Photography

What equipment do you need to be a wedding photographer in Gloucestershire?

This article aims to provide a very basic introduction to the equipment someone entering the wedding industry should consider purchasing. As a full time professional wedding photographer in Gloucestershire, Warwickshire,  Worcestershire or the West Midlands – you’ll need to invest a substantial amount of money in equipment. Your photographs will only be as good as the equipment you use – and while it’s true that a superb photographer can get amazing results out of the most basic equipment – having the right Photography Kit will make it much easier to capture stunning images than turning up to a wedding with one point and shoot.

The type and amount of photography kit you use depends quite substantially on the type of wedding photographer you want do be and the kind of wedding photographs you want to take. As an absolute bare minimum you should have 2 DSLR cameras bodies, 2 lenses of the focal length you want to use (usually medium telephoto) and lots of spare batteries and memory cards.

The wedding photojournalist probably carries the least amount of equipment. However, due to the natural (low) light photographs they produce it is of paramount importance that the photojournalists kit is absolute top of the range – and the most expensive. Photojournalists shoot with top line Canon or Nikon Full-frame cameras. The camera body must be able to take photographs without flash or off camera lighting and produce high quality noise free images. They also need a fast frame rate as photojournalists don’t set up posed pictures. These cameras are among the most expensive SLR types such as the Nikon 3Ds or Canon 1D mk IV – retailing at around £6000 each. Photojournalist lenses need to have a wide aperture, not only to allow a lot of light onto the camera sensor, but also to get the signature shallow depth of field style. Photojournalist lenses cost well over £1000 each

If you’re photographing weddings all day you’ll want flashguns too (2 of them) so you can photograph the first dance, which is often in the dark – and batteries for these. If you want to get a fashion photography or artistic look, you’ll also need a reliable way of triggering them off camera. Reflectors are also useful for lighting up peoples faces when in the shade.

Of course, as a working professional, it’s no use just having one of each bit of kit – you must have at least your main kit and then duplicate it for backup purposes. I always carry at least 3 DSLRs when I’m at a wedding and can cover each focal length of my lenses at least twice. Cheaper non-pro gear is more likely to fail and loose your images, so it’s of utmost importance that you spend as much as you can on equipment. When I put my camera bags into my car to go on a gloucestershire, warwickshire or West Midlands wedding photography shoot, my equipment is worth twice that of my car! Of course all this kit must be insured.

Lenses last longer than camera bodies. A camera rated up to 150,000 shutter actuations, at 3000 shots per wedding will last 75 weddings – which is approximately 2 years for a full time professional. That doesn’t include any other photographs you might take with your camera – so look at upgrading your £6000 camera body every 2 years. Lenses last longer. Professional lenses have been known to give professionals up to 10 years of use. Cheaper consumer lenses not only don’t have the required wide aperture or image quality, they simply won’t last as long. Professional grade flash guns such are also a must and seem to provide greater reliability than their non-pro models

About the Author

Steve Causon is the lead professional photographer at Your Hand in Mine Wedding Photography, providing wedding photography in Gloucestershire Worcestershire Warwickshire and across the UK. As well as having hundreds of happy brides and grooms as customers he also offers wedding photography training to aspiring wedding photographers. www.yourhandinmine.co.uk

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