You never stop learning and even for professionals there may be something you may take away. Here are some wedding photography tips that you will find useful especially those that are new and just starting their journey to shooting weddings as a pro photographer.
These are not in any particular order and will be added to in due course as time allows:
Wedding Photography Tip #1. Know your photographic gear inside out.
This goes without saying, you have bought your camera now learn how to use it. Make sure you know all the settings, understand the modes AV, TV and Manual. How does exposure compensation work, how to drag the shutter when necessary, how to set the focus points, when to use spot or centre-weight metering. If using flash , which may be required at receptions, work out all the options available on your Nikon or Canon speedlite, get to know the settings and when to tweak them to achieve that perfectly exposed image. How to use TTL or ETTL.
Wedding Photography Tip #2. Have back-ups.
never photograph a wedding with just a single camera body and a lens. You should have two cameras on you all the time just in case use have problems with one of them. When your budget allows have the same model of camera so you know how to use the cameras perfectly. If you have a pro body and a cheaper back-up, you’ll need to learn how each of these cameras work as they will not be built the same.
Have a variety of lenses from wide angles, zooms or fast prime lenses, the ones you choose will depend your shooting style, see detailed article here for best wedding lenses . However, as an indication, some of the favourites for a lot of professional wedding photographers are a combination of these ones:
24mm 35mm, 85mm and 135mm prime lenses
17-35mm, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lenses
Wedding Photography Tip #3. Check your gear and get the camera bag ready the day before.
Charge all the camera and flashgun batteries – the ones in the units as well as the spares, make sure the lenses are clean, the memory cards have formatted ready for action and you have enough memory to shoot the wedding. Pack your camera bag with the camera and the lenses you aim to use. I personally like to pack my bag in the same way each time, each lens, body, batteries has it’s allocated pocket so it is easy to check and help at the end of the wedding too and re-packing. If using off-camera flash, have you packed the triggers? What about light stands? Diffusers, soft-boxes or umbrellas?
Wedding Photography Tip #4. In conjunction #3, I also make sure I pack one or two cereal bars just in case I get hungry during the wedding day and do not get the opportunity to eat a proper meal.
Wedding Photography Tip #5. Wedding info and details
Always keep the following information with you all times:
- The address of the venue(s) i.e where the bride is getting ready, wedding hall, hotel, church, reception venue
- Schedule of the day: The itinerary of whats happening, when and where especially photographing indian weddings where multiple events can happen at the same time.
- Names of the bridal party i.e parents, brothers, sisters, grand parents, best man, ushers, bridesmaids, etc
- Emergency telephone numbers if you need to contact
- Family group shot list
- Special photos requested