How to find a second shooter & what to offer

scottycam wrote in post #12488626
When doing a second shooting job, who's responsibility is it, to take care of gas and/or the travel time.. Meaning if the wedding is 8 hours long, and it takes you an hour to get there, who pays for the 2 hours?

That's on you.

scottycam wrote in post #12488626
When doing a second shooting job, who's responsibility is it, to take care of gas and/or the travel time.. Meaning if the wedding is 8 hours long, and it takes you an hour to get there, who pays for the 2 hours?

I try to ride with the main shooter if that is the case.

yeah, that was a thought, but we're about an hour away from each other as well as the location.. think a triangle.

The time will be on you, maybe if you are lucky the may help a little with gas.

OK. Cool. Thanks!

I pay my seconds dependent on the rates I charge my clients. More recently, I've been paying $400-600 for their whole day. Simply hand over RAWs. They may use their own photos, but only after I have delivered them to my client.

But at times, especially later towards the evening, I don't need my second present, so I may go the 'per hourly basis' rate. Seems to make sense. Plus, means I don't necessarily have to ferry them around. Add security of having two vehicles available.

An good assistant and a reliable second is invaluable to a business (well, for those who don't work solo).

One thing I have found is that I am now only working with seconds who use Nikon. Only because I can see difference (colors) between images from a Canon body compared to mine.

I get $50 per hour plus a travel bonus (it's always a 2 hour drive each way) when I second. I hand over the raw files, usually culling the obvious duds first & mailing a disk to the main. I'm really too cheap but I only second for one woman because we're fun together and it's more partner-ish than boss/employee.

I wouldn't do it for less and I won't do a partial wedding. Mostly because of the travel but also because a wedding pretty much kills a day no matter how short it is.