Wow. Weddings are something else. I shot my first wedding back on November 15, 2008 and I’m just now getting around to writing about it. They take a lot out of you and really require a special kind of photographer. I did this one for a friend of mine from college for next to nothing. I now know why wedding photographers charge so much for what they do. It takes A LOT to be successful as a wedding photographer.
Of course, I knew this ahead of time so I started prepping months in advance to make sure I had what I would need. First thing, batteries and memory cards, make sure you have several of both. Camera batteries, flash batteries, whatever. The last thing you want to do is miss a shot because your battery died or your card filled up. This wasn’t a problem for me as I went in with plenty of rechargeable batteries for my flashes and a spare battery for my camera along with about 10GB worth of CF cards. I also had my Macbook Pro with me so I could dump pictures from the cards if needed (which I did).
The next area is lenses. You really need a good assortment of high-quality glass for weddings. This was one area I was lacking. All I had was my 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens and the Canon 50mm f/1.8. I don’t think I used the kits lens at all during this wedding. It just wasn’t fast enough for the low-lighting of the church and reception hall. So that leaves me with one lens. Surely he didn’t shoot a whole wedding with one 50mm lens? Did he? Of course not! That’s crazy. Luckily for me one of my bosses is also a photography enthusiast, and it just so happens that he makes a lot more money than me, so he a fancy Canon 70-200m f/2.8 lens that he was willing to let me borrow. And borrow it I did. Those 2 lenses worked out pretty well for the whole wedding, but I really wish I would have had something in between, something in the 28-70mm f/2.8 range. I’ll definitely have to pick one of those up (most likely the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 or the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 because there is no way I can afford the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G any time soon) before the next wedding. Also, unfortunately for me, I sold my Canon after that wedding to make the switch to the Nikon D70s, so I no longer have access to the 70-200mm f/2.8 and I still need to buy the Nikon equivalent of the 50mm f/1.8.
So, with the equipment taken care of, I just had to mentally prepare myself. This took a little time. And I was getting really nervous right before the wedding. It was bad, but luckily I fought through it and made a day of it. Another thing I would recommend, if possible, is to bring another photographer to help. They say two heads are better than one, and it is really true in this case. With two photographers you can be in two different places at once and capture the same moments from different angles. This really adds some more versatility to the photos available to present to your clients. I had one of my good friends that I met through some photography classes come with me. It also let me have the added benefit of having a female photographer’s perspective as well.
Ok, enough rambling, let’s take a look at a couple of pictures from the big day.
That’s just four pictures. I took over 1500 that day and ended up giving around 700 as finished images to the bride and groom. That is A LOT of images. And they take a while to go through. Weeks. So even after you’re done shooting the wedding you still have a few weeks of editing and review ahead of you. Sheesh! Again, that’s why wedding photographers make the big bucks. You can see a few more images from this wedding on my Flickr and you can also still look at all of the proofs that I gave them here: http://photo.mattdewitt.com/proofs/bomstr20081115/.
I think I did pretty well for my first wedding, all things considering. I will say this though – weddings are exhausting! The mental agility needed to make it through a wedding and the reception is unbelievable. Once you start, you really don’t get much time to stop and relax. Luckily for me the bride pretty much forced me to stop shooting long enough to eat and relax a little during the reception. It was a much needed break.
The one thing I kept telling myself is that if you mess up a portrait session, you just reschedule and do it again. There is no rescheduling a wedding. You get one shot at it. So before you dive into wedding photography, make sure you are prepared and know what you are getting yourself into.
And for some great wedding photography inspiration, check out FlashFlavor!