Wedding photos

[GrillMouster]

Hereare a few recent articles about a wedding photographer getting sued for shoddy work:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8292164.stm

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/articl...hotographs?&in_article_id=748226&in_page_id=2

 

[shancan911]

Great news all! Well, the way I'm looking at it, anyway. My niece told me last night that someone she works with, who is an intense hobbyist trying to break out, will be shooting the wedding. I'm off the hook and will be enjoying the day. Thanks to all of you who contributed. I'll try to come back and post a couple of my shots.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Hereare a few recent articles about a wedding photographer getting sued for shoddy work:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8292164.stm

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/articl...hotographs?&in_article_id=748226&in_page_id=2

Ouch!

A couple things came to mind when I read those articles. First, I wonder if the couple had a chance to review the photographer's portfolio before shelling out the £1,450 (about $2300) and hiring him.

Second, shouldn't the photographer have made a first pass through all the images and removed all the "obviously bad" photos (ex. out of focus, heads chopped off, super bad exposure, etc) before handing them over to the bride & groom? Or, does that photographer know a bad picture when he sees one, even if it's his own?

Third, I wonder if this is one of those cases where the bride and groom wanted "all the raw images" but didn't know what to do with them. So instead of focusing on the beautiful album (I assume and hope they received a beautiful photo album), they focused on the "raw", unprocessed photos. This should certainly discourage any wedding photographer from giving away "raw" photos to couples who don't know what to do with them. (I know this was discussed earlier last week on these boards)


Re-reading those articles again, it sounds like the photographer missed key moments during the wedding, made the limo drive around the block again, took photos from bad positions, etc. One of the articles said that the couple liked only 22 of the 400 shots. I really hope that the 400 shots were not the final ones he presented to the couple.


BTW, GrillMouster, I really appreciated your earlier, detailed post about the day of a wedding photographer. You really showed how hard a wedding photographer has to work in such challenging circumstances (photographically speaking). I hope you copied your detailed post so that you can paste it as a reply the next time the topic of wedding photography comes up.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Great news all! Well, the way I'm looking at it, anyway. My niece told me last night that someone she works with, who is an intense hobbyist trying to break out, will be shooting the wedding. I'm off the hook and will be enjoying the day. Thanks to all of you who contributed. I'll try to come back and post a couple of my shots.

Congratulations! (I think ) I'm glad you'll be able to enjoy the wedding. Now that the pressure's off, you can try your hand at wedding photography to get some real-world practice and to see how you would have done.

 

[kaffinito]

Great news all! Well, the way I'm looking at it, anyway. My niece told me last night that someone she works with, who is an intense hobbyist trying to break out, will be shooting the wedding. I'm off the hook and will be enjoying the day. Thanks to all of you who contributed. I'll try to come back and post a couple of my shots.

Congrats! I hope you have a wonderful time at the wedding

 

[Chikabowa]

A couple things came to mind when I read those articles. First, I wonder if the couple had a chance to review the photographer's portfolio before shelling out the £1,450 (about $2300) and hiring him.

You would think and hope that. Unfortunately there are a lot of very unskilled photographers out there who have decent portfolios. Brides and grooms look through the portfolios and find a lot of photos they like, they book.

However.... the photographer conveniently 'forgot' to show a full wedding. I ALWAYS give access to my couples a full gallery of pictures from my most recent wedding. That way, if they meet with me on Monday, they get to see what I just shot this past Saturday.

Second, shouldn't the photographer have made a first pass through all the images and removed all the "obviously bad" photos (ex. out of focus, heads chopped off, super bad exposure, etc) before handing them over to the bride & groom? Or, does that photographer know a bad picture when he sees one, even if it's his own?

Nope... again... you have a lot of 'photographers' out there who really don't care. They've been told by everyone (friends & family) that they are really great and they actually think those are good shots.

Third, I wonder if this is one of those cases where the bride and groom wanted "all the raw images" but didn't know what to do with them. So instead of focusing on the beautiful album (I assume and hope they received a beautiful photo album), they focused on the "raw", unprocessed photos. This should certainly discourage any wedding photographer from giving away "raw" photos to couples who don't know what to do with them. (I know this was discussed earlier last week on these boards)

A raw image should still be gorgeous straight out of camera (SOOC). Post process should only be the icing on the cake (excuse the pun).

The only images that are processed in photoshop for my clients are the images that go into the album or in which the couple orders enlargements (8x10 or larger). So my clients get my SOOC images when I hand over the disk. But I'm not embarassed to do that... because they are strong images. This one was taken on 9/26. It's SOOC with just a RAW-->JPEG conversion.

And another SOOC image:

I actually show my clients the differences between SOOC and processed versions this way.

Any skilled photographer should be able to show clients their SOOC shots and not be embarrassed.

Re-reading those articles again, it sounds like the photographer missed key moments during the wedding, made the limo drive around the block again, took photos from bad positions, etc. One of the articles said that the couple liked only 22 of the 400 shots. I really hope that the 400 shots were not the final ones he presented to the couple.

And there in lays the problem... too many people taking money for work they don't really have the skill to produce. It's one thing to take 1000 images on a wedding day and have a 5% keeper rate. It's a whole 'nother ball game to take 1000 images on a wedding day and have an 85-95% keeper rate.

 

[ShanF]

I am a lurker of the photography forums and have gotten so much great information here - thanks!!
i am a recent owner of a nikon D5000 and i am still learning and reading all i can get my hands on. i am going to a wedding later today and was wondering if anyone has any tips on settings (i would love to take it off auto) - the ceremony will be outside and the reception inside -- i have looked on line and a few tips, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much!!
Shannon

 

[wenrob]

No offense but you can't just pop in settings and be good to go. It takes a lot of time, reading, practicing and energy to "get it out of auto." Not to mention lenses for specific situations etc. You can't learn and understand exposure in a couple of hours. Your best bet for halfway decent pics at the moment would be auto if you don't have any knowledge about aperture, shutter speed and iso. I'm sure others would disagree but if it's important to you to get these shots I wouldn't try to learn on the fly, you'll be sorely disappointed.

 

[disneyboy2003]

It seems a little ambitious to learn all of wedding photography in just a few hours.

But I agree with wenrob. At this point, you're probably better off just doing Auto. Luckily, the ceremonies are outdoors. If it were indoors, then your "Auto" setting would automatically pop-up and fire the flash, which is usually not allowed in indoor ceremonies.

For the reception inside, you can probably use all the flash you want.

Good luck! Sorry I can't be more specific. Some wedding photographers try to go to the location beforehand (like a day or week before) just to test out settings, look for photo ideas, etc. Let us know how your pictures turn out!

 

[ShanF]

No offense but you can't just pop in settings and be good to go. It takes a lot of time, reading, practicing and energy to "get it out of auto." Not to mention lenses for specific situations etc. You can't learn and understand exposure in a couple of hours. Your best bet for halfway decent pics at the moment would be auto if you don't have any knowledge about aperture, shutter speed and iso. I'm sure others would disagree but if it's important to you to get these shots I wouldn't try to learn on the fly, you'll be sorely disappointed.

No offense taken
i know i have a lot to learn yet and i have been playing around. i seem to get confused on which setting to stay on (besides auto - i really do notice a difference in the quality of the photos when i am off auto mode even if i don't have the settings perfect) -- such as P, S, A - i know i am not ready for M so i rarely use that. i am just taking one lens today 18-55 VR -
Thanks for responding, i appreciate it!!
i am thinking my best best for today will be P mode and just adjust the ISO as needed??

 

[ShanF]

I also wanted to clarify that I am NOT the photographer of the wedding, just a guest who loves to takes lots of pictures

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yes, that's the really the tricky part of having a dSLR > knowing or having to figure out which lenses and settings to use under what circumstances. Nothing "one fits all" about it, unfortunately. Most wedding photographers carry at least two bodies so they don't have to change lenses back and forth, even. And with each camera body, they have to quickly interpret settings so as to get the shots correctly and precisely - there may very well not be a second chance on Wedding Day! Hope you had a nice time and were able to get some keepers. Let us know how it went.

 

[Frantasmic]

I admire your wanting to learn.

In the future, move from Auto to Program. The camera does select most of the settings, but you still have a few options.

For example, in Program mode, you could have set the ISO and white balance, which would have been a good learning tool. Outside, you'd want a low ISO 100-200 and your white balance, well with the white wedding dresses and the sunshine, it probably would have been good to do a custom white balance off the dress in sunshine.

The problem though in Program mode might have been having the dresses wash out in bright sunshine. But, you'd have had the experience.

Inside, you would have to probably move your ISO up a few levels and probably had to use flash a couple of times. But, if it was a well-lit venue, maybe not.

 

[ShanF]

Thanks for all the replies! The wedding went great and I got some great shots. I did chicken out and use Auto on the shots i wouldn't be able to re-take, but for more candid and around the reception i did play around with the settings.
I also found myself paying a lot more attention to the photographer than i ever had at a wedding. I am definitely not looking to get into a business with photography, but found it interesting to watch how he did things.
Thanks again!!

 

[disneyboy2003]

Thanks for all the replies! The wedding went great and I got some great shots. I did chicken out and use Auto on the shots i wouldn't be able to re-take, but for more candid and around the reception i did play around with the settings.
I also found myself paying a lot more attention to the photographer than i ever had at a wedding. I am definitely not looking to get into a business with photography, but found it interesting to watch how he did things.
Thanks again!!

Glad to hear that the wedding went well! Show us some of your pictures!

Looking back, what advice would you have given yourself yesterday, after reading your initial post on this thread? Did we give you the right advice?

What were some things you learned about different camera settings during the wedding / reception? What were some interesting things you observed about how the wedding photographer did his job?

Please share. Glad you had fun at the wedding.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Glad to hear that the wedding went well! Show us some of your pictures!

Looking back, what advice would you have given yourself yesterday, after reading your initial post on this thread? Did we give you the right advice?

What were some things you learned about different camera settings during the wedding / reception? What were some interesting things you observed about how the wedding photographer did his job?

Please share. Glad you had fun at the wedding.

I'd love to hear all this myself. Let us know if you upload some of those pics any time son

 

[Master Mason]

My little brother is getting married today, and apparently I'm the official photographer.

Wish me luck and I'll post some results when I get get them processed.

 

[JoeDif]

You are a braver man than I and a good brother for doing it

Good luck

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing some!

 

[mom2rtk]

COURAGE!!!! Can't wait to see the results. Can you also share what equipment you decided to use?

Good luck to you AND your brother!