Wedding "Incident" in Wedding & Event Posted September 4, 2002 I am a wedding videographer, and I too shoot photos to be used in the final video. I do this to avoid relying on other people's work without their permission, and I don't want to bother getting release forms and wait for prints to come back. I have never seen nor negotiated an "exclusive photographer" clause in any of my contracts. To my knowledge, this has not caused any problems at any of the weddings I have done. I do try to be mindful of what the photographer is doing, and I never attempt to intrude, interfere, or delay his/her work. My stills are photographed right after the photog's, and if I miss one then that's too bad, I move on to the next. I always ask where the photographer will stand during the ceremony, so that I can plan my shots around it, and inform him/her where I will be stationed. What's up with the exclusive usage of the poses? These are wedding poses! Do you honestly think they've never been posed before? The wedding party is standing in a row! Suppose I set up a shot and begin filming it when a photographer shoots a still of it. Should I get upset and say "what are you doing? This is MY shot!" That sure sounds pretty arrogant! By the way, using stills from video for a photo montage doesn't look very good. If your videographer did this at your wedding, I would ask for my money back. During evening receptions (and other dark situations) I do use a video light. Virtually no matter what camera you have, you absolutely cannot shoot without one. Makes for a pretty lousy video when you can't see anything. I shut it off when asked, but I will use it when I have to. I have a product going out with my name on it, and you're damn right I want it to look good. I'm shooting at one angle; there are 365 others to shoot from. I have had several instances of photographers walking in front of me while I was filming. Of course, I cannot just move around them suddenly as that looks awful on video. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Fortunately I use a second camera (b-roll) that I can cut to in the final product. I am not that arrogant that I would have considered telling him/her to "get lost"; they have a job to do and a responsibility to the client�as do I. Having said all of that, I have had an occasion where my digital stills turned out better than those of the photographer (who, by the way, charged waaay more than me for my video services) in the opinion of the client. The client was very thankful that I did this, as now they had a something they could keep and enjoy. I did not try to do an end-run on the photographer, but the client offered to buy my stills from me. In just reading the responses in this forum, it makes me wonder: do all wedding photographers think they are THE top-dog at a wedding? Give me a break, there are others of us out here too. (Gee, most of the photographers I've worked alongside have been pretty nice.)
Wedding "Incident"
in Wedding & Event
Posted
I am a wedding videographer, and I too shoot photos to be used in the final
video. I do this to avoid relying on other people's work without their
permission, and I don't want to bother getting release forms and wait for prints
to come back. I have never seen nor negotiated an "exclusive photographer"
clause in any of my contracts. To my knowledge, this has not caused any
problems at any of the weddings I have done.
I do try to be mindful of what the photographer is doing, and I never attempt to
intrude, interfere, or delay his/her work. My stills are photographed right after
the photog's, and if I miss one then that's too bad, I move on to the next. I
always ask where the photographer will stand during the ceremony, so that I
can plan my shots around it, and inform him/her where I will be stationed.
What's up with the exclusive usage of the poses? These are wedding poses!
Do you honestly think they've never been posed before? The wedding party is
standing in a row! Suppose I set up a shot and begin filming it when a
photographer shoots a still of it. Should I get upset and say "what are you
doing? This is MY shot!" That sure sounds pretty arrogant!
By the way, using stills from video for a photo montage doesn't look very
good. If your videographer did this at your wedding, I would ask for my money
back.
During evening receptions (and other dark situations) I do use a video light.
Virtually no matter what camera you have, you absolutely cannot shoot
without one. Makes for a pretty lousy video when you can't see anything. I
shut it off when asked, but I will use it when I have to. I have a product going
out with my name on it, and you're damn right I want it to look good. I'm
shooting at one angle; there are 365 others to shoot from.
I have had several instances of photographers walking in front of me while I
was filming. Of course, I cannot just move around them suddenly as that looks
awful on video. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Fortunately I use a
second camera (b-roll) that I can cut to in the final product. I am not that
arrogant that I would have considered telling him/her to "get lost"; they have a
job to do and a responsibility to the client�as do I.
Having said all of that, I have had an occasion where my digital stills turned
out better than those of the photographer (who, by the way, charged waaay
more than me for my video services) in the opinion of the client. The client
was very thankful that I did this, as now they had a something they could keep
and enjoy. I did not try to do an end-run on the photographer, but the client
offered to buy my stills from me.
In just reading the responses in this forum, it makes me wonder: do all
wedding photographers think they are THE top-dog at a wedding? Give me a
break, there are others of us out here too.
(Gee, most of the photographers I've worked alongside have been pretty
nice.)