Ten Tips for Wedding Photography with SLR Lounge

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Hi this is Jay P. Morgan. Today Pye from SLR Lounge is back to share ten tips for wedding photographers. Many of them are useful in any portrait setting, and I even use some in my commercial work as well. Check out SLR Lounge for other great lessons, tips and products.

Pye Jirsa’s ten tips for wedding photographers include:

1. The mood board. Pye uses an online mood board so that there is no confusion between the photographer and the client. He has clients add the images they like, plus write at least one thing about why they like it. Previously clients would show images they liked but there was confusion about what they liked. The mood board has helped to established the correct vision between them and the client.
2. Consolidated timeline. As early as possible, Pye gets the timeline of the wedding day and consolidates what his team of photographers needs to know. He then adds it to his phone lock screen and can have it on hand very easily. He sends this condensed itinerary to the other shooters so that everyone is on the same page.
3. Location scout. Get to the location early and check it out. If you can’t get there the day before (ideal) at least get there early the day of.
4. Sun Seeker. Pye uses an app called Sun Seeker to help him to know where he should be shooting and when. Many times photographers have a limited amount of time in which to shoot. You have to know how to take advantage of your location to better serve your clients.
5. Sync. Sync your camera settings amongst your team of photographers by using time.gov. Once you open up your images in post, you’ll be able to choose your images much easier according to time. For instance, you’ll have the first kiss from three or four different angles, all clustered together by time, instead of spread out among your images.
6. Shoot manual in everything. Camera, flash, white balance, exposure, everything. This way in post images are consistent and much easier to edit.
7. Foundation posing. Pye teach clients these in the engagement shoot. He have several different poses that he can quickly tell the couple to go into. This helps them to be more comfortable in front of the camera, and it helps posing go more quickly when your time is limited.
8. The triple check. Pye looks at three things- camera settings, batteries, and SD and CF cards. Take test shots before the big events and make sure everything is good to go. Your batteries are fresh, you have enough memory on the cards, and the settings on your camera are correct for what you’re about to photograph.
9. and 10. Pick your favorites and make a slideshow. As you go through the images star your favorites. When you have downtime use those starred images to set up a quick slideshow to run during the reception. Guests aren’t going to care if they’re perfect of not, and you can set this slideshow up along with some business cards where the guests can view the slideshow and take those cards.

I hope these tips were helpful for you. I enjoyed spending some time with Pye. These are great tips to help your day of shooting run more smoothly.

Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’.

-Jay P.