jonathan_davila

<p>shoot raw, you'll never look back.</p>

<p>If you turned down other work in the mean time for this same date, I'd make her stick to the contract. If 40 hours isn't enough time to cancel via the method specified, that isn't your fault and you should still be paid for having turned down other plausible work for the same date.</p>

<p>If you haven't received other offers for work the same date you turned down, I don't see the big issue. Ultimately you and her are the only ones that are going to enforce this contract. If she wants to cancel and you're okay with her canceling, just tell her to send the registered mail letter and when you receive it, let her know it's been received.</p>

<p>Depending on the size of any deposits left, I'd keep a small percentage as non refundable if that's stated somewhere in your contract. My contracts state all deposits are non refundable but will be used towards a new date in the future, if that date is open and available. If they don't rebook a new date, then I will offer to do an equal amount of photography (family shoot, pet photography, etc) for the amount of the deposit. It's a business. Don't be rude about anything, but don't give away the family farm because you're an overly nice person.</p>

<p>There is an overwhelming club growing in size on the internet that says if you don't shoot in manual mode 99% of the time like us, then you can't label yourself as professional. AV mode is for amateurs, etc. I think on some level some of them feel that because someone of lesser skill but with lots of money can buy a great camera, flick it to AV mode and sometimes capture a stunning photograph with it, perhaps they feel in some way threatened or endangered by that. Not sure.</p>

<p>Here to tell you, that is bogus. If you're one of those that feel the need to belong to an invisible club of people across the world that every so often can talk about how good they are because they shoot only manual mode, feel free to shoot only manual mode and be stressed out a lot of the time. I'm also not trying to say that everyone who shoots manual most of the time is snobbish or belongs to this category of people. Just saying that it does in fact exist.</p>

<p>Manual mode has its time and place. I use it frequently. I can't say I use it any more frequently than I use AV mode. Some people like to nail exact exposure in camera as best they can to cut down on post processing. For me personally.. I'd much rather spend less time clicking wheels in front of my clients in an outdoor shoot with clouds passing by, throw it on AV mode, and check my general scene for any necessary + or - EV compensations and then just go to town having fun with the shoot, and make minor exposure adjustments in post later (always shoot RAW) Do you know enough about your camera's built in light meter to know when and where to adjust the EV compensation? If you do, it's going to get you pretty much the same place manual mode is (unless you're using an incident light meter for every exposure)</p>

<p>At the end of the day this coversation is going about as far as the question: what's better, chicken or steak? Cake or Pie?</p>

<p>If you know how to cook the food properly regardless of what you're cooking they're all delicious and it's just a matter of personal preference and taste.</p>

<p>Lol, William's enthusiasm reminds me of when I was younger ( I say that as if I'm not just 30 years old)</p>

<p>I must say. That is a lot of photographs. And your intentions to give them copies of your color edits plus all B&W, wow. Talk about a lot of post processing. Even if you're using something like marcus bell or jeff ascough B&W actions. Still will take quite a while.</p>

<p>Keep the enthusiasm going. It almost makes me want to go outside and shoot for fun again. Shooting for fun hmm, I almost forget what that's like... lol..</p>

<p>Edit a few thousand pics for dark eyes ? don't be crazy man. Edit whatevers going into the photo album really , really well. And anything they might want in 8x10 prints. I'm sure she realizes at this stage of the game she has darker eye areas. Seeing lots of photos without dark eye areas may be more of a shock to her than anything. Seeing a few very well processed photos without the dark areas for her album, will probably have more of a positive effect.</p>

<p>congrats on your first wedding. aside from not knowing your lens line up, the rest of the equipment seems par for the course. if you're competent and confident in your skills for getting a great exposure regardless of terribly stressing situations, low light, etc then I'm sure you'll do just fine. No wedding experience or not. People tend to overreact and over emphasis missing things, though rightly so. they are important moments. The only really fast pace of the day is most likely going to be the half hour or so previous to the ceremony and the hour following the ceremony. Everything else is (usually) pretty straightforward. You, with your camera. Looking for great emotions and thinking of the best way to frame them.</p>

<p>If you have a 70-200 lens in your bag. You're really going to learn to love that bad boy. It's so easy to capture great moments when you're 20-30 yards away from what you're photographing and they have no idea you're zoomed up on their hug.</p>

<p>Remember. Follow the bride and groom around like white on rice. You're there to document their day. Not cousin vinny with the two adorable twin daughters, etc. Learn the B&G's parents names and faces and memorize them. One of the biggest mistakes of a starting wedding photographer is not getting adequate photos of either of the spouses parents because they don't really know who they are until it's too late in the day.</p>

<p>If the stress starts getting to you and you start panicking in manual mode trying to switch between settings and you feel you're missing too many things, remember, you can always just switch to AV mode or TV mode, let the camera get the exposure 90% of the way there, shoot in RAW format, and spend extra time in post processing. Don't lose great shots to slow response time on your part. Get the shot period as opposed to missing the shot all together because you were worried about that extra bump up in exposure compensation.</p>

<p>That's all the advice I have, the rest is all technical mumbo jumbo or shot lists. Remember to have fun with it. The adrenaline you get your first few weddings is amazing. Makes me sad that it doesn't come to me anymore :(</p>

<p>edit: looks like im a bit late to the party. the day's probably over and done with by now. hope things went well for you. look forward to seeing a post with some photos.</p>

<p>I just went ahead and got a wet cleaning kit. the one that comes with a methanol solution and 24mm sized swabs. talk about nerve racking. after the first try i tested for dust again. and was extremely scared because the test showed a big line going through the sensor. luckily it just turned out to be a not properly dried methanol solution. I gave it another couple of gos. Streaking seems to be an issue if you're not familiar with the cleaning process. After about 5 sensor swabs I finally got a streak free sensor casing and I'm down to only 2 visible dust specks in the bottom of the frame, which isn't an issue because there's hardly ever anything of light enough value that I'm shooting at small apertures to show those specks ever. And even if they do a simple clone or heal brush will work it out. It's as good as new now :)</p>

<p>I probably wasn't pressing as hard as I should be which probably caused some of the streaking issues. But I just couldn't bring myself to press more than slightly. my d700's are my babies</p>

<p>the cons almost always outweigh the pros. unless you're a celebrity or someone of status, they always get special treatment. what damages were suffered ultimately by the posting of photos to his website. emotional distress? the first thing any judge is going to do is ask you if you get emotionally distressed everytime you leave the house and people look at the real life version of a photograph (i.e you present yourself to people in public for display when you leave your house). Unless you can prove you have some sort of social anxiety disorder where you rarely leave the house except for extraordinary circumstances. the most you're going to get is judgement for expenses and a court order for the photographer to remove the photographs. and this will be after a long, drawn out process that's only going to drain you more emotionally than you ever thought the photos on the website could drain you.</p>

<p>If I'm shooting outside between wildly contrasting scenes (sun, shadow, trees, shade, clouds passing constantly, etc -) I'll use AV mode and using exposure compensation wheel as needed. EV is completely necessary to understand the science of this if you intend to shoot AV modes. Scene heavy in blacks? Crank the EV wheel down 0.7 to 1.5 , scene overly bright? crank it up 0.7 to 1.5. same for skin tones for up close photos etc. Of course this mostly only applies if you're not shooting with a flash.</p>

<p>If I'm shooting with a flash outdoors.. usually AV mode, fill flash, choose my ISO, and spend extra time in my workflow later.</p>

<p>Indoors where lighting / contrast is a little more consistent? full manual mode with flash and riding my flash exposure compensation button on my sb900.. I tend to use spot metering and no flash if im going for a dramatic black and white photo in my head in an indoor situations where theres lots of shadows around a spot and a good light spot in one place or two.</p>

<p>portraits, fashion shoot type stuff, models, group poses, etc? Full manual camera settings and full manual flash using incident light readings of course.</p>

<p>I never call myself a photographer. I call myself an artist. This extends to my album work. I explain to my clients they're hiring me as a representation of work that I've shown them both photographs and albums that I present to them. They hire me for my best judgement and the fact that I present good looking finished products, so I never really wind up having to explain much later on :P</p>

<p>to the original poster: the response seems fairly clear. man up contact the photographer and politely remind him you had wished for your photos not to be used in any advertising or public medium, and to take them down and remove them.</p>

<p>overall this seems a case to me of the person who thinks they have 50 diseases and goes to 100 doctors to get a diagnoses and they all tell that person it's in their mind but they keep going from dr. to dr. hoping to get that one opinion to validate their feelings so they can carry on in their minds with their gloomy thoughts.</p>

<p>I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now with my advice. But honestly. Just talk to him, no more need to ask for advice, plenty has been given. your direction and paths are clear. ask for them to be taken down. if they refuse to, make a personal choice on whether or not you want to spend the time and money to take legal action to get him to remove the photographs. And no, you don't need to come back here to ask us if it's worth your time and money. Only you can decide that once he refuses to take them down, if that's what he chooses to do.</p>

<p>I wanted to give it a go ;) first my original photo of a couple's recent engagement session. Then my hand at the washed out look.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.ajstudios.ca/wash1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://www.ajstudios.ca/wash2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>The last time I checked my D700 sensor, these larger dust particles weren't showing, so I'd guess the sensor cleaning mechanism worked well till then. But in the past 2 months I've really been working outdoors a lot and it's been rather hot and humid out. If any dust got in, it might have become what they call "welded sensor dust" sticking to the sensor filter due to the humid temperatures.</p>

<p>Maybe I'll stop by my local camera store and get a dry cleaning brush first and give it a shot gently.</p>

<p>Hey guys. I've read all the doom and gloom on sensor cleaning dangers etc. Which is why I've been hesitant to ever try it myself. I've never really needed to before every month or two I preform a sensor test and haven't had any real dust issues that I couldn't take care of between my D700's auto sensor cleaning system and my Giotto's Air Rocket.</p>

<p>Here are a couple of pics. I've tried my air rocket and did about 20-30 blasts of air in various places over the sensor, but some of the bigger dust monsters are seemingly being persistent.</p>

<p>The test: well I did a few. But the one i'm upload is a manual out of focus image of a tungsten light bulb as close as I could possibly get it, on ISO 200, aperture F16, tungsten WB of course.</p>

<p>I don't usually notice any dust in any of my photos. And I've gone back and looked at some. The only ones I could find trace of the dust was in some blue sky photos. Easily cloned or heal brushe'd out. But bothers me none the less.</p>

<p>The dust monsters don't really show up at all when I just use a plain white surface or the tungsten light source, that I can see anyway. But when I run auto levels on the image, they are plainly visible. What do you guys think. Do I need to suck it up and get me a quality wet cleaning brush kit and learn to gently clean my sensor myself, or should I take it to a store locally that offers protection but charges 75 dollars for the cleaning. Here are the two pics. The first is the straight OOC tungsten shot. The second is the auto levels version.</p>

<p>P.S the upper edges probably get darker on auto levels because I wasn't entirely centered on the light bulb and probably got some minor shadow play and light fall off on the edge of the lens.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.ajstudios.ca/dust1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://www.ajstudios.ca/dust2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Marcus. I think your comment is a little harsh and the term honey attracts flies better than vinegar comes to mind. There is no need to use terms like she screwed up or call her equipment miserable quality. Everyone has to start somewhere. My guess is that the bride and grooms shes dealing with are aware of her current experience and pay level if any. People get what they pay for in that bracket and price range.. yes it is a real wedding. But I always place at least 50% or more equal responsibility on the B&G if they seek out photographers in that price bracket range. I will put 100% or more fault on the photographer if they've mislead the B&G in any way about their experience or equipment capabilities up front.</p>

<p>As to your lens claim. You're just stating what you think is optimal or most convenient. I shot an entire wedding once with a 50mm 1.4 lens only and my clients raved about their photos, because my assistant grabbed the wrong lens bag (no longer my assistant) and showed up to the wedding 6 hours from my studios with a bag of my 50mm prime lenses. Also needless to say I don't let assistants cover my equipment anymore, I personally make sure I have it all packed myself. Needless to say I was lucky the minister at that wedding had no qualms about me getting up close and personal during the ceremony, and flash was allowed.</p>

<p>The point is though. You don't absolutely have to cover every focal range, your feet do the same job a zoom lens does. You only need to cover different focal ranges if there are restrictions in place on movement and where you can go, which the OP would be smart to contact the minister ahead of time to enquire about. Of course, zoom lenses help amateurs make up for their shortcomings in their ability to anticipate what is coming <strong>next ,</strong> which is what lets a seasoned photographer get away with using a prime lens and being in position to get the shots with only one focal length coverage.</p>

<p>Just my two copper.</p>

<p>Nikon CLS works great. Commander mode not so much. Unless you're only working indoors or outdoors on pretty cloudy days within a meter or two of your flash unit and visible line of sight. That's too much annoyance for me. The cost of the Flex system and ac3 zone controller was well worth it. Even working indoors I might add, can become frustrating quickly if you're wanting to place background highlight flashes with snoots behind a subject and it takes the flash out of your visible line of site.</p>

<p>the pocketwizard "flex" system is the most reliable off camera flash triggering system I've ever laid my hands on for the nikon CLS compatible system. Never, ever had a misfire with it even from great distances. If anything commander mode is 1000 times more unreliable than P.W Flex</p>

<p>For those commenting about Jeff's success as an available light photographer. As some mentioned it's almost incessantly cloudy in his part of the world which helps a lot for outdoor photos contrast wise. But also take heed to his processing style. If his photo gallery is anything similiar to his delivered product, it's 85-90% black and white photos (very forgiving in terms of improper lighting conditions) many of which are post processed to have a grunge feel to them with added noise/grain in many of them via his action set. In my personal opinion, mister ascough didn't just become popular from being good at spot metering in available light situations. A lot of his photos look more like art than they do photographs. Something with a 17th century gothic feel to them. They love that sort of thing over in the Britain/Scotland area. I doubt if it would fly where I'm from (southwestern ontario - canada) but I've never seen anyone from around here doing that sort of thing. Then again our population isn't nearly as big to have steady business from a particular niche market (again, in my opinion)</p>

<p>I also would like to add, I *used* to be an available light shooter only, as J.A was in fact to me, as Cartier Bresson is to him. However, I since have become mesmorized by mister van niekerk who has taught me a lot from his blog about how to properly use flash. Now I couldn't imagine not using it in many circumstances, again, unless I was going for something very specifically niche like J.A in terms of final product looks. My personal work is very B&W grunge similiar to the way J.A's wedding photos turn out... but I simply can't bring myself to try to market my wedding photography in the same way. My market here seems to prefer the crisp clean color photos.</p>

<p>lol.. I think Art Tatum might have missed the complete sarcasm in your artistic peice Nathan.</p>

<p>People here are mostly correct. It's not that you can't charge 1800+ per wedding with your current portfolio (I haven't seen your portfolio, just assuming it's good enough as you say to charge those prices)</p>

<p>It's that you can't charge those prices because you aren't well known. Getting your name in the game can take between 1-2 years. You have to do so many jobs at potentially lower rates just so you can have interacted with enough people that they are throwing your name around to other people (referrals / word of mouth)</p>

<p>When enough people know you, put the big price tag up. If you're known for quality work, the prices are going to get paid. But people can't rave about your work to other people if they've never employed you to begin with. A Kijiji / Craigslist ad doesn't amount to nearly the same thing (even with a stellar portfolio) as one friend saying to another "wow, i loved your wedding pictures by the way.. who did them for you? I'm getting married in July..."</p>

<p>Nadine, I think you just created the new latest style - Please send me your photoshop action ASAP!!! I can't wait to copy you :D</p>

<p>+1 for Jeremy John , as much as the bad photos would probably irk me personally. I have to agree.</p>

<p>Also - perhaps just ask him? Locate his contact info on his website. Let him know how much you admire his work, that you're not from his local area, but would love to introduce his style in your area. Flattery can go a long way!</p>

<p>There is just something about looking at all those washed out type pics that makes my eyes hurt. Not my particular cup of tea!</p>

<p>What a great idea Ian! I think I'm going to forget photography and open my own 24 hour locksmith operation getting people unlocked from their houses where they forgot their keys. I'll always have happy customers that are satisified with my results even if I have to cut the door knob off... lol.</p>

<p>Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. My friend is now feeling better to see how many of you with great portfolios feel the same way!</p>