My Top Ten Tips For Beginning Wedding Photographers in 2020

All of my years photographing weddings have taught me so so much. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that wedding photography is less about photography than you’d ever think. It’s about people. A wedding photographer has an interesting and unique position on the wedding day. You’re an outsider, an observer, and yet you have to interact with everyone. All wedding photographers wish we could just hide in the bushes with a huge zoom lens, and that nobody would even know we were there, but when little kids find you (notice I said when not if), their parents are going to look at you weird, and you’ll have some explaining to do.

Heres’ my top ten tips for new wedding photographers. Photographing weddings will train you to handle every possible lighting situation, because you’re going to find yourself in some wild ones.

10. Scout the Location(s)

I remember being so incredibly stressed before my first 50-ish weddings, yes FIFTY!! When you’re photographing a wedding, the pressure is on, it’s a one time shot, and you can’t miss any part of it. When I started photographing weddings, I knew basically nothing about photography or weddings. I don’t scout locations for weddings anymore, but early in my career it was really helpful for me to see the location, get inspired about it, and it also feels like a value add to the couple, and it will increase their confidence in you, and give you something to talk about as you help plan their wedding.

9. Set Clear Expectations

I can’t count how many times couples have showed me photos on Pinterest of photos of light and airy beach ceremonies that they love, and yet their wedding is going to be inside, in the winter in Portland, OR. Portland in the wintertime is the opposite of a sunny beach.

It is SO SO important to set clear expectations on exactly what your couple can expect in every aspect of their wedding, before, during and after. I let couples know that I’ll lead them in posing through the day, I’ll be kind and directive for the family photos and that I’ll be working with them to plan a schedule an a shot list.

8. Find the Deeper Stories

Weddings are a beautiful culmination of two people’s lives, and if you listen well to them, you’ll easily find deeper story lines. A great example of this is a groom I had who mentioned to me that his dad would most likely not attend his wedding. Obviously this is a huge deal, and there’s a lot behind this if someone’s father isn’t attending their sons wedding. I took note of this, and on the wedding day the grooms dad was at the wedding, but he was very distant. I captured a photo of him standing off to the side with his arms crossed, a photo that I’m very proud of and that feels very honest to me. I hope it means something to the groom and shows him something true about his life.

7. Smile at People + Joke with Them

If you’re wandering around with a huge camera, people will naturally feel uncomfortable when you’re pointing it at them. I see this all the time, people are standing in a group laughing candidly, then they notice my lens pointed at them and they become an awkward group of stiff penguins. At that point I lower my camera, smile at them and/or say something like “I should’ve sneak attacked you way better”, they start laughing and I take photos of them laughing and then they’re comfortable with me for the rest of the night.

6. BACK EVERYTHING UP ASAP!!

Yes I’m screaming this, and yes it’s so important. I talk to so many beginning photographers who don’t have a good backup system, and that is asking for trouble. At a minimum all photos should be duplicated on two separate external hard drives, and I’m pretty over the top so I store them on three. You can’t be too careful out there, and i could tell you so many stories of people losing photos, hard drives falling off desks and general chaos out there. I’ve never lost a single image to this day in over 14 years in business, and I credit that to using reliable memory cards (click the link for the ones I use) and backing everything up really well.

5. Shoot for the Light

Photographing a wedding, you’re constantly deciding what to prioritize. Early in my career this was overwhelming, but I learned quickly that if photos aren’t taken in good light, they aren’t going to be the quality I want, so when I’m choosing locations for couples photos or family photos, I choose the light above all else.

4. Go With the Flow

One thing I’ve found discouraging about wedding photography is that I can come up with a huge vision that I’m super excited about, yet it seems that every single time something wild happens, buses run late. car accidents slow everyone down, the bridesmaids are running three hours late, etc…. etc… etc…. A wedding day isn’t about the photographers vision, and I’ve found that going with the flow always gets me the best shots.

3. Introduce Yourself to the Family + Wedding Party

You’re going to be directing the family and wedding party and you need them to listen to you to get family and wedding party photos done quickly. Always introduce yourself to these people right away and do your best to remember their names, this will help you when you’re trying to herd them all up for the formal photos.

2. Trust Your Gut

If you sense something important is about to happen, go with it, wait for it, do whatever you sense. I’ve walked away from every wedding I photograph with beautiful photos of moments that my clients and I love, and it came from trusting my gut.

1. Let Go

It’s not about you. A wedding day is what it is, it’s imperfect, it’s messy and it’s beautiful. Your job is not to make the day into something more beautiful than it actually is, but to be there, and document two people’s lives coming together in love, what could be more beautiful than that?

Boise Family Photographer | The E Family

One of the joys of photographing families is watching them grow. The first year of a child’s life is especially profound with the amount that they change, a zero month old is so very different than a one year old. I’ve been honored to be taking photos of the E family throughout 2020. We hung out in their yard on a beautiful Boise spring morning, and if you go through the photos you’ll see that the shoot finished with a great grand finale.

E Family, thank you so much for taking the time with me to photograph your sweet little family, can’t wait for our next shoot!

Bryan

Essential Wedding Photography Gear | Top 10 List

After more than 14 years as a professional photographer and photographing over 400 weddings (it might be more than 500 now, honestly I stopped keeping count), I’ve compiled a list of my top ten essentials that any photographer needs to photograph a wedding. Some of the things are really obvious, but there’s some that you might not think of that I’ve found to be crucial from taking literally hundreds of thousands of pictures over the last 14 years of my professional life.

A quick note, these items correlate with my shooting style, I’m a prime lens only, natural light loving photographer. Here’s my top ten list:

10. Speedlight

I’m a natural light photographer through and through, and if I can shoot with natural light, then I will (high ISO’s, fast apertures and slow shutter speeds don’t scare me), BUT at the same time, if you’re photographing weddings, you will find yourself in some crazy dark situations, so a speedlight is a must. I’m a Canon shooter so I have a 600ex-rt, a 580ex II and a 430e ex-II. I use these both on and off camera, if you’re looking for budget options for flashes, I’ve heard great things about these, Yongnuo YN600-EX-RT II. My Canon 600ex-rt is powerful enough that I can use a shoot through or bounce umbrella and use it for an off camera light source for family photos as well.s

9. Wireless Flash Triggers

Speedlights are powerful little beacons of light, but to get the most out of them, you need to be able to get them off your camera. Moving a speedlight off of your camera gives you unlimited options for lighting angles and directions. I typically keep a flash off-camera during every reception on a lightstand that I can move around easily and to fit whatever lighting situation I find myself in. Industry-standard wireless flash triggers are PocketWizards, but they’ve had some unreliable products, and their triggers are also pricey. I use these cheap Yongnuo triggers, and they’ve been incredible, highly reliable (I KNOW my flash is going to fire EVERY TIME), and they’re very affordable too. It should be noted that I do not use ETTL with these triggers, I use them solely as manual triggers (where I’m controlling my flash manually). A side bonus, is that when I’m doing professional headshots or on a commercial shoot where I need lights, I use these same triggers to control my Alien Bee 800’s.

8. Light Stand

Following on the theme of speedlights and using them to their maximum potential, a light stand is an essential piece of equipment for getting your flash off your camera and positioned wherever your heart and artistic vision desire. You can certainly purchase cheap light stands, but I LOVE these Manfrotto stands. You can get by with cheap lightstands for sure, but if you’re ever walked around with lightstands slipping out of your arms, falling onto the ground, you’ll understand why I love the linked Manfrotto stands. Those stands hook together easily so carrying three stands takes up as much space as carrying one cheap stand. Also keep in mind that you might have a $500+ light on top of your stand, stability matters. Also keep in mind that if you want to mount your speedlight on any lightstand, you’ll need an umbrella adapter, this is the best one I’ve found, and a cold shoe mount (quick note, I’ve always heard that you can ruin speedlights by putting them on a metal cold shoe and firing them, I have no idea if that’s actually true, but I’m not risking it, I wrap electrical tape around my metal cold shoes to make sure the flash contacts never touch metal).

7. Memory Card Case

At first I thought to myself, “is a memory card case really essential?”. But for me, yes, yes it is. The images that you create at a wedding are everything, without those you’re going to be in big trouble. I’m a big believer in systems, so I create systems for everything I do, including how I manage memory cards with important data on them. When I get done with a shoot I pull my memory cards from my camera and put them into my memory card case that I then put into my pocket. If I go into a store, my memory cards come too. I’ve had camera gear stolen before, and insurance covered it, but if the memory cards would’ve been stolen with the clients images on them, I would’ve been in big trouble. They no longer make the memory card cases I have, and I really love them, but sd card cases look similar, great, and affordable.

6. Capable Camera Body

The thing about weddings is that, especially if you do enough of them, you are going to find yourself in EVERY POSSIBLE lighting situation. I’ve photographed a wedding on the top of a hill in the Coastal Range of the Oregon Coast where the sun was literally RIGHT BEHIND the couple during the early evening. It was HOT and the sun was BRIGHT, I can’t believe how sweaty I was crouched in the aisle of that ceremony. At the same time I’ve taken photos at a reception in an extremely dark pub in the Netherlands, outdoor receptions in the wilderness after dark (this is actually the darkest, hardest lighting situation, nothing to bounce artificial light off of). All of this to say, you need a camera body that can handle low light and high ISO’s really well. I began my career as a professional photographer in 2006, went full time in 2009 and I started with a Canon 5D, then upgraded to a Canon 5D Mk III and I’m currently using a Canon EOS-R. Every one of these cameras has been incredibly capable. I make jokes about making out with my cameras, but really, I do love them deeply, because of what they allow me to do. Moving to a mirrorless camera has been really fun, the smaller body is a relief and inspiring to hold for a long period of time, and the function of the EOS-R is outstanding. It’s an incredible camera, and previously I’ve always spent $3500 on camera bodies, so spending a mere $2000 on the EOS R was wonderful.

5. Prime Lenses

I’m a prime lens shooter, I sold my last zoom lens in the early 2010’s and I’ve never looked back. I became a “professional photographer” with literally no training, I mean zero, I didn’t know what aperture was, I still to this day have never taken a photography class. The question I asked myself from the beginning of my career has been, “how can I make my work better than uncle Bob.” If you’ve shot many weddings, you know uncle Bob, and you know he may even have the same, or worse, nicer gear than you. I’ve always loved the shallow depth of field look, and prime lenses give me the opportunity to use super fast apertures and even though uncle Bob might have a 70-200F2.8L, he doesn’t ever have a Canon 85mm F1.2L. It also takes skill to shoot moving subjects at F2 or F1.2, and uncle Bob hasn’t put in the time to learn that. These are the lenses that I keep in my quiver: Canon 24mm F1.4L, Canon 35mm F1.4L, Canon 50mm 1.2L, Canon 85mm 1.2L and the Canon 135mm F2L. I would like a longer lens, so I’m considering a Canon 200mm F2L or a Canon 70-200mm 2.8L, one of these will be my next buy.

4. A Comfortable Camera Strap

Spend 8+ hours with a heavy camera and lens hanging from your neck, and you’ll understand why a comfortable strap is on my essential wedding photography gear list. For weddings my favorite strap is the Holdfast MoneyMaker Solo. It’s the most comfortable strap I’ve found and my neck is the least sore at the end of a long day. People also always comment on what a beautiful strap it is. For commercial work I use the Peak Design Slide Lite Strap, which I love also, but I’d still take the MoneyMaker Solo for weddings any day.

3. Lens Bag

Since I shoot prime lenses exclusively, I change lenses A LOT. Like 50-100 times per shoot I’d guess. So I need my lenses on my hip, and I haven’t found any better bag than the Shootsac. It’s expensive for sure, but I’ve used mine for the better part of a decade, and even wore a hole in the back, and I absolutely love it. It’s also great for holding snacks, your memory card case, and extra batteries.

2. Backup Gear

It’s easy to see wedding photography as a low investment, high return opportunity, but if you’re thinking that, you’re probably not realizing that you need backup gear of everything. If ANY piece of equipment fails, you must be able to replace it and carry on shooting at a moments notice and produce the same high quality imagery you’ve promised your clients. Cameras are extremely reliable, but you never know when something will break, I take great care of my gear, but things still break from time to time, and I tend to especially break shutter buttons.

1. Reliable Memory Cards

If you’re photographing weddings, your images are your product. Like I said, I’ve had gear stolen, but it doesn’t matter, what matters is that I’ve never lost a single image from a shoot. I recently changed memory card companies when I switched to the EOS R, and it was because I wanted to find the most reliable card company, and I landed on Prograde SD Cards. If you’re just shooting stills you don’t need super fast cards (although it’s still nice), but if you’re shooting video you NEED fast cards to be able to shoot in 4k. These are the cards that I’m currently using and they’re not only extremely fast, but have had perfect reliability. I feel confident relying on these little pieces of plastic and metal from Prograde to hold and protect my images until I get them home loaded onto my external hard drive.