What it takes to be a Wedding Photographer? Part 2

Ok you have your gears polished, batteries charged and you even ironed your best looking shirt. All ready for your wedding photography for you client. So what should you do during the shoot.

1. Be early
There is a reason why I place this as the first pointer in wedding photography. Imagine you are the one getting married, you have a list of items to check. "Flowers?", "Where is the make up artiste?", "Is my aunty coming?". The last question you want your client to worried about is "Where is my photographer?"

2. Be small.
This is an important aspect when you are shooting journalistic photos. You don't want to barge into a room and everyone's eyes are on you. There is no way you will be able to shoot any 'moments' shots with that sort of entrance.

3. Introduce yourself to the family.
Normally, i will introduce myself to the couple's parents. I will reassure them to stay relax and not too worried about me taking their photos. "Hi, my name is Edmund and I am your photographer. I know there are many things that are in your mind right now but the best thing you could do for me in order to have great photos is to stay relax and calm."

4. Have a mental checklist
The night before i would have done some research on the type of photos I want. So have a checklist of the photos you want to take.

5. Lastly, ENJOY yourself.
The best photos I took are the ones that I enjoyed the wedding along with my clients. I laugh along with their jokes and I feel touched when they say their vows. We are photographers above all.

Should I use Lightroom or Photoshop?

Maybe I should answer this question before. Well, better late then never.
Again, this is the most asked question. If only if I charge a dime for everytime someone comes up to me and asked this question I would be quite rich by now.

So once and for all, I am going to blog my opinion on this question.

Here goes:

To give you a better understanding, I am going to refer to your photos as a patient visiting a doctor. A patient with common illnesses such as cough, flu, rashes should be advise to visit a GP doctor. While if there is any other major illnesses the GP Doctor will refer you to a specialist doctor. Of course, you could go straight to the specialist doctor but the costs, time taken tends to be higher and longer.

So Lightroom is like a GP. You use it for photos management and minor editing. When you are done with identifying the photos that requires more major editing to be done, you export those to Photoshop i.e. the Specialist doctor.

As simple as that.

What's your settings?

"Hey photographer, what is your camera settings?"

Almost happens all the time during my photo assignment a person with a camera (hobbyist or apprentice) would come up to me and ask what are my camera settings. My usual reply is "I don't know".

Not that I am trying to keep my settings a secret, the fact is I really don't know.

I usually set my camera on Aperture Priority for most assignments and Matrix metering. In other words, other than aperture, I let my camera decides what are the rest of my settings. This allow me to be more creative in hunting for lights, composing and capturing the right moment. I only dial the exposure compensation higher/lower when require.

Many times during a photo walkabout, I notice photographers are busy trying to get their settings right and thus missing out good photos.

My couples are not bothered by the settings I am using. They just great photos as the end result. Saying that, I do agree that there is nothing wrong with using Auto or 'P' mode in DSLR in fast paced situations.

The last thing no body wants is a blurred or a missed opportunity of a great photo.

Happy Shooting.

Walking Tall

Photographer TJ is in love with his new shoes.

catch his step by step on product photography.

http://photo-sharing-graphy.blogspot.com/2011/11/walking-tall-my-new-shoes.html

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!!

Lu Ting Jieh (Lu T.J) is an avid food photographer.

I love his tips as the setup are usually work around a shoe string budget.

More importantly you can enjoy the food after the shoot.

Here T.J showed his setup for shooting one my favourite drinks in a club - Absolut Vodka.

Great job.

Link

EdmundPhoto.com

Shooting with a 2nd Photographer or more than 1 camera bodies

Recently, I brought a second photographer to a wedding shoot. She was trying out her 1st hand in being a wedding photographer and brought along a Nikon D90 for the assignment.

Usually I will get my 2nd photographer to sync their in-camera clock to be exactly with mine. This is to allow me to later sort out the photos according to captured time for getting the sequence of events right.

Well, in that assignment I overlooked this setting and when I got back from the shoot the photo sequence was in a mess. Part of journalistic photography is to tell a story. Therefore it is important that the final delivery of photographs is like a story book.

Lightroom to the rescue.

LR2/3 is able to adjust the captured time of the photographs in BATCHES!!!! (yes!!)

Not only that, it can even change the time in relative to the original captured time. Which means that i could add 1 min to every photo. (DOUBLE YES!!)

Step 1: Compare 2 photos from the different cameras which were taken at or about the same time by looking at the Metadata. (e.g Camera A - 9.00am, Camera B - 9.02am)

Step 2: Filter your catalog with Camera B info.

Step 3: Select All > Metadata > Edit Capture Time

Step 4: Adjust to a specific data and time > Corrected Time > "reduce by 2mins"

There you have it!!

Brilliant!~

What it takes to be a Wedding Photographer?

"What lens should I bring?", "Would my current camera setup be sufficient?"

Here are some common questions which every amateur wedding photographer would ask.

The quick answer is, "Bring everything you need."

However, through my experiences in photographing weddings there is never a complete answer to these questions. So why bother?

Rather than having the "right" lens all the time, it is more important to have the right attitude.

Here are some tips for new wedding photographers.

Night Before

1. Charge your batteries.

Shooting half way and the batteries ran out? AWKWARD

2. Format your memory cards IN THE CAMERA, not in the computer.

There are several file formats i.e FAT32, NTFS, MAC OS Journal. Which to use? Let your camera decide by formatting the cards. Of course, do make sure all the contents in the memory cards were already transferred.

3. Bring an extra set of clothing.

Let's face it. Singapore is hot and humid. Just climbing up 2 fleet of stairs we will be perspiring. So do bring an extra set of clothing for the luncheon or dinner reception. Dress appropriately too. If the occasion requires wear a jacket. No T-Shirt and Jeans for receptions!!

4. Pack and clean your equipments.

You will always misplace an item when you are in a rush. I do have a checklist on the equipments to bring. This also prevents me from leaving any items behind on location shooting.

5. Have enough rest.

Rest your body and mind. Usually, I will browse thru the photos that I had archive for research.

Next instalment ...... What to do during the shoot?