👰🏻♀️🤵🏻♂️If what you are looking for is information about wedding Photography, In this link you have the most complete mega guide to start as a professional (from the photographic part to the marketing strategy).
I would go so far as to say that the best advice I can give you if you have received the Great news that you are going to be the official wedding photographer of your best friend, or your cousin, or your neighbor and always after the basic advice: breathe, breathe, breathe, try to convince him to find a professional , or at least make it clear that you are not, that you will do everything you can for them, but that you, at the moment, are nothing professional… After all those basic tips, the great advice to get out quite gracefully at weddings in 70% of the photos are: look for the details.
Why? Well, because a wedding is prepared from millions of details, from a lot of dedication towards them, from a lot of hours, from tests, from searching and above all from a lot of love and enthusiasm. So the best gift you can give to the couple that is getting married is to recognize them and help them to immortalize their effort and dedication to each one of them. That said, let’s see how we can succeed in the face of such a gigantic challenge 😉
- tie all the ends
- Look for inspiration online
- Leave home with 10 photographs in your head
- Check the settings before you start
- Take advantage of natural light
- Play with depth of field
- Choose a semi-manual mode
- take care of the composition
- Establish a center of interest
- photograph everything
- Put on some comfortable shoes
- Be creative
Before starting
Since you will not only go to photograph the details of the wedding but you will also have to be attentive to the great moments of the ceremony, before showing up there completely nervous, take a look at the following articles:
And if you really took a liking to photographing weddings, you could take a look at this: The complete guide to start as a professional wedding photographer (step by step)
1. Tie all the loose ends
Be sure to bring everything you might need and more. It is better than on, that surely what you do not need someone will keep it in a safe place and not that you get there and half of the things are missing. To get started make sure:
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- carry the well charged batteries (at least 2) and it is worth taking the charger too.
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- Multiple memory cards: As comfortable as the large capacity ones are, the truth is that they have a major drawback, if they fail you lose neither more nor less than all the photos. It is better to carry several of smaller capacity and be careful with them when storing them.
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- The brightest target that you can get The brighter (lower f values) the more freedom we have when working in low light without the need to use a flash and it also allows us to work with very little depth of field, which you will see works very well for details.
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- Two bodies and two goals: Okay, maybe you don’t have two bodies, but maybe you do, maybe by now you’ve thrown away your first SLR camera out of necessity or on a whim 😉 and you have it dead of disgust in some box, or maybe not, that you really don’t have more than one, but I don’t think you don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a SLR and can lend it to you for a day. It’s super comfortable and opens up a world of artistic possibilities for you to carry two cameras with different focal lengths to be quick and agile and not miss a shot.
- Flash: The best results, especially if we are not lighting experts, are usually achieved by working with natural light, but sometimes we have no choice but to use the flash. If you have an external flash, welcome. If not, we will pray that you have enough light, the one from the camera usually gives somewhat disappointing results.
2. Look online for inspiration for wedding details
There are people who do authentic wonders, so many that they even make you want to get married just to hire them 😉 Take a walk through specialized websites, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. to find inspiration. No one is born knowing, and photography in the end is a language, which allows you to do almost anything if you master it.
3. Leave home with 10 wedding detail photos on your mind
The first time you do something and under so much pressure, it’s easy to get stuck, get nervous and don’t see how to start. If you have done your homework and searched for some inspiration online, surely you have seen at least 10 photographs that have fascinated you. Well, keep them in your mind, on paper, or on your Smartphone, wherever you want, but learn them well, because it’s your insurance to boot. And once you start with a few, there will be no one to stop you 😉 Starting is always the hardest thing.
4. Check the settings before you start
make sure you have lowest possible ISO depending on the circumstances (remember that the higher the ISO, the more noise in the image), but at the same time make sure that you are not getting shaken or jerky. Ideally, you work with a minimum speed slightly higher than the focal length of your lens. That is, if you have a 50mm, with a speed of 1/60s, unless you have a very bad pulse or what you photograph is moving, it will be enough to freeze the movement. It may not be very scientific but it is easy to remember and usually works well 😉
5. Take advantage of natural light
It is, without a doubt, your best asset. Natural light is the one that will give you the best results, so when you enter any room hunting and capture a good image, look at where the light comes from, where would be the best place to place your detail to be photographed (if it is that you can move it), etc. We always say that windows with light curtains or with soft light coming in are the best lighting studio possible.
6. Play with depth of field to capture wedding details
A luminous lens is not only wonderful for the light that enters but also for the reduced depth of field that it is capable of reaching, which allows you to blur the background of the scene, focusing interest where you place the focus in the scene.
This will be very useful to eliminate unsuitable backgrounds and above all to focus attention on the detail you have chosen.
In this video Mario gives you a fun introduction to depth of field.
7. Choose a semi-manual mode
As much of a fan of manual mode as I am, in this case, with little time and not a little pressure, I don’t recommend adding more stress to the equation 😉 If you know how to use the semi-manual modes of the camera, I encourage you to use them. To photograph static details, a very good option is to work with aperture priority mode, deciding you the depth of field and the entrance of light towards the sensor. If you don’t know them, don’t get overwhelmed and ensure the result by working automatically.
8. Take care of the composition
In this type of more “static” images, composition is everything. You have some time to think and lightly prepare the scene, so try to think of the order of the elements within your plane. Rules such as the thirds or the gaze can be very useful when composing your detailed photographs, so as not to always bore you with the same compositions.
9. Establish a center of interest
Try to establish a clear center of interest in the image. That is, what is the reason for your image? What or who is the protagonist? Remember that you can do it through composition, lines, focus, negative space, color… etc.
10. Photograph everything
Be methodical, don’t miss anything, remember that every detail is chosen with love and care, so try not to get lost and pay close attention to everything you see. You’re always in time to delete later 😉
11. Put on some comfortable shoes
Come on, as friends as you may be, this is a full-fledged job, right? That’s a few hours on your feet, back and forth and lugging all your photography gear up and down. So the more comfortable, the lighter it will be 🙂
12. Be creative when photographing wedding details
- Search different points of view when photographing the details at weddings
- Observe the elements that surround the scene and think how they can help you. how about a reflection in a window, in a mirror, etc., how about a nice nature frame to frame your details?
- Come a little closer and then another and some more.
- Create your own compositions: If they have asked you for a favor in confidence, they will surely be happy to let you experiment a little in your compositions with flowers, rings, the groom’s cufflinks if there is one, shoes, and all the typical details of a wedding.
- don’t forget the context: Okay, I just told you to get closer, get closer and get closer, but don’t also forget that those details are part of a much larger ceremony, take advantage of the context and use it to frame your details and tell their story.
- don’t forget the black and white, for this the best thing is that shots in RAW, which is the format that best supports the conversion.
What do you think? Have you found yourself or are you in a situation similar to that of having to photograph your best friend’s wedding? than you expected 😉 Oh, and if you think it could be useful to any of your contacts, share it with him or her. Thank you very much and until next time 🙂