daydreamsart
-
Posts
415 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Downloads
Gallery
Store
Posts posted by daydreamsart
-
-
Another option for some really good music is <a href="http://www.pumpaudio.com">Pump Audio</a>. You can license a track for website use for around $100 per year or so. AND, these are independent musicians which makes it more likely you'll have something unique. <br><br>If you want to combine songs into one long track, you can use Audacity which is a freeware program to do that. You might want to watch the file size, though. Sound files can get pretty big.
-
For DVD, I use Pictures to EXE and ULead. For online viewing, I now use Show It. You can make any program do the montages by putting them together in PS. Make a slide frame, then layer the images you want for that slide, then flatten and save. Do that for as many montage transitions as you want. I don't do too much with the montage slides anymore because they take more time than I want to give, but I still do have one show online where I used only standard fade transitions. But, because of the slide prep for the montages in PS, it looks a bit trickier than that. It only plays on Windows. Sorry Macs! <a href="http://daydreamsart.com/DancingDreams.zip">Dancing Dreams</a>
-
Get some booth space at a bridal fair and have a nice display.
-
I wouldn't schedule a wedding that far in the future. Wow. That's planning ahead!
-
I use WHCC for all my printing. The quality is great and their customer support excellent the rare times it's needed. Here's something for you to consider if you want to be in total control of your online proofing and sales and use Photoshop CS2 or CS3 - <a href="http://generatex.com">GenerateX.com</a>. I've been creating and using these successfully for years and now offer them to anyone who would like to benefit from their use.
-
You can create your own client proofing galleries and upload the folder to your site, so the address for it would be summerlandphotography.com/clientgalleryname. There would be a link back to your home page. Templates are custom made for you and include a shopping cart system. I like to add a statcounter code so I can track the hits my client galleries get which helps me when it's time to delete it. If it's still getting traffic, I leave it up!
These templates work with the Web Photo Gallery feature in Photoshop and Bridge, CS2 and CS3.<br>
-
I currently use the Canon 85 1.8 for that extra reach. It's a wonderful lens and is much lighter than a zoom, and MUCH sharper than a 3rd party zoom would be. I use it for the ceremony, but feel I need even more length there. It's a great length for candid reception shots and portraits. I keep it on a second body for the whole wedding day from getting ready to the reception. My main camera has either the Canon 24-70 2.8L or the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS throughout the day.
-
Unless you trust this relative for business related advice, I wouldn't worry about what they think. Just tell them you treat it like a business instead of a hobby and you follow the basic principles of supply and demand.
-
I think 4 1600's would be overkill. When shooting a reception with off camera lighting, raise the ISO a bit and open your aperture some. It's bad enough to be flashing lights without totally lighting the place up like a nuclear bomb. The 800's are plenty powerful for reception work, and group formals. I've never used the AB800 at full power, and rarely use it past half power. If you're worried about putting money in the wrong place, why don't you start with one light, a couple of pocket wizards, and a Sekonic light meter with a Pocket Wizard module and determine your additional needs then? One light might be plenty. There's also the concern of where to set all those lights up! Guests WILL trip on them if they are in the way. You can usually find a safe place for one light easy enough. There's a lot more to off camera lighting than just lots of lights. It can get confusing keeping track of multiple apertures, channels, etc. . . but worth it;)
-
I'm also impressed! Good job!
-
Only convert to jpeg when you are finished with the image. If you are going to do anything more with it after doing the RAW conversion, like open it in PS or some other imaging program, then save it in an uncompressed format, like TIFF or PSD (if using Photoshop). Every time a jpeg is opened and re-saved, it is compressed a little bit further. The amount may not be noticeable, but the loss is there.
-
Sure, you're good enough to make any kind of living you want from your photography if you're willing to give it your all. Any business takes time to build and very few photographers start making a good living immediately. Keep your desk job for now and offer your services to co-workers and friends. That is the best way to start word of mouth advertising which is the best. Get a website and some business cards. There are a lot of template sites available. You can design your cards in PS and have them printed by any number of online printers. Be honest. Study business, marketing, and photography. Stay out of debt. Practice and perfect photography techniques every chance you get. Don't give up, then in a few years, you should be making a good income. You've already had successes with your photography skills, and you must have some courage to have gone in to galleries and submitted your work for publication, so I don't understand why you think your work might not be good enough to charge for? Just go for it:)
-
The two images you posted look good. Why are you doubting yourself? If you want to play it safe, offer to second shoot for a photographer in your area. Or start offering portrait sessions to get used to being a professional before taking on weddings. I've seen a lot of photographers who cannot produce even two photos as well as what you have posted and call themselves professional! What do you think of your work?
-
There is nothing wrong or "Mickey Mouse" about using a light meter. Your camera meters the light reflecting off the subject, and your light meter measures the light falling on the subject. When you're dealing with a black suit and white dress, a light meter can be a time saver. Yeah, you can shoot, chimp, adjust, and repeat until you get the histogram looking the way it should, or take a quick reading and get it right a lot quicker. This simple step will also save you time in post after you've backed up your cards and start editing out the duds. It's true that often during a wedding, you will not have time to take a reading and will have to depend on the camera. You will need to learn to interpret the meter to get the exposure you want. If you decide to use off camera lighting, a light meter will give you total control over how to set the power and lighting ratios to get the results you want.<br><br>
The TTL on the 580EX and 20D works real well. There are some excellent threads on here about fill flash. Nadine O'Hara and Marc Williams have been very thorough in explaining how to do this. It's been a couple of years ago I think, but those threads should still be available. Something just as important and I think even more so is learning to see and use available light. That should always be your main light source so your work will not look flashed, but more natural, even if you end up creating that available light yourself.<br><br>
Set your camera to manual and leave it there until your are completely comfortable with it. You'll become more at one with your camera that way than any other.<br><br>
Some of my favorite books:<br>
The Art of Wedding Photography by Bambi Cantrell<br>
Digital Wedding Photography by Glen Johnson<br>
Real World Camera Raw by Bruce Fraser (Even though his last book was for CS2, it's still relevant to understanding RAW.)<br><br>
Subscribe to Rangefinder magazine. It's free and often inspirational.
-
After a lot of research I chose a LaCie LCD. I use the Monaco Optix colorimeter for calibration and my colors are "spot on." CRT monitors are good, but the R&D on them has taken a backseat to LCD development and it's pretty hard to find a good one that's also new. I'd rather stare at an LCD screen than a CRT anyway. Much easier on the eyes!
-
For outdoors, I would just use the on camera flash. When used as fill, direct flash is fine. Don't use a diffuser since it will only cut the flash power and in harsh light, you'll just waste your battery. Use your strobes and Pocket Wizards for when it's dark and they'll be providing the main light. That's when direct flash sucks, when it's the main light source. When your strobes are set in one place, and you and your subjects are moving around, then you'll need to adjust your settings constantly. Subjects nearer the strobe will need different settings than those further away. Not something you need to do in the sunlight. Also, if you have a good flash and are not TOO far away from the subject, use the HSS (high speed sync) feature so you can open the aperture more and raise the shutter speed beyond your camera's sync speed. <br><br>When I took these shots, the sun was high and harsh. I used direct flash (580EX), set to ETTL on both. I didn't want to eliminate shadows, just keep some detail in them. My settings on these were ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/500. <br>
<img src="http://www.daydreamsart.com/blogimages/br-226.jpg"><br>
<img src="http://www.daydreamsart.com/blogimages/br-227.jpg"><br>
-
You'll like Glen Johnson's book. It's one of my favorites. Steve Sint's book is a must have for the basics of wedding photography. Bambi's first book (The Art of Wedding Photography) is MUCH better than her second one, The Art of Digital Wedding Photography. Even though the first one she uses a film camera, there is much to learn about capturing the beautiful of weddings, and good things about composition and lighting. The second is more of an advertisement for her sponsors.
May I also suggest "Group Portrait Photography Handbook" by Bill Hurter. Photographing groups is the most neglected skill in this business and this book is well written.
-
Congratulations, Michelle! The only thing I'd worry about is the fact that they were not planning on having a photographer for what sounds like a nice wedding. Just be careful! I have had offers from scammers who found me here wanting me to do weddings at valid Idaho locations, but little things gave them away. I've also had a legit offer from a Michigan bride who found me here which I had to turn down, and I've traveled to the New England area to help a PNet member who has become a very good friend. It certainly can happen, just be very careful. You know all the do's and don'ts for scams I'm sure. Remember those until the very end. Us photographers are a popular target for the scam artists. It's easy to trust someone after talking with them on the phone. It's hard to believe they can be so nice and sincere sounding and still be a scam artist. But the good ones can. Good luck! I really hope it's for real!
-
My Canon 17-55 2.8 IS lens is my main lens for the getting ready shots, receptions, and group formals. I love it! I could actually shoot a whole wedding with it if needed. The 70-200 length would be great for ceremony shots and portraits, but near useless for everything else. Keep in mind you can't use the 17-55 EF-S lens on your 10D. Another favorite lens of mine is the Canon 85 1.8. You could just about swing both with your budget if you look around. I would totally advise against third party lenses. Lenses are one of the best investment you can make in photographic equipment because they hold their value quite well and affect your image quality.
-
I love it! Attention grabbing for sure. I think the name and logo design should be a bit larger though.
-
I used to use my meter only for setting up strobes, but now I use it outdoors more and it saves me time and eliminates wasted exposures because the meter only takes a second and like Cjo said, you only need a couple of readings. I also use the 580 (on the 20D) and set it for ETTL, high speed sync. You do have to adjust the flash output to adjust for the scene. If your shutter speed is faster than 1/250, you will lose some of your flash's output power when using HSS. I'm guessing on Marc's example, if he had it set on ETTL, he had to increase the flash output because all that white sand was telling the flash there was plenty of light and the output should be reduced which would have left the couple underexposed. So the camera was set for the background, and it was up to the flash to expose the subjects, which meant increasing the flash's output. How much to dial the flash up and down starts out with a lot of experimenting and chimping. Then it gets more intuitive and you can just look at a scene and know how much to dial the flash up or down.
If the lighting is fairly even, I would use my light meter to tell me the best settings at my chosen ISO and aperture, then leave the flash at 0 compensation or dial it down a little so it just added some sparkle to the subject's eyes, letting the natural light be key. I shoot all RAW and use direct flash outdoors. Bouncing is rarely an option outdoors. If the flash becomes the key light (like if the subject is in really dark conditions and there's no place to bounce), I might remove the flash and use it off camera for directional lighting, and either have it tethered to the hot shoe with a cord and hold it myself, or set it on a light stand (or someone holding it) with a Pocket Wizard connected to it.
-
Hi Jaimie! It stands for White House Custom Color. Great lab.
Thank you Tiffany!
-
My daughter is getting married and she originally wanted a signature mat for
guests to sign. The only problem was, what would they do with it in several
years if and when they no longer wanted it on their wall? They didn't want a
plain guest book, so they asked me for a photo album of their engagement
portraits that could be signed. I thought of school yearbooks and graffiti walls
and came up with this. The book was printed and made by WHCC and has a leather
cover. I got ultra fine point Sharpie markers to use for signing. I'm sure this
has been done before, I just haven't come across an actual sample online (or in
my area) so I just thought I'd share mine. The last page is duplicated for two
more pages (4 more sides) for a total of 40 pages. This book is 8.5"x11",
horizontal, and library bound. I'm ordering another to use as a sample for my
next season's brides.<br><br>
<a href="http://daydreamsart.com/guestbook">Link to the whole book</a><br><br>
One spread from the book:<br>
<img src="http://www.daydreamsart.com/blogimages/guestbook.jpg">
-
Are you talking about templates for albums? You're not going to find software to make them. You can buy templates. Yervant sells them. I make my own. Yeah, it takes time, but once it's done, I save it and never have to make that one again. I now have templates for most layouts I've imagined. Are you using the guides and rulers? Is the snap to guides checked? Things like that can help speed the initial layout.
Changing blog to domain - effect on search results?
in Wedding & Event
Posted