Know your camera inside out!

I know there are weddings photographers out there who produce fantastic work by shooting in ‘P’ (program) or ‘A’ (Aperture) mode on their cameras but in my opinion, in order to get the very best results, it is always best to shoot in full manual ‘M’ mode.

I used ‘A’ mode for the first 10-15 weddings which I covered, but it was only when I switched to shooting in manual that I really gained confidence as a wedding photographer and felt as though I could cope with even the worst lighting conditions.

Shooting in manual mode gives the photographer full control over the camera’s three key settings; aperture, shutter speed and ISO. There are hundreds of books and websites out there which explain what each of these settings does so I won’t go in to detail here, but needless to say it is vital that before agreeing to photograph a wedding you understand exactly what these settings mean and how they affect each other.

However, whilst shooting in manual is one thing, but in order to really utilise the advantages of ‘M’ mode, it is vital that you know your camera inside out and are able to change each of these settings almost on instinct. Weddings are frantic, chaotic and fast moving events (to say the least!) so being able to change your cameras settings without having to think about what you are doing is a huge advantage.

A good way to teach yourself to do this is to practice changing the settings without taking your eye away from the view finder. It is easy to practice this by disciplining yourself not to look at the camera’s buttons and dials each time you want to change a setting. By doing this you will be surprised how quickly it will all become second nature – it’s a bit like touch typing or going through the gears when driving a car. Each time you find yourself taking the camera away from your eye to change a setting, make yourself do it again but without looking. Once you can do this you will wonder how and why you ever shot in Program mode…!

As I mentioned earlier, having this ability will make you a much more confident wedding photographer so why not practice this today and you will see your photography improve almost overnight!

Neil
www.neilredfern.com