duffy_smith

I guess I look at it this way, my father shot weddings for 30+ years, I have

worked with him for 15. Niether he nor I have ever been not seated and fed(

with the other vendors at the back of the room) and we eat lightly and quickly

we sit for about 15 to 20 min. and resume shooting.

If I were having a wedding I would provide my hired help to a meal just like

the rest of my guests, it would be rude of me not to.After all I would be

probably spending somewhere between 20,000- 30,000 for the event total,

could I spare the extra 100.00 for my vendors to eat? sure I could.

I have been recently hired to shoot a wedding, when I asked the bride about

seating arrangements for dinner, she said -"you are not on my guest list, it's

75.00 a plate, can i dedut if from your cost?" Has anyone ever run into this?

I have always been seated with the videoragrapher, DJ ect... and it's never

been a problem. I have been shooting weddings ( and assisting for) 10 years

and have never not been fed , and I don't think I have ever offended a couple

when I ask about seating arrangements, is there a tactful way to address this

issue? Thanks in advance.

Wow, Marc-never had a problem with Meteor, sorry to hear. But what lab has

never screwed up? Tri color is reliable too,I know Meteor handles 3200 and

does alot of weddings too. Melisa maybe you could run a few test rolls and

send to each lab to see results? Thats what I would do, I'm sure they both

have UPS/Fed Ex service.Good Luck.

Hi Melissa, where abouts are you? I live in MI too, and use Meteor in

Troy,they are really consistent as far as I have experienced and have full

services for B+W. I shoot T-max and am very happy with proofs. It is a little

pricey, but you get what you pay for. Good luck:)

I use the Pro film for the ceremony and portraits and the Superia for the

reception, The NPH has a flatter emulsion and the superia has more contrast

to it. The NPH is great for capturing details,such as embriodery in the dress,

and the Superia really makes the reception pictures "pop" because of hte

higher contrast. it just looks so much more alive -like the party.

I sell my negs.

A. because of scanners.

B. my proofs are not copywritten ( not that labs really care anyways)

and the client thinks that is the best thing ever- to get their negatives! It used to

be so unheard of - like the negatives were gold.

I do like to get the proofing done, but I give them the bill from the Lab, So it's

all in their name.Usually they just have to call the Lab with CC#.

Re-orders IMP are a thing of the past, unless it's a huge traditional wedding

with tons of family portraits ect... (we have always discouraged it)

So most weddings are simple clean PJ style and client gets to buy the negs.

Being a lab tech too,so many labs have gone out of business and downsized

due to digital imaging. we used to do 30 to 40 weddings a week in the day

and now we are lucky to print 4 a week.

The amount of people coming into the lab with the proofs wanting copy negs

used to be incredible. No more- everyone has a scanner .

I maybe got 2 to 3 hundred dollars for reprints,per couple. now I just sell the

negs at 50.00 per roll . A 13 or 14 roll wedding can be a nice profit.

With the client paying for the proofing it's a win- win.

they pay for my time, they pay for the proofing and the negatives.

In my contract I state that I will be making prints form the negs for my own

purposes, so I can have some images for the portfolio. and it's not a problem.

I do include a fact sheet with the proofs on caring, handling and storing of

negatives. Some clients don't know what negatives even are. People think the

camera is like a magic box.

you wouldn't believe the amount of people who toss their negs out after

looking at the prints.only to come back a week later wanting copies, when we

ask if they have a neg, it's like "what, negatives?"( saw this alot years ago at

one hour place)

It really works out for the best and it's nice not to have a wedding being

dragged out for 6 months with re-orders. I'm PIF on the day of the event.

MP. have you resovled this problem yet?As I have encountered it 4 months

ago. Program with TTL and a Metz. Keep us posted.

Try Meteor in Troy MI, Full service Photo Lab and graphics House. Will UPS

and Fed-ex

A good operator is the key. there are so many types of paper min-labs utilize,

most consumer places use a high contrast paper(i.e Crystal Archive and

Perfect Touch) to give the average joe's photos that extra oommfff.

Many pro labs use a flat paper for wedding and product photography, all

colors can be manipulated with the machine, as we do. Also the machine

must be in proper balance to acheive optimim results.

Being a lab tech, my recommendations are mostly Fuji color neg films except

x-tra 800, but the Superia films are very nice. I shoot with NPS, NPH for pro

work. I feel it has excellent saturation. The Kodak UC is nice, unfoutunately it

is being discontinued.Kodak gold 100 is also a nice film for shooting

lanscapes, I have printed many rolls of Hawaii at the lab and they are

stunning.

I don't have Meddle on disc, but good one.

any way the last ritiual before the event was to take a picture of my father with

me and wear it in my locket, He is my inspiration and the one who got me

shooting. God bless him. I know he was with me in spirit today.

All seemed to go well. I had a assistant. who is great with cameras but no

wedding exp. So I trained him on etiquette and composition ect... hope he did

well, we shot 6 rolls 36, and 6 rolls 24 for a 5 hour time slot. so say 300" good

"proofs and they get the negs, not bad for $500.00.

Oh yeah and listen to some great tunes on the way there, helps me relax. I

think todays will be some Pink Floyd- Darkside or Wish you were

here....hmmm...

Yes ,they will ID the rolls with twin checks if you ask. some labs have

runsheets you can fill out and they will correspond with your notes.

Years of working in a package printing lab and running rolls of film ,it

becomes second nature.

I have a wedding tomorrow, for the last 3 days I have been shooting test roll of

different emulsions and obsessively checking my sync's' ect...

This is my first wedding on my own, and I haven't slept in 3 nights. I think I've

got it! after I shot 2 more test rolls tonight and had them processed at CVS just

so I could check exposure and be extra sure I am ready for this.

Tomorrow morning I will get up, go for a power walk and come home shower

and leave. I will start shooting the bride getting ready @ 3pm and the rest will

be history! Oh, yes- and I will eat a high protein breakfast after my walk. It will

reduce the risk for headaches.

I use this combo, except I have the regular n-90. I set up the metz on TTL, lock

down the apeture to f-22 and set-up on program. This seems to work well as I

am still in the testing stages. I need to learn more about it. I am interested in

feedback also, thanks.

depending on the size of the package ordered, I pay my assistants between

$10-15 per hour, and part of the gratuity.

usually after 2 years I send a letter to the couple to tell them they may

purchase their negs for "X" amount of dollars, really in the 30 years my father

had done weddings no one had reordered after 1 year. So he sent the "negs

for sale" letter and they usually bite, I know if someone had my wedding negs

I would want them, if they weren't being offered at the time of the wedding.

100.00 per hour for my time and they get the film. I charge 100.00 for

materials (film and batteries) I recommend the lab I use and they usually take

it there.

Misty- I shadowed my father too, he had done this all his life.he started

shooting weddings in 1968 and shot his last in Oct 2003. I have been in other

aspects of the business being a lab tech for the last 16 years and doing some

of his sales. I Started assisting my Dad about 10 years ago, Sadly he passed

away last Sept. and I have all his equip. He really wanted me to put it to good

use, So I am trying, and practically giving weddings away. But to anwser the

question, assist and learn thru trial and error.

I will be using the N-90 for groups,ceremony and reception. The N-80 will be

used for B/W portraits and more personal photos of B&G and bridal party.

when shooting the tests today I did notice the sync speeds ranging from 1/60

to 250 of a sec. This was on program, N-90 . The N-80 was more of a

consistent 1/60 with the fixed focal length lens. are these the proper syncs for

the set ups?

Kimberly, try putting a little piece of tape on the ring to keep you locked down.

Now when your assistant uses the N-80 does She/he just use the little fill flash

thats built into the body? Just set it up on Program and go? I will be training

my assistant on the N-80 and want to take the technical part out for now (at

least until I learn it better myself), and just teach them compositon, framing

and spotting out little flaws (lipstick smudges, crooked collars, fluffling dresses

ect...) What flash systems do you use?

I have found that with outdoor weddings Fuji NPH 160 is excellent, you get

beautiful skin tones as well as blue skies, it is a nice crispy film.

Indoor however, I always use Portra NC. Shoot a few outdoor test rolls at

around the time the ceremony should begin a few weeks beforehand,

compare films, or even shoot a few film types you have always wanted to try

out, also consider your lab,if they are not in balance or are using a cheap

paper your beautifully saturated color negs could turn out to be mud-pies on

paper. consider taking the same neg with no reference print to a few labs for

comparison, you may suprise yourself.

thank you Melisa for the advice, I will be running alot of test film! good thing I

work at the lab! (LOL) I really appreciate all the great info.