steve_murray1

<p>You can also use a physical album from a single wedding to show off how you perform consistently. It's one thing to show the best 0.1% of your entire wedding experience and wow a potential client, but quite another to drive home the fact that they can expect excellent results for their entire wedding instead of a few real keepers so long as the album is exceptional. It gives you an advantage over other wedding photographers, who for all they know, may just be a broken clock that's right twice a day.<br>

A hardbound book in coffee table format generally gets the job done better than anything. It's not cheap, but it doesn't pay to be frugal when showing your work to potential clients.</p>

<p>Just pulling out my 450D (comparable to the 500D) at ISO 800 as my backup is unbearable when I have to use it compared to my primary 50D at the same ISO setting, and it's really not that great of a jump in terms of price on the used market. This is especially evident when a large portion of the image is in the lower range of brightness with a small subject being in the lighter range, which is a large portion of what I get paid to shoot.<br /> Other factors like convenient options and speed with AF are important, but based on ISO performance alone, I feel the difference is worth the tiny jump in price compared to upgrading to full frame camera bodies and subsequent lens replacements.<br>

At small print sizes like 4x6, it's no difference at all, but past 11x14, the extra margin allowed for noise is worth it in my opinion.</p>

<p>Going to add another vote for the Tamron 17-50 2.8. Having used both the old 17-55 non-IS kit lens and newer 17-55 IS from Canon as well, I can't say the IS alone is worth the money. Upgrading to the Tamron has been the best bang for the buck lens purchase I've ever undergone, even considering the 50 1.8 in my bag.</p>

 

<p>I do think minimizing the importance of the gear in this case and similar situations is fairly dangerous. Yes, a competent person could get good photos, but combine dim lighting, f/3.5 aperture at most, and heavy noise past ISO 400 with that camera, you will have a very hard time getting a decent exposure without flash and/or a tripod. It's not always possible to use either. You can take great photos with just the XTi and kit lens in the proper conditions, but it's not very likely in the situation here.<br /> <br /> You're being paid to take great photos, not to prove an XTi kit is the little camera that could. There's also a great aesthetic difference between film grain and noise from pushing ISO too far.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I went ahead and pulled the trigger with blogging for my business, but mainly as a way to establish credentials beyond what I can reasonably put on my website. It's one thing to say that you have the technical and artistic experience needed, and yet another to demonstrate it by actually elaborating on the points for those who are interested in seeing proof. Showing potential clients that other photographers can learn something from you not only proves involvement, it also proves that you are competent while they are still in the research and decision phases. A blog or social media doesn't have to be limited to just another place to stash your work. Some blogging sites even allow messages on Facebook to be generated on your feed with your blog posting. Letting all of your sources work together in this way builds up momentum and exposure far more efficiently than just legwork, which is vitally important, but limited in its reach.</p>

 

<p>The micro AF adjustment really helped my 50D in terms of sharpness, especially with my 17-50 2.8 which took a full -20mm adjustment. The rest of my lenses ranged between +/- 5-8mm of adjustment, but even then it was a noticeable improvement when pixel peeping.<br>

The 1DmkIII is a better camera for sharpness IMO in the first place, but the difference shouldn't be so dramatic. If the adjustments don't help narrow the gap a bit, then you should worry.</p>

<p>I've had my 1.8 II pop out the front element once after a 2ft. fall on a tile floor, but it was easy enough to fix by just popping it back in place. Really, it's just a competitor to the 1.4 that's less than a stop narrower and much cheaper. In my mind, a negligibly crippled, plastic 1.4 that I won't cry about when I finally have to replace it. That's why I prefer to take it and my backup 450D on any shoot I consider dangerous for my equipment. Even if the lens and body I'm using are totally destroyed for whatever reason, I'm out less than I earned for the shoot.<br>

It's also a fine lens for IQ stopped down to f/3.5-f/8 to boot.</p>

<p>Above all else be brutal when you are cutting things out. Unless there is a <em>strong</em> reason to keep a shot with some technical flaw or distracting element, delete it and don't think about it again. Just on a first pass at clearing out a year's worth of shooting, I reduced my catalog from 26,000 to around 5,000. I still need to make a second pass to cut those down to <1,000.<br>

One thing you'll notice is the keeper rate gets higher as the years go on, and those amazing photos that fascinated you when you just started get more and more common. I still see this happening after a decade, but it jumps right at you after culling down to the absolute best.</p>

<p>The 1400 is on deep discount at several office retailers right now since they are clearing out their stock. I've had to use one when I was a staff photographer and banding problems that I could not fix showed up after 2,000 or so prints. So long as you're not running off 4x6's, it's still cheaper to pay for the printer, ink, and good paper instead of the same number of prints from a lab. At the price it can be found at now, I'm strongly considering picking one up in the coming weeks for this reason alone even if it won't last more than a year or two. With the money saved, it really can be a disposable item bought just to save print money if you're making money from them.</p>

 

<p>Calling the photographer's camera body junk is going a little far since it's quite capable of taking good pictures. It's just not the best nor most up to date tool for the job, which is a very fair criticism. The kit lens and 75-300 (not the 70-300 I'm guessing unless she has an older telephoto) are certainly inadequate in terms of image quality and maximum aperture, though.<br>

If she at least had a better body, good lenses, lighting equipment, a much better lab, and kept the XTi maybe as a backup, I could see this case going a different direction if the pictures turned out at least decent. It's less about bad equipment and much more about a lack of preparation on the part of the photographer in this case.</p>

 

<p>The general assumption (not always, but the forbidden broad brush that is being used here for a reason) is that everything about a wedding will be perfect. This goes for the photography as well, whether it's a $5,000 photographer or a $500 hobbyist who just bought a Rebel with the kit lens advertising on CL. It's reasonable for a bride to want everything to be perfect and as much like a storybook wedding as possible, and I think it's very fair to attack that assumption when it comes to hiring the churn & burn photographers with questionable abilities, equipment, and experience.<br>

I both agree and disagree with the disparaging attitude toward low-budget weddings, but I only disparage when it comes to actually hiring a photographer. In reality, that money is probably better saved for other purposes with photos from relatives and friends being used for the album unless they literally win the CL photographer lottery if the total budget is low enough.</p>

 

<p>I'm torn on the issue with my business. I've debated advertising for churn and burn on Craigslist despite more than a decade of paid experience in photography, largely because I've shot everything <em>but</em> weddings. Luckily, I've got a few friends who are getting married in the coming month who happily agreed to free photography in the form of a wedding gift so I don't have to deal with the whole mess and setting up a false precedent for my pricing just to have something to put in the portfolio.<br>

There are photographers in my area who advertise less than $400 for a wedding and want to go professional, but I'm not worried about being undercut since I know they will either raise their prices or realize that prices in that range can't make for a sustainable full-time strategy and drop out. The only way this sort of pricing could work out is charging a low hourly rate and retaining copyright to make money from extremely marked up prints. Not a great way to get good word of mouth from the bargain hunters on Craigslist since they expect the whole package at an unsustainable price point for the expenses involved just in living, much less running a business. <br>

I hate to sound snobbish, but clients willing to pay more generally know that quality takes money going toward quality contractors. Lower tier clients, not so much. It's like they are expecting the quality of angus beef from sale priced ground chuck. Simple math on the business end can't support it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I've had good luck with dark grey or dark blue backdrops when the lighting is mixed. In a pinch, king or queen sized bed sheets from a closeout store for ~$20 in these colors have worked for me in the past. Just make sure you roll them up instead of folding them after drying to keep wrinkles out. Not something to use for human portraits due to the size, but they work great for pets and product photography.</p>

<p>The first thing I would look into is diversifying what you get paid to shoot. Limiting yourself to martial arts schools alone will restrict your business to less than 1% of potential paying jobs. I think it's a great niche to chase down since you have the equipment and the knowledge of the specific area, but unless you have a martial arts school on every street corner in a large city, trying to build a business on that market alone will be nearly impossible at best. I saw good wedding photos on your site, which is an excellent starting point for that diversification.<br>

I would start the pricing by figuring what you need to stay afloat, and coming up with prices based on those needs and what you can realistically sell. You have to cover the usual expenses in the business along with pay for yourself out of the profit. Take a look at your monthly expenses and how much disposable income you want for a good starting point.<br>

Marketing will probably be easier after landing the first job and doing it well. Word of mouth within single market segments/business categories/activities travels fast in local areas. In the meantime, targeted marketing backed up with a solid portfolio containing relevant images will likely carry you the farthest.<br>

Above all else, come up with a solid plan and run the numbers to make sure that plan has a chance to work out. If it doesn't, revise it until it does work out or start from scratch. If you can't get it to work out on a spreadsheet, it will never work out in the checkbook. I'm assuming you have unemployment or a severance to live off of for a while, so take your time and don't rush things out before you are sure you are ready. Taking a few months to make sure all of your ducks are in a row will be a quicker way to replace the income you lost than bolting out in a week with no preparation or a plan to succeed.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'd upgrade my telephoto lens to a 70-200 2.8L and stick with a lowly 450D or 50D, and then use the 10k to fund a series of trips to every state/national park and nature preserve in my home state of Kentucky. Three days minimum in smaller parks, and upwards of a week in the larger ones. The 15+ miles I can walk in a single day with all of my camping gear on my back is bad enough, and I can't even imagine lugging at least that much more weight in camera gear the same distances. Most of the parks here rival the more well-known natural land marks so long as you're willing to mend a few blisters.<br>

I'm actually at least starting this once spring rolls around, but I'd love to have the funds and free time to actually get it done in a single year. I highly doubt I'd get an actual book published out of all of it, but I'm just going to do it and see where it all goes.</p>

<p>I normally use a local development lab the next town over since they're a bit faster than waiting for prints to ship out to me. About the same price and quality as other labs I've looked into, but any savings on shipping are pretty much gone when you count in gas and time required to travel 30 miles each way.<br>

I'll have to look into Miller's myself. If the price isn't too much higher than what I pay now, a quick turnaround is more than worth a few dollars in emergencies when I just can't get to the usual lab myself.</p>