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Thrust into being the main wedding photographer.

6,593 1,026 February 13, 2016 at 05:56 AM
Well, I was supposed to be an unpaid second shooter at a wedding today for experience, however the groom just called, informing me that the main photographer, a friend of the family who is a professional photographer, has not dhpwn up for the rehearsal and they can't get in touch with him.

Since I'm all that's left, it looks like I'm the main photographer.

Any tips, suggestions, snide remarks?

I'm quite nervous, I had not planned on this. I had a good idea in my head of what I wanted to capure as a second photographer, not the main, which is a position that holds much more responsibility.

Yikes!
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Savannah, Georgia Joined Oct 2005 L10: Grand Master
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The Raddish
02-13-2016 at 06:34 AM.
02-13-2016 at 06:34 AM.
Don't forget to take the lens cap off? Dontknow
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Original Poster
mystery250
02-13-2016 at 06:42 AM.
02-13-2016 at 06:42 AM.
Quote from The Raddish :
Don't forget to take the lens cap off? Dontknow

Heh. Heh. Thanks.

That's why my photos are always black...
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The Raddish
02-13-2016 at 06:44 AM.
02-13-2016 at 06:44 AM.
Also, renegotiate your rate. You are owed what the pro guy was going to make. They already budgeted for it.

Oh, and don't screw up! Don't rely on just one camera/storage card. And whatever you do, don't forget to take the lens cap off!
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Zoe Moon
02-13-2016 at 09:46 AM.
02-13-2016 at 09:46 AM.
Take a second camera with you so you can get cleavage shots of the bridesmaids.
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The Raddish
02-13-2016 at 09:52 AM.
02-13-2016 at 09:52 AM.
Quote from Zoe Moon :
Take a second camera with you so you can get cleavage shots of the bridesmaids.
That's kinda like sayin', "Don't forget to breathe oxygen as you inhale."
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Zoe Moon
02-13-2016 at 10:24 AM.
02-13-2016 at 10:24 AM.
Quote from The Raddish :
That's kinda like sayin', "Don't forget to breathe oxygen as you inhale."
laugh out loud I knew a guy who wanted to be a wedding photographer, on his first paying job he got caught as he did the cleavage shots on the primary camera and the groom's mother insisted on viewing some of the photos immediately. He wound up joining the Coast Guard to leave town, it was a small town, I'm sure he never lived it down.
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MsGal
02-13-2016 at 11:48 AM.
02-13-2016 at 11:48 AM.
Every shot you think "they won't want that" ... the bride will.
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Original Poster
mystery250
02-13-2016 at 06:06 PM.
02-13-2016 at 06:06 PM.
Well, the main wedding photographer DID show up and I'm glad he did.

The wedding photos turned out fine!

Somehow, during the first bit of the reception, my camera turned itself to S3 mode, producing measly 120-150kb images. I had it set to JPG+RAW as I normally do.

I don't know how it did it. I certainly didn't mess with images sizes. It shows a four minute gap between the photos that turned out fine and the ones that turned out tiny.

I already owned up and told the groom about the issue. He seems to understand and I'm glad the other photographer was there to capture the rest of the reception.

I'm just utterly embarrassed - most of the photos I took at the reception turned out beautifully, however they're just so small and unusable, except perhaps to post on Facebook.

I'll take it as a lesson learnt - check your camera between every shot to see if it's still shooting in the right image quality mode. I've NEVER had it change itself on me before, on ANY camera in the years I've been taking photos. It's never happened on ANY other shoot, either and I've done quite a few.
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ashcampbell
02-15-2016 at 08:52 AM.
02-15-2016 at 08:52 AM.
Quote from Zoe Moon :
Take a second camera with you so you can get cleavage shots of the bridesmaids.
Link for you wedding shots?

Quote from mystery250 :
Well, the main wedding photographer DID show up and I'm glad he did.

The wedding photos turned out fine!

Somehow, during the first bit of the reception, my camera turned itself to S3 mode, producing measly 120-150kb images. I had it set to JPG+RAW as I normally do.

I don't know how it did it. I certainly didn't mess with images sizes. It shows a four minute gap between the photos that turned out fine and the ones that turned out tiny.

I already owned up and told the groom about the issue. He seems to understand and I'm glad the other photographer was there to capture the rest of the reception.

I'm just utterly embarrassed - most of the photos I took at the reception turned out beautifully, however they're just so small and unusable, except perhaps to post on Facebook.

I'll take it as a lesson learnt - check your camera between every shot to see if it's still shooting in the right image quality mode. I've NEVER had it change itself on me before, on ANY camera in the years I've been taking photos. It's never happened on ANY other shoot, either and I've done quite a few.

Looks like they got what they paid for!
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emelvee
02-15-2016 at 09:10 AM.
02-15-2016 at 09:10 AM.
Quote from MsGal :
Every shot you think "they won't want that" ... the bride will.
emelvee won't want the bridesmaid cleavage shots



Whistling
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Original Poster
mystery250
02-15-2016 at 09:11 AM.
02-15-2016 at 09:11 AM.
Ha! Nice sentiment there. The wedding shots still turned out well and I was able to make a very usable collage out of the images that were taken after the camera somehow changed settings.

I haven't actually processed all of the wedding images yet. I haven't been feeling well the past few days.

I told him I'd get them to him within a week - which is pretty quick, considering some want a month or two.

The "get what you paid for" comment wasn't well taken, even though I was doing it as a favor. I've had my photos featured in calendars, magazines and the news multiple times.
I dont know why the setting changed, a fluke, no doubt, you better believe it won't happen again, though.

Quote from ashcampbell :
Link for you wedding shots?




Looks like they got what they paid for!
Everyone was very appropriately dressed, no such cleavage to be seen, which I'm glad of.

The other photographer got all of those shots directly after the wedding ended and before the wedding began, therefore I don't have to worry about them.

Quote from emelvee :
emelvee won't want the bridesmaid cleavage shots



Whistling
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Last edited by mystery250 February 15, 2016 at 09:38 AM.
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rayzac | Staff
02-15-2016 at 10:09 AM.
02-15-2016 at 10:09 AM.
Just tell the groom you will do better at his next wedding.
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Bareborn
02-15-2016 at 10:42 AM.
02-15-2016 at 10:42 AM.
Sounds like you dont know how to use your own camera. Thank god the lead photographer showed up.
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beanqueen
02-15-2016 at 10:54 AM.
02-15-2016 at 10:54 AM.
Quote from mystery250 :

The "get what you paid for" comment wasn't well taken, even though I was doing it as a favor. I've had my photos featured in calendars, magazines and the news multiple times.
I dont know why the setting changed, a fluke, no doubt, you better believe it won't happen again, though.
I don't understand why it wasn't well taken. You were there for training...you weren't even apprenticing...to me that says that whatever you got the couple should be happy for. They should expect things not to turn out perfectly.

I mean I totally get trying to have a family friend do the photography to save on costs, but even I agreed with my friend to pay him $500 for the photos and ended up paying a $1000 just because he did so well and we were grateful for his work and efforts. But if something hadn't turned out perfectly and I'd asked for them for free then I wouldn't have been annoyed at all because it was a free service.
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