Hi all!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far! It’s gotten nice and toasty here in Baltimore (and my skin a bit crispy). In light of the summer season, Kira and I have decided to start a new summer schedule of blogging. For the summer, we’ll be blogging two days a week on Mondays and Wednesdays and then going on more #k2adventures in our free time!
In keeping up with our Secrets to Second Shooting series, I’d like to offer secret #3…
Keep Up!
I know I’ve talked about the importance of always being different and adapting to the wedding needs of the day by wearing many hats, which should make this post come as no surprise to you.
You gotta keep up with the primary shooter! As I said in the my first post of this series, more often than not I am shooting at the exact same time as Kira. That means I have to MOVE! We only have so much time to take pictures of each aspect of the wedding day and especially when it comes to bride and groom portraits, you have to move at the same speed as your primary photographer to get those complimentary images.
Kira knows all of the ins and outs of the day. I know the ins and outs of what I am responsible for, but with some of the timeframes of shooting, I’m a little in the dark. This means that I need to follow Kira’s queue in the time to take to shoot for each pose and each location.
Kira will set up her shot and I will quickly move around to find mine… then I fire away! When she’s finished with that particular shot, it’s time to move on to the next pose/location.
But what if I don’t get the shot I feel that I need?
Speak Up!
Honestly, there are times where I realize there’s a shot I really feel that I need and we are about to wrap up. Me being me, a person who struggles a little with being assertive, I tend to just keep my mouth shut and move on wishing I had made a certain adjustment. But remember, your job is to compliment the primary shooter and you sometimes in order to do that you need to speak up!
Whoever you are shooting with will hopefully understand this. No one is perfect. Maybe your exposure wasn’t quite right or you are shooting with a prime lens and feel like you need to get closer, but don’t want to be in the frame. It’s okay! Voice your needs!
Obviously you don’t want to be annoying about it, but if there is a real need it’s better to say something in the moment than hand in less than beautiful images later. The primary shooter should want you to get images that are just as beautiful as theirs. If they don’t look like the same quality, guess what? The bride and groom are going to be able to tell the difference. Who wants pictures that appear different from image to image?!
In order to not be that annoying person that asks for more time for each shot here’s my final tip for this post…
Make Up!
For time that is. When two people are shooting at the same time, there’s no way they are going to start and finish at the exact same moment. You have to keep this in mind in order to keep up with the primary shooter.
Sometimes Kira takes more time with a pose and sometimes she is quick and snappy! And it’s not her job to adjust to me, I’M supposed to adjust to HER. That means I try to find my position as quickly as possible and then I fire off my camera!
My logic is this, if she decides she gets her perfect shot by the 5th snap, I better have mine by that time too which is why I probably take twice as many shots for each pose especially the more candid poses. If she’s snapping every 4 seconds, I’m snapping every 2! That way it ensures I get a couple images that are crisp and clear and at the angle/distance that I want.
See what I mean with the images below. Kira’s are featured on the left, mine on the right.
Hope you found this post helpful! Feel free to comment below with any questions! Happy shooting 🙂
