schnellimages

Kimberly,

I advertise in Premier Bride magazine each year. With an ad, you get a list of monthly leads from brides who have registered. I will direct mail them, as well as email them my website link, etc. I have found it to be very useful.

PB is national (I believe), with regional representives. Email me if you have any additional questions.

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up contacting the lawyer back just after I posted this - asking for a written request. Turns out most of you were correct; the lawyer is a freind just helping out. I also found out in the course of conversation that the bride is still paying on her gown, AND HER WEDDING RING!? I definately am beginning to see why her fiance' MAY have changed his mind.

However, I am not judging - there are all kinds of situations in this business, and it is best to make nice whenever possible. That being said, I will not be returning the deposit, but I believe we will be able to work something out. (And I tend to agree with John H, the courts tend to frown on those clogging the system with unnecessary cases).

Thanks again for the input.

First, I want to say that I have already put a call in to a lawyer - so I am

looking less for legal advice, and more for just advice in general.

I have (had) a client book me for a wedding in May, signed a contract and paid

the deposit - which is non-refundable per the contract. She contacted me 2

weeks ago to say that her fiance has called it off and what was ths situation

with the deposit. I informed her of the contract details, but also said that I

would be willing to apply it towards a family portrait or something of that

nature, as I did not want to be cold about it in the given situation. I left

the ball in her court and had not heard from her since.

I received a call from a lawyer today representing the bride, looking for the

deposit. I am in the process of faxing the contract to the lawyer now. I'm

amazed that she immediately went to a lawyer without at least coming to me if

she was unhappy - which I assumed she was fine (or at least understanding).

Okay, not 'fine' of course; I'm sure she is not fine at all after her fiance

called it off.

Question - I can certainly return the deposit, but is that a bad precedent,

would it be worth it to maintain a good reputation?

Looking for 2 cents basically.

Thanks.

I downloaded the CS3 beta on my PC last week and noticed that it seems to be

running very slowly - in all it's functions. I still have CS2 of course, and

that seems to be fine. I have the scratch disc on a different drive, and my

RAM capabilities are fine.

I suspect I am missing something, but I was wondering if anyone else was

experiencing this as well, or had suggestions.

thanks.

I have the Tamron 180 macro for a couple of years now. The lens is nice, but I

sometimes think it is not as sharp as I would like. I have seen some great

images (on this site as well) from the Canon 100mm macro.

I am considering trading in the 180 (which I rarely use) for the Canon lens.

I was wondering if anyone has thoughts as to the advisability of this.

Thanks for any advise.

Bob

Michelle,

I shoot Canon as well and must echoe other's recommendations for a macro lens. I would suggest the 50mm macro or the 100 macro by Canon. I have the Tamron 180mm, and while it is a great lens, I really do not think it is quite as sharp as the Canon macros. Plus, they are both more compact and easier to work with at a wedding.

Bob

I am interested in possibly using Asukabooks as a portfolio book for my

modeling as well as (possibly) my bridal portraits. I have never actually seen

them and am wondering if there are those out there who have experience and

could recommend one over another (bound, soft cover, stitched, etc).

Any advice would help, Thanks.

Bob

I have been approached by a local developer for a quote on aerial photography

of monthly shots for a development he is working on. I have not done this kind

of work on almost 12 years. Back then I had a freind who would take me up in

his plane for gas money. I have not idea what to begin to charge. The work

itself is not a problem, but I am looking for input from anyone who does this

regularly.

Thanks.

I was interested in creating a new portfolio book for drumming up more

modeling and commercial work. I had looked at Blurb.com and was wondering if

this might be an alternative. The price point is small enough to experiment

with, but I was more interested in anyone's thoughts as to their professional

appeal.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Bob Schnell

Thanks.

The shortest lens I have is the 15mm, but then it goes to 28mm. I also have a 10D, but do not use it much. Does the pano option on CS2 work well enough for this?

Okay, thanks to all for your input. The 360 camera is intriguing, but probably not the way I want to go for a one time job. What do real estate agents use for those 360 panning images they use on their websites? I guess I am asking if I can do this with my 1D MKII and the wide lenses I already have.

Thanks again.

I need to shoot some interiors for a local leasing company. They want to

create those 360 views for their websites. I was wondering if anyone knows

what is used to create those views - are any special lenses necessary, or is

it strictly a software application?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I just had a site built by them about a month ago. They were very responsive and quick with their setup. They actually did not cash my check until much later. I have noticed that their email response to technical questions is not always that quick, but nothing major.

I get the impression (though I could be mistaken here) that they have a pretty small staff, and things are beginning to explode for them lately - and they are having a hard time keeping up. Blown deadlines for their interface releases are pretty common it seems.

However, that is no excuse for the kind of delays that some have experienced. My work with them has been very smooth and pleasant - so far.

I am a little put off in fact by how prevalent their sites have become lately, I was hoping my site might stand out more - at least here on the East Coast.

Good Luck.

All good points. It would be just my luck as well to get an offer for a wedding on the same Friday night as the wedding.

Bob

Looking for some thoughts on how I should handle this. I met with a bride's

parents over the weekend and put together a nice package (that reflects my

move to more of a local pricing standards and a nicer clientelle as well).

After the fact the mother asked if I was available to shoot the rehearsal

dinner. I said yes, but we did not discuss whether this would be included in

the package price.

I sent them a written proposal after the fact, and she responded with whether

the rehearsal dinner would be included in the package.

My initial inclination is to throw it in for no extra charge. The people are

very nice and this might be an opportunity to move into the kind of wedding

circles I feel I am ready for. On the other hand, I am involved with the local

PPA chapter and there has been much talk about maintaining a relatively level

price field.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

Bob

Thomas,

I am also in Richmond, but used to travel to Fredricksburg on a regular basis. I remember being surprised at the diversity of the town (it always seemed like an outlet mall stop to me in my youth). The old town district by the river has a lot of character (similar to Shockoe Slip here, but larger), and might yield some interesting settings - doorways with character, etc. I am not as sure about the parklike situations there, but it's a pretty small town and getting to the rural areas is pretty easy and quick. I cannot remember the exact route to get downtown, but I believe it is off the Rt 17 exit headed East(?) I think.

My 2 cents. Good luck - let me know how things turned out if you don't mind.

Bob

Thanks all. Very good points. Some background - they bride has not picked out the images for the album yet, and I would think that this is not likely to happen. However, if she does I will certainly provide the album to her (as I have been fully paid at this point). I was more curious about an alternative to an album if they didn't want it.

Thanks again.

Bob

Here's a new thing for me. A couple I shot this past summer are already

getting divorced, sad to say. I was contacted by a family member to let me

know. I stll owe them an album. They have not mentioned it yet, but I am

wondering what is done typically in this situation. I cannot imagine the

clients would still want one.

May not be an issue, but I was curious what the thoughts were out there.

Thanks.

This may be too vague (or lazy, but I was wondering if there was an action out

there that I could use to perform basic, initial image tightening (minor

levels, contrast, perhaps saturation, etc). I have tried creating my own

action to do this, but have not been happy with the overall results. It may

also be too big a net to throw out there of course. Is there something pre-

made that others have been pleased with?

Thanks.

Bob

I find that the small stroke border I put on some images in CS2 gets cut off

when i print the image on my Epson 2200. Usually it is just one side. I

suppose I do not fully understand the stroke process, or how it affects image

size. This even happens when the image size is actually smaller than the paper

size. I cannot figure it out. Any suggestions what i might be missing?

Thanks.

Okay, ACR is the RAW converter dialogue box that comes up. I use it all the time.

I am an idiot.

Thanks.

This could be the dumbest question I've asked (perhaps not though). I have

CS2 - is ACR a part of this, or a separate download? Forgive me if this is

right in front of me.