Slide on the Fly!

By Mark Cafiero

You Can Still Eat

In my opinion, wedding photographers have this really bad habit they do at just about every wedding, right around the time that the wedding guests are eating their buttery, creamy, saucy entrées--they do nothing! Or they sit and eat and try once again to befriend the videographer. We all need to eat, so that's understandable, but there's a wonderful opportunity waiting to be had during dinner time.

My First Slide Show

Just over a year ago, I was shooting a really great destination wedding in Playa del Carmen, and I was totally pumped about the images I had been getting all day long. I had a brand new video iPod, and I was dying to see it increase my value to my clients and their wedding guests. Everyone was eating, and I was doing my usual downloading of all of my CF cards to my laptop. I started scanning over my images and tagging my favorites, still not totally sure how I was going to show my new worth. No one was expecting a slideshow though, so I figured I had nothing to lose. I copied the images to another folder and synced it to my iPod. Wow, that was easy! People were still eating! I hurried over to the concierge and asked if there was a TV or a flat-screen monitor, anything! Within minutes, I had a huge television out in the reception area. I plugged in my iPod and started the slideshow. It worked. The only problem was that it fired up just as the DJ announced the first dance, so I had a crowd of people oohing and ahhing over my work while the couple danced. It wasn't a big deal; the couple soon joined the crowd, and I felt a little funny because most of the guests were hovered around that screen.

The results were remarkable. People wanted to stop me, to shake my hand, offer a compliment. Married guests told me they wished they would have known about me when they got married. Engaged couples asked me for my card. I was the happiest photographer alive.

To Slide or Hide

I know that some photographers are unsure about this slide show thing, and some are actually against the idea of utilizing this virtually free marketing tool. The following are some of the non-slide reasons I've heard, and my response of why it's still okay to slide:

"My feet hurt. Dinner time is the only time I get to rest my feet!"
--Great news! You can make a slideshow while sitting in a chair!

"I'm hungry. It's sometimes the only opportunity I have to eat. I can't slide because I have to hide… and eat."
--I'll admit, I'll have food right there next to me, but I am so excited about my slideshow, I often forget to eat. But that's just me. I'm 100% confident that with the right amount of determination, you can still enjoy that creamy, buttery wedding food while making your show.

"What if someone gets up to make a toast or something? I don't want to miss a single moment while messing around with some silly slide show!"
--Okay, the excuses are starting to sound a little more legit, but still not good enough. My solution is to hire excellent second shooters/assistants. My assistants can shoot, and they are even smart enough to operate a computer, so I can go either way. If something photo-worthy happens, I'll already have a game plan with my assistant. I feel very comfortable with my assistants' shooting and am able to hand over the responsibilities for 10 minutes without a single flinch.

"I shoot RAW. It's impossible for me to make a slideshow because of the amount of time it takes for RAW images to process."
--Good point. As much as I'd like to influence everyone to take a risk and just TRY shooting JPEG for a wedding, I won't even go there. Most pro DSLRs have a second slot for another card. Utilizing that slot and shooting RAW/Medium JPEG combo will do the trick.

"I'm not very good with computers, plus it takes like, twenty minutes for a single memory card to download to my laptop."
--Well, if you aren't good with computers, I must say you ought to make that a priority this year. Computers are almost as important as the cameras you use in your photography business, and by upgrading your memory cards and utilizing high-speed USB ports in your laptop, speed should no longer become an issue. I shoot with 1- and 2-gig cards, and my 2GB cards take less than eight minutes to download. Lexar has a new CF card reader with a four-port mini-hub so you can download four CF cards at once.

So, What's in it for me?

They say there are no silly questions, but I think this makes the exception. Allow me to bullet the list:

• Attention-getting exposure to all soon-to-be married guests. You know they are at every wedding.
• Attention-getting exposure to venue reps.
• Reassurance to your wedding couple that you have taken some killer shots at their wedding. Instead of worrying if you got some good shots, they are pumped to see your finished package when they return from their honeymoon.
• A friendly reminder to wedding coordinators that you are the best in the business and that it would behoove them to recommend you to all of their clients.
• A great feeling, knowing that you have astounded a room full of people with your talented works. It also puts the Uncle Bob back into his humble place.

Still Not Convinced?

Let's talk more about the advantages of having some of your best shots of the day on display throughout the course of the reception. Aside from the fact that it's free, and that people notice it, and that it's fast, and that it's easy, and that it results in added referrals, and even though we already know that you'll be at the reception, and that vendors notice your work (and could potentially give you a great referral), there's more! Something that's equally valuable to me is the fact that these slide shows keep my job fun. It's such a great feeling to see a huge crowd of people staring at my show. I love it when people shake my hand and tell me how much they loved seeing the wedding images. I leave the reception grinning ear to ear, and I don't even notice how badly my feet hurt.

Slide for FREE!

Are you warming up to this idea yet? Yes, you are, and I know what you're thinking: "Well, okay, but this is an extra service and I'm gonna have to charge for it!" To this, I respond, "Why would you ever give your customers an option to say no to your show!?" The slide show is benefiting me from so many different angles that I would never charge for it. If they say "no thanks," then I am suddenly precluded from reaching so many direct and indirect potential wedding-day clients. Also, if I am at a really great venue where I'd like to work in the future, the slide show almost always attracts the attention of the catering manager or whatever representative may be hanging around. This is the kind of exposure many of us would pay good money for. One might say that by offering this as a free service, I'm devaluing the industry. One might say that Apple is devaluing the industry by having exceptionally qualified computer experts manning a free Genius Bar. In my opinion, it's genius in itself. Those geeks at GeekSquad charge for their services, and they allow their employers to degrade them by calling them geeks. In this industry, I'd much rather be a genius than a geek, and so I slide for free.

How to Slide at Your Next Wedding

My guess is that you already have all the tools: a camera and a laptop, and that's really all you need. I've actually made slide shows in a pinch back when I was a PC person by downloading my images to the machine, picking my favorites and importing them to another folder. Then, in Windows, I had the option to "View as slideshow." Done.

On a Mac, it's just as simple. I can download, pick my favorites, import to a new folder, drop that folder into iPhoto, and play the slideshow. Done. Other editing software programs, such as iView Media Pro and Breeze Browser, have slideshow features that work well too.

If you don't have access to a widescreen display at your venue, you can still use your laptop. Just make sure it's not an old, beat-up laptop--think of it as a frame for your client's images. Find a place to put your laptop that's out of the way of anything important. Don't put it directly in front of the wedding cake. Don't put it on the dance floor. I usually ask the coordinator if there's a place he or she recommends I put the laptop. Coordinators can be very helpful if you're nice to them. A great place is by the coffee bar, but out of spilling reach. For really nice weddings, I'll make arrangements in advance to have a large flat-screen monitor or plasma TV available. I set up my show the same way, and just plug my laptop to the display.

I will always choose my laptop over a projector. You can't get the same contrast, saturation and brightness from a projector without extensive setup.

The introduction of the video iPod has made slideshows incredibly easy, especially if you can get hooked up with a big ol' monitor. Just pick your photos, import them to your iPod, plug the iPod in to the display and start sliding. Of course, there are the little things you need to do, like making sure the display is set to the right video input and making sure your iPod is set to play on an external display, but those are little things that take just a little practice at home to master. You'll find that, for the most part, it's universal-every display seems to have an AV Input button, etc.

Slide Fancy

Once I've picked my favorites (60-80 will do), I'll pick a handful of those, about 20 or so, and hit them all up with different actions. I love Kubota's grainy film BW actions, and the Boutwells' SuperFunHappy action. I won't spend a lot of time thinking about what action to give the images-they are just copies of the originals, so I'll just hit them with whatever action my gut points to first. If you get too carried away with photos and pick more than 80, you will probably run out of time to spark some of them with actions. The shots that have been actioned are the ones that grab extra attention and really make your audience ooh and aah.

Any Reason Not to Slide?

Slideshows are a great idea for almost every photographer. Here are the only reasons I can think of why anyone would not want to offer this great service:

• Cheap, old, dirty laptop--Would you put your clients' prints in a frame that you found in an alley dumpster? Same goes for the slide show. Make sure your laptop is clean and nice, with a big screen. I have a 17-inch MacBook Pro, and it looks much better than the old Dell I had a couple years ago. If you don't have a nice laptop, the iPod connected to the venue's monitor is a great alternative.
• Bad photography--this is a tough call, and I'm not one to judge, but if your photography is just so-so, then maybe think twice. You be the judge on that. The slide show will make an honest man/woman out of you!
• If your clients don't want a show. It's never happened to me, but I always ask. Remember to respect your clients above all else.

Mark Cafiero is a wedding photographer based out of Denver, Colorado, and also serving Arizona. His passion for wedding photojournalism began at age 16, when he photographed his first wedding. He continued shooting weddings every year since, while earning a Bachelor of Science in business administration with special emphasis in marketing. Mark's website is www.cafierophoto.com, and its alter ego, his blog, can be found at www.sixpeeps.com.