Sunday, July 20, 2014

Wedding Photography Tips - Part 1, Introduction

I had a great time last weekend, taking wedding photos. Everything, and I mean everything, fell into place. It is very rare that everything works exactly as expected/planned. Sometimes the client has changed his/her mind about something. In other occasions, the weather is to blame. Every now and then, there is some technical issue. This time, everything worked flawlessly. But this is more the exception than the rule. There are a lot of parameters to think about in wedding photography, and someone without much experience can justifiably feel overwhelmed. AmateurNikon is here to help!



I will offer you a series of wedding photography articles - tips, tutorials, and general advice for a wedding photography assignment. This series will consist of 5 parts:

Part 1 - Introduction
This is the current article. 

In this article I will cover the things you need to know and prepare for before you arrive at the wedding. Technical considerations (for example, what kind of camera or lens you need for wedding photography, as well as setting up your equipment); communicating with your clients*; location scouting, etc.

This will contain a lot of practical information on how to get great wedding photos. Tips on positioning, timing, framing and moving; I will also share with you some of my business secrets on getting the couple and the guests to appear great on the photos. Some brides and grooms are more shy than others, but these tricks guarantee to make even the shyest groom and the most timid bride to look great on the wedding photos.


In part 4 I will give you some concrete advice on successful wedding photography editing: what is worth doing and what not; how to use Photoshop (or other program) to actually serve your vision; and of course, how to make the bride look even prettier ;)

Taking photos at a wedding can easily yield hundreds and hundreds of photos. I will share my workflow step by step, so that you can see how a professional wedding photographer organizes this huge number of photos.

*Big, fat, enormous disclaimer and word of warning:
I use the term 'clients' in this article (and future parts) to refer to the wedding couple, because it is an easy way for me to refer to them (and because they usually are my clients). In your case, they will most probably be your friends or relatives. In no case should you accept a wedding photography assignment if you are not 110% certain you can pull it through. That is especially the case if you are expected to be the primary (or even sole) photographer. I consider myself very experienced, and I still work with a partner - there are shots I miss but she is there to cover for me, and vice versa. There are simply too many things happening at once during a wedding ceremony and reception, and it is very likely you will miss something critical if you are inexperienced and/or working alone. If someone asks you to take photos at their wedding, make it absolutely clear that you don't know what you're doing (yes, use this phrase!) and make it abundantly clear that you cannot be held responsible for anything at all. With that caveat, you are ready to take photos at a wedding.

Note:
Make sure you get a notification in your inbox about the future articles by subscribing to the AmateurNikon email list. You get an email only when there is a new article, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Click HERE for part 2


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