How many photographs do you take?

I was wondering how many photographs do you take in average at a

wedding.

Right now I shoot about 500 but I heard of companies that go crazy

and take about 2000 to 1000. I am pretty aware what goes on around

me but that amount is just way too high I think. If anyone thinks

otherwise convince me.

 

I imagine that you would have to be shooting pretty much through the

whole wedding.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Mozart

about 225, but looking to increase to 300 -350. (edit about 50%)

For a full 10-12 hour wedding you should be shooting aprox. 500-1000. This includes all formals and candids and in some cases (formals) seveal repeated images incase of blinks and blurs. After short listing and deleting you should be left with about 500-700. Client usually gets between 300-500 proofed. Hope this helps. It can never hurt to over shoot. You never know what you might find.

I guess it depends what kind of package they choose, but to make sure that I cover all the shots I need, I shoot about 300 - 500 images. Of course I will choose the best ones out of them. The most I ever did was brother's own wedding, but that's because we have a large family. I shoot about 1000 images then.

holy mackrel! whoa.

 

are you talkin bout digi, 6x6, 35mm? digi? what about corporal tunnel syndrome?

 

whoa! THKS

I have shot 300 in 10 hours before and provided about 250 proofs, and I have also shot 3100 in 8 hours and given 700 proofs.

 

I think my average is around 50+/- per hour shooting.

BTW, who cares?

 

Shoot what works well and see what you get ;-)

heck, why not just become a videographer? :-}

Paul's crack about video paralleled my thoughts when I saw some of the figures quoted.

 

Never mind the quality, feel the width!

I deliver 500-700, which depends on the length of the wedding. Yes, I've heard of discount operations offering huge quantities. I don't worry about them.

 

I did hear Dennis Reggie once say that he does 3,000 (with mulitple photographers). Splice those frames together and you have a motion picture.

I shoot a little over 1000 every wedding. Mostly around 1200 frames.

 

 

http://www.seanflaniganphotography.com

I've nothing to add here, but 500 shots = 41 rolls of of 6x6 film. 1000 = 82 rolls and 2000 = 164 rolls. So my question is didn't the old timers use more artistic discretion for the shots? Do the digital users shoot 500-3100 frames just because they can? If so, it seems to me that it would be much less trouble to shoot video to start with and make stills from that.

Jay...Agree with all you said, w/ one caveat.....

 

my 6x6 (H'bld and My6)will do 500 shots w/ 21 rolls. (500 divided by 24 = 20.8, or 21 rolls :-)

 

Best, Paul

I am not sure it is right to make a negative judgement on how many images each photographer shoots... I think it is a personal choice and I'll share my method and thought process on why I shoot 25-35 rolls per wedding...

 

I shoot with three cameras - all loaded. I have two assistants. But - I do 90% of the shooting.

 

I shoot each segment of the day with two cameras. One reason is because I have different lenses on each. The other is in case of technical failures. Over the years I've had the odd occassion where something went wrong with the cord, the camera or some other technical bug and I won't get caught on that ever again. Shooting with two cameras insures I get everything.

 

Getting ready. I shoot this with black and white and color and I shoot some wider angle and some close-ups with my zoom to get some more intimate shots - without the clutter in the room. I'll shoot 1 to 4 rolls depending on how much is going on and how many people are in the room.

 

Some groups before. I shoot the groups with two cameras. I also take 4 to 8 shots of each group. The larger the group the more dups I do. Depending on the number of group shots (portrait, bridesmaids, bride with family members) this can be 4 to 6 rolls.

 

Ceremony. I can shoot anywhere from two to 8 rolls depending on the length of the ceremony. I shoot zoomed in with one camera...wide angle on another and super wide on another. I shoot people's reactions in the pews as well as the activity on the alter.

 

Group shots after ceremony. Again - depending on the size of the family and wedding party... 4 to 10 rolls

 

Couple. 3 to 4 rolls.

 

Cocktail hour. 4 to 6 rolls depending on how long the cocktail hour is and if it is outdoors I shoot more.

 

Reception. I shoot lots of candids of the couple going from table to table. When I shoot the dancing and the cake etc... I'm shooting the same scene with two different lenses for different perspectives. I love zooming in close on the couple getting shots from the shoulders up or waist up when dancing as well as shots showing them from head to toe and with people in the background..as well as turning and shooting people watching the couple or clapping etc. During the toast - I'm shooting the couple - the best man toasting and again - zooming in on family and friends "listening" or responding to what is being said.

I can shoot 8 to 10 rolls during the reception.

 

All and all it is pretty consistant. So much so that it surprises me. A 6-7 hour wedding is usually 30-35 rolls of film.

 

I edit out about 2 to 5 images per roll.

Bravo, Mary. Great blueprint and I thank you. BTW what format?

 

Best, Paul

For pre-wedding, wedding, reception and all thing in between, I shoot about 1,000....for about 1/4 the shoots I shoot 2-3 for each composition...I work off the histogram for those, and apply EC as required...I'm obsessed with getting the exposer perfect, and the cropping at time of shutter release....for candids I often go with just one shot, sometimes changing the angle/perspecive and take a few more...it varies.

 

Of about 1,000 shots I find about 350 during the culling process....I master in post processing no less then 300 delivered to the B&G.

 

I am very hard on myself...I demand I get the shots AND that they are exposed properly...again I work very closely with the histogram.

How many photographs do you take?

 

Enough to cover the events at hand no matter how many hours it is.

 

Sometimes 300 for a 8 hour job, sometimes 1000 for a 5 hour job (although rarely, and if

it is a thousand, it's usually with 2 shooters.

 

I shoot three of each formal set-up with the images going to 2 digital cards at the same

time as back-up (1DsMKII). I process only one of each formal.

 

I promise roughly 190 to 250 keepers to the client. This past Saturday's client is picking

up her completed materials today. We did 530 for her wedding ... 40% of them are groups

and portraits my partner shot and I processed. This is the most we have ever delivered to a

client.

 

The next wedding is a big one for 10 hours. We may end up with 250 keepers or 500. Who

knows until you're there.

 

There's no rule.

I hate to crop...doing it as a last resort...better to crop at time of shutter release.

 

I don't want to effectively turn my 5D 12.8mp camera into a 6mp or worse.

 

I'm not one to rely too heavily on fixing problems in PS....I stive to get it close as possible at shutter release....

 

This explains the 1,000/wedding high number of images...I strive to be 1/3 or less stops off.

Wow guys- for a 10 hour wedding we (me and my assistant) shoot around 2000 of that I try to crop down to about 1500 which seems really hard to me. I think anything over 1500 is a bit to much for the bride to widdle down to album choices. But I have shot 3000 images in one day with two photographers. I would say that 90% is of great quality and it stays!!

This question gets asked every so often, with the same crack about "might as well shoot a video". I don't happen to be one of the photographers that shoots over a thousand images at a wedding, but I don't think number of images has anything to do with shooting a wedding well. Shoot what you shoot. As long as your clients are happy, it doesn't matter one bit. Why do you need to be convinced?

Between the three of us, between 3k to 4k for 8 hours, average delivery of 1,100.

nobody is putting anybody down. And they shouldn't. Lets not take ourselves so serious on this site, leave that to the politicians. Its your gig, do as you prefer and what works for you.

 

But for me, having studied photog since early 1990s - both formally and informally - it just seems to me that the scattergun approach is used instead of training and skill. Fact in pudding, just look at most of the photos presented. Admirable intent though.

 

If one has no strategy, or plan, then I guess one better shoot at everything and see what is fished out.

 

Again, do what you wish. I'm responding to the question as I see it. I'll take my 300 6x6 shots and grab a piece of cake on the way out. Customers are happy. I'm happy.

 

Best - Paul

The ONLY thing that matters is -- do you cover what was contracted? And, Do you provide the contracted number of quality images that are keepers?

 

Secondly, the cracks about shooting video -- video is extremely low quality and you cannot make good stills from a video.

 

However 3000 images shot by one person over 8 hours means 375 shots per hour! That's one shot every ten seconds on averge. To me that means you are likely missing something somewhere else.

Wonder if the "less is more" principle can be applied here. Tho personally I like shooting like a machine gun, sometimes I just don't want to stop.

As many opportunities as the day unfolds. It doesn't really matter to me, that's why i'm there. However, i do maximize the photos (by weeding out less than best) to fit within the framwork of the package of choice the client choose.