joel_stowe

<p>I think you are heading in a strong direction so good luck. My only 2 cents worth is personal, that is having the client work with you on the matching clothing. She looks like a million and the guy looks like he showed up because he had to, and wasn't worried about how he looked. But I see this a lot now a days with the younger generation. At least they didn't pull out their cell phones....</p>

Thanks for the input, I did pick up Lightroom 4 today, and yes the calibrater for the monitor will be part of the package also...

Looking forward to having fun shooting my photography....

Thanks for the confidence, but I am playing but not with a full deck yet. For instance I was shooting my brother holding a baby, D300 w/Tamron 28-105 @ f2.8 and 1600. I had great composition and the camera was doing great, the only thing I forgot to notice was the shutter speed (was not wearing glasses at time) and almost all of the shots show the baby moving with lots of blur... I made a very basic mistake that a couple yrs ago I would not have made, but I still had fun shooting. Next time I will be more aware of the cameras settings and not make the same mistake...

Hi Marcus, the IPad Mini will be later addition, I was just trying to give a better out look as to what I was going to look into for equipment... The primes will be there also, as you stated they can save the day at times... The backup camera will be there depending on when I can get my portfolio build up enough to buy one.... The primes will more than likely come first, 24mm, 35mm, 50 and 85, and the SB-800's will fit in as needed whether buying them or renting depending on the need at the time... The funny thing for me is that when shooting film with an Nikon FE2 the 2 lenses that made me the most money were the 105 f2.5d and 180 f2.8. The gals really loved the effects of these 2 lens... The 180 was well worth the money I paid for it...

Hello William W,...I had not planned on making money again with Photography in general period, but over the years I have had a number of people to tell me it would be a mistake not to get back into it... It wasn't until two of my friends told me that they had made over $30,000 part time, and I was making $11.00 hour or less that brought me back to the fold...

So I began my background check and was told that I could get the same results or better from a 12mp camera, and with this information I chose the Nikon D300, and from there it has been a matter of money and what I could afford...

My plan is to have a D300 set of cameras and lens to start out with and then when I can afford it this would then be used by an assistant while I would use a D3s and D700 with lens ect...

I am also planning on getting a IPad Mini 32gig to use for downing loading directly from my camera, since it is nice to be able to look at my photo's on a 7-8 inch screen rather than my 3 inch camera screen..

I will also be using both on camera and off camera lighting and those wonderful reflectors that I had been playing with before I go out of the business... and in case you are wondering they were the gold and white ones...

The D7000 is too small a frame for my hands, hence the D700. The D700 is known for handling lower light at least over the D300 and will use the same cables and motordrive ect... I may just wait a bit and get it over getting a second D300...

Thanks for the input so far....

Just for clarity, the reason the extra D300 rather than the D7000 is the size of my hands, in my moneyless hands if you will the D300 is the next best thing for now. I would love to have the D700 since it would use all the same motordrives and cords as the D300 but is about $1000 more... I forgot to mention I have a SB-900 and plan on getting 2-SB-800's for the fill flash. I am planning on a Tripod and have it picked out also, and even have a trusty Stroboframe in my kit also... I am planning on getting the Nikon 80-200, and the 85 1.8, and the 50 1.8, just have not made up my mind yet on the wide angle lens(es) yet... Thanks for the Lightroom input, I had been looking but that is now a gotta have.... And yes the updated porfolio is something that I am about to start working on, the website will be with Smugbug, and I even have Quick Books and an accountant picked out...

Hello folks, I am looking at getting back into Wedding Photography but with digital. Right now I have a Nikon

D300, Tokina 50-135, Tamron 17-50, and Tokina 11-16 and also a Tamron 28-105. I have software wise now

Portrait Professional and Elements 10. Laptop is an ASUS I5 processor with a gaming video card and 12 gig of

ram.

 

I am planning on getting another D300 and a 23" Monitor.... What kind would you recommend on monitor..

 

What else do I need, and why.... I have a background of 10 years of Wedding Photography and have been out

of the business for 8 years...

 

Thanks Joel

Hi Guys and Gals, I am once again looking at starting a Photography Buisness and was wondering if anyone in

the local area is dealing with a good CPA.

Thanks for the assitance

Joel

<p>I am looking at getting a used Nikon Coolscan 4000 and wanted to know if the scans would print from the files at

least up to a 16x20 print. Also does the print exceed what I would get from using the negative?<br>

Thanks Joel</p>

<p>The question that I have reguarding the dual cards, is can the camera be set to record color to one card and the second card to record black and white. Or do most photographers just do the change later in processing.<br>

Also this would be for the camera's with one card capabilities can you record both black and white and color at the same time, just like they can record both RAW and Jpeg at the same time. This would be in line with the D300 and D700.<br>

Thanks Joel</p>

<p>Sorry was on the phone at the time and had the wrong name for the lens.</p>

<p>I am looking at shooting Portraits and (Weddings more in the future when I can afford 2 bodies). The 2 camera's that I am looking at going with would be the Nikon D300 or the Canon 40D. The reason for these 2 camera's being choosen are their price range at todays prices. I would be using 3 zoom lens all of them Nokia's and then 2 prime lens also.<br>

The question I need to know from users of these camera's is how large a print can be produced using low ISO settings and also tripod. I would use the prints for display purposes.<br>

Also does Canon have a rear-curtain sync with its flash units, like the Nikon does?<br>

Thanks for the responces in advance, Joel<br>

And just incase you want to know what lens I would be using, they are the 50-135 f2.8, 17-50 f2.8, and the 11-16 f2.8 then the primes would be a 50 and 80.</p>

<p>One of the things that I had a photographer tell me was to look at photo's that had been published in a magazine and look at how it had been lit, and then figure out how it had been done. This helped me quite abit in learning how to invision how someone else had taken this wonderful photograph. I would then try and copy the lighting technique and make it my own.<br>

Joel</p>

<p>I had a little girl that for the world of me could not sit still, stand still.... I finally posted her in front of a big oak tree with nice landscaping and handed her a pretty flower. I then instructed her to pull the petals of the flower off one at a time. I took about 6 photos of her doing this, the family was just amazed, and had all of the photos framed.<br>

If you are having fun it comes across to the individual that is being photographed, they in turn have fun also. (Most of the time)<br>

Joel</p>

<p>Hi one and all. I am not wanting to start a discussion on which is better, but I was looking into the Nikon 300D and the Canon's 40D, 50D and even the 60D. Now what I don't understand is the price difference of these camera's. Now this is what I found that while the Canon 60D is brand new the Nikon 300D is 3 yrs old on KEH.com I found that the Nikon 300D LN sold for a higher price. I am hoping that someone can explain this to me, since it would seem to be just the opposite in pricing.<br>

Thanks for the help, Joel.</p>

 

<p>This will no dought sound naive, but since I have only used filters in my background I am now seeking enlightment. For portrait and wedding formals of the gals what are photographers now useing. Or are you doing both?<br>

Thanks Joel</p>

I love the forum, now what is being discribed above seems to cover what I did before, now maybe I did more than the normal photographer at the time, and this with a manual Nikon FE2. But in looking over the brochers that I have seen the Wedding event is now being shot with 2 photographers instead of one. Is this where you are getting more of the candids that are being looked for, while the main photographer is handling the bride and groom per say?

I want to thank everyone for the response on my last question, it gave me alot to think about.

Now this is not meant to be flipant, it is just things have changed and I am needing a different way of thinking it would

seem in shooting a Wedding in this new day and age, even if it has only been 4-5 years.

Why so many images, I seem to see from 400 to several 1000. When I was shooting the bride and mothers

complained that they had trouble picking out photo's when they only had 100-250 for instance to choose from, now of

course this was in the context of purchacing reprints and then getting a free 11x14 or getting a upgrade to a 16x20

for a certain amount of reprints ordered. I remember every wedding having at least 3 camcorders or more going during

the entire wedding, and then the family and friends had their cameras also. So why are the photographers now the

candid masters, where before we were the posers of the couple and we were counted on as getting the quote money

shots.

Oh ya, I have looked into the assistant mode again, but still will need digital to get this position. Like I said it is a

whole new world it seems and I loved doing it before and would like to get back into it again.

Thanks for the responses, Joel

I was only going to have 2 F100's I was showing from my stand point the difference of the cost of film cameras vs digital. I would love to hear the out fit you discribe for $3,500. I was going for 2-F100's, 80-200 f2.8 AF-S, and 28-70 f2.8 AF-S lenses and 2 Sunpac 555 with batteries. 1 White Lightning Studio Lights ect...

Yes I do have a computer, but it is older, so yes email and visiting sites is still easy.

I am willing to look into digital, but as stated before the camera's I tend to like are in the $2,000 dollar range and then the new lenses are about $1,500 to match to todays cameras. I like the fast glass what can I say, it has made the difference in getting the shot or not at times in the past!!!

Joel

The reason that I am going film is the cost comparision right now, and being on a strick budget. I can get 4 F100's for about $1,000 and good lenses for my budget of about $3,500. Digital would be more in the $8,000 range plus adding a computer and monitor and software even more, as the saying goes I like the good stuff. I will also be doing this part time. I gues I will just have to wait and see if the market will hold me or not, but thanks for all of the information, I had thought I was seeing things different and was right. Maybe I will get lucky and find that little niche here in Phoenix, and it will help me reach my goals that I am wanting the extra income for. Only time will tell.

Joel

I have a background of 10 years of Weddings with 2 of them as an assistance but have not shot in 4-5 years. I will

be starting again with film cameras Nikon F100's because of the cost of starting up. The question that I have is odd

in that I am now seeming to see the cost return of reprints have gone down quite abit since I have gotten out of the

business. I am also seeing, or seem to get this impression that the large prints 11x14's and 16x20's that were a big

sale in the past seem to be just this. My question is am I reading things right, or are clients going for more of the

small prints instead now adays. My area of market is in Phoenix, Az. Now before anyone goes into 35mm will not

produce good size prints, I know otherwise and have sold to many of them to go with this argument.

Thanks for your information, Joel

The age aspect is not a problem, as stated above the equipment issue is. A suggestion that might help you earn some money to help buy your new toys is to start shooting some portraits on the side. This will help establish you in your market also and you don't need per say all of the backup equipment that is needed for the wedding business. There are plenty of good books and remarks on this site that will help you start shooting and start a business.

Best wishes, Joel

What I did, since I was rejoining the Phoenix, Az area was to go to a Wedding Show at the beginning of the year. While I was there I was able to pick up all of the brochers that were being put out from the photographers in the area. I found the market ran from prices for packages $800-$10,000. I was able to also get a feeling for were I would fit into the flux of things by talking to the other photographers and also seeing their work, I also had all of their web sites to look at also.

Now I am only going to be doing my business part time, so my pricing will also be based on this also.

Also I was able to ask the photographers how long they had been doing weddings, and this gave me an interesting view of the market also, about 30-40% had only had 1-2 yrs experience. All of this information was very valuable in helping me set my pricing, and also helped me set up my packages based on what I saw in my market.

Joel

Since I don't know how your contract is done about payment I would suggest a change in payment method so that you don't have this happen. I would be paid in full two weeks before the wedding, just like most of the venders that handle weddings.

About the only thing you can do is fix the order, and then recieve payment. This time make it cash or money order that you recieve the balance from the bride.

Also while I know this is a business and we all want to make money, we all run into these kinda brides. I have learned to listend to the "Warning Will Robinson" quote and turn down this kinda bride. Life is to short.

Redo's are part of the business, but always collect the money upfront, even if you must take credit cards as payment.

Good luck, Joel