Thursday, February 26th, 2009...2:53 pm
How Do You Become a Wedding Photographer? – How to Guide
You came here looking to become a Wedding Photographer?
Here are some secrets:
- This trade is a very lucrative business. Demand is pretty inelastic.
- Work isn’t as easy as you think. In the long run you will be doing a lot of hard work. Eventually becoming a wedding photographer means you will have to run your own business and learn to become a good saleperson as well as a entrepreneur.
- Competition: This is a highly competitive market.
Before the age of the internet finding out something like this was a well kept secret. Nowadays, almost anyone can yield a DSLR (Digital Single Reflex Camera) in front of a bride and groom and call themselves a wedding photographer. Everyone has to start somewhere. I knew i started there.
Like any other professions you may have to work your way up. In the field of arts what you do, what you know and
How to Find Work in Wedding Photography
- Become an Assistant - I think this is the best option. If you don’t have any equipment and/or the wedding photographer isn’t able to lend you equipment.
- The Next Step: Second Shoot – If you do have the equipment and/or have become an assistant for quite a while; the photographer you’re working with may ask you to move up. Once you know the ins and outs of wedding photography. A good second shooter provides different angles and views of a wedding. This is helpful usually for the First Photographer to have more material to design albums and/or upsell their packages.
- Find Work at a Studio: There are plenty of studios that maybe looking for people to work inside the photography studio. Go into their studio get to know the owner and see if they’re hiring.
- Shoot for a Regional or National Wedding Photography Company: I know many wedding photographers are against it but once you’ve second shot enough i think its a good step in helping you build cash and getting you plenty more weddings under your belt. Some companies include Be-lla Pic-tures. Be-lla usually hires via craigslist.
- Find Weddings to Shoot – Once you’re good enough and have second shot enough weddings i would suggest trying to find a wedding to shoot for free even. I wouldn’t recommend doing this a lot. Shooting a wedding is a lot of work if you also involve the post processing or editing of the photos. It’s a lot of presure trying to shoot a wedding.
Building Experience and Education
How do you built your expertise in this area?
- Work on your Portfolio: Make sure you refine your portfolio.
- Know Your Tools: Learn the ins and outs of your camera. Learn to use all of the Adobe Creative Suite this will propel to work faster and more efficiently.
- Photography Organizations: Professional Photographers Association, Wedding & Portrait Photographers International , Digital Wedding Forum all are a great resource to join. They all offer educational courses that you can take to learn more about the art, develop
yourself as a professional photographer and further your career. - Attend an Art College/School: This is usually an obvious answer. If you want to be trained in the arts or design field make sure you pick a school with a good curriculum. This allows you a solid foundation to fall back on. You can always get a Graduate/Masters degree in something else along the way.
What Will you be Earning?
Depends on the market. Second shooters can be provided usually a per diem/per day rate anywhere from $100-$1000 per day. Here in Detroit currently $200-$500 would be a good range.
What will i be making annually?
It highly varies by market. The range large. It can start anywhere between 10,000- 500,000+ (and even more if you’re in the right market).
There are even celebrity wedding photographers can charge at least $50,000-100,000+ USD per wedding. Depending on your client 100,000 isn’t much considering the total budget of a celebrity wedding.
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