Becoming a wedding photographer in Swansea can be a very lucrative career choice, however, there are numerous reasons why wedding photography Swansea is often one of the most challenging types of events to photograph.
In addition to weddings being very fast paced and often dealing with many different personalities on the wedding day there is little to no room for error – therefore being adequately prepared is extremely important.
If you thrive on challenge and variety – wedding photography Swansea may be the perfect choice for you!
I have compiled a list of tips that will make sure you are all set for the wedding day and have all the needed tips to ensure an awesome wedding photo shoot.
As I have been alluding to – preparation is the key element to make sure the wedding day runs as smooth as you’d like it to be.
Here are my top 5 wedding photography tips!
Family Portrait List – Without a doubt, the most chaotic portion of the wedding day is the family portraits session. More times than not, at least one family member is not nearby when there is a photo that he/she is in and combined with having a rapidly shrinking amount of time before the reception, things can get stressful in a hurry! Having a family portrait list filled out by your clients is paramount and instrumental to having the family portrait session after the ceremony run smoothly. A couple quick tips regarding the family portrait list are to provide your clients with a template of shots segregated into 3 groupings: bride + family, groom + family and bride & groom + family. Also instruct them to include the names of each person within each photo so you can simply call them all by name. This works far better than having a generic photo like – “bride + immediate family”. Also – always print at least 2 copies of the family portrait list, this way you can retain one but you can also give another to a key family member if certain people are missing and need to be gathered up!
Timeline Collaboration Before Wedding – It is only in the best interest of yourself & your client to go over the timeline of the wedding day in advance of the wedding to make sure there is adequate time to perform the job. For example, if you’re only booked for 6 hrs and your end time is supposed to be at 8pm, but the cake cutting and garter toss is at 9:30pm that might be a problem. You should have a discussion with your client to suggest alternate solutions such as adding hours of coverage, pushing back your start time to accommodate the reception events on the timeline or reworking the reception timeline. As you can imagine, these are conversations that shouldn’t be discussed on the day of the wedding, or even days before the wedding – they should ideally be discussed 4-8 weeks before the wedding.
Unique Photos – Weddings are such a huge event in people’s lives and because of that there are often many small details or unique elements that are incorporated into the wedding that as photographers we would have no clue of, unless our clients volunteered that information to us. For example – a ring handed down by a late grandma to be worn on the wedding day. These are the small details that clients would love to have documented as they hold such special sentimental value to them. In order to make sure we know of these special details, I’d encourage you to simply ask the question in either a standard email or a questionnaire. You will be surprised at how many requests you will get.
Don’t Forget the Details! – It is easy to just focus on the people and the big events throughout the wedding day, however, it’s important to remember that many of our clients have put a lot of time and effort into small details and decor for the wedding and as such we should document those too. Another great reason to photograph the details is they help tell the story of the day nicely when incorporated into a blog post or the wedding album!
Having Adequate Photo Equipment – This should be a given, but, as a reminder, make sure that you have the appropriate equipment to take on a wedding and are familiar with your gear. Weddings are amongst the most challenging to photograph primarily because of the constantly changing lighting conditions that you are forced to adapt to. In addition, in many church ceremonies you aren’t even able to use flash, which definitely requires professional gear. What kind of gear do you need? Definitely “fast” glass, referring to constant f/2.8 zoom lenses and/or f/1.8 or f/1.4 prime lenses – these will allow you to shoot in very low light conditions. You will also need a couple external flashes that you are proficient with using and of course well capable DSLRs that can perform well at high ISOs and also have a great autofocus system. Please note that having backup equipment is also a must have to be prepared for if any of your gear quits functioning.
I hope these tips were insightful to you and help you be prepared for the wild world of wedding photography. It is important for all of us to remember just how monumental of a day this is for our clients, and because of that, we must go into the day ready for anything and having our eyes set on creating amazing images for our clients!
Contact Amber Skye Photography today on 01792 391158, mob: 07540 427640 or visit our website www.amberskye.co.uk
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