You should really contact the photographer and ask them to do the editing.

You need to explain the time it takes to do a shoot (prep, shoot, and post) and how it cuts into family time and professional paying gigs. Let them know your paying clients come first. Many people think photography is art-free, but it is artwork. And every free job is a loss of income and devalues photography as an art.

I get asked to do family weddings and such all the time, but I decline those and say you need a professional wedding photographer, and I can give you some names if you like. When asked for weddings and it to be the gift, I simply remind them that they just asked for a $2K-$5K dollar gift, or whatever you would charge for an event, and how many hours pre-, and post are included in that fee.

When getting it for free they placed no value on the photos. For years I covered an event and provided approx. two hundred photos for a non-profit, which I edited only to find out they didn’t give the photos to the participants and that the board members kept them for themselves. I finally told them that if I have to use a third-party processor for editing it is ten dollars a photo and at two hundred photos it’s like a two-thousand-dollar donation. They started getting someone else to do the photos and I got to enjoy the event when I could attend.

Our immediate family recently took a Disney vacation and all but one day I shot photos my adult son wanted with my professional camera. It was annoying since you can get Disney employees to take the photos and pay for them, but my son thinks mine are better. He also knows he going to be waiting a while for them as one of my parents lives out of town and is in the hospital for months while I run back and forth on pet duty, house-sitting, and hospital duty.

Your focus may narrow over time, but it’s ok to have more than one niche. If you look at Bryan Peterson he can photograph anything. As a photographer, I think we should be able to photograph anything well and let our preferences develop over time. I used to shoot nature, and concerts. Now I am drawn to fine art, abandonment, water, reflections, and underwater photography.

A close relative is a commissioned artist and took ten years of study and training before deciding that her medium is watercolor.

M SanDisks have all had a long life and get replaced periodically just so I can hold more photos on them if needed. I did have an issue with a brand-new Lexar once and thankfully it wasn’t a paying client, but personal use. However, I was taking shots of the first-time event for my youngest, so we’ll never have those photos.

A circular polarizing filter, shutter release, and tripod. If you plan to photograph with the tripod in water or wind at a beach under a pier a heavier tripod is helpful. However, if you plan on hiking to a waterfall you may want something lighter.

Focus the camera on a solid object, not the water. And the shutter speed depends on the flow of the waterfall. If the shutter is too slow it will be overexposed and blow out the detail of the water.

Even with the filters I prefer to shoot water when it’s overcast without harsh sunlight.

I’ve been approached to photograph male nudes, however, it’s occasionally. And when I do I bring an escort with me or another male photographer. They know this ahead of time.

Make sure to have a contract for what is expected, what photos/files will be provided, and rates. Make sure to check their age for any nudity.

If you don’t want to photograph them, let them know you don’t work in male nudity anymore or at this time.