Just like to know from all the Pros and serious hobbyist who cover weddings... how many of your shots are real keepers (sharpness, color, framing - are all dead on)?

Im just amazed that in one wedding a photographer could get as much as 1k++ clicks! (think about in terms of rolls or film :D)

hope to hear from you guys. thanks!!

I guess it is but normal to shoot more than 1000 shots. but of the those, there will be around 500-600 unique scenes. the reason why it balloons double is due to the several "safety" shots and for a particular scene, a photog can shoot 3-5 frames.

I normally take around 1,200 shots per wedding and I guess I would have something like 700-800 keepers.

Well put it this way, out of over 1,000 shots that we turn over to the client (my shots and backup) I only use up to 100 photos max in the album.
Sometimes even 80. (there are defenitely a lot more keepers but we choose the best for the album and like to keep the layout really simple and classic) Now the amount of photos that we take really also depends on the "activities" that happens in a wedding coverage. I have shot as low as 600 shots only a wedding since the wedding was very simple. Now, I also did a wedding where in the reception alone we shot over 1,000 shots due to the amount of partying that was happening..:Grin:
When I clean up my files, I usually keep around 80-90% of my shots. I only trash the eyes closed, extremely under or extremely over. (hardly blurring Thank God for IS)

Just like to know from all the Pros and serious hobbyist who cover weddings... how many of your shots are real keepers (sharpness, color, framing - are all dead on)?

Im just amazed that in one wedding a photographer could get as much as 1k++ clicks! (think about in terms of rolls or film :D)

hope to hear from you guys. thanks!!

A good shooter can get a high percentage of shots that are good. But there is "good" and there is "Good." And there are what I call "wow" shots. They are fewer.

Typically, 10% of the total shots are unusable. That could be to blurred shots, subjects eyes were closed, wrong initial settings, etc. Then about 20-30% shots are redundant or duplicate shots. I call this insurance shots. You double or triple tap cause you don't have time to chimp and lose the moment so you fire off 2-3 maybe even 4 shots of the same thing, especially if it is a good moment.

In a 1,000 shots, w/c is typical for a dslr shooter now-a-days, you can get about 500-600 that are "good." It means composition is on standard, so is exposure, etc.

Now, comes the culling for the output. It now depends on whether you are on a layout or what your deliverables to the clients are. If I were to have the client pick the pictures, I'd get about 350-400/450 for review or for their selection. You have to be ruthless in cutting it down to this cause you don't want sensory overload with too many choices for the client.

Typical albums go for 40 pics (if they are 8x10/12's or large prints) or 80-120 depending. I find that in my style, 120-140 makes for a good story telling. YMMV. Digital layouts break this no. though you can use 80 images to 150 and it usually works well too. There really is no fix rule. It's how you lay things out or how you tell your story of the event using pictures. But these nos usually are spot on regardless of style for most shooters.

So "keepers" are high for a good shooter, but in the end, it's the final deliverables that dictate things.

-Mel

thanks guys for all your inputs.

i do know that even if you shoot around 2k+++ shots in a wedding only a handful (less than 100??) would be picked by the couple for the album. mel mentioned that he somwhat "pick" the good photos for the selection of the couple. is this a practice or some of the PROs do send ALL of the shots they took (regardless whether its out of focus, wrong color, etc.)??

hope to hear from you guys and thanks again.:)

thanks guys for all your inputs.

i do know that even if you shoot around 2k+++ shots in a wedding only a handful (less than 100??) would be picked by the couple for the album. mel mentioned that he somwhat "pick" the good photos for the selection of the couple. is this a practice or some of the PROs do send ALL of the shots they took (regardless whether its out of focus, wrong color, etc.)??

hope to hear from you guys and thanks again.:)

You definitely would not want to give the clients everything. I, for one, sorts out the out of focus, underexposed, overexposed, blurred, bad framed shots. If I have enough time, I'll even trim out those that looks like "snap shots" as well. :)

In my case, I let the couple choose around 100 to 120 pictures at most for the album. That however does not necessarily mean that it will all go into the album. I still choose my personal favorites and also choose from their favorites and create a story from there. :)

thanks guys for all your inputs.

i do know that even if you shoot around 2k+++ shots in a wedding only a handful (less than 100??) would be picked by the couple for the album. mel mentioned that he somwhat "pick" the good photos for the selection of the couple. is this a practice or some of the PROs do send ALL of the shots they took (regardless whether its out of focus, wrong color, etc.)??

hope to hear from you guys and thanks again.:)


It depends on your contract or what you have agreed upon before. With higher paid gigs, I let them pick. Some don't like picking their pictures. They are too busy with their honeymoon. Some like to be involved. With a layout, they may want to pick their photos that will be in the layout.

Some weddings are low budget. I did one about 3 weeks ago for a friend who was leaving for the USA and he can't shoot it. Really low budget. My friend promised his client an 80 pic 5x7 on the cheapest album (about P950), one framed 8x10 enlargement, and the cd-r of the photographer's pick but no post-processing on them. So, that's what I gave them. They had no say as to which images will go into that album or that 8x10. IF they don't like it, well, they have the cd-r of the other images, I think about 400, let them print it to their hearts desire.

IF I get a contract where they couple gets to choose and select their photos, I stipulate that in the photo agreement, I get paid in full in advance. The reason is simple. I've seen some couple drag on selecting their picks. The books don't close for months. And it's not your fault. So, I ask them to pay in advance if they get to pick their photos. In that way, even if they take 5 years to pick their photos, I am already paid.

This is also the reason why you don't want to give them too much images to choose. Not that you are holding back, but people can get sensory overload with the sheer nos of pictures to select. Just pick the top 250-450 tops. If you give them 1,000 pictures that are very good to pick from, that's a lot to cull. And they are likely going to fold, especially the guys. So, make it easy for them. Give them 200-400 to pick from. Besides, if the album is only made up of 80-150 pics, why give them 800 to pick from? That's a lot of work for them.

Look at it from another angle. How do you assemble your album? Let's say you want a 100 5x7 album. Think about it. How many should you put for the picture of the dress, the shoes, arras, rings, etc? How many for the bride dressing up? The groom dressing up? How many do you put for the processional? How about the vows itself? Then there's the after wedding photo-ops, then the reception. That's about 7 distinct phases. 100/7 and you see that you only have 14 images per segment. But you don't really divide it that way, cause most of the time you have 12-16 ninongs/ninangs so that group picture is going to eat it. So, with the vows. Or that reception. This is why I don't spend too much time on still life photography (rings, arras, flowers). They are nice to shoot (I mean nice shoes, flowers, rings, etc) but once you think of output that really matters, then you start seeing that the wedding is about people, not innanimate objects. Not to mention you have to shoot the cake too, the church, maybe the facade of the hotel, facade of the restaurant or reception, etc. So, how many now can you put in an album with 100 5x7 images? What is left for the other parts of the wedding day? Which images really are important? So, no matter how good that ring shot is, you are not going to have 2 or 3 of that in some cases.

So, how many are keepers? A lot. Maybe 400-600. But you need to really select only the ones that help tell the story of the day. You have to be ruthless because some shots are really good, but they won't make it in the album because your contract is only for 80 or 100 images on the album. The good news is that if you have 200-600 that are really good, then picking the top 100 is really the cream of that pile for most of the images. :)

Now, what do you do with your other gems? Well, you can put in your contract for a fee a photo montage dvd. Sling in there 200 images easy with a couple of songs or something like that, so you can showcase those other shots that never made it in the album. Or offer a 2ndary album - the outtakes album. That seem silly but I do get re-prints from some of my outtakes. Not exactly albums but small gems that they like (some solo portraits, etc).



Your album should answer the basics of journalism - Who, What, Where, When, How. And a little more to make it interesting and more human, instead of a news clip. The good thing about digital is that it gives you the freedom to just shoot, barring that you do have enough CF cards with you of course. But if you have 4gb-8gb, you're basically set even if you go raw all the way, unless you are talking 5d or 1ds with a 13 or 16mp raw. So, just shoot, and shoot. But do not shoot haphazardly. When I shoot, I always want to tell a story. Not just the things that is obvious that happens, but the sidelights (the choir singing, a child playing jackstone, a guest sleeping, etc). Then I worry about the images when I have them when I am about to assemble the album. But a good rule if I did a good job is if I pick about 80-130 images I personally like, I let a 3:30-4 min music play as I display it as a slideshow. If I can figure out what is happening or what happened, and it the images flow and tell a coherent story as they display with the music, then I can say that I've basically covered it. If it makes me cry, then even better! :Scared: It means that the images are the proper ones selected and they are ordered properly so that the images flow from one to the next and each one builds on the next. Put that same selection in the album, and it will work sans the music.



-Mel

thank you guys for sharing your practice and experience.

appreciate it alot!

cheers!:)

Just like to know from all the Pros and serious hobbyist who cover weddings... how many of your shots are real keepers (sharpness, color, framing - are all dead on)?

Im just amazed that in one wedding a photographer could get as much as 1k++ clicks! (think about in terms of rolls or film :D)

hope to hear from you guys. thanks!!


I've scoped out several bridal fairs and am always amazed at how the selling point of many photographers is that they provide over 2000 photos for a wedding. I guess most of the clients think that rapid fire wedding photography is the trend now. I'm sure they would ike to get 100 photos of their bouquet or another 100 photos of their cake, or 100 photos of Lola Auring. You have to choose the best angle right?

I'd actually like to witness this conversation in a bridal fair:

Couple: How many photos do you take?
Photographer: 300
Couple: Why so little? Everyone here in this fair offers over 2000 photos.
Photographer: Would you care to have 2,000 average photos or 300 beautiful ones?
Couple: 300 beautiful ones. Can I have your brochure? We'll think about it when we get home.
Photographer: Sure. Thanks for stopping by my booth.

And when the couple gets home, they will tell themselves that its better to get 2,000 photos just in case..........

In every wedding, my team shoot around 2000, sometimes 3000 shots. I use it as a marketing gimmick to end the discussion on quantity as fast as possible. But normally, only 100 to 150 goes to the final album. It doesn't mean, the rest are all bad but it's more of a sacrifice.

In one scene, sometimes we shoot as much as 100 but only use 1 for the album. Why? because it's better to have options during the production of album. We normally shoot vertical, horizontal, wide, tight, centered, rule of thirds, etc. We do as much as we can do in every scene.

In reality, it boils down to your shooting style. Shooting 100 or 5000 doesn't really matter. There are more things behind here like workflow, style, and most of the time - habit.

In choosing the pics, I always believe that we photographers should choose most of the pics - at least, at the inital stage. Then we let the client add some of their favorites.

Most of the client doesn't realy know the art that we do so, if we let them choose, most likely, they end up choosing so many faces. As a photographer or shall we say artist, it is then our style how we balance the story and faces in an album.

i just talked to a possible client yesterday and the couple are more interested on how many pics i can put in the album so i told them that they can have as many as they like to put into the album but let me have the freedom to choose the pics in at least the first 25 pages because the design of the album might suffer

this has been very very helpful.

anyways, i normally shoot at only 500++ not because i'm that good at perfect shots but because my experience with weddings limit me to be so. but, that shouldn't be a problem since i always strive to get better after every wedding..i guess. :)

letting the client choose is crucial since in the end, it will be them who will appreciate and cherish and brag their albums (galing ng album namin no? talo ka, bleh!). also, they know which scenes, relatives or guests are more important to them (ba't wala dito yung bestfriend ko nung high school?!). photographers should only be there to lead and guide the couple's choices. :)

more power!

thanks for all the input and for sharing your experience.

good to see that there are variations (in terms of practices of the pros) in the industry. that makes it more exciting!:)

albums arent part of my deal so i just guarantee my couples anywhere from 400 to 800 5x7's in a nice box. ive given up to 950 pics though.

shooting film is a much simpler process as i just have contact prints made and choose those that have to be printed. i usually bring 30 rolls.

digital is another story altogether. to reduce my post process time i have to delete on camera.

i need an assistant!

:<)

albums arent part of my deal so i just guarantee my couples anywhere from 400 to 800 5x7's in a nice box. ive given up to 950 pics though.

950 pics? that's a huge lot! are those pics edited already?

digital is another story altogether. to reduce my post process time i have to delete on camera.

i need an assistant!

:<)

pwede naman outsource eh. why not hire or contract photo editors or graphic artists (for album layout). should add more punch to the whole package -- not that it's not punchy enough (to be safe). :)

chill!