The work of a wedding photographer consists of many components. Even at the stage of preparation, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the wishes of the newlyweds and find out maximum information about the format of the celebration and locations. If possible, the places where the ceremony and banquet will be held, it is worth visiting in advance – to look for good angles, and interesting shots, to assess the lighting.
After a busy day of shooting, the photographer has a lot of routine work to do, because the materials need to be reviewed, sorted, selected for quick processing and sent to clients. And then it’s time to start deep retouching and artistic processing. Fortunately, some of these tasks can be outsourced. For example, RetouchMe Pro web service offers experienced retouchers who will do all the necessary processing within a day. On the website retouchme.com/pro/packages/wedding-editing you can upload pictures and voice all the wishes for the order.
To make all the preparatory processes and the photo shoot itself go smoothly, the photographer can enlist the help of an assistant – it simplifies and speeds up the work.
What tasks can be assigned to an assistant
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Assistance in working with light.
For example, if the wedding venue involves complex lighting or it is too dark, you will need to quickly set up 3-5 professional devices. Also, the assistant can work with a backlight or softs, change batteries, and adjust stands. If the photographer is working alone, he or she has to set up the lights several times and see how the shot looks, going back to the devices again and again. This is long, complicated, and distracts from the main task – to shoot the party.
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Maintaining mobility.
The main tool of a photographer at a wedding is his eyes and hands. If he is busy moving equipment, tripods, and reflectors, there is very little time to work with the heroes of the photo shoot. You can sacrifice the amount of equipment that is used for the photo shoot. But there is another option – to entrust the movement of everything necessary between locations to the assistant. So the photographer will not limit himself to the tools that are used in the shooting, which means that the chances of getting a variety of interesting shots increase.
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Assistance in solving organizational and force-majeure issues
If the newlyweds urgently need to discuss something, the assistant can pass on the information or even replace the photographer, taking a little reportage material during the downtime.
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Shooting from additional points.
So, if the location has a second floor or elevation, the assistant can shoot important moments from there. At large weddings, where there are many guests and activities take place in several places at once, an additional photographer will help to shoot more material without missing any interesting moments.
For an assistant to be as helpful as possible to a wedding photographer, they should have basic shooting skills and an understanding of basic terminology.
