Tips for Wedding Second Shooters | Adelaide Wedding Photographer

Tips for Wedding Second Shooters / Photographers - Dos and Donts

I’ve worked with a lot of wedding second shooters over the years and have started second shooting. Here's some basic principles that should help you to become a solid wedding second shooter. wedding second shooter

(1) Do sync your camera time with the primary photographer. Helps putting all photos together from different camera in good timely manner.

(2) Do use higher capacity cards like 16 or 32 gig cards. It is easier to work with less cards than more to prevent lost of cards.

backup for wedding cards wedding second shooter

(3) Do remember to always keep it relax and fun. Often your manner reflects the business of the main photographer. Behave well, respect and have fun. This will lighten the mood while shooting. wedding second shooter

(5) Do not shoot over the primary photographer’s shoulder. You’ll end up with duplicate images and you will have the eyes of the bride looking at your camera while the groom's look at the other photographer. Big NO NO here.

(6) Do not control nor position the bride/groom/bridal party to the way you want while the primary photographer is shooting. Ask the primary photographer if he/she allows and if so, do it after he is done.

(7) Do help organize the groupings during the family formals. This is your primary responsibility during the formals.

(8) Do take detail shots in case the primary photographer might miss any. Have a list of the detail shots if you can't remember them.

(9) Do make sure that you’re always shooting from a different angle than the primary. Link to point 10.

(10) Do try to avoid being in the primary photographer's view. You can always duck down and use the B&G to block you out of the primary photographer's view. This takes practise.

(11) Do not make direct contact with the B&G before or after the wedding. They are not your client. wedding second shooter

(12) Do not pass out your business cards during the wedding. If asked, hand out the primary photographer's card.

(13) Do take photos of the primary photographer interacting with the wedding party and guests. These interactions were part of the day, so go ahead and document it.

(14) Do take all you can to keep yourself safe and watch for the safety of all others. Bring your own water. Keep your water level high. Do not attempt shots from dangerous level and places. Before you move into any bushes, take a stick and brush around it before you step into the tall bush (in case there's any snake in there).

(15) Do keep an eye on the equipment while the main might be in another room/location where the equipment is out of sight. wedding second shooter

That’s is it. Being a second shooter should be fun without the stress and pressure as the main shooter! Stay professional even as a second shooter and use your common sense.

Scott

(Before and After) Wedding portrait using the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

(Before and After) Wedding Portrait using the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

As promised, here's a couple of photographs from the Wedding portrait held last Saturday. I intentionally took photos with and without flash to show ;

1. How harsh the sun is.

2. How good is it to have the flash on.

The heat

I have to admit that I often get overheated after a day of summer wedding. In this wedding, I went home after the first hour of reception. When I reached home at about 9pm, had my dinner, I have to had 2 panadols and went straight to bed. I had tried my best to stay out of the sun but the heat must have got into me. I already had more than 3 litres of water during the whole wedding and my body still can't cope well with the heat (annoying!).

Wedding Portrait with Elinchrom Ranger Quadra

I started using the flash in the portraits in the groom's place. Used it for the bride's and the bridal portrait session too. I am very impressed with the lightweight of the Quadra flash unit. I bought along with me the manfrotto tripod to hold the flash head. There is this once that the flash unit did not fire when it was behind a big tree, out of the sight from the skyport. The bridal party was happily smiling for me and I realised that the Quadra was not firing! Annoying x 2.

At the end of the wedding, the battery is still at 75% full.

Below is the photograph without the flash.

Here is the photograph with the flash used. Which do you prefer?

Here is a link to the facebook page containing the album of the beautiful wedding of this couple.

A link to the previous post on the Hands on of the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra .

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If you are looking for a wedding photographer, do consider our service. Although we keep saying that we are Adelaide Wedding Photography, we travel because we love travelling!

Scott Goh |Adelaide Wedding Photography

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(Hands on) Elinchrom Ranger Quadra AS RX

I am so excited about my new purchased of the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra AS RX and 2x action heads with the new Lithium (li-ion) batteries. I am currently still using my 2 x canon 600ex-rt flash units. I want something more powerful for the summer sun in Australia.

The Research

I have been doing some research about the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra hybrid vs the non-hybrid. I have posted the questions on some Elinchrom pages.

Here is the direct answer from The Flash Centre: "Scott, there is no difference between the Hybrid and some of the later Quadra RX packs. The re-branding to "Hybrid" was to help indicate that these packs are compatible with both the lead gel and li-ion batteries (some of the very early Quadra stuff is not li-ion compatible without a modification). If you want any further infer please feel free to PM us. Thanks".

After receving the message, I went head off and purchased one of the two remaining (in-store) Elinchrom Ranger Quadra AS RX - the non-hybrid version with the new batteries. I am glad as I can spend the cash difference into getting the modifiers I want.

Unboxing

Here's some of the pictures about me unpacking the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra. I did make a mistake. Just like most people who dont read the user manual and went ahead to charge the battery. I plugged the battery straight into the charger and after half an hour. The battery remained flat. Then I saw that there is a "fuse" that has to be inserted into the fuse's slot before charging. I insert it and went back into the charger!

Then I spent the next hour or so reading the manuals.

elinchrom quadra charging battery li-ion

Skyport trigger

The skyport trigger is very light weight comparing to the Canon ST-E3 RT unit. A battery came with the purchased so all is good to go.

The first test

After the battery has been charged, I took my wife and my baby out for a quick photo shoot. Wife forbided me to post the photos so you will get to see some of my photos with the Quadra in the next post! All I can say is, it's easier to use than I thought! *EDIT* I briefly told her that I am blogging this and will be adding a photo as a sample to show the beauty of Elinchrom*

Next, I will be posting some photos from the wedding I took using the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra. Here is the link to the NEXT POST.

Come join us on Facebook.

If you are looking for a wedding photographer, do consider our service. Although we keep saying that we are Adelaide Wedding Photography, we travel because we love travelling!

Scott Goh |Adelaide Wedding Photography

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Brendon and Kimberly | Engagement Photography Adelaide

We like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to Brendon and Kimberly for their constant wedding referral of their families and friends. Engagement Photography Adelaide

We have recently updated our professional editing software. Here are some of our new edit. We continue to upgrade our equipment from time to time so that we can provide the best images for our clients.Engagement Photography Adelaide

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