I have photographed hundreds of weddings spanning a period
of about 20 years, and I still think that wedding photography
is a fun, rewarding, and challenging genre, as well as being
one of the best creative outlets for a professional photographer.
Today's bride not only tolerates a photographer who will exercise
his /her own creative vision, but demands it. What other job
gives a competent operator such scope for your ideas, with a
bunch of subjects all dolled up and decked out to the nines laid
on? And you get paid for it too. Let's get one thing straight
though, it is a very intensive job and the responsibility you
are taking on yourself should not be underestimated. If you equip
yourself with the skills required and plan it out well, you can
do a great job on your first one, and you will need to. Those
of us who make it their occupation get to do something positive
and enjoy a career where you spend time with people who are having
the best day of their lives.
1. Plan Carefully to the
smallest detail, visit locations to choose where to photograph,
what the light and space is like (go at a time when the light
will be similar, the direction changes a lot over a few months).
Estimate how much time you need. Decide what equipment
you need.
2. Communicate: tell them
exactly what you need to accomplish what they expect of you,
and if what they want is even likely or possible. Make
a shot list, especially for family groups, try to minimize the
number of combinations. Put it all in writing.
3. Manage expectations, do all you can
to know exactly what your customer wants and let them know what
you will deliver.
4. Weddings can be unpredictable,
leave room and be prepared to change plans and have backup plans
for bad weather, if your chosen location becomes unavailable.
Inadequate planning should be your greatest fear, you can eliminate
much of this fear beforehand. It’s a lot of work
for your first few though.
5. Note that some locations
are very popular for wedding photography so you may see a lot
of other bridal parties with the same idea as you.
6. There are no excuses for
missed or poor quality photos, there will be not enough
light, there will be not enough time, something will
break. Plan these problems out in advance. If you
are prepared for the worst, the whole day will seem so much smoother.
7. Talk to the priest/pastor/celebrant,
find out if you may use flash and or tripods, how close you can
get and any restrictions on your movements.
8. Make friends with the video
guy, they are doing an important job for the couple too.
Will they be directing any shots or will they be a fly on the
wall? Work together.
9. Tell the MUA when the girls
need to be ready, they may assume that it’s a minute before
they need to leave for the church if they are new to the industry.
10. Make sure the flowers etc will be there before you.
Have maps for the drivers, permits for the locations.
11. Pre-enlist help, especially someone who knows the
families for arranging people for group photos, have lists for
them. Have someone to help with your gear and to remind you what
you need to do. (my wife was excellent at telling me what
to do at weddings, everywhere else for that matter)
12. There will be pressure on you to perform and deliver,
but planning with the first 11 points in mind will make it much
less stressful.
13. Look after yourself, keep fuelled up with healthy
snacks and plenty of water. I always had Ibuprofen in my
kit. Breath mints are a good idea too.
14. Get to know of any special traditions or ceremonies
that may be involved in the wedding.
15. Camera gear should be well looked after, clean sensors
and lenses, plenty of good quality memory cards and BACKUPS for
anything that you could not do the job without if it broke, including
batteries.
16. Appropriate equipment: a
cheaper dslr with kit lens and a powerful external flash with
a bounce card is absolutely adequate for close in flash photography
and most outdoor work. If you are not allowed to get close
and use the flash in the church, it will not be adequate. You
would need a longer and faster lens and a tripod as well. In
a dark church, a lens of f2.8 to 1.4 is essential unless you
can get in close with a flash. A “Pro” or “semipro”
camera is not mandatory but it is nice to have for faster response,
better AF and handling. Two cheapies is usually a
better idea than one top of the range slr though. See camera for wedding page,
17. Don’t try out a new
piece of kit or technique on the wedding day. With experience
you will make those opportunities to try out something new, but
only when you know you have the must haves in the bag.
18. Have a system for handling
your memory cards, you cannot be too careful with these.
Never delete or format a card until you have a couple of copies
backed up at home.
19. You will likely encounter
low light, a fast lens and a tripod are very handy. Don’t
be afraid to up the ISO, but make sure the exposure is right.
20. Available light is not always
the best light, know when to fill and when to kill the available
light with your flash.
21. Camera settings: sorry there
is no secret “my wedding photos don’t suck”
settings, in fact mostly my camera is on default settings.
The best settings are the ones where YOU can get correct exposure
and white balance. RAW & jpg, whatever you are comfortable
with, raw gives you more options and more scope to fix up your
mistakes. Whichever you use, getting exposure and WB right
in camera is a very smart thing to strive for. I try to
use manual mode whenever the light is not constantly changing,
it saves hours in post correcting minor colour and density changes,
but if you are more comfortable with P and the exposure comp,
go with that.
22. Lighting and subject matter
on a wedding will bring extra challenges. Practise flash
and no flash exposure with shiny white fabric etc, see how your
camera autofocusses with strong backlight. I will assume
you know your camera very well.
23. Learn some simple basic
posing techniques, it is all about making them look natural and
relaxed. There’s a lot to learn, and it takes practice,
but this will help Posing Secrets!
24. You will have to direct
people at some stage, do not expect to get by on candids alone
or just standing back and letting it happen, even if the couple
has asked for this. They don’t know what it takes
to get the type of photos they want, but you will need to.
25. Sometimes you will need to take control of large
groups and sometimes you will need to be invisible. The
wedding photographer is often relied upon for direction, yet
is often thought of as just another one of the help. At
the reception, the waiters will be several classes above you
in the minds of the guests.
26. I just wanted to remind you now that weddings are
a lot of fun once you have a bit of a clue what you are doing.
Think of the excitement, the gorgeous girls, the fine locations,
and you excelling at your art under pressure. If you are feeling
a bit intimidated now, good, you will put more effort into your
preparation.
27. Don’t assume anything, the older woman the
baby face man is with might be his date, not his mum. Be
aware that something very important has not been communicated
to you, like the groom will be parachuting in on the north side
and you are waiting for his car on the south.
28. Be the type of person who a girl would love to have
around her all day on the most important day of her life.
It’s all about her. Be her friend, her servant, her
advisor, but don’t be too in her face or dominate conversations.
Be calm and happy at all times, never show that you are agitated
or stressed. Never, ever, ever scold her or put any pressure
on her. Give plenty of notice before time to go, that way,
just a look tells her when it’s time to move.
29. Dress appropriately.
30. Your feelings do not count. Do not overreact
if someone insults you, treats you unfairly or tries to dominate
you. You get the shots, politely tell them to step aside
if you have to. Do not ever take your bat and ball and
walk off unless you are in personal danger. (eg. a female photographer
being inappropriately harassed by a GM or guest might seek assistance
from FOB, but would be within her rights to leave. Mind
you she would not be forgiven for not finishing the job, but
that’s a problem for another day.)
31. Have fun! If you enjoy yourself the bridal
party will interact better with you.
32. Don’t try too hard to be a wedding photographer.
What I mean is, leave room to see things in your own
way, not how you think a wedding photographer would. The
good wedding photographers do this, they don’t pump out
the stiff boring images from 1986 anymore. Make sure you
get the must have shots though.
33. Keep an eye on how much memory you have on hand so you
are not caught with a full card or a full buffer just before
something important happens.
34. Dont be afraid to "chimp", that is to check
your work on the LCD as you go.
35. Try and anticipate what may happen where, don't try to
"shoot from the hip", it never works like that.
36. Be careful of advice on internet forums, many contributors
have very little experience, but read and consider differing
opinions. There is no one right way to photograph a wedding.
