savagesax

Nish, you kind of have 2 choices. You can use the spotlight as your main light source and set you camera to that light source, such as florescent on manual mode, or over power it with your flash unit. I prefer to have complete control, for the worries of strange shadows on faces, so I would overpower using an on camera flash or off camera strobes. The higher you set your ASA, such as 6400 you will pick us stage lighting, so if you want to overpower the stage lights use an ASA rating of 1600 or less. I prefer about 600 and let my strobes take over. Now sometimes it is fun to mix both lights together to get some special effects, but always cover yourself and get the main shot first. An example is if the DJ has one of the colored balls spinning around. A few shots is always fun, sometimes with a fish eye lens is a blast. But don't go wild, blue and green faces from the DJ. light ball won't make brides.

You know what hurts is photographers shooting weddings for $400 to $500. Craigslist specials. Will these people ever go away? Don't think so. Weddings should cost about $3000 for 1 or 2 shooters. The bride and groom can afford it, but they would rather get that craigslist special and sue you for missing the shots. Bob Bill is correct. If the bride and groom hire a lawyer and avoid small claims court, you, as the photographer is looking at $25,000 and up. The bride and groom wide up getting their wedding for free, probably their honeymoon too. All because of some missed shots. Lets say you WIN the lawsuit, you still lose, because you have to pay the attorney fees, which start around $500 an hour. Maybe $500 to $1000 a half hour if it goes to court. Scary...

Lets forget about the cost for now. Shoot for free. Here's why and it has nothing at all to do with your age. You need more gear, better cameras, back up systems, and plenty of Photoshop experience. You should be carrying 2 cameras that hold 2 memory cards, 2 powerful flash units, 4 to 6 lenses, and a ladder unless you are at least 5'7" tall. You need a contract, insurance, you need to register with the city, county as a working person under the name of whomever, and file a 1099 form for the government taxes at the end of each year. Once you've got all of this completed you can think about taking your first shot at a wedding. I'm not trying to scare you. Accidents happen, cards fail, cameras and lenses suddenly stop working, I've seen a flash catch on fire more than once! I saw a photographer trip and fall into the cake, so no cake photos were taken and the bride and groom had nothing to cut the cake. Needless to say, lots of lawsuits were filed for no photos to no cake, to damaged property from the flash catching on fire. Some of the upscale hotels now require at least a 1 million dollar insurance policy for the photographer to get into the door. Some are as high as 2 million. Getting insurance isn't hard, but you have to be a registered business owner paying taxes, and in your case you may need a parent to own the company. You aren't ready. Or you could be illegal and take your chances. Then your folks can lose a lot.

Thus the reason why I almost always shot weddings alone. The more people you have the more problems happen. Try to learn to shoot weddings by yourself. There are exceptions where you may need 2 main shooters, but not a second shooter or an assistant. It usually just causes your nerves to go nuts.

You didn't say anything about it being at night, inside. a flash is a must, so the 70- 200 with a flash my not work well. Shoot with a flash and the 50 mm and hope. You really aren't prepared. A small zoom would be ideal. Even if it is for free, if doesn't matter.

Don't sue, it's not worth the trouble. You are just starting out, learn from it and move on. Don't EVER give out photo's until the whole bill is paid for. If you go to court you are at the mercy of the judge and it really depends on the quality and what you offered the couple. If pics are missing the judge will probably vote in favor of the couple. Here is why you NEVER give out the photo's. From 1 full length shot of a bride, carefully posed, you can make 5 or 6 shots out of that 1 single shot. A close-up, a ring shot, B&W a sepia, vignetted, just her eye area. By moving a foot to her right or left and having her tilt her head . boom, you have another full length and a bunch of other shots. They all look totally different in photoshop when you are done. However I hate working in photoshot and would rather get the shot right first. Taking all of these "In Camera." Lesson is to be creative. One great pose can save you. One great pose can also save hours on the computer. A hard lesson to learn. Always bring a MUST list of required shots. You have to get the following, just a short example - The bride alone, several shots, 15 bride with mom, 5 shots bride with dad, 5 shots bride with mom and dad 5 plus shots. bride with bridesmaides bride with each brother and sister bride with entire family bride and groom with entire family bride and grandparents add divorced parents. great grand parents. Groom - same way as the bride. same shots. 8 shots. Add divorced parents Bride and groom with the wedding party. This should keep you out of trouble. If you miss any of these you could be in trouble and lose in court. Do a search for must have shots for receptions. There has been plenty written on this subject.

It depends on how long you want the video light to remain on. It surely can be distracting if you leave it on all of the time. So what are your plans? To get rid of flash entirely?

Is it me? I really don't like the look at all! Blown out whites, cropped at the joints, such as the knees, colors look weird. I wouldn't be happy if I were this bride. Sorry if I offended anyone.

<p>You have to take charge and tell them there will NOT be time later. I think every photographer runs into this all of the time. You have to be the boss. <br> Formals always come first. Your answers are simple, tell them you their makeup won't look good, the ties come off, the tuxes come off, people look horrible. Ask them to give you 15 minutes, even though it may take 30 minutes. <br> Take charge. I hate to say it, this is kind of your fault for allowing people to step on you.</p>

Way to go, good business practices. Keep up the greeat work. Hope you enjoyed my sick humor!

Krista, I'm checking in to see how the practicing is going. Let me know if you have questions. Bob

I just read a post above. I was right it was money related! You were worried over something so simple. The bride used the PHONE. Always call the bride a month before the wedding then a week later, then another week later and the day before ask her if she is doing anything exciting tomorrow! This lets the bride know that you really care about her special day and you are there to solve issues. You are NOT there just to get paid, you are there as a gifted pro and also as a friend she can trust and confide in. This is why she hired you. Good job - Keep up the calls. Act professional, be her friend. Bob I was never very good at typing, forgive the typing errors.

Sorry, I am in a MAJOR disagreement with most of the posts regarding this topic. At least for the moment. My views could change shortly if the photographer does what I would suggest - PHONES are really a wonderful thing. Do you have one, or do you just own a computer? Are you afraid to shoot weddings? Some people are. It's OK to hate the wedding business. Just one bad wedding can lead to a major lawsuit. Sorry, but after doing 1500 weddings, probably much more, this seems like a silly post. Stop playing games and CALL her, unless you don't want to do the wedding, and in this case just give them back their money and move on, have a nice BBQ that day, a few beers some friends over, and forget about the wedding. If you don't have her number have a new contract made up by a contract lawyer, not out of some sort of book or off the internet. Yes I'm joking here with some of my statements, but not about the phone. I think it's VERY rude on both parties, you and her to avoid the use of a phone conversation. I don't understand this type of logic, so I am gong to put you on the spot here and ask you why you refuse to call her. I look forward to your answer and I hope things work out for the very best. Being in the business for so long, 1988, my guess, even before calling her, is she doesn't have the cash so she is ignoring your emails. Be ready to offer another solution. Such as you will show up and do the wedding and when you get paid they get the images. It may take a month or 2 but one day you will get paid. And no they can't see the images before they pay you. You can tease them and show them a few, but that's it. For the record, I don't shoot anymore, but I never lost a wedding because of this type of situation. This situation is so easy to fix, the question is do you want to fix it or walk away?

YES - Shawn is soooo on correct on many levels! CF cards are much better. If you use an SD card use the cable that comes with most cameras and hook the camera to the computer. Hopefully your camera and your computers have this correct cable connection. Then for added safety NEVER take the SD card out of your camera. Use the cable system. Yes I know not all of the computers and cameras have this setup. Part of becoming a pro, get the correct gear, take your computer to a repair shop and have a special card inserted. The cost for the card is $20. The labor is up to the repair shop. $25 to $200? It takes less than 10 minutes to install on a bad day. 2 minutes is about average for me.

I can't give you any advice as you are not from the US and the laws of course are different here. Actually they are different from state to state, which is even more confusing. I can offer this advice to ALL wedding photographers. Dump these dang cheap cameras. You are pro's or you are suppose to be pros. Act like one. Get cameras that write to dual cards. Even if they are a slightly used pro camera. Stop taking chances because it will bite you for sure. Maybe not today or next week. If you are really lucky, never, but I haven't seen this happen. Buying backup cameras is fine. Those should be the same, able to use 2 cards. I just don't get it, because in 2 or 3 weddings you've paid for it. Maybe only one wedding. In the film days cameras were much more expensive. Carrying $25,000 worth of Hasselblad gear was very common. Then every time you took a photo it costs a dollar. Now you can take 10,000 shots for free!

If they change the date again, if you are booked you can offer to find them another photographer and pay a local pro around $400 to $450 to shoot it. I'd still work with them, because of possible referrals.

Hi, I don't think you are ready yet to take on weddings. I looked at your work and you do have what it takes. Can you go to local book stores, online stores and pick up a mess of books on portraits and lighting. Also posing techniques. Is there a local college that offers Basic Photography as evening classes? I'd say I have about 100 plus books. It's good to keep them and look at them every so often, because most of the topics, such as lighting haven't changed in many years. It's the same concept as it was 75 years ago. This may sound nuts and I've this this before, I rather see someone use a flash on every shot taken than no flash at all. The main reason are dead eyes. Dark eyes are dead. You want to see sparkles in the brides eyes. At high noon you will be in trouble with outside lighting, unless you use a flash. The lighting is just so flat that you must use your flash and try to use the sun source as a fill, such as lighting up the veil or her hair. The sun in most cases is not your friend and finding shade isn't always possible. Try to shoot with a flash everyday. Night and day. Learn how effective the AUTO modes Program modes and Manual modes work. For example the Auto and Program modes may only be good to about 8 feet, Then everything is underexposed. So you have to go to Manual mode. This is where practice comes in. You don't need people to practice with, just objects.

When I shot nature work I always used positive film, medium format Hasselblad cameras. ASA 50 and rated it at 32! It wasn't that long ago, 2005 I think was when I last shot film! Amazing! I still think low for nature and I've been shooting nature with the 5DSR, Looks sweet! Sure beats spending $35,000 on a 50 megapixel hassy back!

There's such a fine line between calling yourself a pro. There are jobs that you sometimes have to say NO to. Sounds like your camera gear failed you and maybe the gear wasn't professional enough? A trick for the future. Sometimes it's best to either spend money on expensive cameras that focus wicked fast and shoot at 6 to 10 frames a second so you capture that moment. I think the fastest camera on the market is 14 frames per second. The next thing you can do is set the lens to manual and pre-focus so you are ready and the the camera fires. You can also set your lens to F11 and pretty much everything from 5 feet to 40 feet will be sharp enough. If you are shooting on program mode you are pretty much dead and you've lost total control of the camera. You have to be in complete control of the camera. I hope you and everyone reading this understand that a camera is just a tool and you have to be the boss of the tool. Don't ever trust it unless you are not a pro and you know nothing about cameras. If you set the lens to F4 well pretty much everything will be out of focus except for the subject. I had a lens in the film days, a Hasselblad lens that had an F64 setting! The lens was at least 2 1/2 feet long. Anyway, F11 should solve your future problems. F16 is even better. As for what to do, post a few shots and see if any of the photoshop wizards here can sharpen up the pictures a bit to be presentable. Hope these ideas help.

Some excellent digital work!

It's too late now, but backing up to DVD's as well as HD's is a better move. Some DVD's have a lifetime warranty with them and we all know that DVD's will be replaced probably within the next 5 to 10 years or so. But it's a great backup system. HD's really don't last very long. They of course can die anytime and if you store them in a dark room, such as an external drive often after just a few years some of the images will go bad. I think it's really nuts that spinning hard drives are still around. Companies should be pushing solid state HD's, these drives are out already, but the cost is still a bit too high.

I tend to stay with Canon lenses with high quality cameras.I wish I could help

There's always the telephone! Can you call them or the hotel and see if the couple is booked there? Seems way too easy for me to get this figured out. On my contract I have the parents names and phone numbers listed as well as the couples.

Good advice John, getting the kids to relax. The hardest groups for me were adult hockey teams, because the photos had to be taken after the games, due to time. Everyone looked like crap all sweaty!

What I'm concerned about is the mirror could just be stuck to the gooey old rubber vibration absorbers that turn to a sticky glue like consistency. This rubber material turns crappy after several years. However, there are many other causes, thus the reasons for wanting a few photos. I did my own hassy repairs for many years, but I never used the ELM's so there could be issues with the electronics, maybe corroded wires from an old battery or something, gears gummed up, I really don't know unless I saw some pics. Something is surely jammed, or an electrical issue, so don't force anything. I'm only OK at repairs. I can do the basics. Send the camera to a master, try to avoid Hasselblad for service, because they charge a lot. People like David are surely your best bet.