scottyt

If everyone shot the same style, the wedding photography industry would be a dull place (which it is not!).

Clients book the photographer when they like the style and everyone has diffrerent taste.

Crop away! Chop heads, chop feet, chop everything except for the feet if you want. Doesn't really matter if it's giving you an image that you (and hopefully the client) like.

If there is a shot with the veil cropped out, there are probably dozens with the full veil, so I don't think it matters at all.

I think if the question is about sales model and what brides will buy, then that is different... maybe.

Scott.

<p>A couple of easy options...</p>

<p>1) Use QUEENSBERRY. They will design all of your albums for no extra cost. They aren't the cheapest album supplier, but they are one of the best. You'll never get a couple that is unhappy with their album.</p>

<p>2) Use COUTURE BOOK. A lot of the albums they do work well with the 1 picture per page layout method. Just upload and it poulates the album for you.</p>

<p>Worth a look.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Hi Rob,</p>

<p>I have similar feedback to some above.</p>

<p>On import to Lightroom, make the selection that says render 1:1 previews. It takes a bit longer as it renders images immediately after importing, but it's a single step from your point of view and nice and easy. It makes the photo's load correctly and immediately when culling.</p>

<p>Secondly... "P" and "X" are the best method I've found for culling. "P" is to "Pick" an image and "X" is to "Reject" an image. Pick's get a white flag and rejected images get a black one. An excellent tip when doing this, is to make sure the Caps Lock is on. This tells Lightroom to skip straight to the next image, once you've made your decision. You can always flick back and give a rating if you really want to do this at times, but I never do at this stage.</p>

<p>After you've been through all images, just filter by flagged images and all of the rejected images will disappear.</p>

<p>If possible, get someone else to do the cull for you! My wife does my cull and it's awesome. Sure, if I suspect something is missing, I can go back and check, but that rarely happens. I just get to see about one third to one quarter of the images shot.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Sounds like a fun trip.</p>

<p>My experience is that less gear when travelling is far better. Go with the minimum. 1 body and 1 lens is ideal. But which one?!</p>

<p>If you have a cropped sensor camera, I'd suggest an 18-200 or similar. If not, maybe just a 24-70 or 24-105 if you have something like that.</p>

<p>It sounds like the trip is not a photo trip first, so that means you aren't going to have much time to be setting up shots and waiting for the right conditions. Based on that, travel light, move fast and enjoy yourself.</p>

<p>Good luck deciding!</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Hi Green, I get the impression that you are really quite curious to know who is sending these e-mails. The content is maybe not such a big deal.</p>

<p>If that is the case, you could bait the line and see if you get a bite... tell them that you'd really love to change your pricing structure, but you really don't know where to start. Ask them if they'd be willing to get together for a networking coffee/lunch and discuss the topic in more detail. Drop in that you'd appreciate the guidance from a more experienced photographer if you like, just to stroke their ego a bit.</p>

<p>You may not get a response or you might get to unmask the offender.</p>

<p>Scott. :-)</p>

<p>My 24-70 fell off of my camera and onto concrete as i was about to take a group shot after a wedding ceremony.</p>

<p>I know I did some damage as it was difficult to get back on, but it's been working fine ever since.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>I'd recommend the Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.</p>

<p>I find his books to be very informative, without being difficult to get through.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Hi Kevin,</p>

<p>I am from Australia and was best man in my friend's wedding in May this year (North Shore of Oahu). Being a wedding photographer, i decided to choose his wedding photographer as a gift.</p>

<p>I was watching RC Conception on one of the Kelby shows and he said that Mark Holladay Lee from Hawaii was worth checking out.</p>

<p>I had a look, liked his work and booked him.</p>

<p>If your friend is not looking for a huge package, then this is the guy. Very reasonably priced. He has a 2 hour package for $600 if I remember correctly and that includes high res.</p>

<p>His blog/site is <a href="http://holladayweddings.com/blog/">http://holladayweddings.com/blog/</a></p>

<p>He's based on the North Shore of Oahu. He's a really nice guy too.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Hi Val, it's a bit late now, but for future reference...</p>

<p>I always discuss the possibility of rescheduling a TTD shoot with a client when I book it. I let them know that it can be rescheduled if something comes up for them and also discuss the possibility of rescheduling if I am asked to shoot a wedding on that date.</p>

<p>I've never had a problem. I have had clients reschedule and I've done it once myself. It's always a friendly conversation and not a big deal.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Hi Rafael, sounds like a great trip coming up.</p>

<p>The only thing for sure is that at some point during your trip, you'll wish you had whatever it is you choose to leave behind!</p>

<p>I'd suggest taking as little as possible. Based on your list of available lenses, I'd probably opt for just the 16-35 and leave the rest at home. None of your lenses are light and weight can become a really big deal when you're travelling.</p>

<p>As I don't have the 16-35, I recently took just the 24-70 (with a 5DmkII) to Tokyo and I was happy with that. I would have loved my 70-200 at times, but not often enough to warrant the extra weight. Maybe the 24-70 would be appropriate for you. I suppose it depends on how much landscape versus people shots you think you might take.</p>

<p>Anyway... packing light is my best advice. I'd even leave the flash at home.</p>

<p>The tripod would be great to have, but you can get by without it. That depends on your style i suppose. You could always hire one for a day or two if you have a place in mind that you'd want to have it.</p>

<p>Although it is great to have all of your available arsenal with you, it can be great to work with only one lens.</p>

<p>I would also suggest to spend more time in Scotland than England, but I am Scottish ;-)</p>

<p>All the best for your trip.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hi Errol, your current system sounds like it could cause a few headaches. As always... it's easy once you know how!</p>

<p>I think you have been given sound advice already. My input is simply that I use Lightroom. Not only to sort images, but to import from the camera(s). It automatically makes a copy to two different hard drives for me on import.</p>

<p>Once I have finished importing, the images are already sorted into chronological order. The only problem that can happen here is having the camera times set differently, so as you have been advised, sync the time on all cameras.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Welcome to Lightroom! Lightroom is the best thing I ever did for my post processing. You're going to love it.<br>

I also would suggest you get Scott Kelby's book. It's easy to follow and is full of solid training as well as handy tips.<br>

Also, get to know Matt Kloskowski. Find his blog and podcasts.<br>

When it comes to where your files are going, I would recommend that you commit fully to lightroom. Don't resist it by using another program to import. Let Lightroom import from your camera, just tell it where to put the files. You can even tell it where to put a backup copy during the import.<br>

As mentioned above, Lightroom doesn't store your files. Your originals will always remain where you imported them to... untouched.<br>

I now spend less than half the time I used to processing a shoot.<br>

Have fun!</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>I think that you tend to look less critically at a shot that has good "feeling" and for me, this definitely has that.<br>

I love the shot... it's the calm before the storm!</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Thanks, Mark. I like your shot, too.<br>

I'll leave the critique to others for now, but I think these types of shot are often clients favourites.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I haven't set up a FB page yet, but have been planning to for a while. Soon...</p>

<p>Nothing wrong with using the available resources.</p>

<p>A competition is a good way to get it kicked off and spread the word.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>I'm in the 20-30 camp, too. Even if you shoot 100.<br>

I do like Robert's suggestion of a dozen.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Very true, David.</p>

<p>WW... I knew you'd get me on the colours!</p>

<p>The venue is in Melbourne. The laneway near the Flinders Street Train Station that I think you are referring to, is Hosier Lane. Similar to this location, but this is ACDC Lane.</p>

<p>Perhaps my creative placement of the AC vent is a reference to the location? Ok... maybe not.</p>

<p>My Australia Day was good too, thanks. We strayed from the traditional BBQ and took a friend and her family for lunch as it was her birthday. Toto's Pizzaria on Lygon St. Apparently Australia's first Pizza restaurant. Then we hit Carlton gardens so the kids could play in the park and i could shoot a little. Beautifully relaxing day.</p>

<p>Now I'm just hoping that Andy Murray wins the Australian Open (Tennis). I'm an ex-pat Scot and the Aussie's are all out.</p>

<p>Sorry for straying from the topic!</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>Thanks for selecting my image, Nadine.</p>

<p>Theresa, good points. Thanks.</p>

<p>WW, thanks for your comments. I always enjoy reading your comments in the forums.<br>

Stepping her forward would have punched the image much better, I agree. Maybe closer to the one I'll try to attach.<br>

Good pickup with the air conditioner. Sadly, it's the first time I'd noticed that.<br>

I appreciate your input.</p>

<p>I could link to the gallery with the rest of the images from this shoot if someone can let me know if that's within the rules. Not important, just a thought.<br>

The groom only appears once at the most in the others. :-)</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>p.s. Happy Australia Day for yesterday!</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Nadine, I'm a regular viewer of this section and thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.<br>

The shot I'm contributing is just a bit of fun. The client loved it, which is great. Can't recall the settings as I lifted it from my web page, but I would have shot it with my 24-70 on a 5DII.<br>

I suppose the concept is what I was trying to achieve, but there are some things I'd do differently next time.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks for your responses, everyone.</p>

<p>Parv... great suggestion. Thanks.</p>

<p>Theresa... thanks for the contact.</p>

<p>Michelle... thanks for your input. Great work on your site. Love your food shots.</p>

<p>Dave... Oahu is the plan. Starting to look at the North Shore now.</p>

<p>They are now thinking about hiring a beach house on the North Shore and using that as a base, perhaps even have an informal reception there.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>HI All, a very good friend of mine has recently proposed. The happy couple are hoping to get married in Hawaii, late May next year. She is from the US and we are in Australia, so that was the closest to half way they could work out for the wedding.</p>

<p>They are looking for a low key wedding on the beach followed by some type of reception either on or very close to the beach. Nothing formal for the reception.</p>

<p>Does anyone know any good locations? Beaches and/or venue's would be handy. Even the island is open at this stage, but they do want somewhere with a selection of accommodation options nearby.</p>

<p>I know that they don't want it to get too expensive or formal, but perhaps a wedding planner would still be needed to organise the finer details.</p>

<p>Anyway... any tips, websites or advice etc. that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>They will need a photographer as I can't do it. I liked the look of Mark Holladay Lee who is from Hawaii, but that is still open too.</p>

<p>I also suggested to them that they opt for a midweek ceremony, as everyone will be travelling to be there anyway, having it on a weekend is probably no benefit. I know that would make things a lot cheaper where I live, would that also be the case in Hawaii?</p>

<p>Thanks for your time.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>

<p>I haven't read the other responses, but here are my comments...</p>

<p>I used to only use Photoshop. Then I got Lightroom and my life got better. Now only about 1 or 2 percent of my shots see Photoshop.</p>

<p>Lightroom is a complete workflow program. It's simple and easy to learn (especially if you buy Scott Kelby's Lightroom 3 book).</p>

<p>I more than halved my post processing time.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Scott.</p>