning the work that others have pinned! Nice! Now I am not going to flood Pinterest with my own photos (after realizing this can be done I’ve now seen photographers who do just this and pin nothing but their own work to spread the word) but I will continue to maintain my inspiration board to remember what I liked most about certain shots and in the meantime, I can see what others like about my work as well! Want to see if your site has been pinned? Type this into your browser (but replace “yournamehere” with your website address): http://pinterest.com/source/yournamehere

Add the bookmarklet link to the bottom of your blog (like I did!) to make pinning easier
Along with the above point, adding this makes it easy for users to pin your images and to spread the word about your work. My link appears at the bottom of all of my posts and it is a plug-in called Social Discussions and so far, I like it a lot! You can alter it so that it counts how many pins have been made from your page, or not count and a few other personalization options. This plug-in also has the other social bookmarklets for Facebook, Twitter, G+ etc.

Part of my "brand" board

And it isn’t just for photographers, I could see this being really helpful for wedding planners, invitation artists, bakers, interior designers (or those pretending to be one – me), clothing designers and so on! It’s a great tool that can be molded to fit almost any business OR just for anyone to stash their ideas safely to be accessed anywhere.

By the way, if you want to follow me, CLICK HERE to get to my Pinterest boards and then click “Follow All” or select just the boards you are interested in following! And then lemme know what you think of my boards!

So fellow Pinterest followers, what do YOU use your Pinterest boards for and how have they helped your business? Lemme know in the comments and don’t forget to send me a shout if you want an invite because I will gladly send one your way.