katrin_d.

<p>Like everybody else (Netflix, WWE, Adobe Cloud, Showit), Kobotka figured there's a consistent revenue stream when you sell subscriptions vs. a time-time purchase. It's about money. You don't really *make* money as a wedding photographer, you make money by selling actions to other wedding photographers, posing guides, lights and workshops.<br> <br />Like gold mining towns - the miners were there to do the actual hard work with no guarantee of ROI whereas the venues selling to the miners (smith, brothel etc.) were the ones making the guaranteed money. </p>

<p>Do you have any local photographers you admire & whose work you love?</p>

<p>I would forget about getting the prints. The only thing that's enforceable is what's written in the contract that you read, agreed with and then signed. Most likely, your contract will also include a clause that states that that no statements made outside this written agreement are valid and/or binding - I know mine does.</p> <p> </p>

<p>I just looked at your gallery and would recommend that you 2nd shoot for an established photographer. Your post-processing is a bit heavy handed and the vignettes date your photos (looks a bit 90ish). You have some exposure issues going on but you caught some nice moments.</p> <p>So my suggestion: practice. Get more experience. </p>

<p>Check to see her contract with the wedding photographer. She might now have the right to hand the photos to somebody else to assemble an album for pay.</p> <p>I know it's stated in my contract that they are more than welcome to create their own DIY album but permission is never granted for another professional to produce a wedding album with my images. </p>

<p>No offense but I try to keep jobs here in the US where I'm based. I know it would probably be cheaper to have it done in an emerging country but that's what got this country into the mess we're in to begin with - outsourcing. I'm all for creating jobs in the country I live in and that's where my money and my business goes.</p>

<p>Apart from it being illegal and ridiculously stupid, it's also overused and stale.<br> <br />Why risk your clients' life and your own for an overused backdrop?</p>

<p>The posing is awkward, his face is facing her but his lower body is facing the camera with one hand in his pocket. Have him do something with it - it's not enough to have a couple stand on a picturesque rock. His pose says "eh".</p>

<p>Graphi has a great design flow (that you do yourself, yes ;-) but it takes me about 2 hours to design an album as it's really intuitive.<br> If you really hate it (which I totally understand, I feel the same way about editing), Couture Books offers a design service when you order their books. I haven't tried it as the pricing was steep.<br> <br />Don't have any other recommendations but you might find some browsing around PPA's website. </p>

<p>I use Lavalu based on a recommendation by Jerry Ghionis' wife - it's the company they use and I've been nothing but excited. You simply upload your files, give them your editing preferences, and with each order, you can have sample edits delivered so you know exactly what the final wedding is going to look like.<br> <br />Even during peak season, their turnaround is around 7 days. I get jpgs back because I use Aperture, not Lightroom but if you're a LR user, you have the option to specify which version you use and they'll send you back the xmp files for faster transfer and show you how to apply them. Super work and worth every penny.<br> <br />Back in the days of film, everybody who didn't develop their own films outsourced by having a lab develop. Nothing new, only now it's digital. </p>

<p>Any updates on this?</p>

<p>I've seen your previous post (nighttime portrait of darker skinned males) and this ... my question is (and I'm not trying to be rude): do you understand manual exposure, i.e. the relation between shutter speed, aperture and ISO? If this is indeed city lights at night, the 200 ISO makes no sense. There's a great book for beginners out there, Understanding Aperture which will get you off to a start there.</p>

<p>My phone is off during weddings. My husband is at home and knows not to even leave me a message because there's nothing I can or will do. I'll photograph the wedding, go home and whatever happened in the meantime ... well, will have happened in the meantime. </p> <p>I've photographed a wedding after a dog bite, drove myself to the hospital afterwards and got treatment. Photographed a wedding with broken ribs, after sitting through a night watching over one of our dogs after cancer surgery ... the list is endless. In short: I made a commitment to photograph my couples' weddings and unless I'm dead or gravely injured, I'm going to be doing just that. </p> <p> </p>

<p>If the photographer DELETED her FB page after seeing your negative review, you know that she has no interest in resolving this. She's also in all likelihood not a professional wedding photographer as there is no such thing as a "lightening specialist". You'd either send them to a post production house if you outsourced your editing or a recovery service if there was an issue with the memory cards.<br> <br />In short - you're probably not going to see a single frame/file. You have two options - get your contract and pay an attorney for an hour of their time to send her a demand letter. Or skip that step and file a small claims case in civil court. </p>

<p>Assuming that you have absolutely NO overhead costs and don't pay taxes, you'd have to photograph 69.3 weddings a year to make 52K. Realistically, half of whatever you're making will be gone for overhead and taxes so you'll be shooting about 140 weddings a year to make a that 52K.<br> Your pricing strategy has a bundle of flaws - people who are looking for a wedding photographer for under 1000 Dollars generally aren't looking for a gallery wrap so be prepared for the "how much is the package without the wrap" discussion.<br> <br />Unless it's an elopement, a 3 hour wedding day coverage is unrealistic. As is 5 hour coverage unless it's a small wedding with everything from getting ready to the reception is taking place at the same location - you'll find yourself running out of time, rushed and, having to ask the couple to speed things up and either a) ask for overtime (which should be covered in your contract) or b) staying unpaid (secretly wanting to kick yourself for what is essentially unpaid work at that point). <br> Clients not being able to pay what you ask is none of your concern just as it isn't Ferrari's concern that I am not able to afford what they're offering.<br> Lastly - do you want to do this full time or just a an added part-time income - this will also greatly affecting your pricing strategy.</p>

<p>PPA has plenty of resources as well: https://www.ppa.com/search/search.cfm?QuickSearch=sample+contracts</p>

<p>Your duty is what's stipulated in your contract. So unless it states that you'll do more than "basic editing" (color correction etc.) and venture into beauty editing (I think I read liquify here already), then you're covered legally.<br> <br />However, wedding vendor/client relationships are about more than legal aspects as most of us actually care about clients loving their photos. Simply give it a rest until after the holidays and stop texting with the couple. Send them an email, wish them an incredible holiday season and offer a meeting in the new year so they can let you know which images the bride isn't happy with. You can then enter into a new contract under which you'll fix whatever the issue is - i.e. edit out a third chin or that additional role of back fat because of this wretched strapless trend. <br> <br />Personally, I pose folks in a flattering way but absolutely, positively do not edit out excess fat. If you have a year planning your wedding, you have a year of hitting the gym and shouldn't expect the photographer to edit out a couple of hundred pounds in post production. Assuming you have done your duty and didn't bungle the posing. </p>

<p>Top quality and affordable rates usually don't go hand in hand - after all, if you made a top of the line product, you'd want to charge accordingly.<br> <br />You don't specify the type of album you're looking for - modern, traditional, leather bound, press printed, matted and what not. Personally, if you're looking for affordable, you might want to look at WHCC, it's a nice enough album for not a lot of money. Leather Craftsman is another option, although not that "affordable". </p>

<p>If you're not a member already, join PPA (Professional Photographers of America), they have massive amounts of resources for every aspect of your business. As for insurance, I pay around 600 Dollars a year for 30K worth of equipment, liability as well as error & omissions through Hill & Usher because they specialize in photographers specifically (not sure if links are allowed - here it is just in case: http://www.packagechoice.com/index.jsp#htwms) and are underwritten by The Hartford.</p>

<p>Please. Friends know you as a friend. Not as a vendor.<br> <br/>More eloquently, what Marcus said.</p>

<p><em>"If they post anything malign just get 20, 30, 100, of your friends post something about how great you are."</em> - so you suggest they ask their friends, who weren't actual customers, to defraud future clients by writing bogus reviews? Why not ask previous couple to write reviews instead? What you're suggesting is highly unethical.<br> Just let it go and move on.</p>

<p>Some nice shots but I agree with Bob on #1 - he looks more than just a bit uncomfortable. Same with #4 - pose their hands. As Jerry Ghionis says "hands not touching anything says "meh" - which is the case here, they look oddly disconnected.</p> <p>Same when they're hugging in the underwear, her arm obscuring his face looks awkward - keep in mind that we're not just capturing people in front of an interesting backdrop - we're trying to capture "them" - the essence of their relationship. The flower one is a nice start on that. </p>

<p>What's done is done, you can't un-release the raw files at this point.</p> <p>I wouldn't let the threat of a negative review influence any decision. If there were one, simply respond with the facts and by graciously wishing them all the best. Short and to the point so you look reasonable and sane and they look like rambling lunatic. Then have yourself a Corona/nice bottle of wine and move on. ;-) Also, only the couple can review on you WeddingWire so the dad's review would be taken down there in any case. </p> <p>Let the dad know, as has been suggested before, that your business relationship is o.v.e.r and that there won't be any future editing or communication. Then follow through and don't respond. Don't give him the time of day (it will take some self restraint because ultimately, you want to make people happy and give good service but know that some people need to be cut off) and do not respond. He will eventually go away. Bullies thrive on attention and living in your head rent free - however, you have the power to curb that behavior. </p> <p>In short, this too shall pass. Take the time to have your attorney revise future contracts. Best of luck and stop engaging with this bully. </p>

<p>I have venues recommend me - however, they don't get a cut. They recommend me because they love having me there. Personally, I would never sign on to be a venue's photographer because it's just too much of an employer/employee relationship and "Pay to Play" just rubs me the wrong way, won't do it. Copyright always stays with me - wouldn't consider a scenario in which it would not (unless the price was more than right). Clients have full usage rights and I'm more than happy to supply fellow vendors with images (watermarked) from events we worked on together.</p> <p> </p>

<p>"If I did that the poor client would be bankrupt lol." - in that case, and this might sound harsh, the client will either need to find the money or simply have fewer pages. Look, I once customized my dream car on BMW's site - wasn't within my budget so I bought a Mini. Same here - find what their budget is and then see what you can offer them. They might only be able to afford a 20 page (10 spreads) 12*8 hardcover with no frills from Graphi - which is a great book but nothing compared to their 16*16 100 page leather album. The former you can get for 150 so sell it for 600 whereas the latter would retail for over 2000. None of this is cheap. But then again, cheap albums look cheap and won't stand the test of time. And pricing yourself so you're affordable to clients who really can't afford that type of album won't sustain you financially.</p>