marcsaint

You don't say what OS you use. I use the Palm OS so this may or may not apply. SmartList by DataViz is a nice little database program that works for me. I also use Datebk 3 by Pimlico Software as a replacement for the Palm calendar. There is also Documents-to-go by DataViz that lets you import Word, Excel, etc into the PDA. Works well also.

Here's a quote from a previous thread that got me thinking:

 

"Every bride and groom and prospective customer I meet tells a tale about a

nightmare photographer they saw at a friends wedding or some poor results they

saw from a friends wedding."

 

Have you ever wondered if one of your clients could be referring to YOU this

way? I've gotten some thank you cards and referrals from clients and I know of

at least one bride who was not happy with her pictures, but the vast majority of

my clients have given me no feedback whatsoever other than "thanks" when I

deliver their pictures. Now, I know I don't become the B&G's best buddy for

shooting their wedding and I'm not bemoaning the current state of manners in

society but it does cause me to examine the whole "wedding photography

experience" I deliver to my clients.

 

Is this sort of self-examination useful or just a neurotic lack of self-confidence?

Some shots require thought (and here I'm thinking primarily formals and portraits) while some shots can only be captured in the flow of the moment. The former are best served by pre-planning, allowing as much time as possible, and possibly an assistant to take care of details (lightstands, tripod, reflectors, etc.) while you concentrate on the photograph. The latter require experience -- knowing how people act and react, where they are moving, where the light is, etc. This comes with time and also with your abilities to observe and remember. For these shots, if you take the time to think about your composition you're too late and the shot is gone. You have to be at the right place, at the right time, with your camera ready.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is you have to be able to switch between these two ways of shooting when covering a wedding. Trying to slow down the pace of a fast-moving express train of a wedding is not easy, however ("We have ten minutes to get to the reception or the caterer will be mad at me!"). Calmness, like yawning, is infectious and I stay very visibly calm and relaxed while telling the bride things like "you're the bride -- they're not going to do anything until you get there".

In the early 80's I used a pair of Bronica ETR-S's which I loved. Great camera, easy to use. Wish I had kept them.

 

At various times I've used a Pentax 6x7 (35mm slr on steroids), a Mamiya C-330 TLR with interchangeable lenses (worked well), and a Minolta Autocord TLR (interesting design, took okay pix). Loved the Bronicas the best.

I like to do arm exercises while listening to "Y-M-C-A" by the Village People so I can practice at the wedding itself :-).

I start with pictures of family and wedding party hugging b&g as they come out of the church. I make sure to get shots of anyone wearing a corsage interacting with the couple.

 

If the lighting is good, I go down the line taking individual portrait shots of the wedding party as they {hopefully) unselfconsciously smile and laugh while greeting guests.

 

I get shots of the back of the bride's dress for details.

 

I get shots of kids being kids.

 

I put a wide angle lens on the camera and put it on the ground aiming it up to include b&g and church steeple.

 

I also watch where my camera bag is so it doesn't walk away in the hubbub.

I use the LaCrosse also -- works great.

Do you watermark the images? Parents and family might be getting all the pleasure they need from just seeing the pictures on the screen anytime they want.

 

Also, if they're not buying for $.99, why not up the price of a 4x6 to $4.99 (what the heck, if they're not going to buy anyways!) -- pricing too low may be giving the illusion of little value for the pictures. If they're more expensive, maybe they'll seem more valuable and worth buying.

 

Or maybe you just have a bunch of cheap parents.:-)

Make sure when you burn the disk you burn with the "standard quality" setting rather than the "high quality" setting. Also, checkout the PSG FAQ and forums - they'll know more than most people on this forum. You bought the program and they owe you some kind of support.

Did they come to you or did you go to them? If the former, then ask why they came to you if they are having Uncle X shoot the wedding. If it's a "sudden decision" then they don't want to spend the money. Your job is to get them to see the value of your work and the tough part is divining what they value -- is it incredible photography, is it the prestige of a superior album, is it the future memories? Choose wrong and they go somewhere else, choose right and.....:-)

Yeah, same here. I'm in the Western Massachusetts market and in the past 6 months, I've seen a lot of new names/websites advertising wedding photography. It seems like anyone and everyone who can afford a decent DSLR is becoming a wedding photographer. This is probably making everyone's slice of the pie smaller. Part of doing business is handling the bad times along with the good.

Sometimes couples take a long time to order because they are embarassed ---- about taking a long time to order! What starts out as taking a break from having to think about wedding stuff evolves into a fear of talking to the photographer because they think they will get yelled at for being so late.

 

I don't go for threatening the client with late fees or other punishments because when I get punished (bank late fees, etc.) I don't like it and I will react accordingly.

 

I have had this problem with a couple of clients and have used a "the clock has stopped on your order" approach -- i.e. all work is on hold until you get back to me. If the client goes on to blame me for the delay, well, I can't stop what they say. The customer may not always be right but they are always the customer.

www.lustrecolor.com

 

Very happy with quality and service.

The music!

"Celllllabraaaaation! Come on!"

 

Seriously, I like the challenge of having one chance -- no indecision, no do-evers, right here, right now -- to make meaningful photographs that will make people happy. To me, rising to that challenge is a real high.

 

Getting paid for it is nice, too.

Check out Tapprell-Loomis (www.tap-usa.com).

You might be able to put in pictures not in the slideshow by putting them in the show towards the back and giving them zero time onscreen.

Hmmm, nightmares, eh...?

 

Just to show the Canon folk that other cameras break down as well, my trusty D100 went belly-up mid-wedding forcing me to finish the job with the backup D70 which didn't play well with the SB80 strobe I was using. No, that wasn't too bad -- ending up buying a D200 for a replacement.

 

There was the outdoor wedding where the first 10 minutes had absolutely perfect weather until horrendous storm clouds and lightning move directly over the wedding site. Everyone made it to the limo just as the skies opened up. The reception site had NOWHERE to take formals that didn't have undraped (i.e. reflective) windows. One of the bridesmaids did a pole dance. Okay, so that wasn't too bad...

 

Alright, my only nightmare was another outdoor tent wedding where the rain came down in buckets and there was no Plan B indoor site. The tent was located in a field out in the middle of nowheres which rapidly turned into a sea of mud. You needed waders to go to the Sanican toilets. The bride's dress had a 6 inch ring of brown muck on the hem. The tent leaked. Everywhere.

 

Okay, not that bad a nightmare but it's the only one I've got. Thank God.

IMO the ExpoDisc works just fine -- the problem is that using it at a wedding takes more time than I'm usually willing to spend. Part of it is the camera's fault (the keypresses needed to set a custom white balance) and part is my lack of discipline in keeping the white balance set properly. Auto WB and RAW files have been my friends very often.

 

The ExpoDisc definitely has it's place (outdoor portraiture comes to mind) but my wedding workflow hasn't been it.

Keep safety in mind also -- a couple pounds of camera falling from 10+ feet is enough to wreck someone's day, not to mention the camera. A secondary attachment point (gaffer's tape, chain, bike cable, etc) can be a life saver.

I have an LG Lightscribe burner that works just fine. Also have Epson 1800 that prints on disks. I use the Epson for client disks and the Lightscribe for in-house archival. Like them both for different reasons.

Look up the BC-900 charger from LaCrosse Technologies. It has a mode for refreshing old batteries that worked well for my Panasonics. Also checkout The Strobist (strobist.blogspot.com) for in depth info on everything having to do with batteries and portable strobes.

My lab (Lustrecolor)will print an 11"x14" image on a 16"x20" print in a variety of styles and put it on mountboard. I'm sure other labs will also do it.

Try ProShow Gold or ProShow Producer from Photodex. Work well and not too expensive.

If you collect enough retainer ahead of time to pay for all expenses up to and including the wedding day, you can just wait them out. You might lose some profit however. If, for whatever reason, I haven't been paid in full by the wedding day (as per my contract) I do no post-processing beyond putting the files on DVD. Once the bill is paid up the clock starts.

This is absolutely NOT about Mr. Fong, but I did hear a story from a long time ago about a photographer who would bring out the wedding proofs to show the bride and present them while wearing white gloves. He would show each candid to the bride and ask if she liked it. If she said "No", he would tear the proof in half and toss it in the trash, then go on to the next proof. I suppose that's one (very mean) way to drive up post-wedding print sales...