photos: Luciana Franzolin

Professional or not, if you are the one with the big camera in the family, chances are you will be asked to photograph a wedding at some point.

That can be very exciting, but it’s also a big responsibility.

A wedding can be the most special day on a person’s life.

You need to make sure you don’t ruin it by, let’s say, your battery running out before the groom kisses the bride, or you finish shooting only to realise you left your memory card at home.

Here are some tips to capture the big day:

• First Things First
  • Charge your batteries
  • Clean your camera and lenses
  • Format your memory cards
  • Test all equipment
  • Arrive early

•  Have a Spare… Everything:
  • if you can, have a spare camera (imagine if your camera breaks! it can happen)
  • if you can, have a spare flash (you can use it on a second camera or use it off-camera, to light the background for example)
  • if you can, have spare lenses (if you have the spare camera, you can use one lens on each camera and switch faster to click with a telephoto and a wide angle at the same time)
  • spare batteries for cameras and flashes
  • spare memory cards

• Scout the Location
  • It is great to know the kind of light you will have to deal with at the wedding venue.
  • If the ceremony will be during the day, check where the sun rises and sets and possible outdoor shooting locations.
  • If at night, observe if the ceilings are too high or non-white. You might have a challenge bouncing the flash.
  • Look  for alternative points of view, somewhere you can go to photograph from above, for example.

• Plan Ahead
  • Ask for the wedding plan to know beforehand what will happen and be prepared for it.
  • Ask the couple for references. Maybe they will tip you with ideas that will make all the difference to how you will conduct your work.
  • Do a shot list for all the “cliche” shots with couple, family, friends, the bouquet, etc etc and then move on to capture more candid moments.

•  Technical Musts
  • Shoot in RAW
  • Backup everything as soon as you get home
  • Work on copies, never on the originals

We have just finished our first Wedding Photography Workshop last weekend and here are some images used in the class from Stefan Lancandler, professional wedding photographer and LSP trainer:

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