ed farmer - mount laurel,

Jay,

The problem here is that these are two very different lenses, that serve different purposes and will work differently for different photographers. If one was really "best" for weddings, who would be buying the other?

The Tamron is a great, sharp, lens and the f2.8 aperture would be invaluable for the way that I work. But, the 50mm is way to short for the way that I work. As for the Nikon, I don't think that VR is really a great substitute for a fast lens. Yes, you might be able to shoot in the same low light with either lens but the fast lens will also allow you to soften backgrounds in a way that you will not be able to with the VR.

In my work, I prefer fast lenses for available light work and use slower, wider, zooms for flash work. So, I carry a mixture on different bodies. I work with an 18-125 Sigma, 28-105f2.8 Tamron, 50f1.8, 85f1.8 and 80-200f2.8 lenses. I use all of these at an average wedding.

You need to decide what will work best for you based on how you work and shoot. You may end up spending a lot of money over the first few years with lenses that don't work out for you. But, that is the way that you learn.

Ed

Meylen,

The fact is that even though everyone here has been happy to give you plenty of advice, no one here knows what really happened. The suggestion that $300 worth of software will easily recover his data, for expample, is highly questionable. The idea that data recovery from a service will cost only $800 may, or may not, be accurate as well. Two years ago a virus caused enough damage to my hard drive that it had to be disassembled and the platter installed in another drive to repair it. The cost . . . $2000. Still cheaper than restaging a wedding, but there are problems that even this would not have prevented.

The best solution is to read your contract and do your best to work things out with your photographer. Make sure that all avenues have been pursued and then take the best course of action based on what you find out.

The reception site should have deeper pockets than the photographer and may have more to offer you. If the photography was included in their package, they are certainly on the hook. If they only recommended the photographer and you "selected" and sighed with him yourself, they are not liable for anything. However, you should discuss this problem with them and see to it that he does not have their recommendation in the future.

Do come back here and let us know how you made out. I am always wary of new posters at this site. Many come in with one post and then are never seen again. I hope that this is not the case here.

Best of luck,

Ed

I am not sure how wet your camera got or what your repairman told, but there is no such thing as "a little water damage" to piece of gear as complex as a camera.

Just a word of warning, expect to have it in the shop again soon.

Ed

Geez . . . I would have thought that, "My concerns are compounded when you have to ask about rentals in L.A. There are many shops in the L.A. area that cater to working pros and others in the industry. Most of these will always be willing to rent out their used stock and many will have dedicated rental gear available." would have caused you to . . . maybe . . . pick up the phone book and look!

Now, excuse me while I get off my high horse and mix with the mortals.

Ed

Connie,

Best of luck with the recovery!

Repeated attempts to recover data from a CF card should not cause any further corruption. Assuming that you are using legit recovery software. Mucking around on your own with either the camera or the your computer may mess things up further, but only if your attempts cause a write to the card.

Recovery software should only be reading the card, not doing any writing.

Ed

Stefanie,

I have to agree that you are asking for trouble here. Running any portrait business without backups is asking for trouble, but shooting weddings without backups can get you into real, serious, deep, trouble. My concerns are compounded when you have to ask about rentals in L.A. There are many shops in the L.A. area that cater to working pros and others in the industry. Most of these will always be willing to rent out their used stock and many will have dedicated rental gear available.

But, you won't have time to run there between the ceremony and reception if your recently repaired camera craps out during a job.

Ed

I expect that you will get plenty of answers posting here . . . most will ask, "When, exactly, in late July?" or "Is there enough in the budget to fly me from the east coast?"

Ed

Raising the flash above the lens serves two purposes: First, it does reduce red-eye. But, second, it causes the shadows cast by your light to fall behind (below) the subject.

Yes, that would be undesirable. Unless, you desire it. I just don't know why you would.

Ed

Here's my problem with showing too many versions of the same pose. I don't put in a lot of time cropping or adjusting images before they are put up as on-line proofs. I do, however, put a fair amount of Photoshop work into every image that gets purchased.

Now, if I put up five different versions of pose X. The bride might choose X1 for her album and an 16x20, her mother 2 for her album. The groom's mom X3 for her album. The bride's grandmother might order X4 from my on-line gallery and the groom's sister can order X5. Now, I have to spend time in Photoshop to create the best version of each of these images before I can send them to the lab to be printed. Why? They are all the same image! Each of these people made an abitrary decision on which to order and I had to do five times the work for the same money.

You are the expert. Make a decision on which image looks the best and present that image. My father taught me years ago (we were talking about playing the guitar), "If you want people to think that you are a great guitarist, don't let them hear you practice." Well, if you want people to think that you are a great photographer, don't show them you lesser works.

Of course, if there is a substantive difference in a couple of the images, show more than one. But, don't get bogged down giving them too many choices when there is no difference.

Ed

If no one fell for it, no one would bother sending them out.

Ed

Yep . . . sounds like a condensor issue to me as well.

Ed

Come everybody . . . tell him the truth . . . ISO400, 1/30, f4. That's what all of the pros shoot. Works every time, in every church.

Ed

This, unfortunatly, is one for the couple (or one of their parents) to resolve. Quietly and quickly, before it becomes a bigger problem. In the end, if they side with the videographer, you really have no choice but to work along. Leaving is not an option, regardless of what is in your contract. You will have a very difficult time proving that the working conditions were unbearable.

Ed

There are a lot of problems here and I think that we are only seeing a few of them.

As others have said, if you have been shooting weddings for five years and you are only charging $500, there is something drastically wrong with your business plan. I don't see where a $500 wedding photographer gets off charging $200 for an extra location either. But, that is also another issue. My guess is that the "book" that you are talking about is a proof-book of some sort, not an album. How many prints are in it? How much did you shoot in 7 hours?

What did you actually miss at the reception? Introductions or cocktail hour? Where any images missed?

Do you now have her $500 dollars? Why not? You need to get paid in advance. Even if you accept your final payment on the day of the event, you need to ask for cash. Do they get to pay the caterer at the end of job or the next week? How about the DJ? Or, the church? Get you money up front and many of your problems disappear.

Did she make any threats while at your home or in any of the phone calls? Press charges. Problems will start to disappear.

How did she have you "served"? To what court? If it is small claims, you do not need a laywer. A lawyer will end up costing you $300-500 in any case. Check the small claims laws in your state (they are on the web) and see what the process looks like. Most likely, you will both show up, tell your stories and a judge will declare a settlement. She may get all, or some portion of her money back or you may be able to get damages yourself. Bring documentation for everything that you have done. Also, remember to point out that (to both her and the judge) that you have retained your rights under US copyrigth law to all of the images from the wedding. The judge should remind her that she is not allowed to make copies of any of the images from the negs or prints. This may not stop her, but it is still a tool that you have in your bag.

The other option is to simply refund her money and forget this one.

Learn from this and remodel your business with this problem in mind. You need to change the way that you are working in order to stay in business.

I also have to point out that I don't completely trust Yolanda at this point. She joined this site on June 11, 2006, the day that she posted this thread and she has not posted anywhere else on the site. I am sorry if I am wrong about you . . . but, it wouldn't be the first troll that I have seen stirring things up on the web!

Ed

VENTILATE!

No matter what developer, stop and fix you are using, you need to move the air. This is the first thing that a doctor is going to tell you. Save yourself the copay and try it first.

Ed

When I shoot for a friends studio, I am left to shoot weddings with only an 18-50f2.8 Sigma on a 20D.

Shooting for myself, I could work the whole day with an 18-125 Sigma and 80-200f2.8 Nikor. I would miss my 28-105f2.8 Tamron and 85f1.8 Nikor though.

Ed

Libby,

In the first image you clearly did not have the flash above the lens and pointed forward. I was on the side.

I think that I have a different view of the second image. To me it looks like you may have bounced the flash off the ceiling, but the ceiling is angled and reflected the light in a direction that you did not expect. Mirror shots are not difficult with on camera flash except that you need to work to see the bride (the real one, not the refection!) is not over exposed. The best way to do this is to shoot from farther away so that the light hitting her from behind and the light hitting her from the mirror are more balanced.

Most of the time, when shooting on the fly at a wedding, I don't worry too much about balancing light to open windows. I just want solid exposures on my subjects.

Ed

Need? No. I have barely had mine out of the bag since going digital.

However, I don't think that I would sell my L508 even though it sits almost unused.

Ed

Since not have responded: Thank you from all of us!

Ed

Lauren,

Let's see . . . you are not happy with the way your images look online and your client is questioning the way that your images look online. You have a problem with your online display of images. You need to do something about it.

Talk with the tech support people (not the customer service people) at Candid2000. Have them look at your image gallery and you can even email them a few images - as they were loaded to the website - and see if they can tell you why there is a problem. There may be something that you can do in post processing that will produce a better display. It may be that their resizing method is interfering with something that you have done. I know some very, very, good photographers who are using Candid2000 and would not tolarate their not looking perfect.

If you like we can take this discussion off line (you email me) and and I would be happy to review the gallery and see if I can identify the problems.

Ed

There is certainly a lot of missing information here and everyone has been making a lot of assumptions about what has happened.

We need some answers from Jason. With them this is not a very effective discussion.

Just as a start:

1) Do you have a copy of the contract from the wedding photographer?

2) Did the contract call for more than you have recieved? In other words, did the photographer live up to his end of the deal?

3) If the contract calls for more than was delivered, did you live up to your end? Was there a time limit for you to order prints or albums?

In the end, I doubt very much that it would be worthwhile for the photographer to show up and sue you over copywrite issues. It rarely ends up being worthwhile in any case.

But, I would like the answers to these questions, before everyone here jumps on their high horses to take either side of the issue.

Ed

Actually, Matt . . . if brides are hiring you because you are cheap, the first thing that you need to do is raise your prices!

This is even more informal than Aaron's poll: When I talk with brides and their familys and friends, the most common complaint that I hear about other photographer relates to their personality, not their prices or quality. For example, I just talked with the mother of a prospective client. She told me that her other daughter got married last year and they use Dave Canon (not his real name!) for the wedding photography. They were unhappy with him because he was bossy (or miserable, or controling, or just otherwise unpleasant) during the wedding day. I never hear, "But, he was too expensive."

So, I work this into my sales pitch ("I am very experienced and easy to get along with.") and figure that if everyone still likes me at the end of the reception, I have have 90% of the job beat!

Ed

I am with those that say to go and shoot. I doubt that they will have the cash with them tomorrow (unless they really did intend to pay you tonigh.) You have told us that they owe you $2000. I would hope that the retainers that you have to this point are significant. This way, even if they never pay you the balance, you have been paid something for the day tomorrow.

BTW: My policy is to get 1/3 when they sign the contract, 1/3 two months before the date and 1/3 two weeks before. This gives a little more leeway with late payments. Also, if they don't make the last payment and I still shoot the job, I have 2/3 of the money and no expenses.

Ed

I don't think that you can go wrong with the L-508. I have had one since they first came out and I have always loved it. One of the things that miss since going digital for my wedding work is spending the day with that 508 around my neck!

Ed