Hi.

I am vigorously researching wedding photography and would like firsthand advice from those of you who are currently in the business. Do you own your own business? If so do you have a small business license? How do you account for all your wages as far as taxes go and such? Anything else I should know? How often do you use a tripod during the entire procession? Do you have a professional website? How did you get your name out there? Did you stamp your printed photos? Give them a burned dvd? Watermark? If you don't mind me asking, what do you charge? What's a good price for a beginner?

I've already got a name for the business and how I want to sell it. I'm trying to set up a few "practice" weddings as an assistant with my bf's mother who does this. Eventually I want a website done professionally to show off my artwork. I'm doing a wedding by myself in mid October and hope to have lots of practice by then but since this is jsut the beginning any advice or things you wouldn't know about but wish you did would be appreciated!

This is a serious squander into some sort of direction my life is finally taking, I'm grabbing it by the horns.

8/10/2008 1:47:28 PM

paging cddweller

8/10/2008 1:54:20 PM

Yeah I've been PMing her lots.

8/10/2008 1:55:45 PM

we'll see how long this stays in the lounge - most ideas of kiwis end up being train wrecks but at least they make for a fun read

do you have a portfolio or any experience - what kind of camera do you have? you've mentioned being all but broke on here before and this isn't a cheap business to get started in

8/10/2008 1:57:36 PM

What about asking a business to apprentice for them? I found one on google that has a good style I'd like to mimic however I want to branch out on my own eventually and that might be a conflict of interest....

8/10/2008 3:40:11 PM

8/10/2008 10:28:31 PM

you have no professional training and an entry level camera. im also sure you have a very limited supply of lens choices and do you even own any external flashes?

a great eye for photography will go a long way but not if you fully understand everything about the camera and the logistics of setting up shots.

i read your posts in the DSLR thread and you said setting up the "composure" meaning you dont even understand simple photography terminology.

if you are serious about this then take some photography classes at the local community college and find someone to apprentice under like you mentioned above. its not as easy as just saying one day...hey, im going to be a professional photographer and then start a business.


like omar said, do you even have a real portfolio? im not talking about a flickr page either.
good luck if you want to do this but it will take a while for you to get that good with (a in your case) cameras.

Quote :

"I'm doing a wedding by myself in mid October and hope to have lots of practice by then"

you already have a wedding and you dont even know how often to use a tripod?


[Edited on August 11, 2008 at 9:38 AM. Reason : eek]

8/11/2008 9:36:10 AM

This has FAIL written all over it.

8/11/2008 10:01:05 AM

just like everything else this chick does.

8/11/2008 10:02:51 AM

way too many people wanting to call themselves wedding photographers these days, and not all of them are actually really good.



Not saying you or anyone specific are on one side or the other, but it's just what I'm seeing a lot these days.

[Edited on August 11, 2008 at 12:32 PM. Reason : ]

8/11/2008 12:22:41 PM

WTF people. Why do you think I'm asking for advice?

The wedding I'm doing is September 13th and I'll be an assistant and shes already seen the work I've done. I'm going to be talking with her a lot to learn what I can but i want to get out there and experience.

I already planned on taking a few courses THX.

I come up with lots of crazy ideas and fly off the handle with excitement when they first hit me but if my experiences in the business go well I'd like to continue this. I've always wanted to do art and have always painted and used other mediums but the camera is a new one for me.

I never said I was going to start a business today, I understand it will take a lot of time to get where I want to be but it'd be more useful for you to tell me what you know rather than belittle me for stupid shit I've already thought about.

8/11/2008 6:55:20 PM

i found these classes at durham tech...
http://www.durhamtech.edu/html/current/noncredit/photography.htm

ive heard they're better than most others.
i think me and cody might sign up..

8/11/2008 7:16:41 PM

Kiwi, feel free to PM me any questions. It's just such a large topic that I couldn't possibly start to talk to ya about it without a more specific context... heh, I should write a book.

8/12/2008 12:57:55 AM

Off to chit-chat this thread goes...


wow

8/12/2008 12:59:09 AM

Maybe you could work for a successful photographer kind of like an apprenticeship?

8/12/2008 1:36:36 AM

Quote :

"rather than belittle me for stupid shit I've already thought about"

the problem here is .... it seems that YOU HAVENT thought about it. i dont know anything about real wedding photography and the only classes i have taken were the free ones offered by wolf camera.

have you ever taken any digital editing classes? do you understand how to properly photoshop?

8/12/2008 9:07:33 AM

i've not taken any classes yet but I've done tons of research online as well as gone out with friends who have a degree in photography and learned from them. I do plan on getting some schooling in it, if not a degree.

I know the basics of photoediting but am learning everyday about that as well.

This is like a 1-2 year goal here. Gotta start somewhere.

In fact tomorrow afternoon I'm taking my friend downtown to work on poses and portraits for a while, she has a degree in photography and can offer some pointers.

8/12/2008 10:20:33 PM

what does your friend do with her degree in photography?

8/12/2008 10:22:02 PM

Do not take cddweller's advice. Her photography is awful.

8/12/2008 10:51:46 PM

^

8/13/2008 12:25:19 AM

Kiwi just stop already.

8/13/2008 12:32:38 AM

Quote :

"This is like a 1-2 year goal here. Gotta start somewhere. "

I'm certainly not trying to bash you here, because if you're finally feeling inspired by a career goal, then you should go for it and learn all you can. But if it's a 1-2 year goal, you shouldn't be doing your own wedding in October. Put yourself in the bridal couple's shoes for a minute; for their sake, you should refer them to a real professional photographer instead of doing it yourself when you're only a few months into your learning process.

If I were you, the only way I'd consider doing a wedding so soon would be if it was for close personal friends (if I knew both the bride and groom, and probably their parents as well) who just don't have the money for a real photographer and are going into the experience with the full acceptance that you're still an amateur who will be producing amateur-quality work. I hope I was assuming too much, and that's actually the case here.

[Edited on August 13, 2008 at 2:00 AM. Reason : ]

8/13/2008 1:57:50 AM

My friend did wedding photography with a professional and then portraits for a school, now she does freelance with a few weddings in between.

Between now and October I'll have a few weddings under my belt as an assistant to get an idea about things. The wedding I'm doing is for a friend and I know both of them very well, I also know his parents. They saw my stuff six months ago and said they loved it and were ok with that quality work. I made sure to express my amateur talent and they agreed it was fine with them. I'm doing it for free because I cannot gaurantee anything but hopefully by that point I'll know a little bit about what I'm doing.

Tdub is just one outlet I'm getting information from, I know this place is blatantly negative all the time especially when someone is trying to better themselves but hopefully having this thread in the lounge I'll eventually get some real pointers.

8/13/2008 1:22:42 PM

today i'm going to be an astronaut!

8/13/2008 2:29:47 PM

this shit

is

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

8/13/2008 4:40:40 PM

What format are you shooting in Kiwi? What software are you using?

8/13/2008 5:02:56 PM

Quote :

"have you ever taken any digital editing classes? do you understand how to properly photoshop?"

that's not exactly fair to her. my mother does weddings... not really for money, more so because she loves photography and likes to increase her portfolio... she usually does them for family and friends in her spare time on weekends and stuff. she's picked up random weddings here and there through word of mouth and charges for those, but she doesn't do that a whole lot... although i'm sure she would quit her day job in a second if she felt confident that there would be enough business coming her way, and i'm sure she'll do it full time when she retires

but anyways, the point is this --

she knows nothing about digital editing or photoshop. all she uses is rotate and crop, if anything at all. and her work is damn impressive. i mean she has one of the nicer nikon d series digital cameras now, but she used an old canon film camera forever. she has very little tech knowledge and i'd certainly trust her to be the only photog at my wedding

i wouldnt exclude anyone because of technical knowledge. i think 99% of it is in the eye of the photographer.

8/13/2008 5:17:25 PM

I can tell you that the so-called photojournalistic approach to wedding photography is becoming more popular. I recommend that you study this site:

http://www.azulphotography.com/main.php

Azul is one of the top studios in our area.

8/13/2008 6:01:45 PM

Kiwi, if you want to satiate some of the critics here, why not describe your equipment and your intended workflow (software, online production, final delivery to clients, etc). That way people here can give some tangible advice for you and show that you're more serious about this than others might think.

8/14/2008 1:25:48 AM

http://www.hollandphotoarts.com


these are the ones that will be doing my wedding.



absolutely amazing, and very, very good people.

8/14/2008 1:50:43 AM

Awesome websites! The photojournalism is what excites me the most. I've found that I enjoy capturing people in raw moments where the emotion is real. I understand clever posing will be a neccesity and hope to learn that when I am an assistant photographer.

I have a Nikon D40 with a 55mm lens and a 200mm lens. I have PhotoShop CS3 but don't know the full extent of it. I only delve into saturation, contrast, sharpness, and crop. I'd like to keep it so I don't have to get into the others though it would be good to know. Though I've seen some work that has used white balance and would like to learn that, I also want to know how to get certain areas super saturated if that can even be done.

MY friend who has the degree in photography is givng me some of her books she has, she also brought me out one night to practice posing people. She acted dumb while I had to come up with interesting places to pose while keeping the picture quality up.

I also bought a few wedding magazines to get an idea what pictures make it into them, the most attractive and such.

I am really doing a ton of research and practice. I don't have a lot of extra money right now to get anything else for my camera so things like an external flash and other lens will have to wait for now.

8/14/2008 10:47:11 PM

Ever seen the wedding planner?

By going into the wedding industry you are guaranteeing you will be sad and lonely the rest of your life.

My 2 cents.

8/14/2008 10:57:51 PM

As far as my business plan, I've already got a rough idea for a website, a business name, and business cards are in the process of being made. Turn around rate should be high because I'll be anxious to work with and will have the free time to do it at first. I've not exactly decided yet on printing but I think at first I'll give them a dvd of the best pictures and they can choose where to get prints done. However, I may choose to use a company the wedding photographer I will be following next month. Depends on a few factors.

8/14/2008 11:07:56 PM

Try looking at this website http://www.andressphotography.com He is fairly new to wedding photography in Charlotte. For awhile his website was hosted with smugmug. He also didn't offer prints, just shared rights to the photos. Looks like he took his packages/prices off, but I have an e-mail with them - just PM me.

For some AMAZING work, checkout http://www.mattmcgrawphotography.com He's based in Wilmington.

8/15/2008 7:51:58 AM