batee

I bought a used 503CW from a local dealer, and it appears that the

screen has been swapped out with a darker, whiter screen than my 501CM

has.

I'm wondering which screen the 503CW ships with? Also, which screen

do I want if I want the meter PME90 to function properly? I've seen

an Acute-Matte screen that claims to mark the metering areas for the

PMEs. My guess is that the milky-white screen and PME90 combination

won't work properly. Do I need the special PME90 AcuteMatte screen,

or is it just special because it shows me the metering area?

Thank you,

Bryan A. Thompson

batee@umr.edu

I had to use my first aid kit for the first time this weekend. I was photographing a family with a dog in the park, and the dog cut a paw on

something and was going from person to person leaving bloody paw prints on their clothing.

Bryan

I went to a Kodak ProShots presentation last summer. I don't use it, but they did offer the service of color/density correction of both film and digital by one person and at one sitting.

Bryan

I let clients do whatever they want with the images that I deliver to them. I figure that the way I justify charging many times what Walmart charges is in the better print. I do ask that they not tell people that copies, scans are my work - because they aren't.

Bryan

Glad to see that someone read my Mud Bog Race post...:)

And to answer your question about the bar, Yes, they made sure to tell me that they were covering my bar tab at the dinner and reception.

Bryan

Film: Pro Lab supplies crop masks that are the appropriate shape and size for the film used and the . Photographer tapes the crop mask over the negative with special tape, sometimes also provided by the lab, then sends it all to the lab. Other labs I've dealt with use a transparent neg envelope and give you a crop guide and have you draw cropping instructions over the negative with a sharpie.

Digital: Photoshop or take it to Wal-Mart, along with $2, and get a nice 8x10 center crop...:)

I had to do this for a photog friend of mine two weeks ago. It was the pro wedding photog that trained me. The woman he hired showed up in the middle of the ceremony, dressed in a t-shirt and working barefoot (really). I've got a great shot of her taking flower still-life photos as the couple was receiving guests. She did about 15 minutes of formals post-ceremony before he got pissed and she quit and sat down at the reception while I finished shooting everything.

My observations:

Yes, the photog will shoot photos at his own wedding. In this case he set up 3 Hassys on remote and had a transmitter that he intended to keep in his pocket until the bride-to-be made him hand it off to me. He had a cam around his neck the entire reception.

Yes, the photographically inclined groom/bride will direct the photographer. Some excerpts are "Are you sure you're at EV13.5?", "Just squeeze the shutter release - don't stab at it (like I don't know)", "OK, if I forgot the tux, I'm going to lose it", "I Bob take you Gail to be my husband", "Did the cameras fire? I was listening but I couldn't hear anything!", "We'll just stand here. You pose us.", "Fu#$head!", and "I guess we're the best (photogs) in town now".

The bride made the photographer sit there and say that he loved everything I shot. I would rather have had the critique.

I learned a lot that day:

- Anything can happen. If you're going to take a camera, even if you're not "the hired pro", take enough equipment and supplies to do a complete job. I only had 3 rolls of film, then had to switch to digital for the reception. For us film lovers, this sucks.

- During the formals (before things went bad) he called me over and had me work alongside the woman he hired. That sucked and was entirely non-productive. The groom and I shot probably 50 weddings together, and it always worked. Two photogs not on the same payroll trying to do formals at the same time does not work at all. Even if it means losing money, I will never ever work in a situation where I'm not the only photog or where there's another (pro) shooter that isn't on my payroll present.

Bryan

That's the great part. The photographer doesn't have to complain that all these extra guest shots are going to make things take too long, and to bugger off. The couple does it for me.

Because superstitions win out over practicality in this part of the country, we actually do two 45 minute sessions - one before the ceremony and one after. I arrange shot sequence so that no one has to stand there for the entire 45 minutes:

- The guys get photographed while the ladies are still getting ready, then they get a break.

- I break up the post-ceremony session by working in family group shots, letting the bride sit at the end, etc.

No one has a problem with it at all. I was really quite surprised that others on the forum get 10-20 minutes. Perhaps the key to getting this much time is in properly setting client expectations? The couple is happy to spend the time because they know they have a better chance at receiving the photos that they want. The families are happy to spend the time because they know that I'll take their group requests at the end of the formals.

Last weekend between the post-ceremony formals and the reception, we stopped for 10 minutes at a nearby park to do some outdoor formals. No one at the reception died from lack of wedding cake. The couple said that these were their favorite shots of the day.

The minister leaving 10 minutes after a ceremony to visit someone in the hospital I can understand. The wedding party leaving 10 minutes after the ceremony because they had something better to do? Not so much.

Bryan

The formals are a photo shoot - that's why the studio lighting is there.

I let guests take all the photos they want, even during the formals. I feel like this gives me a tremendous marketing advantage over my control-freak competition. The bride/bride's mom *love* hearing this.

After I see the first flash fire, I tell everyone that they're welcome to take photos, and ask that they not do it at the same time because the subjects won't know where to look. I set up the pose, step out of the way and let them take their shots. Then I take my shot. Yes, I have the luxury of 1-2hr formals sessions in my area.

Anyone who is worried that amateurs are going to take better shots than the hired photographer shouldn't be the hired photographer.

Bryan

Mud bog photos online. Not my best work...

<a href="http://www.roadslessphotographed.com/temp/mud/index.html">RoadsLessPhotographed.com</a>

Bryan A. Thompson

bryan@roadslessphotographed.com

I imagine it went something like this:

"Just as they're ready for the trophy presentation, this wedding drives up and enters the the honeymoon truck as a late entry. The bride comes down to the hole to watch, in the back of a LeBaron convertible, like she's in a parade or something. An hour later, after he gets pulled out for the third time, he goes around again for another run! We start looking around for the tow truck guy, and he's just *gone*.

So now it's going to be another hour before they do the trophy, and it's already getting dark, and I've been there all day, so I'm thinkin 'I wonder if'n I oughta go up to the Git'n'Go up by the highway and get some more of them little penlight batteries for my flash and another roll of that cloudy day film - I always use the good stuff, or just set the body thingy to "Moon Star" mode'. I looked in my bag, and I didn't have my street light filter, but thank God I remembered that I had that Handycam with NightShot along for backup. Saved my *butt*! Glad I spent the extra and bought the 32MB Memory Stick, too.

Just as the winner comes up to get the trophy, the entire wedding walks between me and the presenter and I miss everything.

Not only did no one buy an extra album, but someone stole a new can of Skoal out of my truck."

I was thinking about getting one of the Canon 14mm corrected lenses, but after seeing Al's work, I'm afraid my nose might appear in every shot...

I'm from southern Missouri area. With the exception of the B&E, this kind of thing "happens" on a semiregular basis. This was my first lap dance, though.

Sorry - no crime scene evidence at the church, but I did shoot the wedding party at the mud race and have plenty of "in-the-dark" boquet toss pics.

Per my policy, no one sees my photos (even of the mud bog) until I deliver the album to the B&G. This should happen next week some time.

Here's another Oh My God! wedding story:

I did a wedding/dinner/reception this weekend that took 14hrs not

including drive time.

The minister got called away to a hospital visitation before the

ceremony, and the bride got tired of waiting and broke into the church

by throwing a brick through the door, so she would make the

pre-ceremony formals deadline that I gave her. Then she took 3 hrs to

get ready. The guys forgot socks and remembered beer, so they were

just as late.

Ceremony/formals go without a hitch. Except that no one attended

rehearsal and so one of the mothers took a roll of masking tape and

wrote names on the tape and stuck it where the attendants should

stand. There was even a "Stop here and get pitcher taken" (sic)

label. They thought about this and then asked for my technical

recommendation on where they should stick that one. Instead of

telling them, I gave them a location in the aisle where they could put

the tape.

The minister arrived <5mins before the ceremony started, wearing a

Hawaiian shirt, says he's glad we found the key he left for us, does a

quick change into his suit, printed me a "script" quickly told me to

do whatever I wanted, and started the ceremony.

During the precessional, everyone including the flower girl and ring

bearer dutifully stopped to get their pitcher taken. There were two

groomsmen named "Mike stand here", so there was a brief fight over who

stood where.

Minister hangs long enough to get his pic taken, says I'm the only

photog that didn't take advantage of him when he said to do whatever I

wanted, complemented me on not disturbing the ceremony and asked for

cards for referrals (first time this ever happened), changed back to

his informal wear, told me to lock up when I was done, and left for

the hospital again.

There was no AC, and it was about 88F and at least 80% humidity. The

groomsmen seemed happy, since this gave them a reason to drag the

cooler inside the church during the post-ceremony formals. I locked

up and crawled through the hole in the door when I left.

Bride insists that the bridesmaids wear their dresses until the first

dance is over. They couldn't afford food at the reception, so we all

went to a restaurant before the reception. For another 3 hrs. They

had about 1/2 enough tables for all of us, so a cute bridesmaid sat in

my lap and fed me dinner. I let her.

For the first three hours, no one set foot in the reception hall.

Why, you might ask? It's because the Eagles were holding the most

sacred of townie social events - a mud bog race. Really. It's a

tough choice, reception or mud bog race, and I'd probably have done

the same thing. So them being good ol boys, one of the groomsmen

decided to "enter" the honeymoon truck. With the entire wedding party

and most of the guests watching, he got it stuck at exactly the same

place three times in a row, and still decided to go around for a

fourth try. By that time the guy that was pulling them out got tired

of it and went home. So the truck's stuck for good.

Reception went another 1.5hrs before anyone decided to start the

dances, at which point the bridesmaids (still in their dresses) are

threatening mutiny by cutting the cake themselves. The lights in this

place take 5 minutes to warm up, and she picks as a schedule of events

that includes a dance, cut cake, dance, garter toss, dance, boquet

toss. So it takes 5 minutes betweeen each set of events. She gets

impatient, so we take cake photos and garter and boquet toss in the

dark. Dollar dances take another hour and net at least $750. By then

the bridesmaids are good and drunk and bored. The hottest one grabs

me, drags me out on the dance floor, a chair appears from out of

nowhere, and I get a lapdance. I hand my cam to the nearest person

for safekeeping. The drunk townie fires off 28 frames, and misses

both me and the chick on top of me each and every one of those 28

attempts.

I learned a lot that day:

- You don't go to Hell immediately after throwing a brick through the

front door of a church.

- You don't go to Hell immediately if you go to a mud bog race

instead of your wedding reception.

- You don't go to Hell immediately if you're a groomsmen and you

enter the company truck in a mud bog race, but you do get stuck in the

same place four times, so I think He probably doesn't care too much

for it.

- 98% of guests who don't have money riding on the outcome of the mud

race will leave after 1hr and 45mins of not having cake.

- Lapdances are scary.

- You don't go to Hell immediately after a lapdance, but I can't

imagine Him caring much for that, either.

- Maybe putting "Budget-Friendly" in my phone book ad wasn't the

smartest thing to do.

- The probability of having the photographer's BMW "decorated" with

beer and leftover window paint at an event such as this approaches 103%.

- That's the end of my "I stay until the reception ends" policy.

Bryan

Pay the location(s) a visit the night before and "donate" some window tint...

Bryan

Using a 20D or EOS-3 and 550EX plus a Stroboframe Pro-T bracket, I get very good results, with the occasional image being significantly over or under exposed (by 3-5 stops).

I like the results I get with my Metz 60CT4 handheld with a Hasselblad. Does anyone have a solution for getting quality results from a handle flash and a 20D or 35mm in portrait/vertical mode?

To those using a Metz 54 or Vivitar 283, what is the adjustment like in Auto mode? Is it just ISO and aperture like my Metz? I tried reading the Metz manual, but it was pretty basic and there were no photos...

Thanks,

Bryan A. Thompson

bryan@rollaphoto.com