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Home >> Learning >> e-Book on Wedding Photography Table of Contents Wedding Photography e-Book - Final Words
Weddings on the other hand can sometimes be organized chaos. While a basic itinerary may exist, often the photographer is front and centre as master of the day, dictating who should be where and when. People are rushing by to greet the couple; people come up to ask the photographer to take this or not to forget some special person. All around mini events are happening that the photographer has to keep an eye on for potential candid shots. Weddings are hectic, wild, filled with stress, but can be immensely fun. If you’re not a social person then weddings are not likely your calling as a photographer, but for those open to challenges on an ongoing basis and the need to continuously think, sometimes just on pure instinct, wedding photography can be a remarkable option. Weddings are a mix of formal, informal, portrait, candid, photojournalism, documentary, still life, color and B&W photography. It’s where the artistic eye always has to be open to the possibilities around you. 
While weddings can be quite lucrative for the top echelons of photographers, you as the beginning wedding photography will not likely make a huge amount of money in the beginning, as you build up the business. More so if you just do weddings on a part time basis, which seems to be the case for many found in the median group of serious photographers, but especially for the lower price range of photographers. If you have the right attitude, a willingness to bleed money to buy good equipment, and have a commitment to provide great customer service with professionalism, wedding photography could be right for you.
As a dabbler myself, my experience is relatively limited and not running my own business prevents me from discussing all the nuances of such a business, but I hope there has been enough to get yourself thinking about the process. I still enjoy photographing weddings even if I don’t consider myself all that personable or sociable, irascible loner that I am preferring the solitary landscape, but there is something about weddings that draws me to it. At first it was the challenge of doing something new with my photography and wanting to be competent at it, but now I find myself addicted to the good vibes and being around so many happy people. Needless to say it also provides justification to utilize my collection of cameras and lenses and to continue acquiring more J
Some anecdotes:
Reader's Comments: From:
Alan T. Mak Fantastic! I've just skimmed through the book quickly but I plan to go back through it slowly to digest everything. Thanks for writing a useful guide for us semi-pros and wannabes. The one thing that I think you missed is physical preparation. I never realized what a physically demanding job wedding photography is. >From the bride's house to the last dance, you're easily looking at 14-18 hours of moving around and lugging equipment. Everytime I do a full wedding I need a day to recuperate... Alan T. Mak Actually, I wrote about it in one of my earlier articles, but it's a good idea to incorporate that as well as a comparison of digital costs versus film costs. Expect an update in the coming days. From:
Alan T. Mak Edwin, Do you have any tips or suggestions about putting together wedding albums? What are some creative and economical alternatives to the custom, handbound jobs that cost $500+? I have found some quality leather bound "scrap books" that I think would make decent albums. Mounting the pictures with photo corners doesn't seem to do justice to the pics... What do you do for your clients? Just wondering... Alan T. Mak Just 4x6 proof albums for my clients. I do a basic service only of proofs only and give the negatives to the clients and tell them to do their own enlargements. I keep my prices fairly low, so that provides leeway for the couple to do their own thing. The albums, I tend to buy from a local pro lab that look good and are very cost effective, around $10 for a 200 proof album, so it’s no hardship to buy several and place all the proofs in them. I try and do at least two for a full day shoot, one for the day photos and one for the evening reception. At times, a third one custom for medium format may be purchased depending how the regular proof album comes along for capacity. If
you prefer to offer an 8x10 or 11x14 album, Prat makes some pretty
nice stuff and since you’re in
They normally come with 20 inserts which allow for 40 prints. This is a different and a classy way to do an 8x10 or 11x14 album – more like a portfolio than a traditional album. These albums are generally in the $100 range, but go elsewhere and you could pay nearly double for the larger sized albums. I bought an 11x17 album locally “on sale” for $150 and then bought several 11x14 and 12x16.5 albums, all for less than $100 each at the time, from Vistek. If you go to this page about the D100, you will see two shots of the 11x17 album that I use for my D100 prints on 11x17 paper, but I also insert 11x14 prints from my medium format system. http://www.camerahobby.com/Digital_NikonD100_3.htm |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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Weddings can strike fear in the stoutest
of photographers if they are unaccustomed to the rigors of a wedding
event. It’s entirely different environment than being out in the bush
stalking wildlife or the great, unseen landscape. Many times the nature
photographer is a solitary figure alone in the elements where time,
relative to a social event, is on the photographer’s side. The photographer
can reflect and contemplate the scene and subject for what is best
according to personal aesthetics.
This
module is just a general guideline for some of the basics, but in
no way is it comprehensive to cover all aspects of a wedding photography
business. I do recommend buying a couple of books specializing in
wedding photography to provide additional guidance. Steve Sint’s Wedding
Photography; Art, Business, and Style, is a fine one to get going
with.
I wish you well on this new pursuit and to revel in the moment and
just as the last chapter of the Photo e-Book served as a public comments
page, so too will this page. Send your public comments to 
Yours truly in another panic stricken mode when I stupidly decided
to risk using the Metz's sideways oriented flash bracket on a tripod
even though I knew the mounting threads were questionable. Mr. Murphy
struck again and my whole Bronica kit with 150mm lens and Metz flash
attached came crashing off of my tripod and onto the ground. What
saved me from having a heart attack right there? I was setting up
on a very wet lawn that was near-muddy in many places and this wet
lawn cushioned the fall enough so that there was not a speck of
damage but much in the way of mud splatters. Folks, this is why
you have filters and lens hoods over your expensive lenses as my
front element was unscathed. When the night was over I spent two
hours cleaning my equipment and had to soak my muddy filmback in
water in order to get all the fine grit out of it. As a result of
this mishap I promptly ordered a Newton flash bracket for use with
my Bronica and Metz flash, a bitch to handhold though.
