Whatch this you tube vid...

Do you see what bugs me?
(there are two things! but one is minor)

The veil?

I liked this thread better on DWF

You mean the two photographers? LOL they are too close for my comfort... I would hate to be a guest--it looks like the are part of the bridal party

I'm not as eloquent as Neil VanN...

But it's a good topic.

PS: what's he bouncing his flash off of? 747 -- Clouds?

Ok, after watching it for a while I realized it isn't the same guy, but I swore for a while I saw that guy shooting a wedding my wife and I attended several months ago. Everyone around us knew that we were wedding photographers and we were burning in our chairs. It took everything I had to not get up and beat that freakin' guy! He only had one lens with him, like this moron in the video and almost bumped into the groom once during their vows. WHAT THE HECK??!?!?!?!? I can't believe people like this. This is one of the many reasons that wedding photographers have such bad names. And who was the woman stationed there, his assistant? This type of unprofessional work is so aggravating! It's not your wedding! You shouldn't be what people remember from the ceremony!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice his stealth NINJA camflage suit? "I'm dressed in black so I'm invisible!"

He has the white card up so he is fill flashing a bit. Not sure why one would need to do it.

well, there were more than 2 things that bugged me about it, but I'll go with

GET A LONGER LENS, DUDE!!! YOU'RE NOT THE GROOM! STEP AWAY FROM THE ALTAR!!!
your second needs to do more than sit in the way and watch
with as many shots as he was popping off (there were so many that were the same), him chimping after every shot and then bouncing around, I couldn't help but watch him through the whole thing. GEEZ!!!! Oh, and the flash bracket drove me nuts too... and just happened to block the videographer's shot of the kiss.

But there's outside surrounding by foliage, so would he need to be in green? Next outdoor wedding I have, I'm so gonna borrow my dh's camo he has for airsoft, so I can be invisible.

I thought he was going to come hanging down from the palm behind the b&g!!! The tree keeps moving back there so I was sure of that or he'd pop his fly-fishing flashhead through the bushes!

Why would you clap after someone said their vows?

Thats what I was thinking. Nothing like a spiderwick bracket to completely screw the vidiographer. Hey dude, I know your squatting down, but get the freakin erector- set out of my shot.

OK... my consensus is that the photog and his assistant need to be beaten silly with their own camera bracket.

There is NO reason ever for coming between the parents and the bride and groom. NEVER!

Too many ministers and church ladies are tightening the rules, or just plain nailing photographers' feet to the back of the aisle because of obnoxious, always moving in front of the guest during the ceremony jerks like this guy.

Please, Please! Don't be like him! Help your fellow photogs out and do the right thing.

I'm sorry to report that I've heard several BIG name rock-star photogs promote the "Ask forgiveness later" attitude in seminars before. But they have NEVER advocated this guys behavior. Even the "Big Guns" don't reccomend that much obnoxious behavior.

IMO The ceremony is ALL about the B&G. As a historical observer we are there to record, without interferance. His presence "IN their face" and between the guests and them, interferes with the proceedings, because it blocks the view of the important witnesses (mom, dad, and granny) -- and the bride appears to be glancing at the photog several times!

Please! Get a longer lens. Get a monopod. And stay the BLEEP out from in font of the guests.

Sorry. Rant over!

DAMN. How embarrassing.

As the saying goes: "A wise man learns by the mistakes of others; a fool by his own."

Great stuff for us newbies out there. However, I dare say that even though I've never shot a wedding yet I would NEVER have been so unforgivingly in the way like that.

At least I hope so!

I wish some brides and grooms would see this video to understand the implications of hiring a photographer who just doesn't know any better or doesn't have appropriate equipment to avoid this kind of behavior.

And we wonder why some venues have silly rules. This is the perfect example of why.

We should be like GOOD referee's at a football game - alwayds doing their job, very professional, never in the way and never noticed!

This guys is crazy. I'm surprised the officient didn't stop the ceremony and tell him to sit down so the INVITED GUESTS could see the wedding.

There is so much to rant about here - it just makes me sick that this is what some people think of when they think "wedding photographer."

Makes me sick. I feel sorry for the parents who had to watch his back all day. And this was probably after THEY paid for him to stand in their way.

Love the bounce as well. I may post this on our blog as an example of what not to hire.

In part 1 of this saga he does have a long lens in the beginning looks to be a 70-200 2.8 during the first 5 -10 secs of this part but he then changes the lens to a smaller one and then proceeds to get in the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9f7y8eofb4&NR=1

I wish the sky came low enough over here in the uk to bounce flash off It really bugs me when I see photographers with their flash pointed straight up and that pathetic fill card popped up as far as it can go...fong dong or stofen with the output jacked up as far as it can go...

Dude you can't bounce off the darn clouds!

Face the thing forwards and dial down for heavens sake!

I can't believe it! He's all over the place, the registrar keeps looking at him and he still doesn't take the hint. I kept shouting at the screen, "Back off". The female tog was discreet and kept mostly out of the way but he... well... grrr....

I wonder if she got the shot of the ring bearer giving the rings over, I'd love to see the album.

i was bothered by the amount of chest hair i saw on the photographer (the male one).


i mean, unless he was just trying to get the attention of the bridesmaids with his man-rug. then i guess it works as a photographic technique. cause afterall, you can't hold up a squeaky yellow rubber ducky...as that might distract the guests and interfere with the ceremony.

ROFL... you two are killing me. It is two early to laugh this hard.

Thanks for the clarification, I was wondering.

Another one no one noticed, the preacher scratched himself a few times

Is it any wonder no one noticed.

We're all watching "Mr. Chest Hair on his bracket" trying to blind Airplane pilots overhead with his bounce flash.

Did anyone see "Part 1" of this Vid? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9f7y8eofb4...feature=related

At the very beginning, the guy had what look like to be a 70-200 lens, it was hard to tell but the lens body was white. In any case, he has a telephoto lens, but he was still up in the Groom's grill.

What, you mean every couple doesn't want pictures of their pores? Or maybe they needed a close-up to see if it was time for a waxing.

WTF!!!

I gotta say, I was shooting a wedding this past summer at a church for the first time when the officiant gave me instructions for where I could shoot that blew me away.

I always introduce myself to the officiant before the wedding and ask if they have any rules for me. To date they have all been easy going and reasonable.

When I asked this particular one she started to tell me the best places to shoot the ceremony from and part of her instructions went like this...

"When the couple and the party are lined up near the front there will be a space between the groom and the groomsmen big enough for you to pass back and forth through..."

At this point the look on my face must have said it all because I stopped her right there and told her there was no way I was going to be up there with the bridal party. She was so used to photographers doing this that it was the norm for her. She told me about a photographer the week before that had accidently rested his camera on her shoulder while they exchanged rings!!!!

Haha... when he walked off to the side its like he was peeking in. Its like a little surprise each time. AH - there he is. haha. FREAK.

I have had a priest include in instructions "please don't get between me and the bride and groom" or another say "don't lie down between the bride and groom to shoot up during the ring exchange". I have also been told of a photographer who adjusted the bride's dress during the ceremony.
I would never have dreamed of doing any of this, I don't even think I would be able to have come up with the idea.

Doesn't DJ use a sto-fen when doing fill outside? Is there much difference between this guy and what DJ does? Or is DJ's flash turned off but on the camera?

I wonder if his 70-200 died and he panicked and used his (17-55 maybe?) to get something, and was going under the "ask forgiveness later" policy.

HOWEVER

He was still all up in their grills when he HAD the 70-200 and on top of that the 2nd walking accross IN FRONT of the guests multiple times!!

I bet he doesn't get many referrals....

Well I think you guys are being too hypercritical of this team. I mean there were about 40 seconds that they weren't in the frame!
seriously these images BETTER be great after all this.

I wonder if it would be uncool to blog about this and post the video? What do you guys think?

I couldn't even watch the whole thing because it was making me so mad. haha

I wouldn't. I would be afraid that my clients (or potential clients) could construe it as a character assasination on someone who doesn't have the opportunity to defend themselves - which would just make me look bad in the long run. Just my $0.02 though...

I agree. plus he looked like he just threw some clothes on from the dirty laundry basket. I wear black also, but look way more classy than that. Stuff that shirt in...gezzzummm.

...Dufus Photography, Inc...

Give the guys a break, who knows maybe they are now learning, we were learners at the beginning and we are still learning every day .................................

Stofen is a soft box. Still directional light. Silly waste of battery power to use it outside, but once I get the stofen on, I'm not taking it off, just cause we're outside for a few minutes. I'd probably lose it if I took it off. Easier to leave it on, and know I'm wasting battery power.Bouncing off clouds doesn't do any good, no matter what's on top of the flash head.If you're outside, point your flash at your subject. Up anlge with flash head to use that little pull up card outside just wastes battery power and recycle time.Try this instead for fill light outside: Point flash directly at subject & dial FLASH exposure comp down to -1 stop. If you put a stofen or fongdong on it, still point it directly at camera, but you'll probably need less flash comp.What the "photog" in the video is doing is throwing a ton of light upwards that will have no effect on his subject. Only the teeeny weeeeny little bit that bounces off the pop up card will have any effect. Get the same effect with less drain, and faster recycle times by not bouncing off clouds.That's why I posted the link to the vid.You beginers need to learn and this is great teaching opportunity.And we get to poke fun at an anonymous photog at the same time.

Really troy??? I remember most of my newspaper buddies using either the flash card or a 3x5 index card and rubber band to diffuse the light. straight up flash is pretty ugly.

Note to self: Never post a video of oneself on youtube or wherever Troy can find it.

Agreed - straight on flash is a bad idea/cop out 99.8% of the time.

My guess is the photog. on the video was probably a newbie. I think if he saw this, he'd realize he's in the way more often than he thinks he is. I (almost) feel bad for him.

The key is *dial it down*. it's fill only. Stofen or not, outside equals straight ahead unless you like to blind pigeons and other birds overhead.

The light source this guy is getting off that teeny bounce card isn't much. Barely more than a catch light in the eyes. So he's wasting much more light up, than he's bouncing off the card.

Even the instructions for the fong dong for outside are to aim flash straight ahead.

Almost... what role is flash playing in the video? He's obviously not using it as a main light. That itty bitty bounce card isn't going to throw much light forward at all.

Bounce flash is used to soften the light. Think of billiards. light goes in straight line, and gets diffused by the distance. It reflects off a far away surface and heads toward your subject.

When you are outside like this guy, with no other surfaces to bounce light off of, where are you going to bounce the light from?

The roll of a bounce card is primarily to throw just a tad bit of light strait forward and create a catch light in the subjects eyes. Larger bounce devices, with folds and angles do actually capture the light and bounce it forward. But this guy ain't using one of those. He's got what looks like the pull up card inside the flash body... maybe 2 inches by 3 inches???

To actually use a card as a bounce surface to fill with, the card has to be huge! or large and folded in to create more of a softbox.

That was hard to watch!

oh man! I've been to a wedding like that and I wanted to jump out of my seat!!! I agree with J...that WAS hard to watch!

I agree with what everyone said, but when someone's paying you/me thousands upon thousands of dollars to get great shots, it's not always the best to chill in the back in one spot with a telephoto. I generally stay in one or two spots, and am as considerate as possible, but if I have to choose between missing a shot or blocking Uncle Timmy's view for 5 seconds, I know which I'm doing (and I know which my clients ask me to do).

I'm not saying this guy was right, obviously he was pretty blatant about being right in their face, but ...

Yeah, that was hard to watch! I remember being at a friends wedding they must have hired a photog/videographer combo and there was seriously 5 people up front, 3 photogs and 2 videographers. i was pretty freaked out! it was a small church too!

THAT

was rediculous.

I tried to post a comment on 1 of 2 of the YouTube but it won't show up, hmm.

I don't know about posting it on your blog (I say no), but there is NO DEFENDING that guy could do to justify being so much in the way (especially in front of the parents).


Common sense says that no matter who you are, you don't stand in between the ceremony and guests as much as he did. Sure, you need to pop up and get a shot or two but he barely ever got out of the way. Even a newbie should know that. If not, then they shouldn't be shooting weddings.


+1 for 5 seconds, but he was in eye-shot 95% of the ceremony. I've shot with you and can confirm you are considerate and ninja-like... that guy is far from it.

LMAO thats a cool photographer. Hambuger meat all out. I aint know we had to use flash outside with that bounce card. mann this dude was in everyones way the camera and the family.

He could not sit still. And there is no reason to be at the alter. WOW.The 2nd shooter... did she need to be up there too?And you guys are talking about the flash bounce... I'm thinking, "Why was he using a flash at all?"Interesting.That is AWFUL!Yeah, the wedding I did last weekend, I had to leave my seat to get a shot of the band playing at the ceremony, and I felt badly about that, but I took my two shots, and got out of the way. But I went to the back of the church and around... not in FRONT.This is just so sad, to me!

5 seconds is totally fine. But this guy was there for WAY too long.