Wedding Session Afterthoughts: It Is About The People.
Before I continue let me drop a major caveat. I have done four weddings. And one of those was as a second shooter. Said plainly I am no expert on this topic. A couple of points.
- This is four more weddings than I ever expected to do.
- A fifth is already booked for later this year, so evidently I am getting the swing of things.
That being said I will not let that stop me from sharing what I have learned and experienced thus far.
Oftentimes, wedding photography talk centers around gear.
Makes sense.
Of all of the types of photography I have pursued, no other has such a wide and conflicting grouping of requirements.
Detail pics.
Candid.
Low Light.
Fast AF.
Portraits.
Flash.
And anything else that comes up that you could never predict.
What I used for the first wedding…
…was a common setup.
Good light.
- A body and a short to long tele lens.
- A body and a wide-ish to short tele lens.
Meh light/Cave light.
- A body and a fast normal prime.
- A body and a fast portrait prime.
Since then, newer zoom lens types…
…have allowed for a much more simplified approach.
- One camera and one zoom lens.
Did I bring more stuff?
Yes.
Did I use other stuff?
Yes.
But that was a personal choice, not a need. Tamron did an amazing thing here. Created a new category of lens. Evidently, other companies agreed. Rokinon/Samyang basically copied off of Tamron’s homework and Sony is trying to upstage them with their own take on one lens for most purposes.
So for me, the gear discussion is done and done.
But before I get into the people thing, I did run into a new challenge.
Diabolical lighting.
Every wedding so far has been straightforward.
Wedding ceremony: Outside.
Reception: Inside.
Easy. Lighting was the only challenge to deal with.
The only lighting challenge involved so far was an afternoon wedding in December where we lost the sun between the ceremony and the reception. So it is still the amount of light, not the color of the light.
But this time was different.
Both the wedding and reception took place in the same location. I say first… A wonderful venue. Wonderful folks that were a pleasure to work with… But it had all the lighting.
And mixed lighting is of the devil. Sun on entry to the venue through the garage doors. Heavily backlit inside. Not sure for sure but LED and/or fluorescent inside and a near constant mix of all throughout, depending on the subject’s position and mine. And precious memories do not care about your preferred position.
This required some fiddling with the settings. Largely setting exposure to subject rather than scene, and understanding that white balance for the background will often be at odds with the subject. Thankfully courtesy of RAW file flexibility post editing was a thing. Necessary here, not a luxury.
Ok, enough about gear.
People.
I have been very fortunate. All weddings thus far have been unions of folks I know, or are the offspring of folks I know.
Great folks = Great time.
Now I have dodged a bullet or two.
How did I avoid hard feelings? Easy.
I quoted a real price, and they bailed. This is another lesson.
Great folks are willing to pay your price.
Others?.. Not so much.
There is a correlation to be made if I am honest.
If folks are not willing to pay you…
Walk away.
Because do not delude yourself. I know personally from a few experiences that other folks do not say this:
Gee. This person has given me a great price. I shall make sure I treat them nicely and respect their time.
Nope. Other folks are also nasty pieces of work to deal with per my experience.
Low Pay + Bad Treatment = A Bad Time.
I vowed never to do that again. Ever. Nope. Not doing it.
And remember. Do not sell yourself short. Do not lower your expectations. Do not settle. Be patient.
Good people will come your way.
Good people are willing to pay.
Good people are a good time.
And last Sunday confirmed this once again.
That is all for now.
Here is one pic I took of the welcome/guest sign-in table.
I will share more of the experience and images in the future. Out of respect for the couple, I am waiting to share more sample images.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 