I have a good problem. I recently purchased a 5D3 and a 70-200 iii lens. My pictures have been gaining a lot of traction just being shared around social media (I shoot car/motorsports photos).
I’ve had a few people ask about shooting weddings already, but I’m not prepared.
- What lenses do you primarily shoot with at weddings? I for sure will not be able to use my current 70-200 in most situations.
- Any advice over using flash? It’ll be an entirely new concept to me. Luckily a flash came with my 5D.
- General Advice? Things you wish you knew when starting out with wedding gigs?
- What to charge?
Thank you!
1: Get a 24-70 to go with the 70-200. You will also want a macro lens for the detail photos.
2: Learn how to bounce flash, use a diffuser, as well as gelling and balancing flash with ambient. Strobist is a good resource, and there are lots of vids on YouTube to help.
3: Make sure you are ready for doing one time events. There are no re-do’s. You have to be confident that you can get the shot in any lighting while under a lot of stress. Second shooting for an established wedding photographers is probably the best advice I can give though. There you will learn how a wedding works and the flow of events as well as what things are needed and what are not.
4: That’s up to you. If you don’t know what others in your region are charging you need to do more research.
There are no re-do’s… This is almost the sole reason I stopped doing weddings. I always did them solo, and got the job done. But, the pressure I felt / put on myself to not miss the important shots, was too much. Now, I shoot sports. There is always another game.
If you want to move into shooting weddings, then the best advice is to assist or second-shoot for an established wedding photographer. It’s the best way to learn the ropes and get a feel for how they work and what’s expected without having the pressure of being ultimately responsible for delivering the final results.
That’s like saying, I ride a bike well and people really dig me on social media. If I buy a car can I race in the Indy 500? You have no idea what it takes to shoot weddings. The expectations are incredible. I applaud your inquiry. At this point you don’t know what you don’t even know.
50 mm 1.8 or something like that works well inside to shoot with.
Lots of good advice here already…
I’ve shot about 40 weddings myself after 5 unpaid second shooter gigs… You need to be a second shooter so you know where to be at all times during the ceremony and there are many must have shots during the bride prep and reception you MUST get, and you really need to see and do it instead of watching a video.
Your 70-200 will be vital. All ceremonies are dimly lit. You’ll mainly want to use it for bokeh shots at all events. A mid range zoom you’ll need too. Brides like detail shots like jewelry, shoes, something borrowed something blue etc so you need a macro or 85mm 1.4. You could do a wedding with one midrange zoom, but you’ll want a long lens and a macro for more quality bokeh shots.
One thing to do is ask for reenactments if you miss events. Often the pastor won’t let you close to the ceremony and its already in dim light anyway. Ask for ring and kiss shots if you don’t get good shots during the ceremony.
This is a great book to study Wedding Photography: The Complete Guide: Cleghorn, Mark: 9781861084590: Amazon.com: Books with checklists of must have shots.
When you say “good enough to shoot weddings”, well what wedding experience have you had?
Weddings aren’t about pretty photos. It’s a real challenge and exhausting. Ask anyone that photographs weddings regularly like I do as a full time photographer. I wouldn’t even think about shooting a wedding until you’ve second shot at least 6-8 weddings under your belt with different photographers for a few months. You NEED to second shoot for a while to get used to what a wedding day is like. It’s important to see how others work, how they interact with guests and clients, how they handle challenging situations or random issues. When I first began in my career I helped 4 different photographers in 11 weddings for about 8 months before I shot solo. This defined my skills and career by shaping my knowledge of getting lots of weddings under my belt. I think it should be a requirement because photographing someone’s wedding is one of the hardest and most pressing jobs ever.
It’s why lots of beginner photographers only last 1-2 years in the wedding industry. It is not for the faint of heart, it truly is a whole world full of challenges. Dealing with rude clients, issues, people being uncommunicative, awkward clients who don’t pose well, people not taking you seriously, horrible lighting or weather, horrible venues or locations that aren’t scenic, crap happens all the time on weddings and you have to be quick on your feet to come up with solutions in the moment to please family or the bride/groom, editing hundreds and hundreds of images, having professionalism, being calm and respectful under stress, running around all day and trying not to forget anything, remembering to drink water making a timeline, etc. The entire process is tough from the inquiry to delivering the photos. And even after some clients like to complain just to complain and will make your life tough because they aren’t satisfied with their body or appearance. In and on and on… I would recommend this industry unless you truly want to give up your weekends with friends, your partner, family to be completely exhausted and frustrated because that’s the reality. I’ve been in this industry for 12 years and see posts like yours all the time. I say the same advice to every beginner!
Again, do not shoot solo until you’ve gotten some experience shooting for a few months for multiple weddings with multiple photographers.
This. All of this. 150% what was said.
Weddings aren’t portraits with perfect studio lighting. It’s not just about having the right gear; you need 2 of everything. 2 cards per camera. 2 cameras per photographer. 2 photographers.
You need to learn how to deal with an angry, chaotic, stressed bride that’s been looking forward to this special day all of her life. She wants everything perfect… or else. If you don’t get the right pose/picture that she didn’t tell you she wanted, you’ll ruin everything until her next marriage.
Be prepared for weeks of planning and 10 hours of being at the venue trying to herd cats for posed pictures. Be prepared to have a meal waiting in your car because you’re not a “guest” so they didn’t count you in for catering.
Like what was said. Be a second for a wedding photographer to learn everything about shooting a wedding that isn’t photography.
You’d need a 24-105 mm F4:lens if you don’t want to swap out to use your 70-200 also. Else two cameras for two lenses. Then you have the 85 -105mm focal lengths for portrait shoots, just make sure the subject isn’t against a close background to get bokeh. Or buy both 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 lenses.
You said you have a flash but if it’s an on camera flash that’s a terrible one to use. You need a TTL flash that you can diffuse the light, point at ceilings, walls or behind you and if you can afford one get a high speed one. You don’t want the flash directly in people’s faces. You’ll end up with harsh pictures . And do a lot of practicing with it because you need to be shooting on manual mode ane you want the flash on auto with manual power to be able to take the constantly changing subjects moving around.
If you want to learn to shoot events, do it at friends, tamily or whatever for a while. Do not do it for a wedding. It’s their once in a lifetime photos and you can totally screw it up.
Or better yet go work for somebody to learn the ropes. If you’ve noticed at weddings, there’s usually two photographers taking pictures.
- My most commonly used wedding lenses: 24-70 2.8, 70-180 2.8, and a 50 1.2. Other lenses that I bring out periodically: 17-28 2.8, 24 1.8, 85 1.4, and a 100 2.8 macro.
- Embrace it and learn it inside and out. How you adapt to the blackholes weddings throw at you is what can set you apart.
- Be legit. Have back up gear. Back up the data.
- 2nd shoot or assist for a couple of weddings first.