Photographing Weddings

photosbydanij · Oct 30, 2012

Hello, this is my first post here so forgive me if I'm not in the right sub-forum.

I shoot portraiture, mostly of children, newborns and maternity, however I have a repeat client who is getting married in April and very much wants me to photograph their wedding for them. The wedding is not until 5pm and my biggest concern is for lighting. For those who photograph weddings, what kind of equipment do you usually bring with you? Is there anything I should know before I make my decision as to whether or not I will do it for them. I have already told him that I have not done a wedding before, but that I would do some research and get back to him. IF I am going to do it for them, I need to make sure that I can do it right and give them quality photographs that will live up to my standards.

gsgary · Oct 30, 2012

If you have to ask your not up to the task

MLeeK · Oct 30, 2012

Shooting a wedding is absolutely NOTHING like shooting a portrait. It's full on high pressure from start to finish. There is no margin for error and little to no time for chimping your exposures. You will be having to make exposure in the worst possible conditions-full on sunlight, a dark church, back lit... Everything from a dungeon to spotted sunlight to full on glare. You will have to know posing for every body type within the same image, how to flatter the bride AND the bridesmaids at the same time. You'll need to be able to shoot everything from a panoramic to a telephoto zoom with an aperture of f/2.8 constant minimum. A few good primes are not a bad idea too. You will shoot in conditions ranging from relaxed and similar to a portrait session for a little while to a literal dead run-all while making sure your exposure and focus is spot on.
And underneath all of that you had better know how to get proper exposure along with proper focus and depth of field by using your split second reflexes.
You will also need to make sure you have excellent indemnity insurance and a rock hard contract for weddings.
Equipment wise you will need 2 professional grade bodies; a 70-200 f/2.8 and a 24-70 f/2.8 with backups of some sort for both of those. A couple of good primes are really nice to have for the portraiture part of it. A minimum of one good dedicated speedlite and a modifier for it. Off camera setup and knowledge with that speedlite is HIGHLY recommended. Reflectors and preferably a strobe setup of some sort are HIGHLY recommended as well.

POrtrait work is very controlled and you can relax and take that shot two or three times. Wedding work you get one shot. THat's it and it's The. Most. Important. Photograph of those people that they will ever have taken. If you make a mistake it can cost you EVERYTHING. Literally. Not to mention break a bride and groom's heart. Wedding photography is not for the faint of heart. If you are a high pressure performer? It might just be for you-but only if you know your camera work inside and out.

manaheim · Oct 30, 2012

Can I just copy and paste some other "omg don't do weddings!" thread into this one and then we can lock it after?

SCraig · Oct 30, 2012

manaheim said:
Can I just copy and paste some other "omg don't do weddings!" thread into this one and then we can lock it after?

That would be my recommendation as well. Your only problem is going to be figuring out which one.

gsgary · Oct 30, 2012

manaheim said:
Can I just copy and paste some other "omg don't do weddings!" thread into this one and then we can lock it after?

You will be busy for the next year if you do

KmH · Oct 30, 2012

In April, sunset will be after 7:45 PM in Dallas. - Sunrise and Sunset for U.S.A. – Texas – Dallas – April 2013

Here is for San Antonio - Sunrise and Sunset for U.S.A. – Texas – San Antonio – April 2013

OLDSKEWL · Oct 30, 2012

Jeez. There are more relaxed wedding scenarios where the bride and groom are looking for more of a deal from a friend kind of service, or shoot it as a wedding gift kind of thing. Not every wedding is so high pressure. Everybody has to start someplace before taking on more serious events where they will want to chop off your head if every shot is not perfect. As long as there is a mutual understanding before hand.

MLeeK · Oct 30, 2012

I THINK I found your website and facebook. You have some good, basic solid images there. Your newer stuff is solidly consistent with good color, focus and exposure. You seem to do more child and newborn and your weakest images are in your families and groups-you need to step those up for a wedding. Overall I'd venture to guess you could do it with your skills.
As for equipment if you don't have it, you can rent.
Pressure-If you aren't comfortable with it even the most laid back wedding is still a lot of pressure if it's not your thing. If it's a WEDDING it's a LOT of pressure. I'll stand by my description on the pressure. You have to be prepared for the worst. Even bridezillas often CLAIM to not want much and to be easy and laid back... Then you get there and OH MY GOD... This is their wedding day, you have internal pressure there-you know you don't want to screw it up and that can make it hell if you don't like pressure.

photosbydanij · Oct 30, 2012

Wow, and here I thought I might actually get a little bit of support around here. I asked a simple question, not for reply after reply of basic berating. I turn down weddings every day; the ONLY reason I told this particular person that I would look into and get back to him is because I know that it will be very low-key and I personally know most of the people who will be in the wedding party. I have some event experience, but I do try to avoid it.

In the end, I was 98% certain that I would tell them no for the exact reasons that many of you mentioned (inexperienced, important event, no redos, etc) but I did want to look into it before giving a solid answer. I thought I was pretty clear that I was only thinking about it, not that I was for sure going to do it and that the whole thing was very much up in the air still. Obviously, I'm not super comfortable with doing a wedding or I wouldn't be here asking for your ADVICE.

Do any of you know a wedding photographer who never had to shoot their first wedding? Again, I made it very clear to him that IF, and I emphasized "IF" I did it, it would be my first. I have been nothing but honest with them and, like I said, probably was never going to do it anyway. I owed it to them, as a friend, to look into the feasibility of it and then match that up with my comfort level and decide from there.

Thanks for your help. And for those who actually WERE helpful without being rude, thank you, really.

pixmedic · Oct 30, 2012

typically, a photographer that wants to get into weddings works with an established wedding photographer as a second shooter in order to learn the flow of weddings. that's the best way to do it I think. it gives you a chance to learn weddings without much of the pressure. not that you HAVE to do it that way...but it IS much easier, has a much better learning curve, and leads to fewer ulcers. I envy you though, I sure wish I could be turning down weddings every day.

SCraig · Oct 30, 2012

photosbydanij said:
... Do any of you know a wedding photographer who never had to shoot their first wedding? ....

Nope. But I know very few who shot their first alone. I know even fewer who shot their first alone and were successful. The majority apprentice with another photographer and shoot second-camera for a few to understand what's going on. That's what I did anyway.

photosbydanij · Oct 30, 2012

Thank you. I really am not looking to get into weddings at this time, but if I ever decide that it is something I'm interested in, I will find a local wedding photographer to work with until I am comfortable on my own. It really is something that feels too high-risk for me, but I did want to know what it would take to do a wedding should I ever seriously entertain the idea. Thank you for your thoughts. As far as this particular wedding, I will be telling them that I cannot do it. The equipment I would need to rent would drive up my fee far past what I would be comfortable asking, given the situation. I have a very high standards and I criticize my own work far more than anyone else every could, which is why I needed to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I could do a wedding and have it be amazing. I am not at that point right now and seeing all of the extra equipment I would need really drives that home for me.

SCraig · Oct 30, 2012

photosbydanij said:
Thank you. I really am not looking to get into weddings at this time, but if I ever decide that it is something I'm interested in, I will find a local wedding photographer to work with until I am comfortable on my own. It really is something that feels too high-risk for me, but I did want to know what it would take to do a wedding should I ever seriously entertain the idea. Thank you for your thoughts. As far as this particular wedding, I will be telling them that I cannot do it. The equipment I would need to rent would drive up my fee far past what I would be comfortable asking, given the situation. I have a very high standards and I criticize my own work far more than anyone else every could, which is why I needed to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I could do a wedding and have it be amazing. I am not at that point right now and seeing all of the extra equipment I would need really drives that home for me.

In that case you really, really need to find a wedding photographer in your area and see if they are interested in an intern. I was fortunate enough to work at a camera shop when I was young, and the owner was a wedding photographer. I shot second for him a number of times and then later shot a couple on my own. I decided it wasn't something I wanted to do for a living and took a different career path. That was 40-odd years ago and I never regretted my decision.

Some love it, some hate it, some just do it for the income. If you really think it's something that you'd like to do then go for it, but my recommendation would be that you do so only after you've got a few second-shooter jobs under your belt.

Edit ... I forgot to mention that I think your ethics are first-rate. As MLeeK stated below, we see this so often that we are conditioned to blow it off as another noob professional. Keep that attitude and you'll do well.

MLeeK · Oct 30, 2012

photosbydanij said:
Wow, and here I thought I might actually get a little bit of support around here. I asked a simple question, not for reply after reply of basic berating. I turn down weddings every day; the ONLY reason I told this particular person that I would look into and get back to him is because I know that it will be very low-key and I personally know most of the people who will be in the wedding party. I have some event experience, but I do try to avoid it.

In the end, I was 98% certain that I would tell them no for the exact reasons that many of you mentioned (inexperienced, important event, no redos, etc) but I did want to look into it before giving a solid answer. I thought I was pretty clear that I was only thinking about it, not that I was for sure going to do it and that the whole thing was very much up in the air still. Obviously, I'm not super comfortable with doing a wedding or I wouldn't be here asking for your ADVICE.

Do any of you know a wedding photographer who never had to shoot their first wedding? Again, I made it very clear to him that IF, and I emphasized "IF" I did it, it would be my first. I have been nothing but honest with them and, like I said, probably was never going to do it anyway. I owed it to them, as a friend, to look into the feasibility of it and then match that up with my comfort level and decide from there.

Thanks for your help. And for those who actually WERE helpful without being rude, thank you, really.

Don't let our answers get under your skin too much. We see posts every day where it's "I bought a DSLR and now I am shooting a wedding on Saturday, what should my settings be." And then they shoot the wedding and come back and we get the post "My shots are blurry, how do I fix that?" Your post is NOT the norm.
It's kind of like Pavlov's dog... We respond based on what we've learned over the years.
We also hear about all of the lawsuits from those who aren't doing their homework first and it affects those of us who do shoot weddings greatly. Just like everything else we're worried about the state of the industry and what may happen next, how it affects our bottom line and life's blood..