Lachance Photography wrote:
Those of you on here that shoot weddings, how do you handle guests who are taking pictures with their phone while you are trying to capture your images?

Having shot weddings for 15 years back in the Dark Ages of film, this is not a new dilemma for the photographer who has already been contracted to shoot the wedding day.

Back then, you would see family and friends bring their little PHD cameras and bang away. You can't possibly have your eyes policing the guests - your job is to photograph the bride and groom, etc.

And then, there were the couples who thought it was a great idea to run down to their favorite camera store or corner Walgreens and buy those cardboard, throwaway cameras, put one on each table and invite the guests to snap away and just leave the cameras as they left.

What was my solution? Forget about all of them. You are likely hired because the bride and groom like your style, your eye and ability to capture a moment. It may well be an insult, it may well be a slap at your professionalism but, you got paid, all the other "shutterbugs" had to get cleaned up, get dressed with their best bib and tucker and live through a long ceremony, dancing in too tight shoes, to have to wait for a small slice of mediocre cake to get a few photos.

My advice: Get 50% up front, edit your photos with alacrity, hand over what you were contracted for and get the rest of your money.

Oh, yes, one more thing: Cash that check quickly!  ;-)

Lachance Photography wrote:
Those of you on here that shoot weddings, how do you handle guests who are taking pictures with their phone while you are trying to capture your images?

I manage the Media Department of one of the largest and most prestigious wedding chapels in Las Vegas. We average about 20 full weddings every single day. On an average Saturday in Spring, Summer, and Autumn, we average about 40-50 weddings per day. Every one with recorded video and livestreaming, at least one photographer shooting the ceremony, and most with a post-ceremony photo shoot ranging from 10-45 minutes. We often joke that we're really not a wedding chapel, we're really a photography company that hosts weddings. All our photos are processed within 24 hours, regardless of the length of the shoot and prints are delivered to the couple upon arrival for their photo viewing appointment the next day.

So, all that said, here's what we concluded a long time ago. Getting upset at guests for having their cell phones out is basically no different than the War on Drugs. It's completely pointless. We've tried everything. We have a giant sign on the entrance to each chapel that tells guests to put away their phones. We've put it in the contract that the couple  is responsible for telling the guests to not shoot the wedding and that it's an unplugged ceremony. We even went so far as to have a professionally recorded message play immediately before the wedding starts reminding guests to put away all cell phones.

NONE OF THAT WORKED!

People still do it anyway. It's a stupid, narcissistic issue we have with our current culture where everyone thinks they are doing some big service to the couple by taking photos or recording vertical video on their iPhones. No matter what you do, it's a losing battle. Furthermore, because we had such a strict policy against this, our competitors were actually using this against us. The chapels who either didn't have photographers on staff or just wanted to fight us on this, used it as a marketing ploy. Many of them, for $100, allow you to take as many photos and videos as  you wanted. As a result, we had to cave.

So here is what we do now: Immediately before starting the ceremony, the minister reminds the guests to put away their phone right there or he/she won't start the ceremony. Now, all the guests have to do is pull them back out of their pockets and purses and start filming again, which is what most of them do anyway, but at least it helps guilt a few people into stopping it. We also demand that the guests not stand up during the ceremony at all or stand in the aisle for safety reasons and that helps a lot too. If someone is standing, the minister or coordinator tells them to sit down. We also put in our contracts that the photographer is not responsible for bad photos as a result of people's cell phones in the air.

But the big thing we do is reinforce the safety rule, that if guests are in the way of the photographer then it's a safety problem and they will be asked to sit down.

Lastly, we have a few other tricks up our sleeves as well. We have a lot of designated areas on our property that we have built just for the purpose of getting really great photos of our couples and guests. We have an outdoor gazebo, reflection pool, floral hoop, waterfall, tons of plants and shrubs that are always in bloom, etc. In this giant area we have little gates to block it off and signs for the guests to tell them that they are not allowed in without the presence of  an employee. What this does it prohibit the guests from getting tons of photos in all of our key locations, making those spots exclusive to the photographer and couple to get the best photos of the day. This works like a charm and keeps all the phone-shooters at bay.

So if you're shooting a wedding in an off-site location somewhere, put in your contract that you require a set amount of time exclusively with the couple and nobody else is allowed during this photo session. The couple can tell their friends and family with phones to go enjoy a cocktail while you're getting photos. No exceptions! Put this in your contract. If you can get photos nobody else can get, you have the exclusive bunch of photos that they will want, not those from Aunt Jenny or Uncle Bob on their Android.

Rhea Monson wrote:
If you were a denist, you wouldn't have cousin, aunts and uncles
In your office with strings and door knobs.

This is GREAT!!!

Lachance Photography wrote:
Those of you on here that shoot weddings, how do you handle guests who are taking pictures with their phone while you are trying to capture your images?

I tell the wedding couple up front that I don't mind people shooting the ceremony from their seats and I don't mind them shooting candids.

But their guests do not get in my way and they most certainly do not shoulder surf during the formal pictures.

Lachance Photography wrote:
Those of you on here that shoot weddings, how do you handle guests who are taking pictures with their phone while you are trying to capture your images?

I'll be blunt - Unless people are just standing in your way and obviously blocking your shots, as a professional wedding photographer, you should easily be able to negotiate such.  It's common, fun, and not a big deal for people to take photos at a wedding, cell phones and otherwise.  If you're good at your craft - it shouldn't be a blip on your radar.

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Las Vegas has made an industry out of wedding services.  I understand that because of cellphones that the businesses that do quick weddings will insist on taking the formal wedding pictures of the couple in another room (setting) where only those to be photographed can be in .. no cellphones or others with cameras allowed.

It's been common for decades, for the professional photographer to shoot the formal wedding photos in a separate room, or in the main sanctuary while the guests are otherwise occupied or on their way to the reception location.  If what you're saying is true for Vegas, it seems that they're merely doing what's long been done.

Teila K Day Photography wrote:
I'll be blunt - Unless people are just standing in your way and obviously blocking your shots, as a professional wedding photographer, you should easily be able to negotiate such.  It's common, fun, and not a big deal for people to take photos at a wedding, cell phones and otherwise.  If you're good at your craft - it shouldn't be a blip on your radar.

Obviously you haven't shot many weddings recently. When I was managing a wedding chapel, we've had photographers tripped by guests standing in the aisles, guests literally walking out of their seats up to the front of the chapel to get iphone photos, people leaning in the aisles, people standing the entire ceremony from 4 rows back, people literally narrating a facebook live broadcast of a ceremony from the 2nd row, I can go on and on and on. It's sometimes not as simple as negotiating these issues, and it happend way more often than you might think. It's actually more the norm now than the exception. And nothing makes a great wedding photo more than a couple being pronounced and 17 of the 25 people in the audience all have cell phones in the air.

Shot By Adam wrote:
And nothing makes a great wedding photo more than a couple being pronounced and 17 of the 25 people in the audience all have cell phones in the air.

Now consider when those 17 are wearing VR headsets strapped to their skulls.

Teila K Day Photography wrote:
It's been common for decades, for the professional photographer to shoot the formal wedding photos in a separate room, or in the main sanctuary while the guests are otherwise occupied or on their way to the reception location.  If what you're saying is true for Vegas, it seems that they're merely doing what's long been done.

Before cellphones, I could shoot through out the church services without arms up in the air recording or shooting the wedding ceremony too.  I'd have a few occasional additional film shooters at the church, but usually they were polite enough to let me do my job. Then after the wedding vows, I'd bring back the most important people, being the wedding party, the parents, etc .. while everyone else is told to head to the reception venue. I'd have the time and place to shoot the larger groups together first then letting them go as I worked my way down to just the husband and wife shots.  It was always the best way to handle the timing as they would then be able to make their grand entrance at the reception. I'd have the couple give me a few minutes to set up, and let the DJ know that the newlyweds were about ready to enter.  Things were pretty good back in those days. After the Bridezilla TV show .. I had brides making ridiculous demands of me that I just would not deal with .. even had one bride try to have some hoodlums break my legs, but I talked them out of it.  I felt terrible for the groom.  He was so beat down .. they call him patient .. I have another name for it that I wont say. 

Anyway, my solution to cellphone shooters of wedding photography is to no longer shoot weddings ..

fotopfw wrote:
I always welcomed the other shooters, never saw that as competition. Mostly their pictures made it to the bin, proof that I wasn't hired for the better equipment.

My problem with it, (as a photographer,) is all those arms, hands, phones and flashes blocking my own captures. It is hard to get the "beautiful shot" if someone is standing in between you and the bride, while they capture their own shot. OR, even more frustrating for me is, when the subjects is aiming at their friends phone and not looking at my lens as I sit there, ready...
Jen B
and also
Photo Jen B

Lachance Photography wrote:
Those of you on here that shoot weddings, how do you handle guests who are taking pictures with their phone while you are trying to capture your images?

Personally, as long as they don’t get in the way I don’t mind. I’ll even have some fun and take a picture of their picture they’re taking on their phone and include that in the edits.

Now if they’re getting in the way, obviously you can be polite and ask them to move.