Our 5 Top Tips For A Beginner Wedding Photographer

If you want to start a career in photography, then wedding photography could be a good route to go down. Wedding photography is extremely versatile as you will need to tailor your style to the style of the wedding. This gives you plenty of opportunities to practice your photography skills and start to build your brand. Entering any new career can be difficult as you are taking a risk with something unfamiliar. However, finding a career you are interested in is worthwhile as it means you can follow your passion and enjoy every day. If you are considering becoming a wedding photographer, then here are some top tips that may help you during your first shoot.

Familiarise Yourself With The Venue

Before the big day begins, it would be a good idea for you to familiarise yourself with the venue. Every wedding venue is different, so as the photographer, you need to have a clear idea of the layout as this will help you pick the best angles for photographs. Before the ceremony starts, just take some time to wander around the ceremony and make a mental note of the best spots. You should also walk around the exterior of the venue too, as this way you can map out a good plan for some outside shots of the happy couple. It could be beneficial to have a chat with the staff at the venue as they will be able to show you around properly. This can help you to get more familiar with the venue, and allow you to take better photos.

Have A Post-Wedding Plan

Another important thing you need to consider as a beginner wedding photographer is your post-wedding plan. When setting up your business, you need to be able to provide your clients with a detailed timeline so they know when to expect their pictures back. During the wedding, you will be taking a lot of pictures, so you must give yourself enough time to edit them. Editing and producing the images can be a long process, so you need to keep practising your editing skills to get better at it. There are lots of different editing software available, so just take the time to find the right one for you. It could also be beneficial to research some other helpful tools and create a little cheat sheet for yourself that you can easily access. For example, this quick PDF conversion could be a good tool to use if your guests want their images in a different format.

Ensure You Are Comfortable With The Tech

When you are getting yourself set up at the wedding, it would be a good idea to ensure you are comfortable with your tech. Of course, you would have had lots of practice with your camera and your other tech before you get to the shoot, but it would still be beneficial to familiarise yourself with your tech once more. You don’t know what the lighting will be like before you get to the wedding, so we recommend getting there earlier so you can do some practice shots at the venue. Come up with a basic outline of what sort of pictures you would want to take, and then go around the venue and take some practice pictures. That way, when the ceremony begins, you will already know what you are doing.

Create A Plan With The Bride And Groom

It is important that you capture all of the special and important moments of the day, so you should take a moment to chat with the bride and groom and create a plan with them. They may have a particular idea of the certain things they want to capture, so it would be a good idea to work with them to ensure you can make this happen. Ultimately, it is their big day, so you will need to work alongside them to ensure that you are capturing the moments they want.

Create A Website

This may seem like an obvious tip, but it is important that you have a clear established website set up before the big day so that people can visit your website and look through your previous work. People want their wedding day to be captured in the way they want, so they must be able to look at your portfolio and be sure that you can deliver on an actual day. Make sure that your website has all of your contact details and prices on it too, as this will make it easier for people to book you. Additionally, you should ensure that your website has a tab where clients can access their own photos from their big day so that they can go back and revisit the pictures once all of the celebrations are over.