FAQs

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Who should purchase the {life as art} Workshop in a Box?

This Workshop in a Box is for those who own a DSLR camera and have a good basic understanding of manual metering and want to better their skills as a photographer.

What if I want to purchase the Workshop in a Box but I don't know how to shoot manually? Do you have any instructional materials for beginners?

Well, my {life as art} Workshop in a Box does assume that you know how to shoot manually. That being said, I do offer the instruction manual from my beginner workshop as an add-on to Workshop in a Box for an additional $50. Note that there is some overlap in the instructional material between the two manuals, but the Beginner Manual will walk you through understanding aperture and shutter speed, and get you started shooting on M. Please note that I am not selling the beginner workshop materials separately at this time.

What information is in the Workshop in a Box? What will I learn?

Well, the Workshop in a Box contains information that covers the following general topics:

• classical composition and theories on creativity,
• getting perfect exposures with every shot,
• creating powerful compositions,
• getting perfect light in your photos,
• the basics of on-camera and off-camera flash,
• advanced workflow and editing in both Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2,
• RAW workflow and competition editing, as well as
• ways to effectively target a market and structure your business.

This workshop focuses primarily on child and family portrait photography, though many aspects of what I discuss apply to wedding photography as well.

The Manual contains review questions that you can use to test your learning. Here are some sample review questions from the Manual:

• When shooting at low apertures, like f1.2, where should you place your focal point?
• What three things should you do to ensure sharp images?
• What four kinds of lines can you have in a photo? What is the impact of each type of line on the viewer?
• When doing a close-up portrait of an adult, where do I like to place my camera in relation to my subject?
• What focal lengths do I rarely use when photographing someone? Why?
• What tricks to I use with veils and gauze in wedding photos?
• What should you do to reduce haze and color casts in backlit photos?
• What is my formula for finding beautiful natural light for portraits at any time of day?
• What do I do if I have to take portrait of someone with my flash on-camera?

What is included in the Workshop in a Box?

The {life as art} Workshop in a Box includes the following items:

• The {life as art} Professional Manual. This is a 230-page textbook of my personal insight into creativity, composition, in-camera technicalities, digital workflow and business strategies. The book is an actual textbook, not just a copy of powerpoint slides and includes hundreds of full color images and illustrations, as well as review questions, exercises and worksheets that you can do to practice principles in each chapter. You can see a Table of Contents and images from the book in the Gallery section of this website.
• The Workshop in a Box DVD. This is a 75-minute DVD of me shooting an engagement session and a family session and showing how I implement the principles outlined in the book. This is not just a recording of me teaching the workshop, but real-world examples of how I deal with actual shooting situations.
• The {life as art} Professional CD. This CD contains over $350 worth of products that are completely unique to my workshop CD. You can't get these items on my Flourish website. Specifically, the Professional CD includes:
  • A set of custom actions designed specifically for the {life as art} workshops. These include shortcut actions for tricks discussed in the manual, prepping actions for goodies on the CD, as well as a web prep action, texture action, BW action and gentle boost.
  • A folder of business forms and client contracts. Included in this are sample contracts for weddings and portrait clients, session preparation information for clients, sample list of session policies and FAQ's, copyright release form for clients, outline of client booking process, and questions for wedding and portrait client booking consultations. All contracts and forms are given in MS Word format, so you can tweak them to your liking. Also included within this folder is a sub-folder that has the client contract and session info sheet prepped for printing as a mailer to clients.
  • A folder of PS compositional guides. These are guides that are discussed in the Professional Manual. You can overlay these guides on your images to improve your cropping and compositional structure.
  • A template for creating custom client websites. When each client books a session with me, I create a personalized website for them that includes all the info for their session, as well as print pricing info, their contract, my business policies and more! It's a wonderful and economical way to communicate important information with a client. This is an amazing set of templates that will allow you to create such custom websites for each of your clients. Included in this are all the templates, text, code and easy-to-follow instructions for setting up the websites on your server. These templates have been designed for easy customization, so you can make them match your current branding. You can see sample images of the custom client website template in the Gallery section of this website.
  • A folder of workshop goodies that includes 3 textures, a fine art texture, a transparent Baroque pattern, a grungy border, 3 storyboards, a folder of MOO card templates, and a folder of holiday card templates. You can see sample images of some of the templates in the Gallery section of this website.
  • A template for an html sideways pricing guide. When clients see your pricing for the first time, it's important to sell them on your work. This pricing guide allows you to layer your pricing and your images into one slick html page that scrolls left to right, instead of up and down, providing a unique look for prospective clients. This template includes all the templates, text, code and easy-to-follow instructions for setting up the pricing guide on your server. This template has been designed for easy customization, so you can make it match your current branding. You can see sample images of the pricing guide in the Gallery section of this website.
  • A folder of Photoshop templates. This folder includes templates for creating a custom printed CD, custom postcards, thank you cards, copyright cards, client image printing cards and other goodies. Again, you can see sample images of some of the templates in the Gallery section of this website.
• A $50 Flourish Emporium gift certificate.
• Two-years access to the {life as art} Workshop Forums, which include online live chat nights with me.
• Vendor gift certificates, information and offers.

Additionally, just like any other workshop, there are door prizes with the Workshop in a Box! Consequently, when you purchase your box, you will be entered into a drawing to receive a door prize!

Can I pass around materials from the Workshop in a Box and share workshop information with others?

Please note that all workshop information and materials are thoroughly copyrighted. Sharing workshop information with others who have not purchased the material is strictly forbidden. Additionally, posting of workshop information in public forums or granting other public access will be prosecuted.

If I own the Workshop in a Box, do I get a discount if I come to the in-person workshop?

Mmmmmmm, this is a question I've been asking myself and I don't have an answer yet. That being said, if you own the Workshop in a Box and would like to attend an in-person workshop, I would suggest attending my Lighting Workshop. It's a workshop for alumni only and geared for those who own the Workshop in a Box or have attended my professional workshop in person.

I really would like to purchase parts of the Workshop in a Box separately. Do you sell just one part of the box (like just the manual or just the DVD)?

Currently, the Workshop in a Box is sold as one unit, as all its parts are interrelated. I do not have plans to piecemeal the individual parts of the box and sell them separately.

What is your return policy?

The workshop in a box may be returned if it is in like-new, sellable condition. This does mean that the book and other materials must be in their original packaging and any shrink-wrapped items, such as the book, are still in the shrink wrap. A $75 restocking fee will apply for all returns. Additionally, any portion of the Gift Certificate that is redeemed not be refunded. If for any reason you have removed the packaging and are not satisified please contact us and let us know of your concerns. We understand that the workshop in a box is a significant investment and we want you to be happy with your purchase. We will do everything in our power to make sure you are satisfied.