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Rangefinder Magazine
January 2004

Profile: Rick and Deborah Ferro by Charmaine Beleele
A “Heaven Sent” Workshop

	Rick and Deborah Ferro

Stone gates engraved “Heaven Sent Estate” welcome you into the world of Rick and Deborah Ferro’s home, studio and garden grounds. Located in Jacksonville, FL, Heaven Sent Estate looks more like the South of France than the United States. After their marriage in February 2002, photographers, Rick and Deborah Ferro not only blended their lives but also consolidated their Florida studios into one, “Signature Studio.” As I walked down the garden path to the studio classroom, little did I realize that soon I would learn Photoshop’s Liquefy tool, manage my marketing problems, and eat deep-fried alligator tail.

We began the workshop with a tour of the studio. This married couple has cleverly decided to maintain separate spaces for their digital work. Her computer room is up the garden path from the studio in their home, while Rick’s digital station is in the studio.

Rick ushered us into a reception room that showcases wall portraits and elegant albums. A chic dressing room flanks the side of this foyer. Within a few steps we were standing in a first-class viewing room. The Ferros present their images by projection, but the viewing room, curtained off from the high-tech shooting area, has a secret—knockdown walls. These disappear to add more space to the full-sweep studio if needed. On the following morning, this flexible room arrangement transformed into our classroom, and on each chair rested the coveted Ferro Workshop Black Book, included at no extra charge with the class tuition.

	Strongly side-lit bridal portrait by Deborah Ferro.

Deborah smiled at us, a class of 14 eager professionals. She commented, “We’re all so blessed to make a living doing what we love.” The class agreed boisterously.

At WPPI and PPA workshops, I gather pearls of information, and in my mind, each “pearl” represents a bright moment of pure understanding. Even one such pearl means a class is worth attending. Sometimes I come away from a workshop with a box of pearls—disconnected but beautiful gems of information. That’s fine, but when I go home with a string of pearls, it means that teachers like the Ferros have organized their information, managed our time well, and presented facts and procedures with energetic clarity.

Six lustrous pearls of effective marketing caused excitement among members of the class. One of my classmates, Gerald Hardage, greatly valued these marketing insights. He is in the process of stretching his construction and architectural photography business to include portrait and wedding work. He said, “Our profession is a relationship business. This seminar has raised the bar to a new level.” Pearls.

First, Rick and Deb introduced the concept of creating great samples for the studio by setting up photo shoots with local vendors at a venue where you will secure the majority of the clients you are pursuing.

Second, Deborah said, “Our romantic imagery, creative artistry and per-sonality is what we market to our brides, not our equipment.” As she explained, “You do not ask a great author what kind of typewriter he uses to tell a great story.”

Closely related to this second point is their third tip for effective marketing: Make sure everything that comes from your studio has a consistent quality that represents your studio’s style. Deborah added, “You only have seven seconds to make a first impression, which has tremendous influence on the client, therefore, everything that comes from your studio should be consistent and of the highest quality.”

The fourth marketing point was the emotional sales value of creating a high-end package featuring an extraordinary amount of wedding photojournalism.

Fifth, we delighted in the Ferros’ online bridal registry. It works from their web site 24/7! Do not underestimate the value of this unique online tool.

The sixth shimmering pearl in this string was the marketing of portraits retouched in Photoshop as a part of the singular beauty of the studio’s style. At Signature Studio, retouching for the portrait prints in the wedding album is included in the client’s fee. Deborah reminded us that it is the client’s beauty that ultimately represents our work to the world. On the third day of the workshop, she proved the value of retouching by teaching us basic Photoshop retouching along with a variety of creative techniques to offer to our clients. During consultation Deborah shows prospective clients the advantages of retouching. She tells the bride-to-be, “Because of our expertise in photo enhancement, you do not need to worry about dark circles or blemishes. Your makeup will look fresh all day on your wedding day.”

For more amazing hints and step-by-step instructions to give your studio the retouching edge, I refer you to Rick and Deborah’s book Wedding Photography With Adobe Photoshop (Amherst Media). In this text, Deborah uses Photoshop to “create watercolor note cards, borders, motion effects, image collages, composite photographs, composite postcards, hand-tinted effects, and much more.” During the workshop, Deborah shared shortcuts and simple instructions for all of these creations. All that we were learning prompted my classmate Bryan Stovall from Georgia to exclaim, “Rick and Deborah’s knowledge and enthusiasm are infectious.”

The workshop introduced us to the common problems of digital workflow. The Ferro formula has several specific steps that result in smoothly organized files—and lots of back-up! Learning workflow is the secret to making a studio’s transition to digital a smooth one. Rick and Deb explained each step from camera to processed files to back-up files to client files and finally to print. Rick stressed the importance of a set procedure. “Whatever workflow steps we utilize in our studio, the workflow functions the same way for every client.” Deborah added, “Be sure every staff member knows the intricacies of your studio workflow.”

Portrait by Rick Ferro on the grounds of Heaven Sent.

It is valuable, especially to Photo-shop beginners like myself, to know that in the “Heaven Sent” class, Deborah did not burden beginning or intermediate students with computer stations. Instead she taught NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) style, from a large video screen, so we could see and follow her steps. Later, in the familiar privacy of my own computer room, I could work through the lessons at my own pace without pressure.

The next day brought us Rick’s blend of technical lighting and stylish posing for studio and environmental portraiture. The class quickly forgot the blinding heat of the bright Florida day as we went on Rick’s safari to a stunning mission church with a long colonnade of arches—perfect for a bride. There Rick taught us to see, really see, light. We learned to find shade even at high noon, to devise reflectors out of the surfaces of buildings, walls and even water.

Likewise, the lessons continued in the Ferro garden with another Jacksonville photographer, Pat Tankersley, contributing his “mini villa,” an elegant Off The Wall Setting. Rick worked his magic with every figure type. With a gentle but enthusiastic prompting, like a stage director, he showed us how to nudge models into poses that were elegant yet natural. Even the photojournalists in the group learned to see the Ferro blend of grace and reality.

On the Photoshop day, Deborah’s gentle teaching went deeper than step-by-step information. She taught it like an art class instead of a science class. I never once forgot why I was struggling to understand what, to me, is complex and technical information. She kept my eyes on the prize—the beautiful, artistic effects—the result of solving the mysteries in that big scary art box called “Photoshop.” She shared the artist’s secret: “Photoshop releases the artist to interpret a subject, not just to find it.” She grinned and added, “Photoshop works for you, not you for it.” I relaxed my technophobia and began to learn the basics. The class loved the edgy, artistic look of her “blown-out effect,” and the natural dewy look to the skin she achieved by manipulating Curves. More striking effects, such as solarization and posterization, led us down the artist’s path. She cautioned us against Photoshop sins:

• Never work on a jpeg. It’s a compressed file. Do it in a PSD or TIFF file.
• Never do anything to the background layer.
• Always keep your original on a CD.
• Always take the biggest size file you need for color correction and retouching.

	Bridal portrait by Rick Ferro taken at historic Saint Augustine, Florida.

One of her most wonderful wedding album retouching pointers involved the mismatched skin tones of the ruddy groom and the pale bride. We were all delighted to learn how to “get the red out of the groom’s face by using some of the bride’s color to soften it. Just a light touch, two percent.” This feature alone was worth my trip to Florida!

Somewhere in her color correction “by-the-numbers lesson,” I began to replace my techno-fear with understanding. As great mentors, the Ferros create an environment for study, a golden circle of class friends. Rick and Deb are experts in time management. They varied the schedule to accommodate social time so our minds stayed fresh for the intensity of the lessons. Around pool parties and pizza we shared newfound friendships. Steve Guebert summarized the experience for all of us as he shared, “From posing with style, to showing warm hearts that overflow, to opening up a new, old world of Photoshop, to eating gator tails—it all combined to spell a successful workshop! I learned to listen to my heart, to use my God-given talents for sharing with others, to feel the love.”
Visit the Ferro’s web sites: www.rickferro.com and www.ferrophotographyschool.com to learn when you can attend one of their workshops, on dry land or on a cruise ship! Be forewarned: your life will never be the same.

Rick and Deborah Ferro will be presenting a program at WPPI ’04 on Tuesday, February 24, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at BALLY’s Las Vegas. The title of their program is: “Putting Fashion and Glamour into your Weddings.” They will also teach a two-day WPPI Plus class, February 19–20—also at BALLY’s Las Vegas. The class is entitled, “How to Design the Digital Album.”

CharMaine Beleele, with an MA in Communication, owns Angel Kissed Photography Studio in Arkansas. She teaches Communication at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith. She is also a regular correspondent for the Arkansas Catholic newspaper. Email her at LBeleele@aol.com, or contact her at her web site: www.angelkissedphotography.com.