How To Take this Photo
I received a few messages about how I took this photo so I thought that I would let you know. I snapped this photo at Hunter + Brandon's amazing wedding. They had the Ceremony at Scarritt Bennet but wanted to take some photos at Cenntennial Park. I love Cenntennial and think it is an awesome place to shoot. The only downside is that I shoot there all the time because couples like to go there since it is awesome and in the heart of downtown. All that to say...I wanted to try something a little different since I shoot there often so I added a little flash.
I had them walk down to the end so I could create a silhouette in the empty space at the end of the corridor. The next step was to have my assistant put a flash behind them on the ground at full power. I started at full power because it was really bright that day and we were shooting around 1pm....aka I needed as much light as possible coming from the flash to balance the light coming from the sun. Also, remember that light from the flash matches the sunlight so there are no white balance issues and you don't need to put a gel on it.
When taking silhouette shots and using flash I always crank my ISO down to ISO 200, start my shutter speed at 1/250 of a second (the fastest speed possible to still capture the light coming from the flash), and then adjust my aperture based on my meter. If I want more of the ambient light I slow my shutter speed down. If I want less light from the flash I can power it down or go to a higher f/stop number.
Gear = Nikon D3s, SB-800 speedlite, Nikon 35mm f/1.4, and 2 Yongnuo triggers.
Camera Settings = ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/160
Sloan + Aaron = Cedarwood Wedding
Sloan + Aaron are such are a great couple and I had so much fun getting to spend the day with them and their awesome bridal party. They had their wedding at the beautiful Cedarwood which is a must-see for any engaged couples looking for an amazing outdoor venue with a built in back-up plan.
My Marketing Plan
I have not paid for advertising since my first year of business. I accredit this to 3 things:
1. Being Nice to people.
2. Producing Consistent Work
3. Facebook
Being Nice To People
You learned this in Pre-School. It is still a good principle today. There are several weddings I have photographed where people ask me for my business card before they have even seen a single photo. After giving them my card they talk usually talk about an awful experience they have had with a wedding photographer. I know that weddings are stressful and sometimes we can just be having an off day or are exhausted towards the end of the 'wedding season' and would rather be laying in bed than shooting in 100 degree weather, but couples are trusting us with the privilege of taking their wedding photos and often times investing a substantial amount of money...so when I feel like this, I choose to suck it up, refocus, and do my job.
I've also learned that it helps me to be totally ready to shoot the wedding the night before. Batteries Charged. Memory Cards Cleared. Clothes Clean and Ironed. Schedule Printed. This prevents me from rushing around and having a frantic start to the day. I also spend the morning praying for the couple. It puts things in perspective for me and prepares me to show grace to any potentially stressed/crazy family members and guests.
Producing Consistent Work
We are always growing as photographers and artists. This statement is not aimed at preventing growth in creativity of artistic vision. Couples hire You. And they hire You based on the creativity and quality of your work they have seen. Having a vision for your work and developing a style allows couples to see exactly what they are getting. I always show couples full weddings, usually in the form of an album, so they can see what a wedding I have photographed looks like from start to finish. This allows the couple to build confidence in your ability to tell their wedding day story from start to finish.
I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not photographers should give a disc of images to couples due to concerns about quality control and rights as an artist. I only want to share the reasons why I do it.
People love looking at photos. You know that even today you probably looked at the photos of a person you barely even know on Facebook or maybe even a complete stranger. Don't be embarrassed...we all do it. I want to share an example of what can happen when you give a disc of images to your couple. Today one of my awesome brides posted her photos:
Cara posted two albums totaling over 370 photos. She also went through and tagged most of the people in the photos.
Just take a second think about how many people have had the opportunity to look at these photos today. First of all this will pop up on most of the walls of Cara's 1,095 Facebook friends. It will also pop up on the walls of the friends of the people who were tagged in the photos. There are 10 bridesmaids tagged in this photo alone. It gets kind of awesome when you think about how far this can go.
These three things working together are really powerful for booking weddings. People can trust you because you shot "So and So's" wedding. If they still have doubts they can contact that person and ask what they thought of you. If you were nice and produced the quality of work the couple was expecting they will give you a killer reference. This makes it so easy for other couples to trust you and have confidence in the work you produce. It eliminates ambiguity and doubts from the wedding photographer booking equation.
There are several other elements that go into being a great wedding photographer, but I hope this has been encouraging for you.
