As a wedding photographer, capturing the beauty, emotion, and memories of a couple's special day is both an honour and a huge responsibility, but, it requires a unique set of skills and expertise to do it well. Here are some of the things that go into photographing a wedding, and how I work to create beautiful, timeless images that the couple will treasure for years to come.
1. Preparation
The first step in photographing a wedding is preparation. This includes meeting with the couple to discuss their expectations, preferences, and vision for their big day. I ask them questions about the venue, their wedding theme, the number of guests, cultural or religious aspects, and the timeline of events. This helps me get a sense of what to expect, and allows me to plan for things like lighting and equipment. It's also a good opportunity to get to know the couple, their personalities, and their style, which helps me tailor my approach to their specific needs. Some couples really love the editorial and posed style of photos, while others are more relaxed and are after more candid and spontaneous styled photos.
Another big factor in the preparation before a wedding day is scouting for locations to photograph, organising other shooters to assist you on the day, prepping your equipment for the day. and making multiple plans to be prepared for bad weather or other uncontrollable events that can be a big hurdle on the day. All this takes time, but it’s really a big difference between just being good at taking photos, and being a wedding photographer. Having the confidence to say “let’s go here”, “let’s do this”, gives the couple your photographing confidence in you and your work, and let’s them enjoy their day.
2. Equipment
Wedding photography requires a lot of specialised (expensive) equipment. This includes multiple camera bodies, a variety of lenses to capture different angles and focal lengths, and an assortment of lighting equipment like flashes, reflectors, and softboxes. I also bring backup equipment, just in case something malfunctions or breaks during the day.
All of this does not come cheap, my collection of camera bodies. lenses, lights have cost me over $20,000 over the years. Having the best equipment available makes a huge difference, not only in the quality of the photos, but it can also help to speed up the day. The cost of the equipment plays a large part in the price of a lot of wedding photographers and videographers, for the same reason a tradesman isn’t cheap, because you expect them to have the specialised equipment to get the job done.
3. Capturing the Day
When the day finally arrives, it's time to start capturing the moments. I arrive early to scout the location and capture some detail shots of the venue, decorations, and other elements. Throughout the day, I aim to capture a mix of candid and posed shots, as well as a range of emotions and interactions between the couple, their families, and guests. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it really is. You have to find a way to sometimes be in 3 places at once, or put yourself in a position where you know certain things are likely to happen.
After a quick scout of the venue, I always start with the getting ready shots for the bride and groom, and their respective bridal parties. This time in the day is usually pretty relaxed, but there’s a sense of nerves in the air, as they both know the importance of the day. My job isn’t just to capture their outfits and morning routine, but to reassure, calm, and help get them out the door and to the ceremony on time.
I won’t give you the blow-by-blow of every part of the day and my approach to it, but there are some parts that can be a bit tricky for us wedding photographers. Being a good wedding photographer is knowing what to look out for, and how to either overcome it, or best deal with it. Sometimes it’s as easy as talking to the venue owner, moving the couple etc, but sometimes it can just come down to the unflattering lighting at a venue, or the weather for the day.
One of the biggest challenges of wedding photography in my opinion, is how draining it can actually be. Don’t get me wrong, no wedding photographer is in the business because they don’t love it and can handle the drain, but it’s something that isn’t really known unless you’re in the industry. Photographing a 15hr day, while being at your peak enthusiasm, alertness, positivity, running around everywhere, all while carrying several cameras and a bag of other lenses and gear can be absolutely exhausting! That’s why it means so much to us when we get great reviews, and kind words from our couple, because we’ve absolutely given it our all for them on their big day - and we’d do it all over again.
4. Post-Processing
Or in other-words, “why does it take so long to get my photos!?”
After the wedding day is over, my work is far from finished. Post-processing is an essential part of creating beautiful, timeless images, as it always the longest part. A lot of people assume that you slap a filter over the top, or they don’t realise that we have to quite literally go through thousands of images - the days of our parents only getting a hundred photos from a few rolls of film are over!
The three main parts of editing are culling, the edit, and touch-ups.
We begin with culling, because we need to cut down the amount of photos by removing duplicates, blurry shots, unflattering angles etc. This can take anywhere from half a day, to a week depending on how experienced the photographer is. And yes, we’re literally just pressing “next” photo a million times all day to approve a photo or not.
Then with the initial edit, we’ll edit a few photos from different sections of the day, and apply them to that whole section, and go over each one to adjust some smaller details. This is to help create a consistent look throughout! There are new AI software programs that can do this for you, but they’re still not amazing, and still require us to go over them all and make small adjustments.
For the final touch-ups, we’ll take some of the best images of the whole day, and remove distractions, or fix blinking eyes etc. This can be quite time consuming, which is why we don’t do it for every photo, only a select few. For example, in the photo below, I spent a lot more time touching up the sky. It required a lot of masks, trial and error, and removal of distractions - but it was worth it!
5. Delivering the Images
The final step in the wedding photography process is delivering the images to the couple. I typically provide the images in both digital and physical formats, and I work with the couple to determine the best way to present them. I’ve found sending a digital collection is the best method, because they can easily share and download their favourites!
In conclusion, photographing a wedding is a challenging but rewarding experience. It requires a lot of preparation, specialised equipment, a keen eye for capturing the right moments, and a lot of experience to be confident enough for any scenario. But the end result is a collection of images that will be cherished by the couple and their families for a lifetime. If you're getting married soon, I hope this post has given you some insight into the work that goes into creating beautiful wedding images.
Jake
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