If you do table shots at the reception...

If you do table shots at the reception... when do you do them?

Table shots are not something that I routinely do... in fact, I don't think I ever have. However, the MOG for an upcoming wedding has requested them. While I don't expect to enjoy this too much, this MOG had major surgery earlier this year and in a nutshell, everyone is amazed and so happy that she has made it to the wedding. After all this family has been through, I'm happy to bend over backwards for them. They are all really great.

Anyhow - I am trying to figure out when the best time to do them is? I don't want to interrupt people eating, but I wonder if I wait until after dinner if people will start to leave or will be on the dance floor. Help!

What I tell my couples is that I do not do them unless there is ample time. The times where I have found time to do them is under pretty specific circumstances.

The couple does a first look, and we get through the family portraits quickly. If I do spend some more time with them, it is brief and they want to attend their cocktail hour. While they are enjoying their cocktail hour, I am setting up lights and getting ready for the reception. The time I am able to do table shots is after they let everyone into the room, and before the grand entrance. There is usually about 20 minutes here, and I can run through them fairly quickly.

The reason it is important for the bride and groom to see each other before hand is to get as many photos done early, so there isnt a 3 hour long cocktail hour.

I dont necessarily like table shots because I feel like they are glorified snaps - it is not creative, you dont have enough time to arrange people nicely or set up any nice lighting. I have gotten over that (partially) by thinking, if I dont get them, they will with their crappy cell phone or P&S. I can at least do better than those.

I really don't do table shots at all. The one and only time I did, there were 26 tables with 10 at each. Ugh.

My strong preference (which I do whether the clients ask me to or not) is go around and do couple shots of as many people as I possibly can. These are much more meaningful to the client because the subjects are so much larger and expressive in these pictures and there isn't some obnoxious centerpiece in the way.

Nonetheless, the matter of timing is the same. You absolutely have to do this early; once the party starts, you won't find people at their tables. I try to work either ahead of or behind the servers. What I mean by that is that if they're bringing salads out to table 1 and 2, I might go to table 5 and start there getting as far as I can until the tables I'm shooting have been served. Not much longer after that, table 1 and 2 will have finished their salad and I'll go get to them. I do this with each course until I have as much as is reasonably possible.

No first look at this wedding, and most likely we'll be arriving right before the introductions and will have to scramble to get any detail shots and set up lights.

Great thought. I don't think this MOG cares if all of the people are in the shot or not... couples would be much easier. Thanks!

Great idea too. Do you still find time to eat?

I do them while a table's waiting to be called to the buffet, or after they've finished eating. Earlier's better, as people get up and wander.

I don't do table shots, I do shots of couples or family groups at each table. That means people are bigger in the frame, and you can see expressions better. It's also easier, which is just a small bonus, not why I do it, it's slower.

Table shots I have done involve the B&G greeting the table and posing with them. I do it when requested. It's easy to carry an umbrella on a stand to any given table.

So for those who do go around and shoot couples during dinner - when do you eat?

From a previous post of mine...

"Table shots. I have been requested to take them a couple of times and they can be a PITA to get everyone at the table there at the same time.

When I have had to do them more recently immediately after the bridal party have been introduced to the reception room I ask the MC to end the "housekeeping" rules bit with asking everyone to remain seated just for 5 minutes as the B&G have requested table shots.

The tables look clean as the entrees either haven't made it out yet or are just been served. I can then fly round the room getting all the tables and guests in no time at all. The guests don't seem to mind this as it has been requested by the B&G via the MC.

Personally I really don't like doing table shots but I will if the client wants them but I explain to the B&G at the pre-wedding meeting that if they want the shots this is pretty much the only way of doing it without disrupting people's meals."

Table shots are very frustrating because there is not a "good" time to take them. The "Best" time is when everyone is sitting down and that's pretty much when they're eating. Bad foreground, you have to interrupt them, missing people, non cooperative people that resent the intrusion while they are eating. But other than that, they are up milling around, dancing, hitting the bathrooms, outside for a smoke.....well you get the picture. I charge extra for tables and if the couple pays, I sub it out so I can do what I'm there to do and my time isn't taken up waiting for uncle Bob to return from the bar......

What the hell is a table shot anyway?

I'm Chinese, and more and more of my clientèle are of Asian background where the dinner reception does involve some form of table shot. By this, it refers to going around to each table and drinking. That to me is fine as all I need is a wide angle with my camera over my head. But more formal stuff, that's not me. And that's when my second or assistant comes in and does them

I eat when I'm served. Which inevitably, no matter what has been agreed to beforehand, tends to be late. Depends on the reception venue. Some are just stupid. Others know what is smart.

Christina wrote in post #12871280
No first look at this wedding, and most likely we'll be arriving right before the introductions and will have to scramble to get any detail shots and set up lights.

Great thought. I don't think this MOG cares if all of the people are in the shot or not... couples would be much easier. Thanks!


Great idea too. Do you still find time to eat?

You misunderstood me. When I say couple shots, I don't mean THE couple, I mean I'll go around a table of 10 and shoot 5 shots of each of the couples that are seated there, one couple at a time. Bunches and bunches of shots like these:

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Peacefield wrote in post #12875340
You misunderstood me. When I say couple shots, I don't mean THE couple, I mean I'll go around a table of 10 and shoot 5 shots of each of the couples that are seated there, one couple at a time. Bunches and bunches of shots like these:

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The client (and their moms) appreciate these images so much more than the basic line-10-people-up-on-the-other-side-of-the-table shots. Better yet, these images SELL!

Every so often, there's a post here by someone grimacing over how they don't sell individual prints. I do $1k+ in print sales every year and with a Zenfolio/Mpix set up, this is free money that requires no touch on my part. The clients don't tend to buy anything other than maybe one very large print from me. It's their friends and families who buy the prints of themselves at the table. These are the prints that drive those sales.

And, yes, I do get to eat. By the time we're served, it's so late that I will have already gotten most if not all of the shots I need.

I like this approach.

Christina wrote in post #12873329
So for those who do go around and shoot couples during dinner - when do you eat?

As close to the say time as the B&G as I can manage.

Peacefield wrote in post #12875340
You misunderstood me. When I say couple shots, I don't mean THE couple, I mean I'll go around a table of 10 and shoot 5 shots of each of the couples that are seated there, one couple at a time. Bunches and bunches of shots like these:

You misunderstood that I misunderstood . That's exactly what I thought you meant, and I agree it makes way more sense than a shot of the whole table. Thanks!

Just reporting back that this worked out really well tonight. My assistant and I split the room, and we were able to get to just about everyone (couples, not whole tables) before the bridal party was introduced. Best of all everyone seemed happy to pose.