Here are some tips and tricks for a successful wedding photography business.
Having worked as a professional wedding photographer for over 10 years and a keen amateur since before, I am always excited to share what works for me when it comes to photographing the big day. of a couple. I’ve (I’ll admit) in the past suffered from GAS, or buying gear syndrome, and instead of this being a constant unpleasant odor that follows me, it meant buying a lot of unnecessary kits, having Tried tricks and techniques that didn’t work or were really just more troublesome than the problem they were intended to solve.
Before the big day
- Create an online gallery for the couple before the date to upload photos. Then, using your computer, generate a QR code that links to your website’s online customer photo gallery. I use investment portfolio for my website and galleries check out existing clients and create empty showrooms before the big day. Finally, printing a QR code and placing it in a plastic holder is usually the last thing I do after packing and checking that all my devices are charged and ready. Although there are many free QR code generators. Why don’t you try it? Monkey QR code because they are great, free and allow to customize the QR code before creating and downloading. This way, on the day of the wedding, guests can scan the QR code and bookmark the URL on my website where the gallery is located, which often leads to more print sales from guests and families, and reduce the “where can we see pictures?” question.It looks like this.
- Generate an online discount code for your store customized for the happy couple. If they think you’re generating a specific code for them, they’re more likely to share the code with the guest and spend money on you.
- Hire or at least provide a second photographer for the happy couple. There is nothing worse than providing photos of the beautiful bride getting ready with barely any of the groomsmen, groomsmen, groomsmen, and parents of the respective couple. As photographers, we can’t be in two places at once and it’s important to get the groom as well as the bride ready. Remember, since you’ll have a lot of extra photos to edit, you should consider charging a second photographer extra to what you charge your couple for the second photographer to cover the extra work.
- Send the happy couple a written guide to when they should expect things to happen on a typical wedding day and ask them to confirm with you when those events take place on their day. If you don’t mention that the speeches take place before the meal and they surprise you with it that day, that becomes an issue that you will have to adapt to. If you don’t know the answer, don’t guess, ask for clarification. A good option is to create a brochure in Adobe InDesign (you can see a copy of my brochure this). Offering articles, tips and advice, including a guide to couples time as well as photos and links to other great vendors is a great way to get your attention. surname.
- Ask the couple to send you a Pinterest board with things they like. There’s nothing better than seeing the photos they care about, the colors they like, and the ideas they have for their wedding. It will make you look more professional if you can offer advice and examples of things that might work for other couples, and absorb their ideas and run after them.
On the big day
- Always arrive early. Right on time is late. Use the extra time to look up places if this is your first time there. Introduce yourself to the people that matter and make sure you meet the wedding coordinator and anyone else who can help you with the day.
- Find a safe place to store your device. You don’t want to have to go back and forth to your vehicle all the time to get things. It also needs to be available for your second shooter.
- Make detailed shots first. Flowers, shoes, dresses, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The silver six cent stickers are thick double sided tape and are great for sticking it to the bottom of a shoe so good enough to keep it in place all day. Alternatively, a good option is to bring a blu-tac. You can make the rings stand firmly on their edge if you put a small piece of it in the bottom of the rings. This always makes for a great photo. While the bride, groom, and guests are getting ready, it will show that you are in control of the situation and then, they will put more trust in you knowing what you are doing.
- Remember to ask permission, but moving furniture in the prep room if it gets in the way is a good idea. Better yet, ask the venue if they have a spare room that you can use for a bridal portrait. The place just wants to make their room look good and if they can let you use the clean room for half an hour, chances are they will. Cleaning up before shooting is the rule.
- Get Instagram processing for all vendors of the day if you’ve never worked with them before. When you’re writing your blog, tagging them means a much wider reach and they’ll have great pictures of their products taken by you that they’ll want to share (make sure that you put a watermark on images that you give them to use because people often forget to credit you).
Essentials in my Kit bag
- weapon 2: I love this bit of the set. It’s great for auto-focusing and HDR images, as well as panoramas. It really comes in handy when you have little time to help get great photos.
- Godox AD200: small, portable and flexible. These are great for off-camera photos. Make sure you buy X Pro Activator too. It’s great and easy to set up multiple flashes very quickly with different power settings. In addition, the Godox S2 Flashlight Holder works well for attaching Bowens-style softboxes to light stands. This kit is reasonably priced for its value and is small enough to pack into a mid-sized bag, and with a wide range of accessories available, it’s a great choice.
- Blu Tac: Necessary item to fix shoes or set up rings and stick to the flower pins so that the groom won’t get entangled.
- hold tight Manufacturers money: I’ve used a lot of straps and they don’t seem to last or be as good as I expected. This is the only camera strap holster system that stays with me at every wedding. Not only is it customizable, but it’s also very powerful and eye-catching.
- Buy yourself a walkie-talkie. Give one to your second shooter and another to the wedding coordinator or venue contact. It’s much easier if everyone knows where they plan to be and you can keep the bride and groom apart more easily before they even meet.
Plans after the wedding
- Send the couple the first 50 images within 24 hours. The advantage of this is that they can instantly share them on social networks, as many guests will be sharing their smartphone images on social networks. I didn’t count how many times people would wait until I set up a photo that day, then try to take a picture with their cell phone on my shoulder and post it the next day.
- Photographing each pair of attendees for the day means you’ll have photos for everyone to buy as soon as they’ve been edited and uploaded. Some people may not get a photo opportunity together and dressing up for a wedding is the perfect opportunity for a great photo. Have your second photographer make sure they photograph all the couples attending the wedding.
- Back up your photos as soon as you enter. Charge the battery and set your card aside until you send the photo to your client so you’re ready for the next shot.
- Set yourself a time limit for editing each day. I recommend editing for up to 45 minutes and then taking a break. I find a fresh pair of eyes every day means more quality work done.
- For selective photography, why not try Aftershoot? It uses AI recognition and your uploads to find all your photos that are in focus, well-composed, and in style. It then scores them and you can update the metadata and reload it into Adobe Lightroom. It saved me hours of looking through the images and sifting through them before final editing.
Hopefully these tips and information will help you if you are thinking of starting your own wedding business or already have one and want to try some new things. If you have any helpful ideas or want to add to what’s here, feel free to drop me a line. I want to hear your thoughts.
