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DJExile posted:As far as walking around at the reception goes, what do you do about lighting? Is it just a hot shoe flash bounced off the ceiling or do you rig up some kind of diffuser and aim more at the subjects themselves? I started doing weddings this year and I managed to get three. All of them were a gigantic learning experience. Generally for the reception I try and use a bounce flash. A diffuser would probably work for outside shots, though it might make for some harsh catchlights and glare on shiny things. Inside, anything that you point a flash directly at usually ends up with harsh shadows behind the subject that totally ruin your shot.
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Aug 26, 2009 14:52
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rockcity posted:
Oooo... That looks insanely useful. You don't happen to have a link do you?
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Aug 26, 2009 19:33
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And here's one with a bounce flash straight off the ceiling for comparison.
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Aug 27, 2009 03:08
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teamgod posted:Not that the bride and groom were hard to deal with, but they just wanted to get everything done so quickly and wanted focus on everything except the loving pictures. From my experience this happens at almost every wedding. You have a few rushed minutes to get all the group photos out of the way and usually the bride and groom are bored with the whole ordeal and just want to get away. The last wedding I shot the bride and groom were actually excited for some formals, which was awesome because that's the first time that happened to me. We got about 10 minutes before the wedding planner came out and (somewhat angrily) took them back inside. This happens even after I tell them weeks before that photos will take about half an hour, and preferably longer. It always amazes me how much people will pay for photos that they don't want. On the other hand I have been lucky to get at least a couple decent or really good ones of the bride and groom before they said enough. Maybe that's the true art of wedding photography, or maybe I'm just doing it wrong.
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Aug 27, 2009 20:19
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I too have two B800s, though I've never really considered bringing them to a wedding. I only have the sync cord that came with them, is there an affordable wireless one that you guys recommend? Also, have you had anyone complain that they take up too much space or that they're annoying?
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Aug 28, 2009 16:08
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I always attend any kind of rehearsal and plan out my positions on paper before hand. You would be surprised what you can get away with, I had one wedding this year where the best man was very large, and I was able to crouch behind him for a portion of the ceremony and get some great close ups of the ring exchange. Of course it all depends on how comfortable you are doing that sort of thing, and how much you can do without disturbing the ceremony.
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Aug 31, 2009 17:06
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I just booked a Cambodian wedding for the summer. Has anyone else ever attempted photograph to one? Or any other culturally different ceremony for that matter? I'm really excited but also terrified.
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Jan 17, 2010 05:45
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I google map directions to every wedding before I give my quote. If its over 2 hours I will usually add gas and hotel to the quote.
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Feb 23, 2010 18:37
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I have 9 weddings booked so far and more coming in weekly. I am actively looking for second shooters and people to carry equipment. If anyone lives in the NH area and wants to give it a try let me know. In unrelated news I'm getting some new equipment, mainly a 5DII and I'm wondering if I should get the kit lens with it or just buy a 24-70mm 2.8. Has anyone tried using the 24-105 f/4 for weddings? I'm just worried about its performance in dark situations. I'm also getting the 70-200mm 2.8 and a couple fast primes. Obviously I have the focal lengths above 70mm covered, I'm just wondering if the wider aperture is worth the money.
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Feb 24, 2010 18:17
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fronkpies posted:If only you where based in england, id carry your bags all day long. Oh come on, Heathrow to Logan is cheap!
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Feb 24, 2010 18:32
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Ever show up to a wedding without meeting the couple and find that the bride or groom is much.. larger than you expected? How do you pull off formals with girthy couples? Is there a special way to handle the ceremony? This is something that recently happened to me, I used some tighter crops and higher angles, but it seems like there's only so much you can do.
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Mar 18, 2010 16:52
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They decided to elope on a whim or something, I got a call literally 7 days before the ceremony and they were driving 4 hours to be in my area. We did the contract through the mail. Its easy to say shoot them like you would a normal person, and its not like I'm a skinny person myself, so don't think its fat bigotry or something. I'm just looking for what you guys think about different ways to work with the situation and make the couple look great. As a larger person myself, I know I'm not putting the photo of me at my fattest double chinned glory on the mantle. Wedding photography isn't photojournalism, people want to remember the day the way it should have been, not the disappointing cluster gently caress that is 80% of weddings. Just my 2 cents. Also if anyone has any formals of larger couples looking good I would appreciate it. Google has failed me in that respect.
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Mar 18, 2010 22:12
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SaintofKillers posted:Wow, Judge Joe Brown knows something about photography. Pretty amusing. This has been posted 3 times in 3 different threads already (including this one). Still funny but a little old and redundant at this point.
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Apr 4, 2010 02:25
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I very rarely wear a full suit to a wedding, usually a button up shirt with a tie and black pants is good enough. A full suit with 30 pounds of gear on my shoulders in 90 degree weather is an impossibility. Yet I've read dozens of wedding photography books that tell me to wear a tux. Which brings up an interesting question, what do you all wear to a wedding?
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Apr 10, 2010 20:05
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jackpot posted:The bouquet toss depends more on luck and hardware than it does skill. Since it's usually indoors or later in the evening, if you don't have a flash that can pop off five shots in a one second span, you're probably not going to get the shot you want. I hate the loving bouquet toss, I have yet to get it right. Yeah the bouquet/garter toss can be a bit of a crap shoot. I usually set my focus and blast away on continuous mode. Even then it's difficult to get just right. Sometimes you just miss the moment and sometimes the flower girl has a tantrum in the middle of the dance floor during the garter toss and everyone just ignores her. 
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Apr 20, 2010 00:09
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Every time I see someone with a white short sleeve shirt and a tie I assume they're Mormon and try to get away before they try to hand me pamphlets.
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Apr 25, 2010 23:23
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I get all my press printed books from WHCC. You have to figure out the calibration process, they don't do it for you. They offer a lot of printing options, are reasonably affordable and get the book out quickly.
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Apr 30, 2010 16:27
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I think the reception is important for me because I get to talk to people and hand out my business cards. It has gotten me many portrait sessions and a couple weddings. I also charge a flat rate and include all the reception photos on a DVD. The only thing the customer pays for is the book (which rarely includes reception photos), and for some reason that's all people really seem to care about anyway.
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Apr 30, 2010 20:05
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I've gotten several weddings from craigslist. You don't always get trashy people, just when you offer to do it for next to nothing. You would be suprised how many people are looking for a $700-$1400 wedding on craigslist. Of course I have had more than a couple delightfully trashy weddings. 
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May 6, 2010 14:21
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I think its rude to ask for no editing, especially if you think you're doing it to save money. Obviously if they charge for it as part of their business model it's important. Why should they give up the date for your wedding if you are going to cut corners to make sure they get as little profit as possible. It's probably better for the photographer to try and fill the day with a couple that can budget for them. Also, I don't charge for retouching and I still wouldn't do a wedding without it. A wedding is too much responsibility to not even do levels or remove the lint from the grooms tux. On top of that I wouldn't want you displaying a photo where you don't look great and telling people it's my work. I also think the photographer that will give you some jpgs right out of the camera probably isn't going to do as good a job for some reason. Maybe I'm crazy.
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May 22, 2010 05:19
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If I got contracted for a wedding with rules like that I would probably just say that I'm not doing any ceremony photos and we can stage the kiss outside later. I don't see how people pay to get married in venues that act like that. I can understand no flash photography (kind of) but no photography at all is straight up retarded. Maybe the people who make these rules think that photographs steal a person's soul?
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May 29, 2010 16:34
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notlodar posted:Ever shoot with a 5D at a poetry reading? Shutter is like kerpunk And if the person reading the poetry just gave me a grand to take photos of them reading poetry...
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May 29, 2010 17:18
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I started shooting weddings with a XT and now I shoot with a 5D2, nobody has ever noticed either. Big white lenses seem to get some comments though. Seeing as you're shooting Nikon that might be more difficult. Seriously though, as long as you have 2 of everything you need and you are already confident with your photography, you should be fine.
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Jun 7, 2010 04:15
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^If they do hire a professional please don't try to "shoot alongside" him. That is seriously annoying and fucks up all the group shots and formals. Most photographers have clauses in their contract to prevent this sort of thing.dakana posted:I really, really think that you need to reconsider what you're planning on doing. You're talking about photographing people's weddings. For some people, this will be one of the most important days of their lives. To be fair, he's not charging anything and his fiance is going to school for photography. If the couple wanted to spend 1200-2000 bucks on a photograper they would. On top of that trying to find a budget photographer to do it for cheap would probably not yield results any better than what PhotoDropShip will provide. Check the terrible photography thread for some great examples. On top of that most of the couples I work with are pretty sick of weddings by the time the wedding is over and usually take quite a while to get back to me with photo selections for the book. Which usually are nothing but a few formals, a bunch of group shots of their families, a couple of the ceremony and a macro shot of the rings. Being a married person myself I have to say a lot of unmarried people seem to think a wedding is biggest deal on the loving planet when you are shopping around for this kind of thing. Obviously the industry depends on that idea. Once you go through it you realize its an event you spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on where you get rushed around for 5-8 hours while every person you have ever met embarrasses you through a series of horrible traditions. On top of that nothing EVER goes as planned. Of course you get to open a bunch of cards full of money and go on vacation after that which softens the blow a bit. This especially applies to people who think this is "the most important day of their lives". Photographing a wedding is a lot of responsibility and can be quite stressful as a photographer, but it's not open heart surgery. [/rant]
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Jun 7, 2010 05:56
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PhotoDropShip posted:craigslist This is what I'm talking about. The majority of people that say "yeah I'll take a free photographer" are going to get some random person to do it from craigslist. Their alternative is probably "I have disposable cameras on the tables". What can you really gently caress up? Not everyone can afford a great photographer on their wedding day. There are also A LOT of lovely terrible "professional" wedding photographers. What harm can actually be done? On top of that if they are getting a free photographer imagine what the DJ is going to be like (I have stories). The fact that there are two of them and they actually have some decent glass has to count for something. His fiance has to have some experience with a camera if she is going to classes. I say give it your best and good luck.
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Jun 7, 2010 06:17
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torgeaux posted:See, when someone with very little income gets married, their expectations are different. If you can't afford a professional photographer, instead of asking people to do it for free, you either have a friend with a good camera do it, or you do without. When I got married, in law school, to a college student, we didn't do a professional photographer because we couldn't afford it. We didn't ask someone to donate a 2-3 hour location, we went with a church we attended who would do it for nothing no matter what. We didn't pay a caterer, or ask someone to give us a break, we did a buffet ourselves. Your two paragraphs don't make sense when placed next to each other. It seems like you are first encouraging and then discouraging. You guys are all way too butt hurt over this. I started doing free weddings and now I get paid. A lot of people looking for assistants don't pay either, and many of them are hacks. How many of you are even wedding photographers? It seems like the people I meet that are most pissed when people do free weddings for experience are people who want to be wedding photographers but don't have the balls or motivation to take on a wedding for free. Observing is a good idea, but finding someone to assist is not nearly as easy as you all make it sound. If he just jumps on craigslist looking for a assisting job he will end up doing it for free with someone who doesn't know what the hell they are doing. Not many photographers are going to hire an assistant who has very little experience because he "wants to learn" for the same reason that you guys are all pissed off that someone is doing it for free. There seems to be a disconnect with reality with everyone who is harping on this dude. Doing weddings for people who don't understand that value of photography and who can't afford to pay for that value anyway is not a bad thing, even if you don know what the hell you are doing. How is this worse than getting a friend who has a nice camera to do it? It feels like you guys just don't understand what being poor means. squidflakes posted:People get upset when their competition is working for free. This is obviously the truth of why everyone is so upset over this. This rest of your post is really difficult to apply to photography. Except maybe the tax part, taxes are not open heart surgery (or a court room). EDIT: You all need to realize that in this huge business that we call wedding photography people shop by price. The free photographer isn't really competing with the $700 photographer who isn't really competing with the $1400 photographer who isn't really competing with the $3000 photographer. The only worry any photographer should ever have is that the free photographer will one day rise to getting paid what you get paid, but if you are good you should be getting paid a lot more by then anyway. Wooten fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Jun 7, 2010 |
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Jun 7, 2010 16:01
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torgeaux posted:Not really. The paragraph talking about poor people is in response to his craigslist posting of the bankrupt couple. They piss me off, and they are not a good support for his argument. Those are the people that want something for nothing. In no way should anything I wrote be seen to encourage him. As a person who fits into the $500-$1000 category I would say that no, I don't care that people are taking on free weddings. EDIT: Do you really not understand what it means to not HAVE $500-$1000 to spend on a photographer? Wooten fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jun 7, 2010 |
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Jun 7, 2010 18:41
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TsarAleksi posted:There's miles of difference between shooting a wedding for a friend who can't afford it and actively seeking people out. Motivation? A willingness to learn by doing? Everyone doesn't have a friend to shoot their wedding. Asking your friend to spend your wedding working is an rear end in a top hat thing to do.
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Jun 7, 2010 20:06
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My wife and I work as a team to do weddings. Normally she takes photos of the bride getting dressed. Our last one even wanted photos in the underwear she was wearing. Though, I will say that It's common to delete a few for too much boob. I have printed kisses with obvious tongue in wedding books. I have never thought twice about any of it. This is a married couple we're talking about. Who is this repressed? EDIT: And I work all over puritan founded New England.
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Jun 29, 2010 16:49
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Nice try, Bluestate. Hey, New Hampshire is traditionally a swing state. I sure am glad I have her to do all that stuff. I get to take photos of the groom getting drunk with his friends at 9am while she has to sit around with a bunch of hair dressers and help figure out how to properly tie up the dress. We have a wedding in November that is 2 weeks after our daughter is due. It's me and another guy who will be photographing it. We already discussed this with the bride, and she is expecting me to get all those shots. Now I have two things to worry about in November!
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Jun 29, 2010 17:28
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Pretty Cool Name posted:What not to do while shooting a wedding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8N0zq0q5s4 Yet he has a 70-200mm that he could use from the end of the aisle. At least he got to take advantage of the weather sealing.
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Jul 7, 2010 18:50
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dakana posted:Wouldn't the photos already written to the cards be OK, at least? I'm pretty sure my 4gb card's been through the wash. Yeah, I put a 4gb through the wash and dryer and I still got the photos off of it. And it still writes just fine. The cameras are probably even okay, assuming you pull the batteries out and let them dry for a good long time before you turn them back on. This is why you don't keep two bodies on you at a wedding near water if you don't have third body (or flash or lens) in your case.
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Jul 7, 2010 19:13
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I use OpTech rain sleeves on my 5DII/7D. At 8 bucks for 2 you really can't beat them. I have used them in torrential downpours and have never had my body or lens get more than a slight misting.
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Jul 7, 2010 19:33
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I survived my first Cambodian wedding last weekend. They had a videographer and I had 2 other photographers with me, so I ended up shooting the whole thing using only ambient light so as not to be a total dick with ridiculous amounts of flash. My 5DII and 85mm 1.2 really shined throughout the day. A little added fun to an already stressful day through a whole bunch of traditions I had never witnessed. All in all I had a total blast. Just wading through the 2500 photos now. So far I'm pretty happy. It was an insanely crowded little room and not getting things into my photos was incredibly challenging. I haven't worked out all my crops just yet.     I haven't even made it to the reception yet. It's going to be a fun week.
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Jul 19, 2010 04:32
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squidflakes posted:How many different dresses did the bride have? She said 10 but I only counted 8. 
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Jul 20, 2010 17:36
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Another bit of advice on group shots. Instead of saying anything like "look at me" if you just hold the palm of your hand up next to your camera most people will look at you and smile. Always take more than one of each group, just in case. Make sure you take one of everyone without the little kids (every wedding has little kids). They will always mess up your shot, and their mom will insist that they be in every single photo. It seems like most kids under 6 do not understand what is going on at all. This also applies to 80% of all kids who are ring bearers and flower girls. Don't be too disappointed if they don't actually make it all the way down the aisle.
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Jul 21, 2010 23:30
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jackpot posted:The last (I say "last" but really I mean "only") wedding I did made the front page of the weddings section in the Sunday paper. There were a few pics I would've used instead of some of these, but who cares, right? Nice way to end the weekend. Weren't you assisting on that wedding? If I was the head photographer I would probably leave a flaming poo poo bag on your porch. Pretty awesome opportunity though, can't say that I would turn it down in your situation.
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Jul 28, 2010 17:40
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KickStand posted:It looks a lot like a Pocket Wizard to me. I rely heavily on primes at weddings. My 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 100mm get used at every single wedding. Which is more than I can say for my zooms. A macro lens is necessary for every wedding. I would also argue that a fast prime is the most important lens in a wedding photographer's bag.
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Aug 17, 2010 04:10
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Sparklepants posted:Huzzah! I am a NH wedding photographer. Email me at c(dot)clunie(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll show you my portfolio and get you some pricing information. Have you picked a date yet?
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Aug 18, 2010 22:02
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. So I guess this is an open advertisement for a photographer! I'm in the Boston area but the actual wedding will be shot in Southern NH, about an hour an a half from Boston. I would like the shoot to last for 5 hours and I would only need digital prints. I suppose I should get pms so people can contact me, eh.
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^And for me the season is coming to a close, maybe I should consider a winter residence south of the equator.AIIAZNSK8ER posted:Can you guys put a percentage number on the times you've prospected for weddings and were told no because they have a relative/friend who would do it for them? I've hit 3 out of 3 times now. Granted, I'm not marketing real hard for it yet, but just incidental conversations always lead there. When I first started out and was trying to shoot weddings for $100-$300 this happened a lot. People who don't understand the value of photography are the only ones that will pull this kind of crap. Once your price is up over $500-$700 the only people who will get to the point of actually talking to you will know that wedding photography is labor intensive, really stressful, takes planning, and isn't something they can do themselves.
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Aug 18, 2010 22:54
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