 Whitney S. |
virgin digital wedding photographer hey fellow photographers :) i am an emerging wedding "photo- journalist" as they say these days. i managed to do 7 weddings in the past 3 months and though I was terrified I pulled them off, made some money and learned LOTS. here's my question...i was doing 35mm and was pretty comfortable with it, my only equipment 2 canons (eos 3) and 4 lenses, a flash bracket w/ a flash and LOTS of film. i recently bought a canon 10d and LOVE it. I can confidently use the camera to capture images and could probably do a wedding with it (though i think I need a little help with the lighting/white balance issues) but as far as getting the images from the camera to the bride, i'm at a loss. rather than spend the money and energy buying a high quality printer and learning to use it i think i'd like to use the online album companies. so, which ones are good? how do they work? also I have an older computer that won't even work with my camera so should I buy a laptop so I can bring it to the wedding as some of these high end wedding photographers do and backup everything right there at the wedding and even display the photos which could make for big and immediate sales? or do I just buy a p.c.? and which ones are supportive of what i'm doing? i've read some books on digital wedding photography but they seem so technical and I just need to start somewhere. any advice would be very welcome and appreciated! thank so much, whitney
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Lorenzo |
hi whitney.My name is Lorenzo.You're the only photographer on this site that does any wedding stuff.Everyone does all that landscape crap.BORING!!I'm a wedding photographer and run my own business from home.I have the new rebel digital and I LOVE it.I have a laptop that's a pentium 3 with 256 mgs of ram.That's what you're gonna need for your digital work and camera software.I've displayed wedding photos at the reception b4 and that's a huge hit.I got my laptop from a relative who worked at a place where they refurbish old computers.I got the laptop and cd burner for $475.(No joke) they're called Allied resources and based in Utah.I still have the number on my phone if ur interested.10d's a great camera.Mine is very similar,yours has some more advanced features.I've shot thousands of portrait images with high quality digital almost everyday for the last year.I feel fairly fluent.Hopefully I could help with your white balance and exposure issue.digital is like slide.Better to underexpose than over.Some may disagree with me but your LCD viewfinders are fairly true to the actually downloaded image.Your exposures have to be right on.A little Under is okay cause you can always tweak it a little in Photoshop.Auto white balance is usually accurate.I would be surprised if yours isn't.I'm not sure where you're from but there's a lot of good labs out there.try Millerslab.com.They do excellent work and if you have a business license you can get an account ASAP.Once again,you'll need a new computer and probably a high speed connection.You send your images to them via internet.If you have any questions please let me know.I'd be glad to help. Good Luck...........Lorenzo
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
A wedding photo journalist? That sounds like calling yourself a stylist instead of saying "I pick out peoples clothes".
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Josh S. |
Lighten-up there Greg, seems your white balance is off a tad.
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John A. Lind |
Lorenzo, You're not the only ones here shooting weddings. Don't feel quite so lonely. (I also do landscapes among other things and never found making them boring, just considerably different in equipment and technique, but that's OK if you do). Whitney, "PJ" wedding photography as a "style" . . . and I'm not certain it really that unique a style . . . is a niche market. IMVHO it's an "edgy" avant-garde adaptation of the more traditional "editorial" candid work using unusual poses and perspectives. Time will tell if it's a passing fad or not. The more extreme form of it undoubtedly is. If your goal is continuing to build your business, think about acquiring the equipment base and skills to do a wide variety of wedding work in nearly any style and in any type of locale for ceremony and reception: indoor, outdoor, formal, traditional, casual, "PJ," etc. This versatility can also create more profit from a single shoot. The body of work for a wedding should clearly be in the specific style the bride wants, with the specific subject material she wants. What the bride wants, she should definitely get, and it shouldn't be short-changed. However, if it's "edgy" or avant-garde, making a few traditional and formal ones can increase reprint sales. What their parents like, and are willing to buy for themselves, are usually more traditional. Having some of that as well . . . by shooting a few more frames of things they're likely to want in a style they're likely to buy . . . can get reprint orders that wouldn't otherwise occur. This potential difference in style preference is something to assess when you interact with the bride's and groom's parents. Look at their styles of clothing and jewelry too; they tell something about the person. In all the business models I've seen, reprints beyond the contracted "package" have the highest profit margin. -- John Lind
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Whitney S. |
wedding photographer. since I last wrote i traded in my last 35mm film camera, bought a new canon mark 2 and love it (although it's quite heavy!) went to some workshops and raised my prices. now i get more calls, more bookings and have more respect for myself. strange how that works! I have a website too, www.whitneyofriel.com, which is still a work in progress. thank you john and lorenzo for your kind words and gregory, well josh s. seems to have said it best, your white balance IS off. we should all be supportive and caring as artists and if being snyde helps you feel better then i'm sorry for you.
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Whitney S. |
hey fellow members, it's me, the virgin wedding photographer. since I last wrote i traded in my last 35mm film camera, bought a new canon mark 2 and love it (although it's quite heavy!) went to some workshops and raised my prices. now i get more calls, more bookings and have more respect for myself. strange how that works! I have a website too, www.whitneyofriel.com, which is still a work in progress. thank you john and lorenzo for your kind words and gregory, well josh s. seems to have said it best, your white balance IS off. we should all be supportive and caring as artists and if being snyde helps you feel better then i'm sorry for you.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
No need to feel sorry. I'm supportive when I need to, but I cut thru the psuedo terms and titles that somebody always thinks up to call the same old thing (wedding photojournalist,wedding photographer,marital ceremony imaging technition) and am only concerned with what really matters, do the pictures come out right. You can call it evian or you can call it water.
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