My love/hate relationship with digital

[Jonathan Wienke]

a thousand at a wedding

Yikes!

How do you show proofs?

Having shot about 500 weddings myself - I can't imagine this pace. I would flat out kill me.

The most I ever shot (120/220 roll film) was maybe 250, usually more like 150. We presented them all as 4x5 proofs.

It's really not that horrible. I shoot either JPEG (for candids and the reception and stuff like that) and RAW+JPEG for the formal, posed stuff. I copy all the JPEGs into a folder, and delete the obvious clunkers (flash didn't fire, out of focus, etc.). Then I run an action that converts them to B&W, sizes them to 800 pixels max, and puts them in a second folder. I then run Photoshop's Web Photo Gallery tool and build a mini web site with pages of thumbnails that can be clicked to view a watermarked 800 pixel image. The site is built in a third folder. Then I burn the web site folder to a CD with a little script thing that opens the main page of the web site when the CD is inserted. Under each large image there is a series of buttons that can be clicked to order prints. If the client is online, they can browse the CD, select the images they want, place the order, and pay for it. I get the order emailed to me and the payment goes straight into my Paypal account. The last wedding I did, running the actions in Photoshop took about 2 hours for about 900 images, and burning the CD took about 10. Most of that time was the computer running the batch stuff that did not require my presence at the keyboard. I have some similar proof galleries on My Image Gallery Web Page.

[Edward]

Why do you go to black and white?  It would seem to the uninitiated that they would be more interested in buying prints if they saw color.

[Hank]

I don't see your point.  We shoot 4x5's for landscapes, portraits, product shots and  even formal wedding shots.  I would never consider carrying the 4x5 for action shots in weddings or anywhere else, however.  It's a specific paint brush for a specific canvas, a suitable kettle for preparing just the right dish.  There are serious LF photographers who wouldn't stoop to owning anything smaller than an 8x10, but it doesn't mean your 4x5 is any less capable a camera.

Hank