The Official Photography Thread - Vol. 3

[fraij da 5 11]

Not bad bro, not bad at all!

Thanks.  They had paid for a "professional" photographer but asked myself and the brides cousin to also take pics with our T3i's.

Honestly though I think she did a terrible job with the actual ceremony... Over exposed like a MFer:

This one even seems OOF or like she was on manual and had a longer shutter speed:

Exposure again:

The shaded pictures were much better so I'm wondering if she forgot to change her SS when it was time for the ceremony?

 

[ksteezy]

Shooting with no shade and the sun high above is difficult, I don't really concern myself with blown skies although you should always try and expose for the dress IMO the best you can...you still want to see some detail there...it's possible she just couldn't up her SS any higher because of how bright the day was and didn't know to play with the aperture in order to not draw in some light?...I think that's the difference between the shots you posted, she might of been shooting wider than you at the highest SS hence why her shot seems a bit soft and still over exposed and yours are sharp an much better exposed.

 

[ksteezy]

ksteezy, thanks for the advice man.

right now i have it in my mind that i want to be a portrait photographer. i dont want to do events because i dont have the consistency and ability to work fast enough to capture things how i want. i havent narrowed that down just yet.

i feel like im having the most difficulty with the financial part of it. i find myself doing free stuff for my friends for the experience but dont know when to say ok let me discount it for you or this is how much i charge for this. would you suggest i start with a package and tell them well right now i offer 1 hr for this much and i will throw in these prints but anything else you have to pay extra for?

Stop shooting friends, friends will never think of it as you working once you've shot them free, they will always expect free work...if you don't want to be upfront, start making excuses about not having time till they get te hint....used to happen to me often, now I only have 3 people who would get free labor from me, my broinlaw, and my two best friends and they rarely ever ask me for a session.

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Shooting with no shade and the sun high above is difficult, I don't really concern myself with blown skies although you should always try and expose for the dress IMO the best you can...you still want to see some detail there...it's possible she just couldn't up her SS any higher because of how bright the day was and didn't know to play with the aperture in order to not draw in some light?...I think that's the difference between the shots you posted, she might of been shooting wider than you at the highest SS hence why her shot seems a bit soft and still over exposed and yours are sharp an much better exposed.

Yea I remember she had an 85 on her camera at the time that looked huge so she was probably trying to shoot wider.

I was using my 17-85 USM which goes 4.0-5.6

The Statue picture I posted and the one of the guys playing at the wedding were both with my Sigma 30mm at 1.4 though.

I dunno I'm not trying to criticize to harshly on her but I took some of those over exposed pics and put them in light room and just some simple exposure/highlights/whites/shadows adjustments made a big difference in her pictures.  I wish I had her RAW images to process.

 

[locobaby]

Great discussions in this thread as of late. I've been lurking and have some of the same questions as some of you guys that are getting answered. I am currently a portrait photographer and I do shoot events from time to time. As a portrait photographer marketing is harder than shooting . For whatever reason people don't want to spend money on pictures just because. I have been shooting more kids and senior sessions but would love to get into the wedding game. I want to tell stories through stills (I know it sounds corny). This couple shoots the way I want to CLICK HERE FOR THEIR SITE. They are an awesome duo and remind me of Steezy and his wife. I have some big goals in the next few years. I want to rebrand next year and becoming strictly a wedding photographer (I'm currently working on the weekends as a second shooter and building my personal wedding port). I want to open a photo studio in ATL in 2017 and one day get paid to teach photography.

 

[khankussionz]

As a portrait photographer marketing is harder than shooting . For whatever reason people don't want to spend money on pictures just because.

I definitely think that marketing is what is killing any progress I can make. I'm at a stage where I want to learn to shoot better but I have nobody to shoot. And then when someone is interested in my services I'm like damn I'll do it because I need the practice and exposure. I should just figure out some type of package deal but have no idea where to start. And then how would I market to people??? I dont want to be a creep rolling up on women like hey come over my crib so I can shoot you haha. There is so much to figure out.

 

[Fong$tarr]

I think wedding photos are only as important to the couple getting married (not even sure if I said tha right). What I mean is not everyone has a high taste for quality photos. The reason why people don't want to spend money on photographers is cause it is not a priority amongst the many of other things people want whether it be where the wedding is taking place, DJ, food, decorations, etc. It's funny cause to this day, I don't think I have seen anyone spend good money on getting wedding invitations. Who wants to spend like $400-500 on proper prints when you can just go to some print shop and make cheap fliers. The economy of course plays a factor on this but you will see plenty of couples pushing their money to other things but sadly photos are never on the top.

 

[ksteezy]

I think wedding photos are only as important to the couple getting married (not even sure if I said tha right). What I mean is not everyone has a high taste for quality photos. The reason why people don't want to spend money on photographers is cause it is not a priority amongst the many of other things people want whether it be where the wedding is taking place, DJ, food, decorations, etc. It's funny cause to this day, I don't think I have seen anyone spend good money on getting wedding invitations. Who wants to spend like $400-500 on proper prints when you can just go to some print shop and make cheap fliers. The economy of course plays a factor on this but you will see plenty of couples pushing their money to other things but sadly photos are never on the top.

More than likely they'll end up with crap pictures, if this is how twy feel I guarantee you they might as well buy a P&S and let a little cousin handle it....photography/DJ/venue should be the top 3 materialistic priorities of a wedding....this doesn't mean you have to blow ridiculous money to have something good and I think that's the problem nowadays, the bride and groom need to educate and search HARD....there are photographers who charge 9k that SUCK....there are photographers that charge 2K that are naturals just trying to get things off the floor, same goes for DJs...now Venues is where you might have little wiggle room...but you can opt to host in a trendy restaurant as opposed to a hall that specializes in weddings and from my experience the visuals would be better, at least from a photographers POV...I've shot in places like Bubby's, Rebar, MyMoon,Fort Lee park NJ, these are places that are a fraction of what the cheapest wedding hall would cost, hell my reception was in a wedding reception in the BX and I was paying 90$ per person, had I known better I would have done it in a restaurant...invitations and things of that nature you can just go on Etsy.com and have everything hand made there to your liking for not so much money...wedding dresses, not to be biased but Jcrews collection is affordable and beautiful and you can have your whole wedding party and yourself Jcrew'd out and look sharper than going out to buy from one of those places that specialize in these kinds of things where you'll end up spending 300$ for some Italian made shirt alone...happened to me.

 

[ksteezy]

Great discussions in this thread as of late. I've been lurking and have some of the same questions as some of you guys that are getting answered. I am currently a portrait photographer and I do shoot events from time to time. As a portrait photographer marketing is harder than shooting . For whatever reason people don't want to spend money on pictures just because. I have been shooting more kids and senior sessions but would love to get into the wedding game. I want to tell stories through stills (I know it sounds corny). This couple shoots the way I want to CLICK HERE FOR THEIR SITE. They are an awesome duo and remind me of Steezy and his wife. I have some big goals in the next few years. I want to rebrand next year and becoming strictly a wedding photographer (I'm currently working on the weekends as a second shooter and building my personal wedding port). I want to open a photo studio in ATL in 2017 and one day get paid to teach photography.

Bookmarked!...they are awesome.

 

[Fong$tarr]

More than likely they'll end up with crap pictures, if this is how twy feel I guarantee you they might as well buy a P&S and let a little cousin handle it....photography/DJ/venue should be the top 3 materialistic priorities of a wedding....this doesn't mean you have to blow ridiculous money to have something good and I think that's the problem nowadays, the bride and groom need to educate and search HARD....there are photographers who charge 9k that SUCK....there are photographers that charge 2K that are naturals just trying to get things off the floor, same goes for DJs...now Venues is where you might have little wiggle room...but you can opt to host in a trendy restaurant as opposed to a hall that specializes in weddings and from my experience the visuals would be better, at least from a photographers POV...I've shot in places like Bubby's, Rebar, MyMoon,Fort Lee park NJ, these are places that are a fraction of what the cheapest wedding hall would cost, hell my reception was in a wedding reception in the BX and I was paying 90$ per person, had I known better I would have done it in a restaurant...invitations and things of that nature you can just go on Etsy.com and have everything hand made there to your liking for not so much money...wedding dresses, not to be biased but Jcrews collection is affordable and beautiful and you can have your whole wedding party and yourself Jcrew'd out and look sharper than going out to buy from one of those places that specialize in these kinds of things where you'll end up spending 300$ for some Italian made shirt alone...happened to me.

Very true. Photographers are not always expensive. I haven't seen tons of portfolios but my brother paid about 4k for his photographer and he flat out sucked and I know someone that got some kid off of Craigslist for a grand and his work turned out quite well. I guess you just have to dig for the deals but still, some people are just too cheap to even want to do the research. Oddly my cousin got married in another state but is having a reception in SF and I just found out from my uncle that they want me to DJ the party with my iPad. Talk about not wanting to spend any money, They are about to just get a shuffle of songs cause there isn't much I can do.

 

[ksteezy]

As long as they know what they are getting from you and are not expecting DJ Camilo to show up....what kills me is cheap clients that expect the best, or clients that want to hustle down your price.

 

[HankHill]

More than likely they'll end up with crap pictures, if this is how twy feel I guarantee you they might as well buy a P&S and let a little cousin handle it....photography/DJ/venue should be the top 3 materialistic priorities of a wedding....this doesn't mean you have to blow ridiculous money to have something good and I think that's the problem nowadays, the bride and groom need to educate and search HARD....there are photographers who charge 9k that SUCK....there are photographers that charge 2K that are naturals just trying to get things off the floor, same goes for DJs...now Venues is where you might have little wiggle room...but you can opt to host in a trendy restaurant as opposed to a hall that specializes in weddings and from my experience the visuals would be better, at least from a photographers POV...I've shot in places like Bubby's, Rebar, MyMoon,Fort Lee park NJ, these are places that are a fraction of what the cheapest wedding hall would cost, hell my reception was in a wedding reception in the BX and I was paying 90$ per person, had I known better I would have done it in a restaurant...invitations and things of that nature you can just go on Etsy.com and have everything hand made there to your liking for not so much money...wedding dresses, not to be biased but Jcrews collection is affordable and beautiful and you can have your whole wedding party and yourself Jcrew'd out and look sharper than going out to buy from one of those places that specialize in these kinds of things where you'll end up spending 300$ for some Italian made shirt alone...happened to me.

Very true. Photographers are not always expensive. I haven't seen tons of portfolios but my brother paid about 4k for his photographer and he flat out sucked and I know someone that got some kid off of Craigslist for a grand and his work turned out quite well. I guess you just have to dig for the deals but still, some people are just too cheap to even want to do the research. Oddly my cousin got married in another state but is having a reception in SF and I just found out from my uncle that they want me to DJ the party with my iPad. Talk about not wanting to spend any money, They are about to just get a shuffle of songs cause there isn't much I can do.

The tech lead at my job is getting married soon and is pretty much having everything guest managed. He set up a system where guest can upload their photos (sort of like a drop box) and a mod will select which ones show up on the displays, but they'll keep all of them. I think his brother-in-law has a "good" camera for the main photography, but he's doing it for free because he wants to take photos.

They won't even have a DJ. They'll have tablets in the reception hall where guest can select from a library of music and its entered into a queue that will get played later on.

 

[dunksrnice]

Recent random stuff.



More on the blog - www.dunksrnice.net

 

[ksteezy]

This thing is AWESOME

 

[yanky]

This might of already been asked before but does anyone here have a 500px account?

 

[dunksrnice]

This might of already been asked before but does anyone here have a 500px account?

I do. It's cool and free. Soem what portfolio website but not really.

 

[bklyn style baby]

This thing is AWESOME

steezy that strap looks mean!

5:48 am EST

 

[benssick]

Untitled by BSick., on Flickr
gone

 

[la08native]

Strap looks fresh Ksteez!

 

[ksteezy]

Thanks a lot bros, first wedding of the season tomorrow, I'll post some work on here when I edit them, wish me luck fellas....can't wait to rock my holster.

 

[la08native]

Thanks a lot bros, first wedding of the season tomorrow, I'll post some work on here when I edit them, wish me luck fellas....can't wait to rock my holster.

Can't wait to see em'...

How much dancing do you do while taking pics on the dance floor?

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Thanks a lot bros, first wedding of the season tomorrow, I'll post some work on here when I edit them, wish me luck fellas....can't wait to rock my holster.

 

[ksteezy]

Can't wait to see em'...

How much dancing do you do while taking pics on the dance floor?

i do a little bit of dancing towards the end, is almost innevitable, once alcohol settles on the girls, they go after the photographer, is weird...lol

ill say this, being single and a wedding photographer = infinite yambs

i get hit on or felt up on at least once in almost every wedding ive attended....the last time was thiswoman in her 50's id say, literally palmed my a** bros, her husband was right in front of me....i didnt know what to do...

im happily married, so is watever, still funny when it happens...lol

 

[ksteezy]

 

[dunksrnice]

One from yesterday.



More on the blog - www.dunksrnice.net