Wedding Photography - where to start?

BarryG

BarryG

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Morning all,

I really want to get into wedding photography and I'm looking for advice where to start.

About 18 months ago I did my first one. I was sole photographer but on a very casual basis. The bride and groom didn't want a photographer, but seeing as I was a guest they asked if I could take some. Medium success, few good shots. Bride and groom happy.

About 2 months ago I had the same situation, bride and groom didn't want a photographer and asked me if I wouldn't mind. Better success, bride and groom very pleased.

Last weekend I shot my 3rd wedding. I attended as a guests and there was a pro photographer this time. The results? Amazing (if I do say so myself!).

I really want to do this properly now.

I've emailed some local photographers and asked if they could use a second photographer ... most ignored the email, but a few wrote back telling basically to **** off. Why would they train someone who will ultimately compete with them. Which I kind of understand.

Are there any wedding photographers who could share their experiences and help me get on my way?
 
work out of area, I assist a guy in north devon bout an hour and a half away - we don't compete

find a good course (you learn stuff you don't learn assisting)


assist a few photographers if pos to get a feel for different approaches and build your style

buy some decent kit

have a plan for breaking any component and decide what is acceptable to be ****ed if you break/ what you can carry on without
 
The other option which is not always popular is to offer your services FOC or very cheap for a few weddings to help build your portfolio up. If you do this you need to be selective about the weddings you take on but it can be a great way of learning the ropes with slightly less pressure.

Once you've done that your ready to go!
 
You got any images to post up, lots of pro togs on here, will be able to help if they see your images. This topic gets covered so many times on here. I am not a pro tog but its my hobby only, i sometimes go with my friend who is pro for free and when i watch him, he really knows the score.I do not want to be rude but 3 weddings is nothing. You need to be able to handle very difficult situations, proper training is needed.
 
I'll put some pictures up tomorrow.

I know 3 weddings isn't enough, but it's enough to get me very interested. More practice required.

There is some great advice here, so thank you very much.
 
I agree with Joshua, be honest with your clients about your experience and charge accordingly. And the end of the day a service/product is worth what ever people are willing to pay for it.

Without seeing any pictures i cant really know but...

If you have the natural talent and good technical intelligence i wouldn't see training/courses/apprenticeships as a necessity per se. It depends on your environment though to be fair.
Where i live 99.9% of the population wouldnt pay more than £500 for a wedding tog. Infact if you did, people would say, "oooh look at them bein' all posh". I bought my first dSLR 3 weeks ago and i've already had wedding offers:LOL: Some people would be happy with any thing thats noticeably better that a P&S.
But if you live somewhere affluent where people are happy to pay 1k+ for a wedding tog, then they are gonna want pro equipment plus either a few certificates or years of experience.

What im trying to say is its all fair game, dont worry about stepping on toes or thinking you have to make big rights of passages or paying dues. I respect the fact that pro photographers have done the hard work and had the experience to get to where they are. But that doesnt limit what you can do. If you shoot a good wedding then just get out there and let people know. Make some money, you might be better than half the pros anyway.

If your photos turn out to be c**p then im gonna look a right idiot:bonk:

Art
 
All good advice, as said try out of area photographers, yes you'll have to travel, but they will be less worried by somebody 50 or 100 miles away than another competitor 4 streets away.
There are wedding courses, I haven't tried them personally but some people claim to have learnt a lot from them.
Do make it plain to any new customers that you haven't got much experience (and get a contract sorted to cover yourself) in this compensation culture we live in you might come unstuck otherwise.
 
Barry I am the same as yourself was asked to do a friends wedding, to be honest at the time was scared out of my wits but as the day progressed started to really enjoy it. Have done a few weddings on word of mouth for nothing. Have recently started charging minimum amount and have a few bookings. I will be the first to admit I still have alot to learn but I am honest with anyone who makes any enquires about what experience I have.
 
If you want to get in as much practice as possible to get your photography skills up to speed then consider getting some TFP models down to the local park and in a wedding type venue and try shooting some good shots of them. I know it's not going to help you with the routine of a wedding but it'll get you more experience of using your camera in different lighting conditions. Learn how to balance aperture, shutter speed and ISO to get the right results. Learn how to use off camera flash. learn how to pose people and how to interact with them to get them doign what you want them to do.

Once you can confidently do all that will a model then you'll have that basic photography knowledge there to be able to cope with the basics of shooting a wedding and you can concentrate on other things like moving round a church during a ceremony without being noticed and getting in the right position to get the best shots for the first dance.

I've had a look at your thread with your wedding photos in and they do look like snaps from a guest so if you can follow my advice you'll have the confidence to take professional looking photos as the main tog.
 
I can't understand why people feel they need to 2nd tog to start out in wedding photography. I completely agree that it is immensely helpful and a very good way to learn. But assisting at a wedding isn't a masterclass in wedding photography or a workshop. No pro is going to tell you what shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, lighting you should be using, yes they may guide you but they won't spoon feed you. Given the wealth of resources out there, I think photography is a relatively easy subject to pick up. It just requires lots and lots of practice. I always advocate that you can learn exposure from sitting in your living room and practise exposing various objects. That will teach the principles. To gain experience in putting those principles into practise is where your entrepreneurial mind should be applied. Find any events going on in your area and offer to photograph for free or a very very small fee (e.g expenses). This will give you exposure to people and a real life situation for you to apply your skills in. Once you are confident in getting exposure, focus, flash right, you can start to pick up the low budget (even free) photography bookings. As long the client knows the risks of using you and is happy, its good experience that should be taken up. Combine all that with the ability to take on and learn from harsh but good criticism, you should be on your way.

I know my post may come across as a rant, its just written really quickly. I don't mean any offence to anyone and people are ofcourse welcome to differ from my opinion. This is how I did it and I am pleased to say that I am onto my 20th paid event since starting out in Sept 2009.

Best of luck (y)
 
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Hi,

I'd advise asking a friendly couple to see if they are willing to pose for you. Take them out to a picturesque place if you can, and just keep shooting, play with your settings, see what works, what doesn't.

The do it again if you can with different light.

If you get a booking (probably through friends etc) then set their expectations first. Take spare batteries and cards, and if you can, take two bodies ready to go with lenses.

Take a friend to keep an eye out for candids whilst your busy shooting. Keep the shutter speeds as quick as you can, and don't be too worried about noise - better to get the sharpness first. I rarely close my aperture (steady !) more than F5 unless there's something really particular that needs it.

There's loads of competition out there too - so might be worth specialising in a particular type or business style. And look out for "Uncle Bob !" PM me if you've got any specific questions if you prefer, we all had to start somewhere !

Hope that helps !:)
 
hsuffyan said:
I can't understand why people feel they need to 2nd tog to start out in wedding photography. I completely agree that it is immensely helpful and a very good way to learn. But assisting at a wedding isn't a masterclass in wedding photography or a workshop. No pro is going to tell you what shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, lighting you should be using, yes they may guide you but they won't spoon feed you. Given the wealth of resources out there, I think photography is a relatively easy subject to pick up. It just requires lots and lots of practice. I always advocate that you can learn exposure from sitting in your living room and practise exposing various objects. That will teach the principles. To gain experience in putting those principles into practise is where your entrepreneurial mind should be applied. Find any events going on in your area and offer to photograph for free or a very very small fee (e.g expenses). This will give you exposure to people and a real life situation for you to apply your skills in. Once you are confident in getting exposure, focus, flash right, you can start to pick up the low budget (even free) photography bookings. As long the client knows the risks of using you and is happy, its good experience that should be taken up. Combine all that with the ability to take on and learn from harsh but good criticism, you should be on your way.

I know my post may come across as a rant, its just written really quickly. I don't mean any offence to anyone and people are ofcourse welcome to differ from my opinion. This is how I did it and I am pleased to say that I am onto my 20th paid event since starting out in Sept 2009.

Best of luck (y)
Click to expand...

I'll second this. Not sure everyone will agree to this, but rant or not some good points well made.
 
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