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What kind of camera do you have? With the alien bees i think you need a transmitter to put on the hotshoe of the camera and receivers to plug into each of the strobes to make them fire. I had priced the alien bees a couple months ago and I think you can get it for about $120 for a transmitter and 2 receivers. If you want hair and background lights, just use strobes with different modifiers. I use barndoors on the background light, but you can use whatever you want. I started out using all 3 light from my kit right away, but I quit that right away and started using one light and will stay that way until I totally understand how it works. Get a lightmeter and only shoot in manual exposure. If you shoot in AV, the camera can't set the shutter speed since the flash doesn't go off until the picture is taken.

If the bride is already paying for the CD in her wedding package, there is nothing to lose by giving one to the grooms mother. If I give CD's, I usually give them 2 or 3 copies since they cost next to nothing to burn and I would not have made any more money off of it anyways.

I recently bought the 24-70L and a Sigma 105mm macro. They are both incredibly sharp, fast, accurate, and have beautiful bokeh and contrast. Like Mike said, almost every macro lens is excellent, so there is not much worry in trying a different brand than canon. If money is no object, you sound like you have it all planned out very well. If you don't like any of what you get, just send it to me!

Thanks for your responses. I was curious because I don't take the payment until they arrive for the shoot, but if they cancel at the last minute I don't like the idea of having turned down other work that I could have done instead. I guess I will change the way I do it from now on and ask for the sitting fee when they make the appointment.

I shoot outdoor and studio portraits in my spare time. The past month or so, I

have been averaging about 5 to 6 jobs a week shooting senior pictures and

families. I have always collected the sitting fee at the start of the session.

I had a family session scheduled for Saturday afternoon and I called and

confirmed it Friday afternoon. Friday evening I had a bride call me to ask if I

could shoot her wedding on Saturday because her photographer had a heart

attack, but I declined since I had a prior appointment scheduled for the same

time as the start of her ceremony. The family called me 10 minutes before their

appointment and said they couldn't make it and wanted to reschedule. Now I'm

out the money for the possible wedding and for the family session. My question

is this: In the future, how should I go about receiving payments for the

sitting fees? I usually just charge $50 for outdoors and the studio, up to 1

1/2 hours, so it's not a lot of money, but I don't want to be turning down

paying jobs when I have other appointments scheduled. Should I tell customers I

need the sitting fee to hold their date and time? Thanks-- Jason

weeks-- 3 weeks! they would kill me if it was 3 years

I got my novatrons about a little over a month ago and they work great for me. Don't know what you are shooting, but I got a V600D power pack, and it provides more than enough power for the 4 lights that I have, even though i usually just use 1 or 2 of the lights. SB light? Are you talking about a softbox?

I shot a wedding 3 weeks ago for a friend. They split up last week, the day before I was going to give them the pictures. They told me to keep them!

I thought my shutter was overly sensitive also until I showed it to a guy at my photography club and he said that he's owned 2 of them and that is just how they are made. Just press lightly or use CF 4.

1) I give them the price based upon when the contract is signed.

 

2) 3 weeks before the wedding for the final payment is the normal from what I've experienced and been told. Make sure your contract is clear from the beginning and make sure the bride and groom are aware of the payment schedule. I always take 50% to reserve the date and let them know that the remainder of the balance is due no later than 3 weeks before the wedding day. No matter how frustrating, be firm and pleasant, but remember that this is your business and livelihood.

 

3) Let the bride know that it is first come, first serve when it comes to reserving wedding dates, that you would be honored to shoot her wedding, but you have other inquiries that you can't turn down while she waits around.

 

The most important thing in my experience is to always be polite, firm, understanding, but still firm, and open. There may be financial reasons why they can't pay within the time of the contract, but with the upcoming wedding, is it feasible to believe that they will suddenly come up with the money? They must obviously like you and your work to have signed a contract in the first place, but you can't lose out on your income because somebody didn't want to fulfill their obligations to you.

What was your ISO set at? Use the lowest ISO setting, and a reflector to bounce light into the shadow areas if you want. I never use flash outdoors unless absolutely necessary. In this picture flash would have left harsh shadows behind her head.

I do work for some charities in my area and they usually ask me for a lot of my business cards to put in the letters they send to people who donated time and/or money to their organization. It's a great way to network and meet new people, and I've never had any problems with verbal contracts. Have fun and good luck! -jason

I have been told that the mirror would hit the lens. I only have one ef-s lens, but wouldn't try it on any of my film cameras.

I deal with photography licenses. Send me $50 and I will send you a notarized license.(: I believe that in most areas in the U.S. will issue a business license for free if it is in a properly zoned area.

I had a simialr post a couple weeks ago with the sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00K6l4. Read the last comment by Steve Dunn, which makes total sense. I ended up returning the lens and bought a canon which is perfect. The sigma i returned was checked at the camera shop and they said that it was not focusing correctly. Try checking the lens at 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0 and 11.0 and see how it looks.

I noticed the same thing as Kevin. I have a rebel xt and the RAW file size averages around 8MB. Converting the raw file to jpeg using Canon's DPP leaves a file around 6MB saved at 300DPI. Using CS2 and Camera Raw to convert the RAW file, it saves it as a jpeg at a file size of about 3MB at 300 DPI. I think what Kevin is asking and I'm curious about is if CS2 camera raw is compressing the image more than DPP and is it affecting the image quality?

Why were the bottles full at first and empty at the end? jk. Did you change the focus point in between shots?

I have 100 watt modeling lamps that I leave on all the time. Never a problem with overheating. If I take a break in shooting I will turn them off, but during any session they are on all the time unless i'm using gels or anything like that.

don't use auto anything. it just guesses what will look right and it is usually wrong. use levels or curves and you will be fine

I clicked to look at someone's portfolio last week and inadvertantly clicked on the request e-mail. It could have been an accident like that.

Technology is amazing. I found this rare lens that allows me to capture an image of a dog from 40 feet away. They carry them at places called "camera shops." Hopefully the rest of the world doesn't find out because everyone will buy these things to bring far away objects appear closer!

Thanks Richard- I didn't know there was a glass cover over the sensor. I learned something new today. Maybe I'm too overcautious.

I would be very careful using any kind of brush on the sensor, let alone a "blue spinner device." I have a $5 blower that I use occasionaly and have never had a problem with dust sticking to the sensor afterwards. IMHO I wouldn't let anything touch the sensor. Maybe I'm being too cautious, but I don't want to scratch the sensor and have to replace it or the camera.

I work as the second shooter sometimes and I usually charge between 10% and 20% of what the main photographer is charging. If he/she is charging $3000, I usually do it for about $400. The main photographer will be the one doing the post work on the photos, so you don't want to cut in too far into their profits. I always make sure I get to keep copies of the photos I take for use in my own portfolio.

Thanks for all your help, I'm going to go with Brooks idea and use a couple of softboxes and some reflectors. This should do what I'm wanting. That way I can light each section of the display the way I want and readjust the lighting. Thanks again--- Jason