As everyone knows, the most important keepsake from a wedding is the cake. Sadly, cake has a tendency (or as some might say a purpose) to be eaten. It's fortunate that most wedding parties are accompanied by ample amounts of photographs, ensuring the wonderful memories remain preserved long after the sound of embarrassing drunken uncles singing at the reception has been thankfully forgotten. Through photography, generations of happily married couples have been able to mark the occasion with pictures immortalizing their special day and providing a point of reference for children to make awkward comments regarding just how different Dad used to look – you know, when he had hair.
It can, however, be a challenging time for anyone involved in the planning of a wedding. With costs spiralling out of control, frugal minded individuals might start to ask themselves if they might not save a bit of money by, for example, taking the photographs of the wedding themselves rather than paying an outside photographer to do it. Likewise, it's not unknown for a wedding guest looking into the camera on display, while wearing a resplendent cheesy grin, to think that this photography thing doesn't look so hard and that they could just do it themselves, perhaps as a career.
Sadly, wedding photography isn't that simple. It's both an art and a science and not something to be easily mastered in an afternoon. You don't just need to get the colours and the lights correct, but you also need to impart a sensation of romance and joy into the pictures. It's as much about organizing a herd of cats as it is about taking pictures; after all, it's the Bride and Grooms' special day, not yours, and nobody is going to have a great deal of patience for an overly fussy photographer.
What you need to have and what you need to know about Wedding Photography.
Thus, being a wedding photographer isn't just something to do on a whim. Trying to do the job on a mobile phone camera, or perhaps a device intended for easy holiday snaps, isn't going to give the best result. Proper photography is a serious investment, both in yourself and in the equipment of the trade, and it's not unusual for a proper start up photography business to be spending in the range of £12000 and up for the essential equipment and business set up costs.
But all the equipment in the world won't do you any good if you haven't the skills and experience to match your aspirations as a would be photographer. Learning to take pictures properly and to make the best use of available light and filters on shoots are essential abilities you will need and, presuming you have no prior photographic background, your best option may well be to consider a short course to help you learn the essential fundamentals of the art.
Consider, for example, ADL's own Wedding Photography course online. Taught by expert photographer John Rinaldi, you'll learn the fundamentals of photography with an emphasis on its use in weddings on a practical, organized and informative online course. The course covers all the important core aspects to taking the actual photographs, as well as advice and guidance on how you should run wedding shoots for parties of all sizes, large and small, as well as the post production techniques you'll need to turn the pictures you've taken into treasured memories to be kept forever. Furthermore the course concludes with a lesson on the essential business aspects of the wedding photographers business, from developing a business plan to selling your services and establishing yourself as a business.
