**Real life horror story** During one of my
first weddings, I thought I knew my gear and
then suddenly, BANG! My camera’s shutter
speed stopped increasing once it hit 1/250, the
couple is looking at me waiting impatiently for
direction and I’m red in the face and frantically
trying to get my settings right. FYI, when your
speedlight is attached and turned on, your
camera does not allow you to shoot faster than
1/250. Simply turning on the ‘high speed’ mode
on your speedlight fixes this! I wish I had known
that before the day!!
Once you think you know your stuff, grab a friend
or partner and practice getting perfectly exposed
images, quickly and in a lot of different locations.
I used to torture my poor girlfriend at the time (now
wife!), taking photos of her all around the house. It
doesn’t need to be flattering, just practice so you get
used to getting your settings right, so on the big day
you can be prepared.
My wife is going to kill me for showing these images
– but it is what I did to learn so I wanted to share
it with you. I even grabbed some branches from the
neighbors yard to use as the bouquet!! Here are
some before shots (me learning at home) and after
shots (real wedding examples).
TRY THIS: go into the lounge room, position your
subject where you would position your bridal party
(ideally photographer back to a window) and take a
photo of him/her as quickly as possible with perfect
exposure. Then walk outside to the backyard and
do the same, find the best spot, either in the shade
or with the sun behind the subject and shoot. Then
head to the front yard, then the kitchen, study,
whatever! Use your flash, practice in a darker room
with little window light as this would be similar to
the conditions you will be up against in the reception.
Bounce the flash off the roof, or the wall, or turn it
off and crank your ISO to see what happens. Practice
all these options and see what works best, so that on
the day, you’ll be prepared.
**Funny story** I used to wach the TV through
my camera and try and move my focal points
around as quickly as possible to follow the
persons face on the screen! Sounds silly, but
now I can do it without thinking and it saves
me getting a lot of camera blur issues when
shooting.
2. Scout the locations
Scouting locations is another MUST DO before the
wedding so you can be prepared. You most likely
won’t get a chance to see the grooms house or brides
house before the day but you can assume it would be
like any average home. As long as there is light in the