Being a photographer, but not a wedding photographer, and having attended weddings in the past here is my take on this. It is the responsibility of the bride & groom to inform their guests that they have hired a professional wedding photographer and to please allow the photographer and their assistant(s) to do their job and get the photos you are paying them to get. Doing so before the ceremony in an announcement might help. At my recent wedding at a wedding chapel, they announced that there were to be no photos taken by guests inside the chapel during the ceremony as we had hired their photographer to shoot that. Still there was one guest who took video/photos throughout the ceremony - have yet to see his photos/videos. If the photographer continues to have problem(s) with guest(s) getting in the way, then they should speak to the parents of the bride and groom or whomever hired them to speak to the offending guest(s). Usually immediately after the ceremony, the hired professional photographer takes photos of the bridal party, parents, etc. - this is NOT a time for friends to try to visit with the bride & groom, etc. or to take phots with their phones or tablets. Go enjoy the reception until the bride and groom arrive. Friends photos taken with their devices are a nice Supplement to the official wedding photos, but they will probably never be as good as the professionals photos. Why do wedding guests think that it is their right to take photos and get in the way? Do they tell the caterer or the florist what to do or prevent them from doing their job? No wonder so many wedding photographers burn out.

Hi, Gang!

OK- It's me again! Please allow me to be a temporary “good will ambassador” from the Wedding Forum, here on the Hog. Like all ambassadors in a foreign land, y'all can expel me if you don't like what I have to say and sens be back to where I came from! #Banished!

Just to give you a bit of perspective on my business, I operate a studio that is mainly in the business of commercial, industrial and fine portrait photography. That's my day job. Some 5 decades ago, my entry level in the business was in the wedding field. I never gave up on that aspect of the business and to this day, we still operate an active wedding photography department. Regardless of market fluctuation in many areas of professional photograph, the demand for high quality wedding photography is still alive and well. This adds a significant percentage to the bottom line and when handled and marketed properly and professionally, wedding photography can be an exciting, challenging and lucrative enterprise.

Folks spend some pretty big dollars on the weddings and most couples will not wish to make do with “selfies”, or entrust cell phone snap-shooters or amateurs to commemorate their wedding day.

Sometimes, here on the forum and in other places where photographers gather, I get the idea that many photographers ares MISOGAMISTS, those are folks who hate the concept of marriage. I can't find a word for those who hate wedding PHOTOGRAPHY- so this as close a word as I can get! I mean- the language! I have friends and cohorts in the commercial business, who are otherwise nice guys and gals, who insist that “wedding photography is the armpit of the industry”. Well they use another anatomical part but that ain't nice to write here! Come on folks- what can be so BAD? So..let's examine the good stuff!

Good wedding shooters get to wear so many “hats”! If you are into portraiture you get to photograph beautiful brides and lots of pretty bridesmaids and handsome grooms and groomsmen- all dressed to the teeth. All the hair and makeup is perfect! Everyone is in a great mood! There is excitement and romance in the air. Love is everywhere. Cute kids, grandparent with great character. You will easily get great expressions- smiles, tears- the whole range of emotions! You get to roll out all of your creative lighting skills!

Then you can take out your “press card” and put on you photojournalist's hat. There are so many opportunities to capture all kinds of emotional action. You can break out all that impressive “glass” and hardware at put it through its paces. You can be a HAPPY photojournalist. Back in the early 1970s I did a stint working as a photographer at a Montreal daily newspaper. As a “rookie” on the team, I drew all of the scud-work and night shifts. The senior guys got the sports page and cool feature stories and I got the fires, police operations, murders, car wrecks and riots. I prefer HAPPY!

If you dig commercial work you get to do all those glam detail shots- shoes, rings, fashions, swanky cars, pretty flowers, cool table settings, gourmet foods and good booze- not to drink- just to photograph. Is architecture your game? Well there are majestic churches- interiors and exteriors, all kinds of halls and ballrooms- dingy old Legion halls and even old barns.

Do you like MONEY? If you play you cards right, come up with a an outstanding product, a good business plan and marketing strategy, there is every reason why you bank account should reflect the good results. Some unsuccessful wedding shooters complain that the are underpaid and can't turn a decent profit. That's because the have most likely under-priced their services, mismanaged their expenses, and perhaps overspent on gear in the early stages of their business. Good business management is a big part of successful operations.

If you like PEOPLE, wedding photography lots of great interpersonal relationships. You get to help folks through a very importation life event. You main job is photography but there are occasions were you will serve as councilor, adviser, consultant, broken flower fixer, torn pants repair person, director, hair spray applier, producer, feeder of hungry brides and first aid person!

In my own case, my contacts with caterers, clergy, florists, hospitality industry folks, musicians, DJs , formal wear suppliers, bridal fashion retailers and limo services has led to all kinds of commercial and portrait work for my studio- more weddings too!. Networking brings in more word of mouth and referral business than all my advertising and Internet activities combined. We are OUT THERE all the time!

Welcome to my world!

Ed

I understand your frustations I started shooting weddings more than 50 years ago and had similar problems. In those days I used a 4x5 speed graphic so no previews of the images. One of the big problems was the the shooter who took a flash shot just before I did so I would get closed eyes. I finally started telling the other shooters they could use the scenes I had arranged after I took my shot, sometimes that worked I remember one pain in the back side that kept crowding me so when he wasn't paying attention I took my chewing gum and stuck it on his lens. I don't know how long it took for him to find it. I was glad to go from weddings to commercial and nature.

The school portrait industry always has had viewfinder masks of some sort. We used to make them as "line positives" on Kodalith film and tape them over the ground glass or viewing lens in the viewfinder of Camerz long roll cameras.

Initially, we had Pro Camera of Parma, Ohio, put tiny versions of these in our Canons. When we got to the 50D, the screen was replaceable, so we had them laser-etched by the folks at viewfindermasks.com. They can do the same with many dSLRs.

It does seem possible for a mirrorless camera company aiming for the pro market to do masking in firmware...

Hi ifurnish,

First, the size you wanted is an odd size for printing for the most part. So, your primary problem is that you requested a size that the print shop you chose just does not print in. But they do, apparently, print on 16 x 24 paper and that is why they offered that size for your print. Bay Photo will give you a print that is 20 x 24 so you might check them out, bayphoto.com. They provide quality prints at a decent price and are very quick to do the work and send it to you. It's all done online. I have attached their list below showing the 20 x 24 print.

As for sizes in general. In the "old days, i.e., film" prints had standard sizes of 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 16 x 20, and many print shops today still operate from that perspective, although it is changing (and I don't think film was even sized exactly to those sizes). Since dSLR cameras shoot in a different format (ratio), 3:2 (an image that is longer than it is tall), than the offered print sizes, any photo you take will need to be cropped in order for it to fit into that "old style" sizing. The cropping will come from either one side or a bit off both sides, which works well in many cases.

If you do not crop the image, you can have it printed at its original digital format sizing of 4 x 6, 6 x 9, 8 x 12, 10 x 15 (which can be fit into a 16 x 20 frame so many people use this size), 12 x 18 (for a larger frame), 14 x 21, 16 x 24, 18 x 27, and the list goes on (hopefully I've got my math right). What these numbers have in common is that you add to the "3" and to the "2" the same number to figure out the sizes. So, if you add 3 + 3 you get 6; and then 2 + 2 you get 4 -- for a 4 x 6 print and so on, each time adding either 2 or 3 to the number, depending on the side, to figure out all of the print sizes. I talk about this on a web site I have for Lightroom/Photography, viathelens.net.

Hope this helps.

First you need to determine the ppi required for your print size.

This will help:

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/printing/resolution/1_which_resolution_print_size_viewing_distance.htm

Once you have that you can do the math to figure out what you need, in pixels on each side, to print to the size you want.

Using the chart a 16x20 requires a minimum of 89 ppi. If you multiply 89 times the dimensions of the final print you end up with 1424x1780. If you want to use a higher resolution for better viewing at closer distances you can use a higher ppi number. For argument's sake you decided you need 180 ppi which is actually a lot - you end up needing 2880x3600.

So, your image must conform to this proportion, 4x5 or a multiple thereof. If your image is a different proportion - like 2x3 (same as 4x6) then you will either print the full width and have extra space on the top and bottom, or print full height, and need to crop the edges, to conform to the 2x3 proportion.

A 20x24 is the same proportion as a 4x5 and a 16x24 is the same as a 2x3.

There are tough times in any job. I have had fingers poked into my chest, people screaming at me, been stabbed and had my equipment stolen (no, I don't make my living in photography). Bottom line...if you don't like the job, change jobs. I'm just curious about one thing. "The majority of these rude guests were Caucasians with little to no knowledge of the customs." Why did you say that? Did you keep count? Are you sure all the people you thought were Caucasian actually were Caucasian?

Speaking as a Caucasian myself (gasp!) who takes pictures at weddings where I'm not the official photographer, you might be creating some of the problems yourself. Most people....even us evil Caucasians......will usually be pretty cooperative if you treat them right. I do have experience in this since I have shot a few weddings as the official paid photographer. Some people liked my photographs from family weddings and wanted me to do their wedding photography. I had no problems at all even with iphones, etc.

One last thing...you handed them back their check? Told them to get pictures from guests? After the wedding was over? I have been told I should go into wedding photography. One of the biggest reasons I don't is I always worry I will miss an important shot. Something very important to the couple that was only there for the one day....and can never be recreated. But you just give them back their money and walk away? It's a good thing you are leaving the business. You don't have the temperament!