How To Become a Professional Wedding Photographer FAST

Everything I know about starting a wedding photography business, for the price of a nice lunch.

How to Become A Professional Wedding Photographer, podcast

A few weeks ago, a local photographer offered to buy me nice lunch if I could tell him a little about how I got into wedding photography & established so fast – and this is what we talked about.

Who this guide is for: This guide is for anyone that has never officially photographed a wedding, but is interested in the industry. It covers the basics in an easy convenient way, and creates a firm base for your future learning. This guide is aimed to tell you everything I could tell you over a nice lunch.

Disclaimer: There are so many different ways to get a successful business up and running. This guide is based off of the things that worked the best for me, in a midrange market.

I went from shooting my first wedding, to full time in an 11 month time frame. It’s fun, financially rewarding, and offers an amazing amount of life freedom.
So here it is. Everything that I told him, for the price of two burgers, soda, and tip at your favorite local establishment.

What are you going to learn?

How to get your business up and running FAST
The very basics of getting into wedding photography
The basic equipment you need – contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a ton of gear.
How to book your first wedding next week – what I did, and how I did it.
Workshops, and how they can benefit
Engagement shoots, and why you should do them.
Pricing – Important things to know.
Making money selling albums
What to do at the first meeting
How to find an amazing location anywhere you happen to be.
Typical events of the wedding day, and how to capture them.
What to do at the brides house.
What to do at the grooms house.
How to photograph the ceremony.
Formal group shots
The Bride and Groom alone
The reception
Bouquet toss, cake cut, and first dances.
Albums
Your website – how to get it working for you
Why you should have a blog – even if you don’t have a website yet
Marketing. Why print advertisements are the easiest way to waste your money (in the beginning)
Basics on Branding
Outsourcing
Charging more for your work
And some quick tips, including: How to name your business

It is based off of everything I could cover in a lunch, in both audio and written PDF

What you’ll receive in the package:

35 minute audio book – How To Become A Professional Wedding Photographer FAST
PDF transcription of the audio book
Quick-start Guide: Getting Into The Game, Fast.

This guide is designed to get your photography business up and running – from nothing, to established in one year..all for the price of a nice lunch.

After your payment has been received, a link and futher instructions will be mailed to your given email address.

Some more info:: Camera’s & Lenses

What camera do I need for wedding photography?
What lenses do I need for wedding photography?
What is the best lens for wedding photography?
What is the best camera for wedding photography?

Well, here’s what I think:

Nikon cameras for weddings

Camera bodies are ever changing, and for this reason, I’m going to keep a current list of suggested cameras on the blog. Lenses, however, are good for years and years.

Wedding Lenses for Nikon:

My favorite zoom lens is the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8:
Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP ZL Aspherical (IF) Zoom Lens for Nikon

I love this lens for a few reasons:

The fixed 2.8 aperture is great to have in low light
It’s cheap, and pretty much as good as the Nikon Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 – but costs $800 less.
It’s smaller than the Nikon version, which is nice when you’re traveling and don’t want to stick out

Here’s my other favorites:

My 35mm prime -Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon

The 35mm prime serves as a somewhat wide-angle backup. If you have the kit lens as backup, feel free to skip this 35mm. I like it because it lets a lot of light in(a little bit more than an f2.8), and is relatively small in size.

The lens everyone should own. The Nikon 50mm 1.8:
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon
The 50mm f1.8 is maybe the best lens Nikon makes. It will blow out backgrounds, and give that soft creamy out of focus depth of field, as well as it will save your butt if you’re in a dark church that doesn’t allow you to use flash. This is my perfect portrait lens, and for the price of just over $100, it is the best thing you can buy today.

This here is my favorite lens, the Nikon 85mm 1.8:
Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon
I love this lens because it gives me some extra reach, but still lets in as much light as the 50mm. This works well for reception shots, where you just want to stay out of the way, and snipe some candids. It’s also really great for the ceremony, and receiving line. Heck, this lens is awesome everywhere. That’s why it’s my favorite.

Lastly…we have the holy grail, the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR:
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon
This lens is amazing. It’s a lot of money, but it’s amazing. Personally, I would start by renting one. If you’re stuck between this, and buying a new camera body, go for the camera body – you’ll use your camera for every shot, while you’ll only use this for a few shots a day.
You don’t need it, but you’ll find the need for it eventually. My advice would be to wait until you’re really expressing a need for it before purchasing it.

Canon Lenses for Weddings

Your every day wedding lens:
Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP ZL Aspherical (IF) Canon Digital SLR Cameras
The Tamron is every bit as good as the Canon variations of this lens, oh and way cheaper. It comes in at a 2.8 fixed aperture, and is perfect as a walk around lens.
There’s no question that most photographers could shoot an entire wedding with a lens like this.

Canon has an awesome selection of primes, here’s a few.
The 50mm – this is my favorite lens. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
It’s the perfect focal length for my style, lets in a ton of light, and blurs out the background beautifully.

Canon 85mm – everyone loves this lens.
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
This lens is perfect for receptions, because you can hang out against the back wall, and still get in close with it. It lets a lot of light in, and the 85mm 1.8 is my favorite lens (unless you can afford the 1.4 version)

If you have a lot of money to spend, and want to pick up something that will cover you for the ceremony, and long range reception shots, pick up the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
It’s one of the best lenses that Canon makes, and it’s phenomenal. It’s not a must have, but it’s a really really really nice to have. You’ll eventually want one, there’s no way around it.
If you want to learn anything on this list:

How to get your business up and running FAST
The very basics of getting into wedding photography
The basic equipment you need – contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a ton of gear.
How to book your first wedding next week – what I did, and how I did it.
Workshops, and how they can benefit
Engagement shoots, and why you should do them.
Pricing – Important things to know.
Making more money selling albums
What to do at the first meeting
How to find an amazing location anywhere you happen to be.
Typical events of the wedding day, and how to capture them.
What to do at the brides house.
What to do at the grooms house.
How to photograph the ceremony.
Formal group shots
The Bride and Groom alone
The reception
Bouquet toss, cake cut, and first dances.
Albums
Your website – how to get it working for you
Why you should have a blog – even if you don’t have a website yet
Marketing. Why print advertisements are the best way to waste your money.
Basics on Branding
Outsourcing
Charging more for your work
And some quick tips, including: How to name your business

Pick up the Audio Book, and listen to it at work, in the car, on your way to school, whenever.
What’s inside the audio book package?

35 minute audio book – How To Become A Professional Wedding Photographer FAST
PDF transcription of the audio book
Quick-start Guide: Getting Into The Game, Fast.

This guide is designed to get your photography business up and running – from nothing, to established in one year..all for the price of a lunch. Well worth it.

All payments are processed securely by Paypal – Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Debit. If you don’t have a Paypal account, that’s completely fine! Use the ‘Continue’ link of the left hand side of the page to pay without signing up for an account.