Shots list!

cdonovan

How do you folks go through the wedding, and then the portraits section of the wedding and keep things fresh, without forgetting a shot, or a set up?

I'm always relied on my memory, or working in the moment to just make things happen, working with the background etc.

For fun, I thought it'd be cool to do some drawings of my favorite set up shots, mostly bride and groom stuff, but keeping some of the wedding party pictures too. I'm actually thinking of using them as a guide line for next years weddings, having clients go through and picking their top favorites to get a good idea of their style!

Who knew stick people were so hard to draw! I'm having a good laugh at myself if nothing else!!! :rofl

Qarik

the other thing you can do is print out photos of shots you like and tape them in a note book. Even just laser printer in BW or color on regualr paper is good enough.

Shima

Or keep your favorite style photos on your cell phone (if you've got a good display, I've got a blackberry storm for example, I've seen others do this with iphones / ipods, other newer phones w/ good screens work too).

Then when you're stumped you can glance through them, or if you've got a shot that the bride isn't sure if she wants to let you try, show her how it came out when you did it at a previous wedding to get her buy into the idea.

Scott_Quier

For the formals it's easy, just remember your table of permutations If you shoot everything, there's no way to miss something. The hard part is getting the event coordinator to help you remember who everyone is and where they are and getting them there for the photos.

As for the rest of the day, most weddings are pretty much the same. There's personalities that make it different and that's what keeps it interesting.

The reception party - just get the magic four (bouquet toss, garter toss, first dance, cake cutting) and the rest is gravy.

After (or maybe before) all the above, look for and capture the emotions: Mom crying, dad crying, the groom crying, the trembling lip, the laughing, the guests having a good time, the little children.

I think you get the idea. But, if you try to shoot to a list, there's every chance that you will get stale and bored with the whole thing in a very short order.

zoomer

Shot lists are restrictive and slow things down.
Go with the flow, shoot what comes up and creativity will come to you as events unfold.
It makes you look like a rookie if you are continually pulling out a list of shots.
Of course if your client knows you are a rookie no problem.

cdonovan

I agree Zoomer,

It's not something that I'd carry with me, what I want to do, is after I have them all compiled is to scan them and put them in an online gallery here on smug, and have my clients look through them to see if there is anything that really sticks out. Ny drawing sucks though. I may hire a couple to do this for fun for me!:D

JohnBiggs

Speaking of shots list, I jsut had a bride to be hand me a 5 page shot list she got from her wedding planner. It spelled out every shot one would usually take at a wedding. Perhaps in the minutia there were a few I don't normally do.

I skimmed the list, told the bride that I would read it and take it into consideration but I will not guarantee any of the shots. I also stated that I could sit there and take everyshot right down the list but everything will take much longer to get done.

Yuck.

I don't mind if the bride has a handful of atypical shots she'd like, but to give me a list of the basics

FlyNavy

Shima wrote:

Or keep your favorite style photos on your cell phone (if you've got a good display, I've got a blackberry storm for example, I've seen others do this with iphones / ipods, other newer phones w/ good screens work too).

Then when you're stumped you can glance through them, or if you've got a shot that the bride isn't sure if she wants to let you try, show her how it came out when you did it at a previous wedding to get her buy into the idea.

Shima,
Great idea. Thanks,
John

Mishka

JohnBiggs wrote:

Speaking of shots list, I jsut had a bride to be hand me a 5 page shot list she got from her wedding planner. It spelled out every shot one would usually take at a wedding. Perhaps in the minutia there were a few I don't normally do.

I skimmed the list, told the bride that I would read it and take it into consideration but I will not guarantee any of the shots. I also stated that I could sit there and take everyshot right down the list but everything will take much longer to get done.

Yuck.

I don't mind if the bride has a handful of atypical shots she'd like, but to give me a list of the basics

That's funny because I had that happen to me recently, too. I just politely explained that I would spend all of my time looking at her list instead of getting the shots, and it wouldn't be very useful. Instead, I asked her to revise the list and only include shots that aren't fairly standard. She happily obliged.