Practical photography.

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AliB

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I honestly don't know why I bought it today. It's been annoying me for as long as I can remember. Apart from the fact that it is now referred to as "Practical Nikon" at home the features are really annoying!

Next time I'm in a motorway service station and it's a choice of that or "steam trains monthly" please remind me just how attractive trains can be!:puke:

This month's major annoyance? Wedding photography. Yes, once again an article claiming that you too can shoot a wedding with nothing more than a few bits of kit, nothing important really.

Apparently the "survival kit" should compromise a sewing kit, some electrical tape, a multi tool and a nutri grain bar!

The kit you need is (not sure of the order of importance here) A cheap suit, Umbrella, Stepladder, Flash, A Camera (no **** sherlock!), A tripod and a reflector.

They did suggest you might like to upgrade your lenses to include a fast prime (very valid) and a wide angle for those group shots (I'd love to see granny shot with the recommended 10-20mm)

To be fair the list of "must have" shots was OK.

My biggest annoyance?

They made no mention at all of the 70-200mm f2.8 that most of the good illustrative shots were taken with! Shooting in a Church at 1/50 too.

The other lenses used included 24-70mm @f2.8, 12-24mm @ f7.1 and a 14-24mm @ f2.8.

There were a few very generic shots taken with the "kit" lenses 17-55mm but any of the "better" ones were with more expensive glass.

The presentation of the final product made me want to cry! £20 at photobox ought to do it,(£300 at Graphistudio is just for top pros apparently) oh and you just bung your shots onto photobox or snapfish and they do all the work for you and send you the profits.:bang:

When are the publishers going to stop giving people the idea that they can walk into Currys, spend £500 and go and shoot a wedding?

And I'm not even a wedding tog! Guys, it must drive you crackers. Did you not realise you didn't really need to spend £1100 on a 70-200 f2.8 IS?

A cheap suit, that's the way forward!

practical Photography said so:rules:
 
wedding photography is not as hard as some make out.

and it is listed as number ten in the most overpaid jobs in the world
 
Where do you guys get the eating popcorn smilie from? Always makes me chuckle.
 
: popcorn :

without the spaces..
 
jolsterj said:
wedding photography is not as hard as some make out.

and it is listed as number ten in the most overpaid jobs in the world
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Danger money...

**** it up and you're dealing with an unstoppable force, an angry wife :eek:
 
Ali B i agree with your thoughts exactly, i know a few people who have been stung by not so pro wedding togs. It must be gutting for the bride and groom.
 
I have the 'Cheap Suit' , all I need now is a 'sewing kit' and a 'nutri grain bar' :)

I know what you mean though - There is a lot more to shooting a wedding than that!
 
They're in the 'Let's support our advertisers at all costs and tell the suckers what they want to hear' camp.

They're publishers, not photographers, but they have a winning formulae so they have no reason to worry about accuracy.

The obvious answer is not to buy it.
 
I'm going to get my own back Garry, got a new puppy that is being house trained so he can go and wee on it!

I know, I weakened and bought it. So I went into Borders on my way home and bought two new books. Ahhhh that's better :)
 
DAM IT i went and got a expencive suit and a expencive camera :( and i dont like them bar things either :( is there anything else out there that i can do.
 
jolsterj said:
wedding photography is not as hard as some make out.

and it is listed as number ten in the most overpaid jobs in the world
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The hardest part of doing a wedding is pushing aside the worry of totally cocking it up.........its not like you get a second chance, and that worrys alot of people.
 
Wedding photography is scary, I have been asked a good few times and always declined, would much rather face a hungry pride of lions than do a wedding :LOL:

Magazines always go for the little controversial issues though, if it gets you talking about it then its free advertising, as a business colleague says "theres no such thing as bad publicity" Not sure I agree with the phrase myself but I kinda know what he means.
 
I've had my dinner now and settled down in front of a nice open fire with a coffee.

Pratical Photography burns rather well actually, not bad at all :)

Contented sigh!
 
I'd love to do a wedding. Probably just once, but I'd like it for the experience....as long as the happy couple know what they're letting themselves in for.

A friend asked me if I'd consider doing covering an evening wedding, and I just had to flat out refuse. In addition to worrying about getting some decent expressions on your subject's faces, you're going to be dealing with low light conditions? No thanks.

Saying that, a little bit of research goes a long way. Check out the competition, see what interesting pictures they have on their site for signature images, scope out the location beforehand for decent locations....and then get down on your kneeds and pray for good light and decent conditions, and co-operative guests, and everything going smoothly, and you kit not breaking down, and....
 
I totally agree..
When new comers,like myself, see this sort of thing it gives the impression that everything photography is easy.
At the end of the day, you would have to be a right t*t to take note of the article and actually attempt it.
I think that all wedding togs have loads of ba**s (and EXPERIANCE)to do weddings, as said before, if you muck it up your responsible for shaterring a brides dream day.
 
I would jump at the chance, fail miserably, and try again, end of story. Nothing wrong with offering a "free service" to build a portfolio, its actually very charitable. If your shots are better than the cousin with the point and shoot, and you don't charge - who can complain?

Gary.
 
I guess you're not a big fan of Practical Photography then ?

Looks like I've got to keep up my subscription to "Gay Boys in Bondage" then :LOL:
 
john-oh said:
I guess you're not a big fan of Practical Photography then ?

Looks like I've got to keep up my subscription to "Gay Boys in Bondage" then :LOL:
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Erm, if there was ever a time for an Admin to make a tagline stick, this has GOT to be it!!!

GO ON :D
 
AliB said:
I'm going to get my own back Garry, got a new puppy that is being house trained so he can go and wee on it!

I know, I weakened and bought it. So I went into Borders on my way home and bought two new books. Ahhhh that's better :)
Click to expand...


Get AP instead, its always available (weekly) its cheap, and apart from the photoshop nonce Gary wotsisface in the middle, its not bad.
 
Gone all posh and got myself a copy of PP Joxby.

Interesting article of the Nikon D3x and Canon 5DmkII. They actually have a spec for the 5D Mk2!

16mp, DigicIII, full weather proofing 3inch screen., 6.5fps.....hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm
I want one!

D3x rumoured to be 24mp!!!! Gary wants one! :)
 
Whats PP, cant be Practical Photography, you don't like it...
 
EdinburghGary said:
I would jump at the chance, fail miserably, and try again, end of story. Nothing wrong with offering a "free service" to build a portfolio, its actually very charitable. If your shots are better than the cousin with the point and shoot, and you don't charge - who can complain?
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Everyone starts somewhere. I'm getting married myself in December and looking round at the majority of wedding photographers within our budget (£600) does little to dispel the myth that this is money for old rope... regardless of kit, surely 90% of success comes from being able to take good pictures? simple view maybe.

The argument of needing the cajones to do wedding photography is valid, but i've been asked to do some reportage style pics at a mates wedding in August and so long as they know not to expect miracles (they do), it gets me the experience and the potential for building a portfolio should i ever decide to treat photogrpahy as anything more then a hobby.

"Never think that you're not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning."
 
Fair point about taking pics at your mates wedding and it's going to be good experience.

As for the ability to take good pictures, there are technical limitations on taking those pictures that were published in PP. They required a good 70-200mm f2.8 and the ability to shoot at 1/50 sec in low light so regardless of kit (that cost about a grand) was my original complaint about the article.

You just will not be able to nail low light pics in a church from a distance with a kit lens which are normally f4- f5.6. Ability has little to do with that, simply physics of not enough light for the aperture even at high ISO.

"Ye cannae change the laws of physics" :)

And for Joxby, PP is Professional Photography and a rather fine read!
 
AliB said:
Interesting article of the Nikon D3x and Canon 5DmkII. They actually have a spec for the 5D Mk2!

16mp, DigicIII, full weather proofing 3inch screen., 6.5fps.....hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm
I want one!
Click to expand...

Is this from the rumour mill or has thre been an official update?


joxby said:
Get AP instead, its always available (weekly) its cheap, and apart from the photoshop nonce Gary wotsisface in the middle, its not bad.
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Who is this guy and whats so bad about him?? just wondering..


Id love to have a go at a wedding! but i think id be better off being a second shooter at a few first.. :shrug:
 
These are the same guys responsible for the wave of fake HDR images currently hitting our screen, they did a tutorial showing how to create HDR from one image. Yeah right...

That wedding article got my blood boiling and I will not be renewing my subscription to the mag at the end of next month.
They should stick to flowers and landscapes. What will next months be, shoot glamour shots like a pro, all you need is a bed sheet, a willing partner, some halegon lamps from screwfix and a 6mp camera with kit lens. Mr Hefner will be beating down your door to buy the rights to them.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
 
I think it's fair to say that most, if not all magazines earn a major slice of their revenue from advertising. That being the case means articles in the magazines will be aimed at supporting these advertisers.

The only time i ever buy a mag is when the free gift is useful to me and worth more than the cover price.
 
fraggle101 said:
Is this from the rumour mill or has thre been an official update?
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Rumour, but not exactly denied by the man from Canon who said "Of course we follow speculative news on the internet, it's good for us because it shows interest and how important the Canon brand is and the expectation among professionals"

Formal realease date not yet known but "expected" to be this summer.

I'd have thought it wise to launch it ready for the new wedding season.
When you consider it's main strengths are wedding and landscape, they are leaving it a bit late!
 
TheKrikkitWars said:
Danger money...

**** it up and you're dealing with an unstoppable force, an angry wife :eek:
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:eek: worse than that, angry mothers[-in-laws, who possibly also paid you] :LOL:



See, they make it sound so easy, yet for me, the idea of a wedding leaves me cold. Its probably the one area of photography I don't want to 'have a go at' [and luckily none of my friends are looking like getting hitched anytime soon] and have every admiration for those that do and can. I remember my friends wedding several years ago where she had hired two female togs who were brilliant, one worked doing all the 'formal' stuff, marshalling everyone into place whilst the other mingled with the guests and did candids. The resultant shots were top quality, probably the best I have ever seen. So regardless of what Practical Photography might say, unless you can do that kind of work week in week out and have the kit to do it, then weddings are are definate no-no for me :LOL:
 
It's strange, although I would and have declined doing a wedding there is a curious side of me that would like to try if the pressure was off and there was a safety net. Something like working as a 2nd to a main photographer.
 
I'm finding with most of the monthly magazines they are turning into 'Photoshop the hell out of every shot monthly'.
At least with AP they have some interesting articles actually about photography itself, but yes, there are a lot of ads with extremely small print...
 
Col_M said:
Something like working as a 2nd to a main photographer.
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My dad got roped into doing my cousins Scottish wedding (she had the "real" one in Australia a month earlier), and I got roped in as second 'tog. Not too stressful, he did the formal shots, and I zipped around doing the informal ones everyone wanted copies of!! My weapon of choice? D70s and the Nikon 60mm f/2.8 macro ;)
 
kevin_c said:
I'm finding with most of the monthly magazines they are turning into 'Photoshop the hell out of every shot monthly'.
At least with AP they have some interesting articles actually about photography itself, but yes, there are a lot of ads with extremely small print...
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I found that a bit. I subscribed to Digital Photo for a year, mainly to get the free lowepro bag which was a great offer and was worth the cost of the mags alone so seemed like a win win situation. I found the magazine great, for about 5 or 6 months months, then quickly realized that it was basically on a 6 month rotation of 'features'.

I think they all do this to some extent so I very rarely buy any now. I have bought the odd issue of Practical Photography recently though, and actually thought it was ok.
 
fraggle101 said:
Who is this guy and whats so bad about him?? just wondering..
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Gary McNamara, he "improves" photos the readers have sent in, I just don't like his thought process, still, its only a double page, sometimes less, easily skipped.
I like the mag, because its a little lightweight, it tells me things I want to know without dressing it up with bows, fairy's and padding pages.
Nobody's gonna pay £6 for a mag unless its a half inch thick, regardless of the content.
I think the expensive ones pad themselves out a bit with things I don't care much about.
 
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