Hey Craigslisters! You got questions? We got answers!

Hey Craigslisters! You got questions? We got answers!

What lens should I use?
The one you can afford! Don't even think about getting those overpriced professional versions. Pass the savings on to your customers. Look for f4 versions or higher that offer a wide focal range like 18-200 or better. One lens to rule them all. Not only do you save a ton on price you save allot on weight so you will not be as tired at the end of day.

What camera should I use?
Canon XT bodies are the best value as most of them come with a free lens! You will also look more professional as most wedding guests are using a 40D or other equivalent these days.

What flash should I use?
In the past we recommended the Canon 430EX as it weighed less. But now Yongnuo has a flash for Canon that is totally awesome and recycles in an amazing 5 seconds! Get this one hands down! You can buy 8 of them for the price of one of Canon's most overpriced units! Yongnuo also has a whole line of professional yet inexpensive accessories you should own.

What manual settings should I use?
Set your shutter speed to 1/125 your aperture to f8 and ISO to 100. Your flash will handle the rest. You can always adjust the exposure later on the computer if need be.

What should I charge?
Only what it costs you. Any more than that is morally wrong. Remember your doing this to make yourself feel better about yourself, help someone else out in need, and hopefully put expensive full time photographers out of business.

This is my first wedding should I be nervous?
Sure... if I was you I would be nervous too! Don't worry about it! Your not charging them much right? Hey it is their risk, they knew what they were getting into. Don't worry about it, they are many more people you can practice on. It is not like your killing anyone. The best thing to remember is to try and get them the CD of images to them as soon as possible... preferably immediately after the wedding this way should there be any problems your long gone and don't have to face them.

Should I shoot jpeg or RAW?
Shoot jpeg only! This will allow you to purchase much smaller CF and SD cards saving you a bundle. Also it will save you a whole lot on time as converting 4,000 images from RAW to jpeg can take a long time unless you have a really expensive powerful computer. Also you will not be able to give them all the images you shot the same day unless you shoot jpeg. So remember, jpeg only, RAW is for elitists and snobs.

That is all for now... stay tuned next week when we explain how to deal with unreasonable customers, Uncle Bob interruptions, and dealing with camera failure.
　

What does any of this have to do with Craigslist?

snyper77 wrote in post #9508004
What does any of this have to do with Craigslist?

Is this tongue-in-cheek? If so, my apologies, but many photographers who advertise on Craigslist shoot in full auto with the kit lens, outdo themselves on giving away the farm and not charging anything for it. The one place the OP lost me though was on the Yongnuo flash. True CL bottom feeders have no need for such luxuries, as their camera already comes with a built-in pop-up flash!

jblaschke wrote in post #9508876
but many photographers who advertise on Craigslist shoot in full auto with the kit lens, outdo themselves on giving away the farm and not charging anything for it.

Well, why do you think they do this? The ones I typically see are people willing to gain experience for free or next to nothing. Not everyone who wants to do this has access to a multitude of pros who are willing to mentor them for years and ultimately train their future competition. I worked for free my first 5 weddings. The only difference between me and a craig lister is I didn't seek out my experience on craig's list.

And what kind of clients do you think Craig's List attracts anyway? These clients probably never spend $2k on the entire wedding much less on a photographer alone. If that market is so attractive to the pros then I'd hang it up.

I just find it odd that people here are so threatened by craig's list they feel the need to stroke their own egos by bashing them. Who cares? It's a "non" market. A bad photographer can only make you look that much better to the next bride. Sure there are charlatans on CL but you find them everywhere.

RT McAllister wrote in post #9511323
Who cares?

Indeed. I find so much weird crap on Craigslist that I see no need to bring it here as well. Hell, why don't "we" just have a few more threads pointing out the Nigerian scam?

Or my all--time favorite---for sale on Craigs---is all those "Cannon" cameras

RT McAllister wrote in post #9511323
And what kind of clients do you think Craig's List attracts anyway? These clients probably never spend $2k on the entire wedding much less on a photographer alone. If that market is so attractive to the pros then I'd hang it up.

I always have to listen to the naysayers when I say this, but that's not always true. I'm sure it's geographic, but here in the NYC area, you can pull some surprisingly substantial (for me, at least) weddings through CL. My shoot-only price is $1500 and my average with albums etc., is around $3k. Increasingly, my business is coming from other places, but I still pull about a third of new weddings through CL. And not once has there ever been haggling over price. I'm sure in most of the country, CL is for the bottomfeeders, both on the sale and buy side. But in certain markets, it just doesn't have that stigma.

Peacefield wrote in post #9511515
And not once has there ever been haggling over price. I'm sure in most of the country, CL is for the bottomfeeders, both on the sale and buy side. But in certain markets, it just doesn't have that stigma.

But the OP isn't talking about the legitimate side of CL. He's bashing those photographers which your clients would never use - that's my point. These wedding shooter wannabe's are no threat and you are proof of that.

If I had to chose an "enemy" of the industry, it certainly wouldn't be these types. There are plenty of so-called legitimate photographers doing more harm then these people ever will.

440roadrunner wrote in post #9511352
Or my all--time favorite---for sale on Craigs---is all those "Cannon" cameras

Hey! I got a sweet deal on a, 135mm f/2.2 from CL. They guy had no idea what he was selling.

He was only asking $450 for it and when I told him what it was really worth he rewarded my honesty by holding the price. (His dad had died and he was liquidating his stuff).

My post has a lot of meanings. One is how silly and unproductive it is to engage in helping people in an online forum learn how to do weddings. It is silly because you can not prepare them this way. It is unproductive because it is hurting our industry as we encourage them to go out and make us all look bad. It does not matter if they ruin the day for someone who will never be my customer, the FACT is they are ruining someone's day!

I used the term craiglisters because it is stereotypical of the wedding hack in most cases.

This whole idea of helping others online does not make good business sense. Recommend them to seminars/workshops so these aspiring photographers can at least be taught properly and provide a living for those who teach. Instead we teach these hacks for free who then go and complete with us and simultaneously rob workshops of attendees and all the while wreck weddings in the process!

So if you wedding pros here want to keep feeding this problem because your so bored that you feel compelled to answer yet another what flash should I use at a wedding then be my guest. I am just calling out this senseless behavior.

What makes someone on this forum recommend a 24-70 to a poster who does not understand basic rules of portraiture? Do you get that big of a high announcing to the world that you own the very lens this poor wannabe needs? Is that it? Is that wants in it for you? POTN should be trying to help and protect brides NOT hacks. Shooting weddings is for club members who CARE about people, not who care only about our egos and the brand of gear we use.

Anyone can learn photography... it is not rocket science, but please use a little judgment when answering threads. I mean if this was a small aircraft forum would you help the fellow who wants to know where the altimeter is? "Well jimmy it is to the left make sure you glance at once an hour" For real

Not knowing the following is unacceptable for photographing weddings:
* What flash to buy
* What lens to buy
* What camera to buy
* What to charge
* What manual settings to use
* insert 20 questions here

These questions are dead giveaways that someone is unprepared! Answering them will not prepare them! The standard answer from POTN ought to be "Go shoot portraits for a year or go to a workshop. Oh and welcome to POTN". If people have been shooting portraits for money or attending a workshop there would be none of these silly questions.
　

Is there som reason you feel the need to use such a

Someone forgot to take their happy pills today.

I'm a "craigslister." I should probably stop doing wedding photography.

My fonts appear correct on Win7x64 IE 8. Are you on a MAC?

form wrote in post #9512861
I'm a "craigslister." I should probably stop doing wedding photography.

You know I am not referring to you. However stereotypes form for a reason. It was true at one point. I think your a good example of the craigslisters hurting people with skill. I hope you can win against the swarm of them coming into your area.