A few years ago, after about 10 phone call attempts, I got in touch with a guy who was in charge of licensing the music for a major band. I wanted to purchase the rights for a single song to to play in the background on my wedding website. I was told that if my budget was below $15,000 he didn't have time to talk to me. Since my budget was around $100, our conversation ended quickly. It has always been practically impossible for individuals to purchase licenses for popular music... until now.

Michael Ash Smith is a commercial wedding, portrait, and lifestyle photographer based out of Barto, PA. As a hybrid photographer, much of Michael's work is done on 35mm and medium format film with some instant film here and there for special occasions. He recently shared images from a wedding he shot over on the Junebug Weddings blog. The difference? Everything he shot that day was with instant film.

What are your bets on how the wedding photography industry will look by the time we get through the pandemic? Here, an award-winning wedding photographer shares his experiences on getting through this period and looks to the future of the industry.

Wedding photography is one of the most challenging genres out there, and given the pressure and lack of second chances, most photographers opt for high-end digital equipment to ensure the best chances of getting the shots they need. Given today's client expectations, can you still shoot a wedding on film? This neat video features a photographer taking you through his entire film photography kit for a wedding.

Having had a small wedding myself, one in which I invited 72 of my closest friends and family and 72 people arrived ready to celebrate the biggest day of my life together. Three years since that magnificent day but not one regret in the small nature of the day, it was the photos and memories that I hold most dear to me to this day. This is one memory though I would love to have recreated with my GoPro.

In a silent protest for same sex marriage equality, Australian couple, Abbey and Mitchell Johnston held their hands to their ears during the compulsory matrimony words, "marriage is between a man and woman." They were quickly joined by their bridal party, friends, and family in what was a simple but strong visual statement of their strong personal beliefs on the subject. Luckily, Thomas Stewart Weddings was on the scene to capture all of these photos!

If the majority of what we and our clients see online are beautiful couples' portraits, is there a place for reportage wedding photographers, and how would you step into it?

Recent years have seen the internet awash with outlandish wedding and engagement shoots, with photographers venturing to incredible locations for their backdrops. But Priscila Valentina recently decided to shoot an unconventional set-up, enlisting a model in order to document him relocating a piano to the grounds of the Eiffel Tower to sing his vows on his wedding day. The series of images are a stylized shoot in response to the Paris riots.

I absolutely love seeing the photos I have taken hanging up in my client's house. However, I dread the time it takes to get together and try to sell large prints or canvases as I know I could be using the time for other things. Finally, I've found a solution that I am super excited about that will make the experience for both my clients and I enjoyable, quick and easy. The end result is a win-win for both of us. Swift Galleries is about to change everything!

If you have a strong online presence or pay to market your photography business, bogus leads can bombard your inbox. Atlanta photographer Katie Coon received one recently.

Sometimes great pictures just show up and all you have to do is press the shutter. The majority of the time, however, they takes careful planning. Andre Fernandes planned out this trash the dress session quite well, taking advantage of a once in a year opportunity using the super moon as a unique background.

Wedding photography is obviously big business for lots of professional photographers, but over on Reddit, Shian Bang (u/shian243) talks about something a little different: his first experiences as a funeral photographer.

Rangefinder Magazine has announced the photographers selected for their 4th annual "30 Rising Stars of Wedding Photography." The 30 photographers, who have been shooting for five years or less, were selected from more than 200 portfolios worldwide, including submissions from Croatia, France, England, New Zealand, Scotland, Tahiti, and all over the U.S. The images will be on display at the WPPI Conference in March.

As wedding photographers, we always find ourselves walking the high wire between art and popular demand. But then, is the balance hard to achieve? In my opinion, I’d say it is wise to just put the thought, sincere effort, and presence of mind into your photos. What you capture will be loved equally by the artist in you as well as the couple you shoot - who seek nothing less than spectacular. The picture we are going to dissect is a product of this belief.

If you're a wedding photographer, chances are couples are also asking if you do engagement photos. The answer to this should be “absolutely!” So you’d better get good at them quick, because well-executed engagement sessions will lead to more work. But before you think about weddings, spend some time and find your style shooting couples. Here are five simple ways to improve your engagement photography.

Wedding photography is a challenging genre that takes a wide range of skills, and it can be easy to make a mistake that derails things. If you are working on improving your skills, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced wedding photographer discussing seven common mistakes and how to fix them or avoid them entirely.

Simeon Quarrie, owner of wedding production company Vivida, is back with another amazing and unique editorial-style pre-wedding photoshoot for one of his couples. In this behind the scenes video he shows just how much planning and work goes into a great quality photoshoot production. The concept for the shoot is a whimsical story about severing the ties of restriction with the power of love starring a beautiful couple as its centerpiece.

If there're two things to remember about wedding photography, it's that you have to know your stuff inside and out and second chances don't exist. This helpful video will show you some great tips for posing a large wedding group, lighting them, and picking the proper camera settings.

Weddings are a strange beast. Theoretically, they're full of opportunities for creative shots, but the time pressure often curtails too much exploration. It's best to go in with a plan — a photographic structured improvisation of sorts — for the more creative photos you want to get. This awesome video will walk you through exactly how to get one of those shots.

Do you struggle when photographing small, intimate wedding ceremonies where natural lighting is inadequate or even non-existent? As a wedding photographer, you need to have the right tools to light a venue, and more importantly, you need to know how to use them to make amazing images.

Wedding photography is a highly competitive genre that requires a lot of anyone looking to make a career of it. And so, when you are first starting, it is important to do everything you can to give yourself the best chances for success. This excellent video tutorial features a seasoned wedding pro discussing five things you should invest in when starting a wedding photography business.

I remember, way back when I first started trying my hand at portrait photography, the cold realization that I didn't really know how to direct a shoot. I wasn't horrible at it, but I lacked confidence due to a lack of experience and I made a mental note to work on it. It's now years later and I'm still working on it and I will keep working on it until I stop picking up a camera. If you haven't already, you will quickly realize that how you act during a shoot is of the same importance as your technical ability.

How many photographers do you know who travel to different countries and photograph weddings in beautiful and exotic locations? The question is: are those wedding photographers legally allowed to work outside of their home country, or are they rolling the dice on having their equipment confiscated and them being blacklisted from entering that country again?

A photographer is detailing the disruptive effect of coronavirus on the wedding industry, not least of which comes in the form of news that as of Wednesday, weddings in Australia will be limited to five people, and as such, will require a photographer to be one of the two witnesses chosen by a couple if they wish to attend the ceremony.

Wedding photography burnout is real. For nine years, weddings consumed my life, documenting every bouquet toss and first kiss. I was burnt out and needed to make a drastic shift.

I remember reading an article here on Fstoppers three year ago about a couple using a GoPro in a bouquet to film their wedding. That might have been a trend back then in 2012, but now in 2015 forget about the bouquet. This couple may just have started a new thing! They hired their dog to film their wedding.

Wedding and event photographers are among those worst hit by the pandemic. Along with them, of course, are the people who had to put weddings and life on hold.

I've spent years picking up odd tips, completing online courses, researching techniques, and now, I'm confident in sharing some of that knowledge with the world. Of course, I'm still learning and will continue to pick up tips for the rest of my career. For now, though, I'll share some I wish I had known sooner.

Whatever your style of wedding photography, be it classic, reportage, or leaning towards fine art, here are five poses from the bride and groom that will give you a solid foundation from which to work. This short video runs you through the list and offers some tips on how to achieve them.

One of the most effective ways for wedding photographers to advertise for free is by blogging their work. There’s an old saying that goes something like “you can’t sell what you can’t show,” and it can’t be more true when it comes to our services. If we don’t blog, or show our work, how would a potential client find us? And guess what the best part is? Blogging is absolutely free!

I’m probably not going to be winning any friends by sticking up for the undercutters, but I just don’t think that they’re hurting you as much as you think they are. In fact, I think they might actually be helping you.

One of my biggest problems when using Lightroom is just how long it takes to start viewing my images. Thankfully, ON1 Photo RAW does things a bit different.

How can you manipulate the color of the sky with simple lighting techniques? In this video, learn how to capture a rich blue sky with just one light.

This is by no means a new topic, but a recent poster in the Fstoppers Wedding Photography group lamented that they felt they were stuck in a creative rut, and it got me thinking about the problem of trying to be experimental within an industry. Chances are if you’re shooting for a client, they have a preconceived idea of what you're going to provide, even if that’s just a ballpark “these kinds of colors, this kind of emotion.” If you rocked up to a wedding with the awesome idea of only shooting macros of toes, you’re going to have a hard sell when it comes time to deliver the finished product; they’d need to be really good foot shots.

One of the challenges wedding photographers encounter is how to structure pricing for their services. One common mistake is to include a free engagement session in all wedding packages. There are a few reasons why you should offer engagement sessions only as an add-on to wedding packages.

Professional Photographer’s of America (PPA) has been the foremost association campaigning for photographers for over 150 years, but is still growing with its membership even today. With over half of photographers in the non-profit association capturing weddings as part or the majority of their income, PPA has moved forward with creating a new degree that specifically evaluates and promotes wedding photographers. With the Master of Photography degree and Master Artist degree already part and parcel to the education options in the association, does qualifying photographers with a new set of rules make better artists or lessen the value of the other degrees?

Canadian wedding photography super-duo Two Mann Studios recently handed out six tips for wedding photographers that should not be ignored. In the 40-plus-minute candid video made for ShotKit, Erika and Lanny Mann give other shooters an honest, thoughtful take on their own successes and struggles as one of the most sought-after wedding studios in the world. It's well worth the time.

With Halloween just a week away, it seems fitting that I’ve got an article for you today that involves a black metal band. Last week, Wedding Photographer Janet Wheeland was out with a couple for an engagement photo session. While they did have a theme of "Forrest Gump" going in to the day, later that evening things would take a black, leathery, face-painted turn.

As a wedding photographer I am always looking for tools that make my job easier and the experience for my clients better. For years one of my least favorite parts of my job was getting feedback and approvals on wedding albums I designed for my clients. Fortunately all that has changed since I have started to use AlbumDraft. There are a number of programs that compete with AlbumDraft as software for album proofing - I've just found theirs to be the most convenient and easy to use.

Wedding photography is a challenging genre that requires you to be at the top of your game in every facet. If you are new to it, it can be easy to make mistakes along the way. This excellent video tutorial discusses five common traps new wedding photographers fall into and how to be better by avoiding them.

As a wedding photographer I often fill up 3 or 4 memory cards at a wedding and it is important that I get those images downloaded and backed up as soon as possible. Rather than download one card at a time I like to do them all at the same time using multiple card readers. I usually use Photomechanic to do this but recently discovered that it is actually very simple to download multiple cards at the same time in Lightroom as well. I put together this quick video tip to show how.

The advantage to downloading multiple cards at the same time is so one doesn't get...

Don't have any time for roaming streets with your camera? Well, put it aside for your personal development, because it can make you a better wedding photographer!

Fujifilm's mirrorless cameras are highly respected for their design, capabilities, and innovative features, and they have become the system of choice for many wedding photographers. This great video essay features a wedding photographer taking you through the Fujifilm cameras, lenses, and accessories he uses for the big day.

You’ve covered your bases for that ever elusive amazing sunset shot: you’ve checked the time for sunset, mapped the exact location of the sun, and have composed a few frames so you know what to do when you get to the location. But what about the location itself?