Thursday Wedding?

Really?  A Wedding on a Thursday?

Believe it.

Dale and Karla had a beautiful ceremony on the beaches of the Clearwater Hilton.  Joanie and Nick always do a great job!  We had some hot sun and everybody got a little sweaty, but I think there's some great photos too!  Here's their sneak peek!

Denise & Brent at the Sirata

I have been a bad blogger lately.  There's been a lot going on and I'm behind in my sneak peeks!

Denise and Brent were married at the beautiful Sirata Resort.  Dawn from Wedding Wows did a great job of keeping the event flowing smoothly.  The Flowers by Heather of the Rose Garden were amazing!  Here's their sneak peek:

As if this wasn't enough.....

So, we offer Wedding Photography, you knew that, right?

Well, we do.

We also do Family Portraits, and Seniors, and children.

You knew that, didn't you?

We also offer Paintings.  Yep, you read that right.  I paint.

We've offered them for a while, but VERY soon, we will have a "Painted Portrait Package" (say that 3 times fast!)

I love painting and I feel this is a product whose time has come.  Many years ago royalty and the very wealthy paid large sums of money to have their likeness painted onto canvas.  Today, there are not enough pieces of art being created.  Sure there are lots of "snapshots" of family, but what about a real, down to earth, painted portrait in the style of the old masters or even something more contemporary?  Do you have one?  I don't, but I'm working on it!

I just spent a week with Internationally reknowned Painter Deborah Lynn Ferro and wow, did I learn a lot.  I've been painting for years, but she really focused me and gave me direction.

Alright, enough talk!

Here's a photo of a friend of mine, Kimberly, and her Mom.  I photographed them at Phillipe Park in Safety Harbor with no intention of making a painting from it.

 

 And here's the painting!

Hope you enjoy it!  I just have to figure out how to package it and we will have a new section on the website for paintings!

-B

Getting Better All The Time......

I will not be posting much if at all for the next week or so since Derica, Melissa and I will be joining Professional Photographers from all over the state and beyond in Daytona Beach for the Florida Professional Photographers Florida School.

This is a yearly event where we get to spend a week with an instructor in a small class format to learn as much as we can.

This year, Derica and I are working with Debra Lynn Ferro to brush up (hehe) on Photoshop and Painting skills!  Melissa is spending the week with Lori Nordstrom to learn about shooting the little ones (photographically, of course).

Don't miss me too much, ok?

-B

Aren't Photographers just Glorified Paper Salesmen?

Yeah, right......

When film was king, there was more truth to that statement, but it still wasn't true.

We all know the actual act of producing the image onto a piece of 8"x10" paper only costs a few dollars, that's not earth shattering news.

But.......

Here's why Wal* charges $2 and professionals charge >$50 or more!

First, there's cost of doing business:  licenses, permits, insurance, rent, storage, electricity, phone, etc.

Then, there's time to get the print made:  copying files, editing files, finding files, uploading, checking the print, packaging the print, arranging for the customer to pick up, etc.

Lastly, theres Processing time:  We process or retouch and manipulate each and every file for every print made so they can print at their best.  This takes a lot of time.  Depending on the file, we may spend up to an hour on an 8"x10"!  It's very difficult to make them all perfect and put a reasonable price on prints.  The smaller the print, the more expensive it is for us to make.  For example:  You order a 4"x6" print, that shouldn't cost too much, right?  Well, add up all the costs above and up to maybe a half hour of processing, and that 4"x6" could cost us money to make for you!  Obviously a larger print will receive more work than a smaller one, but this is just an explanation.

Wal* isn't going to spend any time processing your image, they also won't check for consistency or quality most likely.  Professional Labs have this unique attribute, maybe you've heard of them, they're called PEOPLE and they have EYES and a BRAIN to actually look at your Photograph and make corrections if necessary.  The Wal*'s of the world don't do that.

Soooo, next time you are looking at purchasing professional photography, and see what you might consider high print prices, think again, they are saving you a bundle!

-B

What are "Rights" to "reproduce"?

In the next installment of my ongoing series (well, it is, since yesterday), we will talk about "Rights" and "Copyright" and "Reproduction".  Nasty, nasty stuff.

Many people don't realize this, but if you hire a photographer for your portraits, wedding, etc., they OWN your photographs.  That is US copyright law, no two ways about it.  In the old days, the photographer would charge a small fee for the capture of the photographs and larger amounts for the prints from those photographs.  Today, there are more options available.

Yes, even if you purchase a print, the photographer still owns it!  If you scan it, it's illegal!

Today it's much easier for someone to reproduce a photograph illegally, thus we have the new pricing system.  Photographers tend to charge for their time up front and less for reprints.  If a print is simply a reprint, the print charges shouldn't be very high, however, many photographers retouch and manipulate the photographs they print (as they should) and charge for that time and skill.

That brings me to an interesting point:  Just how good are most photographers at retouching and image manipulation?  Isn't that something else you should look for in a photographer?  I mean, sure, they can capture a decent image, but can they make it shine?  This is something that can really set photographers apart.

OK, back to the doom and gloom.

Especially with Weddings, today many photographers offer a disk of images.  There are two basic types.

One is a small file suitable for E-mail, websites, Facebook, etc.  You don't want to print from it, there's just not enough information and that's not what they are intended for.  We've all tried printing a photo from a web site and it came out horrible, right?  same idea, looked great on the monitor, but not so much on paper.

The other is a high resolution file suitable for printing and this usually comes with usage rights.  These usage rights explain what you are allowed to do with these images.  Usually anything you want short of selling them, but this may vary from photographer to photographer.  The term "high resolution" is rather vague though, isn't it?  You may see some people calling them "Originals", unless you paid slightly over minimum wage for your wedding photographer, be wary of that word.  Remember we talked about retouching?  Originals have none of that, or even any work done.  Digital is much harder than film since we don't have a lab to make all the images perfect in color, contrast, and exposure.  Even slight differences image to image are quite noticable.  If the photographer doesn't take the time to correct for this, your images suffer for it.  A better word is "Proof", a proof is a working image, with some adjustments to it.  There are some photographers that offer "Edited" photographs.  This is a play on words.  The customer would take "Editing" to mean "retouching", guess what, it doesn't!  Editing is the act of sorting out the good from the bad, choosing the "keepers" so to speak.  It's a good thing to do, but it's not the same as retouching at all.  I'm sure there are photographers that offer fully retouched images from a wedding.  If they do, jump on it now because they likely won't be in business next year.

Yesterday I showed how a single wedding can use up most of a week's time, now imagine that photographer is going to spend a half hour to an hour retouching every single one of those 500 to 600 images?  Let's see, that's about 400 hours, or just over 2 weeks of utilizing every minute of the day for retouching.  Put another way, it keeps them busy equivalent to a full time job for 2 and a half months!  Not very realistic for a business model unless they charge the equivalent of a BMW for their services.

What does all this mean to you, the customer?

You have choices, lots of them.  Choices in Photography Style, Price Range, and Products Received.

Do you really want 800 high resolution photographs?  Do you know what to do with them?  Can your computer deal with it?  Do you WANT to deal with it?  Many people want the disk to keep for posterity, or "just in case".

Or, are you looking for QUALITY reprints?  An album with the best of the best in it?

Maybe you want all three?

The point is you can get what you want, how you want, at pretty much whatever price you want to pay.

In Tampa Bay alone there are over 600 Wedding Photographers, that's a lot to choose from.  Knowing a little bit about the industry helps narrow that field down a bit.

Hope this helps!

-B

How do you like it?

So, we are photographers and as such, we understand the business, at least that's what we tell ourselves.

But........ our customers don't live and breathe this stuff, so I'm going to give a big explanation to all the mumbo jumbo you will read on wedding photographer's websites and hopefully clear up a lot of confusion.

DISCLAIMER: Every photographer packages and prices their products differently, and may call them by different names, please understand this is for educational purposes only and will not necessarily be true in all cases. Gotta love legal-eze!

First is the shooting. This is just for the act of shooting folks, maybe they include the image processing, but rarely does this include the images. When I say processing, I mean editing and processing. Everybody thinks didigal photography saved professionals a lot of money, well, maybe, but it costs us in time.

Here's an example:

FILM

Typical wedding is about 6 hours of shooting or so. We have a few hours of consultation and conversation leading up to the day and some travel and setup time on the day of. Sooooo, once the wedding is photographed, there is about 10 hours or so in the job. Then we drop the film off to the lab and wait a few days for it to come back. Once we get the proofs, we edit out the unusable shots.  we then schedule an appointment with the customer to pick them up or come place an order. After their order is placed, we send them to the lab and wait again. Then the customer picks up their order. About 14 hours total for a 6 hour wedding.

DIGITAL

Typical wedding is about 6 hours of shooting or so. We have a few hours of consultation and conversation leading up to the day and some travel and setup time on the day of. Sooooo, once the wedding is photographed, there is about 10 hours or so in the job. Then we Download the images to a computer.  Then they are backed up to another device or disk.  Then the images are edited down to the keepers.  Image processing is the task of creating great images from the original RAW files.  This is where your black and white, sepia, and other effects are applied.  Normally, there is 1 1/2 to 2 hours of processing for every hour of shooting at a wedding.  Then we upload the images to a website and contact the customer.  The customer places an order and we retouch the images and send them to the lab.  All in all, we are at about 28 hours for a 6 hour wedding.

See that?  DOUBLE the time!  Maybe we didn't have to pay for "paper" proofs, and we didn't get prints of the unusable images, but I'm pretty sure all that processing time eats up that savings!

Why do we use digital then?

Easy.

Quality.  I can now create the image I want to, perfectly, every time, in whatever look I want it to be.  I can now retouch any imperfections out of an image.  Years from now, because of digital storage, I can make exact copies of the images I create today.

Next time somebody tells you "Digital is free, just shoot all you want", you'll know better.

This turned out to be a lot longer than I had anticipated so I'll do this section in installments.

Stay tuned!  Same bat time, same bat channel!

-B

Budget Concerns....

OK, the economy sucks.  Yeah, I said it.  You were thinking it too!  Everybody is cutting back on spending.  Weddings are no exception.  Clients tend to be spending less.  Some people are spending less on some areas and not cutting back on others.  That's a good idea, so long as you cut the right things!

Quick quiz.....

Let's say you are a bride and you have to watch the spending on your wedding (so you're a typical bride, I guess), which of the following would you budget the most money for:

1)  The Dress

2)  The Cake

3)  The Limo

4)  Photography

Next.....

Which of the following would you budget the least amount of money to?

1) Photography

2) The Honeymoon

3) Entertainment

4) The Flowers

This will be a shameless photography plug as you all know, but add your scores together for the two questions together.

If you scored 2 to 4, you should really think about what's important at a wedding.  Memories are what it's all about.

If you scored 6 to 8, you're on the right track.

If you ansered #4 to the first question, call me at 813-885-8855 and we can help you out.  hehe.

Seriously, watch your budget, don't spend needlessly.

Have you ever pulled out your Mother's, Grandmother's, or even Great Grandmother's Wedding photos?  Don't you want your kids, grandkids, and great grandkids to do the same?  Photographs are priceless when it comes to memories.  They are not for today or tomorrow, but 20, 50, even 100 years or more from now.

-B

To Pose or not to Pose...... That is the question.

I hear a lot of people complaining about posing.  "I just want photos of events as they happen."  I understand.  "I want to spend my time with my friends and family instead of posing for the camera."  I get that too.  "I want my photos to look natural, not stiff."  Um, hmmm.

I have even heard of photographers telling clients that "We do not pose you at all."

I hate to burst some bubbles here, BUT, if your photographer does not do any direction, positioning, or posing, your photos from your wedding will be horrible.  Not just not good, horrible.

Here's why:

What are the odds that you and your significant other will stand in just the right lighting, performing just the right movements, at just the right time?  Could happen, right?

Now, what are the odds that will happen 3 to 5 HUNDRED times on your wedding day?  Nil, at best.

A photographer is more than just a person with a light-tight box with some sort of glass attached to it.  They should be an expert in the way light plays on a subject.  They should be an expert in making the human form look its most attractive.  They should be an expert in the technicals of capturing a photograph.

Now, take out the first two and what's left.  Some guy with a box in his hands (which happen to be tied behind his back in this example).  You hire a photographer based on their work, but then ask them to do it differently?  Doesn't make sense.

I don't "pose" in the traditional sense.  Sure, I know all the "rules", but I also know most of my customers don't want to waste time.  I put people into situations and let them "play".  I make adjustments so the shot will look it's best, but it's mostly the customer and how they move.  The trick is knowing what works and what doesn't.  That's what you're paying for.

Next time a photographer shows you this beautiful photograph of a couple in this romantic embrace and tells you they don't pose, you know they are most likely lying.

-B

It's a style thing.....

Style.

Everybody has one.

Everybody is attracted to some.

But...... how many of us really choose something based on our style?

Most of us choose by price.  I mean really, if it were up to me, and money meant nothing, I'd drive an Astin Martin.  That's choosing on style.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could go through life only choosing the things we like?

Well, with vendors for a wedding, there's a price range for every budget and a style for everybody.  Choose with your heart, then your wallet, not the other way around.  In the end you will end up with vendors that you can work with and better memories (and photographs!) and a great wedding experience!

-B