What you need to know if you want to become a wedding photographer

Your wedding is not just an event but it is journey that two people have decided to take. Wedding photography may not be a mainstream or commercial photography but it is still an art. It should not be considered to be anything less than serious photography. In fact it is one of the most demanding disciplines of professional work. If you are an aspiring wedding photographer then there are certain key areas that you need to understand. One of the key areas is strategy. Even before you can think about the camera to use, lenses, the lighting and the background, you need to work on a strategy.

A sound strategy means that you would be able to create opportunities by the numbers. You will have to create an opportunity in every situation. Most wedding photographers take severe; versions of the same shot to eliminate blinks and at the same time they are able to introduce variety. Most wedding photographers will shoot a full-length photo, which is followed by a head and shoulders or half-length photo. Secondly, you may want to create a list of photographs that should be or can be taken during wedding. The list can be altered at the event, but acts as a good guideline for who will be in what pictures. The list drawn by most professionals include photographs of Bride at home, preparations/wedding dress, parents, bridesmaids, bridesmaids group photo, bride and bridesmaids, bride and chief bridesmaid, bride and family, parents and bride, mother and bride, father and bride, brothers, sisters and bride, parents and bridesmaids, extended family and any special request.

These will be followed by photographs in the church or outdoors after the wedding ceremony is over. One of the favorite shots is where the bride walks through the aisle. You can take good photos using a tripod so that the flash can bounce from a reflector at around f/5.6 followed by a shutter speed of 1/8 or 1/15 of a second. This will allow ambient light to seep in. If you are not using the tripod then you will need to have one stop less than the normal where the flash will reflect on an 80mm lens and the shutter speed will be 1/30 of a second.