I actually started comparing still photographers to videographers years ago. I saw the reorders falling to virtually zip. Pre-digital, the photographer low-balled the price of wedding coverage knowing that he/she would make it up in orders on the back end. The videographer would rarely get more than one or two videotapes ordered by parents or grandparents and the ones I knew sold the additional tapes for $50 or $75 each. The videographer made his money upfront; and that is what I saw the the still photographers had to do. However, there was a great demand for the high quality images on a DVD by the bridal couple and photographers all over caved in to the demand. In the film days, most photographers kept their negatives or, if they did sell them, it was at a living wage profit.

It is still possible to make a living at photography, but, you must stop caving in to the demands of the client, stand your ground, and start making a living.

A photographer I know would receive a request for artwork. He would get a price from a retoucher and mark it up SUBSTANTIALLY. I asked him if he couldn't give his clients a better price and his response was "I have the image they want. Where else can they go?"

As the photographers, we own the images, we own the rights, copyrights. Sell at a price that will make you a living wage.

I was assistant photographer at a wedding where the B&G had hired another/additional photographer. This guy was producing schtick...t-shirts, table cards, coffee mug and whatever else he could attach a photo to. He also played a powerpoint presentation on a laptop at the B&G's table. After the wedding, he put his photos online and was selling them for $1. His excuse, he wasn't really making money selling them so it was OK. No, it isn't OK. The professional photographer is there to cover the event, to make a living. You know, pay the mortgage/rent, put food on the table and other similar non-essential luxuries (sarcasm here). If Mr. Schtick's pictures sell for $1 (and he isn't making a living at it) and mine sell for $5 or more (I am trying to make a living), Mr. Schtick is STEALING my living.

Some people questioned the type of equipment used and that if it is amateurish. "Professional" simply means that the photographer is being paid. Nothing more. Nothing less. The tool doesn't make someone professional. I have seen amateurs with more money than they know how to spend with cameras that cost 2 to 10 times more than mine. Their pictures were no better than if they had used disposable cameras. I saw a 30" x 24" portrait taken by a professional using a 110 camera that was absolutely beautiful. (For the unenlightened, a 110 camera is obsolete and had a negative about the size of your fingernail - translation: very grainy if printed to a 4" x 6" size. So, anyone taking photos that take potential buyers away from me when I was contracted to do the coverage is stealing my liveleyhood.

How long would I last if I were to shag people going into a garage or dealer for service on their car and sell them the "same" service for $1. I say I should be allowed to do that because I am not really making money at it. The legit garage would have the cops on me faster than greased lightning, and rightly/legally so.

If you are selling prints, you can take the breakout groups in hopes of selling more prints. If you are giving them the negatives (digital files), you should charge for each group because it takes more time and you are using your espertise. A studio I worked at 25 years ago would charge a base fee for three people and add $5 for each additional person for each grouping. Then we would sell the protraits, too.
An extended family of grandparents, their three children and their families would generate 4 or 5 separate sitting fees. The entire group, the three families separately, the grandparents and grandchildren...
The idea is that you should get paid for what you do. Taking more groups takes more time and effort. Get paid for it; especially if you are not selling any prints.

"Midnight Over the Red Sea" and "Sunset Over the Black Sea" break a basic photography rule. The rule of thirds. The horizon line should be at a 1/3 level, never in the middle. The horizon line of "Rhein II" is in the middle. If everyone follows the rules (rule of thirds), photos that don't follow the rules are more unique and therefore more desireable. Your photos also have no details while every other photo has some sort of detail. Another unique feature. Also, yours is dual purpose depending on which way it is flipped. More value. For my money, I would say that yours is the most valuable and should set a new price record that should stand for a long time to come. But then, I have no money and will have to work for forty or fifty years after I die to pay what I owe.

Has anyone else done a greenscreen for St. Patty's Day.

I have. Hoo boy!

Nobody answered the depth of field question.
I think it depends on the season. If it is a very wet spring, you could sink to your knees.

But I saw on CSI where they had a digital picture of a license plate that consisted of 6 pixels and they pulled out a 7 digit number.
Welcome out of television and into the real world. Professional photographers have always talked about PPF (pixels per face). Yes, a computer can take that 1 mp and upsize it to 4 mp (or more), but it is taking 1 black pixel and turning it into 4 black pixels, 1 red pixel into 4 red pixels. That's what you get in the real world. television's CSI would probably identify 32 different chemicals from looking at that one pixel.

I agree about reading the manual. It is almost as difficult as reading some of these responses. The written word is for communicating an idea. To make it easier for the reader to understand, use the correct spelling or even the correct word. Learn the difference between seam and seem, lose and loose, read, read and red. No, I did not err, read-present tense, doing it now; read-past tense, did it yesterday; red-a color but sounds like read past tense. (Read, read and red are to make a side point, American English is confusing enough when used properly, don't make is worse by misuse.)
I would not consider a job applicant who did not have BASIC writing SKILLS. If you don't accept reading a Japanese manual because it is difficult, why should I accept anything less from an American job applicant.