Exercises: Photography and Videography
Part C's first exercise — scrolling a full gallery to the middle — is ten minutes and it will change how you evaluate every photographer for the rest of your career.
Difficulty guide: ⭐ Foundational (5–10 min) · ⭐⭐ Intermediate (10–20 min) · ⭐⭐⭐ Challenging (20–40 min) · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced (40+ min)
Part A: Conceptual Understanding ⭐
A.1. State the chapter's threshold concept and name the four demands with what each takes from.
A.2. Why is "documentary" a style rather than a schedule?
A.3. What should you ask for instead of a portfolio, and what three things do you check in it?
A.4. Decompose a $3,200 photography fee into hours. Which block is largest and why is it invisible?
A.5. Why is a second shooter more valuable than two extra hours?
A.6. Name the four checks that separate "inexpensive" from "uninsured."
A.7. Why buy coverage hours at the end of the day rather than the start?
A.8. State the family-photo arithmetic and the four things that fix it.
A.9. Give the shooting order rule and the two hard rules within it.
A.10. What does a first look actually buy, and what does it cost?
A.11. Name the five collisions and the month-six line for each.
A.12. Which of §23.7's seven contract questions is least asked and most important?
Part B: Applied Analysis ⭐⭐
B.1. Compute four family matrices. For each, count combinations, compute realistic time, and cap it:
- (a) Two intact families, four grandparents, a wedding party of six
- (b) One divorced-and-remarried set, one widowed parent, three step-siblings
- (c) A blended family with four parents and six step-siblings
- (d) A couple with 40 relatives who have all travelled internationally
For each, write the shooting order.
B.2. Build a photo timeline. For a wedding you specify — ceremony time, sunset, dinner, first dance, curfew. Include the three starred blocks and every prohibition, and state which decisions are month-six.
B.3. Cost a package comparison. Three real photographers in your market at three price points. Compare on hours, second shooter, deliverables, turnaround, rights, insurance, and the answer to question 6 — not on price.
B.4. Solve five collisions. For a wedding with a 6:00 ceremony, an 8:15 sunset, dinner at 7:30, and a first dance at 9:45: write the month-six line for each of the five collisions.
B.5. Handle a difficult matrix. Divorced parents, both remarried, one estrangement between siblings, and a deceased parent. Write the twelve combinations, the shooting order, and the ninety-second briefing to the wrangler.
B.6. Argue a first look. Write both halves for a couple who have not decided, and produce the two timelines side by side so they can see the difference in cocktail-hour minutes.
B.7. Audit a getting-ready room. Take a photograph of any hotel room or bedroom and list every problem for photography. Then say what twenty minutes of work would fix.
B.8. Transfer a restriction. Chapter 21 obtained photography restrictions from an officiant in writing. Write the contract clause and the shot-list annotation that carry them.
Part C: Real-World Application ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐
C.1. Scroll to the middle. ⭐⭐ Find three full wedding galleries online. Scroll to image 400 in each. Report what the middling image looks like, whether anyone other than the couple appears, and how the light holds across the day.
C.2. Ask the question. ⭐⭐⭐ Ask a photographer: "walk me through a wedding where the timeline went wrong — what did you do?" Write 600 words, and say whether they were a collaborator or a passenger.
C.3. Time a family matrix. ⭐⭐⭐ At any event, or with a group of volunteers, time twelve combinations with and without a written list and a wrangler. Report the difference.
C.4. Find golden hour. ⭐⭐ For a real date and location, establish sunset and golden hour, then check what a typical timeline would have happening at that moment. Report the collision.
C.5. Interview a videographer. ⭐⭐⭐ Ask about audio, positions, turnaround, and what photographers do that makes their job harder. Write 600 words.
C.6. Read a contract. ⭐⭐⭐ Obtain a real photography contract and answer §23.7's seven questions from it. Report which ones it does not answer.
Part D: Synthesis and Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐
D.1. Cross-chapter integration. Chapter 10's sun, Chapter 14's dinner block, Chapter 18's light, Chapter 21's restrictions, and Chapter 22's dance floor all constrain one photographer. Build the single page that carries every constraint into one brief.
D.2. Critique the timeline-constraint framing. §23.1 treats photography as something that takes from everything else. Argue that this is a planner's framing — that the photographs are the day's only durable output, that everything else is consumed within twelve hours, and that a planner protecting cocktail hour is protecting the ephemeral thing. Then respond.
D.3. The first look. §23.4a insists on presenting both halves neutrally. Argue that planners should recommend it — that the practical benefit is large and certain, the emotional cost is speculative, and neutrality is abdication. Then respond.
D.4. The cap. §23.4 caps family combinations at twelve. Construct the case that this is the planner deciding what a family is — that a large family's twenty-two combinations are twenty-two relationships, and that a cap privileges the schedule over the people in it. Then respond, and say what you would do at a 300-guest wedding with a very large family.
D.5. Rights. §23.7 says a photographer's marketing use is normal. Argue that a couple who did not think about it has not meaningfully consented. What would a better default look like?
D.6. Transfer. Compare wedding photography with another form of documentary work under time pressure: photojournalism, court sketching, a nature documentary, a live broadcast. What does the comparator do about access, positioning, and the subject's comfort that weddings do not?
Part M: Mixed Practice (Interleaved) ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐
M.1. (Ch.10 + Ch.23) The ceremony faces west at 5:00 p.m. in June. What does that do to the photographs, and what is the free fix?
M.2. (Ch.22) A photographer asks for the couple at 8:52, four minutes after the first dance. Write the response and say where it should have been prevented.
M.3. (Ch.21) An officiant permits no flash and no movement during the consent. Trace it into the contract, the shot list, and the run sheet.
M.4. (Ch.14) Golden hour is at 7:05 and dinner is plated, three courses, from 6:40. Compute the problem and give three answers.
M.5. (Ch.18) A videographer's on-camera light is on during dinner. What does it do, and what should have been agreed?
M.6. (Looks like one thing, is another) A couple say their photographer "didn't get any good photos of the reception." Name four possible causes.
Part E: Research and Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐
E.1. Research image licensing and copyright for commissioned photography in your jurisdiction: who owns the copyright, what a personal-use licence typically permits, and what a photographer may do with images of private individuals. Write 800 words with sources. This is a real legal question and most planners get it wrong.
E.2. Investigate what happens when a wedding photographer fails to deliver — the case law, the industry norms, and what remedies exist. Write 700 words. Report what a couple can actually do.
E.3. Interview three couples about their wedding photographs a year or more later. Ask what they look at, what is missing, and whether anybody they wanted photographed was not. Report against the chapter's opening claim about Rosa.
Solutions
Selected solutions: appendices/answers-to-selected.md.
The family-photo matrix template and the one-page photo timeline: appendices/appendix-a-templates-and-worksheets.md.