mark_t5

<p>and how much is such agent is going to cost you? how many weddings you going to have to book to break even?</p>

<p>i have a feeling that it is not going to be worth your while at this stage in your business.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I just like things to be faster. I enjoy editing in LR and PS, but on my old laptop it was a major pain.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>then perhaps what you need is to upgrade your computer. by shooting in sraw just because your computer is not handling it is not fixing anything but the symptom. you are not addressing the problem.</p>

<p>and i don't even know why are you complaining about your processing speed with that rig. i run a 2 gb mem athlon 4200+ and i dont have any speed issues. and i go through 3-5k images per wedding.</p>

<p>maybe its your workflow that needs to be revisited.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I have three 8 Mb cards and one 4Mb.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>that is so few cards that i just cant imagine what happens if 1 card fails on you. i carry<br /> 1 32gb, 2 16gb, 4 8gb, 2 4gb cards with me for my weddings...</p>

<p>cards are so cheap, i can't even imagine people using costs as an excuse as not to buy more when they clearly need it</p>

<p>how much do you charge if i may ask?</p>

<p>i have a feeling that hiring a marketing agent at this stage is way too early and a waste of money. you simply dont have enough in your portfolio to command a high enough pricing to compensate for such an expense. you need to get more work in first.</p>

<p>what neil said.</p>

<p>from your website it looks to me that you are slightly better than CL shooters in term of quality, but not by much. your prices though..are too high compared to the other CL shooters that'll gladly do the shoot for a couple hundred bucks.</p>

<p>you simply are not that much better (standing out ) in the sense that the client will say, "oh..i must have this guy to shoot my wedding"</p>

<p>If i were looking for a photographer, my response would be something like, "well, hes ok, but for more than 1/2 the price less i can hire a CL guy that does a bit worse..but not much"</p>

<p>if i were you, i would stop charging people, try to get to do more 2nd shoots or even some free weddings ( yeah yeah you can complain about people that shoot for free but we all been there ) to get more experience and perfect your skills.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Maybe I am still traumatized by my slow laptop, trying to edit 2000 pictures on my last big shoot was more than I could handle.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>then maybe weddings are not for you. that type of culling is necessary for this line of job. If you don't really enjoy it, then maybe its time to find another type of photography you enjoy before you invest more money in gears and arrive to the same conclusion years down the road.</p>

<p>shoot and deliver what you think works for you and ignore what other people are doing.</p>

<p>If clients are booking you for what you deliver, then why do you care what others do. However, if you are loosing clients to the other photographers, then you should revisit what you give vs what you charge.</p>

<p>I would say 500+ images is fairly common these days... with digital most clients expect you to give a lot more images than back in the film days.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Mark T will comment "man I hate that"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>actually i wouldn't care.. as long as they don't interfer with my job.....if they do.. then</p>

<p>"man i hate that"</p>

<p>are you going there to shoot or to party man?</p>

<p>cuz you are packing as if you are going there for a photoshoot.</p>

<p>when i go to a wedding as a guest, i take 1 body, 1 lens, 1 flash..thats it.</p>

<p>i hate to say this, but the sure way of avoiding things like this is price your service to get out of the low end market...</p>

<p>you don't see these stuff happening on the four seasons (ok..extreme rare), but you see plenty at the local Y.</p>

<p>there are more successful (profitable) photographer that are good with marketing skills than those with good photographic skills..</p>

<p>you might as well get a marketing degree than a photographic degree. Most clients won't care if you have a degree in photography or not. They'll look at your picture and decide for themselves if they like your pictures or not, regardless of what degree you have.</p>

<p>Just take a look at most of the famous wedding photographers out there, and check how many of them have a degree in photography.... not many.</p>

<p>it says on the description that yellow hues are added and colors are modified as well. did u do that?</p>

<p>seems a fairly simple color mod to do..i created a preset like this in lightroom. not quite the same but somewhat similar.</p>

<p>definitely continue with the lawyer..nothing scares a photographer more than a real lawsuit and seeing his reputation sunk in public record.</p>

<p>just have the lawyer look through the contract and get what was promised to you guys.</p>

<p>does this halo appear everywhere? it might be something to do with the way/what you are shooting rather than the lens.</p>

<p>can u like post a image of the halo.</p>

<p>why are you thinking of getting the 50? what does the 60mm that you have preventing you from doing that you think you'll be able to achieve with the 50?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I keep it simple.. 50% upon signing, rest 2 weeks before the wedding.</p>

<p>Have I lost clients that wanted to argue for a different payment option..only 1 so far.<br>

Did I loose sleep over that client? Nope. If they need to argue about something like a payment deadlines, they didn't really wanted me too much anyway, and chances are greater that they'll complain about something else later on. </p>

<p>I don't need the headache. I got other clients that are fine with what I do and how I do it.</p>

<p>1. depends<br>

2. depends<br>

3. depends<br>

4. yes..duh.</p>

<p>duno bout nikon, but doesn't shooting in raw negates all those settings?</p>

<p>like i said, the travel costs makes you pretty much within the same ballpark as any other average wedding photographer in ny.</p>

<p>i didnt check prices, but if you are plannin on breaking even, i'm guessing with tickets, hotels, rentals, and other random stuff, you will have to charge around 2-3k for your services.</p>

<p>unless you have a style that no other photographers in ny has, i don't see brides hiring you when they can also hire locals at the same price, and they get to meet with them in person before, and they'll prob get an engagement session out of the deal at the same time.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I would say that although your work is nice ( yes, i understand you didn't ask for a critique but this is kind of tied to the question at hand ), there are plenty of photographers in NY that can produce the same results.</p>

<p>Unless you know the couple or offer a significant discount, your travel costs alone will put you out of the market place comparing to the clients hiring a local.</p>

<p>If you just happen to be in NY already, then maybe you have a shot. try advertising at craigslist :)</p>

<p>any other normal places such as a knot and those kind of websites, i doubt you'll get any good results out of them due to your location.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>THat's why I stressed keeping it brief and informal, and even suggested putting it in the form of a simple, friendly email.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That has tendency to become a disaster when things don't turn out the way the bride expected it to be. Granted, 99% of the times everything will be ok. I guess it all depends on how much of a gamble you want to take.</p>

<p> </p>