Wedding Photographer Shoots Only jpeg

[picworx]

I just joined a wedding photographer as a second shooter, but I learned she only shoots jpg in program mode and uses only on camera flash when needed with a gary fong sphere and then sends them off to be printed at a lab. She also uses a variable aperture zoom lens (kit lens).

Unless you are perfect and can nail the exposure everytime then use jpg. Most wedding photographers I know shoot raw or raw+jpg to cover your butt.

Weddings are fast events at times and light is changing fast from inside to outside venues so I use raw+jpg

I have tried to explain about the proper lens choice, ie. 2.8, off camera flash etc but she is set in her ways.

The prints in my mind are sub par and she complains about the lab all the time, she has constant front and back focus issues and her Nikon D300 does have the micro-adjustment and raw+jpg and have tried to explained.

At this point all I can do is go for the ride with my 5DMKII and my 2.8 lens and my on and off camera light modifiers with my PW's

Perhaps I do nothing and stay quiet and do what I do?

[troutfisher]

Three questions
Are her clients happy with the results?
Does she make money?
Has she got lots of bookings?

I have a colleague who does exactly the same thing,he makes money,has happy clients and is not short of bookings!
It may be technically incorrect/inferior but if it ain't broke don't fix it!

[picworx]

Not sure about her clients, she still has not supplied her last client from fall of 2011 with the album yet.

Next to nothing in bookings this year except one so no money really.

[Red Tie Photography]

Let people do what they want. If you dont want to shoot with them, dont. You dont have an obligation to everyone to give good photos- if they choose poor quality that is what they will get.

[piggie_tak]

Everyone do things differently and have different philosophies. Focus on what you do. If she needs help or advice, I sure hope she will reach out.

[john5189]

If the photographer cant work it out for themself then they should not be in business taking innocent customers money.
You are best not being associated with their substandard approach and work.

[CameraMan]

If you look more professional than she does then who knows, maybe you'll pick up more clients while shooting with her. I shot with a first photographer who had carpal tunnel and couldn't handle heavy gear. Me, I had the flash bracket with the 580 mounted on it, along with my battery gripped 5D Mark II and one guy at the wedding was admiring my setup and asked me later where I got my flash bracket at.

So if it helps you to look more professional than the main photographer and you take great photos then more power to you.

[mark1616]

If the clients are happy then that's fine, if not then it's a real shame they are getting messed around. One of the top local togs to me shoots jpg only and is getting paid very nicely, oh and they only have 5D classic bodies, mainly use a 24-105mm f4 or 17-40mm f4 and occasional 15mm fisheye. However, she really knows how to use her gear and how to make it work for her so there is no problem.

[siddr20]

Wouldn't the world be a boring place if we all did the same thing.

[Iscariotau]

The question you really need to ask is: Are you happy being associated with her work? If not then I say move on and dont risk potentially damaging your future reputation. If you are happy then dont worry about it.

[Jericobot]

Consider finding another photog to shoot with. For real

[nicksan]

So you were there in the capacity of a second shooter but was trying to educate her on her gear?

Ok then...

FYI...on my 5D3, I have the SD card saving jpegs for backup. I came home from a wedding last night, took about 20 of the images, took 10 minutes editing them, copied them over to my iPad and showed the photos at a consult today. They were impressed.

So I would say don't be too judgmental.

[brokensocial]

We know some high end folks who pull in several grand a wedding and only shoot jpeg. It's the end results that matter.

[PhotoMatte]

Originally Posted by troutfisher

It may be technically incorrect/inferior but if it ain't broke don't fix it!

This kind of attitude is unfortunate. It doesn't allow for growth. It also assumes that whatever it is, it will break sometime in the future.
I love my car. It isn't broken. However, I do have it serviced regularly so it will continue to work flawlessly. I suppose I could never change the oil, timing belt, tires, brakes, etc and just wait for it to fall apart but that would be silly.

[cpam.pix]

Originally Posted by nicksan

So you were there in the capacity of a second shooter but was trying to educate her on her gear?

Personally, I wouldn't be offended by my hired hand giving me pointers on my gear...with a few caveats.

1. This should be done in private and discretely....not in view of the client. [If a second was to undermine me in front of the client, the second would be unemployed quite quickly...I might possibly take his/her cards and send him/her packing on the spot.]
2. It doesn't negatively impact the workflow.
3. The second shooter does it tactfully without calling me an idiot.

I take the position of accepting the advice of others because I know our cameras have a huge number of features that can be helpful. I know I don't know half of them. Little tricks can help a lot. I probably have some tricks that my second would learn from, too.

However, if you're employed as a second, your experience might vary. I would NOT advise my first on how to use his camera unless that was discussed ahead of time. Here's how that discussion might go...

2nd: I see we have the same bodies.
1st: Yes, I just upgraded to the T3i last week. Until then I was shooting ten $18,000 weddings a year using my P&S. This T3i has a lot of features that my Kodak Shoot-n-Share didn't have.
2nd: Yes, I know. I just got back from a 12-day seminar by Canon where we learned about many of the features of the T3i. And, they gave me some great tips to improve my shooting workflow and they told us about several undocumented features.
1st: Sounds like you learned a lot. What is the best tip that you learned?
2nd: When you press this little button, it takes a picture.
1st: Wow. That's a nifty feature. What else did you learn?
.
.
.
If you are very skilled at this conversation, you can even talk about basic shutter speeds and aperture settings by saying, "Here's a quick way to set X and Y to 1/200 and f/8...which they recommended for shooting weddings at ISO 640. [You were just able to recommend settings through the proxy of the setting process....if you can do this well, you are the Zen master of educating your boss.]

Always listening, always learning. Checking the ego at the door.
dave