jzpics

Hello All,

 

I am posting a inquiry for a dj looking for and image of a bride in front of a

castle to use for advertising. Photo credit will be given to the photographer.

He plans on making a large cut out to place on top of his table at bridal

shows. If anyone has an image like this you can email me and I will put you in

touch with him. He is also willing to pay for the image. Thanks..john

Hello All,

 

With many of the smaller labs going out of business with the digital

revelution, does anyone notice any labs offering incentives to stay or

switch. My lab in Baltimore, Photographic Processing Inc offers a 50%

discount for new customers for their first orders up to $1,000.00 This is how

they got me to try them. Glad I did, they have been excellent in all

respects. Just wondering with the huge investment to stay in the processing

industry how many others are doing the same thing. Kodak says in four or five

years they will no longer produce chemistry based prints, it will all be very

high end ink jet. Will Fuji be far behind, and how many labs can afford to

stay on the cutting edge when you are talking 100k per station to keep up. If

you are interested I will email you the number of PPI if you would like to

give them a try. They have been in business for over 30 years. I don't want to

see them go anywhere.

 

Regards,

john

Look at the post just before yours. I use Photographic Processing Inc. They use a proprietary software that allows on-line proofing, ordering, album design, ftp/email lab orders etc. Give Vance a call at 410-760-8778, or email me an I will send you my number to tell you how I have been using there services....john

This may not be so much a question as a statement. I have been

using a local Maryland lab (Photographic Procesing Inc.) who has

never let me down and does excellent work. Now that it is so much

easier to ftp/email images anywhere in the world, I try different

labs usually a few times a year. Some very expensive well known

labs, with no difference in quality. Other very inexpensive labs

with some issues concerning consistent quality. Is it me or did I

just happen to get lucky with a lab that is always consistent,

always high quality and at a reasonable cost? I ask this becuase

there always seems to be a lot of discussion on this issue, and it

seems people are always looking at high end labs where I have seen

no difference in quality. Thanks for your input...jz

Hi Mary, John Zito, Maryland/DC, also president of TheEventNetwork.org, I know how much work over and above your photography this is. Thanks for the effort.....jzpics.com

Hello All,

 

I am looking for a Minolta Auto Meter IV user manual. If you have a

copy or know whre I can get my hands on one, please contact me at

jzpics@yahoo.com. Thank you, john

Hi Kate,

 

Looks like you have a lot of good advice. Here is my $.02. I shoot with Nikon D2 series cameras. Recently I borrowed a friends D70 to shoot a pre-bridal portrait. Just wanted to check it out before buying one as a back up camera. The pre-flash on TTL with this camera and SB800 caused the girl to blink in the first 6-8 shots. The D2's and F series film cameras don't pre-lash in the same manner. So, I set the flash to manual and just dialed the compensation down to get a nice amount of fill light. I was shooting outdoors. If I remember I was dialed down to about 1/4 or 1/16 and made minor adjustments by taking a step forward or backward. Maybe give that a try next time. Learn to shoot manually and you won't get the pre-flash blinkers and also there is no delay in fireing. Hope that helps......john

Hey Kevin,

 

I used one years ago and now I use a Lowe Pro Roller 2. The case is now used for storage for my MF gear that I never use any more either. The case is tough to carry and will bruise your legs at every wedding. The only good thing about them is you can stand on them if you have a tall bride and groom. I did think about putting rollers on it or using a small hand truck, but then you end up with a roller bag of sorts. Just invest in a good Tamrac or Lowe Pro roller and you will not be disapointed.......jz

Hello Everyone,

 

Are any PN members currently using this wedding site? About a month

ago I responded to a question about TheKnot website, and said that I

knew of another site about to open. The site promised to be more

vendor friendly and add more features, like streaming video ads, ad

specific testimonial space for clients to place directly within your

ad site, and more. The kickoff was last evening at the Pikesville

Hilton in Baltimoe. I beleive there are already 1,700 advertisers.

Check it out www.thebridalguides.com, and let me know what you think.

 

Regards, john

Hey Guys and Gals, I have a friend on the development team of a site which will compete with the Knot. It is suppose to be more vendor friendly, less expensive and have many unique features. It will debut September 16th, at the Hilton in Pikesville Maryland. All are invited. Email me at jzpics@yahoo.com and I will get the url to you once it is released. Happy shooting.....john

....try searching for "Gary Fong" and it will lead you to his site with the cornerstone albums.....john

In the past I would simply discuss referrals with other vendors at a wedding or bridal show. Take a card and refer them if I felt they were up-to-par. A few months ago I invited twenty or so vendors to a local coffee house to set up a referral network in a more formal sense. Only five other vendors showed. We subsequently met again and have formed a pretty close bond. These are all vendors with at least ten to fifteen years in the business and are serious about their work and being loyal to the group. We plan on meeting every few weeks and discussing other joint ventures like advertising, etc. So far it has been a great experience with lots of promise. Email me if you like and I will give you more detail.....jzpics@yahoo.com

My bookings ran relatively constant throughout the years. I did a few shows and changed my "referral" stategy this past year. Wow! What a difference. Right after the holidays the inquires have been coming in at a rate of about 6-8 per week. Some dates I am passing along to a few other photographers. That may change, since they have not sent anything my way. Most bookings are for fall 05, and I've booked a few for spring 06. I have a feeling that there will be another spike right after Valentines Day. Good luck....john

Like Michael said, it happens. Had back to back weddings. Didn't finish a roll at the first and thought I would save a buck. When I arrived at the second, I did what I always do. Open the camera to put a fresh roll in. Shut it immediately shot off a few frames and finshed the roll on the new bride. Only a few frames were fogged from the first wedding. You should be fine.

Just received mine the other day and haven't played too much yet becuase I have company in this week. Here's a shot of my friend with a ball cap to see how the light wraps. Here's a quick shot in my family room, verticle bounce, nine foot white ceiling, without the dome top, manual shutter, TTL flash at f5.6. So far, I like it. Really need to try it out with a second light in a reception etc.

 

Regards jzpics.com<div></div>

Hey Marc, all you can do is be professional, go with the flow, and outshine him in the results, and of course let the bride know how they are intruding and being very unprofessional. Make sure you get a few shots of him hogging the combat zone. Keep track and document his "verbal assault" and "threat of bodily harm", just in case. Of course an accidental two hundred watt-second burst from you lumedyne directly into his camera at close range is not out of the question. Always reply with a friendly, "oops, sorry" just to stay friendly. Can't wait to hear what you did....jz

..that's the one, thank you E.J.

Good Moring All,

 

I can not find a recent thread on lighting where there was a link to

a piece of equipment simular to a Sto-Fen for use on hot-shoe flash

equipment. If I remember correctly, the thread was in this forum.

The piece of equipment is made by or marketed by a member of this

forum with an Asian name. There was a link to his web site where it

could be purchased. If you could point me in the right direction, I

would be grateful. Regards, john

Gosh, get over it, weddings are not all about the photographs. Some couples really don't care about the "wedding images" and all that. They are just happy to be together. Be glad that there are others that and are willing to, and can afford to pay for it. And besides, you did it as a favor and they didn't ask, so hand it over with a smile and feel good about it. Seems like you want to get paid in acculades. Move on to your next shoot.....

Here is the oops you have to watch for when having a second light, some like the effect, some don't. May fit with the 70's look?<div></div>

Just something that always works for me. Here are two examples of bouncing mono's off a ceiling. Not the 70's look, but it will open up the area for you. Two monos in opposite ends of the room. On camera transmiter pluged into an SB28 and two receivers on the monos. Adjust them to something like f4.0 and shoot at 5.6 or 8, drag the shutter a bit and you should be fine. These were taken at about 11pm with very little ambient, typical large hall evening wedding. Shooting straight on to me is too directional. First example is a typicl dance shot, the second is an oops where I did not turn off the "remote" switch when shooting toward the one mono.<div></div>

ZOOM, Portra 800, Fuji NPZ 800, no problem, maybe try an 80-200 2.8 for great coverage....jz

I'm in the Baltimore area, 30 miles north actually, and I have a Sunday wedding this week and just had a call yesterday for a wedding on this coming Monday. Last week I had a call for a wedding on the 31st of July of this year. I don't know what these people are thinking. The Monday is a go, but the 31st is out of luck. I always had a one month rule like the post above, but now I just try and schedule things when I can. Engagements for a Saturday, I would just let the couple know that they have to be flexible. I actually live in the country and shoot some portraits around my gardens, and had a couple come by early in the morning, "for the light", before a wedding that day. Just schedule when you can.

...been shooting a lot of equestrian events lately, so how abutt one more...jz<div></div>

Hello Steve,

 

There has been some mention of slow flash duration with your Lumedyne heads. I just checked the specs, at 100ws, flash duration is 1/1600th sec.and at 400ws it is 1/400th sec. Both fast enough to stop action at a wedding, unless the the B&G are realy good Tango Dancers. So I would not worry about any motion effect as a result of your flash equipment, just shutter speed. If you look at the photo I posted above, I rested the camera on the back of a chair to get to 1/8 or 1/15. Just sit in a chair backwards, rest your camera on the seat back, compose the shot, rest your chin on top of the camera or bracket with a little downward pressure and pull the trigger. Good luck.