7 MISTAKES Not to Make as a Wedding Photographer
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- Just because you're new to Wedding Photography doesn't mean you need to make these mistakes. Before you start taking weddings make sure you're never making any of these mistakes as a wedding photographer.
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Video Index:
Intro 0:00
Mistake One 0:29
Mistake Two 2:17
Mistake Three 3:50
Squarespace 5:33
Mistake Four 6:37
Mistake Five 8:29
Mistake Six 10:38
Mistake Seven 12:19
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#weddingphotography #weddingphotographyeducation 
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What mistakes have you made as a wedding photographer?
I made the mistake of accidentally formatting my SD card after a wedding 🤦♂️ I was looking through some photos and got distracted while doing so, somehow, I hit "format" on my camera screen. Explaining to that couple my silly mistake was very embarrassing..
My mistakes is jump into wedding industries
@@psoet.photo1112 formatting a card isn't game over. Recovery software like SanDisk can get those back for you. Just as long as you don't start shooting over the card again.
@@TheFedoraMedia Thanks for this! I think it is already too late but I'll remember this for future reference. I do recall seeing a guy on RUclips talking about this but I wasn't so sure. Sounds legit!
@@psoet.photo1112 For anyone who reads this. If you do something like this, do not shoot on top of the memory card after formatting if you wish to RECOVER what you formatted. There are programs that bring it back! just don't record over the formatted images!
I put this into my contract, does anyone else put something like this in? "The client(s) understand that due to the artistic nature of this photography service, that there is no guarantee that the client(s) will find 100% of the photographs artistically pleasing, which in such case will not entitle the client(s) to any discounts or refunds. The photographer will to the best of his ability deliver photographs that will be in his own judgment artistically pleasing. "
That's perfect.
@@colbyjackprod Thanks, I wrote that myself, though I took inspiration from bits and pieces I read in other contracts
You just helped a fellow photographer learn a new contract idea sir, so thank you for sharing the tip brotha.
@@lordofthesevenseas3456 Your welcome! I came up with that after looking at like 30 other contracts and cherry picking, getting ideas, re-wording things and filling in the rest with what came to my mind.
@@lordofthesevenseas3456 If you liked that, here's another line from my contract! ". The client(s) understand that factors outside of the photographer’s control may occur that can affect the artistic look of the photographs such as weather conditions, time of day, event location, event rules, event lighting, participation of the subjects of photographs, and amount of time given to the photographer. The client(s) understand that there is no promised specific amount of finished photographs as the final quantity varies based on the length of time of the event and number of guests. For example a 2 hour event could yield 90 photographs and a 12 hour event could yield 540 however the amount could be higher or lower. The client(s) understand that no digital raw files (unedited photographs) are released, and only edited photographs that the photographer has judged worthy of being been seen are released."
1- No communication with the couple
2- No setting expectations
3- not having website
4- Being too hands-off
5- Shooting wide open
6- Shutting too low of a shutter speed
7- Not having an amazing backup process.
3 was actually not having a contract. The website part was a bonus tip to segue to the ad
8 - Forgetting your pants.
You talk about mistakes in a way that’s not stress inducing. Nice job. Love your vibe.
I have scoured RUclips for years looking at what kind of educational content other wedding photographers are making. Yours are above and beyond. Practical helpful and truly educational information that’s not wasting anyones time. Thank you for putting in this work to help elevate others
Some great advice here for you. I have shot over 700 weddings and I can tell you that communication is the best skill... Great job sir.
As someone who’s slowly turning photography into a viable income, your videos and advice have been incredibly helpful 👏🏽 Thankyou sooooo much!
Great to hear!
Please advise me on how to start, tell me how I can turn my photography into a profitable income. I have a Sony a6400, gimbal, fluid tripod, and a couple of zoom and prime lenses. I really haven't made any buck since I invested my all in it. I really wanna make use of it. How do I go about it please advise me.
Yes to communication! I would extend that to communicating with everyone including other vendors! If it's a church wedding make sure you or the couple communicate with the officiant to see what the rules are. I also see so many forums where photographers are complaining about videographers. I often think if the photographer and videographer just communicated with each other before the wedding it would be better for everyone.
my external harddrive with lots and lots of photos , most 2021 work , crashed this week. today i watched your video and heard about Back Blaze. you are correct in calling those amateurs for not backing up properly their work.. because of you im going to sign up. thanks for the good work. keep it up.
Another tip: LISTEN TO YOUR CLIENTS. Prior to my wedding, I specifically told my photographers and videographer that I did not have a good relationship with my father, even though he would be attending the wedding, I wanted no father/bride traditions/photographs.
My photographer still asked me if I wanted the father first look photo on my wedding day, I said no (a bit peeved she asked as I already had this conversation with them but I got over it). She did it anyway and included it in my gallery. I was angry/upset/hurt and I have unfollowed their socials, and I never responded to them afterwards, nor will I recommend them.
You sound horrible, why invite him in the first place ? Horrible way to push your own father away , you’ll regret that decision when you’re old . Doesn’t take much to be a nice person . And the fact you were so upset that someone saw that and took a photo … you went and tried to effect their business. You need to grow the fk up
My bet is that in the past, the photographer followed directions about who not to include in photographs. Then later, the bride and/or groom were disappointed that a specific person was not included in any shots. Experience probably taught the photographer that getting the person in photos is better because the couple can always not use them but there is no opportunity to include them after the wedding.
If you want to be cautious, keep it to yourself until your customer decides they regret their decision. Keep is as an ace in the hole. There was no need to put me through emotional distress because of their previous customers, especially when I went completely out of my way to tell them I didn't want this.@@JimSamuel267
I agree with rule number 1 ; it helps so much... the rest of your tips are also totally valid... but I'm glad you got number 1 right ; I'm shooting a wedding tomorrow and know the couple well ; shot them together 4-5 times for CD covers etc. Not least, they're friendly and confident with me & my photos.
The Honeybook doesn't work in UK. But because you mentioned that I found a similar tool called Bloom and it is amazing 👍 Thanks for your hard work John!
This is a very informative video John,I'm inspired and appreciate!
Really appreciate your humor. Watching this is making me feel better knowing I’m not alone learning and keep on learning
Glad to hear it! That’s the biggest thing I want is for folks to not feel alone in this business.
Another great video John. I’ve started a fantastic learning journey watching your videos - thank you!
That's great to hear! I hope all of the information is useful!
I do allot of HS prom work, and you are 100% correct...get involved and make some of those great moments happen instead of waiting for them.
This video is soo good!! You cracked me up about stopping down 😂💛 I am so guilty of shooting wide open entirely too often! It’s such a helpful tip to stop and think “why am I using these settings”!
This is super valuable I couldn’t thank you enough
I remember when you had around 5k followers! Way to go!! You are awesome!!! I’ve been a photographer for about 20 years but I love listening to your tips. Many Thanks!!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. The growth has honestly been very surprising.
I love your take on stopping down and over using bokeh unnecessarily. Its a huge obsession at the moment in wedding photography. Everything at f1.4
Exactly. There's a time and place to stop down and photographers need to really realize when that is rather than just going for ultimate bokeh.
Awesome tips :) I'd also learned not to always shoot wide open, even though 'I paid for f1.2 so i want to use it!". Another technical note is that Longer Shutter speeds also introduce noise like raising ISO does. There's a video that compares these and the noise in the same regardless, whether you get more light via ISO or longer shutter. Which is good news as you may as well just increase ISO for the same amount of noise but sharper images.
Great great and great!!! Thank you so much!
thank you for being so real about lenses and settings
You're welcome. Always happy to help out.
YOU ARE SO HELPFUL. thank you so much for your knowledge!!!!!
I’m glad I could be helpful!
dude you have a fantastic personality! So easy to learn from you
Another very useful video John, you are killing it. Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much I really appreciate that. It’s honestly pretty hard work.
Repeat, repeat, repeat .... repeat and make checklist!!!
Thanks John!!! - so much needed
👏👏👏
Great tips, although I do agree about the point you made with stopping down I think it’s important to mention the fact that some people like the little softer look of a shot taken at let’s say 1,4, and that you can get creative with out of focus elements in framing and so forth.
But yes, people need to learn when to stop down and when to shoot wide open instead of just setting your aperture to 1,4 and leaving it there the entire day, myself included.
These videos are really helpful, thank you for putting in the work!
Thank you for this John! Love from Nigeria !
You're welcome!
This is so helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.🙏👍
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome advice. Love your videos! Thank you for all the info!
Glad you like them!
Ive learned alot. Thank you sir! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
My pleasure!
So glad you mentioned back ups. It's something we have always taken seriously but now are upgrading to a similar automatic back up to an offsite NAS. I'll have to check out back blaze too that sounds great. Well done video 👍
Backups are seriously important. I feel like a lot of photographers forget about this and how important it is until it's too late.
I don't do weddings anymore because i have a job now which suits my abilities much better.
But this list is gold and i would have been much better in business if i worked like that.
Though the first point about the relationship with the couple was maybe the one thing most going for me, because i seem to have a very calming and positive personality and often times the couples thanked even before they got the photos, just for beeing there and having a positive influence on their day.
They want this day to be special and prepared a long time for it. They will be nervous and hyped up and maybe even full of anxiety.
You will be at their side the whole day. Beside taking the photographs, help them to make this a joyfull experience.
I really like what you said about bokeh. I see even a few of my favorites getting a little more excited than they should about bokeh. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a time and place for it. In my opinion, the reason bokeh is 101 photography is because it is simply the easiest way to eliminate distractions. After a while of shooting this way, you should naturally realize that what makes bokeh look so good is it eliminates the background and beginner photographers struggle to identify their subject properly, forget leading lines. I couldn't agree more that it's the mark of a beginner, but not a horrible way to learn, if you eventually understand the point of bokeh and then elevate your photography to the point where you are systematically removing distractions on site, using lighting and composition to enhance and separate your subject from the background.
Thanks for all of the info, glad I found you, new sub!
You are explaining everything very gently but still humerous
lol. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you, it was really helpful.
Glad to hear that!
One more thing about high ISO - remember, that printed photos cannot be pixel-peeped. While they might look subpar while viewed on 27" monitor, they might look wonderful printed and set in a desktop/cupboard picture frame.
Also, high-ISO photos can be salvaged by going black&white - sometimes the moment itself is much more important than perfectly sharp eyelash.
Such a great video. Thanks!!
Glad you liked it!
I'm so happy I stumbled upon your channel!
wooo, welcome
thank you thank you thank you
Good stuff! I am our professional wedding photographer for the last eight years myself. And I’m always looking for new things to improve myself. For back ups myself I do not use the cloud, mainly because I’m shooting with a 45 megapixel body and you can use a serious amount of your Internet bandwidth on uploads. I use two different solid-state hard drives, always transfer from the card to a hard drive and then card to the second hard drive. Never car to hard drive, hard drive to hard drive. Because if your files get corrupted going from your card to your hard drive, you’re just making a copy of the corrupted files. I use two cards in my camera, raw lossless compression for the main CF Xpress 2 card and I use JPEG fine for the SD card. I also use extremely big cards so I do not have to switch them during the wedding day. Only time I’ve ever lost photos was when I lost a SD card. and I personally turn my photos over in two weeks, and I sort through the photos within 24 hours to make sure they’re not corrupt, that way I know I’m free to wipe the cards on my camera for my next event.
I have been a photographer for over 15 years but jumped into my first year marketing and really selling. Some of these already have me thinking about how I can update my business. Thank you! 🥰
Thanks for sharing!
Good call with the backups. I only shoot with cameras that two memory cards. I also have a Network-attached storage as my backup. My main edits stay on my computer. I normally never delete images. I keep them for years. You can always buy more harddrive space.
Exactly! Keep as much as you can as long as you can and ALWAYS have backups. It's the only way.
So helpful!!!
Yeah, I really agree with you. Thank you !!
You're welcome!! These things are SO important.
Thanks 😊
Great video John, However regarding Backblaze I think there are some caveats to its usefulness (correct me if I'm wrong) but Backblaze only backs up images etc that are on your computer or on an external hardrive which is regularly (every 30 days) connected to your computer. If you want to keep clutter on your computer to a minimum, back up images to Backblaze, copy and to a HD and then delete the images from your computer they will not stay on Backblaze unless you remember to reconnect the HDs within the 30 days.
Hey John! Just wanted to say I love the humor you put into your vids! :D
😂😂 LOL I'm glad you enjoy it.
Appreciate you for the info boss !!
No problem 👍
I like what you said about depth of field and sharpness. Subscribed :)
thank you sir...❤️
Welcome 😊
Guilty on mistake #5 lol I ALWAYS shot wide open for no reason besides BOKEH! lol Nothing like having a tack sharp image to work with and now in most software suites you can ADD it back IF you want to! Great video as always John!
LOVE your videos!! *watching from Australia 🇦🇺
Thanks so much. I'm glad you're enjoying them!
Very helpful tips bro. . . I really live photography without enough stuff.
Glad it was helpful!
I made the website mistake. I got carried away with Instagram and abandoned my outdated website. I was hacked on Instagram 2 times and when I needed to show my work the site was stopped, lesson learned.
really love your style
Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate it.
I'm loving the drama and random chaos in this video 🤣
I ❤ your attitude.
Excellent Sir
I appreciate your tips always, John!! (:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that!
thank you for making this video
You're welcome! I hope it was helpful.
Can’t believe anyone would be unhappy with your photos. You are an artist
That's how I felt as well. Maybe I'll make a video of that story. It taught me a lot.
@@jbivphotography some customers are just difficult or don’t know good photography or respect hard work photographers go thru. Maybe it’s a sign her marriage won’t last and has troubles
Another great video John.
Glad you enjoyed it
I think you should make a series called "Are you even a photographer if" lol. all solid points. I think we were all bokeh magee when we started lol. I live at f2 and SS 200 for the most part on all my lenses. Ive been using BackBlaze for a bit now since i found out about it from your video you did on it. I was the photographer with a bucket full of hard drives for backups other than my NAS lol. If i had tape backups to send to Iron Mountain i would lol..
Hey John great video Quick question For an engagement photoshoot is one hour good and how many photos would you give your client from in hour session.
Nice video buddy. 👍
So much truth!
👏👏👏
Great info, thanks! If only Honeybook for Australia 😭
Yeah it's really sad to me that Honeybook isn't anywhere but the states.
Great job!!!
Thank you!!
thank u sir for this tips i have wedding photo shoot this coming oct 1 and this is my first wedding!
you got it
Talk about SD cards backup and 2nd camera backup which u need 100% at a wedding!!
Think about it, if your SD card fails and not duplicated your contents you are screwed!!
Same as mechanical shutter block during an event, always have backup!
Question? Should you join the Wedding wire and The Knot if you are a beginner in the industry.
paying high prices to be on the lowest rank on their page is it worth it or should you take the risk and pay monthly while hoping to get customers book you for a year after?
Can you make a video detailing how to setup a workflow in HoneyBook?
THANKS FOR THE BOKEH COMMENTS! TOTALLY AGREE! Love it
I watched your last video about pricing and bookings, so if you can remember. What did you price for your first wedding? I recently shot my first wedding and it was for a low price. £200 to be exact, which is far lower than the £650 I wanted to start with. Of course, it's my mistake, my clients originally wanted me to do it for free because it was my first, and they didn't have the money. I managed to persuade two other couples at that wedding to go with me for their weddings next year. Obviously, I AM NOT going to make the same mistake.
Hi John!
Did Honeybook create the contract or did you create it? If you created it, can you please make a video about creating contracts?
thank you...
Welcome!
I have Squarespace:) !! Love you advice
Awesome! 👏👏👏
Just found you & your content is 🔥🔥
Thanks so much
Thanks for this great video mate! Agreed with everything!
Somewhat relevant too because I had a minor complaint come yesterday off the back of delivery. They're happy with the 400+ images that they do have, but they asked for the raws, saying they also feel like they missed a lot - it was vague and aftwr some clarification, they said they were wanting more of the family and I beleive they wanted more candids. (despite group shots and some candids of family). - I could only give so much with most of the time I was around them being time they were eating or drinking
I said I will have another look, but I'm not delivering raws (specified in contact).
I also have a big surprise coming their way well beyond the scope of contract so I have an ace in the hole to keep everyone happy. Still eats me when I get negative feedback though! I wonder how I can better set up expectations around the more creative, nebulous and situational dependent aspects of wedding photography.
I feel this soooooo much. I also have a hard time when I get any sort of negative feedback. You always come awya from a wedding day feeling like you've done so much. But at the end of the day the couple's happiness is our job and even if we get negative feedback it's our job to manage that and still get the couple the results that they're looking for. Thanks for sharing!
Do you recommend flash photography indoors?
Honey Book and Squarespace vs Pixieset? Any pros to going to Honey Book and Squarespace? Or is it similar? Thanks.
Great info! It really happens guys.. my videographer lost two special moments from my wedding day and he had no backups. As a photographer I understood a mistake and was too nice about it but it was very disappointing. BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!!
True.. and it gets even harder for us videographers, especially shooting in 4k60 prores. An average wedding I film creates about 1-2TB over the 3 cameras.
I just started dabbling in wedding videos and OMG the amount of space it eats up is just INSANE
Can you please show your questions or templates for workflow post engagement and pre wedding. I leave people on quiet all the time but I don’t have anything else to add lol
Do you recommend any good CRMs that are available outside North America?
Can you please share the link to buy the leather strap.
Honeybook isn't available outside United States now..
Are there any alternatives?
Thanks for the tips! I will definately try dropping down, but it's talked about how f4 is the sweet spot. Should we go to f5 or f6 instead?
If you're shooting at f4 on the norm then you're good to go. There's nothing wrong with shooting wide open, you just have to know when and where.
Hello sir. I appreciate your tips so much. I have a question, can I use a flash during the ceremony? I have a godox v1. Or its not allowed?
It depends on the venue. Generally I'll use flash at my ceremonies but some churches won't let you use flash during the ceremonies.
Thank you John for sharing your experience. May i know where can i get a solid contract that works?
13:31 do you backup RAWs or just the finished jpegs?
best videos my man
Appreciate! Much love.
could we have an example of the contracts for weddings ?
Can you please post the link where you purchased your double camera strap.
If he doesn't post it, permit me to recommend the Black Rapid strap. I ordered mine via Allen's Camera.
3:50 when i first watched this part in this video like over a month ago, i taught john was just capping until when "not having a contract" backfired on me the hard way, john branch you were right, a contract is extremely important.
It is! Sometimes it's hard to see how it can help until you really need it.
Hi Branch,
About Shutter Speed, I just wanna state a point: Shutter Speed could be low if you keep the rule that Focal Length = Shutter speed * 2
Which mean, if you shoot at 24mm(FF), you should your most minimum shutter speed at 1/48(1/50).
85 -> 1/170(1/200) minimum, no lower.
That’s correct. However that rule doesn’t apply when you’re taking photos of people. The main reason why is that if you have your shutter at 1/50 if they move too fast or honestly at all your photo is going to have motion blur in it. Camera shake on your end is a factor but also thinking about if your subject is moving makes a big part of choosing your shutter speed.
You should be able to get a sharp photo of a person at 1/100 under normal circumstances, if you’re using flash you can probably get away going even slower than 1/100. I can’t agree to shooting at or above max sync speed of your gear.
I wish I would of saw this info earlier. My wedding photographer have not bee responsive. We have to keep chasing him to respond. As well, he waited until the very last week(like 4 days before the wedding) to send us a timeline of day wedding photos regarding what he can capture on our wedding. Typically, do you send couples a timeline/survey regarding wedding photos during the last week before the wedding or do you do it prior?
Communication yes! My photographer didn’t ask any questions about what pictures I wanted and I felt like I wasted all that money. Ended up having to ask friends for their photos they took with their phones so I had SOMETHING I wanted.
OH NO! That's horrible to hear. Yeah too many people think that taking photos is just clicking the shutter button. But without communication usually someone is left disapointed with the current situation. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you.
It's hard to put money into a Honeybook app when I am personally on wedding client one...cost vs. benefit isn't exactly there for me yet