Looking at the Flash

There are lots of portable flash units available for photographers. For any serious photographer, you need to have a decent flash unit for your camera. The flash will be used to help provide an even and uniform level of light on the subject. If photographing a wedding, that light need to be flattering to the bride. You cannot afford to have the brides photos full of shadows or harsh lighting. You will not make money with photos like that and you will have the wrath of the bride and groom upon you.

There are many reasons for choosing the Nikon SB800. From a technological point of view, the Nikon unit is quite unique. When you are ready to take a photo with this unit, the flash fires off a number of almost imperceptible flashes. The computer in the flash unit then takes the data from the reflected light, and makes some judgements to determine the correct amount of light to get a well exposed photo. The flash unit's computer also talks to the Nikon Digital Camera, and determines the distance the subject is from the camera, checks the brightness and reflectivity and comes up with a correct exposure. All, literally, in the blink of an eye.

This system makes it very difficult to take a bad photo , at least from a flash exposure point of view. The SB800 is also one of the most powerful portable flash units, and has many adjustments.

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Your Wedding Photography Business, Taking Special Photos

Wedding photography is a very fulfilling activity. You get to meet lots of people. You travel to places you have never been to before. You will see some beautiful sunsets. And you get to be intimately involved in an event full of emotion for the bride and groom, their parents and all the friends and family who attend.

If you enjoy photography, and you have some good digital equipment, then you too can participate in the wedding photography industry. An industry that is worth approximately $5 Billion per year. Many of today’s professional photographers began their careers shooting weddings. It is usually the easiest way to get into the photography industry because nearly all of us know someone who will be getting married. And they will need a photographer.

If you know the bride and groom well enough, you can offer them a deal directly or have one of your friends approach the bride or groom. In the tough times we face today, most couples will love the opportunity to save some money. But you do need to ensure that you provide the couple with a quality product. Check some of the downloadable courses available on the net if you are not experienced.

When I am teaching wedding photography, I always tell my students, that every photo you take needs to be good enough that it is one you would buy yourself if you were the bride. Just because you are starting out in this industry, does not mean that you can deliver an inferior product. You really do not want the wrath of the bride and her mom coming down upon you.

One way I make sure I have saleable photos, is to pose the couple, but not in a way that makes the photos look posed. Yes, many will need to be posed, like the photos of the parents etc. But if you can provide some photos to show off the glamour of the occasion or the fun that the couple had on the day, you will receive lots of orders for prints, and the referral of the couple to others they know who will need the services of a wedding photographer.

Whenever I have the chance, I will use items that are meaningful to the bride and groom in my photos. For instance, if the bride is wearing an item that has been handed down from one generation to the next, I will make sure I cover that item in one or more photos for the bride and her family to choose from and hence, make me some more money. This is a business, and you need to keep in mind that you need to make money so you can invest in new technology, as well as providing your clients with a memorable product.

If you check out the photo on the blog shown at the end of this article, you will see one such photo. The groom owned an old Cadillac which was his pride and joy. It was the main car for the bride and grooms arrival at the church and reception. So, to make a memorable shot, I had the bride take the wheel and pretend to be driving away in the grooms pride and joy, while he tried to hop aboard before she ‘got away’. The couple loved this shot. He had to get both feet off the ground to make the shot work, and I did some Photoshop work to make it look like the car was traveling at a higher speed than it was. I think you’ll agree, the shot came out great and the couple loved it.

7 critical steps for good photography

In this post, I will concentrate on just one of the things I have mentioned in previous posts, and that is the Memory Card you use to capture your images.

In the old days, there really was not much to be concerned about when it came to taking photos of family and friends, special events or creative photos, such as landscapes etc. You went to the drug store and bought a roll of film, either 24 or 36 exposures, popped it in the camera, and started firing away. At the end of the roll, you took the film out and returned it to the drug store to be processed. In a day or two, or in more recent times, an hour or two, you came back and picked up all your beautiful prints. These were ready to show everyone who would look at you beautiful new photos. There was not much guess work, you just made a choice on the number of photos you wanted to take, and the speed of the film, whether you were taking pictures outside in bright light, or inside say, at a reception.

In those days, losing a roll of film, either because you misplaced it, or the drug store screwed up on the processing, was not always too big of a deal, as you usually had several more rolls of film with other photos to choose from. But in this digital age, just one memory card can store hundreds of photos, even thousands if you shoot in low resolution mode. So, if you lose a memory card, it can be a really, really big deal. That’s why it is important with digital, to have a special case to store your memory cards, to help avoid losing one.

One of the biggest problems though, is, unlike film, memory cards can be very sensitive to the way they are treated, and hence it is very easy to accidentally lose a lot of photos. In this article I will try to spell out some of the precautions you need to take to avoid problems.

Step 1. Always try to purchase a good quality card, from a camera store if possible. The staff at the camera store will usually always be able to offer good advice and a quality card for your camera. A good quality card can sometimes cost a little more, and I am talking about just a few dollars more, than a cheap budget card from the drug store. Sometimes, the drug store card may be ok, but I think it is always prudent to make sure you have a quality product, one that you can get advice about from an expert, and where you will not have any problems returning the card if you have to for any reason.

Step 2. The first thing you need to do when you purchase a new memory card, is to format the card in your camera. This step is crucial. Digital cameras are not all the same, and the card can cause problems, even if you format the card on your computer, instead of the camera. If the card does not format, or you get errors when the camera tries to format the card, then you need to return it immediately to the store for a replacement. Note that not all cards are compatible with all digital cameras. Most of the low end and even high end compacts, have an upper limit as to the memory size of the card that can be used.

Step 3. Never take the card out of the camera while the camera is still writing the file to the memory card. Often, people will take a photo and then almost immediately take the card out of the camera. This can easily corrupt the card and make it impossible to get the images off the card into the computer. If you need to take the card out after taking a shot, just wait for several seconds to make sure the file has been written completely to that card, I usually suggest about 20-30 seconds. This should ensure that the file is safe and sound on the card.

Step 4. Never take your memory card and put it into another camera without formatting the card on the new camera. This means of course, that you need to back up all the files on the card, then put the card into the other camera and format the card before using. As I mentioned earlier, not all digital cameras are the same, and the way they write the files to the card can be different enough that you will corrupt the card and make it impossible to recover the files you already had on the card.

Step 5. Try to keep the contacts of the memory card protected from the elements and any dirt or grease. If the contacts become oxidized or too dirty to work effectively, then you will not be able to record the photos you think you are taking. This can be very embarrassing later when everyone wants to see the results.

Step 6. Always make sure that the camera batteries are charged enough so that the camera can write the files to the card correctly. If the camera battery dies during the process of writing the file, you will lose the file and possibly all the files on the card at the time of the problem.

Step 7. As a precaution, you can purchase software specifically designed to recover images from memory cards. This software is quite inexpensive, and may come in very handy if ever needed.

I have used many memory cards, but have yet to have a problem with one. I have met other photographers who have had problems, but those problems fell under one of the steps above. I think the most common problems are due to that photographer not formatting the memory cards before each shoot. Always back up the card before any shoot, then format in the camera. This will usually avoid problems or at least allow you to detect a problem before any serious damage is done.

If you are interested in making money with your digital camera, please visit my website for everything you need to start your own photography studio. If you have any questions, you may email me at tomjackson@howtoshootweddings.net