5 Mistakes Wedding Photographers Make

Summary

In this insightful video, Magic, a destination wedding photographer and Sony Europe Ambassador, identifies five common mistakes made by wedding photographers. These include incorrect exposure settings, overexposing important moments, sloppy framing, reluctance to shoot close-up, and inadequate use of flash. Magic shares practical advice on how to avoid these pitfalls, emphasizing the importance of understanding camera settings and composition for capturing stunning wedding photos.

Takeaways

• 📸 The speaker, Magic, is a destination wedding photographer with over 12 years of experience and a Sony Europe Ambassador.
• ❌ The first mistake discussed is incorrect exposure settings, which can lead to missed moments, especially when shooting in manual mode.
• 🔄 Magic prefers using Aperture Priority Auto ISO over manual mode for its convenience and adaptability to quickly changing wedding day conditions.
• 🌞 It's better to underexpose an image slightly to preserve highlights, as modern cameras can effectively recover shadows but not overexposed areas.
• 🖼️ 'Sloppy framing' is the third mistake, where photos may have unnecessary elements or be too centrally focused, suggesting the use of face tracking and recomposing for better framing.
• 🔍 The fourth mistake is shooting from a distance, which can result in less intimate and emotional photos; Magic recommends getting closer with wider lenses for a more cinematic feel.
• 🤳 Not knowing how to use flash properly is the fifth mistake, and Magic encourages photographers to practice and learn different flash techniques for various lighting situations.
• 🔄 Magic has transitioned from shooting in manual to using Aperture Priority Auto ISO for better control and less adjustment needed on the wedding day.
• 📈 The importance of understanding the exposure triangle is emphasized, with Magic still controlling aperture and shutter speed while letting the camera handle ISO.
• 📹 A full wedding set review service is offered by Magic, where he reviews and provides feedback on photographers' work, settings, and framing.
• 💡 Investing time in learning about flash and practicing different settings is crucial, as it can greatly enhance wedding photography, especially in low light conditions.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is discussing five common mistakes made by wedding photographers in terms of technicalities and shooting techniques.

Who is the speaker in the video?

The speaker is Magic, a destination wedding photographer and Sony Europe Ambassador who has been in the industry for over 12 years and runs a YouTube channel focused on wedding photography.

What is the first mistake discussed by Magic in the video?

The first mistake discussed is wrong exposure settings, where photographers may struggle with parameters during crucial moments of a wedding.

Why does Magic recommend not shooting in manual mode?

Magic recommends not shooting in manual mode because it's cumbersome to constantly change settings like ISO and shutter speed, especially on a fast-paced day like a wedding. Modern cameras can handle these adjustments automatically based on the photographer's input.

What is Magic's preferred shooting mode and why?

Magic prefers shooting in aperture priority auto ISO mode because it allows for control over the depth of field and shutter speed while the camera automatically adjusts the ISO, which is less relevant with modern cameras' high ISO performance.

What advice does Magic give regarding exposure in critical moments like the first look?

Magic advises against experimenting with exposure settings like motion blur or high aperture in critical moments. Instead, he suggests using camera modes that prevent underexposure and motion blur to ensure the moment is captured clearly.

What is the issue with overexposing the sky in a photo?

Overexposing the sky can result in loss of detail and highlights that cameras cannot recover, whereas underexposing can allow for recovering shadows with modern cameras.

What is the third mistake discussed by Magic, and how can it be avoided?

The third mistake is sloppy framing, which can be avoided by using autofocus points throughout the frame, tracking the subject, and recomposing for better framing rather than relying solely on the central autofocus point.

Why does Magic suggest photographers should not be afraid to come closer to the subject?

Coming closer to the subject allows for more intimate and emotionally charged photos, and it can provide a cinematic look that is different from distant shots.

What is Magic's opinion on using flash in wedding photography?

Magic believes that knowing how to use flash is crucial for wedding photography, especially as it has become a trend and is essential for capturing moments in low light conditions.

What does Magic offer for photographers who want their work reviewed?

Magic offers a full wedding set review service where he will analyze a photographer's full catalog, providing feedback on settings, framing, and areas for improvement.

What additional resource does Magic provide for photographers interested in improving their use of flash?

Magic offers a flash for wedding photographers course, which is over 2 hours long and covers different settings and setups for using flash effectively during weddings.

Outlines

00:00

📸 Common Exposure Mistakes in Wedding Photography

Magic, a destination wedding photographer and Sony Europe Ambassador, discusses common technical mistakes made by wedding photographers, particularly regarding exposure settings. He shares his experience with second photographers and emphasizes the importance of using aperture priority and auto ISO to adapt quickly to changing lighting conditions during weddings. Magic explains how modern cameras can handle high ISOs, allowing photographers to focus on aperture and shutter speed without worrying about noise. He also advises against underexposing crucial moments to avoid motion blur and suggests that photographers should control aperture to manage depth of field.

05:00

🖼️ Improving Framing Techniques in Wedding Photography

The second paragraph addresses the issue of sloppy framing, where photographers may cut off important elements or leave too much unnecessary space in their compositions. Magic recommends using continuous autofocus to track subjects and then recomposing for a better frame. He suggests moving away from central framing and experimenting with different angles to capture more context and emotion. The key is to be mindful of composition and to avoid the temptation to just click without considering the frame, especially during high-pressure situations.

10:01

🔍 The Importance of Getting Closer to Subjects

In the third paragraph, Magic talks about the tendency of some photographers to shoot from a distance, which can result in a lack of intimacy and emotional depth in wedding photos. He encourages photographers to use wider lenses and get closer to their subjects to capture more meaningful and cinematic images. Building a relationship with the couple beforehand can also help in getting closer and capturing more personal moments. Magic emphasizes the value of variety in photography and the benefits of challenging oneself to shoot from different perspectives.

💡 Understanding Flash Usage in Wedding Photography

The final paragraph of the script focuses on the crucial role of flash in wedding photography. Magic points out that many photographers struggle with using flash correctly, which can lead to missed opportunities for great shots. He suggests that photographers should invest time in learning about flash, experimenting with different settings, and practicing at home. For those looking for a more structured approach, Magic offers a course that provides over two hours of instruction on using flash effectively during weddings.

Keywords

💡Exposure Settings

Exposure settings refer to the combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO that a photographer uses to control the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor. In the context of the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of correct exposure settings for capturing crucial wedding moments. An example from the script is the critique of a 'first look' photo where the shutter speed was too slow and the aperture too high, leading to a poorly exposed image.

💡Second Shooters

Second shooters are additional photographers who work alongside the main photographer at events like weddings to capture different angles and moments. The video mentions the speaker's experience with second shooters, noting that while they are generally reliable, they sometimes make mistakes with exposure settings, as seen in the photos they submit.

💡Technicalities

Technicalities in photography relate to the technical aspects and processes involved in capturing an image, such as understanding and manipulating exposure settings, focus, and composition. The video discusses common technical mistakes made by wedding photographers, which affect the quality and impact of their photographs.

💡Destination Wedding Photographer

A destination wedding photographer is a professional who travels to various locations to photograph weddings. The speaker introduces themselves as a destination wedding photographer with over 12 years of experience, indicating their expertise and the broad scope of their work.

💡Sony Europe Ambassador

Being a Sony Europe Ambassador means representing the Sony brand and its products in Europe, often through professional work and endorsements. The speaker mentions this title to establish their credibility and association with a well-known camera and electronics brand.

💡YouTube Channel

A YouTube channel is a platform where content creators post videos for public viewing. The speaker mentions their YouTube channel, which focuses on discussing cameras, gear, and techniques specific to wedding photography, as a resource for other photographers.

💡Aperture Priority Auto ISO

Aperture Priority Auto ISO is a camera setting where the photographer chooses the aperture and the camera automatically adjusts the ISO to achieve the correct exposure. The speaker advocates for this mode over manual settings, as it allows for more flexibility and quicker adjustments during fast-changing wedding scenarios.

💡Exposure Triangle

The exposure triangle is a concept in photography that refers to the three elements—aperture, shutter speed, and ISO—that work together to create an exposure. The video emphasizes understanding this concept to control the image output effectively, even when using automatic settings like Auto ISO.

💡Sloppy Framing

Sloppy framing refers to poor composition in a photograph, often due to a lack of attention to the arrangement of elements within the frame. The speaker uses this term to criticize images where there is unnecessary empty space or distracting elements, and advises photographers to be more mindful of their framing.

💡Central AF Point

Central AF point stands for Central Autofocus Point, which is a setting on cameras that focuses on the subject at the center of the frame. The video points out that relying solely on the central AF point can lead to less dynamic compositions, as photographers may not fully utilize the frame or the camera's autofocus capabilities.

💡Flash Photography

Flash photography involves the use of an artificial light source, a flash, to illuminate a scene. The speaker discusses the importance of knowing how to use flash effectively in wedding photography, especially in challenging lighting conditions, and how improper use can lead to missed opportunities for great shots.

💡Full Wedding Set Review

A full wedding set review refers to a service where a professional photographer reviews and provides feedback on another photographer's complete set of wedding photos. The speaker offers this service to help photographers improve their skills by analyzing their settings, framing, and overall approach to shooting weddings.

Highlights

Magic, a destination wedding photographer with over 12 years of experience, discusses common mistakes made by wedding photographers.

Wrong exposure settings are a common issue, leading to missed moments like the first look.

Manual shooting can be problematic due to the need for constant settings adjustment.

Magic prefers aperture priority auto ISO for flexibility and control without manual ISO adjustment.

Modern cameras are capable of high ISO performance, reducing the need for low ISO settings.

Cameras should not underexpose crucial moments; instead, control aperture and shutter speed.

Overexposing images, especially skies, can lead to unrecoverable loss of detail.

Underexposing by one or two stops can help retain details in the shadows.

Sloppy framing, such as cutting off limbs or excessive negative space, detracts from the image.

Using the central autofocus point can limit framing creativity.

Tracking the subject and recomposing can improve framing and composition.

Fear of getting closer to subjects can result in distant, less engaging photos.

Shooting with wider angles and closer distances can create a cinematic look.

Building a relationship with subjects allows for closer, more intimate shots.

Magic offers a full wedding set review service for photographers to improve their work.

Not knowing how to use flash properly is a common mistake in wedding photography.

Investing time in learning and practicing flash techniques can greatly improve photography.

Magic provides a course on flash usage for wedding photographers.

The video encourages photographers to learn from mistakes and grow together.

Transcripts

today I'm going to talk about five

common mistakes that I see wedding

photographers make like in terms of

technicalities in terms of how they

shoot and this comes from like working

with many second photographers or

reviewing other photographers work

online my name is Magic I'm a

destination wedding photographer I've

been shooting weddings for over 12 years

now I'm a Sony Europe Ambassador and for

the last 3 years I've been also running

this YouTube channel talking about

cameras l

gear and technique for wedding

photography specifically so if you're

wedding photographer consider

subscribing to this Channel all right

first mistake is actually wrong exposure

settings like completely messing up the

settings like this happened to me many

times like receiving photos from my

second shooters that during a certain

scenes of the day I saw them struggling

with the with with the parameters and

like don't get me wrong I love my second

Shooters they're great I often work with

the same people and they're really

nailing it every single time but from

time to time I can see those like

settings and be like oh what happened

here and I'm like here's the example so

this is like a first look moment and for

some reason this the shutter speed is

just way below what is acceptable for

Like A Moment Like This to capture to

freeze that motion and like the f- stop

is just like just way too high like of

course I get that you can also

experiment on the wedding day you can

like play with motion blur you can play

with f aperture you know to get like the

most of the depth F fielded but you know

in crucial situations like this so this

is a first look like I'm like the

experimenting might not be the best idea

and I do think that this problem comes

with shooting manual yes I said that the

problem is shooting manual you might not

like that but I am apature Priority auto

ISO lover this is how I shoot these days

I used to shoot manual for years but

after switching to mirrorless and being

able to see the full exposure on the

screen every time I shoot there's no

reason for me to shoot manual and to

like constantly changing my settings

dialing my ISO dialing my shutter speed

because on the wedding day everything

changes so fast you know one time you're

in a shade the second time the sun is

shining the like then you're indoors

you're are constantly changing the

parameters and and like there's no need

to do that manually because the cameras

can do it for us based on our input I

still control the the output of the

image I fully understand the exposure

triangle I control the aperture meaning

the dep F field I do still control the

shutter speed the minimum shutter speed

I have it set to custom buttons so I can

switch back and forth to decide what I

want to do but I don't have to care

about the iso because ISO is irrelevant

these days the camera are just so good

at high isos that I don't see a need

like keeping the lowest ISO all the time

I said that if you're interested in that

I'm like for sure I'm going to be making

video about shooting apture priority

only now these days but like this could

solve a lot of these problems because

camera wouldn't go lower with the

shutter speed during a moment like this

and you know you could still control the

aperture and decide what aperture you

can go and looking at this particular

picture what camera would do when

shooting apture priority and auto ISO

would go higher ISO to make shutter

speed like 1 250 of a second or like the

minimum shutter speed you set up this

way you wouldn't have motion blur and

you could still decide if that you can

shoot F9 if you want to all right the

second one being the photographers often

expose the image like either on on zero

or overexpose it a bit so let's look at

this picture the this is also like kind

of very important moment this is like a

one of like one of a kind moment like

the groom is coming towards the the

bride the for the first time you know

down the aisle to see her and uh you see

the sky the sky is completely

Overexposed and what cameras can't do

they they cannot recover those

highlights this is like too much this

this was shot also with Canon cannons

they they suck right I'm just joking

Sony is the best but in a situation like

this it's it's way more prac practical

to underexpose the image even by one or

two stops because modern cameras have

zero problems pushing the Shadows up by

one or two stops or even three with some

of like my my Sony cameras you can go

like plus three with exposure and bring

back tons of stuff from Shadows but you

cannot recover the highlights so my

recommendation when shooting like this

would be just like to like underexpose

to make sure that the sky isn't blown up

that you can like retain

some of that sky in the photos the third

one the third one being I call it sloppy

framing I'm going to use this photo as

the example what you can see in that

image that there's like way like too

much stuff above you know the head of

the groom coming and you know the legs

are cut a bit it's a central framing but

look at this if you imagine if there's

like a central point of autofocus right

in the middle that's where the face is

and I and and I feel like this is the

problem if you're using Central AF point

or you are used to you know shooting

dslrs when you could only shoot with

like a center you know point of the

autofocus uh like you would end up

having photos that are framed within the

limits of the way you shoot do you

understand what I'm saying that you're

shooting focusing right in the center

you're you're just clicking the photo

and you you do not frame the photo these

days cameras can cont track the face

cont trct the subject like throughout

entire frame so my recommendation here

would be to you know lock on the subject

you know track the face keep the

shutters at half pressed so we can like

keep tracking the subject and then

recompose so you can like work on your

framing make this framing a better

framing not like super center framing

you could just go slightly lower to show

more of the stuff more of the people on

the left and on the right and you know

we don't need that like all that

negative space on the top I'm guilty of

that too that happens to me often too

you know some situations are like super

stressful you're like shooting really

fast so yeah you know you're just

clicking but yeah if you can you know

take a time to think about composition

to think about your frame then your

photos will surely benefit from that the

fourth one the fourth one being many

photographers like like I I see that

working with many photographers are

afraid to coming closer to the subject

so they're like shooting from from the

distance you know shooting longer lenses

shooting from the distance which is okay

sometimes you know like variety is a

good thing having various photos

delivered from the wedding day I I like

I believe that this is the way to go

having like a lot of different angles

lot of different ways to shoot but if

you shoot everything from like you know

a distance then it's in my opinion is a

bit boring and I do love shooting short

lenses like 24 and 35 and and coming

really close to the subjects you know

first of all building that relationship

with couples beforehand allows you to be

you know to be there for them to be a

person that they want to be around with

but then it gives you photos that just

feel different you can shoot wider angle

that gives also that kind of like a you

know cinematic look to it I didn't want

to say that but yes cinematic look to it

so wi their angle close so if you are

the type of photographer that likes to

shoot from the distance like I highly

encourage you to challenge yourself and

try to shoot closer uh take your 35 take

your 24 and shoot like closer to fill

the frame with people to fill the frame

with emotions you know show that stuff

from like a closer perspective your end

result can only benefit from that before

going to the number five if you're

interested in me reviewing your photos

and you know analyzing your settings

your Framing and so on I do have few

spots left for this month I call it like

a full wedding set review so you if

you're wedding photographer you can set

me like a full catalog full Lightroom

catalog I'll go over that catalog I will

record a video of me going through that

and letting you know what I think about

the settings Framing and everything

pointing out the strengths but also if

there are some things that I see that

there is the space for improvement I'll

let you know um their link is in the

description I have I believe six spots

left for this month for reviews like

this okay Point number five is not

knowing how to use Flash and you know

using flash is crucial for wedding

photography not only the The Flash has

become this huge Trend these days in the

last two years you know like

photographers are shooting flash all the

time now but like like even let's just

talk about it's getting dark you just

need Flash and what I see when I have

photos like you know from other

photographers reviewing photos from

other photographers I can see how many

photos are just shot wrong with wrong

settings with wrong flash settings with

wrong camera settings and it's just a

huge waste of opportunity I don't have

one specific tip how to use Flash

because there's just like tons of ways

how to use it but take time to invest in

the flash knowledge take time to test

the flash settings at your home even

Outdoors if you want to shoot Outdoors

flash at home try different settings my

recommendation is start like learning

just like a simple bounce flash like try

to understand how the B balce flash

works how different settings affect the

flash switch your camera to manual for

that switch your flash to manual for

that and just you know and just play

around with it there's nothing else you

can do than train this this is

definitely a skill that can be easily

trained and if you want a little

shortcut I do offer a flash for wedding

photographers course over 2 hours of

showing you different settings different

setups of how you can use flash at

wedding days this one is also linked in

the descript description let me know in

the comments if you are guilty in any of

these mistakes we are all here to learn

together and to grow together thanks so

much for watching see you guys soon bye

[Music]