5 Wedding Photography Tips You Need To Know Before Shooting Your First Wedding
Are you freaking out about your first wedding photography shoot!? This article will give you the Top 5 MOST IMPORTANT wedding photography tips that you need to know and implement before shooting your first wedding!
This is the holy grail, beginners guide to getting you prepared and ready for your first wedding shoot.
I wish someone had told me these tips when I shot my first wedding, but unfortunately I had to learn the hard way! So let�s celebrate, woohoo! Because if you follow and actually practise these 5 steps you will be ready!
So, lets set the scene: you have booked your first wedding about a year ago and at the time you were super excited! It may be a paid job or you might just be doing it for free for a friend to get some experience, either way, it�s one of the most important days of the couples life so you need to make sure you nail it! The wedding is about 2 months away and your excitement has turned to fear, you find beads of sweat appearing on your forehead just thinking about the wedding and as you see the big day quickly approaching it�s time to get organised!!
Hopefully this list of wedding photography tips can help calm your nerves and get you as prepared as possible for the big day. And remember, have fun because it�s going to be the first day of doing the best job in the world!! ??
Before we get started, you need to know that being an awesome wedding photographer is NOT all about photography!
Having good photography skills is only about 30% of what it takes to being an awesome wedding photographer!
The other 70% includes:
Being happy, friendly and having the ability to build rapport with anyone and become everyones best friend.
Being an awesome problem solver when things go wrong, ie, car breaks down, camera breaks, mother in law faints, etc etc, and yes, these have all happened to me!
Being able to think quickly on your feet, make big decisions and convince everyone it is the right thing to do.
Being bold, get people to listen to you but never be rude. Crowd control ??
Being an entertainer, have fun with the bridal party, crack jokes, play games, give the bride and groom the best possible experience so they enjoy having their photos taken.
and lots more�
I wrote an article on A day in the life of a wedding photographer, I suggest you read it to give you a really good idea, step by step, total overview of what it�s like to actually be the photographer on the day.
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Lastly, I want to talk about the number one, holy grail, mother of all beginner wedding photography rules:
PREPARE, PREPARE and PREPARE!
Although this may seem obvious to most people, it�s amazing how little preparation some photographers put into their first wedding! Please don�t expect to rock up and just wing it. It�s irresponsible and totally unfair for the couple who are expecting you to know what you�re doing. So what does prepare, prepare and prepare mean? I personally find that preparation is the key for success in any industry so I have focused the following 5 top wedding photography tips on helping you to be as prepared as possible so you can rock up with confidence and nail it!! ??
1. Know your gear inside out!
Lets begin with one of the most important tips, know your gear! This should be a no brainer. Pick up your camera and make sure you know all the settings, understand the modes, get to know the settings that are available on your lenses (image stabiliser for example), work out all the options available on your speedlite, etc etc.
Once you think you know your stuff, grab a friend or partner and practice getting perfectly exposed images, quickly and in a lot of different locations.
I used to torture my poor girlfriend at the time (now wife!), taking photos of her all around the house. It doesn�t need to be flattering, just practice so you get used to getting your settings right, so on the big day you can be prepared.
My wife is going to kill me for showing these images � but it is what I did to learn so I wanted to share it with you. I even grabbed some branches from the neighbours yard to use as the bouquet!! Here are some before shots (me learning at home) and after shots (real wedding examples).
TRY THIS: go into the lounge room, position your subject where you would position your bridal party (ideally photographer back to a window) and take a photo of him/her as quickly as possible with perfect exposure. Then walk outside to the backyard and do the same, find the best spot, either in the shade or with the sun behind the subject and shoot. Then head to the front yard, then the kitchen, study, whatever! Use your flash, practice in a darker room with little window light as this would be similar to the conditions you will be up against in the reception. Bounce the flash off the roof, or the wall, or turn it off and crank your ISO to see what happens. Practice all these options and see what works best, so that on the day, you�ll be prepared ??
**Funny story** I use to watch the TV through my camera and try and move my focal points around as quickly as possible to follow the persons face on the screen! Sounds silly, but now I can do it without thinking and it saves me getting a lot of camera blur issues when shooting.
2. Scout the locations
Scouting locations is another MUST DO before the wedding so you can be prepared. You most likely won�t get a chance to see the grooms house or brides house before the day but you can assume it would be like any average home. As long as there is light in the lounge room and master bedroom, then you will be ok ??
**Extreme Example** I shot a groom coverage in a 1 bedroom apartment with 5 boys in the bridal party PLUS 50 family members standing around waiting for me to finish so the bride could arrive and they could start the tea ceremony! Talk about pressure as well as working in tight spaces!
So, apart from the groom and bride coverage you should definitely scope out the scenes at the church / ceremony location, as well as the locations you intend to go to and even pop into the reception and see what you�re up against.
**Tip** It would be awesome if you could go to these locations at roughly the same time of day as you would be there on the actual wedding so the lighting will be similar.
I would ever suggest googling the locations before you go on your recce and see what other photographers have done there in the past. Then head over, use their shots as inspiration and work out your own ideas. Walk around everywhere, find the best spots and use your camera! Take photos pretending the couple is standing there so you can work out your compositions. Below I simply google �Parliament House Wedding� and heaps of examples pop up and makes for a really good reference!
I know this sounds like a lot of work, but like I keep mentioning, preparation is key. If you have already been to the locations, worked out your ideas, photographed your imaginary couple in the best spots, then on the day you�re going to kill it!
3. Write a shot list and memorize it!
This is another really important tip that I used to do for at least my first 20 weddings! Write a shot list of exactly what you�re going to do at every location. Feel free to be as specific as possible and then try and memorize it. Also, I feel that writing it with pen and paper actually helped me to remember everything a lot more than just typing it out.
I literally used to write the following info down the day before every wedding:
Groom Coverage Shot List
Details
- Flower
- Tie
- Cufflinks
- Rings
- Cologne
- Watch?
- Ask the groom if there is anything else he wants
Boys Getting Ready
- Boys helping groom with cufflinks
- Boys helping groom with tie
- All boys putting vests on
- All boys helping adjust the back of each others vests
- Slap each in the ass shot!
- All boys grab jackets and do the Roger David shot
- All boys put on jackets
- Hero shot of all the boys fully dressed looking awesome
- Serious and gangster!
- Big smiles
- Hugging and ruffing up the groom!
The author is making several great pointers on the subject of Lower North Shore Wedding Photography overall in this great article down the page.
We all know that an essential facet of a wedding is the wedding professional photographer. This individual plays a major duty in the overall success of the wedding event. The photographer needs to be a wedding event digital photographer with a great understanding of digital photography, technological abilities and vision. There are numerous variables to think about while choosing a photographer.
The very first variable is to pick the place of the wedding. The photographer should choose the church where the reception will certainly happen. For the wedding event photography, there are numerous sorts of places for the wedding celebration. They are traditional churches, church entrance halls, parks, coastlines, castles, monoliths, gardens, parks as well as historic places.
These sorts of places vary from each various other and can easily take you far from your wedding event. There are several variables to take into consideration while making a decision the type of places for the function. The aspects that you need to consider are the location of the church, the style, the place of chairs, seating plans, size of the location, availability of bathrooms and also food solution. Here are some tips to assist you decide the very best place for your wedding celebration.
The church has different layouts and architecture. You have to consider this when selecting the church. If you intend to have a very romantic church, one of the most ideal place would certainly be one with white, cream color or beige colors. As it is a church, it has several rooms, consisting of church benches, coffin, veranda, music and body organ.
The colors made use of in the church can match the remainder of the wedding shades. If you do not wish to keep the wedding celebration in the church, you can select a park or coastline, which has all the important components of the wedding event and your reception such as the artists, the food and also also the decors.
Some locations have their own environment, while others need total regard for them. If you are mosting likely to pick a park for your function, you can easily choose locations where there is plenty of environment-friendly to establish the mood. If you are having a church wedding, then you can select a building or historical church. They have different sets of choices.
These places can be easy to fit. As they are created to supply the required centers, they are really accommodating. Churches often have huge hall for the reception and this is one of the most dreamland for the reception. Therefore, if you are having a reception at the church, you can make it bigger by having the menu at a buffet. It is more economical than paying for 2 different catering services.
The church foyer can additionally be a great alternative for a wedding celebration. If you pick this location, you can consist of a buffet for your visitors as well as have an attractive looking reception. The ambiance can absolutely lighten up the entire wedding event party.
You can additionally have a flower ceremony as well as the wedding event photos can be taken in the church or at the church entrance hall. You can get a great deal of images and also memories during this ceremony.
One more alternative that you can do is to prepare a reception within the church. This can be a practical place to hold the ceremony as the major spaces of the church are used to hold the function.
It is recommended that you do not amuse the guests in the church until the function mores than. As you do not have sufficient time to do a function within the church, the best alternative would certainly be to have the function outside in the reception location. see here It is finest if you can be in a position to move the reception to a new place.
With the right mix of the appropriate wedding celebration photographer and also a great area, you can have excellent photos that can be awaited an unique album. You will be able to delight in the memories for a lifetime.
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