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Be
Prepared!
Following on from my first notes regarding my (hopeful!)
transition from amateur photographer to professional, I thought
some of you may be interested to know what I've learnt along
my journey so far.
I've shot four wedding this year, thanks to Joan, Director
of The Guild, and all of them have been extremely valuable
learning experiences. I think the following are some of the
most important points to remember, especially if you are,
like me, an experienced photographer but new to wedding Photography:
Check your gear and be prepared.
Weddings are fast paced events and you need to be totally
prepared. Of course you need batteries charged, memory cards
blank and all your gear in order. Think about your shots
in advance, consider composition, position and exposure.
Find out where the bride will be arriving - at which entrance,
where and at what time the guests/groom will be arriving.
I found it helped me to mentally rehearse the shots in advance
and walk around the venue beforehand to pick out suitable
locations for pictures.
Have important gear to hand.
Whilst photographing one wedding, and at the point of confetti
throwing, I had what I thought was a lock up from shooting
too many frames in rapid succession. It was in fact a full
memory card. Not only had I not checked the available memory
as I went along but spare CF cards were in the boot of my
car – Doh! Ok, in this instance it didn't matter because
Joan was there to cover, but it might have been disastrous
in different circumstances.
Get the exposure right
One of the most difficult things to learn for me has been
exposing correctly at such a rapid pace. I quickly learnt
that it was Ok to crank up the ISO to it's max on occasion
- better to get the shot at high ISO than not at all.
And exposing for sunlight! What's that all about? White dress,
dark suit, an exposure nightmare on a very sunny day. Joan's
advice is to shoot in the shade where you can and expose
for the dress, – after all, the bride is the one choosing
the photos at the end of the day Joan advised me that -1
EV will usually be ok for the dress if shooting digital.
Again - it comes down to preparation and on that note I choose
to shoot RAW.
Shoot RAW
For those people shooting digital I like to shoot RAW. Shooting
Raw has saved my inexperienced bacon more times than I care
to mention. Pushing things to the limit on the Raw conversion
can produce 2 stops of exposure recovery and whilst it slows
down your work-flow considerably there are many other advantages
that make that extra time worthwhile, such as achieving a
higher dynamic range by converting more than one exposure
and merging two or more Photoshop layers.
A major advantage is not having to worry about white balance
in mixed or changing lighting conditions, this can be adjusted
afterwards. Once a jpg is shot the white balance is fixed
and colour correction is much harder. Highlights and shadows
can also be recovered more easily - this has been made even
more simple with Photoshop's new CS3 raw processor and Lightroom.
Duplicate your kit and carry your gear
correctly.
I advise you to have a spare of everything in case of damage.
I have been known to drop my 70-300mm Canon lens on the floor
in my haste to reach my gear. Not good. Equipment insurance
is also a must in case things go wrong.
Keep on learning.
Joan has been an invaluable mentor, never too critical of
my mistakes, (I know myself when I have made them) and always
had good advice to offer. I would also say get as much advice/inspiration
as you can from books, magazines and other photographers
and take more photographs to improve your technique. |
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Alan
Hawkins lives in the Wirral and is determined
to progress from part-time to full-time photographer.
This year he accompanied me on several weddings,
making the long journey to Somerset each time,
and captured some great shots. He has promised
to keep us informed of his progress and we hope
that any of you in a similar situation will be
inspired to follow his lead.
