sami_zahid

<p>Hi all<br>

I mainly cater for the Asian wedding market and have so far only photographed Asian/Indian weddings. Anyhow I would like to broaden my services and also photograph English weddings - I have offered to photograph a friend of a friends wedding for free in September - as i have very little experience in shooting an English wedding I dont want to charge her.<br>

If no money is being exchanged should a contract still be signed into? I would obviously need to re-draft a contract for this purpose only but is it safe for me to shoot the wedding without a contract being signed? The client has not requested one.<br>

thanks </p>

<p>Thanks for your input guys, nice to hear different perspectives on this. I advised the requester that i would need to obtain confirmation from the Bride & Groom first and she quickly responded with 'I'd rather you didnt, there are family politics etc etc' - damn good job I was going to check with them first!!<br>

Its not much time or effort for me to copy a CD and post it out however I think it would be easier and simpler if I didnt offer this service fullstop. You are right the contract is with the B&G, and I guess if they want to share thier images its upto them.<br>

thanks guys, you've helped me solve a little predicament!</p>

<p>Hi Guys<br>

Hope you could give me some advice. I completed a wedding a few months ago where i provided digital negatives on a CD for the B&G. They had a large extended family and I have since been approached by a family member for a copy CD of the images and how much it costs.<br>

I will of course obtain confirmation from the B&G that I can give her a copy but I'm really struggling as to how much I should charge? Or should I charge at all?<br>

Thanks for your help and advice.</p>

 

<p>Hi Elizabeth, I have been a similar situation myself a few times, being approached by a 'middle-man-photographer'. However one thing i asked myself is, 'do i really need the assignments or am i doing fine by myself thank you very much?'<br />Personally, if you are doing ok by yourself, and you've been established for 4 years, then why do you need to be a second shooter. Plus she sounds a bit pushy!</p>

<p>I love using Aperture (although some may argue Lightroom far supercedes it, but each to their own!). My workflow is as follows: I transfer my Raw files from the memory card to an external hard drive - I then create a project in Aperture with sub-albums if necessarry and then import the images (note: I choose my external hard drive as the main storage source, i.e. i dont transfer the actual files into Aperture).<br>

I then proceed to view each image and begin the selection process. I give a 1* rating to images that are usable. Then i view this selection only (you can tell Aperture to display just the 1* images), i narrow down further by giving a 2* rating to images that i want to edit and keep. Once I have edited an image and im happy with it i give it a 3* rating. I also add key words images as im going along.<br>

Apertures editing features are great, not too much fancy stuff to overkill the images but just enough to give you a good degree of control. I use photoshop to edit images that need a little extra special effect.<br>

Once i am happy with my 3* edited images i then export as JPEGS. </p>

<p>Guys many thanks for your responses, I've read each one very carefully and some of you have highlighted an important point, you're right I do try to please everyone and am not confident/assertive enough when it comes to the difficult parts of the business!! And i do feel bad for saying no!! I hope with more experience my confidence will grow.<br>

Thanks for the link John, I've also read that thread. And Nadine yep you're right, negative word of mouth is a thing which I worry about but hey you cant keep everyone happy! And the good definitely outweigh the bad :-)<br>

There are some great tips and advice here which i will definitely take on board, thanks again. I love this forum!!</p>

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<p>Hi guys</p>

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<p>Your advice is much appreciated here - I am fairly new to the wedding photography business and on a very steep learning curve. How do you say no to a potential client? (I've seen an older post in regards to this but doesn't help me in this instance). I want to know what is the best way to turn down a potential client after saying you are available on their dates because you don't feel they are right for you (i.e. lack of rapport) or they are expecting too much. We shouldn't feel pressured to accept every potential client right? But I also appreciate one should challenge themselves now and again in order to develop better skills so I'm not looking for an easy way out every time.</p>

<p>I have come across a few clients where I have been really uncomfortable taking on the booking because the client is either too demanding, extremely fussy or compares my work to much more experienced photographers however they still want to go ahead with me as the photographer because they are getting a good deal. I try my best to explain that my prices reflect my experience however in some cases I have felt extremely pressured and have not been comfortable proceeding with the booking. I did take on the booking and it was a disaster, exactly as my instinct advised me it would be ! :-(</p>

<p>Also I had an instance where a client has not paid a deposit to secure their dates (due to them being ' too busy to get round to it'), even after numerous gentle reminders from me over a period of a few weeks - I had numerous enquiries for the same dates and this resulted in me cancelling their booking and taking on another - which didn't go down too well. Was I wrong for doing this?</p>

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<p>I understand each case is treated on its on merits but any advice you can offer would be great. Thank you. </p>

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<p>A fair few of my wedding bookings have been confirmed via email/phone only - without me meeting the couple. This has so far worked out ok as I try to 'read' or get a feel for the person over the phone by the way they communicate, questions asked etc. I guess the best thing to go on in these types of situations is your instinct, if something doesnt feel/sound right from the onset then maybe you should insist on meeting the prospective clients before agreeing on taking the booking.</p>

<p>I have tested mine today and it works ok, thanks for the thread  - its deff a good idea to set a reminder once a week.</p>

<p>Steve you're right when you say the camera doesnt make the camera man......just like owning a ferrari doesnt make you a good driver. I think the bride-to-be should concentrate less on the equipment and more on the style of photography, portfolio, value for money, end results etc. Having the best kit on the market does not guarantee the perfect wedding pictures.Maybe you could reassure her on this.</p>

<p>Hi all, massive thanks for your advice, and i appreciate your suggestions so thanks guys!. I do like the idea of using a Sari as the backdrop, but as nadine says need to be carefull with the material as many saris can be reflective. As the bride has asked for a themed set up i dont think a plain white background will be right on this occasion so may play around with some saris and organza. And thanks for posting up pics!! (ps david you're right think its a good idea to play around beforehand!)</p>

<p>Hi all, hope someone can advise or give me a little inspiration. I'm due to shoot an Indian wedding and the bride would like some portraiture shots in a portable studio. I dont want to use the standard two-toned muslin backdrops (browns, and greys) as I feel they are somewhat dated (?). I'd like to use a more 'Indian style' themed backdrop - I've seen lots of bronze/gold curtain material and was also thinking of using organza or something similar.</p>

<p>The bride will be in traditional dress, which will be brightly coloured and lots of indian gold jewellery (think bollywood!). Just wondering if anyone has any experience in this and what they would advise re backdrop materials/themes.</p>

<p>Appreciate your help!!</p>

<p>Simon your post has been really helpfull as i am contemplating a Sigma 24-70 vs Nikon 24-70 on a D300s (trying to establish whether the Nikon is worth the extra £££). I am a relatively new wedding photographer and am really struggling deciding which lens to purchase!!! </p>

<p>They may be using self-adhesive digital albums which require no overlays and so give the impression of a flush mount album - a cheaper way of creating a photobook. You could consider this option.</p>

<p>Hooman, Rich, guys thank you for your prompt responses and much needed advice! Hooman I will have a go at your methods and see how I get on, thank you, Rich will definitely look into Final Cut, was considering this also. thanks again, will be back 'when' i get stuck!!<br>

aisha.</p>

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<p>Hi all<br>

I hope this is in the correct forum and I hope you can help! I am looking for guidance on the <strong>best way to create a DVD from Fotomagico. </strong>I am a wedding photographer and want to give my clients a DVD slideshow of their images.<br>

There is a fair amount of info out there but I am struggling to make real sense of it all. I have the following: Fototmagico, iMovie 08, iDVD, iPhoto 08.<br>

The images I am using in Fotomagico are approx 3mb-5mb in size - are these too big? And does the file size affect the export quality? There will be approx. 40-50 slides per slideshow so how large will the slideshow be and will this fit on a DVD?<br>

Also how long will this take to render? (is a few hours normal??) Sorry for the endless questions! I'm really struggling :-(<br>

I want to play the DVD slideshow on a widescreen TV but don’t know what export type I should use or what settings should be in place.<br>

Please please please can you advise me on how large my files should be and the <strong>best</strong> <strong>export</strong> method to use to maintain the <strong>best</strong> <strong>level</strong> <strong>of quality. </strong>

<p>I really appreciate any advice you can offer as I am now becoming really frustrated :-(<br>

Thanks a million!<br>

Aisha, UK</p>

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