Wedding Photography Buzz - Digital Wedding Secrets

There are two types of wedding photography assistants who you can hire: ones who have great potential to branch out on their own as a wedding photographer – and ones who have their hearts set on being a good one but have not acquired the necessary skills yet.

I tend to look for that delicate balance between the two. So essentially, what I personally need in a wedding photography assistant or a second shooter is someone who can almost read my mind. When covering weddings, it is my camera as the main photographer who the couple and their families will look at – so the second photographer should be willing to take a backseat in this department. One who likes to hog the limelight, I would not be able to work with harmoniously.

More importantly, a wedding photography assistant and a second shooter should like be an extension of my own arm. He or she should anticipate which items I would need and where we need to be next. Not getting to distracted by the events, being able to control a crowd during group pictures and being the ultimate professional – these are the qualities that you also need to look for in a second shooter if you want to succeed in the business.

Here’s the thing. When you are in the wedding photography business, there are 1,001 tiny details that you need to attend to. But two of the most important factors that you should not forget if you want your business to take off the ground are your websites and wedding photography portfolio. Let’s deal with it one at a time.

First, you do need to have a website constructed so that your existing and potential customers will have a way to gain access to samples of your work, or simply get more information about your wedding photography business.

Second, you do need to have a portfolio which showcases a collection of your best work. Make sure that it’s a concise collection, about 15 to 20 of your best photos will do.

Now, here’s a collection of some links that will help you out when building a portfolio and a website.

- GoDaddy.com and 1and1.com are a couple of cheap yet reliable web hosting providers – which is the first thing that you need to look for when building a website.

- When purchasing a pre-made portfolio, check out BluDomain.com which is known for their higher-end portfolios.

- CarbonMade.com is a site similar to BluDomain.com where you can buy pre-made portfolios – it’s a slightly cheaper but less flashy alternative.

- SimpleViewer and AutoViewer are flash galleries which are easy to use and customizable.

- Also, check out this report created by Photoshelter which indicates the factors that image buyers look for in a photographer’s website.

As a final note, make sure that the domain name that you will choose matches your business name – then you’re all set!

When I was first starting out in the wedding photography business and I had zero clients, I remember trying to give away my services practically for free – just so that I can gain enough experience covering wedding events. But later on, I realized that I did need to put a tag price on my services if I want to be considered as a professional wedding photographer.

Basically, you need to create that delicate balance between a pricing that will you’re your wedding photography efforts financially worth it – while avoiding driving away clients because your prices are too high.

Here’s a great formula that you can use if you want to come up with a reasonable pricing for the wedding photography packages that you offer:

Price = Rate *(Expenses for Planning + Shooting + Editing + Travel) *(10% Incidentals)

To learn more about how you can properly create a price list for the wedding packages that you offer, visit FotoQuote which provides price quotations for various types of photography.

When creating a price list for the wedding packages that you plan to offer, make sure to include details like what is included with the package – and the rates for any additional services that they may require.

Fortunately for wedding photographers like me, there is no need to scout for photo shoot locations by foot. Thanks to the proliferation of the Internet, you can now do the scouting of beautiful locations right in the comfort of your own home.

And for this task, there is no better tool to use than Google Earth. The way that Google Earth works in showing online users a close up look at locations the world over is a combination of topographical maps and real-time satellite imagery. The good thing about using online tools like Google Earth is that you can visualize in advance what the photo shoot will look like, simply by browsing through their site.

Whether you are looking for creative ideas for the location of an engagement photo shoot or if you are scouting for locations for an unusual wedding photo shoot location as requested by your client, Google Earth will definitely come in handy.