Surviving Your 1st Wedding - Tips For Amateur Wedding Photographers

In the eleventh hour, your best friend who's getting married is in tears.

The professional she hired to photograph her wedding bailed. You happen to have a digital SLR and all of a sudden you're it. Here's my survival guide for you.

1. Make a "Shot List".

Think of this as your "storyboard."

A guide to the different scenes you want to see if you were doing a movie.

This shot list will break down what you might concentrate on in the 3 phases of any wedding: preparations, ceremony and reception.

It's your cheatsheet on the order of the events, various arrangements for the formal portraits, so go over this with the couple.

2. Shoot lots of candids.

Just because you have everyone bossing you around, telling you to take their picture, it doesn't mean you have to pose all your subjects in every picture.

3. Scout out the location.

If the ceremony, reception and preparations are all at one location, then you can thank your lucky stars. Count on starting your day with the bride wherever she plans to get dressed. She may do this at the church or at home, so count on knowing the route.

4. Borrow or rent a second camera body similar to the one you own.

Since you'll be working quickly, having identical camera bodies will allow you change settings faster. Consider renting identical flash units if you don't have one. Never shoot a wedding with just one camera. Always have a backup. If you have to rent more memory cards and batteries for the cameras, do so.It will be worth your piece of mind.

5. Shoot closeups or details

Be on the lookout for tight shots of the diamond rings, bouquet of flowers, party favors, textures on the bride's gown et cetera. These will make good backdrops for albums and backgrounds for DVD menus. These detail pictures will also give you variety in your coverage.

6. Do as many of the formal group portraits beforehand.

If the couple is open to this and don't mind seeing each other before the ceremony, do as many of the formals portraits beforehand.

7. Enlist the help of Maid-of-honor.

Women like this role more often than men. (Must be their maternal instincts)

The Maid-of-honor is usually more than happy to help. If you don't hit it off with her, try the Best Man.

8. Establish a rapport with the DJ & Wedding Coordinator.

Get to know the DJ & Wedding Coordinator. Being on the same page with both of them means you will be scrambling and out of position for the toast, the bouquet toss, the garter toss, the first dance and so on.

9. Be considerate of the other guests.

Even though what you're doing is important, don't be obnoxious. If another guest is in your way, ask politely for them to move.

10. Don't forget to enjoy yourself.

You can't be expected to be everywhere especially if this is your 1st wedding. Generally speaking, once the ceremony and the formal portraits are done, you can catch a breather. The rest of the proceedings will not happen without the DJ & wedding coordinator consulting you if you followed tip #8.

Remember if you're not having fun taking pictures, your images will reflect that.

If you have any interest at all in creative wedding photography, see what other tips professional photographer Peter Phun has to share. Peter Phun is an adjunct photography instructor at Riverside City College. He is a freelance photographer, web designer and stay-at-home dad. He previously worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. Peter is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire. For more information about this Riverside based photographer, visit http://www.peterphun.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Phun Find More : hired to photograph , professional photographer , identical camera