valenda_welch

<p>Hi Sarah,<br>

I was having this problem, too. I wanted my horizontal image to be 800 wide so I changed the height to 533 and width to 800. However, I forgot to change the /s640/ section of the code. So, a 640 pixels wide image was being used to fill 800 pixels. See actual correct code below.</p>

<p>height="533" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vtrwfn2Es-U/S2E8uvRLLI/AAAAAAAFM/kul1kZ4LEg/s800/_MG_2711.jpg" width="800" /></p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

<p>David - I said she contacted me, not contracted me ;) I have a wedding contract and a pricing structure for weddings. I do not have a pricing structure for engagement parties and was wondering what some of you do.</p>

<p>Bill - LOL. I wasn't asking you to do the shoot ;) Thanks for the opinion.</p>

<p>Any thoughts, anyone?</p>

<p>Hi Fellow Minnesotan,<br>

It's in Minneapolis at the end of the month. She hasn't contracted with me for the wedding, but it's a possibility. So, you might shoot it for free? That would be a lot of work and processing time for no charge.</p>

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p>I searched the archives and didn't see an answer to my question. A bride has contacted me about shooting her engagement party and I don't know what to charge.</p>

<p>Is it typical to charge your hourly wedding rate? Or, do you offer a "discounted rate," as it's not a wedding?</p>

<p>Thanks much for your help!</p>

<p>OK, so this might seem like a stupid question, but I'm still starting up my wedding photography business. Most of the advice I read on here for new wedding photographers includes networking with other local photographers and wedding vendors.</p>

<p>So, my question is, how do you recommend I contact other photographers and wedding businesses about networking? Where do I find them? Should I email or cold call them? Any ideas or tips? Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your opinions and ideas. Yes, I always try to get a phone conversation and actual meeting with the potential clients. Perhaps I'll try tweaking the contact fields for a bit more info and be a little more persistent with follow up calls. I just don't want to annoy anyone ;)</p>

<p>I have a new wedding photography website that has a Contact Me page. People are starting to fill out parts of the contact form with their name, email, and date. However, they aren't writing anything in the comments section.</p>

<p>When I get these requests, I've been sending a simple email back, confirming that I have their wedding date available and saying I'd love to learn more information about their wedding plans. I also say I'd be happy to chat on the phone or meet them for coffee to discuss their ideas.</p>

<p>The problem is, of the 10 contact requests I received from this weekend, only one person got back to me. I would think more people would reply, as they contacted me and provided their email and sometimes phone number. Yes, I also left phone messages for the people that supplied them.</p>

<p>So, my question is, how do you handle contact requests from your website? If they provide an email and a phone number, do you use one over the other? Do you have a general email you send them back?</p>

<p>Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!</p>

 

<p>I was looking at Pictobooks new line, the Mystique Series albums on their website. In my opinion, they're very expensive and it's hard to tell what the finished product looks like. The company doesn't offer "rental albums" for this series. I'm wondering if anyone here has ordered from this series and what you thought of the product?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I would first try to find out why the bride feels so strongly about having two female photographers. Once you know her reasoning, it will be easier for you to address her concerns. As others have mentioned, is she worried about the getting ready photos? If that's the real heart of the matter, it's an easy answer. Just reassure her that you'll be the only photographer in the room.</p>

<p>I would let the bride know that your second shooter ( either male or female) always takes their direction from you and that you will not ask the bride to do anything that makes her uncomfortable. Try having a discussion with her to find out where the real issue is coming from. I wouldn't walk away unless I knew the issue was something that I couldn't resolve. Good luck!</p>

<p>Hmmm, am I the only one that thinks the girl's expression is bland, even a bit sad? My first reaction to the image was that it was tilted too far and the composition was off. I would have liked to see her moved away from the right side a bit, eliminating the cropped head and provide some negative space to the right.</p>

<p>All that said, for an "on the fly" shot, it's not bad. ;)</p>

<p>I would like to thank the people who provided advice and suggestion.

 

 

 

<p>To clarify for the record, my original post was an IDEA. As the first few people responded, I responded with more IDEAS. I never said my thoughts were etched in stone. In fact, I said numerous times that I wanted feedback, as in I had not decided what would be the best course of action. I came here to post an idea so I could brainstorm the situation with other photographers. Many of you have provided the helpful comments and opinions I was looking for and I thank you greatly for your time.

<p>Hi Simona,<br>

Are you making this album yourself and mounting the photos? Or, are you sending it out to be printed and bound? I ask because you may not be leaving enough extra space for the cut lines.</p>

<p>Also, did the couple request only black & white images?<br>

I like the general layout and feel until pages 9-10. I thought the layout for 10 was a bit odd. From page 10 forward, the album becomes progressively cluttered and feels cramped until 29-32. Were you trying to fit a certain number of images into a set number of spreads?</p>

<p>I would recommend more selective editing for spreads 11-12, 21-22, 23-24, 25-26. You may want to consider featuring only one image on a few pages in the center parts of the album. This will provide a better flow between the beginning and ending spreads.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for contributing. The point of my post was to get differing opinions about this. I had an idea and I wanted to bounce it off other photographers here.</p>

<p>It's interesting that everyone thinks I'm selfish. A bride liked my portfolio, but said she couldn't afford my normal packages and asked me for a two hour contract. I'm guessing that there will be more to cover than her estimate of two hours. Of course, I can stay longer and provide all of the images taken. My concern with this is that she may talk to other brides, and then everyone will expect me to stay one or two hours longer than the contract states. This is selfish? Not wanting to set a precedent that I'll work for free?</p>

<p>So, what do all of you do regarding your bookings? It seems you're frowning on my accepting on hourly booking. Do you only take full day contracts?</p>

<p>Nadine: I'm not trying to make this more complicated. I'm trying to be responsible and avoid having to post on photo.net after the wedding. I feel I'm being pro-active and thinking the options through before discussing it with the couple. I have every intention of getting their permission prior to the wedding. And, I also was planning to give them a few surprise extra images.</p>

<p>Thank you for your suggestions. It appears I might not be too crazy in considering this idea.</p>

 

<p>Colleen- Perhaps I should have been clearer. It's not that I don't want to show her more images. I would upload the "overtime photos" into their online gallery for viewing. However, I wouldn't want to provide them to her for free, on the DVD, with the images taken during my official booking time. I would be more than happy to provide hi-res files of the "overtime images" to her for an additional fee ( my hourly rate for the extra hour(s) I stayed at the wedding to capture them) should she decide after the wedding that she wants the additional coverage after all.</p>

<p>My concern is that my wish to stay and shoot longer may cause problems down the road. Anyone have any ideas on how I could do this successfully?</p>

<p>Hello All,<br>

A craigslist bride wants to book me for their August '09 wedding. We've negotiated a price and she's agreed via email to my shortest option of 2 hours of wedding coverage.</p>

<p>I think I might want to stay longer and capture more of the wedding for my portfolio. My concern is that I don't want the bride, groom, or a family member expecting to receive any images that I take, once the two hour coverage time is over.</p>

<p>Is there a good way to handle this so I can avoid any problems or misunderstandings later? Or, do you feel I'd be playing with fire?</p>

<p>I plan to meet the bride and groom next week to discuss the wedding details and sign the contract. However, my contract does not have verbage about this possible scenario and I don't think I'll be able to consult with a lawyer prior to the meeting.</p>

<p>Thanks again all for some great points of view. I'm still having sticker shock myself at some of the wholesale album prices. I'll have to do some research for my area and see what couples typically are willing to pay.</p>

<p>How do I do this research? I've noticed the trend is to remove any pricing from your wedding photography websites. I'm thinking my temporary solution may be to offer one budget album, one moderate, and one higher end option. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Ryan & Jennifer: Thank you both so much for your methods and detailed examples. Now, I just have to choose what to do :)</p>

<p>Aimee: I hope you catch my reply here, as you gave me some great info on my other post. I tried getting set up with Miller's and they apparently don't think I have the volume to warrant an account with them. I am very disappointed with their response. From what I could tell from their site, their albums looked great and I really liked their web proofing option so my clients can sign off on the design prior to starting the production.</p>

<p>I plan to check out H&H next. Hopefully, they won't have the attitude that Miller's did. I have accounts with Asuka and Picto Books so far. I need to make some decisions so I can order a sample book or two to show clients. Sigh.</p>

<p>Does anyone know of a company that provides great albums, plus the proofing option for my clients?</p>

<p>Hi Everyone,<br>

I'm just beginning my search for a pro lab to handle wedding albums, flush mount preferred. Another photographer recommended them to me, but I haven't seen them mentioned here. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Thanks, Aimee. You've provided some great info and a good place for me to start. I really appreciate it.</p>

<p>Hello All,<br>

I'm brand new to this community and very glad to have found it. I've been working on setting up my business for about a week and I need some advice on pricing, specifically albums.<br>

I know that each album company differs on pricing. I'm looking for what percentage you typically mark up your products. For example, if actual cost is $300, is it most typical for a photographer to charge the bridal couple $400, $600, or $900?<br>

I plan to do the designing of all the album pages myself, either in Photoshop or the ROES program provided by the album company.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>