Hello everyone!!!
Well we did the wedding on Saturday. Boy did we learned alot!!!!
Robin was the hired photograher and we were her second third and fourth shooters. haha….Mark Lindsay and I.
There is sooooooo much to wedding photography!!! Let me just tell you I wish I started this 10 years ago…
Your mind gets a definite workout. I can see now why the fees a wedding photographer charge is totally worth it.
It’s like that old Ford story about Henry Ford and Charlie Steinmetz.
“Steinmetz had one of the greatest minds in the field of electricity the world had known when Henry Ford was building his automobile empire. Steinmetz built the great generators for Henry Ford in his first plant in Dearborn, Michigan. One day those generators broke down and the plant came to a halt. They brought in ordinary mechanics and helpers who couldn’t get the generators going again. They were losing money. Then Ford called Steinmetz. The genius came, seemed to just putter around for a few hours, and then threw the switch that put the great Ford plant back into operation. A few days later Henry Ford received a bill from Steinmetz for $10,000. Although Ford was a rich man, he returned the bill with a note, “Charlie, isn’t this bill a little high for a few hours of tinkering around on those motors?”
Steinmetz returned the bill to Ford. This time it read: “for tinkering around on the motors: $10.00 – for knowing where to tinker: $9,990, total: $10,000″. Henry Ford paid the bill.
I said all that to say it is ALOT of work both physically and mentally you have to be on your game!
Here are some of the things I noticed through the day.
1. You MUST know you camera, lenses, flash, tripod, and any other equipent you might need or be using inside and out.
2. The most obvious thing to remember is you only get ONE CHANCE to get certain shots
3. You must always be aware of the LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING… inside and out and from room to room Lighting is HUGE. If your flash doesn’t reach its target you WILL have blurry pictures
4. You must watch your settings constantly (inside especially) zooming in and out , moving from one side of the room to the other or even just a few steps one way or the other can cause significant changes if you are not watching.
5. You must be aware of what is happening at all times so you can anticipate the upcoming shots that cannot be missed So familiarize yourself with the schedule of the day.
6. You must keep an eye on all your very expensive equipment at all times
7. Don’t even think of taking the job if you don’t have at least enough memory cards to take at least 1800 pictures…on large. If you want to use RAW then you need twice as many…which we all filled up our cards and had to download onto our laptop several times, then burn to DVD or CD which takes time…so if you are going solo consider hiring a second shooter or a person who can do the laptop work for you while you continue to take pictures. It is almost impossible to cover an entire wedding by yourself…in my humble opinion.
8. Get plenty of rest the night before. You must take advantage of your creative mind as well as you rmemory to process every piece of data that you need to make a good wedding photographer. Be sure to have all your equipment ready for work and packed before you go to bed. Be sure to have a reliable alarm!
9. Be flexible and courteous even when there might be a bridesmaid or groomsman who decides to make some decisions that impact your work. This calls for restraint! But it also calls for being a negotiator because it could significantly impact the package you present to them if they dont see what you have promised them.
10. Do NOT take pictures of people while they are eating. Do NOT take formal pictures of the bride and groom and or their party while they are talking it may relax them but wait until they are done talking or goofing off before you snap the picture.
11. Invest in a cable release so you do not shake the camera while on the tripod in low light situations. And ALWAYS use a tripod in lowlight situations
12. ALWAYS ask the bride and groom whom they would like pictures with that are at the wedding reception. If you miss Aunt Millie from Minnesota who spent alot of money getting there and brought a nice gift and is in a wheelchair that would be a sad thing.
13. Bring a small cooler with a couple of bottles of water and some power bars…sometimes you may not have not have time to stop and if it is a hot day you dont want to get dehydrated.
14. If you are doing digital always “chimp”…meaning always look at the picture you just got to be sure you are happy with your shot. If you can zoom in on it even better. Learn how to use the histogram.
15. Arrive early! Better to anticipate any difficulties early so you can overcome them while you have time.
16. Even tho you are the paid photographer you WILL encounter other people with cameras as well… especially the Point and Shoot ones. Family members have an advantage of familiaritity to get those great impromptu group shots that you find yourself wishing you could have.
17. When people are eating…you don’t want to take those shots too much… take that time rather to rest and recharge your batteries as well as check your equipment and do any mainteneance stype stuff like download your cards onto your laptop. We had the spot by the kitchen set us as our command post and the cook made up plates for us so we got to sit and eat and do all our technical stuff while we rested. Then we were ready to go for the other half of the day.
18. Back up your cards!!!
19. When you get home you begin the OTHER HALF OF THE JOB. This can be the fun part if you love all the computer technology that is there for you as a wedding photographer..but it cost money to buy all the equipment you need. The amount of money the photographer has invested in the camera and all its accesories doesn’t end there it is only part of the cost. The whole computer POST PRODUCTON side can be very costly as well and the most TIME INTENSIVE. It may take days to a week or two to get all the images edited and ready for viewing.
20. Then the website and or lab you use for the viewing of your images for the bride and groom and their friends and family is also another aspect to consider. It costs to design a website unless ou are savvy enough to make one yourself. good luck….we ended up buying the services and it wasn’t cheap!!!!
21. Once the images are up then you can sit back and wait for the orders to come in….which is a thrill to see happen. But it still isn’t over if you are offering any albums you must now become an art designer and put together an eye pleasing album for them and it can and should be worth the $ they spend. So you invest in a program to help you do that.
22. Any labs you use to send them to to see and order your images will also get a nice cut from your $.
23. Oh and one last item… if you wear glasses for up close work…DONT FORGET THEM!!!!
Well that is all I can remember as a checklist that I am starting to compile. I am also giving you a list of some of what goes on behind the scenes… believe me there is more but I just haven’t had the time to jot them all down but this is what I have so far! ….it isnt just showing up and shooting up a few cards or a few rolls. Next time you attend a wedding you might find the photographer and say Hi! And if you are thinking of getting into this then find a photographer who needs a 2nd shooter and LEARN! There is alot to it! I am in awe of all there is to know! If you are a wedding photographer feel free to add to this list!!! That would be awesome! And if you have any pointers from the other side of the day like as a wedding planner, or bride and groom…feel free to add anything that would help from your point of view.
Hope I didnt bore you all!
We will post some of our images this week sometime….we still have other jobs and need to get to them now! But our thanks go to Robin Michelini who is an amazing photographer and an all round great gal!!! We learned alot 2nd shooting for you, Robin! Thank you for the experience!!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love Kerri
If you made it all the way through to the bottom of this email you should consider becoming a wedding photographer! hahahaha….
and since it is one of the throw aways we decided to mess around with it. We love to mess around and experiment….its fun…We added some neat effects to get it to have more of a silhouette look… it now becomes a kind of an artsy shot. Like something you intended to get. haha… Also her head is a tad bit too close to the top of the frame I would have liked to have had more space above her head…but with the backgound of my site being black it might not look too bad…….but if I printed this out it would stop real close to the top of her face 
…. overall I like this 
…. but there is so much more…so…
There is no such thing as childproofing your house. 
them with rollerblades, they can ignite. 
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