Hot tips for WEDDING photography

[ksmattfish]

Don't spend the night at the same location as the reception. I shot a wedding and reception at a ranch Bed and Breakfast last night. It was about 3 hours from home, so I thought I'd find a motel so I wasn't driving home tired in the middle of the night. There were extra rooms at the B & B, and it wasn't much more than a motel. The party looked like it was dying out about 9:00pm, and I was off the clock, so I tried to get some sleep. A bunch of partiers showed up late, and they rocked it out until 4:00am. At 2:00am I had to listen to the drama as one of the bridesmaids barfed up and down the hallway outside my room. So much for the sleep.

 

[danalec99]

For batch conversions to Tiff, .psd, Jpeg (3 varients of Jpeg), download the free plugin from Russell Brown. You can also add your fav action, along with the conversion.

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html - Scroll down for Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop CS.

A boon for event photographers and/or RAW shooters, who deals with hundreds of files per shoot. :thumbup:

 

[danalec99]

No more worries about figuring out the ideal numbers for Unsharp Mask for different file formats. KPD Magic Sharpen applies the needed sharpening for any file size/format- be it a low Jpeg or a Tiff file.

Just make sure it is done at the end of your workflow. I usually add this action with the Image Processor (check the prev post).
If it is done individually, open the image in Photoshop, select the action in the Palette and click the Play button. Viola! You see the instant pop if it's a low Jpeg.

The best tool I've come accross. :thumbup:

KPD Magic Sharpen comes along with Kevin Kubota's Artistic and Production Pak.

 

[fergphoto]

I always try to shoot the largest group photos first and break it down smaller and smaller from there. That way, if the guests want to get to thier cocktail party, etc. They don't have to wait around.

Jerry
FergusonPhotography.com

 

[EnricoSuave]

I've done several weddings in the past, as well as Sweet 16's and other events.. and weddings are definately when I'm most focused on what I'm doing. (Pardon the pun.)

The chief thing, once you've made sure you have everything on your checklist (great lists here, btw), and the ceremony has begun is to -anticipate- every shot. That means getting in position for the shot at least ten seconds before it happens. Every wedding pretty much follows the same stages and you get a feel for them. So once you know you have several good alter shots in the cam and the officiator is prepping to announce the B&G.. get in the next position to get the shot of them facing the crowd.

I liken it to being a war photographer. You need to be mobile and move stealthily so as to not distract guests from the ceremony. Use ambient light as much as possible. Use a light-weight tripod. Bring along a lackey to carry and protect your bags, ladder, tripod while you're running around getting shots.

My next big suggestion is.. Know Who's Paying the Bill. Meet with the parents and B&G and establish with them that you'll only be taking direction from THEM. Not the bossy, fat Aunt who thinks she sees a perfect shot of her daughter every ten seconds. This way you can politely let guests know you are under contract to follow directions only from the parents or B&G.

Third.. when you are done with your contracted time, do NOT lolly-gag around and presume they understand you are "off the clock". God help you if you have your camera in the car, you're standing there eating cake or dinner and for the first time in their family history.. 95 year-old Gramma & Gramps go out on the dance floor! When they find out you were there and didn't get one shot.. you're dead meat.

Fourth, decide on a good contract that lays out what you are and are not responsible for. Your contracted hours, fee, package description, get all that clearly laid out. Also, collect at least 50% up front as a Non-Refundable Reservation Deposit since you'll be turning down work for that day. Otherwise you may get a call two days before the wedding that they're over-budget and got a cousin with Sure-shot to do the photos for $75.

One last thing.. set your work apart from the normal, expected shots. Get those silent moments of the flower girl alone or the ring-boy tugging on his neck-tie. During speeches, don't just get the speaker.. get the expressions of the parents as they listen. If someone seems a close friend or relative of the B&G or parents.. take note of them and be sure to get some shots of them during the dinner or reception.

Most of all.. don't be tense, have fun doing what you love to do!

EnricoSuave

 

[ksmattfish]

Have a plan for downloading and backing up your files when you get finished/get home, and stick with it. No matter how tired I am, or how late it is, I always get the files on my computer, and then burn a DVD. That way I have 3 sets of the raw files: 1 on the hard drive, 1 on the DVD, and 1 on the memory cards.

Okay, so I always do this, except last night. It was a short wedding, and I knew I only used 3 cards. Two cards were still in the cameras, and I just ate and went to bed, planning on dealing with the download/backup in the morning.

So this morning I go to download the photos to my computer, and there's no problem with the cards I got out of the cameras, but the other card seems to have no files on it! In a panic I decide that I mixed up the cards, and I was afraid that the card I was missing was one of the ones I just stuck back in the cameras, and reformatted!!! [So another good tip here is to always check what images are on a card before formatting it.] I checked what photos I had, and of course, the posed formal portraits were the ones that were missing. I was totally freaking out at this point; desperately searching for file recovery software on the internet. Then I looked over, and noticed a 2 gb card sitting on my other desk in a place where I never put memory cards. Whew!! It was the missing photos. Turned out that I had "put it in a safe place" last night when I got home, and was so tired I just forgot about that. From now on I'm sticking to the plan no matter how tired I am.

 

[David]

Lots of good stuff here. Here's a few things, well actually quite a lot of things, I would add (all based solely on a digital background). They're just my 2p on the subject....

1. As well as meeting the couple on at least two occasions, I also ask them to look through a proof album and pick out a dozen or so photos, and then tell me why they like those ones in particular. It's amazing how much information they'll give you about colours, style of photography, depth of field, framing etc. etc. This not only helps with the shots on the day, but also helps when post-processing. I also like to ask them what they want me to wear on the day. I have been to weddings where the photographer has looked like he slept the night in a gutter and stood out like a sore thumb. Not good if you're doing reportage. If everyone is in dinner jackets/morning dress and you're dressed the same, in my experience people tend to take much less notice of you. Perfect for those candid reportage shots.

2. Ask the couple if they're intending to leave disposable cameras on the tables at the reception. If not suggest it, and offer to provide the cameras and develop them at cost. This can be to your advantage - see 9 below)

3. Go and visit the locations you're going to be shooting. Spend as much time as you can wandering around the wedding location (whether church or civil) as well as the reception area. I always take my camera with me so I can take a few images to get a feel for the place, and to plan where I want to do each shot (if formal) or where I'm going to put myself (if reportage). You can check out vantage points for shooting down, and also find out where you are going to get the best lighting conditions. You can also get to know any people (especially at the reception venue) that may be involved on the day. On several occasions this has paid huge dividends for me. When visiting the locations, don't just look at the building and grounds themselves, think a bit laterally. Here's an example:

I was shooting a reportage wedding in London, where the bride and groom were pretty modern, forward thinking individuals. The civil ceremony was in an uninspiring building, with few locations for shooting outside, and nowhere to go if wet. As I wandered off from the location, just round the corner I found a two level shopping centre/mall. This had a huge glass roof, and an atrium at one end, providing loads of natural light and was weatherproof. I had a word with the centre manager and explained my ideas, and after a bit of begging, a mention of the number of people it could draw into the centre, and a promise to let him have a few photos for publicity (subject to bride/groom permission) he said yes. I then checked with the couple to make sure that they were happy with my plans, and once agreed I briefed the best man (and that is really what he can be to a photographer on the wedding day - see below). In the end the weather was fine, and I took the wedding party to the mall. I stood them all at the top of one escalator with the bride and groom in the middle and asked the couple to start down, whilst I stood at the bottom taking the photos. When they were half way down the rest of the bridal party followed and I just kept clicking away throughout. Once they were all at the bottom I gave the best man the nod, who led them on two laps of the shopping centre, during which time I ran around like a mad thing shooting from in front, behind, above and below. Once done they all stood on the ground floor, whilst I set up the camera on the first floor. I then took two shots, one at a high shutter speed freezing the bridal party, and then another with a very low shutter speed (3 secs) so that I got lots of people walking passed all blurred - I then used PS to overlay the freeze framed bridal party onto the blurred image. The couple where really pleased with the results, and I got a bit of a cash bonus.

4. The best man is correctly named. If you can get to know him before the event, and brief him on your intentions, then do so. On the day he will be ready to do anything that makes the couples day perfect, and so is usually more than happy to organise people for photos, or shuffle people onto another location.

5. If you're digital, and your camera allows, shoot RAW and Jpeg in tandem. I know you eat through the memory cards doing so, but should you get the exposure slightly wrong on a vital shot, you will be oh so greatful. I don't think there has been one wedding where I wasn't pleased to have done so. The reason for shooting the Jpeg as well, is that it makes the workflow simpler. If the Jpeg ticks all the boxes, why process the RAW file?

6. Carry some energy bars and a drink. As timings invariably slip it can be hard to find time to get anything inside yourself, and 8 hours is a long time without any sustenance.

7. Don't take on too many weddings. Do fewer better and you can charge a fee appropriate to the quality work you produce. If you shoot 1000 images at a wedding, they take an awful long time to process, and if you're shooting a wedding a week, you are going to have to cut corners to get them all done in time. Inevitably it's the product quality that suffers.

8. Never ever ever let the couple see the images until they are cropped and tweaked. Obvious you may say, but I have seen more than one photographer who have uploaded images to a website at low-res, so that the couple could see them quickly. I spoke to one couple, who came to me for advice, because not surprisingly, they were unhappy with what they saw online: people apparently standing a long way away and lots of surrounding sky and ground. I told them to speak to the photographer and ask him if he intended to crop and lighten the images. They did, and it took him a lot of persuasion and several hours at his studio before he could convince them not to take action against him. Alright they bought the album, but they decided to take the bare minimum and no extras. This links closely into no 6 above, and the moral is, you wouldn't over expose your photos, so don't over expose yourself. Quality always suffers.

9. Leave your ego at home. If the couple want to include some images taken by friends in their album then let them. You are expected to get the best shots of the day, but you can't be everywhere and someone may have got one of those special moments that you missed. If you also organised the disposable cameras you may find one or two blinding shots in amongst the tens or hundreds of blurred shots taken by small bridesmaids and other children.

10. I have in the passed suggested to the bride and groom (particularly at reportage weddings) to tell all their guests to approach me if they want a portrait of themselves/family. It only take a couple of moments and half a dozen images, and you have given yourself further sales potential from people who would normally not buy any of your images.

11. If it goes wrong be honest, and be honest quickly.

12. Above all be friendly and approachable, and enjoy yourself.

If you managed to read through that without falling asleep, then I hope that it helps.

David

 

[Pirate]

I always make sure to spend some time with who ever is officiating the wedding. I have had several let me slide on the general rules, such as flash during the service, positions during the service, and so on. It only takes a few minutes and they can help loads.

 

[Cdonovan]

oh boy...

My first wedding was for a photographer. I had chatted with her online, for quite sometime and she always admired my images. She hired me knowing it was my first wedding, but believed in me! Which was nice but also very scary!

The day went well, weather was fine, at the different locations I'd set up the laptop and download the cards, so that I wasn't worried about missing the shot cause my card was full.

The next morning the bride came to visit me at the hotel, she wanted to take a peek just to see a preview to what I had. So after looking through we realized together that all but the shots of the grooms family were there. The laptop for what ever reason hadn't recognized the shots, and wouldn't allow me to download the RAW files. (lighting was tricky at the time so to be safe I shot in RAW) Thank god for Sandisk, and the recover files program, because I got them all back when i got home.

When you have soo much going on i suggest to click on the auto white balance and shoot in raw and jpeg. Be sure that you have a clear idea of what the br&g wants...but also be true to your own creativity, chances are that's why they hired you in the first place.:mrgreen: :heart:

 

[misskitty5077]

One of my favorite shots is to catch the bride while she is getting ready. Putting on makeup, primping, jewelry or whatever doesn't matter so long as you are behind her and taking the shot in the mirror. She can be in her dress or still in her jeans. It is tricky to get her from the front and behind at the same time but it shows a lot of life and captures her excitement so well! It is especially effective if there are several people in the room getting ready that you get in the background.

 

[splauche]

Have fun with it. Of course you've got to take it seriously.....but not so much that it's no fun. Your work will blossom if you enjoy yourself.

 

[musicfun]

"Take a deep breath...they are not mad at you."

 

[ces]

Hey gang;
What a great thread! Although I have been in photography for many years, and once a videogragher for sports and production working in television and film production, I have only recorded 2 weddings and both were video, I have yet to do a still wedding. Most of all my work is in fine art form with a few special school photos, sweet 16's and senior proms etc, and by doing the weddings before, thought I would pass along my surprises. One I did, there were some celeberties there that were friends of the bride. And without knowing, I had to get a signed permission letter that contained the use for only the B and G! So, other than showing them to friends, I couldnt use them to promote myself. I have release forms already written up for basic shoots, but, after researching it, anyone can request that same thing. For whatever reason, if someone is a seceret on the run criminal that dont want to show up somewhere, to whoever. But what I did with the shoot, ws very simple;
I met with the B and G, became a friend, got to know them, went to the outside location with them, and to the inside location of the reception, figured in the time of day for the session, scoped/locked in the feature areas, found out what they were looking for; if anything specific, mastered my notes, went back for reference shots at that same time the wedding was to be, (the only difference was, it was a little overcast the day of, which was ok), shot the ceremony as it unfolded with a friend getting the B shots; the ringbearers, looks on the courts, closeups of the B and G, candles, anything to enhance the feel. Most all weddings have the same shots needed, like the rings, cake, reception, yada, but the ones that have your signature touch outside those standard shots that they are not expecting is the seperating point. Thanks for all the help this thread has provided, its in my opinion, priceless! and kudos to the one with the idea to start it!
:thumbup:

 

[rickpricemba]

Don't move around to much during the vows.

Rick

 

[nossie]

Shooting in the high sun gives you panda eyes - If you must go out into the sun like I had to at 2pm in July on the Spanish Steps in Rome, then borrow a white sheet from the hotel and 2 people to hold it over the B&G to cast a white shadow on them.