mtrejo6

I also send them a survey after everything is delivered and they had some time to relax. As an incentive to get them to return the survey, I offer them a free 8x10 of their choice. They are always more than willing to provide feedback...especially when they get free stuff out of it!

Just advise her that it's difficult to appoint a backup since many have their own schedules and commitments but that you will make every effort to help her find another photographer of similar price and quality if the situation should arise. Of course, any money paid for unrendered services will be returned. Also let her know that it will be difficult to get any other photographer to commit a backup since this is not common practice. If it's a deal breaker, I'd say let this one go and wish her luck in finding a photog that can guarantee that a specific photog will be there in the event that you can't make it. Maybe she'll see the light and maybe she won't but be prepared for her to walk away.

I'm trigger happy...700-1000 shots!

I guess as your prices increase, the natural tendency is for the # of jobs to decrease but in the end it should balance out. I figure once your local customer base sees more of your work, business will get better.

 

I had a comment on your site. I would add images of the bride and groom with big smiles and having a good time. The images you have seem to static and emotionless along with the black of the background and the monotone music tend to depress the viewer...or at least it did for me. The images you have are nice, but you have tons of more lively (more emotion) and brighter images to showcase.

 

Best of luck!

Run away...scam!!!

They don't cut the inner edges. For example, if you have a 10x10 album and you are doing a panoramic shot (10x20), the print is actuallly 10x20 print that is cut at center and mounted on the album so both edges almost touch so it appears as if the prints flows continously on left from one side to the other. If they trim the inner edges, you would not get the countinous flow. I hope this is clear.

I ordered my album with metallic prints and thought it was awesome. The metallic paper has a nice effects that makes the image almost look 3-dimensional. Overall very nice print quality

I recently ordered an album from Tuscany and they are very nice. They greatly exceeded my expectations. Delivery time was awesome. From the time I placed the order to delivery was only about 8 days. They will be offering leather covers starting in mid-February. Right now they have faux leather and other materiala which are pretty nice.

 

As far as design goes, I used Photoshop. I originally designed an album in PS to order from Azukabooks and was able to use the same design in Tuscany. I just imported the files and was done in about 15 minutes. The design software that Tuscany offers is OK and easy to use but for more flexibility I prefer PS. However, if you want templates that are already done, go with the Tuscany software. The tutorial is pretty good. Best of luck!

Thanks for the encouragement George.

George, I agree with you but I'm not selling myself short. I've been doing photography for over 11 years and consider myself experienced but I recently decided to take a chance at wedding photography. This is a whole new different world to get into because it's all about marketing, quality comes second in MOST cases. I agree that you have to have the right angle and sales pitch but most importantly, your picture have to demand attention and sell you and your work without all the self-accolades. I can claim that I offer the best prices with the most options all day but I'd rather put my efforts in showcasing my imagery. My goal is definitely to be in that top 5% of photogs whose wedding imagery really stood out. I know I'll get there, hopefully sooner than later.

I went to a local bridal show here at the Dayton Convention Center yesterday to

get ideas for the upcoming year. However, I was surprised by the number of

wedding photogs at this 2-day event. I believe that there were about 200

booths total. Of these 200, there were 30 photographer booths, about six or

seven per row, one every 3rd or 4th booth. Since I am planning to do my first

bridal show, I was shocked to see how oversaturated the wedding photography

market is for this area and made me reconsider doing one of these shows. I am

the first to say that I am by no means a pro but I'd venture to say that about

95% of the photogs present didn't really distinguish themselves from each other

in terms of quality or creativity. I will say that there is one that definitly

deserves props...Sandra Reed Photography. Her imagery was just outstanding!

Have any of you every seen this many photogs in such large numbers at a single

event? Is it even worth it?

Yessss. Definitely. A D3 would be nicer though :) I have a D300 for the flexibility indoors but I also have a D200 which is great as well. You can't go wrong especially when comparing it to other brands for sor similar quality.

This is free advertising. Just request that you get credit either as a caption on the picture or some other recognition. Just be specific as to which images can be used and how they are to be used.

I concur with Tim. Many photogs interpret copyright laws in a way that is convenient for them. This also applies to music used in picture shows. The common response is that the customer provided the music. This practice is still copyright infrigement regardless of the source unless it's approved by the music company or it's royalty free music.

Soften your lighting. seems a bit to harsh. try natural lighting with no flash.

I too have a D200 and just bought the D300. It is a great camera with a lot of great new features for greater flexibility. I shoot very comfortably now ath 1600 ISO with no worries or noise. I planning on trading my D200 for another D300.

Don't sweat it, it's probably better that this happened. Always go with your gut feeling.

overnightprints.com

Do the wedding at the original price. It's a business but it's not always about money. Your word and reputation are much more valuable. Just make sure you get a signed contract before you press on.

I just bought the D300 myself and I bought the Sigma 20mm f1.8 to go with it. This is a great lense for low-loght and wide angle. I also have the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 which is very diverse. Finally, get the Nikon 50mm f1.8. These should be a good starting point and should run you about $1500 for the 3 lenses. The D300 is great! I have the D200 also but I needed a back up so it was definitely perfect timing. So far I am impressed with my new toy.

Many potential clients prefer a tangible product either in the form of prints or albums when considering a photographer. A wedsite is a good starting point to assess your work, but they also want to confirm that what they will get as a deliverable matched the quality that they see on a computer monitor. Also, they would like to see that they can indeed get large prints and maintain image quality. This is hard to demonstrate with a laptop.

I was working with a couple and as I changed lenses, before I even had a chance to remove the lense cap they were quick to notice "your lense cap is on". I'm glad they were there to tell me otherwise I would have had some seriosly underexposed images :)

I state in my contract that although photography by friends and family is not prohibited, it is imperative that they limit to moments other than the formal sessions. I emphasize that friends and family will distract the couple, thus causing pictures of them looking away and it also consumes the time alloted to formals leaving less time to do what needs to be done. I also make them aware that any missed shots or undesireable shots caused because of this interference is not my responsibility.

 

I usually go over this when we review the contract together and empahsize this point and I make sure that they understand this clause. Always ommunicate clearly when you meet with the couple to make sure that they understand how you work. Every couple I've worked with appreciates that I bring this up and they are always compliant the day of the wedding.

Not everyone has a big wallet to spend on their wedding. Many couples pay for their own weddings so they are forced to seek out what they can afford. If they could afford a pro and pay $3000+ for all the bells and whistles they would not be bargain hunting. If they are smart, then they are careful when they seek out an inexpensive photographer to ensure that they still maintain some level of quality. If the photographer ends up shooting "on-camera flash crap" then the bad is on the couple for not doing proper research.

 

On the flipside, I've heard about people forking over thousands just to get screwed over with poor customer service and below-average quality.

 

Just do your thing and don't worry about everybody else. If you are as good as you say you are, customers will go to you without hesitation.

I tried Wedplan and Decidio.com. I do get a lot of leads but I have yet to get any actual bookings from them. I have given up on them and instead focused more attention on getting a decent website going.