A Step by Step Wedding Guide for New Wedding Photographers
Written to help (or scare) new wedding photographers.
By Dwain Cox www.photobox54.com
So you want to be a wedding
photographer. Your friends are always complementing you on
your photographs of vacations and family reunions and your thinking, “why
not.” “I went to a wedding once, what’s
the big deal? I have a great camera
(the reviews said so) a good flash and I really would like a piece of those
wedding budget $$$.”
Note and Disclaimer: These are my notes based on my limited experience, successes and
mistakes and are in no way meant to be an accurate reflection of all weddings.
Your camera settings should be based on your style and technique and
may vary from the ones used here. I typically don’t use an assistant but always
wish I did. Any names used are purely fictional and should not be compared
to anyone actually seen doing these activities at a wedding I’ve shot.
Pre Wedding:
If you answered no to any of these questions, quick, call the bride and tell her to get someone else. As a wedding photographer, you will need to know how to do all of the above, and, do them all at the same time…quickly, changing settings to capture rapidly moving subjects doing once in a lifetime activities. Being a wedding photographer is one of the most difficult jobs a photographer can do. If you want your photographs to look much better than Uncle Henrys, you should be much better than Uncle Henry…or anyone else in the room. After all, they are paying you to get the Pro shots.
On this note, you get
what you pay for. So, if this wedding
is your first and the bride knows it, and the money is low, so is the expectation
of the bride, so some of the pressure is off. Your expectation should always be much
higher than the brides if your goal is to be a pro? What is your “Plan B” if you get sick or have
a family emergency? A prayer is good but the bride may not be the forgiving
kind. Have a second camera and someone
who can use it on stand by. Legal
situations (as in being the Defendant) should be avoided.
Preparing your Equipment: You’ve saved a lot of money and bought expensive equipment with all the bells and whistles for the creative photography you want to do. Are all of the settings still in Auto? If this is your plan, Uncle Henry will get better shots than you because he is family and everyone will have genuine smiles and relaxed body posture for his pictures with his $200 point and shoot camera, (in auto everything.) You can do better, you have to do better.
You need to be consistent
with your exposures and know why the exposure came out the way it did, make
an adjustment and not have one of the other auto camera settings cancel out
your change.
Weddings typically go
outside these limits. Every time you press down on the shutter release, the
camera’s computer is going through its checklist based on the settings you
have chosen. It sets the exposure based on what’s in the target area of the
current metering mode. This could be a black tux, a white dress or anything
in between. What about the rest of
the frame, peoples faces, the background, the foreground?
The flash uses the distance to the subject and the reflected light to judge exposure. White is much more reflective than black, the flash tends to underexpose if a lot of white is in the frame. It’s very frustrating to make a change and the exposure stays the same. I turn off all Auto features on the camera so when I make a change, I know what to expect. I also put the flash in Manual for certain types of shots, because it works better. If I’m using flash indoors, I set the Color Balance to Flash.
When shooting ambient light without flash, I use either the Tungsten or Fluorescent settings and tune the color if time allows (usually not). The auto color balance re-evaluates every shot based on the colors in the frame and is not consistent. Yes it’s a lot of changes but I feel obligated to do my best for every shot, every condition.
Manual is good.
Auto is too confusing.
Setting the Contract: Have a meeting with the
bride and groom and review exactly what you will and will not be providing.
Agree on the price, the retainer and when the payments should be made.
Agree on the place and time that you will be needed.
The receptions hardly ever end on time so you may want to add a per
hour fee incase they want to go all night.
Make a written contract. Get
this and the names, home phone, work and cell phone numbers of the B&G,
the parents, coordinator and anyone else you may need to communicate with
1 day or 1 hour before the ceremony.
The Rehearsal: Don’t like surprises, be there. Especially
at the smaller weddings and when there is no formal wedding coordinator (besides
you). You can make suggestions on
how they enter and where they stand. Chances are, this is the first wedding for most of them. Ask the bride exactly what shots she wants
during the ceremony. Use a wedding
shot list until you know what to shoot. As they take their positions, look
to see where you can stand and suggest where
they should stand so you can get those shots they want. You will need to choreograph your steps with
theirs so you don’t get in the way or get blocked. I walk through my steps of taking the photos while they are rehearsing
walking down the isle and during the exit. No surprises for me, none for them, that’s the plan.
Also confer with the officiator on any rules they may have. Sometimes you have to deal with the church
wedding lady, be nice. For some of them, it’s their way or the highway. Be Respectful of the rules and don’t tread
where you shouldn’t. Get all of this
out of the way at the rehearsal or before the ceremony. You can get some interior shots here while
you have time. Get some close ups of stained glass or other areas of interest
for the decorations section of the album.
Wedding
Day:
The Brides Dressing Room: Some do, some don’t. Explain to the bride exactly
what dressing room shots are; applying makeup, fixing the hair, fitting the
veil, lacing up the dress, putting on the garter, mom helping the bride with
the dress. It’s usually a small room,
bring a wide lens, be creative and use the mirrors.
If the walls and ceiling are white, use
bounce flash to soften the light. Make the bride the most beautiful
person there. Cell phones are very
handy to coordinate between the brides and grooms dressing rooms.
The
Grooms Dressing Room: (Hopefully close to the brides
dressing room or at least on the same floor of the hotel.) The guys are usually
cutting up, trying to hid the fact that they have no idea how to put on a
tux and it’s components. Someone’s
mom usually has to come in and help. Good candid opportunities. Pose the guys trying to keep the groom
from escaping or some other fun activity.
This is their one and only chance to be the primary subject of this
whole affair. It’s all about the bride
after this.
Pre ceremony Candids: Get
shots of the kids getting dressed, pinning on boutonnieres, the cake and reception
setups, (get a good shot of the cake, sometimes they don’t make it to the
reception). Any spare time you have
here, get some creative shots of the decorations. These can be used in collages
or for CD and album covers.
Pre Ceremony Formals: If you are planning to shoot some of the formals before the ceremony to save time between the ceremony and the reception, make sure, you get everyone’s solemn promise at the rehearsal to be at the location and dressed at exactly 1 hr and 15 minutes before the ceremony begins. The guest will start arriving about 30 minutes prior and you want to be finished by then. That gives you about 45 minutes to get the Pre formals.
The time may vary depending
on how many groups you have and how many are late, (yes some will break the
solemn promise). Get as many of the
formals here as you can. Remember; keep the bride and groom out of each other’s
sight.
Set your shutter speed to capture the ambient lighting of the room. Set your color balance to Flash. Set your camera on a tripod so the distance to the group doesn’t change. Set your flash to manual and adjust the aperture to get the correct exposure (look at your histogram, especially if your LCD screen brightness is adjustable.) If you move closer or away, change your aperture to correct the exposure. Set your flash zoom angle to cover the group.
Buy a couple of clear
plastic drops incase no one brought one for the candles.
Most churches require protection of the carpet from the dripping candle
wax and will not allow candles without the drops.
You could save the day by being prepared. Look around for rug runners
or doormats. A blue tarp is OK in emergencies, a camo or
brown one matches more carpet colors.
The Ceremony: Install
fresh batteries NOW. Up until this point, you have been in charge of the timing
between shots. The train is coming, start running or get off the track.
Your subjects will mostly be moving, check
your shutter speed and step it up to 125 or just below your flash sync speed
(you do know what that is, right?) Are you shooting jpg or RAW? You may want to switch to RAW if you are not
already there. Up until now you could
adjust and reshoot. Now, there are
no redo’s. RAW will give you a redo
in the digital darkroom for your exposure and color balance. Don’t worry about changing the Color balance settings while shooting
RAW.
Remember your positions
from the rehearsal? Go to number one now. I try to be at the front to get the party members
coming up the isle. Grandparents will
be escorted to their seats followed by the parents.
Are the mothers going to light the Unity candles? Make sure you are
in a position to get this now if possible. (Slow
down the shutter speed to get more ambient light from the candles)
Don’t think you can always pose this after the ceremony, it’s a huge rush
to get through the formals before the groomsmen start shedding their coats,
ties and cummerbunds and head for the keg.
Everyone should be walking
down the isle at a slow pace allowing your fresh batteries to fully charge
your flash before each shot. No problem. (reset your shutter speed to 125/sec) Get a shot of
each bridesmaid and the maid of honor. Now the fun part, the very young ring
bearer and the flower girl. They were
cranky at rehearsal, and now are pretty overwhelmed at all of the old people
with wrinkled faces leaning into the isle to tell them where to go. It didn’t
work at rehearsal so don’t expect them to make it all the way down the isle
and look cute for your camera. If
the wedding and reception are in the same room and the grooms Chocolate cake
is near the isle, it may be too much temptation for the ring bearer to over
come. It’s OK, you may get some really
cute shots of the ring bearer looking up the brides dress or the flower girl
taking a nap on the steps. Be ready
for anything.
Now, the wedding march
begins and here comes the bride. Get
the first shot of the bride (I try for two if possible) as she enters the
room. You may have to move a little to get within flash range,
or open the aperture, shoot, reset you aperture while returning to position
#1 without bumping into Aunt Louise who just jumped
into the isle to grab the flower girl who is chasing the ring bearer.
Now, the primary shot
of the bride. WAIT she’s wearing a
LOT of white, your flashes ETTL will be fooled by the large area of white
and cut the amount of light underexposing this critical shot. Quick, switch to Manual Flash and reset your aperture for
the correct distance to the moving bride, or increase your flash compensation
by a full stop.
Everything in the last
three paragraphs happened in about 1 to 2 minutes, so how are you doing so
far?
Keep up with the ceremony
and make sure you make it to position #3, the exit point at the end of the
isle.
Open the aperture and
shoot when your subject is about 10 ft away. The opened aperture will create
a smaller depth of field so make sure you get the distance correct. Pre focus
on one of the seats and hope they are smiling with their eyes open when they
get to your pre focused point. This helps minimizes the recycle time for your
flash so you can get more shots.
Lets see, we have one camera with a flash bracket and flash unit around your neck; about 7-10 lbs and you are going to take around 500-1000 shots today. Have you ever curled that much weight that many times in one day? Tomorrow will be a Ben Gay day. You also have a left front pocket full of fresh flash and camera batteries, a right front pocket (or is it my left) full of used flash and camera batteries, a pocket bounce in your rear pocket, your memory cards secured in your jacket pocket, lens caps, pocket change, an ink pen and some business cards located elsewhere on your body and your are attempting to walk from position to position during the ceremony discreetly and without rattling and jingling when you move. You have to really love doing this. Where did I put my camera bag? Why don’t I have an assistant?
Now it’s you and the wedding party. If the flower girl and ring bearer aren’t taking a nap or crying, get them now. Then work through the wedding party group shots and release the groomsmen, bridesmaids, ushers and the preacher. It’s time to get some shots of the B&G. Move them around to get a variety of backgrounds such as stained glass, candles, decorations and anything else interesting. Check the distance from your flash to the subject, change the aperture accordingly.
If you didn’t get any
individual shots of the Bride or Groom at the pre ceremony formals, get them
now.
The Reception:
The Reception: Have you met the DJ or bandleader?
They have the microphone and therefore make things happen according
to when someone tells them. Get in the loop. You need to know or decide when and where the activities happen.
The reception was not included in the rehearsal, The cake, the toasting
glasses, the tossing of the bouquet and garter, the first dance, the money
dance and other activities traditional to the family need to be scheduled
and started or the reception will go on forever and many of the guest will
start leaving. Stay on your toes and
communicate with the DJ and the bride about the when’s and where’s.
By the way, the B&G are right behind you waiting on their queue
to enter. Someone tell the DJ they are ready.
The B&G Entry: Ladies
and gentlemen, it’s my great pleasure and honor to present to you for the
first time anywhere, Mr and Mrs ______. Here
they come, shoot wide to get some of the guest waving and shaking hands. Here we have a lot of smiling faces, tears,
emotion, and a lot of backs of peoples heads hiding the faces. If the ceiling is
near white and less than about 12 feet high, use bounce flash to cover a greater
area and to get a softer light. This will make those fresh batteries drain
a lot faster but the photographs will be better. Don’t worry about
wasting batteries; you can still use them later for shooting portraits or
to power your IPOD or remote controls. Buy a battery tester. Bring it with
you incase you mix up the left pocket batteries with the right pocket batteries.
Reception Formals: Don’t be pushy but try to get these out of the way so everyone can relax and enjoy the rest of the events. Many of the guests are older and can’t stay very long due their health or medications. Other guest will be leaving for a variety of reasons, work, dates, babysitter, bored, no more beer or BBQ. Make sure you are the third most important person there; you need to have a clear view of the B&G during the cutting of the cake(s). Some keep it clean, but you may have to break into hot pursuit of the bride trying to get revenge for the cake all over her face.
I stop chasing at 500ft.
Besides, if we end up out side, I have to change all of my camera settings
again.
Food: Get
all of the formal reception shots before anyone drips sauce or wine on the
dresses. A chocolate fountain is a great place to get some shots of the kids
dipping the strawberries in the flowing liquid chocolate, and all over their
little faces. I like to get several
table shots before the eating starts while the tables are clean. Watch out for those mirrors on the tables,
they bounce a strong light back up into the faces if you are using a direct
flash.
Dancing: The
house lights just went down. How is your camera
with noise at ISO 800 or 1600? Get several shots of the B&G looking
into each other’s eyes and while they are talking to each other during the
dance. Do the same for the Bride and
dad, the groom and mom. You can play here, drop the shutter enough to capture the
ambient light and allow some motion blur. The flash will freeze the subject
while the ambient light on the subject shows some motion. Remember the light from the flash only last
about 1/1000 – 1/20,000 of a second depending on how close you are and the
shutter will be open for 1/5 to 1/60 of a second. You may have to change your ISO settings to get the effect you want.
Get lots of face shots of the bride, watch for the emotion.
The Guest: Get
a few shots of people talking, dancing and having fun. Anything embarrassing, illegal or that could be used in a court
of law against the wedding party members or their families should be deleted.
(This could greatly reduce the number of shots at some events.)
The Great Escape: Fresh Batteries again (5th time) If you think they were
coming down the isle fast after the ceremony, they will be all out running
this time. Birdseed, rice, bubbles, beach balls and who knows what else will
be filling the air between you and the couple during their departure. Shoot a lot and shoot fast and pray one has
both their faces visible and in focus. So, do you use a greater depth of field (higher f/stop) to
help with the focus (this uses more flash power and increased the flash cycle
time) or stay close with a wide angle for better DOF and take several shots.
Your ISO is still at 400 or 800 so that will also help on the flash recycle
time. Still thinking about that battery pack?
OK, now it’s over and I can carefully pack everything back into it’s proper place, in the camera bag I left in the chapel, which is now locked, until Monday. You’ll only do that once. My feet hurt, my suit is soaking wet from sweat and I think I’m developing a new condition, Wedding Photographers Elbow. After a few more of these, my right arm should look like Popeye’s. I’ll drive home with my only remaining arm, after I toss all my gear into the car somewhere.
As soon as possible, for
me it’s when I get home, transfer all of the images from all of the memory
cards to your computer and then burn them to a DVD. No edits, no deletes, everything. Now get some sleep.
The Next Few Days:
The Work Flow:
Create a folder on your computer titled the last name of the Groom
and the date. Under this folder, create
other folders for each part of the wedding.
Use the section titles above for a starting point. This will help you organize the large number
of photos you took.
After you have them organized;
1. Start eliminating the
bad exposures, flash misfires, and out of focus images.
You should still have all of the original images on a DVD and on your
memory cards before deleting anything. I
typically shoot multiple images of each formal group and the B&G so I
have choices for the prints.
2. Create a folder under
each of the above called Best.
3. Rotate the images so
you can view them.
4. Identify the best images.
Work through the folders one at a time. Look
for the best technically correct images and for those with story telling ability. Sometime these are not the same. The wedding photographs should make everyone
look good and tell the story of the wedding.
A great shot with action, excellent exposure, focus, good balance of
ambient light and flash but with the brides mouth contorted in mid word has
to be sent to the cutting room floor. Copy
the best images to the Best folder. These will be the ones you edit and chose
your prints from.
5. Once you have finished
organizing, rotating and choosing the best, burn another DVD.
6. Now it’s time to do
some serious editing. Crop the best images. Identify the subject of the image
and crop to eliminate the distractions or anything that doesn’t complement
the image. Don’t crop too close to peoples faces unless
their skin can hold up to close inspection.
Find out who paid for the wedding and your fees and treat them well.
7. Select the best of
the best and copy them to a folder called Prints.
8. Select the ones you
like for 8x10’s. Now do some of your digital darkroom magic
like cropping and custom editing, touching up skin blemishes, cloning to remove
or cover distracting components, vignettes, borders etc.
9. Finished?
DVD.
10. Get your prints made
from a printer who has consistent results.
No point in spending several days editing and tweaking and have the
new lab tech process everything on Auto, making unmonitored adjustments on
your adjustments. Does the tech know if the chemicals are fresh and the temperature
is correct? Does he care?
11. Delivery.
Take your time to get everything right.
You are not the 1-hour photographer.
3-6 weeks is totally acceptable as long as the work is worth the wait. Some brides have an album, some don’t. If you are delivering prints only, place then
in a nice gift box, not the envelopes from the printer. The delivery or presentation of the wedding
photographs should be special.
12. If additional prints
are purchased, have the bride take all of the orders and collect the money.
Still want to play? It’s a lot more work than most people know,
especially new wedding photographers.