Digital Wedding Photography For Dummies

Grasping the Scope of the Wedding Photographer’s Job

At first glance, being a wedding photographer may seem pretty easy. You buy a camera and show up for a wedding, take some pictures, and give them to the happy couple, right? Well . . . not exactly.

When I was asked to shoot my first wedding, I thought, “I’ve done families and portraits, so how hard can a wedding be?” Much harder than I anticipated, it turned out. Halfway through the wedding, I found myself wondering what I’d gotten myself into, and when the wedding was over I was completely overwhelmed by the editing process. Your job includes a lot of work that takes place before and after the wedding and requires a handle on photographing a variety of subjects. To spare you the mid-wedding freak-out and to help you get prepared, the following sections tackle the specifics of the wedding photographer’s job.

Getting involved before the wedding day

Much of the work of a wedding photographer starts long before the wedding day. It begins with the initial client inquiry, which can be months to years in advance. Always have an up-to-date calendar of your bookings so you can let prospective clients know your availability immediately. After you let a client know that you’re available to photograph the wedding, you can take a few steps to prepare for the big day, as you find out in the following sections.

Setting up a consultation

Having a consultation is a great way to get some face time with your clients. After I receive an inquiry ...