I’ve been in the business over a decade and have seen it all 😂 I’d love to hear some of your crazy stories too!!! Drop em below 👇🏻

This month I have had 4 weddings thus far with just weird scheduling/planners overcomplicating very simple things. From overstepping the couples request of doing all extend family photos before the ceremony/couples being over cautious with choosing a first look location where guests won't be but 45 min away/to couples insisting on getting ready locations an hour away from the venue but renting only 1 party bus to make the rounds and refusing to talk about the possibility of traffic, just seems like its an overall weird vibe year.

Anyone else just leaving meetings being like "oh there is such a simpler way to do this"?

I've done 7 weddings now and every single one the client has been over the moon and incredibly complimentary. The only thing is when I ask for a testimonial they all say 'of course! I'll write one up for you' then I get nothing back. I've chased up with some people and they say they're just getting to it but it feels rude to keep asking.

I think people are daunted by having to write something out properly so I'm asking if anyone has any good tips for collecting them without bothering clients too much.

While I'm only editing 24mp Canon R6 II RAW files, it's still quite a task for bloated Lightroom to handle on my PC. My best advice is to pause or stop any background activities, like backup or malware. Next, after creating smart previews, rename your actual photos folder to something else like "John & Mary - 1". Lightroom will mark the folder as missing and FORCE load only the smart previews - not the full RAW file. Speeds up significantly doing initial corrections if you don't need to zoom in for final touches. Don't forget to rename the folder back before you export!

A girl I went to high school with approached me in beginning of MARCH of this year and asked me to photograph her wedding. She didn't have a day in the month she was getting married in yet, so I told her to find out ASAP and get back to me because I book up quickly for April 2027 weddings and I become busier from April onward. She said fine no problem.

What's today? JULY 21.

I get this charming little text from her, just casually admitting that she "took more time to get back to me than she had anticipated" (ummmm ya!!! Almost 5 months!!), and had asked me if I was still available.

So I said "Well, you didn't give me a DAY for your wedding day and I didn't hear from you so I assumed you gracefully bowed out and found someone else".

She replies "April 24, and nooo omg! Even if we were researching others we knew we wanted to go with your services"

Ummmm ok - so where has she been for the last 5 months if she knew she wanted to hire me? Lol

So I told her unfortunately I was booked (which I was).

She replies with only two acronyms. "Np ty". (No problem, thank you"

I left it at that.

That was until, 10 mins later, (she must have had time to get pissed off), she sends me this scathing text telling ME, that *I* should have called HER to find out if she still wanted to hire me, and how now I have messed up *her chances* of finding a photographer in time (not really true, but a lot of the good busy experienced ones get booked up fast) and that now she doesn't know what to do!! Lol

So I said "did you think I was going to wait around for almost 5 months to wait on your decision as to whether or not you wanted to hire me? That's not how that works"

SO GLAD I dodged that bullet. My goodness. The entitlement and audacity of some people is mindblowing!

One I've never had before...

A client booked months ago for one of the busiest periods of summer (literally busiest month of the year by far). They booked my middle package (8 hours) and talked about potentially upgrading their hours at a later date.

They are now asking to reduce their hours and say they didn't realise they were locked in, their understanding was that they booked the day and could decide the package later on.

We had a call where I explained everything clearly, they chose the package, and signed a contract with the hours and package price written in three different places. I also add that information into the body of the email with the link to their contract, as well as in the confirmation email after they signed.

I sent an email being very nice and polite about it all but firmly stating I don't allow hours reduction and they are now really pushing back and sounding a bit pissed off. I'm unsure whether this is truly a case of crossed wires or if they're simply trying to reduce their budget (it's a 1k difference in price). Tbh if they'd led with wanting to book my smaller package I probably would have turned away the booking in the knowledge I could earn more that day, but if I say that directly I sound like a bit of a dick.

I'm really unsure what to do here. It's a peak Saturday that I could have booked my biggest package on, but if I really push back on this am I going to end up with a couple who feel pissed at me?! I suggested we hop on a call to go through the timeline so they can see that 8 hours isn't too much but would love to hear ideas from this sub!

I’ve noticed a recurring issue over the past couple of years that is truly testing my people pleasing tendencies.
I absolutely hate having to message vendors and ask them to take photos down because the way they’ve posted them doesn’t reflect my work or the quality of my images.
For context, when I deliver a wedding gallery, every vendor receives access to the full gallery and can download web sized images for social media at no cost. Before they can access the gallery, they have to agree to usage terms that include:

• No editing my images.
• No filters or presets over my work.
• No screenshots (they destroy image quality).
• Images must be downloaded directly from the gallery for social media use.

it feels like no one actually reads the terms. They just click “agree.”This has happened enough times that I’m starting to wonder if it’s a workflow problem rather than a vendor problem. The vendors are given free access to a huge library of professionally exported images, yet I still regularly see screenshots, heavy filters, or other edits. It’s happened many times with my film photos which are even more sensitive. Also to mention, this isn’t beginner vendors doing this. It’s extremely sought after venues, and well known wedding planners…many I feel should understand the importance of working hard to create a brand with consistency.

Interestingly, I’ve never had this issue with my couples. My brides and grooms almost always download the gallery properly and create beautiful posts with the images exactly as delivered.

I’m someone who genuinely wants to have good relationships with vendors, so every time this happens I feel like I’m forced into being “that photographer” who has to police people. Most of the time I don’t even say anything. I just quietly untag myself, even though I know I probably shouldn’t. I know this is a reflection of my brand and potential clients seeing this can make a rash decision based on what they see from other vendors.

Has anyone found a better workflow or system that actually gets vendors to follow these guidelines? Is there a better way to communicate this than burying it in the gallery terms? Or is this just something everyone deals with?

I’m sick of adobe - anyone have any recommendations for apps that they use instead? My Mac is kind of old so something I can download it onto

I have a two day shoot next weekend a few more the rest of the year. Should I try shooting or should I just refund all my couples back?

I feel terrible because the clients chose me for my style. I don’t even know what to do right now. What would you do? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I'm really interested in this question, how do you handle the situation when client comes up to you after few years and asks for their photos/videos again, because he lost some of it on a flash, dead PC, etc?

Do you have those photos, are you storing it anywhere for longer period of times, and if so, what is the cost of that storage? I suppose no one is really storing RAWs, only JPEGs, but still, you can only store so much for some period of time.

Hi! I’ve been doing this for a few years and have never set foot in a bridal show. A newer venue in my neighborhood (that I‘ve worked a couple times) is hosting a bridal show next month and invited me to participate (the fee is pretty reasonable). I think I should go try to score more local bookings.

My question is, what do I need for a bridal show (besides the obvious signage, albums of work, business cards)? Do you try to get brides to leave their emails or something? I honestly have no idea what goes on bridal shows, I get plenty of business so I’ve never been tempted to do one before. thank you!!

What months do you book most of your weddings during the year?

... by my wife who’s now WFH lots more than before.

I’d love your help and advice in creating the editing desk setup mark ii 🙏
I’m a photographer in the UK who’s recently gone full time and done with working at the dining table!

I’d like a decent monitor, not sure to go one big one or a secondary to run alongside my MacBook? Is a dock worth it?

What are the key things in your office you’d wish you’d got sooner?

I’ve just acquired a small standing desk from marketplace so that’s what I’ve got to start with.

Any words of wisdom (or photos of your setup) welcome and encouraged, thanks!

Hi all. I’ve been noticing an uptick in RAW photo requests from my younger brides. Is this a new trend or something? I’ve been doing weddings for 10 years, and have never had this happen. Venues and coordinators are saying it’s a new trend, and saying my photos are great. So I’m trying to see if anyone else is noticing this pattern?

It’s been a week of weirdness dealing with content creators…

It’s very strange when they ask to use *my* images for the main images on *their* profiles. So then clients don’t know that they didn’t actually shoot those images (how is this not obvious, your job is to CREATE photo and video).

Also, there’s an influx of inexperienced content creators not knowing proper etiquette at weddings (like how to dress, where to stand, not getting in photo & videos way) and honestly, it’s a huge problem.

I’m not against CC’s and I think they actually fill a void in the industry but their presence is definitely very obvious on the day and it’s having an impact on the flow and feel of the day.

I’d love to hear others take tho, maybe I’m just an old timer who’s nostalgic for the good old days when weddings weren’t about “content”.

Hi Fellow photographers.

I'm a photographer from Brussels, belgium who's been shooting for several years for potraits, headshots, corporate events, maternity and food photography.

I have been asked to shoot for a wedding of an international couple here in Brussels with less than 100 people at the wedding and they've agreed on the pricing already.

Below are my gears,

• Camera gear used - 5D M3, 6D M1
• Lenses - 28-70 2.8, 85 1.2, 70-200 f4, 50 1.8
• TTL Flash Canon Speedlight 430 EX2
• Godox Ad200 pro with trigger
• Eneloop Pro 2450mAH batteries x 8
• Lilliput A7S 4k camera monitor

Below is the situation,

• Team of three, one pro two beginners
• Lead will have two cameras with 70-200 and 28-70
• Assist one will be for candids will have 85 1.2
• Assist two will have a 28-70 or 50mm for guests
• Have the list of the events, the shoot happens for 4hours might get extended. per hour pay.
• Generic event coverage and some candid moments are required.
• One guy, currently is shooting with nikon, i'm planning to rent a canon fullframe to follow color profile during grading.
• I use lightroom mobile premium on my ipad for post editing and grading

P.S : I've been a second shooter for a number of weddings, i know the drill. The team is good for 2nd/3rd shooters. I'm concerned about the technical gear i have and anything else that could go worse.

Could i pull it off?

Please do let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks.

Does anyone make $350-400k without associates or with just an occasional associate?
200k wasn’t that difficult. Trying to see what others have done to move beyond that.

I have had this softbox for years to go on my studio light. Last month I used it for the family photos portion for an indoor wedding and it gave amazing results (the lighting on the skin was so creamy and clear - even with up to 14 subjects), this was my first time using it for a wedding! But my question is, is there a better alternative to this softbox with the same results? (120cm octagonal).
First of all, it’s a pain to set up with the prongs and secondly it is massive and heavy, maybe slightly too heavy for my studio light as I had it on the tightest it could go and the light kept slowly facing down, had to get my associate to hold it up.

Really would love other recommendations that could cover something like family photos with lots of subjects and has the same creaminess and softness.

It's my off-season, I'm looking to update everything. 

I've avoided upgrading over the past few years because I didn't want to deal with bugs during wedding season.

What's the most stable combination of Lightroom Classic and macOS at the moment?

I'm currently running:

• M2 Pro Mac mini
• macOS Ventura 13
• Lightroom Classic 13

Is Lightroom Classic 15 stable now, or would you recommend going to 14 first? I thought I read recent thread that people were downgrading to version 14, but I can’t find the original thread.

And for Mac users, how has macOS Tahoe 26 been - any issues?

Thanks!

So I did my bsf wedding photos and her half of the family uses iphone while his half of the family uses android. And theres so many people we wanted to compile everything into one thing. Can't use an apple shared album because now the MOH can't add anything, and vice versa. I'm new to this thing and i really have no clue! Thank you!!

The back part of the belt always slips through and looks like this. I’m struggling to find a way to make it comfortable😅also the silver part that clips into the holster decided to loosen recently. My z9 took a tumble but she’s ok

For a wedding I shot last month, the ceremony location they chose had really unfortunate lighting.

The bride and groom were in half direct sun and half full shade, with a diagonal harsh shadow cutting across them for the entire ceremony. Many times the bride was in full squint trying to look into the groom’s eyes.

Similarly, half the wedding party were struggling in full sun and half were in full shade.

I was able to deliver a beautiful gallery, but the struggle it took to edit these images has burned itself into my nightmares.

What would be a better way to approach this? If I used a fill flash would it have blown out the direct sun parts even more? I’ve shot plenty of outdoor ceremonies but this one took me out!

I want to get a sense of how many wedding photographers out there are actually charging sales tax.

I want to start including albums but the thought of charging an extra 8% on the entire collection because one album is included makes me feel icky. Is there any way around this? Or should I just skip albums?