Each Wednesday, I’m featuring one of my fabulous fellow co-teachers for The Luxe Workshops. This week I get to feature my dear, dear friend,  Brittney Kluse! And let me just tell you…she’s as fun, kind, down-to-earth and is just plain delightful as she seems! I love this girl!! Today Brittney is sharing her personal top 3 tips, tricks and tools!!  

3. I love to shoot at 2 stops higher than wide open in my lens…this assures I will have a crystal clear details in focus for my subject area, with enough depth of field to give me that creamy bokeh that makes my subject POP off the image! 

2. Integrate artistic elements of composition into every shot you take. Think about leading lines, parallelism, rule of thirds, environmental framing and more with each shot you take! Don’t just spray-and-pray, slow down and take MEANINGFUL shots! 

1. Refer to your camera manual about how to add a hint of amber into your camera sensor. This slightly warms up skin tone in-camera for that creamy, soft, and picture-perfect look!



3. It’s great to admire others and look to their work for inspiration, but don’t judge YOUR own work against theirs! Work hard to figure out what images YOU want to take, then make them look the way YOU want them to look. Remember no one is better at being you than you! “OWN’ it, then “HONE it!”

2. It’s all the in the details … so take 45 extra seconds before hitting that shutter to make sure clothing is straight, random hairs are out of the face, and your clients look polished and put together. A defining detail in what a photographer can charge is largely wrapped up into the detail management and high-quality attention to the actual shooting, not just post-processing. 

1. P-E-R-F-E-C-T your straight out of the camera (SOOC). Do not rely on Photoshop, Lightroom, or any editing practice to do it for you. Really learn the exposure triangle, metering, white balance, and how all the pieces work together. Once you’re taking BANGING shots SOOC, the sky is the limit!



3. Next to my camera/lenses, my WACOM tablet is the best tool I use! It’s ergonomic handy pen makes editing a breeze AND I have created presets for all the buttons on the table to match my post-processing workflow, so I can literally press the button, move my sliders around, flatten my layers and VOILA! Color pop magic! 

2. I would be lost without my 85mm 1.4 Nikkor lens. It’s crispness and trail of oooohey-gooooey bokeh leaves me swooning! 

1. I take my PhotoFlex 5-in-1 reflector on every shoot! For days that are a little gray, I love using the gold side to pop some warmth on to the skin tone, or if I just want to brighten the catchlights in my subject’s eyes, the silver side adds supreme sparkle! 

And I’ve got some B-I-G NEWS! The Luxe Workshop is heading to Palm Springs!!!!

Oh yeah! Sign up for our newsletter, because 48 hour pre-registration for newsletter subscribers will open May 21st. Registration will be open to the public on May 23rd. Take advantage of the payment plan option and register early, Luxe in Las Vegas sold out.

Don’t miss this fun event!