Professional Wedding Photographer Sitemap

01. Introduction - Candids have swept the country. According to the latest statistics, at least  1,500,000 weddings were performed in each year for the past ten years— or one wedding for every hundred people. A conservative figure of one hun­dred dollars for the average candid wedding order adds up to a multi-million dollar industry. And in my experience, it is rare nowadays, to find a bride without a wedding album or 3D pictures.

02. Candid Wedding - Nine thousand questions in the form of one thousand mental gremlins ^ plague the tyro photographer on his first wedding job. How do you expose a mirror shot? How do you group a bridal party? How do you .... but as I said, there are a thousand questions! And the only oracle that can bring forth the answers is: Experience. This is your gremlin-chaser. And it is this book's intention to make the pathway to experience a shorter and smoother one.

03. Light Photography - “a vailable light" is a relatively new expression that has been added to the photographer's vocabulary. Unfortunately, the term lacks crystallization, and definitions are both varied and contradictory. Interpretations have been expressed that encompass the extremes of sunlight and match light! The con­fusion, I believe, originated from the all-inclusive name—"available light" or light that is available for picture taking.

04. Flash - SOONER on later every potential candid wedding photographer faces the  same set of problems. Which type of artificial illumination should he use: electronic flash with X-sync or the familiar flashbulb with M-sync? If he chooses electronic flash what factors should be taken into consideration? And how should either type of lighting be used for the best results in candid wedding photography? Before you make any decision (or purchases) let's take a look at the entire situation.

05. Synchro-Sunlight - The ability to shoot synchro-sunlight pictures is as important in candid  weddings as the ability to shoot indoor flash. In this spread-out country of ours with its multitude of climates, outdoor photos can be taken from five to twelve months a year. But sunlight alone creates harsh facial shadows. Out of our bag of photographic tricks we pull flash and lighten these shadows. With this mating of sunlight and flash a new light is created—synchro-sunlight. In recent years, synchro-sunlight photography has become so popular in candid wedding photography that if the weather permits, the bridal couple takes it for granted that formals will be shot in an outdoor setting.

06. 4x5 Cameras - The familiar 4x5 press cameba is used almost exclusively in shooting candid weddings. It is the candid photographer's badge. The 4x5 was passed down to us by the newspaper photographer who found it convenient to be able to shoot as little as one snot and to use a film size easy to handle and one that would show no objectionable grain with active developers.

07. Roll Film Cameras - If the words "Candid Wedding" were thrown at a photographer responding to word association, the image evoked would be that of an imposing 4x5 Graphic bristling with accessories. If the image were to include for example, the unimpressively sized Rollei the consternation produced would be great! Alas! I am among the tainted—a user of small cameras, so read on at the risk of contamination!

08. 35mm Cameras - So 35mm camera is all you have and you want to know where you stand  in this business of candid wedding photography. If your camera lens will reproduce eyes clearly in a twelve foot flash shot, you are equipped to shoot. By today's high standards this is but a minimum requirement for the medium-priced camera. Top-priced cameras no longer hold a monopoly on fine picture making. Negatives from a Leica M-3 or the very much less expensive Konica III, or the Retina IIC are equal as far as the candid wedding photographer is concerned.

09. Film Development - FOR high-priced cameras, roll and 35mm, we depend largely on either Japan or Germany. This is inconsistent in a country that produces the finest film and uses the most of it. But the film facts remain: just name your film needs and we've got it, both in variety and quality, labeled U.S.A. (With this I'll take a precautionary step backward to avoid the brickbats from Adox and Ilford converts.)

10. Printing Techniques - WITH all film from 4x5 to 35mm I prefer an enlarger with clear condensers  and an opal enlarging lamp. With the developers prescribed and con­denser enlargers there should be little or no graininess in reasonably sized enlargements made from roll or 4x5 film, and none that is objectionable with 35mm. I assume, too, that for the clean and careful worker the problem of dust and scratches can be minimized to nothing more than nuisance value. The condenser enlarger permits the use of a less dense negative than one required by a diffusion system.

11. Color-2D and 3D - TODAY color, the stereo candid, is vying for popularity with black and white. In many instances, the bridal couple decide to have 3D color as well as an album. By being able to shoot both, the photographer can add substan­tially to his income.

Much that you know about black-and-white can be applied to color. But, unlike black-and-white, there is no remedy for faulty composition or any prac­tical remedy for incorrect exposures.

12. Getting Started - The good candid wedding photographer (often called the "following pho­tographer" by the public) is partly born and partly made. The necessary ingredients are experience and the heart of an amateur. To start out, shoot a lot of flash: parties, babies, family groups—anything! You will be in luck if you can find an experienced candid man willing to have you shoot, along with him, on several of his weddings.

13. Business Procedures - Selling is about the most important part of your business both before and  after you shoot the wedding. Whatever your method of making the original contact—advertising, telephone solicitation, direct mail, or other—it will turn out a total loss if you can't get the couple to say yes, and to leave a deposit.

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