Paulo Jordao Photography - BLOG

Paulo Jordao http://www.paulopics.com has been taking Wedding pictures for almost 10 years, and has noticed huge the changes of equipment and styles from when he started.

Wedding Photography is one the hardest areas of photography, if not the hardest of all. If you are already a photographer, understand about composition, light, Photoshop, and you own enough equipment to start adventuring into shooting Weddings, here are some tips to how you could start your own Wedding Photography Business.

1- The Right Equipment

First, let’s check a list of equipment that you need for the job;

- Digital SLR Camera
- Zoom Lens
- Memory Card
- Shoe Mount Flash
- Battery for the Camera
- Battery for the Flash
- Tripod
- Computer
- Photoshop

All these equipment are very basic and you should consider having a backup for each one of them. It is very common, in digital photography, when something goes wrong with the equipment. You could also invest in some little more advanced equipment like; Top of the line cameras, lenses, strobes, Radio Slave Transmitters, Radio Slave Receivers and etc.

2- The Right Start

You probably want to go out and start shooting weddings and make a lot of money as soon as possible. Most of the beginners want to do that, but first you will need to learn the basics of this specific business.

Wedding Photography could be a good way to make some money, but as everything else, you should be a Wedding Photographer because you love to help people to preserve the memory of the most important day of their lives, and not just because you want their money.

As I mentioned before in one of my other articles, Wedding Photography is not just to have your camera and start shooting the wedding. Wedding Photography is an art and you should learn this art from someone that can teach and inspire you to be a better photographer.

Here are some places to start;

- Wedding Photography Conventions
- Wedding Photography Seminars
- Wedding Photography Workshops
- Wedding Photography Coaches
- Photography Associations

One of the best places to start with your Wedding Photography Business is offering yourself to help some experienced Wedding Photographer as his/her assistant. This would give you the experience that you need, and you wouldn’t have the responsibility or the stress of shooting the wedding by yourself. This is so important that I would recommend you to go out and find a Photographer that you like his/her style and offer yourself to be his/her assistant, even if there is no money involved.

After a while helping few different photographers, you would be shooting few weddings as the photographer’s “Second Shooter”. When you get confidence and experience enough you would be ready to start your own Wedding Photography Business, and who knows, somebody else would be asking you to be your assistant.

If you are a Photographer and you just started shooting weddings, you might consider start offering an Engagement Session to your clients, as part of your packages.

An Engagement Session is a Photography Session scheduled to happen few weeks or few months before the wedding date, where you (Photographer) take the couple (your clients) to some nice or unique place to have their portrait done. This Photo Session is the best way to show the beauty of the couple in a more artistic way.

Because you have planned ahead the location, time, props and etc, you must know about how much equipment you really need to bring with you.

Here is a list of what you might consider bringing with you for your next Engagement Session;

1) Camera
I know that you knew this one, but better be safe than sorry. You might also want to bring your backup camera. I generally leave my backup camera in my car, so I don’t have to carry any more extra weight.

2) Lenses
There are photographers that can not go to a photo session without taking his or her whole lenses collection. Remember that this session is very casual, and you would be just fine with a single zoom lens; like a 15mm - 55mm. Depending on your style or the location of your photo session, you might consider bringing also your 70mm - 200mm lens as an option.

3) Flash
Most of the time you might not need to use your flash, but is always good to have it there with you just in case you need it as a fill light.

4) Memory Card and Battery
Bring some extra memory cards and batteries. You never know when you are going to need them.

5) Tripod
Some photographers feel more comfortable shooting with a tripod. I normally just bring my tripod if I know that I am going to be shooting late in the evening, but you can also bring your and leave it in your car.

6) Props
A lot of photographers don’t bring any props to their Engagement Photo Session. I can not stress enough the importance of this subject. If you really want your photographs to look something special and unique, this is a must. You can bring some extra fabric, roses, or anything else that you think that would make your pictures look special.

Remember that the Engagement Session is the best moment to you to connect with your clients and show them what a great professional you are. Go ahead and have some fun, they will love you!