Fashion magazines, brand-name advertisements, and catalogs of all sorts seek out interesting locations to stage their photo shoots. Some are simply looking for controllable surroundings for privacy and security, but other productions are seeking something special to enhance their photos. Many locations, however, come with a price.
It’s time to answer the often-asked question I hear from many wedding photographers. Is it worth the money to advertise with online marketplaces for professional wedding vendors? I track everything in my wedding business. If you can record it, track it, analyze it, and summarize it, I’m aware of it. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as opening up a spreadsheet of raw, unrefined data and pulling out the hidden truths that lie dormant in the numbers.
We live in times of turmoil. The old fixed orders of the post-World-War-II globe have lately been called into question in new and unexpected ways. People are more engaged in politics than ever before during most of our lifetimes. Photography has always been a very political art form, and not simply in the obvious ways. You may not think that your images are political because they do not showcase political issues. But even if they don't do that, they still say something in the political sphere. As we all struggle to be the best photographers we can be, none of us should forget that, when taking and making images, we always also make statements.
Fstoppers is starting a new bi-weekly contest in our Community! Every two weeks, we will announce a new contest within a specific group. The newest contest can be found in the Wedding Photography Group.
Landscape photography brings with it its own special set of challenges and risks. But beyond your filters and spare batteries, you're going to want to carry some extra non-photography gear to make sure you're in tip-top shape to capture those beautiful shots.
If you're a wedding photographer and you're using a Sony, Fujifilm, or even a Hasselblad, sorry, you're not a pro. At least, that's what Brides magazine would have you believe.
Wedding photography has evolved into a stunning genre of photography. Photographers across the globe are bringing a level of creativity to wedding photography that elevates the images into something more than just photo-documentation.
If you happen to have been on the internet at any point in the past month, you’ll likely be well acquainted with the Mannequin Challenge, a new viral sensation in which participants remain still for the duration of a video recording, usually soundtracked with hip hop music. But now one wedding photographer, Suzanne Delawar, has taken things up a notch by managing to convince an entire wedding party to get involved.
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.
Franck Boutonnet is a France-based photographer and has been producing stunning images for his clients for over 15 years. His knowledge, skills, and work are amazing! There is a lot to learn from his pictures, but also from him. In a short video ShotKit created, Boutonnet gives us six tips to help us improve our craft.
Documenting a wedding in itself is very demanding. It often requires 12 or more hours of coverage during which you must be creative almost every second. But wedding photography doesn’t stop when the big day ends. Then come the culling and editing. It’s probably the part where event photographers spend most of their time and also the task they like the least. Fortunately enough, retouching companies exist and can lighten if not remove that part of the job entirely. I made the switch for my wedding business, and I share my experience with you here as well as why you should give it a try as well.
Planning a wedding is not a joke: be it small or big, from tiny decorations no one is going to remember to weather forecast. That is one of the most responsible and dear days of our lives and there is no place for drama. Whereas we can certainly prevent or solve any human born issues on that day, it might seem a nightmare to fight with the weather. 500px has put together a great list to help you find the silver lining on a rainy day.
“How did you DO this?!” I remember watching her exclaim with her jaw on the floor shortly before turning to her bridesmaid standing next to her and saying, “Can you believe this?!” She was holding her wedding pictures, in her hand, before the wedding reception had come to a close and I was her hero, even if for just that moment.
This is by far one of the most gorgeous drone videos I've ever seen. Shot in California by Adam Rubin of Kaveret, its elegance and narrative beauty make it stand far above the crowded playing field.
We all know that wedding photography is not easy, and at our wedding, we want a record of moments that will last a lifetime. After working for Tom Harmon as an intern in the summer of 2015, I saw what went into shooting a wedding. It was a lot more than I expected. From the contracts to the gear, then shooting the actual wedding itself and going back to upload and edit the photos, it was tons of work, tons of gear, and a lot of patience and creativity.
Snapping away at the bride and groom as they pose, walk, dance, or whatever, and the wedding photographer falls into... you can finish the sentence any way imaginable and then some. This latest example from Estes Park, Colorado saw photographer Nathan Welton fall through the ice at Bear Lake. A fresh layer of snow apparently hid the edge of the lake and Welton got, well, too close. Nevertheless, he's recounted his story several times and says he just kept shooting and got some interesting angles.
For 10 years now, Patrick Hall and I have been professional wedding photographers. We worked for over a year to film "How To Become A Professional Commercial Wedding Photographer," a video tutorial that covers everything we know about the wedding photography industry. For the next two days it's 50% off with code "SAVE150".
Are you a Photoshop expert? Fstoppers is starting a new weekly Photoshop contest for our community! We want you to submit your best photoshopped images in the groups where fellow photographers will vote for their top five favorite images. Of those top five, one lucky winner will be chosen and win their choice of an Fstoppers tutorial. This week we are focusing on your most creative photoshops within wedding photography!
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.
I always had a strong love/hate relationship with the New York City subway, never picturing I would be driving again. But now that my work is having me travel more frequently, I find myself in the market, looking for that perfect vehicle. The first thing I did was a search for "Best Vehicles for Professional Photographers" on Google, with no luck. So, after further work, I wanted to share my findings and knowledge with you, so when you start looking for that perfect photo-mobile, you know just where to start!
Instagram is an amazing platform for sharing your work and following great artists that can inspire you. As you follow more and more people, Instagram will even recommend other users who fall into line with the type of people you normally follow and interact with. The problem though is that most of the suggested users are people that already have a significant following. So what about the people that are up and coming or are new to the platform?
Raise your hand if you've ever shot a wedding. Yeah, I know; most of us photographers at some point in our career have either dabbled in or have been full-time wedding photographers. For many, shooting weddings is the first time you get paid for your craft. If you're just getting started in the wedding industry, check out this video with Pye Jirsa from SLR Lounge and Jay P. Morgan from Slanted Lens as they discuss 10 tips for wedding photography.
It happens at basically every wedding I shoot. I walk into the room to start taking images of the bride getting ready, and the bride offers me a mimosa. After I leave to take images of the guys getting ready, I walk in and the groom offers me a beer. Then, the ceremony is about to start, and a groomsman offers me a shot out of the flask he has in his jacket. Lastly, we are at the reception and both sets of parents and the entire wedding party are offering drinks. I have to assume that most wedding photographers are faced with at least one of these events at every job. So, the question is: do you accept?
The world wide web was set ablaze this week by the photography community when Brides.com published an article telling prospective brides which vendors they should and shouldn't be feeding, and this advice strongly suggested photographers should not be fed. Of course, anger ensued. Surely, in this day and age, the author would have crafted a rebuttal or an apology to the legion of photographers in the trenches that she had scorned. Nope. They silently covered it up.
Along with the new year comes an opportunity for a fresh start, the time of year when seemingly everyone looks at their life and what they can change. While it is certainly cliché to come up with goals for the new year, it is a great time to refocus your energy. By focusing on certain aspects of your photography, I believe that you can not only become a better photographer, but find better, bigger clients, grow your business, and follow your dreams. Check out the following simple facets of photography and how you can look at them differently, gain inspiration, and get after it in the new year.
Totally Rad are the producers of the film emulation presets titled Replichrome. Currently there are three sets of presets, Replichrome I: Icon, Replichrome II: Slide, and Replichrome III: Archive. The initial inception of the Lightroom presets, now known as the Icon Series, came with the intent to get it right. Not to create stylized versions of film but to create accurate depictions so that the digital images with the film presets would appear as close to actual film as possible.
Many photographers start out as hobbyists and part-time photographers while relying on a day job to pay the bills. Maybe you shoot on the weekends and edit after hours. But at what point should you quit your day job and commit to becoming a full-time professional photographer? Here's how to take that first big step in your photography career.
Portrait and Wedding Photographer Jordan Voth joins me for this month's exclusive chat, in which I ask him about his signature move of taking clients out into some of the most beautifully scenic backdrops I've ever seen.
If you spent even a moderate amount of time on Facebook back in late September, you likely saw a viral video and photo about a wedding photographer who captured a genuinely heartwarming moment in which a bride's biological father stopped the wedding procession to grab the step-father from his seat so they could both walk her down the aisle. While millions of collective "awws" were emitted then, fast forward six weeks and now the situation has resulted in lawsuits and death threats involving the 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.
