Preparing for a wedding shoot
This weekend I am shooting a small wedding in Anaheim in conjunction with Esquire Photography, and with 5 days to go before the shoot I thought it would be good to go through all the preparation that goes into a shoot like this. A wedding is very different than any other shoot as there are no re-takes, no reschedules, and you can’t make any mistakes or miss any of the important shots. So how do you prepare for a wedding shoot? Simply put, planning, planning, planning! Continue reading for a day by day account so you know what it takes to take the most important pictures of someone’s life.
T-Minus 5 days
It’s Monday evening and our coordinator has just given me the outline for the day, its a pretty simple wedding, 1pm – 6:00pm, piece of cake. She then brings up that it is in a new luxury hotel and wants me to shoot some location shots for the hotel as a favor (in hopes of picking up a nice referral source, which makes total sense). The problem with the extra work is it will now cause me to be more rushed, I will have to take more lighting gear just in case, and an hour to do some sweet interior architecture shots is really pushing it.
Monday Task List
- Start charging the external flash batteries
- Organize camera bag
- Clean lenses
- Clean bodies
- Charge first set of camera batteries
- Test fit new light stand and reflector arm
- Review wedding day plan with coordinator
T-Minus 4 days
It’s Tuesday and while it seems like that is a long time to start getting ready, but the problem is you just never know what can come up. I had a wedding shoot last Sunday and on Thursday night Helen Cherry called and needed a second photographer for a shoot on Saturday. Having back to back shoots on almost no notice can really take its toll. You have only overnight to charge batteries (my complete set takes 16 hours). If I had planned on getting ready for the shoot on Sunday during the day on Saturday, I wouldn’t have been prepared and would have missed the chance to shoot with Helen.
Tuesday Task List
- Continue charging flash batteries
- Charge second set of camera batteries
- Review shoot checklist
- Take bodies to Canon for cleaning
T-Minus 3 Days
Although cleaning sensors isn’t that big of a deal, every once in a while I run them over to the local Canon office for a free cleaning. You drop off the bodies and a few hours later they have been factory cleaned. Only a few days left, and this I am running this wedding shoot solo so I have a few extra responsibilities.
Wednesday Task List
- Contact client and discuss shoot list to make sure all combinations of family are taken care of
- Discuss any “surprises” or special requests
- Test camera bodies (never can be too careful after someone else has touched them)
- Test and Pack up extra lighting kits
- Purchase extra pack of AA batteries
T-Minus 2 Days
No doubt you are wondering what equipment is going on this shoot, so today I am going through the checklist again and will list out all of the items that are going.
- Canon EOS 20D Body
- Canon EOS 30D Body w/battery grip
- (4) Canon batteries
- Canon 580 EX Flash
- Quantaview 6500 Flash
- (12) AA alkaline batteries
- (8) AA rechargeable batteries
- (4) Quantum QB-1 Batteries
- Quantum MB5 Cable
- Gary Fong Lightsphere
- Canon 50mm 1.8 Lens
- Canon 28-135mm IS Lens
- Canon 17-35mm IS Lens
- Canon 70-300 IS Lens
- 36″5-in-1 Reflector
- Cactus remote flash triggers
- Tripod
- Monopod
- (2) Light stands
- (3) sand bags
- Photoflex boom arm
- Gaffers tape
- misc clamps and boom ends
- 150w Flash head
- (2) snoots
- 32″ white umbrella
- 32″ silver umbrella
- Card reader
- Laptop
- CF Cards
- Think Tank Photo Speed Belt
- Generic photography backpack
- Giotto Rocket Blower
- Microfiber cloth
- Bottle of water and a few energy bars
- ExpoDisc
- WhieBal card
T-Minus 1 Day
Friday night, just a quick review of the shot list and schedule with our coordinator. Everything is cleaned, charged, tested, and packed, double and triple checked. Everything is good to go. The big items like the light stands, carrying cart, and sand bags get loaded into the car tonight. In the morning, the camera bags go out with me and are never out of my site.
That is pretty much it. Doing a wedding shoot properly is very much about being organized and prepared. You are on a completely inflexible time line and there is no room for error. When the rings are getting put on you have only a second to get the shot. There are a number of events during the day that are once-in-a-lifetime shots and you need to get them all. You don’t want to try to do a wedding without a backup camera, multiple lenses, and lots of batteries and compact flash storage. All important shots should be taken on both cameras or have an assistant taking photos along with you so that there is always redundant versions of those super important shots.
Many thanks to Brianna and Angel for making it an enjoyable shoot, best wishes in your new life together!
Author: Kerry Garrison
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