Wedding Photography

[D-50]

Shutter to speak makes a great point there are ways to find people who are not looking to pay alot for a wedding photographer and its a great way to get experience and develop your own portfolio. I have done a couple very small weddings and am developing a portfolio to use in the future and charge much more. A great thing about the type of people who pay 200-400 dollars for a wedding is they are not looking for professional result. I try my best to deliver the best possible results but when you charge 2000 or more your client will expect the best and without experience it may be difficult to deliver results they expect. Like in anything you have to pay your dues. Work under a pro and learn, book small weddings and events for cheap money but great expereince, do some reading, talk with people in the industry, take a class, and just keep on shooting, develop your own style, when your confident you can deliver great results go for the bigger gigs. Also as for only making 300 dollars for a day of work give me a break. Thats a decent amount of money and I know there is a lot of post processing time, but I assume most of us here enjoy photography and getting 300 to shoot for 6-8 hours and then process for a couple more isn't bad. Just dont work on your own stuff for a night ad process your assignment.

 

[emogirl]

I have been a wedding photographer for over 13 years..i have shot Hundreds of weddings and the #1 thing is....its not just about taking a good image!

There are so many more factors that are involved....juggling crowds, organizing families and 'uncle joe' trying to get his shot, brides and mothers not getting along, bridesmaids from hell and you will inevitably have to pin on a corsage, take extra wedding party in your car cuz they ran out room, keep bridezilla calm and in between all that, you must not miss the most important shots...you have short windows of opportunity, adn once they are gone, they are gone. Your bride/groom and their families will look to you with a zillion questions on their wedding day, becasue you have 'seen it all' and no what should go where. You will not only be the photographer...you'll be the wedding planner guiding them thru their day.....


You need reliable equipment and plenty of backup equipment as well...you must be able to take control of the crowd quickly, efficiently and politely, you have to make poeple laugh and smile even when its 110degrees and they are in 15lbs of dress and tux and the wedding party just wants to go get drunk.

And lastly, you must be confident in your work....you cant look at each image after you take it to 'see if you got the shot'....(ive seen photogs with digi doing that....how confident would you be in yoiur photog if you saw him/her doing that????)

No, being a wedding photographer is not just about being a good photographer...its about time management, people management & photography. So, if you are a people person, and you can handle those stresses....give it a whirl, start small, do family stuff...give it a whiz bang!

 

[DocFrankenstein]

now emogirl does sound like someone who've been throguh the whole thing

 

[mysteryscribe]

Being in the business is less about the image than it is about the business but......

The big BUT...

You have to produce quality images of everything you set up to shoot. NOt award wining images, but quality images.

As the ladies said its alot about advertising (you are going to run out of friends and family quickly)... It's about closing the sale when they get then in front of you...... Its about scheduling your time.... It's about equipment YOU are comfortable with and you KNOW works.... Its about being able to say sure with a smile when you are shooting the bride with a friend for the 200th time.... It's about working when everyone else is having fun... Its about lousy wedding punch....It's about constantly second guessing your price structure... its about blood pressure that goes through the room by midnight.... Then is might be about AA meetings after you relieve the stress one time too many.... Bride's mothers who suddenly act hinky when they weigh that check against those few pictures.... The bride who doesn't realize she isn't paying you enough to make her beautiful in everyshot....

But... Again with the but...

It's also about being your own boss.... About the validation you get from someone writing you a check for what you created.... The inevitable "You are the best photographer I ever met."

So there is good and there is bad in the wedding business. There are also ups and downs. You'll have good years and you'll have not so good years... You grow till you get more work than you feel you want to do, back off and find next year you aren't doing enough....

All in all wedding photography is FRUSTRATING and not for the weak of heart. But

There is that but again.... I did it as part of my business for over thirty years, so if I can Do it, so can you. But please prepare for it don't go wing it.

 

[SHUTTERtoSPEAK]

mysteryscribe said it best with "Don't go wing it".
Everything is about pre-planning. The more you plan ahead, the better the results. This goes with everything from sports to work and even to photography. Find out what as much as you can about their wedding (# of people in the party, dress and tux colors, flower colors, ceremony-reception and photo locations, etc...) and then do your research.
If you have no clue where the places are then take a trip there beforehand and even get some test shots and test exposure readings. Also, look at nice locations and good places to serve as backdrops and even sit back and think about posing.
When you plan like that then everything will just fall into place and you will have a great time shooting the wedding!