subject: Wedding Photography Tips - My Top 3 Tips For Capturing The Big Day! [print this page] You must read these Top 3 Tips if your an amateur wedding photographer.
1. Prepare - Prepare - Prepare!
2. Ask the experts.
3. ALWAYS shoot in RAW.
1. Prepare - Prepare - Prepare!
Can't stress this one enough; it's a huge task and your probably very nervous but also proud to be asked to do the photographs on such an important day. The trick here is to prepare as much as possible. After all, you will be more confident on the day if you do as much preparation as possible to ensure that all goes well on the day.
The first thing to do is to talk with the couple and ask them what they are expecting from you. Are they hiring a professional photographer but want you to take photographs of the day's events from a different perspective? Either way, the preparation is much the same; however, if you are the main photographer, then the responsibility is of course much greater.
Take a note book along and write down as much detail as you can; venue, times, number of guests etc and ask if there are any special shots they would like, such as an elderly relative who they particularly want a good shot taken with them. Make a list of all the shots you will need to take as a checklist on the day.
This might seem obvious, but make sure you prepare all your equipment, charging batteries, plenty of memory cards, backup camera. Include a golfing umbrella, (let' hope the sun shines), a range of lenses and if possible a prime lens for portraits (especially useful for low or natural light), a good quality off camera flash and if possible some hand held reflectors. Make sure all this is gathered together, clean and well maintained.
Also, prepare for the route and the venue. Go over the route and even drive it beforehand and make a note of the time taken (allow for extra traffic on the day) and have a good look around the venue to familiarise yourself with the layout and to choose the best vantage points to take some great shots.
2. Ask the experts.
One of the most valuable tips I can give you is to seek help from the experts. For example, the vicar/clergy person or wedding official can be a great help. They of course, will have carried out a lot of weddings and will be able to advise you when and where to take the necessary shots. Also, it's only courteous to talk to the wedding official and explain to them you are doing the photographs as you may need some extra time during the ceremony to take the photographs and they will need to allow for that.
You should also check out some of the excellent courses available online to get as much guidance as possible.
3. ALWAYS shoot in RAW.
Most digital cameras save the image to a format that can be read directly by the editing software. The most common formats are typically JPG and TIF etc. These formats cleverly compress the files to provide a balance between file size and lossless image quality. The best image quality will be maintained by choosing RAW as the file format on your camera menu, if it is available on your model. RAW is the camera's proprietary file format and captures all of the images details with the minimum of processing to the file captured.
Like a negative in film photography, RAW files are sometimes referred to as digital negatives: the negative records all the light coming through the lens but is unusable as the final image and needs to be developed to create the final image. Likewise, the process of converting a raw image file into a viewable format is sometimes called developing a raw image.
A raw digital image may have a wider dynamic range or colour gamut than the final image and it preserves most of the information of the captured image. This format saves, with minimum loss of information, data obtained from the sensor and the conditions surrounding the capturing of the image (the metadata).
This creates a file size that is much greater than a JPG, sometimes as much as 4 to 6 times the size. This takes more memory up on your cards, so make sure you have plenty as backup. Also, it's larger size means the camera can take longer to record all the information to the card, so it may slow down your image capture as you wait for the camera to write to the disk (although good DSLR's have a buffer to capture the image in bursts).
The main advantage with RAW is the higher quality image and it also gives you the chance, whilst post processing, to make adjustments to the settings to compensate for poor lighting, exposure etc. Virtually all the settings that can be modified on the camera, such as white balance, sharpness etc can be adjusted on the computer in a 'none destructive' way and the results saved to the final image. If you're unhappy with the adjustments, you can go back to the RAW file and change the settings and output it again.
by: Andrew Woods
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