WHY YOU NEED A PRO TO SHOOT YOUR WEDDING

I think many guys like me, who love photography but who do not shoot for a living, should also read this article. Don’t get me wrong, this article is not about JAGWACs not able to make great shots. There are thousands guys able to make great shots. But at the end of the day, you have to admit that being a pro is something different.

If you are lucky, I sincerly do hope you are, you will marry only once in life. And this makes this day so unique. This is your day (ok, very often it is a little more her day than yours, hehehe…) and what you want is someone to make good looking memories of this celebration.

But this is not everything. You also need someone you can tell your mind if the pictures are not what you were expecting (blured, bad compo, bad light, etc…). Working with a pro makes things easy : you pay for a job, your are the client. And if the job is bad done, you can renegotiate the price or a  second shooting for the couple’s shots.

Now look around you. How many couples do you actually know who have been disappointed with their pictures because they relied on the oncle or their best friends ? I am sure quiet enough.And this is where is a huge mistake :

You would not ask your best friend to pilote a plane during your honeymoon trip if he is not a pro pilote, you would not ask you friends to cook  your weeding lunch for 100 people, you would not ask your mate to sew your wedding dress. But you ask your friends to make the shots of your most important day, the shots you will see again and again years after year… And actually, the lunch : when it’s eaten, it’s eaten. The dress : you will never carry it again. But your pictures…

As a JAGWAC I refuse to shoot weddings. I did only once. For free because I did not want to feel under pressure. And I told him, before the wedding, he would be the one to blame if the shots turn out to be bad. I advised him not to take me but to take pro, even if it is costing. He agreed on that and followed partially my recommendation : he had pros for the important pictures and me for the guests and some couple’s shots (see pic above). But I was happy when it was done. I felt much better when I could put gears in my room and then having fun like any other guest.

more to come…

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Failures At The Editing Of The Shooting

Having Diner With Mister Failure: previously on HDWMF, Marc is having diner with his own failures and talk to Mister Failure.

Me
I love that shot. But it was not the one I had chosen a first. I picked up an other one at first which was not as good as this one.

Failure
I see.

Me
Making a shot is one thing. Editing is also complicated.

Failure
True. But this one is truly ok.

Me
Thank you.

Failure
How do you chose your pictures?

Me
First of all I get rid of the bad one: too dark, to bright, blur, eyes closed, etc… Then, I review them and select the multiple selections.

Failure
Sounds good.

Me
No. Sometimes it works pretty well, sometimes not.

Failure
Humm…

Me
I have realized that I pick up the best pictures after a certain time. If I do it right after the shooting, I oversee some stronger shots. But sometimes I have to do it quick.

Failure
Try to improve. And maybe be more selective. I mean, the wow shot is somethimg that blows you away. The other needs a review. So if you have a wow, then stop, stay where you are and focus only on that one.

More to come…

Dinning with my failures

Previously on Dinner With Mister Failures : Marc is having diner with his failures, embodied by Mister Failure. They talk together so he can analyze what went wrong and learn something out of it.

The picture shown in this post is a rejected one. Its only purpose is to show common failures while shooting. You are not authorized to use/reproduce/download/mention this picture in any ways. All rights reserved and shares by the author and the model.

Waiter
So Gentlemen, are you ready ?

Failures
No I thing we need a little more time, don’t we ?

Me
Yes sure, take your time.

Failure
Take your time… You’re learning pretty fast my friend.

Failure, seeing this picture
And what’s that ?

Me
Well, that’s obvious. Blurred. I cut her two hands, put her head in the middle, shutter speed was to slow…

Failure
Well, you know what to do : take your time. Control your exposure, focus and then make the composition.

Me
Promised. I will.

Learn effect :

• Measure the light
• control the data in you cam (when shooting in M-Mode)
• Use a light meter or your built-in spot metering. If you use your spot meter, then pick up 3 points (dark, bright and middle and make an average value)
• A light meter is the best thing to do, but thing you might have to balance the light sometimes if to avoid strong contrasts (unless this is what you are going for it)
• Don’t cut hands.

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Diner with Mister Failure

Previously on “Diner With Mister Failure” Marc had a shooting and is frustrated as he realized he missed many shots. He is frustrated because the model was perfect and very professional. He invited his failures thanks a good advice from Joe McNally and has diner with him to talk about what went wrong and what will be done an other way next time.

(All pictures in this post are the rejected ones and are here as examples to show what was wrong. You are NOT authorized to use and/or reproduce them in anyway).

Failure: Hi Marc! How are you! Thank you for the invitation!

Me: You’re welcome!

Failure: Actually we have made a long way to together. But you never wanted to talk to me.

Me: That’s right, but I.. hum… you know, I shoot, I see the shot and the think ” Mister Failure was here”

Failure: Yes, but it’s only because you let me come in to your shootings.

Me: What do you mean by that?

Failure: Well, suppose if you were the Photographer you wish to be, I wouldn’t cross your path that often!

Me: That’s why I want to talk to you. So we can talk about what I am doing wrong.

Failure: And as you can see, I am here. So Marc, what do you want to talk about?

Me: About you.

Mister Failure smiles.

Failure: OK, but let’s have a drink first. A Vodka-Martini please.

Me: All right. The same for me please.

Me: You know, I kinda hate you. If I don’t pay attention, you would be running and ruining my life. Or least my shootings.

Failure: Yes. You are such a faithful fellow.

Me : Last Saturday, I had a great shooting scheduled. All was there to be my best shoot ever : great model, very professional, but you came and messed it up.

Failure: Wrong. You let me step in.

Me: What do you mean?

Failure (to the waiter): Thank you my dear. Well, do you remember when you packed your gears?

Me: Yes…

Failure: That’s when you forgot to take a second memory card.

Me: Yes..

Failure: I love you so much, it is so easy with you… And what happened?

Me: After a while, my card was full and…

Failure: And you can be lucky that the shooting was almost over.

Me: Yes. That’s right.

Failure: I am here to help you tonight, so maybe I can have a look at the menu while you think what you will do next time.

Me: Well, I will always take a second card.

Failure: Old boy, you are on the right track 🙂

Me: Thank you!

Failure: When did you notice me during the shooting?

Me: See the pic above, Mister R did not hold the reflector as I told him to.

Failure: Hum, yes, and?

Me: And what?

Failure: Why did you take the picture then? I mean if the picture was not what you were expecting ?

Me: I guess I did not pay attention.

Failure : That model was perfect and very professional, she is cool with taking time. She wants good pictures.

Me: Yes, I think I need to be slowlyer and to pay more attention.

Failure: What’s that?

Me: You have been there too!

Failure: I can see that. Way too dark. How did it happen?

Me: I used a light Meter as Mister Frank Doorhof tells us online. I aimed it toward the light source, in that case that’s the sun. And to make a balance, I wanted Mister R to…

Failure: Mister Doorhof, a great guy and famous teacher, really. I also meet him from time times, but really not as often as I meet you.

Me: Then she was in backlight and the reflector did not reflect her face but her arm.

Failure:  And again ? Why did you take the picture then? You know what? Take a shot as if it was your only one. Or one the last ones.

Me: I will. I will also take the reflector and aim at the model as I want to. So Mister R will see what I am expecting from him.

Failure: Hey, that’s a good idea! Our talk seams not to be pointless !

Waiter: Hi guys! Are you ready?

…

More to come…

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Talk To Your Failures !

Invite your failures for diner.

This sentence is not from me but from a well-known photographer named Joe McNally. He says that, although he is a photographer who obviously made it, his career was made of ups and downs, of success and failures, great assignments and unemployment periods. And I guess we all experience this from times to times. He got fired many times and he had days when he had doubts about is ability of becoming a good photographer. I may be a GWAC, I take my passion very seriously and I want to get better and better. And I am afraid to say that I also have my ups and downs.

Learn from your failures…

A few days ago, I have been contacted by a young lady who kindly asked me if I could make some shots of her, here in Vienna, on TFP basis. I thought it might be interesting so I checked how she looks like. I wanted to do so because I already have experienced what happens when your model shows up and (s)he is not what, let’s say it this way, you are actually entitled to expect. But everything was fine I was pretty sure, according to the pictures I have been able to grab on the net, that I would not repeat the same thing an other time.. So I agreed  and we set a shooting on Saturday (2 days ago from now). Saturday arrives, I packed my gears, my D700, my 70-200mm, my quadra from Elinchrom and last but least, my reflector. I called a friend who kindly accepted to assist me.

I live 30 km away from Vienna (=35 minutes) and as I was driving to the city which is the little name for the 1st district, I realized that the weather was pretty windy and cold. And those 2 things combined together are not good for a shooting outside on location. I even would say pretty bad :

1) Your model can get cold, And you see a growing lack, understandable, of motivation, frame after frame
2) You keep on worrying about your gears, especially the strobe, hopping the wind the wind is not going to be strong enough to blow it away.

My friend, R, arrived a little sooner as expected which is always a good thing. We had a coffee at the McDonald right at the corner from the place we were all supposed to meet. My model, Miss K, showed up just a couple of minutes after. She is really nice looking : tall, nice, not to skinny (I hate to see only bones on faces) and she carried with her several dresses. I was happy and thought ” WOW! This is gonna be a killer-Shooting!”

Well, yes and no.

At the end of the day, it appeared to be a OK-shoot. I have to say at this point that my model did great, she was nice, good-looking, highly motivated, did not care about the wind, etc… So it has nothing to do with her. Nor with Mister R (well, a little since I have realised afterward that he did not hold the reflector as he was told to).

But you know what? It was my shooting, so I am the only one person to blame here. In fact, we have managed to get some good shots and I am quiet positive Miss K is happy with the pictures (see one them above). BUT there was much more potential in this constellation, in this context, than I have been able to take out of it. I see all that I could have done better and it would have been the shooting of the century. Could have been. It was a great shooting. But not the big one.

Joe says I have to invite my failures for dinner and to talk with them. So this exactly what I am going to do in the next posts :  Marc meets his failures, has diner with them and talk to them. And I will write the dialog in coming up posts.

Stay tuned!

more to come…

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What Lens For My First Studio Shoot?…

I can remember all my questions when I started to shoot in a studio for the first time.

You are not so confident in your skills, have to make your model feel OK and pay attention to the technical stuff. Honestly, I was very happy, that my model happened to be the woman I will be marry in a few weeks. I just mention this because it took me stress away and after this first shooting, I made a brainstorming to get better pictures the next times.

My first point yesterday was a bout the right lens : Zoom or fix-lens ?Well there is actually no right or wrong but, as a beginner I advice you to shoot with a zoom.

Why ?

ZOOM : Well, when you think your model has the perfect expression, the one you have dreaming and expecting hours before, it would be too bad to say : “Well, hum… can you stay like this a good minute, I just need to run and hold a new lens ! Okay?” I bet you she/he says yes. But when your back, the moment is gone. So as beginner you explore, Portrait / Landscape, close-up, model with background. Frank Doorhof,a fashion & glamour photographer (and also a Kelby-Trainer) says it : be flexible, a zoom enables you to get a completely different looks just by turning the ring and it’s done. That is so true ! Friends of mine, kind of purists, told me : “Yeah, but with affordable zooms, you can not open at f2,8 or even f1,4”

This was a real source of problems : is it very important ? Or not ?… I keep it short : NO IT IS NOT. In studio, you mainly shoot between f8 and f16. Sometimes even f22. Strobes have such power… I do not know anybody who shot in studio with a dslr at f1,4.

35-105mm ? 12-24mm ? 70-200mm… It all depends on the results you expect. Wide angles are normally not OK for portraits. Well this rule can be broken. Allready heard of Jean-Loup Sieff ?

This one my fav shots of him :

Explore ! Try things ! Look for failures and learn from them !  🙂

It was in 2008, I wanted to make good pictures and was struggling with the technic, the lights, my model, my Wallimex (stay away from Wallimex) and this was such a stress… I even did not have a light-meter… Well, here are my first studio shots :

Tomorrow’s post will be about the analyze and critics of these pictures. So do not wait up to leave a comment to criticize and stay tuned !

More tk…

Marc Eliot

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