How to Become a Wedding Photographer

There is a lot to learn if you want to know how to become a wedding photographer but here are a few simple tips to get you started.

1. Always have a game plan.
Before the wedding day you should know exactly what kind of pictures the bride and groom are looking for and already have some poses in mind. Know where you are going to take the pictures and what the lighting will be like and what settings you must have on the camera for each situation.

2. Have the couple make a list of pictures they want
The weddings I have done where the bride gives me a list of pictures she knows she wants always go much smoother than the others. A shot list will help you with your game plan as well and it will relax the bride more as she knows you have everything covered. Of course you can always add to the list as the day goes on.

3. Let the couple know what to expect from you
Tell the bride and groom everything you will be doing in the course of the wedding day and what you will be offering with your photography services. Will they get prints, a cd, any enlargements...? Settle all of this and the price for everything well in advance. This will make for fewer headaches later.

4. Require a non-refundable deposit within a month of the wedding
A deposit of at least 25% will let you know the couple is serious and will not cancel on you last minute, but even if they do you still have 25% of the total price. I have had weddings cancel last minute and I had to turn down other weddings for this date so without a deposit I would have lost a lot of money.

5. Be an observant photographer.
A photographer who is pointing his camera into every delicate situation can really ruin a special day. Be careful to take pictures without intruding. Learn to be a photojournalist during the wedding ceremony and reception and use a telephoto lens for those sentimental moments.

6. Capture all the details
What makes a wedding album unique is the details. Capture details like the decorations, the flower pedals on the floor, the look on the grooms face when he sees his bride in the aisle, the hugs, the tears, the sheer magic of the wedding. The more details you capture the more your customers will love you and refer you to their friends.

7. Be in the right place at the right time
This is the most crucial part of photography. You can have all the settings right on the camera, get the perfect exposure, have great lighting, but your pictures will stink if your timing is bad. Anticipate each moment and put yourself in the best position to capture what WILL happen, not what DID happen. If you are seeing the picture you want to take it's probably too late. See it before it happens.

I wish I found this program sooner. It has helped to catapult my wedding photography business like nothing else.

It's called the Wedding Photography Blueprint!

It has been written by Nick Stubbs, who is an amazing 25 year wedding photographer veteran who really knows his stuff. The Wedding Photography Blueprint includes a DVD set of videos showing you a 2 day tutorial of every step of the wedding photography process, including camera settings, and working with the people in the shots.

It is a wedding photography training course that is unlike any other program I have found online, and I have looked around for a while now.

It also includes a 99 page ebook going over some of the technical points of wedding photography like:

Editing Tips in Photoshop
How to Shoot in Low Light
How to Work with Group Shots
Shooting in Raw
An Interview with a bride and groom about Photographing their day
Interviews with other top wedding photographers (an awesome bonus I thought)

Check out the Wedding Photography Blueprint Here!