New to Weddings - Do I have what it takes?

<p>I can see that. lol You did not know you were jumping into the Lion's Den. lol People can come off strong but they mean well. Everyone here is very passionate when it comes to photography. Chew the meat and spit out the bones is what my grand pappy used to say.</p>

<p>This is me hitting the "like" button on your last comment, Michael! :)</p>

<p>I won't ask anything else, but I still want to know what the OP can identify in their own photos that differentiates their photos from the common craigslist photographer folks' photos.</p>

<p>I'm not specifically passionate about photography, just about doing things well.</p>

<p>The best short way I know to get fairly good at photography is to learn the basic rules of composition and portrait lighting, comprehend the value of context and selective focus, learn what is necessary to break down and understand photos that may be particularly impressive, learn how to manipulate body parts and how body language is interpreted, and learn how to see by feeling what looks good vs what doesn't feel or look right. Listen to the sensation of something feeling out of place and resort to rules understood about joints and facial structure and expression and what to hide and what not to hide and so on.</p>

<p>But this won't get you good at photography, only moderately good.</p>

Sorry for the delete above. I changed my mind about adding anything else, thus the reason for deleted. Seems as though she didn't like my suggestions above.

<p>Bob a wise decision. I just read what would have been posted.</p>

Thanks Michael. You being in NYC - You know the rules, passion, and emotions we share - to be the best.

 

I played in the Air Force Band and one of the gigs was with Cher at the Waldorf Historia. Fun! this was 31 years ago. After she left Sonny. I love NYC. So much music everywhere. Greenwich Village? Think that was the name had a lot of bands playing around that town.

<blockquote>

<p>"wondering if any of you can spot whether I have the "eye". Do I have what it takes?"<strong><em> Jamie S.</em></strong></p>

</blockquote>

<p>In addition to the wonderful advice already given especially by<em><strong> Bob B.</strong></em>:<br>

<strong> Too many</strong> walls, exit signs, lights and speakers...</p>

<p>There is a lot of great training at Creative Live. The Creative Live classes are free if you watch them live. I am watching The Wedding Project by Doug Gordon and it is excellent. Consider renting/buying full frame cameras and lenses for your professional work, they perform much better in low light. Learn off camera lighting.</p>

 

Eric, for me the full framed cameras really give you that WOW factor. Check out KEH. Excellent prices for these used pro cameras. Some of the top pro cameras have dual cards with the expected 500,000 shutter clicks before you have to replace the shutter. Most of these cameras probably have less then 100,000 shutter clicks. Hope this lead helps you take that jump.

 

Gus, thanks for the comment about me and of course your fun comments about - "Too many walls, exit signs, lights and speakers..."

 

I hate to say that you caught me in a chuckle!

<p>Bob, I do appreciate the advise you give. And whatever it is you were going to say, I can handle it. I've just been away from my computer recently so I haven't been able to respond.</p>

<p>Thank you Bob, Eric, Gus, Michael M, Joey, Michael C, Shawn, Marc, Francisco, and Barry for the advice. I've learned a lot from this thread. And any advice you choose to give me in the future I will listen studiously.</p>

<p>I shoot a variety of different things - weddings, events, kids + families, headshots + theatre -and, although it left me out of pocket at the beginning, I never started charging until I felt comfortable and confident in what I was able to achieve for the client. I then moved to an intermediate amount of money and made it clear to the client why I was doing that. Then finally I started charging what I should. I don't regret a single job I did for free or expenses because I learnt so much about to how to react and handle different situations from each job. The 'practise' time was totally invaluable and most of my word of mouth work is still as a result of the freebies/ low pay. Just my two pennies worth! I didn't feel comfortable until I felt sure of my abilities.</p>

<p>get some training would be a good place to start. Try Bambi Cantrell is you can - she has a video of a 3 day class she did at creative live which should move you along the general direction you need. Look at more photo of better photographers - see what they did and try to understand how they did it. Hard to say if you have the eye - I seem to see some "same icon" shoots render incompletely but again only you will know for sure. It is not a total wash so that in itself is good news.</p>

<p>You should study a lot about various poses and light technique </p>