laronge photographie coutu

March 11, 2009

I recently read a very positive review of the Sony a900.

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Right, they're all great cameras and have all gotten great reviews. The quality of photography from them will have much more to do with the photographer than any of these cameras compared to any of the others. Pick one and practice with it and test the various setting combination to see what you like.

From the other details you've mentioned, I would tell you go with the D700 too. Don't worry about the built-in flash (you don't have to use it but it can be a nice feature in certain cases). Cost + physical size + Image quality + you already have some Nikon gear = the camera for you.

March 11, 2009

Nikon D3 Nikon D3x Canon 5d Canon 5d Mark II Canon 1ds Canon 1ds Mark II Canon 1ds Mark III Sony A900

None of them have a built in flash, all are full frame and they're all the, "best." Is this simple enough?

March 10, 2009

Send a thank you note or at minimum a thank you email.

March 6, 2009

if I go freelance, it seems any of the really high-quality album companies only work with professional photographers.

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Have you actually contacted the album companies? Or are you going off what you've heard or read on websites? I know of someone who does exactly what you're talking about doing. She is a dealer for two different album companies and is not a photographer. She offers two album services: 1. Laying out albums for photographers (including retouching, etc.). She will take the specs of whatever album company the photographer likes to use and design to them. 2. Making complete albums/digital scrapbooks for non-photographers. A customer comes to her with images (and rights to them) and she designs the album and has it assembled by one of a couple high-end album companies she sells product from.

You don't have to be an album dealer to do album design. The photographer can be the dealer, give you the design specs and you layout the pages and give the photographer the layout files. The photographer then does all the transactions with the album company and the customer. Contact photographer's in your area and offer your services to them. You might have to do some trading (services for rights) in the beginning to get some good samples for a website. Make sure you do everything in writing and make sure you have releases from the photographer to use the images and from anyone identifiable in the images.

As far as making albums for individuals (not photogs), this is going to be trickier. You need to make sure the customer has clear rights (in writing) to reporduce the photos. There is a prevalant mentality amoung consumers that they paid a photographer so they own the images. This is not true and you need to make sure you're proteted. You're also going to run into budget issues. Most high-end photogrpahers, even those that offer files, sell albums. High-end photographers are the ones who have the clientelle that can afford a nicely laid-out high-end album. At the low-end, the Craig's List consumer who is buying $500.00 shoot and burn to cd wedding photography probalbly either can't afford or isn't willing to pay the price for a high-end storybook album.

As far as a website, get some samples together and put the up in a gallery with your email and phone number. You can try SEO and Google advertising to try to get your site noticed. (I'd get your ducks in a row before spending on internet advertising.) You're probably going to find personal relationships and cold-calling photographers will result in your most effective marketing. Once you're established doing designs for pro photogs, then work on the consumer side.

February 28, 2009

I'd go with the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 and a Canon 50 f1.2. This way you're covered from 18mm to 320mm (effective) and the 50 is a great portrait lens (on a crop sensor cam) and low light shooter.

February 25, 2009

Special effects in the digital age are called actions. Just like the effects you mentioned from 25 years ago, today's actions will look cheesy 25 years from now. And, any that effects or actions come back will be called, "Retro."

February 23, 2009

David,

Are those out of the camera or what did you use for NR? Which cam and software? They look great.

February 22, 2009

Tara,

To support my fact: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/print-narrative.cfm?destID=93&catID=0093020006

From the above link to Frommer's, "

Off-Season Disadvantages -- Let's not paint too rosy a picture, though. Although the advantages of off-season travel outweigh the disadvantages, summer travel has its drawbacks:

<ul>

<li>You might be staying at a construction site. Jamaican hoteliers save their serious repairs and their major renovations until the off season. </li>

<li>Services are often reduced. </li>

<li>Not all restaurants and bars will be fully operational at resorts. </li>

<li>Hotels and resorts may be operating with reduced staff."</li>

</ul>

If you had actually read the whole of what was originally posted, you would understand that the purpose of the comment was to encourage travel insurance, nothing else. The part about resorts closing and hurricane was to justify the reason for the comment.

Since you just joined Photo.net and this was your first forray into posting comments, perhaps your furture posts will be more productive and on-topic.

February 21, 2009

Tara,

You're right, hurricanes VERY rarely hit Jamaica in August. Except for Gustav in "08, Dean in '07 and Gilbert devastated Jamaica during the first week of September in '88, etc.. As far as, "a lot" of resorts closing in August and/or September, most either close or run on very limited capacity for a couple of weeks to do maintenance that would normally be annoying to guests. Many guide books mention this.

Since my post is the first you've heard of this, I'm glad I could be informative.

February 19, 2009

We use a G10 at some churches. Specifically the ones that have the most restrictive photography rules. I got tired of standing way back with a 200 or 300 on a tripod and shooting 1/15 @ 2.8 just to get some motion blurred images while Uncle Bob is sticking his p/s in the isle and flashing away. Now, I have an assistant sit about 5 rows back on the isle with the G10 and act like a guest. He shoots the processional from a great angle and uses flash on the ceremony when all the other guests are. He uses discretion when shooting and since he knows photography, the shots are great. And, much better than could be gotten using no flash from the back.

February 19, 2009

A couple things to note:

1. If you front your travel expenses buy trip insurance and make sure it covers weather related incidents. August is hurricane season and Jamaica is a big target. (a lot of Jamaican resorts close for a couple weeks in August and/or September for maintenance and to avoid customers being there during peak hurricane season)

2. It's going to be really hot and humid outside and it's going to be freezing inside due to over ambitious A/C. Prepare for cameras fogging when you go from inside to outside.

3. Most resorts are safe. However, if all of your expensive peices of gear won't fit in the room safe, take a Pac-safe and lock with you.

4. If the wedding is going to be on the west coast of the island (Negril) make sure you know how to shoot portraits with a sunset as the background.

5. You may want to consider taking a waterproof camera or housing. Even if it's a p/s, there are still some great opportunities. Canon makes very reasonable housings for their p/s cameras including the G10. They work great. If you care for them, they have fairly good resale on ebay if you don't want or need it after the trip.

6. Red Stripe is really, really tasty.

Have fun, Mon!

February 17, 2009

Check out the new Pocketwizzard FlexTT5 and/or MiniTT1. Full E-TTLII control wirelesly (radio) with no line-of-sight required.

February 10, 2009

You should show both. It will give the viewer a sense of your very best photos and what a customer can typically expect.

February 4, 2009

Since this thread has already started out as a cat fight and to prevent it from becoming an amateur lawyer rodeo, here's all you need to know about US copyright law.

http://www.copyright.gov/

February 4, 2009

It's pretty obvious the site is a Blu Domain template. So many photographers use them now they're easy to spot.

Candice, your photos that I saw look nice. However, I couldn't sit through the entire slide show. I would suggest you go to a short 5-8 image slide show intro with a skip option and then use a gallery that can be either skimmed or seen as a slide show, let the viewer decide.

Also, concerning the music, there are 3 problems with the music. First, music for the sake of music on websites is annoying. Second, because the images are not timed to the music, it's annoying and dizzying. Third, what everybody else said about copyright.

The problem with slide shows on the web is that the timing is symmetrical. Some images need to be seen for longer than others. If you really want a great looking slide show, the best way to do it is to create it in a program made for slide shows or video editing and time the images to the music. Post it online as an FLV.

February 4, 2009

Have an assistant with a note pad write down the name and file number.

January 29, 2009

Hey Mary, you've got it exactly right. You have a lot of experience and that is an attribute a bride can put in the "pros" colum when making a decision about your photography. I think it should be pointed out that this conversation isn't meant to say that an inexperienced photographer can't do a fantastic job. There are some great photos on the 3 years or less Best of 08 thread. For some of the shots I really liked, I poked around at poster's other work or their website. There is no question that some of the posters are well on their way.

One thing a young photographer can do to compete against a more experienced photogrpaher is charging less. When doing this, it is important that the young photographer be very honest and humble about the number of weddings they've done. It would be good to show an entire wedding, especially because many seasoned pros don't. It's also important to offer up as much relevant gerneral photography experience as possible. At the same time, try to offer the same level of service and product of the more experienced photographer. Brides can see effort and in many cases will view the young photographer as a bargin, great work at a lower price. Get in early before the artist gets discovered prices go up. Sure, this will depend on specific market and the clientele that would normally pay 10K may not go for the bargin but, it is a tactic that used well can help one break in and move up in market too.

January 29, 2009

Sometimes the truth is stretched...waaaaay beyond 'just a little'.

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A little research goes a long way. It's unfortunate that there are those that lie, cheat and scam, it really hurts the industry. Anyone can fall victim to a scam or sham. However, it's up to the consumer to vet the photographer they are considering hiring. With the exception of style (and that it may be a once in a lifetime purchase), hiring a wedding photographer is no different then many other purchases. When you hire a house painter you ask for references, ask how many years in business, check for insurance, check the BBB, etc. Your house can be repainted if the painter screws up, while you could only fake blown wedding photos to redo them. This is precisely why it's important for brides to do their part to vet the photographer they're considering. And, it's equally important for established pros to educate brides about the importance of doing this.

Professionals have other things besides photos to establish them as a good choice and they use these things in their marketing efforts. Hypothetical scenario: A bride looks for a photographer and equally likes the photos shown on 2 different photographer's websites. Photographer 1 quotes $1000 for 6 hours with 400 4x6 proofs and an online gallery; Photographer 2 charges $500 for six hours with all files on disc. Photographer 1 has been a wedding photographer for 15 years with over 200 weddings completed, is a preferred vendor at a number of venues, offers albums, reprints, etc. and is in WPPI; Photographer 2 is a high school history teacher* who bought an Xsi, was told by his friends how great his photos are and took, "the most amazing photos," at his niece's wedding. It's up to Photographer 1 to educate the bride as to why he is twice the price and doesn't include files. At the sametime, Photographer 2 can try to convince the bride that Photographer 1 is overcharging. Ultimately it's up to the bride to research the photographers, hedge her risk, make her choice and live with it.

*With all due respect to high shcool history teachers, except the one I had in ninth grade.

January 29, 2009

Do you as pro photographers think that there are way too many unprepared advanced amateurs, taking HUGE risks at the expense of their clients?

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Aren't the risks really the clients? Buyer beware! This is why professionals have things like portfolios, affiliations, references, legal business registrations, store fronts, contracts, product samples, web sites, take credit cards directly, proper and back-up equipment and plans, etc. (Before you thrash me for my last sentence please reread it and note that I said, "things like," not, "all of these things.")

In the end, isn't the final judge of a photographer's (pro or not) quality/service/price the clients? If you see an image with clipped highlights and you know that you could have shot the same image without the clipping and yours would be much better but, the photographer's, who shot the image, client is happy with the image, could you really do better?

January 28, 2009

Your pricing should be what the market in your locale will bear for your level of talent, experience, service and quality of product. Same with your product offerings. You really need to survey the local photographers who are you competition. It's too broad of a question for anyone who doesn't know your market to give you a really specific answer.

January 27, 2009

Reattaching.Fujifil IS-1, B+W 093 filter, 1/420, f5.6, iso 400, Lightroom Post Production

There are some beautiful shots in this forum!<div></div>

January 27, 2009

Use Aperture and Photoshop together. Use Aperture for organization, color correction, exposure correction, cropping, noise reduction, sharpening and raw conversion. Then use Photoshop for the special effeects you mention. You'll need the selection/masking abilities that Photoshop has and the others don't. The two programs play nicely together.

January 15, 2009

Without knowing anything about your photo abilities, and making an asumption from your post, I would suggest you put your camera on full auto (including iso). The metering is so sophisticated in the D70 that you should get very acceptable photos using the auto mode. As long as you're not required to get, "the shots," of the wedding, I'd tell you to expeiment too. Try different ISOs and camera settings and see what you like. It's digital you can always delete.

--JL

?s for Pro Smugmug Users · January 14, 2009

Thanks to all for your answers. I'm going to switch to them as they seem to have the best feature set/value out there. Plus I like the fourum and that they listen to their customers.

Best,

Josh

?s for Pro Smugmug Users · January 13, 2009

Thanks for the info. To clarify the percentage answer: 1 4x6 print retail price set to $10 means photog gets $8.31 (15% of $10 plus .19 for the print). Is the correct?

Two other questions that came to mind:

1. For proofing or orders that you place do you still use Smugmug or do you use another lab?

2. What does the packaqging to the customer look like? Is it branded Smugmug or EZprints? Do they insert additional things (ads, coupons, etc.) with the orders?

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