You’ve just been down to your local camera mart and are now the proud owner of the latest DSLR, your best friend was with you and thought hang on, you own a great camera, you can take their wedding photographs for them. You gasp in horror as she mentions the thought but how could you let your friend down? You say yes and smile, beneath the surface you are mortified! Will she still like me if I screw this up? Will she even like my photographs? You get home and jump straight on the net seeking advice, so here it is!
“Don’t worry, my wedding will be simple and carefree, no pressure or anything” that was the promise, yet you are met with no relief. The thing about weddings is they never run to plan, people are never on time, the make-up takes longer than expected or bridesmaid Jane Citizen left her shoes back at the hotel. Now this wouldn’t be so bad, except that when short on time one of the first means for getting this time back is to borrow it from the allocated photography period. As such being able to work efficiently and under less than ideal circumstances is key to wedding photography.
It is vitally important to know your equipment. During the heat of the moment changing apertures, shutter speeds and ISO should be second nature, to hesitate is to miss a shot that you likely will not be given another opportunity to capture. You need to understand your equipment, know how it functions, have a feel for its metering in a variety of lighting situations. If you do not understand the basics such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO or don’t understand how to utilise them you should first grab yourself some beginners photography books or rummage the internet for some tutorials. There is plenty of information out there for free these days.
I’ll figure you now know the basic principles of photography,in doing so, you must now learn how this translates to your personal equipment. Manuals may be your best friend at first! Get out there and shoot shoot shoot! Experiencing various lighting conditions is the best method for learning your cameras behaviour under such conditions and thus learning how to use the basics of ISO, aperture and shutter speed to your advantage. Head out on bright sunny days, at night, on overcast days, face into the sun and away from the sun, shoot inside under candle light, keep pushing yourself to experience new conditions until your equipment becomes a tool, not a limitation.
You now feel confident you can pick up your camera and nail the exposure under any conditions quickly and easily. The next big worry you face becomes posing your bride and groom, you have never had to pose anyone other than Uncle Bob and Aunty May for a quick snapshot, ARGHHH you shout as you pull a small chunk of hair from your head! The first step in understanding posing is to understand what you like about various poses. Once again head to the internet, look at countless wedding photos and keep doing so until you start to notice a style of posing that you enjoy. Some photographers will shoot candidly, others will employ static poses and then there are those who will ask the bride and groom to dip.
You have now found a bunch of poses you personally enjoy, it is time to dissect these poses, ask yourself what it is you enjoy about them, how are the bride and groom standing in relation to the light? how are they standing in relation to each other? how do they have their weight distributed, are they throwing their weight onto their back leg for example, perhaps leaning toward the camera a little. Next you should think about what the photographer may have done to elicit such poses, how would you go about posing people like this? What steps could you follow that may result in such a pose? Learning how to dissect images and really look at individual elements of them will ultimately be a much more powerful technique than simply telling you to follow steps A, B and C in order to achieve a specific pose.
You now know what you like and are starting to feel in control of your photos, you can visualise results right down to the lighting and the pose and you know your equipment well enough to use it as a tool in the creative process rather than seeing it as a limitation. The unfortunate part is, as humans when the pressure hits our minds like to present as black voids, “I’m outta here” Mr Brain says as he jumps in his brain mobile and drives off into the sunset. At this moment a shot list can be a saving grace, a go to reminder of important images to capture and creative ideas you had at a better time in a better place. If you are really 21st century you can make a list on your phone that you can scroll through during the down time, such a list can include photos that inspire you, ideas you wish to try as well as the list of must get shots. This can be a great way to inject some new life into a situation where you are plain out of ideas.
For piece of mind doing a location scout before the day of the wedding is a great way to familiarise yourself with the area you will be shooting in, take your camera and a friends, head to the location at a similar time of day as the wedding so that you can get a feel for the lighting. Now you can simply pretend your friend is the bride or groom and run through some shots with them. By doing this come the day of the wedding you will feel more relaxed about the situation, knowing that when the spotlight is on you, you already know you want a shot by the stone arch, another by the fountain and a group shot by the pine tree.
Last but not least ask your bride and groom for an outline of the day well before the event, take some time to familiarise yourself with the goings on, remember the list if you can so that come wedding day you will be in a position where you are educated and thus able to look forward upon what is happening, this is invaluable as a photographer, being in the right place at the right time is half the battle, as an added advantage you will feel more comfortable and at ease knowing what is about to take place.
Photographing a wedding can be a big ask, but with some simple preparation your day can run a whole lot smoother, you will feel more in control and the quality of the photos will benefit. Lastly, good luck and enjoy your day as a wedding photographer, it’s actually kind of fun!
Sydney wedding photographer Samuel Burns provides further tips on his website. To read more and see what he’s been up to visit Samuel Burns wedding photography sydney.
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