Wedding photography is a business and like any business it requires some serious investment. Your clients expect professional results from you. This can not be done with mediocre equipment. You can charge anywhere from a thousand to three thousand dollars for a wedding shoot, and possibly even more. This is serious money. People who are willing to pay you this amount of money, deserve the best possible service. If you expect to make this amount of money, definitely invest in professional quality equipment. Clients must be provided with superior quality images they expect.

You should carry at least two camera bodies. Each camera must be equipped with a different focal length lens. For instance, one camera should have a wide-angle lens attached and the other a short telephoto. The easiest and most convenient cameras are 35mm and digital SLRs. It is wise to use both systems. People want prints from their weddings with lots of copies. Print films from 35mm cameras are much easier, cheaper, and faster to reproduce from any professional lab than those made with digital cameras. At the same time, your clients will most likely want digital pictures for viewing on their computers and for emailing to their families and friends.

I also strongly advise that you invest in a medium format system. The format can be 645, 6X6, or 6X7. You will be asked for poster size prints of 16 X 20 or larger. Medium format negatives are easily capable of producing even 30 X 40 prints with superior results. 35mm negatives or 8 megapixel digital files begin to show lack of detail and clarity for 16 X 20 or larger prints, although I must add that with quality lenses and good photographic technique, it is possible to make poster size prints with either 35mm or digital SLRs. My advice is to shoot with medium format whenever possible. This format should be your first choice, unless you have a good reason not to do so. For photographing the guests, you should have no problem using either a 35mm or digital camera, since it is very unlikely that you'll be making prints larger than 8X10 of the guests. Private shots of the bride and the groom however, should be done with a medium format camera. Larger than 8 X 10 prints will probably be requested by your clients. As I just mentioned, medium format is the best tool for the job. Even for digital images, a scan from a medium format negative is superior to that of an 8 megapixel digital SLR, considering a professional lab is hired to do the job. Some might argue that an 8 megapixel or 16 megapixel digital SLR can rival medium formats. My answer to that is a simple "No way". A 6 x7 negative is still the ultimate champion for super enlargements and details.

If you can carry all three systems, 35mm, digital, and medium format, you'll be able to provide your clients with the best possible service. You may want to consider hiring an assistant to help you with carrying and loading equipment. If you are being paid three thousand dollars for a wedding shot, hiring an assistant shouldn't be a problem.



Portable Flash


Another important piece of equipment is a powerful flash. Buy the most powerful portable flash you can find. This could be your own camera manufacturer brand or a generic type. Metz flashes are excellent alternative to camera brand flashes and in some medium format systems, the only choice. You won't be using your flash at its highest setting all the time, but the added power is there just in case you need to do so. You should also carry two crucial flash accessories: a flash bracket and a bounce reflector. Flash brackets are used to hold the flash at different angles for better lighting and shadow control. Brackets also help in reducing redeye caused by direct on camera flash. Brackets are attached to the bottom of the camera in the same manner as tripods. Flash is mounted on the bracket and then connected to the camera through a cable or in some more sophisticated units, wirelessly. You can position the flash at several different angles to light up any part of the subject.

Portable light and stands Kit

Bounce reflectors are used to soften the flash light which is usually very harsh and unnatural. By softening the flash light, a much more pleasing effect is produced. There are many different types of reflectors available and each has its own unique qualities. Reflectors are in expensive, so buy as many of them as you can.

Your choice of lenses will greatly affect the quality of your images. Since you'll be shooting indoors most of the time. Buy the fastest lenses you can afford. You will need all the speed you can get in low light both to focus with and to shoot by. Faster lenses also produce soft blurry background which makes your subject standout. With an f-2.8 or faster short to medium telephoto lens, you can blur the background, making every detail in your subject stand out. Wedding photographers spend several hours with the bride and the groom, both inside and outside in different settings. A fast aperture lens is often used for head and shoulder portraits at maximum aperture to create a soft background. For the same reason, fast telephoto lenses are also used from a distance for full body shots.  An 85mm f-1.4 lens is an excellent lens for head and shoulder portraits. A must have zoom is a 70-210mm f-2.8 or 80-200mm f-2.8. You'll use this lens for 70 percent of your shots whenever you reach for your 35mm or digital SLRs.


80-200mm f-2.8 zoom


For group shots or close-up wide shots, either a 28-70mm f-2.8 or 17-35mm f-2.8 are the best choices. You can substitute these more expensive zooms for a fixed 24mm f-2.8 or 28mm f-2 lenses. As always, a good old 50mm f1.4 will be your least expensive investment, yet your best quality lens.

As for medium format lenses, a 50mm or 55mm wide-angle for group shots or wide shots are your best choices. An 80mm or equivalent normal lens along with a short telephoto such as a 150mm or 165mm lenses should be added to your system, preferably one with leaf-shutter for flash photography. A leaf-shutter lens of medium telephoto is needed for faster shutter speeds of up to 1/500 sec for flash photography.

Many wedding photographers also carry studio lights and accessories. These equipment are used for full lighting effect and control. A flash meter which serves also as a light meter is another accessory to consider regardless of how sophisticated your camera meter is. Taking several incident readings of the subject, especially for flash photography, is the only way most portrait, fashion, and wedding photographers work.

 Although purchasing all of these equipment will be an expensive investment, they can pay for themselves in a short period of time. If you can build a successful wedding photography business, your investment will pay for itself over and over again. Part of your success depends on the quality of your equipment. Always use the best you can afford.

Recommended Reading Digital Wedding Photography Book Description "Digital Wedding Photography" offers readers an introduction to wedding photography, assuming that they have some familiarity with their cameras and computers but are not experts. It provides readers with information about the skills they will need to take great wedding photos in the digital age, including selecting the correct lenses and digital equipment, as well as the most appropriate digital imaging techniques. This book also looks at the various ways of presenting the material to the happy couple and their friends and relatives. It presents the material in a step-by-step format, ideal for photography topics. Weddings offer limited opportunity for aspiring photographers to prove and improve their skill. Preparation is everything and that?s exactly what this book focuses on. Wedding Photography 101: The Complete Guide to Starting and Growing a Wedding Photography Business   Recommended Lens Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX HSM Lens Sigma's has been known the world over for their innovative design, ease of use and for the excellent results that their zoom lenses produce - this offering is no exception. The new 70-200mm f2.8 EX APO IF HSM lens features an apochromatic optical design and four elements composed of Special Low Dispersion (SLD) glass for high image contrast, resolution and color saturation. For optimum performance in just about any photographic situation, an internal focusing system means that the front barrel does not rotate during focusing. For stability and the use of specialty filters, This internal focusing system is a must. The internal zooming mechanism allows the lens length to remain constant during zooming. Sigma's new Hyper Sonic Motors (H.S.M.) provide silent, responsive autofocus action with both Canon and Nikon AF SLR cameras. The H.S.M. feature also permits manual adjustment of focus without the necessity of switching off the autofocus function.. The Focus Free mechanism keeps the manual focus ring from spinning when the camera is auto-focusing. The 70-200mm f2.8 EX APO IF HSM is fully compatible with both the Sigma AF 1.4X and 2X APO EX Tele-converters. The new dedicated 1.4x APO Tele-converter features a high performance 5 element/3 group optical design, and it is optimized for use with long telephoto and tele-zoom lenses. For Canon For Pentax For Nikon Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens Features: Special low-dispersion glass for high image quality 28 to 70 mm focal length f2.8 maximum aperture Inner focusing system allows add-on hoods and filters This is the world’s smallest, large and constant aperture zoom lens and is ideal for digital SLR cameras. The power layout of the lens is specially optimized for digital SLR cameras, and Super Multi Coating gives superb color performance whilst cutting down flare and ghost. Two SLD elements and four aspherical lenses provide the ultimate correction against distortion as well as all types of aberration, especially spherical aberration. Its advanced optical design ensures high performance throughout the entire zoom range. The use of aspherical lenses in the construction of this lens not only corrects aberrations but also produces a very small and lightweight lens design. Its compact, yet robust, construction has an overall length of 87.2 millimeters (3.4 inches), maximum diameter of 74 millimeters (2.9 inches), filter size of 67 millimeters and weight of 510 grams (18 ounces). It has a minimum focusing distance of 33 centimeters (13 inches) at all focal lengths and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4.4 which is very convenient for close-up photography. The inner focus system allows the lens to be focused without rotating the front element, therefore a Petal-type hood and circular polarizing filters can easily be used.   For Canon For Pentax For Nikon