Wedding Number 3 - Allison and Danny

My third wedding shoot for the year... Oh, you might ask what about second wedding shoot? Well, I was fortunate enough to be working as an assistance photographer for a professional wedding photographer. I still haven't received all the shots I have taken that day.

With this wedding, we took on a slightly different style. We did a more photo-journalism style shoot as the bride and groom did not plan for a specific portrait shoot location. The wedding ceremony and the reception were held at Burswood Park golf course. It was a simple and beautiful ceremony followed by some mingling in the reception area.

Here are some of the photos I took that day:


I took the opportunity to take some portrait shots of Allison while she was getting prepared.


Allison and her mum leaving for the golf course.


Beautiful flower girls started the ceremony with scattering of rose petals on the red carpet


The exchanging of vows between Danny and Allison


Cutting of the Wedding Cake

First Wedding for this year - Fiona and Mark

My first wedding for this year has been quite an experience. I am now starting to work with a few local photographers for wedding shoots. This has given me the chance to learn many new skills from these great photographers. We call our little group "Passion Photography".

My first wedding shoot this year was conducted in March. The bride was actually a colleague of mine from my day job. She is a spirited and fun-loving lady. Shooting the wedding was such a great fun and joy. Here are some of the photos I took that day:


Mark was getting ready before leaving for the location shoot.


Fiona sitting on a bench in her garden


A loving and tender moment at a waterfall in the Harold Boas Garden


The dashing groom and the sexy bride :)


Finally married, some kisses at the church door

If you are interested in seeing more photos taken at the wedding (including those taken by other fellow photographers), you can find them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/passion_photography/tags/fionaandmark/show/

Pictobrowser - a new slidshow to display your Flickr photos

This new tool is really cool for displaying your photos on your blog or website.
I simply love it!

Fourth Wedding shoot for the year

Just came back from a wedding shoot and thought I'll quickly drop a few lines about my experience today.

I believe this will be my last wedding for the year (well, we are already in December and I don't have any more appointments or engagements for the rest of the year). It had been very much a high tempo shoot, a tiring but ultimately enjoyable shoot. My arms and my back ache like crazy right now. This came from shooting with 2 bodies (my trusty Nikon D200 with a 70-200 mm lens and a borrowed D70s with my lovely 17-55mm lens). Carrying both cameras for a few hours was indeed an interesting experience. For the first time, I had the set up I have always wanted for doing wedding shoots. No only I found that I had the range I needed, I had an absolute great fun in trying out different things because of the range in comparison to my previous wedding shoots.

Ah, there was one repeated mistake that I have made again. I have never used a D70S before, and trying to figure out how to set certain functions of a rather "strange" camera on the day of an actual shoot was a big big big mistake. Not only I had to constantly "guess" how to change the functions of the camera quickly during the shoot, I wasn't quite sure how to use a less sophisticated camera then my very own even though both cameras are from Nikon and supposedly to be similar. Well, you see, on a D200, I had the luxury of the 11 points focusing feature. Whereas on a D70s, there are only 3 I think. I wasn't game enough to try and shift the focus point. I had it left dead centre and it dramatically slowed down the speed in which I was able to get a focus lock quickly compared to my D200.

I did, however, learn from many of my other past mistakes from my previous wedding shoots. I felt that this was my best shoot for this year. Well, I can only hope I will keep improving.

A few more tips before I end this post:

1. It is so important to have a second body. There is absolutely no time for lens swapping during high tempo event photo shoots,


2. Remember to have sufficient memory cards and batteries,


3. one last thing.... remember to bring some water. Shooting a wedding is like doing a low impact exercise. The water you bring with you will come very handy

[edited: I've corrected my very bad grammar - caused by fatigue... or whatever bad excuses I can come up with... note to self.... I must proof read my own writings before I post anything up in the future.]

"How to Keep Your Job and Be a Part Time Photographer"

I just came across this blog post by alex. Hmmm, the title caught my attention immediately. What is so interesting is that I found this on Digg... which means that a lot of people have read this and voted this post on Digg.

It seems like the advancement and the affordability of digital cameras (especially SLRs) have helped cause a world wide phenomenal... an sudden huge increase in people taking up photography as a hobby or even doing it professionally.

Photography used to be an expensive hobbies. Only the rich and the determined shutter bugs would bravely take up this expensive hobbies. Since the evolution of the digital age, photography has been made relatively affordable to the mass population. The technology has also starting to come about, giving relatively newbies or noobs the ability to create impressive images.

I for one, have jumped unto the bandwagon and took up digital photography about 2 years ago. Now I am at a stage where I think I would love to do some freelance work in the area of Wedding photography. There is something about wedding photography that I have always loved. Perhaps it is about capturing the magic moments, the laughters, the emotion, the tears and smiles are just so captivating. Or, perhaps I simply like looking at beautiful people and beautiful things :)

Well, the post has just re-enforced my beliefs that it is possible to be a part time photographer. After all, my passion for photography has only just begin and it is slowly growing hotter and more passionate by the moment.

More on Wedding Photography - knowing your equipment

Well, after doing 3 wedding shoots, one of the most important lessons I've learnt is the need to know your equipment intimately. At the wedding shoot, there is absolutely no time to muck around your equipment or to start trying out new things. It is important to know every little details how each camera operates, how to set up the functions, how to even switch between functions without taking your eyes off the viewfinder.

I had to learn a few lessons about not knowing my equipment well enough which resulted in missed shots and out-of-focus or incorrectly exposed shots.

Here are some of my past experience to share with everyone and hopefully you won't make the same mistakes.

Wedding #1:
First ever wedding. Lead photographer with no backup except in the church service.

Equipment: A FujiFilm S9500 prosumer camera. No backup camera. A newly bought Nikon SB-600 flash gun.

Lessons learnt: Through-The-Lens(TTL)-Metering interface between the camera and the flash gun is crucial in a high tempo event shoot. It is nearly impossible to use manual settings on the flash gun on such events. As the FujiFilm S9500 camera does not "talk" to the Nikon SB-600 flash gun, I only could contend with the manual mode, which resulted in quite a few under or over exposed shots. I have missed quite a few shots during the church service. The S9500 is a great camera for outdoor shoots, but for indoor, low-light condition, it is simply terrible. The fact that SB-600 flash that I bought specifically for that wedding shoot could not use the TTL mode as the FujiFilm S9500 does not support it meant that all the flash shots I did was based on "guesstimates". I had to guess how much power I had to set the flash to produce for each shots based on the distance I was from the subject I wished to illuminate. This flash is a great flash, don't get me wrong, it is just that the camera wasn't design for TTL with any flash gun in the world, thus, not suitable for wedding shoots. Wrong equipment nearly cost me greatly!

Had the groom not asked his other friends, with flashy Canon 30D and big L lenses to cover the church service as well, it could have been a disaster for me.


Wedding #2:
Second wedding done a few months later.

Equipment: Bought a spanking Nikon DSLR. Now have TTL with the flash gun. Also bought the Gary Fong's lightsphere specifically for indoor low-light shoots.

Lessons learnt: Biggest mistake, got the camera 2 days before the actual wedding shoot. Didn't get to learn how to use the Nikon camera properly. What was I thinking? A DSLR with some 11 points matrix focusing, different type of AE-Lock and AF-Lock function. I was thinking I could simply read the manual and learn which buttons to press and how to set certain functions and I would be all set. How wrong I was!
The biggest problem I had was in getting the focusing correct. The AF-Lock works different from my FujiFilm. The 11 points matrix focusing and metering feature means that I had to be clear where the focus point was set in the view finder. Unlike the FujiFilm, the focus point is never always at the centre. I couldn't simply take it for granted to have the main subject framed in the centre, half-press the shutter, re-frame and press the shutter and capture it. I had to observe where the focusing rectangle was set on the 11 points insider the viewfinder among many other information like my ISO number, my f-Stop, shutter speed, and finally, the "dot" that represents a auto-focus lock.... Ah, not knowing my equipment well enough cost me some shots. I had some blurred shots as the results. The only consolation is that it turned out to be just a relatively few shots. Most shots turned out fine.

To sum up, it is very crucial to know your equipment very well. Buying new equipment 2 days before a big wedding shoot does not cut it. I've learnt my lessons. I was able to do my 3rd wedding with less equipment related problem and focus more on the shooting. I hope that you will not encounter similar problems like what I had.

Some Wedding shots I took

My first Wedding Shoot: Lessons learnt

Shooting any event is always a challenge, none so more than shooting a wedding.

Well, I really haven't shot any other types of event other than a Police Pay Rally by the police union outside the Parliament house sometime back last year, so I might be wrong here.

Wedding shoots are usually a whole day, high pace affairs. I haven't heard or experienced a really easy wedding shoot yet. I have only done 3 wedding shoots so far, and thus, I am still pretty much a newbie at wedding photography. However, I think it will be fun reflecting on what happened to all my shoots and I will share my experience with you, the readers.

My first wedding shoot... it was fun, exciting, and a few oops and "oh dears". It all started when a good friend of mine whom I know for quite a number of years told me that he was getting married one fine day. Suffice to say, I jumped at the opportunity and asked if he had already found a wedding photographer. In Perth, Western Australia, good and cheap wedding photographers are limited commodity. Usually, Wedding couples have to pre-book photographers a year in advance to have any chance of securing a photographer on their big day. Therefore, there was really very little chance that my friend could have found any photographer willing to do his wedding unless he was willing to pay a real premium for the shoot.

Well, I got the gig. My friend asked me to shoot his wedding. Having told him that I was pretty much an amateur photographer and had never done any wedding prior to that shoot, he was fine with it. I was told that his brother-in-law will be shooting as well. The setup was perfect. His brother-in-law can be the main photographer and I will be the secondary, or an assistance. I grabbed the opportunity. My very first wedding shoot, and hopefully, the first of many more to come. I was on my way to become a part-time wedding photographer! How exciting. My wish came true!

Two days before the actual wedding day, the bride and groom had a rehearsal of the service. I went to the rehearsal and met my friend's brother-in-law only to realise that he was actually going to use a point and shoot compact digital. I, too, was also rather under equipped, having only own a FujiFilm S9500 prosumer/bridge camera and a newly bought Nikon SB600 flash gun. That would have to do with for this wedding. I suddenly found myself being thrusted to take the role as the lead photographer for the wedding. Oh dear, I suddenly felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulder.

Lesson 1: Always ensure we set the expectation right. As I was only an amateur photographer and have never done a wedding shoot before, it was most important to ensure my friend understood the risk involved in getting me to do their wedding as the lead photographer. He had no backup plan. If I or my equipment failed, he would have no photos for his wedding. I was fortunate that he was happy to go along with the risk, thinking that there would be lots of guest with their compact cameras. I also later found out that he did in fact ask another friend to cover the church service. However, I was the only photographer doing all the family and group portraitsm and all the outdoor shoots.

Lesson 2: Do lots of research. Refer to lots of wedding photos, what to do and what not to do, how people pose the shots, what to take, how to make the bridal couple look really good in the shots. One source that I use quite a lot is the Flickr website. It has groups for photographers to post their shots and discussion forums whereby I was able to get some really valuable information and last minute "free" lessons and "tutorials" on wedding photography. Use these resources.

On the actual day, most of the shoot went ok. I was able to shoot pretty much what I had in mind. Thanks to the many wedding photos people post in Flickr. I was able to grab some idea of what to shoot and how to shoot the couple. The biggest "oops" and disappointment I had was the shoot during the service. I found the auto-focus of my camera rather slow for such high pace event. I missed too many shots simply because I wasn't able to focus quick enough. The flash worked as a treat though. However, the caveat was that I could only use it with my FujiFilm S9500 in manual modes, no TTL (or Through-The-Lens) metering mode. Every shot was pretty much a "hit or miss" :P God was kind with me that day. I believe I had far more hits than misses.

Lesson 3: Equipment is very very important in events like this. A good tradesman can never do a good job without the right tools. A good wedding photographer will need to be equipped with the right cameras, lenses and lighting equipment.

Lesson 4: It is almost necessary to have a backup or "fail-over" strategy. That means a backup photographer, a backup camera, extra batteries, etc. Needless to say that weddings are usually once in a life-time, not to be repeated affair. A photographer can not afford to miss too many shots or completely muck up the entire shoot. In the most unfortunate circumstances where an entire wedding shoot fails, I believe it is a quick exit door to this wedding photography industry :)

I'm sure there are many more lessons that I've not covered. This post is starting to look too long and I will wrap up pretty much now.

Final Lesson: Ensure that you make a checklist of what to shoot. That may include things like the bride's bouquet, the bride's shoes, the different sets of group photos of the bride and groom and their families and relatives, etc. I cannot stress enough that wedding is a fast pace event and good planning is required to ensure the success of the shoot.

All the best to the first timer. Happy shooting.

Becoming a Wedding Photographer?

Lately, I have been so busy doing post processing of photographs I shot recently in two weddings. Both weddings were for colleagues of mine at work. Well, I am still officially an IT guy, not a true blue wedding photographer yet.

Wedding photography is not as easy as I thought initially. Other than the pressure of getting the "money shot" during the big days, there is also the post processing and presentation to be done after the actual shoot.

For the last couple of weeks, I have done nothing but post processing the wedding shots that me and my buddy photographers have captured, sort the photos and arrange them for slide shows and finally burn the photos into DVDs for the wedding couples - 2 to be exact.

I think for the next couple of blog posts, I will share my experience in different aspect about wedding photography. I hope sharing this experience may prompt many to think about doing wedding shoots and how to get prepared for a shoot.

If you are interested to see some of the shots I took, you can find them in the following Flickr address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/autumnleafphotography