My plan is to shoot weddings mainly for the income as its the most highest paying where i live, christenings, fashion and do various photoshooting projects.
Here's a quick list of things:
1) Business before photography. You'll hear this from professionals on this forum. I know this first-hand. Various friends, and various family members, have all hired photographers based on factors other than their portfolios (a portfolio still matters of course). For example, an aunt and uncle of mine hired a family photographer based on her popularity, high booking cost, difficulty to book, reputation, and specialization. She specialized in family photography, was really hard to book, cost quite a lot, and she produced TERRIBLE images. She was doing something right, but it wasn't her photos. The same happened for my girlfriend's cousin's wedding... terribly out of focus photos that were composed alright, but overall poorly done stuff... but the business end was solid. My girlfriend's sister's wedding was done well, but it was mostly in photoshop after the fact; everything about it was just alright, but they threw on complicated and fairly well done edits in photoshop... kind of like a great sauce on an okay dish.
2) Two cameras, minimum. If you are solo shooting, you *need* two cameras. Ideally there should be a couple people shooting, but you need a backup.
3) The pros use full frame cameras at weddings. A smaller format can work just fine, but you *will* be compromising quality in one way or another if you don't choose full frame.
4) Some pros use primarily or exclusively prime lenses. I think that takes a lot of balls, and a specific style. I think you should have a 24-70 f2.8 lens for weddings, a 70-200 f2.8 lens, and if you are able to compose properly with it, an ultrawide as well. A macro lens is very important. Everything else is supplementary, but a 35 1.4 or 50 1.4 would be very useful.
I'll give some examples of usage:
- ultrawide for the dance floor
- 70-200 for many different purposes, including shots in the church/wherever
- 24-70 for varying situations
- macro for flower shots, ring shots, etc
- fast prime for certain situations that you want more bokeh, or need more light
5) At least a couple speedlights, plus additional lighting equipment.
For example, a wedding I was at was shot like this:
- 3 people shot the wedding
- 2 people were shooting the getting-ready stuff
- 1 was on video throughout the wedding, 2 were shooting from different angles during the actual ceremony
- 2 people went out to the beach between the ceremony and the party to do golden hour shots... they needed at least their 24-70 and 70-200, and a couple of speedlights with proper umbrellas and such
- 2 people shot from about 7:30pm to midnight, they needed their 70-200 and 24-70 and flashes to get all the action including everyone mingling, then the bride and groom and the bride/groom party coming in to their table which is a big moment, etc...
- 2 people continued to shoot everything going on, they needed the 70-200 to take shots of speeches
- 2 people continued to shoot when dancing went on, they mostly used flashes and ultrawide lenses
- They had a photo booth going on set up automatically, extra charge and all that
6) It's just ****ing expensive to get all the gear you need, and get all the business down... but with proper gear, good skill, and the business end done properly, theoretically you should do well. You need to think about lots of various business costs which I hear can be quite cumbersome, and little costs like extra batteries, bags, memory cards, extra hard drives, etc.
