Wedding photography is a topic that many of our readers are interested in learning more about. Today Charles Clawson from blog.chaselliot.com shares some tips on getting into Wedding Photography.
Wedding Photography is unique among all other photography mediums. As a professional photographer you have free reign over an incredible event full of emotion, action and beauty. Being able to use your skills to capture these moments forever, and have them be cherished by your clients is an honor wedding photographers take very seriously. It isn’t for the faint of heart. The pressure is as high as the clients expectations, but it can be a very rewarding occupation. For these reasons, wedding photography is quite a competitive field.
With camera equipment simultaneously rising in capabilities and dropping in prices, it means more and more photographers have been able to make the leap from enthusiast to professional. For those already established in the industry, they might resent the added competition and the downward pressure on prices, but for those photographers who have what it takes, now more than ever are opportunities to start the transition into becoming a true professional photographer. In this article I identify 5 things you can do now to prepare yourself to make the leap.
1. Analyzing the Aesthetics
Start comparing your pictures with those of established photographers. Professionals want their work to be seen and are constantly sharing their favorite images. Take advantage of this wonderful free source of knowledge. Scour both web and print sources and learn from the best. In analog style, I recommend starting a physical scrapbook of images you like. Get a few of the jumbo wedding magazines and start ripping it apart. Look for poses and techniques that you’d like to learn to duplicate. If you are more computer oriented, I find having a folder of great pictures I’ve stumbled on a valuable reference. Don’t worry if the pictures seem beyond your level. This will be a process and you’ll advance to higher levels in due time.
Things I look for in photographs:
- Lighting - Pay attention to the quality (harsh/soft), angles, and colors of light used.
- Posing - Posing can be a difficult skill to learn. Some will utilize actual posing more than others depending on your style. As a skill, it can be learned and there is nothing wrong with mimicking poses you’ve see in others work. Remember, artists have been duplicating the human figure for as long as there has been art, so chances are you aren’t stealing a style from anyone still living.
- Capturing the “moment” - Look for the photographs that capture the beautiful simple moments of a wedding day. Often I shoot random happenings that otherwise seem unimpressive, but being able to take photographs that are natural and full of emotion make great and memorable pictures. As easy as this sounds, it takes a keen eye and a quick hand to avoid missing the fleeting moments. This is a must have skill as clients now increasingly seeking out that “wedding photo-journalist” style photography. A little harsh but still an informative read is this article from the well known WPJA on capturing “moments”.
2. Getting the Gear
Invest in high quality glass. Many photographers put excessive weight in the camera body, when the truth is, as a professional photographer you have to expect your camera body to be obsolete in as little as 3 years. Not a pleasant reality. The flip side of the coin is that a good lens will hold its value almost indefinitely. Some lenses have even been known to increase in value. Start slow but buy the good stuff. Your safest bet is to stick with the major manufactures and avoid zoom lenses with constantly varying apertures. Choose lenses that allow you to lock down the aperture to at least a wide f/2.8. Don’t pass out at the total price of your complete kit, instead, build it piece by piece.
3. Building your Portfolio…NOW!
Building a wedding portfolio can be a challenge. Many fine art photographers with incredible skill find it difficult to make the switch into wedding photography simply because their portfolio lacks wedding images. To move past this hurdle you may have to volunteer yourself as a wedding photographer for friends and family. Start getting word out of your ambitions and opportunities will come. If your invited to a wedding, don’t leave your camera at home. Another option is to attend a wedding photography workshop where live models are brought in (often in wedding gowns) for you to practice your techniques on. These are fine to use in your portfolio in the beginning but should be transitioned out as you build a quality gallery of your own unique shots. It’s important that early on you set up some sort of portfolio organization system, ideally with a star ratings. As your pictures improve so should your galleries. Since a photographer should always be improving, this means his public portfolio should never stay static. Save yourself searching through long forgotten events for good images and start organizing your favorites early on.
4. Maximizing your Web Presence
As you build a good portfolio, you need to make it accessible and get your services online. To do this, there is a mind boggling array of options, from completely free to fully custom designed sites. You can find pre-made website templates for photographers that require little changing for about $50 at Template Monster. For more expensive complete turnkey web solutions look to companies like BluDomain or BigFolio. DPS readers can easily add to this list. For a great album generator for showcasing your work I recommend starting with JAlbum. It’s open source, has some incredible skins and best of all it’s free. Other popular online galleries include Zenfolio, Pbase or even Apple’s iWeb.
5. Be Patient and use this Time Wisely
Generating a flow of clients is going to be a slow process. Use the time you have now to get a solid foundation for the busy days down the road. Create a solid package price list and breakdown. Search out vendors you’ll be dealing with for prints, albums and other products. Design some promotional materials you can provide to clients. Research bridal shows in your local markets and most important of all… keep shooting.
Read more Wedding Photography Posts from Our Archives:
Original post by Darren
DX, full-frame, APS-C, FX, crop factor, 24×36, image circle. Confused yet? Good.
With the new Nikon D700 hitting store shelves and the Canon 5D MkII imminent, now is a good time to clear the air on the whole sensor size thing.
Back in the film days, the rectangle that captured the image on a standard SLR (the film) was one size: 24mm x 36mm. That was all there was to it, and nobody really gave it a second thought.
Every camera manufacturer is slightly different; models from the same manufacturer are even different. People usually refer to a sensor’s size by its “crop factor.” That’s the number you use to find the 35mm equivalent of a given lens. It’s just like taking the middle of an image and throwing away the outside edges. If a sensor is 24mm x 36mm, then there is no crop factor, since it covers the same area as 35mm film.
Nikon has two different sensor sizes: full frame (FX) and 1.5x (DX).
Canon has three sensor sizes: full frame, 1.3x and 1.6x. Other manufacturers are in the same range, with Olympus being the notable exception, at 2x.
Some people don’t like the term “full frame” because it isn’t specific. Full compared to what? For the sake of simplicity, when I say “full frame” I mean a sensor that’s roughly 24mm x 36mm.
That’s all well and good, but why should you care? Sensor size is important when you’re trying to pick a camera because full frame sensors have distinct advantages and disadvantages in different situations.
In general, full frame sensors have better image quality across the board, but they really shine when it comes to high ISO performance.
Take a look at the Nikon D300 and it’s full frame sibling the D700. The D300 is widely considered to be pretty good in low light, but the D700 is much better. In the real world, my D700 gives me 2 full stops of useable ISO over the D300; I can shoot at ISO6400 on the D700 where I wouldn’t shoot above ISO1600 on the D300. This has a lot to do with the size of the sensor. Both cameras have 12 megapixels, but the individual imaging sites on the D700 are farther apart, giving you a cleaner image.
Full frame sensors also give photographers more options when it comes to wide-angle work. I can use my $300 24mm f/2.8 instead of the $900 Nikkor 12-24 f/4, and the 24 is faster.
The downside is that full frame sensors and lenses are bigger than their cropped counterparts. Full frame bodies are also more expensive.
There are also some situations where the crop factor helps you. Many people have gotten used to having a little big of extra reach with their long lenses and may not want to give that up.
Crop Sensor vs Full Frame Sensor: Choosing Which is Right For You
After you figure out the difference between a crop sensor and a full frame sensor, you’ll need to decide which one suits your needs.
For the average consumer, a smaller 1.5x or 1.6x sensor will be fine. If you’re the kind of person who has the 18-55 kit lens and maybe one other lens, it just doesn’t make sense to spend the extra money on full-frame.
If you have lots of glass from the film days, it might be worth looking into a full frame body. Modern Nikon bodies are compatible with nearly every lens Nikon ever made, and Canon bodies all work with EF glass.
Photographers who enjoy shooting landscapes and architecture will definitely want to check out a full frame body (if they don’t already have one). Full frame image quality and wide-angle options are far better than their cropped siblings.
If you shoot in natural and available light, you’ll definitely want to check out a full frame body too. The high ISO performance on my D700 is simply unmatched by any body with a smaller sensor. I can shoot at ISO6400 without worrying about excessive image noise, and I have more options when it comes to using (or not using) strobes and artificial light.
For nature, wildlife and sports enthusiasts, it might make more sense to stick with a smaller sensor. You can take advantage of the crop factor to get maximum detail at long distances.
Jamie De Pould is a DPS critique moderator and freelance photographer. He is currently pursuing a M.S. in Photography at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. See some of his work at pbase.com/jdepould.
Read more on this topic in our previous article - Crop Factor Explained where we specifically look at the topic of Crop Factor and how it impacts the different lenses that you might use on your DSLR.
Original post by Darren
Those readers who subscribe to Digital Photography School via our RSS Feed or via our daily email updates will know that up until today we’ve only ever shown the title of new posts and very short excerpts in the feed and emails.
One very common request that we’ve had from those of you subscribing in these ways is that you want to see full articles in the feed and via email. We’re resisted this mainly because having full feeds opens us up to other sites ’scraping’ (stealing) our content and republishing it on their own sites.
However due to popular demand we’ve taken the decision over the weekend to open up our feeds and daily email updates to include full articles - this also includes pictures that we publish in our articles.
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Original post by Darren
One often overlooked aspect of digital photography is the filter on the end of your lens. It is common practice for may SLR photographers to keep a UV/Haze or Protective filter on the end lenses and as more and more switch to digital, little thought is given to that age old practice.
In principle the practice is a good one. Especially when the better lenses cost in excess of $1000USD. Adding another 5-10% onto the cost of that lens to protect against scratches, dust, sand and salt spray is a wise investment. But before you purchase a lens filter there are a few important distinctions to look for.
Buy The Best You Can Afford
First, as with most things involving camera lenses, buy the best glass you can afford. Buying a cheap UV/Haze or Protection filter will result in cheaper images. In the case of a good UV/Haze filter, saving for an extra month can really make a difference as the next item points out.
Multicoated Filter
Second, purchase a multicoated filter designed for digital cameras. While some companies just slap a “Digital” tag on their old stock, reputable companies have actually invested time and money to make the lenses work better with digital cameras. The biggest difference between film and digital, as far as the filter is concerned, is reflection. Because a digital sensors actually reflects more light than plain old film, a non-coated filter can cause a flaring effect on the image. An effect that goes slightly unnoticeable under most circumstances, but when lighting gets harsh, having a multicoated lens designed to reduce this extra reflection from inside the camera is worth its financial cost. There have been more than a few tests posted on the internet showing the difference in coated vs. non-coated lens filters as well as the quality of different manufacturers.
Lastly, protect the filter that protects your lens. Just because there is a protective filter on the end of your lens does not mean it’s a good idea to be abusive to the filter itself. It should still be cleaned and dusted as if it were your primary glass. That filter will show signs of scratches and mars should it be abused.
Peter is an avid photographer who enjoys travel, portraiture and wildlife photography. A travel related blog of his past and current shenanigans can be found at The Carey Adventures.
Original post by Peter Carey
Image by forbescreative
