All I know about wedding photography

Taking the Plunge

It is my intention to progressively post on this blog all I have learned since 1975 about wedding photography and other photography genres.
If you are wanting to start a career as a wedding and social events photography then this progressive blog may be more than useful.If you have been doing it for a while then this also may be helpful to follow the blog.
Wedding photography is something you can learn before "Taking the Plunge".
There will be sample images and also contents of my notes I have prepared when conducting this course over the years with many "live students".
Some have become very successful commercial photographers.
I will welcome contact from people if you wish to email or speak to me by phone or in person.I have worked since 1964 in mainly people type roles such as Rehabilitation and Employment Counselling and Social Welfare Intervention.
My photography career has always run parallel to my other activities.
I have gained much from people over the years who have freely given of their time and knowledge.I am attempting to the same  now as I move into the so called 3rd age or sunset years.
If people are fortunate with modern health treatments some of us can enjoy a longer sunset than others.
My Dad's sunset was  at the age of 70 which was far to young.
He was my first photography teacher although he was an accountant by profession.  geoff thompson

Shooting a wedding with film

 

I am aware some people still shoot weddings on film. Usually they are the high end photographers who are charging that much they can shoot without regard to cost and prefer the look and quality of film.

So what if you came into photography after the film era and someone asks you to do it or you would like to try it anyway?

Well here are some tips.

1.     You need a good slr film system with at least one wide angle prime lens (28mm) also a mid range zoom say 28-105mm and maybe a longer zoom up to about 200mm.You also should have two bodies.One can be a back up to the other or dedicated to black and white film.
My favourite 35mm camera is the Pentax MZs, a professionally specced camera.
I recently saw a Nikon F5 selling for about $450. 
A great film camera,probably the best Nikon made.

2.     Cameras that meet the bill are any by Nikon,Minolta,Canon,Pentax,Olympus preferably with auto focus.If  you wanted to be a purist you could use a roll film camera like a Hasseblad, Rollei, Bronica ETRs or a Pentax 645. This is a more expensive exercise but the results from such cameras will blow you away but you have to change films more often.Using 220mm film instead of 120mm helps speed up the process as you get twice as many shots on 220.On a pentax 645 you get 15 shots at 120 and 30 at 220mm.
There are many good bargains now on used medium format cameras.
       On a 6x6 format camera you will get 12 and 24 respectively.
       35mm cameras film comes in 36 frame lengths or 24.

3.     A  flash system of either one dedicated to the camera with full tilt and swivel and also ttl metering, or alternatively the Metz 45 range of hammerhead type flashes are great.Preferably your flash sync on your camera should be at least 1/125^th of a second.(for daylight fill flash)

4.     A tripod would be useful.

5.     For film I used to use colour negative film of 160iso,400iso,800iso  and Ilford xp2, iso 400 for black and white shots. My preference was for Fuji film rather than Kodak.
Fuji Reala film was rated at 100iso and gave great skin colours and as good as medium format sharpness. It was very fine grained.I used it on some weddings. 
Film is getting increasingly hard to find.

6.     Towards the  end of my film weddings days I would shoot about  11-12 rolls of  35mm colour and  3 rolls of 35mm black and white.I would get them processed and printed as 6x4’ or 5x7” proofs and also get them scanned at he same time. Not highest resolution but good enough for an 8x10”enlargement.

7.     If you have an assistant you could get them to back you up with a digital slr. During the transition to shooting full digital that is what I did.

8.     Remember when shooting with colour negative film it is better to over expose rather than underexpose as film has a great tolerance for error. I would often deliberately set my meter to overexpose by one stop.

9.     You need to pay closer attention to how much film you use as you go, maybe allowing for say 2 rolls of film at each shooting segment of your wedding shoot time table. (see my earlier blog on the Wedding Timetable)

10. When you are about to film the ceremony I would always make sure I had a fresh roll of film loaded as it is not good to run out of film just as the bride and groom kiss.

11       Make sure you have lots of spare batteries if your camera relies on them or  your flash

The Pentax Super A(super program in America) was a great camera and I shot many weddings on these cameras.It was really a 35mm version of the Pentax 645. The controls and programs were identical.The camera was manual focus and I usually set manual exposure readings.I used 2 of these during weddings for colour and made sure the meters were set to the same calibration.I had a separate camera loaded with black and white.The idea of using multiple cameras was that you could not tell that your camera had a fault until you got your proofs back.If you had used more than one camera you were assured of getting something back.

Add caption

Pentax 645 film camera

A hand held light meter is very useful for film and digital cameras

12   Using film will make you think more about what you are doing and of course you will not know how you went until you get your proofs.A bit of anxiety such as this will make you a better photographer but practice with film first on something less important than a wedding.All the other posts on wedding photography on this blog are just a s relevant to shooting with film as using digital.

Know your Enemy! Know your Weapons!

 These notes and  video is from my Introduction to Wedding Photography Course.

Subject:

Know your Enemy! When Photographing a Wedding

Time.Don't let time get the better of you.

Weather.Wind,Rain, Heat,Cold,Glare, Darkness, Ants,Deposits on the Ground where you would like your Bride to sit.  

Malfunctioning equipment and suddenly dying batteries.

Your own poor  health and physical or emotional fitness.

Lack of space at locations and difficult interiors and exteriors.

Getting lost on way to shoot or being cut off by traffic problem.

Difficult family members or guests.

Know your Weapons!

Your communications skills, sensitivity and empathy and a sense of humour.

Your photographic knowledge and experience. Your cameras, lenses,and reliable equipment including portable flash and battery packs.

Back up equipment. Always have more than one set of everything just in case.There may come a time when you need it.

A planned total check up of and inventory of all your equipment no later than the night before the wedding.  

Your timetable that you have agreed on with your customer.Several copies on hand is a good idea.  

An assistant. This can be a student or someone who is keen to shoot as a second shooter. Your partner if interested may be ideal.A second shooter or assistant is invaluable and while I have done many weddings in the past by myself I never front up without a helper these days.

The best man and the wedding party.The best man for helping get people rounded up and moving after the ceremony and the bridesmaids for keeping an eye on the the Bride’s appearance and helping lay out her dress. I usually find I end up doing that myself.You have to be conscious of so much when taking photos.I once was doing bridal portraits with a very nervous bride and I was so intent on capturing expressions and talking her through her nervousness I did not realize the front of her dress had fallen down.   No one else was in the lounge room at the time.Luckily I noticed this and resumed shooting after repairs were actioned.She had trouble with the dress the rest of the day so I had to be on alert.  Parents of the wedding party I usually engage to make sure we are able to round up everyone for family shots.

 A “Reccy”.  If you are worried about the locations that you might be using and it is not too hard to visit before the day of the wedding do it. I have done what I call “reccys” on some occasions but most times if the wedding is local I don’t. But if the wedding is interstate or country it is  a good idea.If you are interstate with your wedding or needing to stay overnight it is a good idea to allow a whole day on   the Friday to do your “reccies” With experience you can handle all locations but the biggest concern really is not turning up for the shoot. I know of a friend who unfortunately got lost on the way to the ceremony and her confidence as a wedding photographer took a big nose dive.. She missed the whole ceremony and more.     

GPS and Maps in your Mobile Phone. A modern tool I would uses as a back up more than totally relying on it.    

Prayer. if you are a Believer.                            

Profile of a Wedding Photographer

Melina- copyright 2011Geoff Thompson

The following are some of the characteristics you will need to be a successful Wedding Photographer.

 You must like people. If you don’t like people you are not suited to Wedding photography. Of course you could take some steps to rectify this.

”People who don’t like people have no business taking people pictures and most of all wedding photography is a people business.” George Schaub. American Photography Author.

 Patience is a very much needed attribute.

 A “Thick Skin.”

 A sense of humour.

 Commitment to your craft. A “student” of photography formal and/or informal.

”It is an article of faith to me that the really great wedding pictures are still to be made.” Ian Hawthorne former Australian Wedding Photography Guru.

 Photography skills above average and always striving higher.

 Not prone to panic attacks.

An ability to remain calm under pressure.

 Physically and mentally and emotionally  fit.

 Reliable, punctual, organized.

 An ability to “think on your feet.”

 “to become a Master photographer of weddings, one must be an accomplished portraitist,an Illustrator,a Photo Journalist,a Director and probably a Psychologist.A wedding photographer must be able to to photograph architecture and fashion; or in short a a master wedding photographer must be accomplished in many things.”The late  Rocky Gunn famous American wedding Photographer.

 Able to read a street directory and/ or supplement this with GPS device.

 “Like many others I got into wedding photography by accident more than design.I was asked by relatives to photograph their wedding because they knew I was a keen photographer and they thought that they might be able to save some money.Well they did and I managed to enter the field through this avenue on a trial and error basis at their expense, without the risk of declaring myself a professional.Looking back the results weren’t too bad and some really quite good  considering but I shudder to think now of what I didn’t know then and the equipment that I used.

Geoff Thompson

Introduction to wedding photography by Geoff Thompson

Introduction to wedding photography by Geoff Thompson

My photographic journey had it’s roots in the mentorship of my Dad Glen Thompson who was a keen amateur photographer and home movie enthusiast.

I got hooked on Photography in 1970 while living in  Darwin in the Northern Territoty of Australia. I was using my dad’s old folding Retina 35mm pocket camera that I still have and occasionally put a film through it.

Dad was a Catalina Pilot during the 2^nd world war and he took the camera everywhere with him. We have some family heirlooms amongst his collection and another project is to digitize his prints and negs that are still ok from those days.

I did my first wedding for family members in January 1975 and my second one a week later.

I had begun a long love affair with Wedding Photography.

I talked to many professional photographers in those early days and I soon found that many very competent photographers gave weddings a wide berth because of their fears and perceived or real stress to themselves.

Not that they weren’t very good photographers.

I started off with a Pentax Spotmatic 2 film camera(totally manual in spite of it’s name), one standard 50mm F1.8 lens and a totally manual portable Soltron flash that sat on the hot shoe.

I had no wide angle lens and a very flimsy cheap tripod.

I used my Mum’s Pentax Spotmatic 500 as a back up camera.

My rellies were happy with what I did and it moved on from there with soon people at our Church becoming customers and then the wider community.

For a time I worked for a studio as well as having my own customers concurrent.

By no means did I consider myself professional and as far as charging a fee. It was. “The cost of film and processing and a free feed at the reception.”

As I got asked to do more and more I started to think I should set a fee for my troubles and added $50 to the above. Even then I was reluctant to charge that.

The rest is now history. I ended up since that time photographing many weddings in the ensuing years and mainly sticking with Pentax equipment but have also  a canon digital slr these days that I use now as a back up to my Pentax KX and pentax KR.

I used on occasions for the whole or part of the wedding a medium format Pentax 645 system which is a brilliant camera that was way ahead of it’s time. I on a few occasions even used a Pentax 67 medium format camera. My pentax MZs is a great film slr which was the last top of the range film Slr that was made by Pentax.

The new pentax 645d looks a great camera but only on the wish list at the moment. I believe it is compatible with all my manual 645 lenses. 

I still have these and most of the cameras I have purchased over the years and many film cameras I have “inherited”.

I am planning as indicated in an earlier blog going to present through this blog my wedding photography course that I started teaching in 1992. This was after taking a redundancy from my day job at the time.

I am pleased to say that I have over the years  trained about 70 people in wedding photography and “discovered” some very talented photographers who have really made names for themselves.

Many of my course participants I offered to come along on weddings as paid assistants and this really helped them and myself.

I still do the occasional wedding and these days my wife comes as an assistant although she does not like photography in the sense that it is  an obsession with me.

 Something I am not good at keeping in check.

None the less she gets right into it on the day  and is a big help.

So this is a venture that may be helpful to some and is a creative outlet in some ways for myself.

“Nothing ventured nothing gained”

I have made many lasting friendships through my photography.

I will be posting titles taken from my Intro to Wedding Photography Course.

You will need to have a basic understanding of SLR photography to benefit most from this course. If any happen across this course at any time in their web surfing I welcome your questions so they can be addressed.

I f I get run off my feet then it could develop into a forum as such but there are already other very good forums out there.

Remember it’s not just about the camera and photography.

Geoff Thompson  Adelaide South Australia.

Training and Mentoring in Photography

This blog has been put together to introduce my availability for training and mentoring in Photography.
I have had extensive experience in wedding photography(since 1975) and other genres and am available now for  training and mentoring and also training in small groups.

I have trained many people in Wedding Photography in particular, and some have become very successful
I am now ready to embrace teaching online through zoom hookups. The first one of these I will offering for free to a limited number of people. I will be advertising them through eventbrite and that is where you will have to register your interest.


Introduction to Wedding Photography 

Approx 12 hours of tuition) and follow up mentoring.

Training is by way of Audio visuals of actual weddings, practical demonstrations and where possible asssisting you on weddings if you have already started.
Printed  notes are supplied.

Other training available includes :

SLR photography Digital and/or film cameras.

Wildlife Photography 

Landscape Photography

Child Photography

Special Events

Sports Photography

How to get more out of your point and shoot camera,digital or film.. 

Using Vintage Film Cameras still and movies.

Basic Video introduction.


You will need to have a digital or film cameras but on any  accompanied field trip you may be able to use some of my equipment.

I mainly have Canon and Pentax equipment, film and digital. If you have a phone that takes good pictures and that is all you want to use I may be able to run a speciasl course on phone photography.
I can be contacted on 0417867476 or by email at geoff.g.thompson@gmail.com

On this blog will be posted progressively, free training articles and photography tips that I have previously posted on one of my other blogs.

While you may find these very useful I am sure you will benefit more by having personal instruction.