How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did I
think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he doesn't
know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the "keepers"
and have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them into a
documentary a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about 7-10 minutes
long. Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony, ceremony, "standard"
shots and candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

Thanks for your expert opinions.

Bill

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

W.Boyce wrote:
A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did I
think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he doesn't
know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the "keepers"
and have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them into a
documentary a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about 7-10 minutes
long. Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony, ceremony, "standard"
shots and candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

"W.Boyce" wrote in message
...
A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did I
think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he doesn't
know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the "keepers" and
have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them into a documentary
a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about 7-10 minutes long.
Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony, ceremony, "standard" shots and
candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

Thanks for your expert opinions.

Bill

Insuffient information.
Do they just want "coverage" of the wedding and/or reception or do they want
"artsy" stuff too?
Are there family portraits involved?
Are there 'split' families (divorced requiring separate photos)?
Want sort of reception is it?
Does the venue of the wedding or reception have interesting/unusual settings
that will provide interesting portraits?

Are you (or your friend) starting to get the idea? To provide quality,
memorable wedding photography, you don't just get up one day and say "I
think I'll start shooting weddings". You need practice. Practice best
attained by studying other wedding photographer's work, either by looking at
their finished product or apprenticing with them.

As for the "start to enjoy myself" part, I always enjoyed myself shooting
weddings, but then, I liked what I was doing. On the other hand, if I was
hired, I NEVER drank, ate, smoked, or fraternized with the guests at the
wedding or reception. That's one of the reasons why I called myself a
professional- I was hired to do a job.

My shooting ratio for candids was 100% keepers. For posed group photos, I
based it on the number of people: one frame for every four people in the
group. BUt then, I shoot film, so I am careful to make sure everything is
correct before firing.

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:
A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did
I think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he
doesn't know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the "keepers"
and have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them into a
documentary a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about 7-10
minutes long. Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony, ceremony,
"standard" shots and candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

The assignment was completed and he "winged it" in the absence of any
meaningful input from me or this group. He shot considerably fewer
pictures than shown above. Maybe he was lucky or a better photographer
than Browne.

His video was a huge success as a gift to the bride and groom and he
sold 4 copies each to the parents of the couple to send to relatives who
were unable to attend from Argentina and Brazil. Bride's parents told me
privately they wanted to encourage him in his hobby and insisted on
writing him a check for $2500 over his objections and the other couple
followed suit for $2000 for their 3 copies. He is encouraged by this
initial success. I told him not everyone would be that generous.

Planning to upgrade his Nikon D50 and get a better flash. Any
recommendations welcome.
JPBill

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

W.Boyce wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:
A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did
I think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he
doesn't know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the
"keepers" and have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them
into a documentary a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about
7-10 minutes long. Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony,
ceremony, "standard" shots and candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

The assignment was completed and he "winged it" in the absence of any
meaningful input from me or this group. He shot considerably fewer
pictures than shown above. Maybe he was lucky or a better photographer
than Browne.

His video was a huge success as a gift to the bride and groom and he
sold 4 copies each to the parents of the couple to send to relatives who
were unable to attend from Argentina and Brazil. Bride's parents told me
privately they wanted to encourage him in his hobby and insisted on
writing him a check for $2500 over his objections and the other couple
followed suit for $2000 for their 3 copies. He is encouraged by this
initial success. I told him not everyone would be that generous.

Planning to upgrade his Nikon D50 and get a better flash. Any
recommendations welcome.
JPBill

With those bucks coming in why not go for a Phase One camera?

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

W.Boyce wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:
A friend is going to shoot a wedding for his buddy and asked me (an
experienced photographer, but not weddings) about how many images did
I think he should shoot "to be sure he got everything". He says he
doesn't know when to quit shooting and "start to enjoy myself".

I think he'll do the usual editing of his output to find the
"keepers" and have an album made up, but mostly he wants to put them
into a documentary a'la Ken Burns, put to music. Video to be about
7-10 minutes long. Probably about 250 images?? (Pre-ceremony,
ceremony, "standard" shots and candids at the reception)

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

The assignment was completed and he "winged it" in the absence of any
meaningful input from me or this group. He shot considerably fewer
pictures than shown above. Maybe he was lucky or a better photographer
than Browne.

You really are intellectually impaired if you can't recognize a jibe at
the notion that there is a useful ratio "to be aimed for".

I know several wedding photographers and none of them have the same
approach to a wedding. An example would be two who live quite close to
me. The older more experienced guy does fewer shots in a more
choreographed way and the younger guy shoots like Rambo with a machine
gun in a more pj approach.

What _matters_ is the quality of the output (prints) that they present.
And both of these fellows are master printers. That's what pays, not
your idiotic, lame and ignorant notion that there should be some "ratio
to aim for".

Both of the guys above charge no less than $2K for a wedding (the older
one also does video) and it ranges to over $5K. Hence they get fewer
weddings (they have other things to do), but they prepare better and
spend more time on the delivered package.

As to me there is near 0 chance that I will photograph a wedding. It
does not interest me at all.

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting
digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

The assignment was completed and he "winged it" in the absence of any
meaningful input from me or this group. He shot considerably fewer
pictures than shown above. Maybe he was lucky or a better
photographer than Browne.

You really are intellectually impaired if you can't recognize a jibe at
the notion that there is a useful ratio "to be aimed for".

Well, I was suspicious.
12 decimal places I could have accepted, but when the number ran to 15
places, I started to smell a rat...

--
Jeff R.
(What's that? Izzat you, Doug? ..sniff, sniff...)

How many pictures to (pick from) to document an average wedding?
 

Jeff R. wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
W.Boyce wrote:

What sort of ratio do you think he should aim for? Shooting
digital.

1:34.234123541362354 Precisely.

The assignment was completed and he "winged it" in the absence of any
meaningful input from me or this group. He shot considerably fewer
pictures than shown above. Maybe he was lucky or a better
photographer than Browne.

You really are intellectually impaired if you can't recognize a jibe
at the notion that there is a useful ratio "to be aimed for".

Well, I was suspicious.
12 decimal places I could have accepted, but when the number ran to 15
places, I started to smell a rat...

Damn! you broke the code!