Reception quicky-edit slideshows

mmmatt

OK, so my very first wedding ever, I dumped my cards to my laptop as I shot them and just let all the photos cycle unedited in a slideshow. After getting home and seeing some of the crap I showed people I was mortified! I kinda swore to never do it again. Recently however, on a wedding where I had a 2nd shooter and some downtime between formals and reception I did some quicky edits on 6 or 8 photos from the day and set the laptop on the gift table for a slide show. People crowded around the table and it was a big hit. I mixed in some e-session photos to spread things out a bit. Did it again more recently at Tonya and Bryan's wedding that I shot with Ross and again it was a big hit. Tonya and Bryan went on and on about it to me saying how cool it was.

So, since I have a number of weddings coming up next year that include a 2nd shooter I decided I would try to make it a semi-regular thing and bought a digital photoframe so that I don't have to leave my laptop sitting out.

Is anyone else doing this? So far I have gotten great response from it, and as long as I get about 1/2 hour to work on it I can make it happen including running some creative actions and basic color/exposure tweaks. The last time, I shot the first half of the wedding with RAW and s-jpg, and that worked out really well. I just then picked shots that were close enough as SOOC and quickly edited the jpgs. Just the download/selection process takes some time so a half hour I can only knock out 10 or 12 images that I am comfortable displaying, but it seems that people love it.

Matt

BlueSkyPhotos

Hi Matt,
Just wanted to check on your slideshow adventure. Are you still doing it? If so, are you charging for that extra? Do still use your laptop or some other device.

Anyone else please join in and share your experience.

Thanks,

mmmatt

Yup. Whenever I have a 2nd I do this. My usual second stays through cocktail hour and leaves before reception. Last time he ended up having to do the cake and the grand march because it all happened so fast. I wouldn't do it without plenty of time or a 2nd I really trust, but yes it gets great responce. I shoot the first half of the wedding in raw + sm jpg and then I don't have to dump whole cards and things can go so much faster with low res jpgs. Mostly I pick what looks good SOOC, and then hit it with a black and white action or a split tone effect. do a few crops and pick fun moments from the day or shots that the bride didn't know I took. Always things that are easy to polish up. I always put out a stack of cards and people pick them up. This gets me business for sure.

Matt

BlueSkyPhotos

Thanks for your tips Matt. I really appreciate it. I actually might have my second shooter do the show. He is pretty quick with LR.