How to photograph a wedding. 6 tips for a beginner

Who's in charge at the wedding?

The main person at a wedding is not the toastmaster or the bride and groom.
The main one is you. Why? It depends on you what will remain in the young people’s memory many years after the shooting. Their emotions depend on you in a few years when they look at your photographs. It is to you that guests, young people, and their parents will turn to you for advice and requests.

If you love yourself too much, are also quick-tempered and touchy, suspicious, and are not ready to give your all, then photographing a wedding is not for you. Look for something else

You must be able to work regardless of the circumstances: be it bad weather, problems with equipment, health, fatigue. The customer doesn't care at all about your problems. They have been paid money and have the right to expect results from you.

At the same time, you are obliged to give him not “photos” but decent photographs. In this case, the photographs will have to satisfy the customer, not you. For his and your views on your “uniqueness and originality” may diverge very significantly.

Choosing a photographer

How to find “your” photographer?

Andrey Onishchenko, photographer:

• Do you just need photos or good photos? If ordinary, then look for a photographer based on price. If they are good, then only for work.
• Don't trust your friends to photograph your wedding. The result will unpleasantly surprise you.
• View in the photographers' portfolio not only a few selected successful staged shots, but also entire weddings. To understand how a photographer takes both reportage and staged shots, watch at least 2 weddings.
• Try on the photos you see. Imagine yourself in these pictures. Would you like to look like this?
• Find out what is included in the price of a photographer's work. Deadlines for delivery of finished material, what kind of processing, number of hours of shooting.
• If you are almost sure of choosing a photographer, but have a little doubt, do a love-story pre-wedding shoot. You will work together and see how your photographer works. You will understand whether you are comfortable with him.

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Important nuances

Maria Alexandrova-Mukhina, photographer:

• No matter how trivial it may sound, the experience of a photographer is very important! Carefully look through the portfolio, if you don’t like at least something, you should look at other options, since the choice on the wedding photographers market is huge.
• You will have to spend most of the wedding day in the company of a photographer! It is very important that you are “on the same page” with this person. If you can't find a common language, things will only get worse in an exciting environment!
• Discuss the route of the walk in advance, ask the photographer what places for shooting he can offer you. An experienced photographer will most likely provide you with a list of the most beautiful places for a photo shoot. And you can plan your route in advance.

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Mistakes when choosing a photographer

me4tateli_studio, photos and videos:

• Choose a photographer solely based on price. Different specialists have a completely different set of services included in this or that amount. You can hire a photographer for either 20,000 or 50,000 for a full day, but for some, a “full day” is no more than 10 shooting hours, for others - 14. For some, the indicated price includes a photo book or love- story, others don’t. Some people will process all the pictures within the package, while others will process a limited number of frames. Some do retouching, some do color correction only. Be careful and check in every detail what is included in the shooting conditions.
• Choose a photographer based on a few “sketchy” shots that you liked. These photos may be taken at workshops rather than at actual weddings. And despite the fact that the cards look good, they are often shot in “refined” conditions, very different from the situation at a real wedding, where no one will expose the couple or arrange props for the photographer. Ask to show real weddings, inside and out. A good professional will not be ashamed to show the entire shooting.
• Choose a photographer without a preliminary meeting. The moment of personal communication is incredibly important to understand how comfortable you are in his/her company. If it is not possible to see each other in person, we would recommend calling on Skype. There is always a living person behind pictures on the Internet, and the result of the shooting depends on how easy it is for you in his company. A photographer is not only the camera, but also the personality behind it. Get to know this person so you know what to expect.

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Physical form

To photograph a wedding you need to be in good physical shape. Carrying around a heavy camera, or even two, several lenses, and a flash is not an easy task.

In addition, you will have to climb onto heights to shoot from the top point, you will have to lie down on the floor to shoot from the bottom, sit down and stand up many times, goose-step, run forward and lag behind, and then overtake.

And all this with additional weight (lenses, flashes, cameras, tripod).

Therefore, there is no need to plan to photograph your next wedding right after the first. Because everything will hurt - your back, arms, neck, eyes. You will have a squeezed lemon state, plus mental intoxication from intense communication.

Seriously think about whether you can become a wedding photographer from a health perspective. If fatigue sets in quickly, headaches, heart problems - this is not the job for you.

Prepare the day before the shoot

I always prepare for the shoot the day before the ceremony. My preparation ritual includes:

Preparing a shooting plan.
Charging all batteries.
Installing fully charged batteries in cameras and flashes.
Preparing memory cards and formatting them.
Inspection and cleaning of lenses and cameras.
Packing equipment in a photo bag.

Preparing for your shoot in advance gives you plenty of time to make sure you haven't forgotten anything and that all your equipment is in working order.

How to photograph a wedding

The requirements for the quality of photographic equipment are very high. Of course, cameras from Nikon, Canon and other brands are good, but these are just equipment that, no matter what you say, can sometimes fail. And the more this equipment is used, the more likely it will break.

You must be able to shoot quickly in any situation. You will not have the opportunity to re-shoot especially such mandatory moments as the marriage process at the registry office.

Therefore, it is necessary to bring the control to automation. You must be prepared to instantly adjust the exposure because everything happens very quickly at a wedding. The light changes, people in the frame constantly move, the interior changes.

These are just a few factors that affect the quality of shooting. At the same time, you should produce clear, shake-free images with the correct exposure and white balance.

Therefore, in order to photograph a wedding competently, you must constantly train, regardless of the number of weddings you have photographed.

Make a detailed action plan

Having prepared for the shoot, as described in the first tip, make a detailed plan of your actions for the day of the shoot.

For example, in such a plan I include the route and shooting locations, names and phone numbers, shooting dates, important reminders, etc. I always print out the plan in triplicate (one for myself, the second for my assistant or second photographer, the third for as a backup), and I immediately pack one into my camera bag.

Another tip: don’t forget to send an electronic version of your plan to yourself by e-mail - this will allow you to always be able to print an additional copy if you suddenly lose one of the pre-prepared ones.

In my experience, drawing up a detailed plan for the day of shooting is one of the simplest and most effective ways to organize your working time.

In addition, you can set a photo of your plan as a screensaver on your smartphone - and then you will always have it at hand.

If you use something like this to organize your time on the day of the shoot, share your experience in the comments below.

Be an artist and director

Very high demands on the artistic content of the photo. You can convince your first, and maybe your second, customer of your “peculiar, unique vision of moments,” but if it’s bullshit, then word of mouth will work faster than you can convince the next customer of your “uniqueness.”

You need to learn how to shoot in reportage mode, but without forgetting about your skills in directing: managing situations, showing what and how to do, how to stand, where to look. Staged shots are an integral part of wedding photography.

Objectively about lenses

In addition to Sony, Canon, Nikon, which produce a full range of lenses and related photographic devices and accessories for their cameras, other companies such as Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Tokina and others also do this. I'm a fan of original lenses.

The advantage of lenses produced by third-party companies is the price. In most cases, lower than the prices of the original “glasses”. The downside is the quality of the resulting images, which, depending on the individual models, is much or slightly worse than that of the original lenses. Perhaps, in terms of quality, we can positively note Sigma’s ART line, which began with the release of the 35 mm 1.4 lens.

A novice wedding photographer can easily get lost in the variety of lenses and rack their brains thinking about the need for this or that “glass.” In addition, there are truly specific lenses, created for a specific task. What lenses are really needed for wedding photography?

How to start right

First, go to wedding locations in your city and watch how experienced photographers work. This way you will quickly understand how to photograph a wedding.

Look on the Internet how the masters work and, armed with templates, get started. Then gradually look for your own, experiment, improvise.

If you are planning to film in an unfamiliar location, visit it yourself in advance. And at the same hours in which you will then have to photograph the wedding.

Then you will be able to evaluate the natural lighting of the future shooting, select and outline the best places, and you can even take control shots. This will prepare you well, and it will be easier for you to work at the wedding.

Flash

At first, some Chinese equivalent from Yongnuo will be enough for you. They are not perfect, but they attract with their budget price. The undisputed leaders among flashes are the flagship models Canon Speedlite 600 EX or Nikon Speedlite SB-910. You will immediately feel how smoothly and flawlessly Speedlites work in pairs with native cameras compared to Chinese flashes.

For flash photography, don't forget to make or buy a reflector. It will be very useful if you realize that in a particular shooting location you will not be able to reflect the flash light from the walls or ceiling. My first reflector was made from a piece of black plastic folder (to make it look stylish :)) and a white matte self-adhesive film glued to it. Believe me, it looked many times better than a landscape sheet folded several times.

PS Forget about the built-in in-camera flash - it is useless and merciless to the eyes of your clients.

Become a psychologist

To capture emotions in photographs, you must become a psychologist. Already at the first meeting with you, the newlyweds should not have even a shadow of a doubt that no one will be able to photograph them better than you.

During the shooting process, become for them an entertainer, a cheerful person, a friend whom everyone trusts, a keen observer from whose gaze nothing will escape.

Try to ignite a spark of goodness, happiness, and joy in people. At the same time, you must leave all your negativity outside of the shooting. Absolutely no one cares about your family problems, troubles and everything else.

Collect jokes. This will help you win over people who cower when they see the camera.

Be natural and calm. People experience great emotional stress at a wedding, don’t add to their problems. Treat your clients with respect and make sober and informed decisions.

Don't get carried away by smoking breaks, empty chatter, making acquaintances, etc. YOU ARE AT WORK, UNLIKE GUESTS.

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Don’t forget to discuss hot meals with the customer

If your contract does not contain a clause obliging the customer to provide you with hot meals, then immediately include it in the contract!

The key word here is “hot”. When I first started photographing weddings, this clause was missing from my contract; I thought that a sandwich or snacks would be enough for me. But very soon I realized that I was wrong. Therefore, I changed the text of my contract.

My contract clearly states that the customer undertakes to provide a full hot lunch (or dinner) for me and my assistant (or second photographer). Most clients understand this requirement, and for the few who find it strange, I remind them that when shooting for 8-10 hours, I walk several tens of thousands of steps with heavy photographic equipment and expend more energy than the average person in one trip to the gym. So, my body needs to replenish the burned calories, and a sandwich is not enough for this.

Don't forget to also discuss when you can eat. This is very important - you should be able to eat without rushing and without compromising the photography of the wedding ceremony.

Learn to work with light

Knowing how to use flash or diffused light is key to successful indoor photography. If you are filming a wedding in a temple, you may find the light very low as an unpleasant surprise. When using flash (which is not allowed in all churches), you should be aware of how the flash will work (remember, if you bounce the flash off a colored surface it will add a color component to the overall picture). Or you might want to buy a diffuser flash to soften the light. If using flash is not possible, you will need to either use a fast lens at a wide aperture and/or increase the sensitivity (ISO). Also in this case, a lens with image stabilization can be a great help.