07/02 - Fall Booking Strategy, Retouching Workflow & Opus Clip Content Hacks — Full Breakdown

🖥️ Evoto Update Walkthrough

• First time opening Evoto in a few days — noticed a major UI shift toward batching, giving it more of a Lightroom feel.

• Explored:

  • New color matching filters (lowkey clean).

  • Dehaze tool — adds depth.

  • Updated eyes, smile lines, and skin smoothing features.

  • Improved masking tools — applied clarity to clothes, enhanced background colors, etc.

• Workflow tip: Apply preset edits to one image and copy/paste across others in the set for consistency + speed.

✍️ What We Didn’t Do: Business Cards

• Originally planned to work on business cards during this session, but decided to move it to Sunday's live (“Business Card & Chill”) instead.

• Reason: Needed more headspace, wanted to focus on learning the new Evoto interface + retouching session.

🧑‍🎨 Retouch Session: Behind-the-Scenes

• Used SLV Woman Retouch Preset as a base, then customized:

  • Adjusted exposure, contrast, vibrancy.

  • Refined background hues (especially with signage and sky tones).

  • Focused on skin smoothness + subtle lighting adjustments for natural finish.

• Moved edits into Photoshop for cleanup using the Remove Tool (which I prefer over Evoto’s version).

• Exported JPEGs — reminder: Evoto doesn’t support raw export.

📸 Photography Chat & Content Tips

• Open books for Fall grads? Start 2 months out, ideally when financial aid hits.

• Reminder: When students get refund checks, they’re ready to spend — perfect time to drop booking flyers.

• Shared my own experience: Blew aid on crab boils until I started investing in photography gear.

• Encourage batching content now (July) to stay ahead of the fall rush.

🎞️ Wedding Video Preview

• Played the first 6 minutes of a wedding film project:

  • Raw, emotional vows with b-roll of the couple.

  • Did NOT color grade yet — wanted feedback on structure before finalizing.

• Planning to finish remaining scenes:

  • I-do’s, car departure drone shots, reception clips.

• Everyone liked the story-driven approach — might post full film on YouTube with an educational breakdown version too.

💡 Content Creation Strategy: Opus Clip

• Dropped a major gem: Opus Clip, AI tool that cuts long-form videos into short-form content.

  • Great for TikTok, IG Reels, YouTube Shorts.

  • Just upload your long video, and it gives you highlight-ready edits.

  • Works for speaking content, tutorials, BTS, etc.

• Opus Clip is credit-based, similar to Evoto. I usually drop $100 for a batch and it lasts a while.

🔥 Quick Grill Flex (Yes, Literally)

• Chat tried me on my cooking game… so I called up two people live to vouch for my grill skills.

  • Verdict: “Good as f*ck” and “especially the ribs.”

• Might go live on 4th of July just to stream the cooking process — Madison + Orlando cookouts coming up.

🧠 Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• OBS/Patreon live combo is working — y’all got notified quickly and stayed engaged.

• Planning more structured community stuff soon (challenges, discussions, etc).

• Retouch & Chill returns Sunday with business card designs.

• Stay tapped in — exclusives like these won’t always hit the replay tab.