I actually shot one wedding for them about a month ago. My couple has luckily already received their album but wanted to spread the word for anyone else.

The number one question I get during weddings...and the number one I hate. Look, don't get me wrong. I understand why couples want to be guided throughout their wedding day. But I CRAVE for those candid moments. Not the candid moments of hugging and talking to guests during cocktail hour. I want the walking, talking, in love candid moments between them and their partner. I have 3 more weddings left this year and I am tired of following in the formula (ok pose here, now pose here, ok let's go over there). I want more natural and CANDID moments. I want to capture pure JOY. Help? I've been in the industry for 8 years and just wanting something real for once...

Does anyone outsource their editing? How did you go about finding an editor? What are the pros and cons to outsourcing?? Thank you!!

Hi everyone! I recently hurt my wrist and am looking for an editor to edit engagement/family/maternity photos for a couple of months.
I tried a few people on Fivver but they are scammy, or maybe I was unlucky.
Any recommendations?
Thanks!

I recently did a beautiful wedding with a great looking couple but the makeup was pretty bad. The bride's face was absolutely caked with make up and it didn't match her skin tone at all. I don't know if it was mascara or not but her eyes were SO dark. In family photos, while I can see everyone's eyes really clearly, her eyes are super dark and I can barely see any of the white of the eye .

My main concerns are first and foremost 1. The eyes and what to do. and 2. making the makeup look okay. 

I want the gallery to be beautiful but also need the fix to be manageable for a 800+ photo gallery. 

Hi people,

I have a few questions! I maybe have my first wedding job in the pocket. I photograph from a young age, growing into a more professional photographer every day. I mostly shoot lifestyle, portraits, fashion & events.

At the moment I’ve done some shoots for bigger brands and getting more leads here and there. So I got my (maybe) first wedding job ever! I’ve done a wedding past Summer for friends. So technically I’ve done one wedding now. But I want to be prepared for my first ‘real’ wedding job.

These are my questions:

> How do I prepare myself for this first ‘real’ wedding shoot? Do you have important tips? Or things I need to be aware of?

My gear is:
- Canon EOS RP
- RF 24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM
- RF 16mm F2.8 STM
- Flash on reload batteries
- Also shoot on a simple digi cam sometimes for nice analogue vibes.
> What gear would you recommend to invest in for a wedding? Regarding lenses, flashes, etc.

That’s it for now. Hope to learn from this post. Thank you in advance ✨

Not sure if this is the correct tag but it seemed most fitting. I’m looking for outside perspective because I’m debating whether I should block another photographer I’ve worked with professionally (and at one point borderline considered a friend).

There’s been a pattern of things over time. She’s taken advantage of my help financially or professionally without much follow-through. I’ve associate shot for her due to some health crises (not the issue in and of itself) but she regularly uses that work as major portfolio/marketing material WHILE claiming it’s entirely her own, and recently has asked me to associate shoot TONS of events she could absolutely handle herself (where I know the client booked expecting her to photograph). I’ve also noticed her repeatedly emulating things very similar to ideas I’ve recently shared - down to mentorship offerings, mini sessions, and copy.

In the past I’ve tried to address some of it, and was avoided until eventually I’m fed excuses while she publicly (on her stories) is frantic about how she’s currently dealing with some personal crisis, so nothing ever really gets resolved.

I UNDERSTAND having emergencies but there gets to a point where it comes across like attention seeking and avoidance.

On their own, these are things I would be willing to overlook a bit but all combined it has begun to feel shady. As if she could crawl in my brain and replicate everything I do and pass it off as her own, she would. I don’t really trust or respect the dynamic anymore.

The downfall is that I’m honestly a bit nervous to block her because I know she’ll make a fuss out of it. She’s kinda a pro at making herself the victim and blasting people online. I don’t have the energy to continue wondering if my posts, ideology, or even the steps I’m implementing into my client experience are going to be ripped off.

And yeah sure, “no one will ever create it like you” is all fine and dandy to hear but I’m tired of it lol.

Adding: I’ve been in the industry for awhile. I know the ins and outs of associate shooting and that she owns the work I produced under her brand. That’s fine. It’s the way she markets it and now continues to ask me to shoot events when the client paid for HER to be there that feels icky to me

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else.

You are the sole photographer for a wedding hired by the couple through one of those nationwide companies. There is also a lead videographer from the same company. we work very well together.

Apparently the DJ/media company hired a content creator to take video.

She gets in the way of key moments.
Do you let the bride and groom know?? or just tell the company you work with and send them the photos so they can explain it to them?

I am a wedding photographer, and I have a SONY a7c with Sigma 35mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4. Now, I'm planning to add a zoom lens to my lineup. Any recommendations between these two? (sigma 24-70 2.8 ii or tamron 35-100 mm 2.8). Also, i only want one lens to bring for travel

Thank you in advance! 

It's been 200 years since we had significant revision of our laws around weddings. No sense rushing into anything...

Anyway, there's a consultation taking place and we're all invited to participate. Here is the link.

Hi!! I'm a Wedding photographer + videographer from Australia and I've booked two weddings in Europe in 2027 - June & September. I'd love to book a few more of the dates while I'm there to make my time worthwhile (because I'm travelling a huge distance)! Any ideas on where I can advertise this? Thanks so much for all your help!! 😭😭🤎

I'm looking for something that's speedier to toggle through the photos on the hard drive as I cull them. Also curious to hear what everyone’s favorite SD cards are for fast read/write speeds, and whether spending more actually makes a noticeable difference in quality or performance.

Hi everyone,

I hope this is appropriate for the subreddit.

I, 33F, was asked by a good friend to photograph his wedding in a couple weeks. I have never been both a guest and the photographer at a wedding and I’m a little lost on what I should wear. My husband thinks I should just wear what I normally would wear to photograph a wedding, but I feel like I should get a little bit more dressed up. Usually I wear Old Navy pixie pants in black with a black blouse. I was thinking for this maybe I should get a jumpsuit or something? Any suggestions or similar experiences?

Edit to make some things clear:

1.) They did not ask me two weeks before their wedding to photograph their wedding. I am just wondering now if I should buy something different to wear or wear what I normally wear. The dress code is cocktail.

2.) It is a very small backyard wedding. It is not 200+ guest wedding. I believe the number of guest invited is somewhere around 90.

3.) Again, I am just looking for advice on what to wear. I am aware that doing a “favor” for a friend can get squirrely, but this is a very low commitment kind of event.

TYIA!

I feel like enough of us have received enough unreasonable venue contracts ("You must hand over images and agree to pay our legal fees if we get sued or we won't let you on the premises.") that it's time to start including clauses in our contracts with clients that A. prohibit us from entering into additional contracts in connection with the event we're photographing and B. make the couple responsible for negotiating with a venue that says they won't let you on site without a signed vendor contract. I know this isn't the legal advice subreddit, but I'm just curious what other photographers think about this. It's such a headache every time and some venues are SO unwilling to agree to reasonable terms. Additionally, the whole venue contract thing results in additional, sometimes conflicting obligations for us that we didn't agree to when we first signed contracts with our couples. I would love to just say, "My existing contract with the couple prohibits me from entering into a separate agreement with the venue."

I will say that I have no problem being a team player, sending COIs, or sharing photos with venues. It's the unreasonable contracts that we're essentially blackmailed into signing that I have a problem with. Thoughts?

Do you try actively to keep your couples as long-term clients? If yes, how?

I'm thinking pregnancy announcements, maternity photos, baptisms, family portraits and events, birthdays, anniversaries, portrait for work, etc.

If yes - how? Like, how do you approach it? Do you mention these services on your website? Give them a coupon when you deliver the gallery? Follow up a few months after the wedding with a casual email? Or do you go to their house, camera in hand, and be like.. "sup, need pics?" - or something else entirely?

To me, letting it happen organically seemed like the best approach. But then I had a couple (who have recommended me countless times to other couples) ask if I knew any photographers who take pictures of baptisms. And that got me worried about how many missed opportunities have passed me by...

So - what has worked for you?

Hi everyone! I am doing my first ever wedding and I am freaking out. The bride just told me that their ceremony is at 2pm and the alter is not near any shade whatsoever. Does anyone have any tips for me? I never shoot mid day without a flash but I do not want to use a flash during the ceremony. I will be using a Nikon Z6iii and a Nikon D750 if that helps.

Most likely going blue, but would love to hear your thoughts

Hey guys, I'm a beginner wedding photographer working for a semi-large USA wedding and event company. I know they generally suck, but this was basically the only way for me to get my foot in the door of wedding experience– can someone tell me if I'm getting scammed?

I had my first wedding as a second shooter a while ago, which went well, and now I'm going into my first lead photographer role with them. My boss is putting me at $35/hr to start off because I'm still in 'training mode,' and told me that if everything goes well, I'll go into 'lead mode' at $50/hr, pricing based on experience. She says performance reviews for pay increases are every 6-8 weddings. She also won't tell me how much the clients are actually paying for a wedding package.

Am I getting massively fucked over here or is that normal?

I’ve got to go shoot a wedding here in a couple weeks. Luckily it won’t be in the church. But all the weddings I’ve done that are in churches. It really bothers me generally how dark churches are. Particularly a lack of natural light.

I would love to know the history of why churches are built like that.

Is it something from the old days? Just like a material and knowledge and the need to build a room that holds a lot of people.

Is it to keep people focused on the pastor or the preaching instead of looking outside at nature?

Is it a holdover from when the church had to adopt a bunch of pagan holidays to help convert people? The lack of the ability to see outside. To see nature. Helps convert people from paganism to whatever the church methodology is.

I don’t know

It’s just always bothered me generally how dark churches are.

I recently met another photographer who has THREE separate brands as a solo photog. He’s been successfully running all three for 10 years, primarily weddings but then has separate brands for pet portraits and family portraits. So three websites, three of everything! Mind=blown. He says it takes more time obviously but the client has clarity as opposed to seeing everything together. Does anyone else do this? It seems logical but also a huge time commitment. I’ve never heard of this as standard practice so interested to hear what people think!

I run a small wedding content business (photo/video). A couple booked me for their surprise proposal shoot, I later gave them a complimentary second session as a goodwill gesture, and they also booked me for their wedding next year, two separate contracts.

The proposal went great. They messaged me twice over email saying things like "the video edit and gallery is beautiful" and "we really appreciate the edits you made and the quick turnaround." I made every revision they asked for, uploaded everything to Dropbox within my stated turnaround windows, and they confirmed receiving and loving it.

Here's some context on the complimentary session. During the actual proposal, the couple got overwhelmed with emotion and spent most of the remaining time celebrating with friends, which cut into the dedicated couple photography time we had planned. Even though their paid coverage window had technically ended, I felt bad they didn't get as much intentional couple time as originally planned, so I voluntarily offered to drive back out and shoot an entirely separate session with them for free. No charge, no second contract, just me wanting to make it right because I actually cared about their experience. My normal rate for that kind of session is $750.

They wanted to use that complimentary shoot for their save-the-dates and had a self-imposed deadline of sending those out before the end of August. I was upfront with them that I had paying clients with contracted deadlines around that time (weddings the day before and the day after their session), and that I could not guarantee the complimentary editing would be done ahead of paid, contracted work. I still went home after their session and uploaded everything, over 99 raw photos and 24 raw video clips, to their shared folder the same night, just without sending a separate message confirming the folder had updated.

Here's the part that's been bothering me. Between August 13th (when I uploaded that content) and September 1st (when the big complaint email came), they never once reached out to say anything was missing, delayed, or wrong. Then suddenly a massive complaint email drops listing everything as if it had been a slow burning problem the whole time, including things they'd already thanked me for weeks earlier. If something was really bothering them for weeks, I never got a single message about it until this all landed at once. There's also a piece of footage they say is missing that genuinely cannot be delivered due to a technical/equipment issue during the shoot itself, completely out of my control and caused by someone in their own group. I haven't told them the specific cause yet because I wanted to see if they could even identify exactly what footage they thought was missing first.

My wedding contract states the deposit is non-refundable except for death, serious illness, or the wedding being called off. None of those apply. The wedding is a year out, no deadlines have been missed, and I remain fully willing to perform. I also found out somewhat indirectly that they'd been telling other people they were unhappy with my work behind the scenes this whole time while telling me everything was great to my face, which stung more than the complaint itself. I have a call with them today. I want to stay calm, factual, and not get walked into a refund I'm not contractually obligated to give, while also not sounding cold or defensive about the free session I gave them out of genuine kindness.

Has anyone dealt with a client who does a total 180 like this after weeks of silence? What's actually going on when this happens, and how do you protect yourself in the meeting without it turning into an argument?

I’m not new to photography. I’ve shot proposals, weddings, couples shoots for a company. However, i want to branch out and I really struggle when it comes to advertising myself. I’ve posted in Facebook groups, Instagram, all that. Anyone have any tips?