francie_baltazar

<p>Stacy - congratulations on your upcoming marriage. That is very exciting. I would suggest that you first look at your overall wedding and understand that the images you recieve will be how you remember your wedding. </p>

<p>This may not be you... please know I am just suggesting....With all due respect to all brides, when I see they are getting married at a venue and have a certain cake maker making their cake, having and open bar, mutiple party buses for after the wedding and then they say they don't have the budget for a wedding photographer - my thought is because you are choosing not to have a budget for a wedding photographer. Again this may not be you - and I would look at every place where you can cut and save so that you can get the best you can afford. You need to know how much you can spend. </p>

<p>You should ask your photographer about payment plans - ask if you can purchase you album after the wedding - ask friends and family to give you the gift of wedding photos intead of china. There are many ways to increase your budget. </p>

<p>Find photographers in your area and instead of the first thing you ask "how much are you" find out about the photographer... then make a call - talk to them personally -tell them how much you love their work... see if they can work with you. If not, ask them if they know someone within your budget that could do the work.</p>

<p>If you are getting married during an off season - say november - photographers are more likely to work with you because we are slowing down. September and April are very busy for me and already booked for 2012.</p>

<p>Good luck on your quest. And congratulations again on your wedding.</p>

<p>the vendors I partner with you have to have shot at least 10 weddings at that venue and you have to have your clients write refferal as why they think you would make a good preffered vendor. I know that Bella Pictures is in all Marriot locations. while I have no knowlege if they pay for that but I would assume so. Back in the day you could call a beautiful hotel and go shoot bridals there - now most want you to have a permit. With the influx of photographer, I think it's a great way to work with vendors.</p>

<p>Julie I think the vendor you were working with should have told you up front what the expectations were. I always ask if there is fees etc. when becoming a prefered vendor. I have recommended a partnership before giving a percentage to the venue. I am willing to pay for my perferred vendor status as I do think and personal refferals and no other wedding marking - it fills my calendar.</p>

<p>I don't find the trend disturbing at all - I partner with a venue and puchased and ad for 2k to go into one of their multi page brochures. It's a full page. I've booked 8 weddings for the venue next year so far...brides are calling me because I am a prefered vendor and they have already seen my albums from that venue. Because I am the only prefered vendor that took a full page, I get to be at the top of the list (I requested this - the sales reps show my albums first and last) and the company designing the broucher asked for 4 additional photos of mine to go into it - one which is a full page... worth every penny. Some venues take a cut from their perferred vendors. I partner with mine on advertising... I have had great success and plan on working with 2 other venues next year... it is ten times better than a bridal show these days...</p>

thanks Josh!

<p>Hey Nadine - I think you do a great job being inclusive and inviting as well a moderating. I did notice one thing that i thought was strange. I use to be gone for week, two maybe a month come back and find a long list of topics to brouse through - now they don't even fill the page... so it appears that there is a lack of activitiy on the forum - I'm guessing this is changed for the entire photo.net... but now I can come in look and 10 minutes later be onto another forum. I think if there were more posting on the main page as before that would help. <br>

Also I think info at the top of the forum to help with newbies would be very beneficial. I also agree there are many places you can get info... so it's has to be compeling to come here.<br>

I love photo of the week - and I would suggest it be with a topic - Like, rings, cakes, groups, first dance, reception, cermony etc. and instead of picking just one photo maybe pick 3 to make comments on. it might just change it up enough to get some more action on that...<br>

In addition a topic of the week would be nice -<br>

just some thoughts... francie</p>

<p>I know that there is something technique on the fish eye - convex or what ever - fish eye make everything in a circle. For those who are interested you can go to canonusa.com and look up lenses - they have examples of how each lens looks when shooting and you can see the difference along with get the technical reason for the difference - I'm guess nikon has a simlar site. CPS users will find the information in the lens book sent annualy. </p>

<p>Tri-Coast photography has a fabulous video - they are the masters at speed light techiques and I have learned a ton from them...</p>

 

<p>I think it would be very helpful if at the top of the forum - there were catagogies - "Before you Shoot your first wedding" What is considered "essential equipment for a wedding" "how to learn to shoot a wedding" etc. This way many of the questions which repeat themselves over and over again could be answered. <br>

Marc I think you message was really good and to the point. I believe also that it is time to ask forum members what they want from this forum. I see a dozen or so people on here and that's it - there use to be many more.... which was very enlighting to get information from other wedding photogs. great thread - I think greatly needed.</p>

<p>when I started on PN several years ago the wedding forum was where professionals got together to give other professionals feedback and advise. At that time the forum was very active with lots of great pros - many of those people have left and moved onto forums where you pay an annual fee. I am one of those - I stop by occassionally and yes I am sharp - frank and to the point - I don't consider myself bitter. I do however, have major issues with individuals with ZERO experience saying they are going to shoot the most important day of a persons life and want to know what equipment they should use. I have a serious problem with photographers going along with this and giving them information. </p>

<p>I have spoken with more than a dozen brides in the past 3 years asking me if I can help them FIX their wedding photos - and non of them I could help... you cannot teach someone who has never shot a wedding how to shoot a wedding in a forum like this and to think that you can give them some sage wisdom that will make them okay is unprofessional in my opinion.</p>

<p>I believe we as professionals should encourage these people not to do the wedding. And if they are interested in wedding photography to intern and find a mentor - then second shoot then go for it. And yes I am very frank with these individuals because I care more about the brides and grooms out there than I do an inexperienced photographer. In the last year I have seen some real disater images out there - if you google "my wedding photos are terrible"</p>

<p>one photographer actually had a contest to see who would submit the worst photos here is a link <a href="http://www.jenniferbowen.net/terrible-wedding-photos-contest-winner">http://www.jenniferbowen.net/terrible-wedding-photos-contest-winner</a> </p>

<p>I laugh and cringe at this kind of thing and I do not want to encourage anyone to just go shoot a wedding because they have a bunch of equipment. </p>

<p>So call it what you like - I love to encourage others and I love being in this profession and I love brides and grooms and they all deserve to have beautiful images of their wedding</p>

<p>I was one of the people who was a little testy about the Fish-Eye - the reality is that a fish eye and wide angle - even a super wide angle are not the same lens. A fish eye is designed to give a 180 view and distorts the entire edges with a curve by the design of the lens. A wide angle is designed to keep things straight on the edges - yes you can have some distortion but you can fix the distortion of a wide angle in Photoshop or Lightroom - you cannot without great effort fix the distortion of a fish eye -</p>

<p>to have fish eye and wide angle mentioned as interchangable is just not true because they work completely differently with different results. You can take a 14mm wide angle lens and a 15mm fish eye and you will easily see that the effect is completely different.<br>

I do not use a fish eye at a wedding ever - I prefer a super wide angle 16mm for church shots and venue shots - no more than 24mm for group shots. I use my fish eye for my art pieces and on a rare occassion for a senior shoot or e-session</p>

<blockquote>

<p>of course I'd use the fisheye only when really stuck with cramped space</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This statement is exactly why you shouldn't be shooting any wedding. </p>

<p>First you need to realize that if you take compensation at all you go into a professional catagory which opens you up for law suit. I would suggest by your comments - "using a fish eye for groups" That you have never used a fish eye - you cannot use this for formals unless you are want to get some funky look which anyone on the edge is going to be 3x their size. While I am all for having people get into this business - I cringe when I hear people like you ask this most basic questions which has disaster written all over it. </p>

<p>There was a simlar thread on antoher forum and not one of the photographers photos came out in focus - he had forgotten to use a single focus point and the camera picked the wrong spot. While I have no idea what your level of experience is - I would encourage you to understand that you shouldn't shoot a wedding without liablity insurance - especially in someone's home. </p>

<p>You shouldn't shoot a wedding if you have to ask what lens you should use. You shouldn't shoot a wedding - even a second wedding if you don't know how or where to use a flash - these are simple questions you should know if you shoot a wedding. You would be better off getting point and shoot and photographing the wedding for free.</p>

<p>While I am all about feeling supportive of photographers - I have real issues in suggesting anything but don't do it... I believe that it is unprofessional to suggest to anyone to go shoot a wedding when they have no experience. </p>

 

<p>Depending on where you are getting married you could ask if the venue has "preffered" photographers. If they do this is a good place to start. Also google the venue name and wedding photographers and you will get some additional hits. Be prepared to pay. A good professional photographer is going to be 3K and up. You have to look at two or three entire weddings from the photographer - what did the client see - next you have to make sure your personality works with theirs. If you are Asian - which given your comment above I am assuming - ask the photographer if they work with Asian people. Once you make your decision - let the photog to their thing. You are not a professional wedding photographer and you have to trust the person you hire to do their job and not let your knowlege get in the way. Good luck...</p>

 

<p>I did a wedding show 3 years ago - it was local so I thought it would be great - 200 vendors and 80 of them were photographers. I was one people loved but I was the most expensive in the bunch ... got 0 from the show... would never do another one...</p>

 

<p>I love Luma Pix photo fusion - best most wonderful album software in the universe....</p>

<p>I am hoping that things smoother over for you with this bride... the only piece of advise I would give you is to meet with her before you design - take your albums and get her likes and dislikes from that... then you have a foundation to build on... leave your feelings behind and start anew... she may end up being a good client -- good luck...</p>

<p>I would suggest you set yourself up as an intern - work for free - this way you can assist and maybe shoot some if the photographer allows. I am much more open to someone coming to me saying they will work for free because they have no experience. I am insulted when someone with no experience expects to be paid for me to train them. That is what you are asking is to be trained and doing it for free is the way to go. When you have learned and know how to do things without being told the photog should then begin to pay you. Until then you are an intern JMHO. If you were in Houston I would be happy for you to work with me.</p>

<p>The problem is that many of our customers do not know what a quality image is. They have been brought up in the age of low res, over exposed, device drive images. There will come a day when prints will be obsolete - everything will be electronic - hang a panel on your wall and change out the images as you like. want a wedding album - no problem here is mine on a handheld device. This is where we are going - so when we are there we wont need 21MP cameras - all we will really need is our Iphone... because by that time the res will be high enough to go on any device. It's the brain behind the machine not the machine that makes the image. </p>

<p>you need to seek the advise of an attorney - they will be able to assess how to proceed.<br>

As far as the photos are concerned - most professional photographers spell out in a contract how you recieve your images. Because you did not recieve a contract you have to go back to the emails and see if any of this was discussed. The attorney should be able to advise you.<br>

Some new photographers turn images that are otherwise unacceptable in color to black and white. This is the only reason i would see her refusing. I give all images in color and then select ones which I think look best in B&W and give those too.<br>

Good luck.</p>

<p>Every album company I have every used has a design group - I have not used them - I do my own designed in FotoFusion - LumaPics - love this softwared so many capablities. Little pricy - a rather large leaning curve but great program!</p>

<p>I process all of my images in within 7 days - they get 250 photo finished (color corrected, blemish treatment, liquid love etc) - the remaining usually about 800 for an 8 hour wedding are color corrected. It takes me about 6-8 hours to process a wedding fully. They get thier sneak peek at the wedding reception on my laptop - and they get facebook upload with a couple of days (ususally tuesday) - they get a slideshow of about 50 images within 7 days on YouTube (if they book within 24 hours our our initial meeting) All of my clients (families, seniors etc) get images within 7 days unless I am going on vacation. I use my speed as a selling point to brides... Also I only book 3 wedding max per month so I do not get over loaded and never more than 1 per weekend.</p>

<p>This image is amazingly beautiful! I am not keen on the blurr but that is just me... and I would PS the flowers so that they were not touching her face... but again that is just me... overall beautiful amazing image...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"In this day and age, how can you get OOF pictures? The only reasonable explanation is that people shoot wide open and let the camera pick the focus point, and the camera picked the wrong one."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes the shooter let the camera pick the focus point - sad but the B&G have sharp as a tack sharp church doors and the bridal party is OOF. <br /> This person was shooting with a Nikon DS3 - so just goes to show... the equipment is not smarter than the brain behind it - in this case the brain was not too smart.<br /> Bride couldn't "afford" a pro - so the "friend" with the fancy camera shot it.<br /> So congrats to our new shooter who obviously has a brain and talent... nice work</p>

<p>For your first time out very nice work. I would suggest you learn to use a flash as just a little bit of fill make a big different in posed shots to be able to get the dark out of the hollos of the eyes. You might need to work on your color balance a bit as many of the images the dress appears blue in the shadow areas and thus giving the dress a blue tent. Your B&W are not that they look grey scale so you need to work on improving the quality of those images because they are the weakest in the entire grouping. It appears that you captured the main parts quite well with exposure, DOF and focus (very important) - I just reviewed some images on another forum where not one, yes not one, was in focus. </p>

<p>yes that is correct - Tri-Coast Photography has great information and video on exactly how to use off camera flash with HSS - I believe they are the best in the country for doing this and they provide FULL disclosure in all of their training - nothing left out. You can google them and see their work... Kodak chose one of their images for their Times Square image... and besides all that they are just great people... tell them francie sent you...</p>