bob_crisp

<p>I have a handful of people that I could call on if necessary, fortunately I haven't yet had to do that. I try to be careful the day before about what I eat just to be safe!</p>

<p>This thread has kind of exploded since I last looked at it. I started this thread to bring to light what I've had some people tell me that looking through someone's website at a huge amount of photos was really daunting. I wasn't speaking of how many someone provided on a disk or shot.<br>

I talked to the person that brought this up to me and told her some of the ideas that were brought to light here, a separate gallery of photographers favorites, breaking the photos up into categories like formals, ceremony, reception etc. and she thought that would be very helpful. This person is the mother of the groom so she had no contact with the photographer ahead of time to know how the photography would be handled. Sounds like this photographer just took the entire take and dumped it into a gallery.</p>

<p>I agree with others, it sounds like something that should be ironed out with the photographer and client. I like they idea of having a separate gallery of photographers favorites.</p>

<p>Just thought I'd throw this out there. I've heard multiple people who have complained about wedding photographers that put 2,000 plus images on their website for the bride and brides mother to comb through to order photos. The complaint is that it is overwhelming trying to go through all the images and they wished the images have been edited down to a more reasonable number. I have heard this from several people who talk to me about wedding photography.<br>

The most recent person told me that it is going to take her hours to go through them and with a full time job she just hasn't had the time to do it. Her son's wedding was over two months ago and she still hasn't gone through them all to get an order together. The complaints haven't had anything to do with the quality of the work but how much trouble it is to go through all the images.</p>

<p>I always take a small three step ladder, it has wide rungs and is very easy on the feet and sturdy. Primary use it during shooting groups especially when they are on steps.</p>

<p>This scenario is a big reason I like doing the formals before the wedding, which allows the bride and groom to go straight to the reception and celebrate with family and friends. Fortunately, in this area at least, doing all the formals pre-ceremony has become standard operating procedure. I've only done formals after the ceremony twice in the past four years. </p>

<p>I completely agree with Steve George, that is the way a professional should handle themselves.</p>

<p>Dark dress pants and a black shirt. I once had a woman ask me why so many photographers wear all black, I told her it makes us look thinner!</p>

<p>I would probably shot tungsten with a gel on the flash and shot it in raw to fine tune later. </p>

<p>I had a bride back out on my three weeks ahead of the wedding after having me lined up for several months. I did not return the retainer. In the circumstances you are currently under I would.</p>

<p>My 40D backfocuses pretty badly with my 70-200. It does particularly if the main subject doesn't fill a big portion of the frame. It works much better when I use it when my 300mm lens.<br>

I however don't use it for weddings, I still use my 20d and 30d because I like to color much better. </p>

<p>I haven't shot film in over seven years. Working at a newspaper as my day job, we jumped into digital once the Canon 1D was announced. Once photo labs caught up with digital I haven't looked back. I do miss making my own b/w prints occasionally, but I get over it very quickly. </p>

<p>It has really become rare for the bride and groom not to see one another in the weddings I photograph. I've only had two in the last three years that didn't want to see another. Most brides want it that way because they want to have the time to get good photos with out the rush of trying to get all the formals done after the ceremony while people are waiting at the reception. <br>

I always start with the bride and groom and I set up a meet for them. If it is a church we clear the sanctuary and the bride walks down the aisle with the groom's back turned until she calls his name. I take a few quick shots as they come together and then I leave giving them a few minutes by themselves. To me it is by far the best way for everyone involved. It does require some people arriving earlier but it also allows the bride and groom, family and friends to go and immediately celebrate with one another at the reception.<br>

I usually don't have to talk the bride into this, they've already have made their minds up to do it that way. I had one bride tell me she was going to wait until after the ceremony until she went to one where all the formals were taken after the ceremony. She never got to speak to the bride because it took so long for the photos to be taken.</p>

<p>I usually take everything I own. I always have two cameras on me and a third on my wife's shoulder and a fourth in the car. Usually I'll have the three camera in use with a 17-40, 24-70 and a 70-200(when did I become so zoom depedendent?) My cameras include two 20d's(still my favorite color-wise), a 30d and a 40d. I take so much just in case I have some type of catastrophic camera failure. I do see any purpose of having a camera and not having it available if needed.<br>

The reason I have so many cameras is that my primary job is being a photographer for a daily newspaper. I use two cameras for that purpose, one belonging to the paper and the other belongs to me. I have two cameras that I solely use for weddings and portrait work. The two work cameras take more abuse from getting in and out of my trunk 8-10 times per day. My work 20d looks like a dog but keeps on shooting. I must have over half a million frames on it. Sorry not sure why I went so far off topic.</p>

<p>My M-F job is in photography but as a photojournalist. I am the chief photographer for a daily newspaper. I do wedding photography, senior portraits, family portraits and some commercial and PR work for myself. I'll probably always try to have a full time job and have my business as a sideline. I would love to make enough money to just work for myself, but I'm not confident enough in my business skills to do so (yet).</p>

<p>I used to shoot both and used raw for the tough lighting photos that I had trouble balancing in jpeg. I found that I didn't use the raw much so I went to jpeg only. When I changed from CS2 to CS4 I liked the ACR better and I am able to do a better job of raw processing with it, so I am shooting raw only. I don't think it takes my anymore time than strictly working jpegs and more importantly I am producing better looking images.</p>

<p>I try not to shoot with flash during the ceremony unless necessary. If I do I try to shoot sparingly with flash in addition to shooting available light.</p>

<p>They looked fine on my computer, I use Safari on my Imac. Just a note, you misspelled the word "preparation" on your wedding galleries.</p>

<p>My way of doing this pretty well mirrors what Nadine has said. I get a few photos of them as they first come together and I give them a few minutes by themselves before I start shooting.</p>

<p>All manual for indoor. Manual ISO and usually aperture priority for outdoor. Manual flash for indoor formals and ETTL for exterior shots. RAW for everything.</p>

<p>WHCC</p>

<p>I use one for shooting with my non IS 70-200 2.8 during the ceremony. It allows me to get some shoots I may have missed due to slower shutter speeds, but also still allows me the mobility a tripod won't. It isn't as good as a tripod for low shutter speed photos but it is better than handheld.</p>

<p>I usually have a proof book in the brides hands in two weeks, if i am extremely busy in has taken me as much as three.</p>

<p>I do as Chris and Jen said and I usually provide around 200 images. I know others provide alot more, but IMHO if you give people too much to choose from it is overwhelming.</p>

<p>The way I shoot weddings wouldn't allow for more than one a day. Around here weddings are rarely anyday other than Saturday. I've shot two Friday weddings, but they were chosen because of the significance of the dates. Oddly enough both Friday weddings were from the same family. I would be willing and hopefully able to shoot more than one on a weekend, but that hasn't occurred yet. I'm usually pretty tired the day after a wedding from standing for so long with heavy equipment hanging from both shoulders.</p>