Wedding Photographers, Please Help.

[Kendo]

Amanda, can I assume that you are able to cook a good meal? What if I told you that I was about to cook the entire meal at your wedding for everyone... but, oh... could you tell me exactly how much salt to put in everything, please? Forget the fact that you do not even know WHAT I am going to cook, would not knowing something as basic as that scare you into saying "no thanks, we'll find a real chef for my wedding day, thanks!"?

Get the reference?

This is what is happening here. Our friend the OP doesn't know how much salt to use... lol.

How are newbies going to feel when they need to ask a question for help and get this. Some of you are way to harsh. We were all new a one time. We don't know the whole story and all you can do is talk smack. Are you upset because they have the guts to try it and you did not. Or are you jealous that someone asked them to take pics and no one asked you? I say to Supermone, go for it, do your best and stay calm. It will all work out.

 

[SrBiscuit]

the short answer to this, and a little searching would do some of the newbs good, is they should NOT be doing weddings as the primary shooter when questions like this need to be asked.

 

[chrisburke]

Kendo, your foolish and obviously dont understand wedding photography..

NO, we're not upset that we didnt get asked to do the wedding (dont even know where it is, or care for that matter)

No I'm not upset because they have the guts to go out and do it and I didnt (because the truth is I did)

The thing that is upsetting is the fact that this FRIEND likely thinks that the OP can take great shots, I dont know if they can or cant, I havent seen any of their work.. their friend likely thinks they can take a great picture because the fact of the matter is, 90% of people (probably even more) in this world see a Nikon strap or a canon strap, and assume "professional" any idiot can run a Nikon d40, or a D300 for that matter, it doesnt mean your going to get good pictures..

the OP has made it clear in the first post that they really dont know much about photography.. if they did, the question that was asked, wouldnt have had to been asked... and personally I think that if you have to ask ANY kind of a question about your len's about lighting, about settings, and your going to do something like a wedding, your already in over your head...

If this was anything but a wedding, I wouldnt care.. if it was some random persons family portriat, or christmas card photo, who cares.. but a wedding isn't suppose to be something where you get a second chance (unfortunatley as mentioned in todays society the first is usually a practice, and its sad, but its true, and thats because people dont care about the sanctity of marrige.. I do, and I don't think there should be a second chance, and to be totally honest, if I shot a wedding, then 2 or 3 years later the same person came to me saying "i'm getting married again, and I loved the pictures you took, can you do my wedding again" I would 150% say no, because of my respect for marriage

I'm upset because the OP would do something like this to their friend... they clearly dont understand photography, and going to take pictures that the bride and groom should charrish for the rest of their lives, however, 9 times out of 10, this doesnt happen, and its because they didnt hire someone who knows what they are doing.. YES sometimes beginners get lucky, and YES everyone needs to start somewhere, BUT a wedding, as the first shooter is NOT the place to start, theres too much riding on it, too many people who can be hurt.. I've shot dozens of weddings as the first shooter, but not before I did even more as a second shooter.. I understand wedding photography, I have an assistant (my wife) who has an AMAZING eye for setting up poses (she just couldnt run a camera if her life depended on it, nor does she want to, because she knows that she doesnt have the skill) and dispite the fact that I've done dozens of weddings, and have had so many comments on my photos, and even won prizes with them, I STILL always have a second shooter with me, JUST IN CASE...

Bottom line is, people should not be practicing their photography on weddings (unless they are the second shooter)

see what you did to me Jerry.. I was going to stay quiet, and so were you, then you spoke, and pissed people off.. so I had to speak up too... lol

 

[Big Mike]

OK...this thread has gone a little too far and has probably long since scared off the OP.

The OP has actually give very few details about the occasion and a lot of you have made a lot of assumptions.

As mentioned, it has unfortunately become popular on the internet to jump all over 'newbies' when they mention anything about weddings. Our forum has been friendlier than most forum on this matter...but this thread is somewhat disappointing to me.

I won't go as far as to say "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"...but lets all try to be constructive rather than condescending, especially when we don't really know the details.