lfoley

I bought FotoFusion pro last year, and it has saved me an enormous amount of time without sacrificing all of the creativity I want to put into the books. I highly recommend it!

Hi Mike - I used to live in Ithaca. Beautiful part of the country. I really miss it :-).

 

For church weddings, I usually wear dark/black slacks (no skirts because I stand on my head everywhere) and a simple but moveable solid, darkish top.

 

I do a lot of beach weddings, too, and for those I wear white slacks and a light top. Black would stick out like a sore thumb against our white sand, and most of the guests are dressed in light colors as well. I was doing a family beach portrait the other day and there happened to be a wedding going on nearby, so we stopped to watch for a few minutes. The photographer was dressed in all black and he was like a polka dot moving all over the white canvas. It cracked me up!

If it's been one of my full-day weddings, I eat. Nobody wants photos of people eating, and I eat when that's the only thing going on. It's not in my contract that I be fed, but the B&G know that I've spent all day long with them and they or one of the parents always insists on it without my having to say anything. I always get table details before the eating starts and often have them done before the B&G even arrive at the reception. There's almost always a chance for me to do table group shots before eating starts as well.

Bludomain.com has had the reputation in the past of being really slow in the customer service department due to being too popular for their own good. I bought a site from them a month or two ago, however, and I had the site up and running within a few days. No problems at all with their customer service. Perhaps they've worked through their backlog issues.

 

I love my site and it's super easy to edit!

DON'T assume the ceremony is going to be the typical order or number of events. Ask if they're including or excluding any of the usuals. For example, I was in a bad spot for the kiss one time because they (unexpectedly to me)didn't exchange rings.

 

DON'T expect anything to go according to schedule. Be pleasantly surprised if it does.

 

DON'T waste your time photographing people eating. Eat when they eat. I don't know of anyone who likes the camera around when their mouth is full of food, and a messy table isn't a good background. Those shots just don't sell.

 

DO pay attention to details. Many brides spend an enormous amount of time and money on the little details, and they'll appreciate photos of them.

 

DO attempt to build a bit of a relationship with the B&G beyond just client/photographer. A couple who trusts you and feels comfortable with you will allow you much greater access to those little private, beautiful moments of a wedding day.

No dumping here either! I copy the cards to a Hyperdrive during the day but never erase anything.

I was a vest-wearer for a while, but now I'm totally sold on the Modulus system that Ellis referred to. I wore it for the first time yesterday during an 8 hour wedding day, and my back seriously thanked me. I'm in love.

Well, the tilt is making me dizzy. And you've got some exposure issues. Parts of the background are blown out while you've lost detail in some of the shadows. The pose is sweet though you can't really see the kids' faces. The dog looking back is great!

I just went and measured my kitchen ceiling, and it's at 8ft, so this church's ceiling can't possibly be more than 7. I did raise the lights up to 7ft with the softboxes horizontal, though, and it's not too bad. Higher than my mind puts 7ft at.

 

We'll see!

That's what I'd planned to do. They're 5' tall, so I didn't even consider trying to put them vertically.

The softboxes are 30" x 60". I hadn't really considered bouncing them back or to the sides. Thanks!

I've got a wedding this Saturday in a church with a ceiling lower than I've ever

seen in a church before. I'm 5'4", and I felt like I could jump up and touch

it, so I would estimate that it is at 8'. I'll be doing a group shot of

approximately 30 people using two AB800s with AB giant softboxes. I'm concerned

about shadows since I'm not going to be able to raise the strobes very high.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on how I can pose and/or light the group

differently to minimize shadow issues. About 6' in front of the pews there is a

small step up to a platform about 4' deep and then another small step up to

another platform. I anticipate having access to enough chairs to seat a row if

necessary, too. Thanks in advance for the comments!

Full editing is done on all photos that my clients see. Like William said, I don't think it's fair to ask my clients to imagine what the photo will look like after it has been processed. I think they deserve to see exactly what they're going to get if they order that photo. So after I go through all of the photos from a wedding and weed out the bad ones, I fully edit everything that is left before uploading them to my proofing site. I don't charge extra for photoshopping out distracting elements like cars or power lines either. It has been a positive selling point for me.

Thanks Matt and Anthony for your responses. Matt, I used to shoot mostly using single focus, but I've found that when I'm trying to keep up with a frisky 2 year old, it's next to impossible to focus, lock, recompose, and shoot. In that heartbeat, the subject has moved on and would now only be a blur. I agree, though, that were it more sensitive, I'd probably be hitting it accidentally all of the time.

 

Anthony, I'm sure it's nothing wrong with the cameras - it's just the individual ergonomic issue like you said. I haven't given tracking a try yet just because it's new to me with the D200, but I'm definitely going to now. Thanks for the advice!

I did a search for this topic and didn't find anything, so here we go:

 

Does anyone else find the AF selection pad to be too stiff and less than

optimally responsive? I've got a D70s and a D200, and in the cases of both

cameras, I find that the pad doesn't respond to the gentle but firm touch that I

wish it would! I'm missing way too many shots because I can't get the AF point

moved where I want it in time. It either doesn't respond at all and I end up

having to really mash the pad, or, especially in the case of the D200, it goes

to a point in the direction of the one I want, but misses up or down, for

example. I'm getting pretty frustrated with it now that I'm doing more

fast-paced work. Does anyone else experience this, and does anyone have any

tips for faster and more accurate AF selection?

 

Thanks!

Lesley

Crestview, FL - in the panhandle about 50 mi east of Pensacola.

What did your shutter speed read when you were wide open?

 

Is it possible you've accidentally changed the exposure compensation?

I find the B&Ws to be way too contrasty. The color photos are nice, though. Good use of the natural light. Congrats! She's beautiful! :)

Um, yeah, how exactly is that a scam? The bride purchases the package with X number of prints. The photographer shows her proofs of all of the photos taken. The bride picks out her X number of prints. Duh!

You're a brave lady, Tammy! ;)

 

Kevin Swan's comments hit the nail on the head for me. The site looks very amateurish with the big fonts and the boxes around everything. And at my screen resolution (1280x1024), the text is either running behind the photos or running out of the boxes most of the time. There are so many free web templates out there that could give you a professional look without requiring you to be an html pro.

 

My problem with your About Me section is not that you identify yourself as a Christian but how you have written the paragraph as a whole. Try being a little more descriptive about yourself and your photography. The simple sentences all beginning with "I" along with the big font make it look and sound childish. Some people may be looking for a Christian photographer, but most people are looking for an intelligent photographer who expresses herself well.

 

Good luck with the editing!

Wow. Seemed excessive to build all of those big dunes for how close-up the shots ended up being ... at least the ones they showed at the end.

Hi Mike, I had experience with this just the other day! A friend was having the same problem with the SB-800 she had just bought. TTL-BL wasn't showing up when she'd scroll through the modes. I was in the middle of troubleshooting for her when she told me she put the flash on her D80 and then the TTL-BL showed up. Have you actually mounted the flash on your camera?

I recently got the Savage Polevault and have been happy with it so far.

I love the colors, but I would agree that the blur effects are a bit too much. :)

It's such a simple thing to register with them so why not? They don't spam you once you show interest like some other places.