Help with Wedding Photography

[Pinkkimbus]

Hello

I'm in the process of setting up my own business in Wedding photography. I have been an amateur now for many years, and now feel that I need to take my passion for photography further. I am doing a 4 day course for weddings in August with a bride included for Port Folio Pictures. I am also doing a mok wedding a couple of weeks after. Are there any professional photographers in the South East that can help me, by giving me the opportunity to work alongside them (discreetly)? I would love the chance to get as much professional help as possible to enhance my future development in wedding photography. Thank you
Kim

[scattashot]

Kim
Here is some start up advice
search online for wedding photo checklist and combine a couple into your unique list
you need a minimum equipment list
2 bodies, lens covering from 14mm to 200mm,invest in good quality lens or you will have to replace them in the years to come, 3 flashes one for each body and a back up, a couple reflectors for fill in light. a couple battery powered strobe flashes to extend the coverage for shooting large groups, a stroboframe to reduce the shadows caused by hotshoe mounted flash. make a scrapbook of unique bridal poses that you find in magazines they come in handy in finding poses on that day. at least 12GB of memory, good tripod, constantly research to come up with an extended equipment list

good luck

[tim]

I think 3 flashes is over the top, two is fine IMHO. 12GB of memory seems high, I never fill 8GB though I sometimes come close. Battery powered strobes are also optional to me, that's what speedlites are.

[PIXI_666]

I cant help you out sorry, im in the very same position as you...have done a few weddigns and peopel keep asking me to do them even when im not 100% confident but i really can't say no!
I hope you can find someone....i need to find a pro to help me out too one day...i find hands on experience is the only way to learn...if i sit and read a book about photography i jsut wouldn't get interested and i personally would learn nothing!
i have only ever shot small weddings so i find it hard to even cover 3 gb's of memory?

[VanceW]

Del,

I'm currently reading a very good wedding book. I would hope you could find it down yonder.

Wedding Photography
Art, Business and Style
Second Edition
by Steve Stint.

Very well written, easy enough to keep you interested, and goes from start to finish, of weddings. And the business side as well.

Even has his Wedding Shot Lists. (or as he calls it, his repertoire)

[PIXI_666]

Ahhh good advice Vance ill look into it...see if ebay can help me out lol (Ebay = my saviour) since my town is about pop of 3000ppl so not exactly your shopping spree type of town lol

[SuzyView]

Nothing can replace going out there and trying out the site before doing the shoot to know what equipment is needed. So, besides equipment, some advice about customers:

1. Meet with clients many weeks before the wedding.
2. Have a portfolio, although yours may be minimal at first, at least give the client
some examples of the shots you do.
3. Decide on packages you will offer: albums, group shots, engagement shots, portrait package, proofs-no proofs, etc.
4. Listen, listen, listen to your client on what they want. If their demands are not reasonable for your costs, pass them along. You have to have a good trusting relationship with your clients.
5. Be a person who lives up to your promises. Work hard to get the clients their pictures ASAP. Word of mouth is the best advertisement.

Now for equipment advice:

Start with 2-3 bodies, understanding that you may not have time to change lenses very often, maybe not at all. I keep my 50 1.4 on one, and now my 24-70L on the other. I just got a bracket for my 20D, so that will be my primary camera. Diffusers are a must for red-eye reduction.

Best piece of advice: Do everything you can at the shoot to minimize your work-flow and post-processing later. You will waste a lot of time in PP if you don't do the preparation first. I've learned the hard way and have spent hours fixing all the shots in one batch.

Hope this helps.

[tim]

Originally Posted by SuzyView

Diffusers are a must for red-eye reduction.

I don't think this is entirely true. A flash bracket reduces or eliminates red eye, and a diffuser will help some more, but I wouldn't say a diffuser is a must-have. Sometimes, outside, i'll use a flash without a bracket and I won't use a diffuser, and I don't have any problems with red eye then - maybe because the pupil has contracted.

[SuzyView]

For the last few events I haven't even used a flash because I was shooting RAW and I wanted to see if I could correct the white balance better than JPEG. It was amazing. So quick.

I have not taken my bracket out (it's new) for a shoot at night in a formal situation yet, but I have used the diffuser. I took pictures of a large group of middle school kids a month ago and didn't have anything besides my 550EX and omnibounce. If I didn't have it, there would have been lots of red-eye. I don't usually use the diffuser outside, but I do use the flash for fill. I am getting my 580EX tomorrow, it's on the truck already. I am going to experiment with it all weekend. Don't have any events until next week when I have the 50 women to photograph in one big gym. I will have the bracket with my 20D and 580EX on it with and without the softbox or omnibounce diffusers on it. I'm experimenting. I still think in a hot room, when people are sweating, a bounce cuts down on the "shiny" look as well.

[tim]

White ballance and flash use is pretty much unrelated... aside from the flash being a particular color temp. Mixing flash and ambient is the hard part, I expose it twice in RAW and blend the exposures.

Yep bouncing will cut down on shine, but I think for a group that big you'll want all the power you can get - so direct, non-diffuser flash will be best. Shoot F8 at least, you'll need the DOF. Personally i'd use two strobes and umbrellas for a group that large, though at weddings I usually use speedlites because strobes take too long to put up.

[Phil V]

Originally Posted by Pinkkimbus

Hello

Are there any professional photographers in the South East that can help me, by giving me the opportunity to work alongside them (discreetly)? I would love the chance to get as much professional help as possible to enhance my future development in wedding photography. Thank you
Kim

South East where? Remember this is the world listening.

I'm sure if you attend some wedding fairs and look through the yellow pages you'll find local photographers you can contact directly and offer assistance. BUT don't ask to just tag along, you need to offer assistance, in return for which you'll get to learn the business from a unique position. No-one will take you under their wing, just to gather a portfolio and become the competition. Would you?

Try to find someone with a style smilar to which you aspire, and someone who shoots a completely different style, so that you can learn what goes into the image, this will help you develop a style you're comfortable shooting.

I'm in the south east of Yorkshire (UK), I doubt that's what you meant, if it is, we can talk, but I doubt it.

[PIXI_666]

Phil you put that very well, it was very tactful!

To me if i were to become an assistant i think id do it for a good 3 years to get all the experience necessary, i want to help pro's to achieve the best wedding photo's ever! I am one for slowly working up the food chain, i started in my position at the VERY BOTTOM...and i have been here 6 years and im still pretty much at the very bottom but my work ethics and jobs have become more independant...which is why i if i were to get into the industry id be so happy only earning minimum wage because i have done that for so long already....id appreciate it so much more though!

Id never go and learn from a pro and leave them in 6mths time its not the way i was bought up...and i think 99% of the time, amateurs are quite happy to be in the industry for as long as they can, and if that means working FOR or WITH a pro for another 6 yrs then so be it as far as i am concerned! These thigns take time...

I do weddings on the side, but i dont charge a lot because i know i am still an amateur - but people like what i produce and are looking for a cheap alternative so they ask me because i need the experience. I tell them that i am an amateur so they know that i am nowhere near a Pro's standard...

But i still would love to be an Asst for a long time, and id suggest it to anyone looking to further their career in wedding photography, as soon as i am in Perth ill be searching for a weekend wedding photographer to work for...bottom line i need hands on experience and to learn from someone else for as long as they need me!

Del

[chrnat]

I used to do pro weddings in the days of 2.5 sq format. I loved the eye contact and square neg was great for bridal dress poses. I suspect now with digital it is snap snap snap. I used to get 12 to a roll and had to make each work. Dell I suggest you try and work out the percentage of keeps. Mine was 80%. Interested to know how it is in the amatuer digital wedding revolution.

PS take out professional indeminity insurance. It cost a bomb to re shoot?

[tim]

Since we can shoot away and there's little penalty we do. If we had to make every shot count we'd be a lot more careful.

[richardj7]

A few things have been said about finding a pro to work with. I like PIXI_666's ethical approach to work some 3 years with a pro and contribute to his or her success before going out on her own.

On one side, we hear a lot of established pros complaining about "Shoot & Burn" weekend wedding amateurs taking some business away at pocket money prices, so I'm just wondering if these same pros would like to train other photographers so that they can eventually undercut them in their own backyard - using what they learned from the pros.

I wonder if this apprentice approach still has its place when the market has changed where competition is more from amateurs, students, and semi-pros, rather than other established pros. Just wonderin'.