Fauxtogs who should end up on the main page…

[seth]

I love how the shot of that couple is so far away that you have to squint to see them.  I almost missed them until I saw the album title.

[Bill]

Crazy Wedding Photographers

Not sure why the video is not posting, but there is the link

Some of you may have already seen this video making it way around the interwebs. Not sure if it is a fake, scripted or what ever, but it is what NOT to do when shooting a wedding. If you do these , then you are most likely a FAUXTOGRAPHER!!!.

I did not make this video, so please direct your comments about the production towards the YouTube page.

What is going wrong here you may ask.
A lot, but here are a few…

Well if it isn’t obvious, you have 2 fauxtographers and a videographer shooting the same wedding.
– The photographers are shooting every which way to “try” to get that shot, but at the expense of the videographer. The faux’s obviously do not care that they are getting in the way of the videographer in more than 10 occasions.

– The faux’s are appear not to have a game plan down of what shots to catch and who will be in charge to get them.

– I can only imagine, their settings are way off, popping those flashes off left and right then constantly chimping. Some will argue that the flash is for fill, you may be right, but their actions and reactions say that is not the case.
Gary Fong would be proud to see his products being used in such a way to piss everyone off. I don’t know what the light settings were for the church, but going off the video, it appears to be somewhat okay. There is this thing called ISO, use it. You can shoot perfectly fine photos at ISO 1600, Hell I have shot some at 2500 and higher.

– Interfering with the wedding party to get that shot. At 1:34, the male faux gets almost on top of the wedding party shooting over their head, WTF dude.

– Improper equipment. Now it is somewhat hard to see, but do you see a long lens anywhere? I surely did not. What I see are 2 faux’s with short mid-focal length lenses, like a 24-70 or a 24-105. Those these are nice lenses, one of them should of had a 70-200 or something similar so not to intrude with the couple.

– No respect at all! There is more but damn people. These people hired you (hopefully for not much), and your going to walk around snapping photos like you own the place. Have some respect for what is happening around you. Have some respect for the wedding couple, the guests, the video guy/girl, and everyone else.

Like I say, there are way more mistakes being made in this video, what is your take?
And if you see nothing wrong here, then you my friend are a FAUX, hands down!!!

[fstopper89]

Sorry but I really have to put this fauxtographer on blast now. The message she sent me still ticks me off because after looking through her entire page I am seeing how absolutely horrible she is with the same things she accused me of! Pretty much all of that too I looked through my stuff over and over to try to find it and couldn’t find any examples. Backstory, she posted in a group forum asking why the couple was unhappy with their photos and linked the gallery, which I linked here earlier. She even asked “should I just refund them their deposit and let them find a new photographer?” I was very nice in my response and said that what I was noticing were a lot of exposure issues with bright sun spots hitting their skin, and that a lot of the photos would have benefited from a shallower dof to help bring attention to the couple. I said honestly I’d offer a re-shoot so that they are happy. She responded “Wow that is horrible advice…” (I couldn’t see the rest, as she deleted the entire thread.) I messaged her asking what she had said, and that I was very respectful in my critique and that if she asked for advice or constructive criticism she needs to take it and grow. She freaked out at me and said this:

“I do mind telling what the rest of the message said because I am pretty sure you will take that the wrong way as well. I never asked if I should refund them, why make up stuff? I guess you are the type that really likes drama. I don’t think you should really be offering advice when your photos are so amateur. I looked at your page and I was surprised you posted a photo of a girl with her eyes closed and another more recent one with a woman grabbing her crotch. I can tell you didn’t go to school for photography you don’t consider the background at all, do you know what a merger is? Your focus is also off in a lot of your photos. I guess my engagement photos could be better if I added some cheap props (XO) and did an “artistic tilt” lol. I love how amateurs think they are so amazing.”

Well I will just point out that I did go to a real school (2 of them, not online) for photography and am very aware of what’s in my backgrounds. I always take care to angle myself or my shots to not get trees growing out of heads, mergers, etc. So I’m not sure exactly where she’s getting that. The only possible idea I have on the eyes closed is one senior shoot where a girl is squinty in most of the photos because she has a rare eye disorder where her pupils don’t dilate/constrict so even small amounts of light are difficult. During the session we found shaded areas and I had her mom hold up a thick blanket in the direction she was looking. Any other images I posted of a girl with her eyes closed were a bride and a bride-to-be kissing with eyes closed. The woman grabbing her crotch baffled me because that doesn’t exist. I do have some engagement photos of the couples holding a wooden X and O and I think it’s actually really cute, but maybe some people find it cheesy. I don’t have out of focus images either except maybe 3-4 that were slightly off but I felt the image was beautiful otherwise so I “saved” them- but viewed on FB or even my website you can’t really even tell anyway. As far as a tilt I used to use it more often but any of my recent work only has it used in some photos where I thought it to add something.

In my viewing of her work, 90% of her stuff has terrible exposure problems, and she has a special knack for getting mottled, spotty sun on peoples’ skin. She also is terrible at watching her backgrounds. Most of her shots have trees growing out of heads, or other objects that are way too in focus and distract the viewer. She isn’t good at separating her subject from her backgrounds. A lot of images she used a tilt as well, while others the horizon was slightly off which makes me believe she didn’t intend to do it. She uses harsh flash a lot as well and it creates shadows. She has lots of shots with cheap chalkboards, sings, and frames that people are holding up. These are common props of course and I have a real vintage chalkboard, vintage chairs, and some barn board frames. Not cheap like her dollar store junk. I can pick out a small handful of photos that I really did like (some from a wedding with a gorgeous couple), but the rest were just horrible!

Sorry I just needed to vent more about this. I’m not professing to be a perfect photographer or anything but I know I am so much better than her and I think she was just seriously pissed that I was right in my critique and she was being a jealous failure. Everything I gave her for advice was completely sound and educated.

Here’s her page. https://www.facebook.com/lizphoto530

End of rant.

[Mend]

that video…geez.

the way the lady photographer walked down the aisle bothered me. Just had a feel of “yeah i’m only here for a job, i don’t care about the beauty of the wedding”. though would of been hilarious if she dropped the camera from how she was holding it while walking. my favorite part was at 3:05

[Bill]

So with BEG ranting, [You Go Girl!] Hey, it is better to rant, you’ll feel better in the long run.

So in this example, the couple wanted the overpass in the BG right? Overpasses always add the element of elegance in your wedding/engagement photos.

In this example, she knew the person standing in the BG was right between the couple? I’m sure she added that for dramatic effect.

[youaintallthat]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=506749566076245&set=pb.155808067837065.-2207520000.1386145713.&type=3&theater

One of many. Many, many.

[seth]

re: that video Bill posted.  I saw that yesterday as well and my mouth just dropped open.  Even if they have pro equipment and are getting good shots which I doubt they are, HOW DISRESPECTFUL.  Not just of the videographer but of the couple, their officant, and their guests, too!  And, okay – if you have to get in the way for one quick shot, do it, but that guy is just all over the freaking place.  Up and down, up and down, up and down.  He’s not even looking what he’s shooting so he’s trying to get it right, checking the camera and clearly got it wrong so try again.  Over and over again.  Other things to complain about — what the heck is he wearing?  A t-shirt??  And she, yes, she clearly has an air of “I’m the professional and I’m the greatest so you can suck it.”  You can just see it in her walk.

Those two have NO CLUE how to even work with each other, let alone someone else (videopgrapher for starters).  An embarrassment to wedding photographers everywhere!  They are actually lucky the officiant didn’t call them out like in that other video that was circulating not too long ago.  If I was the officiant, I definitely would have stopped the ceremony to say something.  The other video – would have to find it – the photographers were also out of line but not nearly like these people, and he told them to get out of the way or something and they argued with him before doing it.

To BEG – try not to let her bother you.  She’s clearly defensive and compensating because she knows you’re right.  If she truly thought you were wrong, she would not have deleted the thread.  She deleted it because she was embarrassed.  However, let it go.  I’d defend myself on the part about the crotch and state that you do not shoot porn, ask her which image, then leave it at that.  She’s never going to openly agree with you.  Maybe offer your services to the couple who had their pictures ruined by that crazy woman!

[seth]

re: Bill’s other post – and those two images should be EASILY fixed in pp.  If not, there are lots of companies that can do it affordably.  I think the colors are also drab though.

[Intuition]

/facepalm

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/935122_682990365045553_805118485_n.jpg

about how important it was to pay a professional, next to a post for 10 dollar sessions.

[seth]

sheesh.

 

[emf]

So in this example, the couple wanted the overpass in the BG right? Overpasses always add the element of elegance in your wedding/engagement photos.

 

I didn’t notice the overpass until this post, I couldn’t get past the log in between their heads. It’s especially distracting as it looks a bit like a crocodile about to eat the guy lol – so romantic! Bit rich telling you to watch your backgrounds isn’t it?!

[nesgran]

Nothing screams protog like a 6D (ok, it is actually a good camera but wouldn’t be my first choice), a 24-105 (well, there’s certainly worse lenses out there but it ain’t amazing), a neewer flash (erm, right) and a UV filter on a lens used in a studio. She’s got quite a few nice photos but she certainly isn’t consistent, it is all over the place.

[seth]

hahahaha

Someone once gave me a lot of crap for not using a UV filter.  Went on and on about what if you break your camera.  Um, that’s what insurance is for, thanks.

[fstopper89]

Exactly! I’m glad you guys see what I’m seeing. Lots of distractions in her stuff.

But you’re right, I shouldn’t let it bother me that much. When people blatantly make up stuff and act all crazy it grinds my gears though.

I used a 6D when I 2nd shot one of the weddings recently (provided by the head photographer, he has 11 camera bodies, lol.) My 5DII was on the fritz and it was before I got my 5DIII and he already had all his 5DIIIs spoken for that weekend so he said “Here, use this 6D. I hate this camera and want to sell all my 6Ds. Wanna buy it? lol” I do pride myself in being able to use a totally new camera and figure it out right away, as that was the third time having a new camera thrown at me within days/hours/minutes before a wedding, but man missing the AF points and my favorite joystick was a huge burden. The images were sharp though and it does handle low light quite well. But I’ll stick with my 5DIII.

I have not used the 24-105 lens… but that seems like an awfully long range to be consistently really good and sharp. Can anyone speak on the quality?

[nesgran]

I have a 24-105 f4. It is pretty sharp wide open, pretty much on par with the old canon 24-70 f2.8 wide open but obviously a stop slower. If you compare to either the tamron or the new canon 24-70 it is a lot softer, especially past 70mm. So much softer in fact that most people reckon you are better off using either of the 24-70s and cropping. It seems that on my copy (and on lots of others) it needs stopping down more than one stop over 70mm to maintain sharpness. The bokeh is pretty jittery as well. If you shoot in a studio at f11 it is a pretty good lens and it is a good standard zoom for travelling as it does have more range but more importantly image stabiliser. I think it is a good match with the 6D for what it is designed for, enthusiasts. The 6D takes better pictures than the 5DII when the ISO gets cranked up a bit though, in fact it is even better at really high iso than the 5DIII. But I’m not sure if any of that helps if you can’t nail focus though

[Author]

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