Wedding photography can be a rewarding experience, and opens the door to many opportunities for new business opportunities. It can, however, be a daunting venture for amateur photographers. Here are some tips for amateur wedding photographers to improve their chances of success.
Create a website
This is important for finding work as a wedding photographer. Nobody wants to hire a photographer to capture their special day who has no proof available to show that they know what they are doing. As an amateur wedding photographer, this is a great way to display your talent and take it to the next level in the transition to becoming a professional. This can be anything from creating a blog on a site like Blogspot, to creating your own website with a customized URL. This is easy to do with sites like Squarespace or WordPress. Using these sites are affordable and offer a professional touch to an amateur wedding photographers portfolio.
Keep the sound off!
This is a big one. Nothing ruins the mood more than the constant clicking and beeping from the wedding photographer during speeches or wedding vows. This is a simple fix, but one easily overlooked. It’s these subtle changes that can often have the biggest impacts and can easily differentiate amateurs from professionals.
Visit the location before hand
When it comes time for wedding photos people tend to get tired of them really quick and nobody wants to have to wait for the wedding photographer to scope out the best angles to capture the light. Head to the location where photos will be taken beforehand and identify these angles ahead of time so that on the wedding day the photographer can quickly hop into position. This means less waiting time and results in much more enthusiastic subjects. It may also result in a larger tip at the end of the day.
Be prepared for when things go wrong
Wedding photography requires the photographer to be adaptable and make do with whatever situation presents itself. This might involve rain, clouds, or disgruntled family members. Be prepared for problems and have a spare camera in case something undesirable happens. Learning in advance how to adapt to cloudy weather or rain, and how to maintain a level head when things aren’t going as planned can help the wedding photographer to find an effective solution quickly.
Shoot in RAW
Shooting in RAW means extra time processing the photos afterward. That said, the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives. As mentioned earlier, wedding photography is notorious for uncontrollable variables like poor weather and lighting. It’s generally not possible to simply move the photos to another day, so the wedding photographer needs to have ways of dealing with these problems. Shooting in RAW allows a greater control over exposure and white balance after the fact and can mean the difference between amateur photos and professional.
These tips for amateur wedding photographers can easily be implemented by any photographer and can ultimately make the difference between amateur and professional results.