By Vanessa Smith
Weddings are all about telling tales, and wedding photography is one way to capture these fleeting moments. In his quest to freeze these moments, the wedding photographer faces one fundamental challenge: to make his photographic gear respond as rapidly as his eyes.
This is where mastery of equipment comes in. In order for a photographer to create beautiful and meaningful photographs, he has to work hard to master his photographic gear so it works exactly the way he wants it to. For the budding wedding photographer, here are a few crucial things about your camera you ought to master. With constant practise, you are on your way to taking your photography to the next level.
This is where mastery of equipment comes in. In order for a photographer to create beautiful and meaningful photographs, he has to work hard to master his photographic gear so it works exactly the way he wants it to. For the budding wedding photographer, here are a few crucial things about your camera you ought to master. With constant practise, you are on your way to taking your photography to the next level.
White Balance: the white balance of your camera refers to how accurate the colours appear on your photographs. Your goal is to make the whites appear white, so that every other colour follows suit. You may use the Auto White Balance setting, but if you wish to further understand how different lighting environments affect your images, use Kelvin instead. Low Kelvin numbers (around 3,350) will produce cold, bluish images. Higher ones, on the other hand, such as 5,260, tend to make the colours appear warm. Play around these values to achieve accurate results.
Sharpness: work to come up with tack-sharp photos unless you want to deliberately blur to indicate action or movement. Using a tripod would help stabilise your camera, but this tends to blur people's movement along the way. Should you wish to freeze action, bump up your ISO or lower the value on your lens' opening.
JPEG or RAW: photographs captured using the RAW format have more data, making them more versatile when post-processed. Because you are most likely likely to print these wedding photos, use RAW rather than the compressed JPEG to ensure maximum versatility.
Flash: more often than not, weddings are held in low-light spaces. When shooting up the ISO or widening your aperture doesn't do it, use an external flash unit instead to compensate for the lack of light. Moreover, bounce flash is preferred over direct flash since the latter produces harsh shadows and unbalanced lighting. Purchase a good flash unit and a
Sharpness: work to come up with tack-sharp photos unless you want to deliberately blur to indicate action or movement. Using a tripod would help stabilise your camera, but this tends to blur people's movement along the way. Should you wish to freeze action, bump up your ISO or lower the value on your lens' opening.
JPEG or RAW: photographs captured using the RAW format have more data, making them more versatile when post-processed. Because you are most likely likely to print these wedding photos, use RAW rather than the compressed JPEG to ensure maximum versatility.
Flash: more often than not, weddings are held in low-light spaces. When shooting up the ISO or widening your aperture doesn't do it, use an external flash unit instead to compensate for the lack of light. Moreover, bounce flash is preferred over direct flash since the latter produces harsh shadows and unbalanced lighting. Purchase a good flash unit and a
Sharpness: work to come up with tack-sharp photos unless you want to deliberately blur to indicate action or movement. Using a tripod would help stabilise your camera, but this tends to blur people's movement along the way. Should you wish to freeze action, bump up your ISO or lower the value on your lens' opening.
JPEG or RAW: photographs captured using the RAW format have more data, making them more versatile when post-processed. Because you are most likely likely to print these wedding photos, use RAW rather than the compressed JPEG to ensure maximum versatility.
Flash: more often than not, weddings are held in low-light spaces. When shooting up the ISO or widening your aperture doesn't do it, use an external flash unit instead to compensate for the lack of light. Moreover, bounce flash is preferred over direct flash since the latter produces harsh shadows and unbalanced lighting. Purchase a good flash unit and a few trusted rechargeable batteries to make your shooting more convenient. You can also browse through work of seasoned wedding photographers and studios to further improve your own craft.
JPEG or RAW: photographs captured using the RAW format have more data, making them more versatile when post-processed. Because you are most likely likely to print these wedding photos, use RAW rather than the compressed JPEG to ensure maximum versatility.
Flash: more often than not, weddings are held in low-light spaces. When shooting up the ISO or widening your aperture doesn't do it, use an external flash unit instead to compensate for the lack of light. Moreover, bounce flash is preferred over direct flash since the latter produces harsh shadows and unbalanced lighting. Purchase a good flash unit and a few trusted rechargeable batteries to make your shooting more convenient. You can also browse through work of seasoned wedding photographers and studios to further improve your own craft.