francie_baltazar

<p>There are lots of pages on facebook for all levels where people are getting together and recieving critique -- also PPA has a critque page on thier site.</p>

 

<p>if you have taken images over the formatted card you cannot recover them - if however you have just formatted the card and not shot anything over it - you can recover all of the images. There are plenty of softwares you can download on the web and sandisk as a rescue images software that works great - good luck!</p>

<p>Marc - the image was painted to give it an etheral look and feel... some may like it some may not..</p>

<p>This is a bridal shoot that was taken at a private chapel on private property - it was really quite an amazing place and fun to shoot...</p><div></div>

<p>Why dosn't the OP offer to go and shoot the wedding for them at the new location - they are getting married just changing locations. I have in my contract if you change locations you cannot cancel. If you change locations to out of town you will pay my expenses to travel to your new location. And if they decide not to take me with them their retainer is non-refundable and if it is within 120 days of the wedding they still owe the balance of the wedding 30 days prior to the orginal date. <br>

I tell my couples when we are going over the contract - if you decide elope then you have to me with you. Changing venues is not a reason not to use my services. </p>

 

<p>I never take my off because I don't use fiters on my lens and the hood protects the lens from getting banged up..</p>

<p>thanks Dave, I have the left corner of the gown just didn't like the window framing that was behind it so went the easy way and cropped it...</p>

 

<p>This is shot on location with off camera flash bare bulb... flash is set to zoom at 120mm...</p><div></div>

<p>I think that most professional photographers are willing to travel. I have read lately that it is a problem for USA photogs to go into Canada for work... so I would encourage you to find someone local - look on Professioanal Photographers of America - look for photogs who are CPP or who are Master Photographers - look for photographers who have won awards for their work. You will pay for that but you will get good photographers. Ask the venue if they have perferred vendors that they use. Look for local professional photographer association for refferals - this will help you narrow your options and still stay in Canada.</p>

<p>I was with cyber sync for a while and switched to radio popper - you can control everything through you master and they are exception. Love my poppers and you could not pay me to give them up...</p>

<p>I would put on your site beautiful images. The age and size of the bride is not relevant to making an image beautiful IMHO. I have posted many images of 2nd marriage older brides and I book quite a few older brides. I also post images of brides and grooms who are not perfect. I post what I shoot because I think all brides are beautiful and I pride myself in making everyone look thier very best.</p>

<p>I personally think that when brides are looking at my work they will see beautiful images of real people. I want them to know that no matter their size or shape I can make them look amazing.</p>

<p>When you choose not to do this you limit your own scope. I personally would hate for you to be my wedding photographer. I judge you have a bias to beauty and thus would have a hard time making a plus size woman look amazing. The realitiy is it is much harder to make a bride who is not perfect look great... Brides with fantatic faces and bodies are easy to photograpy if you have some skill. Making a plus size older bride look amazing takes talent.</p>

<p>I think if you want to cut down on your post production time, you have to shoot how you want the image when you are shooting. I compose as I go and think about the album as I am shooting. It takes me about 4 hours to post process my images in LR. I also do selections here of my top 200-250. These are the images I will use for the client to select from for the album - the remaining images are resized on the export and place in a folder for client review (if they want to add from this grouping they can). </p>

<p>Then I bring each of the 250 into PS and clean up skin, create B&W and Half Tone images depending on client desires. I also do cropping here - I have lots of self created actions. I crop all of these images to what I think is best for the image usually square, pano or panel. The exception to this is background images or scene setter - they are left in orginal format. This process takes about 4 hours. I rarely spend more than one hour of editing for every hour of shooting time. I generally shoot 8 hour weddings and edit in about 8 hours. My couples get all their images within 7 days of the wedding.</p>

<p>Albums usually take about 8 hours to design - I use LumaPix and LOVE that program- cut my album creationg to 8 hours or less for a 30 page album.</p>

<p>I think the key is to shoot right in the camera - Shoot for the Album - Don't over shoot - create presets in LR and actions in PS - and make fast decisions. My decisions are made on the following - spot on focus where I want it - compostion pleasing- exposure accurate - client appeal (not necessarly in that order).</p>

<p>I think album choice is about the couples style - my favorite size is 13x9 so the spread is 13x18 which is really pleasing to the eye. Some couples prefer square. Some like pano. Just depends. I offer square, pano and panel (see the trend?). </p>

<p>What I do not do is cookie cutter my albums - each is a custom designed based on the couple and the venues.</p>

<p>Hope that helps - I think I would farm out all my post if it was taking me as long as it takes you. Many photogs do that - and that could be one options for you. </p>

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<p>What the heck - I feel bad when I take two weeks to deliver... this guy is not being profesisonal - lots of good advise on here - go see him in person - see if you can get at least a DVD with the images on it before you leave him - then cancel all other delieveralble and ask for a refund. Find someone else do do your prints and album...</p>

 

<p>sorry guess I should have added both images</p><div></div>

<p>I have a couple I will add - I do have to say I hate cake shots - I find the venues cram the cake into a corner - there is no good place for the couple to stand - at this wedding the cakes were on a stage in front of the dance floor where the wedding party also sat for dinner... I like to shoot the broad view then zoom into the hands and cake. I like to highlight the rings & cake the the close up - my only set up for the couple is how to hold the knife ....</p><div></div>

<p>I totally agree that it was completely unprofessional. However, there seems to be a blurr between what you are saying. It sounds to me that you think the family loved you but you are concerned the third is going to take business away from you. I would not worry about this. If you want to make sure your name comes up in the search for that area - blog it with that area and lable every photo with that area - your name and images will come up. </p>

<p>If they LOVED you - then no worries - there are plenty of photographers who shoot Indian wedding in the NYC/NJ area - the fact that you were hired is a testiment to your work, passion and ablity to connect with your clients. Your third may not have this....</p>

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<p>I have a contract for all shooters that they cannot name the b&g, they cannot blog about the event, they cannot name the venue, they cannot fb about the event - they can however, use the images in their portfolio on their site - one month after the event. If I were the bride I would want someone local to use for futher occasions and if you brought that person in without a contract... big OOPs on your part and too bad so sad... no contract - no issue... so just move on....</p>

<p>The 24-70 2.8 is the best choice of any mentioned IMHO. I could not shoot a wedding without this lens. It has the ablitity to do ring shots and portraits it is the most versatile lens in my bag. I would rank it much higher than the 24-105 4.0 because of the extra stops you get and I have owned both and find the 24-70 I believe it a superior lens. I also have a 17-40 which I use to use all the time on my 40d - but now that I have gone to 5dII I use it only on my infrared camera.</p>

<p>you are not in my area or I would have you tag along with me... I would encourage you to join your local chapter of PPA and see if there are wedding photographers there which are willing to have you tag along and learn. </p>

<p>why don't you email them and ask them?</p>

<p>I like this format - good way to get lots of interaction -- ready for the next group as I missed this one...</p>

<p>Could you set up a tripod? I would push the ISO to as high as you can get it. I'm not sure what that is on Nikon - Lightroom has an amazing noise reducer on it and you could mange all of that in post. There is not a lot of movement in a ceremony so with a tripod you can use longer exposures to get better lighting - I would off camer a light near the couple to make sure they are well lit. Sounds amazingly beautiful! Would love to see some images</p>

<p>David - I would encourage you to go to <a href="http://www.ctppa.com/">http://www.ctppa.com/</a> and check out your local Professional Photographers Association - our local group has a mentoring program - they may too. To tag along at a wedding is not carrying the pros bag - that is an assistant - his or her crew will be there even if there is a tag along - tag along is in addition to them to shoot and learn.</p>

<p>If you don't think you can learn from carring someone's bag you are mistaken. You can learn a ton about posing, lighting, which lens to use, how to set up the shot and how to interact with the client. College does not teach you how to shoot a wedding - many of us learned by working with pros - then went out on our own... many of us have seen many well intended really good photographers fail at shooting a wedding. It seems so simple... yet there are many aspects to shooting a wedding. I think that the reason you are getting flack is because those of us who have been in the business for a while get calls quite often from crying brides who allowed well intended photographers to shoot their wedding and end of with images which are horrible. Many new photographers get so caught up in the idea they can fix it later that they dig themself a hole they cannot get out of. There is not much the collective group on the forum has not seen.</p>

<p>I'm not saying that any of this would be you - what I am saying is we see it all the time. Knowing your equipment is as important as knowing how to shoot a wedding, knowing how to set up formals where they look good and not just in a straight line, knowing how to pose a bride for her wedding day portrait, knowing how to get excellent b&g portraits and how to effectively shoot a reception and know all of the things which can and do go wrong. Know how to get detail shots of rings, cake and other close up shots with a macro lens. </p>

<p>I would guess that in most pros bags there are 3 camera bodies (at least 1 pro body most have 2), 2-4 flashes, 2-4 modifiers, 1-2 light stands, 6-12 lenses, 4-10 CF cards, and a bunch of there fun things to add to their creativity. Most photographers I know who are just starting out with second shooting have 2 bodies and 4-6 lenses and at least 1 flash. </p>

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<p> Do you think it is wrong for me to go for the gusto? That's the only way I see myself learning. I read alot and practice alot with my camera. I've owned my camera for about a year, but I have been using cameras prior to that.</p>

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<p>Yes you can learn this by going out and just shooting a wedding - and you may be wildly successful - and there are so many variables to shooting a wedding that experiences says you will miss important shots - you will under and or over expose shots to the point of no fix - you will have more than a few important out of focus shots - you will be exhausted at the end of the day both mentally and physically. </p>

<p>I'm not suggesting you stand on the sidelines - I am suggesting that your passion and ego should not be bigger than getting beautiful shots for this b&g day - there are no do overs.... you have to be humble when you are chosen to be a photographer for a couples wedding as this is their most important day of their life... that is something I never take lightly and I keep my ego and passion in check as it can get in the way of my creativity and techinical skill.</p>

<p>and btw if you have never shot a wedding - you are a newbie....</p>

<p>Again good luck - please let us know how it went...</p>

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<p>I don't blog every bride but I do fb all of my clients - I have had several second marriages book because I made my older brides look great. there is a big market in second marriages - I shoot about 5 per year... IMO you should have at least FB some of her wedding images... she could reffer you to a lot of people if she loved you...</p>

<p>David - it is very relevant if you get paid or not. If you are paid from the couple at all this puts you into a professional group. You are generally expected by most venues to carry liabablity insurance of min of 1M per incident. If something were to happen and you were the cause or persumed cause the venues insurance would expect you to pay up through your insurance. <br>

I would strongly advise you to find a local wedding photographer and ask to tag along to take photos. This will give you an idea of pace and flow.</p>

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<p>To answer this questions While all that you folks say is true and good advice why do you have to always assume that the OP doesnt know what they are doing?</p>

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<p>if the OP doesn't know the name of basic equipment or is saying things which pros knows is nonsense... they jump to the place of knowing how this could turn out.<br>

I have noticed that we have asked first timers to come back a post images from their shoots - I have yet to see this happen. If it was me... and the images were great - I would be in your face "look what I did" to this forum... never seen it happen. I often wonder what happened... was it a good shoot or did they walk away in shame?</p>

<p>I think that anyone who has a passion for photography shoudl persue it... I think that is amazing. And it's more than passion - the personl who says what should my settings be? or I'm getting a flash - this are the most basic of basic questions and I would hope that someone would do thier homework and research before asking such basic questions on any forum. </p>

<p>I would strongly encourage David to know how to use all of your equipment - whatever you are going to rent to rent it before hand - and know that any money spent in rental is for learning and toward your education. Tag along with a couple of pros prior to the shoot and learn as much as you can in a live wedding so you are prepared for this wedding.<br>

I would also love to see your work once you have shot the wedding.</p>