 Ruth S. Ueland |
Wanting advice from Wedding Photographers I was recently asked to do my first wedding, and I want to do a wonderful job for the couple, therefore I am asking all the wedding photographers to give me their advice. Look back to the very first weddings you did, what were the biggest mistakes you did, and what would you do now to keep those mistakes from happening again? I don't have a actual SLR, should I ask my friend if I could borrow their SLR? If there is absolutely any other advice relating to doing wedding photography I would love to hear it. Ruth :)
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Tom Leckwart |
I am new to shooting weddings, but here is my advice. Train under a pro wedding photographer as an assistant, and find wedding seminars in your area. There is a great deal to be learned from lighting, posing, understanding what happens and when, and you cannot screw it up. Weddings are different in many ways, one being you only get once chance, there are no do overs. You will need an SLR, and a backup as well. Off camera flash and lighting. Cameras will fail, and memory cards can have issues at times. You also need good editing software, CS2 and lightroom are what I use most, no way to shoot a wedding without editing. Last, you need people skills. Too many photographers underestimate this in weddings. You are dealing with nervous and stressed people more often than not. If you have trained, and purchased the equipment, my advice is to shoot only a wedding where the couple had no other options for a photographer. This way there are no expectations, and a great deal less pressure. This is how I started, and everyone has been very happy. I do not believe there are any shortcuts to becoming a wedding photographer, because you only get one chance to do it right. Hope this helps, best of luck.
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W. |
Hi Ruth, It's very flattering that you were asked to do that wedding. But can you do it? Because if you can't, the couple won't have good photos of the most important day in their lives! And no possibility to do it again... So, without the appropriate gear, and – more importantly – without ANY experience, you will be doing the couple the greatest favor in the long run if you politely refuse. (So that they'll have to get a photog who DOES have the gear and the requisite experience). But you WANT to do weddings? OK, then 1) get the appropriate gear, and 2) latch on to an experienced photog and be his/her 'second shooter' for a half dozen weddings (at least!). That's the way to get experience. Good luck.
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Denyse Clark |
(I don't have a actual SLR, should I ask my friend if I could borrow their SLR) Can I ask what this means? You don't have an "actual" SLR? Does that mean you just have a point & shoot camera? Don't shoot a wedding if you have to borrow equipment that you've never used before... That being said, on my first job, I feel like I didn't take enough pics of just the b&g together.
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Ruth S. Ueland |
Thank you for all your advice it is very helpful. One of the Bride's friends is a photographer also, but she is an attendant, she will be helping me with a lot of the pictures she is not in. My sister will also be help me arrange the group photos, point out anything I didn't notice and the such. I am also going to a wedding this weekend, and the bride said I could kind of practice as assistant and do some shots. So that should give me some practice also. Ruth
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Christy Freeberg |
Tom has great advise. Watch and pay attention- ther are so many little moments that can be captured when no one else is looking between shots: you know the standard wedding photographs that everyones wedding album has, but it's those 'photo jurnalistsic' photgraphs that are so popular right now- look at other photographers websites or books for ideas & stay current with the trends that are so in demand right now. Know you equipmet, lighting and placement of your subjects.... and have back up cards, cameras.... have fun- take your time & look around you- look at everything. You'll do great!
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Debby A. Tabb |
Ruth, you have gotten some real good advise here. One of the biggest concerns will be lighting, is this wedding in door or out? time of day? or all day into the night? these factors play a part in how much additional lighting you will need. you can work around so much, but this is a nessesity. Now also there are MANY threads on this subject here on BP-read them . As many as possible. And look at others work to get ideas ect Wishing you the very best in this venture, Debby
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dennis w. mcclain |
the slr your borowing, is it digital? if so shoot raw, bracket exposer, tripod when you can, watch for proper focus, dof. you can change alot in ps, but you cant do anything about a blurry picture. get the camera as far ahead of time as you can. go to were they are having the wedding. take some freinds with you. a girl in white,and a guy in black. then practice the whole thing. go back post process, see what you need to change, show examples of the ones you cant figure out on here and see what you can et from the answers. in other words learn your stuff man. look at examples of weddings to find the must have shots. talk to the couple about what they want. hard shots I like to recreate when doing bride and groom formals, if there is time. again get the camera and learn it. be able to change settings without looking. things happen so fast you dont have time to fiddle. one other tip, get the party to pause at a ertin spot to shoot as the walk down the isle. this helps with getting an in focus shot.
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