Hi everyone!!!Could anyone give me advise?????

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A.J.M

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Im thinking of starting wedding photography and was wondering if anyone could give me advise on what equipment to use and how to use it.My wife bought me a Canon 450 d at christmas and shes ready for divorce at this stage!!!!!There is nowhere to learn on how to use the camera to the full potential so I was wondering if someone might help?I am also starting a course on photoshop so hopefully this will benefit.My friend also wants me to do his photographs at his wedding, I,m bricking it but at the same time cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Just read this entire site, you will be amazing by the end of it!

Go on the course and learn the basics shutter,ISO,APP etc

Search for wedding stuff on here also, there is plenty of info about it all.

Good luck
 
my advise..... you need years of practice!!!! Sorry if I seem a bit harsh. There's a good magazine on the market called Photoplus which especially caters for beginners and canon DSLR users
 
Hi, AJM, glad to see your obvious enthusiasm but I think I might be about to piddle all over it. Please don't take this badly I'm just sharing my own experience here.

I've just turned pro and it has taken me two years from getting my hands on a 20D with a 17-85mm lens to where I am now. Now I'm not saying for one minute that you cannot successfully shoot a wedding with minimal kit, you can, but you won't get away with it for ever, something will go wrong. I'll let you know the kit I've put together to give you an idea.

Canon 1Ds MkII and a Canon 5D. Lenses. Sigma 15-30mm Sigma 24-70mm Canon 24-105mm Canon 100mm Macro, Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 Canon 70-200mm f4 and a Canon 85mm f1.8.

Flash gear, One Canon 580ex modified to take pocketwizards,one Canon ST-E2 controller, 2x the aforementioned pocketwizards, two vivitar 285HV flashguns and three studio flash heads, all with softboxes. Lighting stands, reflectors et al...........

All in all kit to the tune of some £10K

Now about that divorce?................................

yes you can get away with less but if you want to do good quality, creative wedding pics then that's the starting point. After that you get into some serious sub f1.8 glass that costs £850-£1200 per lens.

Then there is the marketing budget. I'm looking at spending about another 2K in my first year on marketing.

Oh and don't forget the equipment insurance, public liability insurance and travelling expenses.

Have I put you off yet?

As for learning your camera, where abouts in the UK are you based, more than likely there will be a TP meet or a course that you might be interested in.

Hope that actually helps and does not put too much of a dampener on the ambition, everyone starts somewhere so welcome to TP.
 
I,m from the back end of donegal in the rep of ireland?????I,m still not put off and dont think I will be.Just gotta work my way up like the rest of you.thanks everyone for help dearly noted.I have also subscribed to digital photo I find it really helpful!!!!!!
 
Get Professional Photography too, once you have learned your way around your camera, that will help you find your way around the business and trends too. :)

glad I haven't scared you off :)
 
AJM,

Can I ask, what made you decide to switch career and become a wedding photographer?
 
Gotta agree with Ali, its not a bad ambition but you need lots of experience before venturing down that path, and then I personally would start as a second tog for a pro wedding shooter and follow and learn for a few years again then maybe you can look at getting into wedding photography on your own.

As for learning the best way is to get out and practice see what settings effect the shot in what way and learn from there.
 
Alis given some good advise there. I have been a wedding tog for more years than I care to mention, theres a lot more to the job than just buying a camera and away you go.
You need to market your business, remember if your just starting theres a long lead time with weddings (most will be for next year or later) so not much money throught he door for a while.
You need to be a people person, not just the life and soul of the party, you have to manage and control maybe a couple of hundred people, without upsetting them.
You have to know your equitment inside out, what it will or wont do, how to get around the things it won't do. You have to have back up cameras, lens, flashes etc etc, the 450d is a good camera, but it's not made for hard use, you might want to look at a 40 - 50d ofr even a 5d.
You have to be able to deal with the unexpected, stuff does happen at weddings, I have had people die, people fighting, you name it and it'll have happened to some poor wedding tog.
Then theres the business side, keeping accounts, pricing your services correctly, paying the tax/vat man, having insurance, third party and camera. And how will you manage if you break your leg just before a wedding? have you got another experienced tog who will "stand in" for you.
Theres a million and one things to think about, if your asking about how to use the camera properly your shouldn't really be even thinking about doing a wedding yet, screw up someones special day and you'll be lucky if you only get sued, you'll not get many more bookings once word goes around.
I'm not trying to put you off (your no threat to my business where you are) but I'd hate to see you get yourself into a mess. learn the camera totally and ask again. Wayne
 
definately listen to the good advice on here...i shot my brothers wedding last november,and although the shots turned out okay,i wasn't overly pleased with them(although my brother and his wife were).there's so much to do and remember...the shots the bride and groom want,your camera settings(light changes/white balance,aperture required etc..).it's quite a stressful experience all in all,and unlike any other form of photography you will ever encounter..
 
wheres papa when you need him :lol:

whens your brothers wedding????

id start by googling iso, f stop and aperture and shutter speed.

then read through it to understand what they do and how they are linked, then shoot like mad for a month. followed by reading the wedding threads on this site.

oh, and good luck good luck and good luck:thumbs:
 
wheres papa when you need him


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Though I did agree with the majority of what he was saying.
 
For the benefit of the OP Papa is a wedding tog who eventually managed to get himself banned because every time someone asked a question about wedding photography from an inexperienced starting point, he would go off like a bomb in a Canon factory!

We miss him sometimes :)
 
AJM, no one is trying to put you off, but you have your camera for 3 weeks and are asking for places to learn how to use it - this would indicate you have one helluva steep learning curve before you can consider yourself a wedding tog. There are courses out these for this specific subject, often residential over several days, but no idea what is available in Ireland, google may be your best friend on this, but they will expect you to have a good knowledge of how to actually use your camera to begin with so maybe you should concentrate on that bit first.

Can I suggest you take on board the advice form people like Ali and swanseamale and give yourself a reasonable time frame in which to acheive all this, preferably without divorce featuring, and probably counted in years not weeks. ;)
 
GOOD POINT ALI, should have mentioned that in my post.

a good starting point with learning is posting some pictures here with a request for all feedback, however harsh. you will get a lot of good replies, but you will have to accept it wont be all good, even the pros who have been doing it for years still get negative comments on here.
 
Yep, but then some of the advice is also invaluable. I posted some pics from a recent wedding and some of the comments saved me from making a right blooper! A bit of editing later I had a much improved version.

Never too good (not) to learn is my motto. (the translation is too c*** to know any better) lol
 
Hi A.J.M,

I have similar aspirations to you and admire the enthusiasm but for the reasons stated by others in this thread, weddings will be one of the LAST things I shoot. When I have the experience, only then will I take on a job of this importance. There's too much pressure for me to want to cover a wedding at this stage even if it was my brother's. I would rather start smaller. Family/friend's parties to get experience - situations where the memories of the individuals special day are not riding on one person with limited experience and kit. Then I would train as a second shooter and get a few weddings/events under my belt and learn the business.

What happens if your 450d fails? Do you have a backup? Most wedding togs have at least one spare camera body, lenses flashes etc. And often a second shooter or assistant.

There's a lot to consider :)
 
DiddyDave said:
I just want to know, nay NEED to know, those the pics you took of the fights & dead people went into the album ???

:lol:

DD
Click to expand...

I was thinking that! That's made my day reading that sentence "I have had people die, people fighting, you name it..." - but I have quite a dark sense of humour :)
 
pxl8 said:
AJM,

Can I ask, what made you decide to switch career and become a wedding photographer?
Click to expand...

My brother in law is a professional videographer.I seen his work and decided i would like to do something similar.I always wanted a career in art,tried various courses including the old poloarised cameras pentax 100 and manually developing.I really enjoyed this but technology has moved alot since that,problem is i havent:bang::bang:.Around here its very difficult to get a pro photographer to take you out and show the ropes
 
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