Slideshows during reception?

Kevin Kramer · May 13, 2010

Hello Wedding Photogs!

Curious to know if you guys and gals offer Slideshows during weddings of the photos you took so far of their day? I've done this in the past.. and still continue to do so, but I'm starting to hear that it's more cliche than anything else and wanted to know if you still offer this? I still want to offer this, but is it a dying "tradition?"

Also.. this may sound like a dumb question, but, do you guys bring your own tabletop/cart? Or do you have the reception venue provide you with this? Reason I'm asking is because Saturday I'm going out and purchasing an AV Cart from a vendor, and there are three sizes that he offered.. the 35 inch height, the 44 inch (with electric strip!) and the 50inch height.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!
-kev

LeeHowell · May 13, 2010

I saw this thread and my immediate thought was that the whole showing your pictures during the day-of thing was a little too "hoakie" for me...But I'm reading here that you already do that! So I hope my comment here doesn't come off as rude! :-P But I figured I'd share my thoughts on it anyways...

I've heard mixed reviews - I've had clients ask if I do that...Some wanting it, others not so much. Some people rave about it, and I think if the client requested it of me, I would most certainly do it. I hear some people will have a group of actions ready to go and run them through so they even get a quick editing job before they see them...But some other photographers apparently don't even cull the images down before screening them at the wedding, so guests are often looking at mis-fires and multiple shots of the same subject matter.

If you have it down-pat and people like it though, I think that's great - Keep it up!

For me...I just think that while the concept itself is interesting, it places too much of an emphasis on rush rush, here and now...I like to take my time and not get distracted.

zoomer · May 13, 2010

I have heard of people doing this but seems like a huge distraction and gimicky.

JayClark79 · May 13, 2010

I think it takes attention away from the bride and groom, and is very "look at me" for the photographer.

Blurmore · May 13, 2010

I don't even let anyone chimp. Short answer no, why the hell would I want anyone to see anything SOOC. I don't offer it, and if a client asked I'd tell them I'm not the right photographer for them. The video company does this to us during Bar Mitzvahs, having their own photog doing stills for projection, their photogs usually suck, and people think they are our pics...hate it. Told MANY videographers they should stop doing it.

Kevin Kramer · May 13, 2010

So you're saying that the 50 inch AV Cart is a good buy eh?

Kidding. Actually my workflow during the reception is 100 images, fixed during dinner, every six photos black and white, and the rest color corrected if need be. I make sure that no raw "untouched" files are being shown.

My other thing is I normally do it as a surprise to the bride and groom. They don't know that I am doing anything like this. 100% of the time it's a great surprise but now you guys have me thinking differently!

Thank you for the input!
-kev

tenoverthenose · May 13, 2010

I think this is generally a great marketing op. What I don't like about this is that it takes time away from photographing the wedding to edit/prep/even just transfer jpgs. On the other hand, I'll be showing this engagement photos for this weekends wedding my my iPad at the reception... hopefully it doesn't grow legs.

Kevin Kramer · May 13, 2010

tenoverthenose wrote: »

I think this is generally a great marketing op. What I don't like about this is that it takes time away from photographing the wedding to edit/prep/even just transfer jpgs. On the other hand, I'll be showing this engagement photos for this weekends wedding my my iPad at the reception... hopefully it doesn't grow legs.

That's the thing though. I do it during dinner where no one wants their photos taken anyway. And every Bride and Groom that I've talked to stated that they wanted me to sit down, eat dinner, do what i need to do to get ready for an amazing time on the dancefloor documenting their night. I've timed myself before and I've had this done within a half hours time. It's only photos up until the beginning of the reception, and none other than that.

WillCAD · May 14, 2010

I have to disagree with most of the sentiment in this thread. Slideshows are not "hoakie" or "gimmicky" or "nothing but a marketing opportunity".

Don't look at things from the photographer's perspective, look at them from the clients' and guests' perspectives - the whole reason you have a job in the first place is that those folks want to see pics of the wedding, and seeing pics of the wedding before the wedding is even over is one of the great advantages of the digital era.

But I do agree that the pics should not be shown unprocessed. Minimally processing the pics and selecting a subset for the slideshow can be done while the guests are having dinner. Of course, this means that the photographer would be working through dinner, but the way I look at it, you're not there to eat, you're there to work. Getting a free meal has always been a nice perk of working a wedding, but if you have to process and select pics while you're eating, that's not a huge burden, particularly if it improves your product, your brand awareness, and your client satisfaction.

And considering that it IS extra work, and requires extra equipment and setup, the slideshow during reception is a product that you can charge extra for and list as an optional add-on to your wedding packages. My greatest concern with the slideshow would be keeping the equipment safe from tipsy guests with greasy fingers.

Kevin Kramer · May 14, 2010

WillCAD wrote: »

I have to disagree with most of the sentiment in this thread. Slideshows are not "hoakie" or "gimmicky" or "nothing but a marketing opportunity".

Don't look at things from the photographer's perspective, look at them from the clients' and guests' perspectives - the whole reason you have a job in the first place is that those folks want to see pics of the wedding, and seeing pics of the wedding before the wedding is even over is one of the great advantages of the digital era.

But I do agree that the pics should not be shown unprocessed. Minimally processing the pics and selecting a subset for the slideshow can be done while the guests are having dinner. Of course, this means that the photographer would be working through dinner, but the way I look at it, you're not there to eat, you're there to work. Getting a free meal has always been a nice perk of working a wedding, but if you have to process and select pics while you're eating, that's not a huge burden, particularly if it improves your product, your brand awareness, and your client satisfaction.

And considering that it IS extra work, and requires extra equipment and setup, the slideshow during reception is a product that you can charge extra for and list as an optional add-on to your wedding packages. My greatest concern with the slideshow would be keeping the equipment safe from tipsy guests with greasy fingers.

Will thank you so much. I am purchasing an AV cart with a skirt, with a kensington lock to make sure that none of my equipment grows legs (or in the carts sake.. wheels) I will also have a skirt to not show anything underneath like the laptop. The monitor is a 22 inch and i went ahead and purchased the non glare where fingerprints if they are to touch it, will be at a minimum.

To the photographers who do this.. is this effective on the business side? Do you find more marketing opportunities when you show slideshows?

Thanks everyone for your input!

Agnieszka · May 15, 2010

Blurmore wrote: »

I don't even let anyone chimp. Short answer no, why the hell would I want anyone to see anything SOOC. I don't offer it, and if a client asked I'd tell them I'm not the right photographer for them.

+1. I'd NEVER EVER do this. I'd never show my photos straight from the camera (to nobody) + I'd never want to disappear during the reception to do "quick" touch-ups just so I can show some photos during the reception. It's not worth it to me and I work a lot on my photos, so the photos I'd show would never do the final product justice.

If it works for you, more power to you .... just not my thing.

I've seen a videographer do this once. I think his assistant put it all together while the main videeographer was shooting all day long, so they could show a recap of the day right before the couple got introduced at the reception. I have to say, it looked awesome, everybody's eyes nearly fell out .... but I'd rather spend that time shooting + I need my 2nd shooter to back me up and not spend any time downloading cards & working on the photos

No-go for me

tenoverthenose · May 15, 2010

As I side note I am constantly showing images SOOC to my clients, both on the screen of my camera and also on my blog. Less work for me!

Jeremy Winterberg · May 15, 2010

I let people chimp all the time. Usually only when I take an amazing image where I'm thinking in my head, "holy shit, thats good - shoot like that more often". It gives them reassurance that you're doing the job you're getting paid to do well. Plus, it lets you show off to the bridesmaids and flirt a little to win them over for when they get married.

As for slideshows... nope dont do them. I would rather take more detail shots than edit images during the reception. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to editing. I wouldn't be able to crank out 100 images in 30 minutes. I shoot in RAW, so the white balance has to be adjusted for every picture - and all that fun stuff... lots of work.

If it works for you, continue doing it. A lot of brides want this apparently, so you'll win them over with this service. I just personally don't do them.

mmmatt · May 15, 2010

I did it at my very first wedding with just my laptop on the DJ's table. People liked it but after I got home and looked at what I was showing I was pretty embarrased to have shown unedited images, and like Angie and others have said, I don't have the time to edit photos on site. If I'm lucky I get fed dinner right away and can keep up with the b&g after they eat, but even then I still shove my dinner down my throat in about 15 minutes and then shoot rings, or building exteriors, or look for photo ops inside the venue that I can use when the b&g finish eating. Just too much else to do imho and that is a low priority. If I did have an exorbitant amount of time between wedding and reception I would be more inclined to work up a single photo and print a stack of 4x6 business cards to hand out to guests but I don't ever have extra time.

What I have been doing a lot of is creating guest books from the e-session photos and that gives some hq ooos and aaahhhs to the guests. From a marketing standpoint I think that is a million times better than showing quicky edited or unedited photos and it is something I can do months before the date.

Matt

Blurmore · May 16, 2010

Well I said I don't let people chimp...but I was tonight, probably because I shot the last part of the B&G's dance in HD video and I was giving the wireless commander mode of me new 7D a workout...the camera is simply astounding.

I'm not saying it is uber awesome yet...but it still looks pretty good.

Slideshows during reception?

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