rafael_s

<p>Upgrading ram/memory is a very simple thing to do and is recommended for any type of system improvement. It’s about as easy as replacing a fuse in your car. You just take it out, and gently put another one in. Just make sure it’s compatible and the exact type for your computer. Ebay is a good place to find deals on what you may need ... should be fairly cheap.</p>

<p>She’s full of hot air and going through “princess-beeyatch” syndrome. Court fees and the cost to hire a lawyer to take you to court will most likely cost her more than she spent on a sitting fee/prints. I’d say, “go ahead. Let me know the court date.”</p>

<p>Well good luck Kimberly. The photographer I knew who had done this (and still does) lives in central NC. I really hope it’s not the same guy. He would book way too many weddings (more than he could handle) and then take forever on turnaround delivery. <br /><br />I assisted him on a wedding in 2007 where the bride booked both of us for 8+ hrs. She paid us well and in advance. But being as I was an assistant my only responsiblity was to turn in my part to the main photographer, as it was his business and I was contracted under him. The bride had both of our contacts. A year later she was calling me about delays in her album. I had to politely explain how it was no longer my project. She was in tears about how the photographer was avoiding calls, emails, changed numbers, made excuses, give her false promises every 2 weeks (sound familiar?) ... I really felt bad for her. I eventually contacted him myself and he confided that he had already spent the money and could not complete the album until he could book a few more weddings... unfortunately that’s how his business plan worked.<br /><br />To make a long story short, I decided to become the middle man in all of this and after much threatening phone calls and emails, I worked with him to get it done. She was seeking legal advice after a year and talking with a lawyer. In the long run I got involved because it was worrying me that my reputation would also be hurt. <br /><br />He finally delivered the album in January of 2010. I still cannot believe it took him that long. I imagine the embarrassment he must have felt. The crazy thing is that he is still in business today and I have been hearing stories of couples who are suing and who have been waiting since 2010 and 2011 to get back photos... some of them are already starting to have children, and I have no idea why, but a few also booked him for baby pictures ... which I assume they’ll get when their children are probably in grade school. Good advice would be to always do your research and find out about past clients.</p>

<p>Please give us some details. You don’t have to mention him by name but a link to his site would be great. I’m very curious as to what his photography looks like and it would also be a service for future newlyweds in case they stumble across this, they can best avoid him. I had once work with a photographer with very similar habits (who surprisingly is still in business.) Is he in NC?</p>

<p>I'm surprised this news hasn't gained more traction. It's a real slap in the face to photographers who are contributers and receive royalties from them. Some of you are getting off topic by bringing up Facebook into this thread... we're talking about Google and their free pass to basically use any image they want.</p>

<p>It’s 2013 and if I found an old Fm2 or Fm4 at the right price I’d buy it today (I still have some great manual focus lenses that would be great on those cameras.) For a used D70 I wouldn’t pay more than $100, and it should be in great shape. I had one when they came out for about 8 months. It actually produced some really nice 8x10 prints. The D70 has a high flash sync of 1/500 which is still useful. I think it makes a good DLSR for any beginner to start learning about photography.</p>

<p>Paul I must say that for this being your third wedding, it's a whole lot better than what my third wedding ever looked like (photographing weddings for 9 yrs now.) You've got a lot of great shots and it looks like you captured every important moment (believe me I've been in situations where I missed the first kiss or the cutting of the cake and the bride would be furious. It happens when you are young and inexperienced.) The motorcycle shots look good to me. I think the husband complaining is probably because I bet that motorcycle is his pride and joy... he probably loves it more than his wife and not to sound mean, but after they're together for a few years he'll probably be spending more time with it on the weekends. He'll always be impartial to it. As for the bride's complaint about her smile... well. I will be honest. She doesn't have the prettiest smile. And the sad truth is she's just going to have to accept that she was born that way. Her smile looks somewhat like a frown. I turned some of her "smiling pictures" upside down and they looked more like a smile. This happens when a person sees a feature about themselves that they've never noticed before. Why? Because no one has ever taken that many pictures of them all in one day. So unfortunately that's not something you can correct. Paul just be polite with them. Explain how you did your best and reason with them... I Hope it works out. If it makes you feel better I've dealt with bridezillas who were 300+ lbs and would get upset because they "looked fat" in their pictures. I have dealt with a few who wanted me to "Photoshop" their huge arms or double and yes, triple chins out. I dealt with one who had a ton of tattoos. When she saw her pics she was horrified about how all those tattoos made her look trashy and just to please her I ended up photoshopping a lot of them out.</p>

<p>If you still want to add life to an older mac and save that money and use it toward more photo equipment, just replace the hard drive with a new one, max your memory, and install Onyx (it's free) to make sure you keep system clean. I have a ton of old macs that are still being used on a weekly basis. My 2005 Powermac G5 runs CS4 and Lightroom as fast as my Mac Pro running CS6 at work does (actually I really hate CS6. Has been slow and buggy compared to previous versions.) I have an old G4 Powerbook that is still plenty fast and a G4 imac I use as well. </p>

<p>Since the digital photography age has taken the lead, it seems like people just aren't making as many prints anymore. There are more people out there taking pictures, more photos being made than ever before and yet most of it is being stored or archived on a hard drive, a phone, an ipad, a website, etc. Even myself... I only make prints when a client will request it. My portfolio is no longer something I carry and hold. I guess a good print is a rare thing today and I sort of miss that.</p>

<p>Minolta's last generation light meter have been out of production for years but are still highly sought after in the used market. I had borrowed one for 6 months back when I was doing weddings and loved it. You can find them under $180 online now (sometimes still new in box.) They are well designed and accurate. If I was looking to get another meter, this would be on my list.</p>

<p>If you don't need the extra cash just keep everything. A photographer can never have too many cameras or lenses. </p>

 

<p>I think this photographer was wasting her time responding to the post. That email response probably took near an hour for her to write. An hour in my business is crucial. Time is money. Serious clients aren't looking on Craigslist or bidding for a photographer through Ebay, and if $3,000 is too much for someone, there's always someone cheaper. A full time wedding photographer does take a few weeks to work on and edit photos and then produce an album. The bride's argument is weak. The old adage that, "you get what you pay for" is enough for an answer.</p>

<p>If I go to a museum and take a really good picture of an Ansel Adams, does it make it my own original? I don't think so. <br /><br />Let me share an incident that happened some years ago. A photographer I knew sold his business (with all equipment and photos in the store) as he was getting near 90 and too old to keep up anymore. The lady who bought it changed the name of the business and continued to display the original owners work in the windows for years. When customers came in, she even went as far to use the old man's older albums (which were left behind), to present what they could expect from her studio. To make a long story short, the studio only lasted 2 yrs. If you show a client something they can expect and don’t have the experience or knowledge to actually deliver, it’ll come back to you eventually. The man who owned it before had around 60 yrs of work. She had maybe 3. People will know in a matter of time weather she really set that shot up or not, or was just lucky.</p>

<p>I work within a design studio that uses 3 Nikon DSLRs (D200, D300 & D700) that are exchanged between probably 10 of us. Some of us use card readers and a few of us prefer camera transfer (which I practice.) Earlier this year I went to grab the D300 and noticed images I shot were not being recorded... upon further investigation I found out that whoever had been using the camera had bent the pins by inserting the card forcibly. With a flashlight I could not even recognize the connections, as a few pins were buried and pushed back. This is understandable, as a lot of our shoots are spur of the moment, we end up grabbing equipment and just go. Has anyone ever looked into the cost of sending in for repair? We contacted the closest Nikon service facility. It was almost half of what the camera cost us. Not an easy repair as these parts require the camera to be taken apart almost completely. Lesson learned, we now require everyone here to use camera transfer. If you’re the only person using your camera I figure it would not matter, but I feel the cost alone of having to repair bent pins isn’t worth the convenience.</p>

<p>Q: How does he do it?<br />A: I was wondering the same thing ... How does a guy like that end up with a beauty like her?</p>

<p>After shooting hundreds of weddings, I find the time I actually get to enjoy being at a wedding is when I am invited as a guest. Last year I was in 2 friends weddings as a groomsman, so I got to be in some of their pictures. Enjoy it. Leave the camera at home, and try not to get into "photography" talk with anyone. Being a photographer at a wedding comes just about every other Saturday... but being someone's guest is really a once in a lifetime event. Plus we've all been there where we are on the shooting end and have had people interrupting us and trying to ask about this or that ... I'd always end up thinking, "Sir, if you wanted to photograph this event, why didn't they just hire you instead, since you already knew them?" Let them get to work, and you be there to enjoy the food, drink, dance, and maybe meet a nice gal.</p>

<p>I am on the opposite end. Have a 15" macbook pro I am actually getting ready to sell on Ebay because it is just too small and makes me feel cramped up when doing any serious work. The only thing I really ever used the laptop for was web surfing and for that I can just use my Android smartphone which has an almost 4 inch touch screen display. I've had a mac pro tower in my apt. for the past 2 yrs with 2 Dell 24 inch HD displays and wouldn't trade it for anything smaller. I guess when all you work with is jpeg's and have small hands the macbook would be sufficient...</p>

<p>I don't understand why you can't use a tripod. Is this by your own choice? It makes things a lot more difficult for yourself. I don't rely on high iso especially with weddings. If no flash, tripod is essential.</p>

<p>It's probably a good idea to leave the pro photography business. I've seen more photo studios close in the last 5-6 yrs than in all my years of photography. I'm a full time web designer now, but back in the 90s worked for several photo studios, shooting mostly weddings on my Saturdays. I see photography becoming what attorney's were back in the 80s and 90s. I use this analogy a lot. Everyone wanted to go to school for law at one point, and back then everybody in college wanted to be a lawyer. The field got so flooded with people graduating school with law degrees that it became harder and harder for new attorney's to find work. When this happened, we end up having a lot of bad lawyers and a very few good, honest ones, who actually love what they do. And of course all the bad ones will represent you for less money. <br /><br />There are fewer people today who actually truly love photography. Most of the ones doing it now are all about trying to make a dollar so they can splurge and buy the latest and greatest equipment. I think it's becoming less of a craft, as everything is now so easily controlled by a click of a mouse... which is why we've now got the uncle Tom's doing it and getting by charging $50 a wedding. It's just become too easy for the average person.<br /><br />I don't enjoy seeing good photographers quit. I want to also encourage you that if you feel strongly about what you do, keep at it. It may mean having to run the business in your home. There are ways to cut back on costs and I think that with digital now, we do save a lot of money outside of just buying software and tools.</p>

<p>I worked assisting a photographer who probably had the worst track record in turn around time. It was not my business so I couldn't handle his work. I just assisted and was paid as my fee. We shot a wedding November of 2007 and I found out he finally delivered pictures February of this year, 2010.</p>

<p>This makes me sad. I guess I'll go back to painting and drawing as my number one hobby... At least pencils and paint brushes will be around a long time.</p>

<p>I'm with USB transfer all the time. The compact flash card has 50 pin slots (25 each row, top & bottom), and it's just too easy to misalign one of those pins when you are removing and installing the card repeatedly.</p>

<p>I'm with what Jennifer posted above about using manual focus. The problem with most auto-focus is that it will search and focus on the closest object to you, and you can usually tell because noses and hair come out sharper as they protrude from the head a little further. I don't recommend manual focus on autofocus lenses, they're just not built for that. Invest in a good portrait manual focus lens and have the freedom and control you need.</p>

<p>Actually I've been waiting for Nikon to someday release an FM2 (or any early F series) body with full frame digital. They haven't a clue how a camera like this would probably outsell most of their current line.</p>

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<p>... the generation that talks so much about environmentalism, doesn't have any trouble with use it for a couple of years and toss it technology</p>

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<p>I've observed this too and it troubles me. This generation riots to save the planet and yet they give in to buying ipods, laptops, and cell phones that are replaced yearly by newer models as they toss and trash their older. This trend is also now becoming evident with photography, as newer cameras are being released at faster paces. It's a lot of plastic that ends up in landfills. Back when things were actually made of quality metals it was because they expected for parts to last a lifetime. I guess it doesn't matter now that everything is made in China.</p>