I'm a Wedding Photographer and I Have No Idea What I'm Doing

Over the course of a wedding day, you can shoot in countless locations with varying difficulties. Most of the time, the locations will be places you have never been before. If you ask around online for advice, you will probably be told to scout out your locations days or even weeks in advance. You may be advised to know which location you are going to shoot each image in and that you should build a list so you don't forget. When I first started shooting weddings, I would scout locations and build the shot lists; however, the more I would shoot, the more I would realize that this process was actually making things more difficult for me. That’s why I prefer to go into a wedding day with no idea what I’m doing.

Why I Like to Be Left in The Dark

• The light changes. You can visit a location the day before or a week before, but unless you are there at the exact same time of day that you are going to shoot, the light will not be the same. So, that nice patch of shade you found for portraits might be gone, the interesting strip of hard light you found might not be there or maybe it’s a cloudy day now instead of the sun being out.

• Locations change. That amazing field with the tall grass just got mowed the night before. The giant windows now have streamers across them. The DJ set up right in front of that mirror you wanted to use. 

• You get stuck on an idea. I hate to be stuck on an idea that may not work. I would constantly see a shot while scouting and get excited for it. Then, I would arrive for the shoot and the light might not work anymore, the location might not be the same, or we may have not be able to get to the location I had planned. I would then waste my time trying to get something to work in a situation where it simply wouldn't. This also caused me to miss opportunities because I was focusing all my attention on this lost cause.

• Plans change. People are late because getting ready took too long. Maybe the bride forgot to mention that her family is 100 people strong, so formals took twice as long as normal. Possibly, the bride's dress is too tight to sit down, so you are limited on your poses. It’s now 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity and no one in the bridal party wants to be outside. There are so many little things that can pop up and completely change the course of the day and you are a little sailboat just along for the ride.

• It causes added stress. Not only is it stressful having to fit another thing into your schedule, if you are used to scouting locations, it can be super stressful when you can't make it work.

The point here is that after spending a ton of time mapping out locations, there are tons of things that can throw a wrench into your plan. You need to be able to adapt. You should be able to walk into a room for the first time and know where to shoot.

This May Not Come Naturally, How to Train

• Know your gear and its limitations. This is pretty self-explanatory. You have to know how your gear acts in certain situations. Whether you are shooting in low light situations or you are shooting a high contrast scene and you need to retain your highlights, you need to know how your camera acts so you can make sure you get the image you want.

• Train yourself to see things. In your off-time, challenge yourself and take an entire week to only shoot lines, lines everywhere: in your home, in the sky - literally everywhere. The next week, challenge yourself to only shoot red, then shoot only reflections. Change it up: shoot only in hard light and then only in soft light. As you grow your eye to look for these useful elements, you will be able to walk into a location and see everything you have to work with, instead of searching high and low for something interesting. It will stand out like a sore thumb, just begging you to shoot it.  

• Train yourself to work a subject. Similarly to the previous step, in your off-time, find a subject and shoot it every single way you can think of: shoot close, shoot wide, shoot up, and shoot down. Put a flash on it, then change up your angles again. Discover what ways work and what ways don’t and think about why.

• Create ideas of things to try, but don't force them. Wait for the opportunity to present itself. If you have an idea of something that will work well in a tight, low light location, remember it. Next time you are presented with that challenge, you will have something to work with. Maybe you have an idea of a new lighting setup you want to try; keep it and next time you need to break out your lights, you will have something to get started with.    

• Explore new techniques. Learn to light paint, take some product photography in your kitchen, invite your friends over and take their headshots.  Play around with your off camera flash. Overall, the more tricks you have in your bag, the better equipped you are to handle unforeseen situations.

• Take away a crutch. If you have that one lens that you always shoot with, go out and shoot with nothing but a different lens. Natural light shooter? Go out and shoot everything with your flash. Get out of your comfort zone! Learn to use different gear so when your go-to fails, you won't be like a fish out of water.

• Consider prime lenses. Using my prime lenses has helped me grow significantly. I love the limitations they impose. I can no longer sit in a corner and zoom in to get my shot. I have to move my feet and get into the action. I had to learn what different focal lengths were doing to my perspective. If you want to learn this while still being able to keep your zoom lenses, then go out for a shoot and tape the zoom ring down to a single focal length. Or next time you zoom in, ask yourself "why?" Are you zooming so that you don’t have to walk closer? Or are you trying to compress your scene?

• Don't be afraid to fail. Grab those safe shots, but then try something new, even if you think it won't work. There are plenty of times I'll tell a client that I want to try something even though I might fail miserably. I’ll at least learn something from the attempt, but most of the time I come out with something that's at least deliverable.   

You Still Need to Know What’s Going On.

I don’t like to scout locations or have a shot list.  However, I still need to know where the locations are and what’s going on. When and where are people getting ready? What event is happening next? Is there a first dance? Is that first dance right when they walk into the reception or is there lingering time in-between while everyone eats? Use the timeline to your advantage. When you have 10 minutes of downtime, that is your time to location-scout. Find something interesting and pull people over there right away.   

This May Not Be for You Yet and That's Ok

If the thought of not having a shot list and not scouting out a location gives you a panic attack, don't worry about it. It’s something that comes with time and practice. So, keep scouting and keep making those shot lists if you need to, but start training your eye to see differently.  

Do you scout out your locations prior to a wedding day? What techniques do you use to find interesting locations to shoot at a wedding? How do you train to be a better photographer?