Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories

...because it is so well written. Let me start out by offering kudos to Amazon reviewers. I ordered this book because of its 5 star rating. If I just saw it on the shelf at a bookstore, I dont know if I would have picked it up...and it would have been my loss. Because I keep getting more and more requests to do weddings, I sat down a few days ago and got three books from Amazon, each 5-star rated. I wanted to explore whether weddings are something I dare get into. The other two books I thumbed through, looked at the pics, skimmed a paragraph or chapter when something caught my attention, and kept going. This one I started on this afternoon and read cover to cover...without meaning to! Before you yawn and move on, know that this book is twice as thick as the average Amherst book (and only a tad smaller). First of all, this book is targeted to people like me...folks that have a good working knowledge of SLRs and are either curious or serious about starting to shoot weddings. The book is written in a conversational style without the narrative stuffiness that caused me to put the other two down after thumbing through. I felt like the author was talking to someone on my level, without all the eliteism I run into when mixing in semi- or pro circles. For example, I know that shooting RAW gives more control over images. I know that primes are generally sharper than zooms. I've met purists who proudly snub their noses at JPEG, zooms, or both, speaking of them with the same disgust one might have talking about a cockroach that crosses the floor... or the junior photog in front of them that sheepishly mentions he uses both. I own a couple of primes and will probably buy Photoshop CS2 in the next 12 months. Although its a necessary evil, I dont really enjoy sitting in front of a computer with the image software I have, much less something as complicated as CS2. Rather, Ive tried to spend the last couple of years immersing myself in PHOTOGRAPHY- trying to get the best, most creative images through the lens and into the camera...before all the processing. I never felt second-class while reading this book. This author tells you the "what" to do, but he excels in also telling the "why." A suggestion for certain shots has the requisite photo as an example, but often has other photos demonstrating how differences from that suggestion that affect the final image...usually negatively. This author has little problem "showing" as well as "telling." He gives examples of why RAW is better most of the time, but he freely admits that shooting RAW involves a cost/benefit tradeoff, particularly a solo photog without a studio staff devoted to post-processing. He has no problems with the idea that sometimes JPEG wins that tradeoff for whatever reason. He writes about situations he feels JPEGs work just fine and times where even a JPEG photog needs to shoot RAW if at all possible (for example, shots of a bride in bright sunlight). He shows examples of why he says that. After all that, he then goes into tips to use if you still choose JPEG. Other authors adopt the tone, "If you don't do what I say, you're wasting both our time by reading any further." He talks about how digital has changed the landscape of wedding photography (such as folks like me considering it) and the trends of some photogs to provide digital copies on DVD's instead of keeping negatives and extracting money on prints. Rather than judge or cry about either, he simply deals with it and presents business models that take advantage of each issue either way. The other books have gorgeous pics of gorgeous people getting married in castles, attended by butlers or maids as they get ready, and amazing images of fantasy weddings I doubt I'll ever attend. In fact, my new favorite wedding pic (maybe favorite any pic!) was in one of those books. But I kept coming back to this book to read. Even though I cant count how many photog books Ive read over the past two years, I still learned from this one. I dont know if I will seriously commit to weddings or not. I do know I am a better photog now than I was 8 hours ago...without even picking up a camera. UPDATE 11/07 I can agree with one reviewer that the books is probably most helpful to shooters with 0-5 weddings under their belts. I'll add that its also probably most helpful to photogs that have read 0-5 wedding books. As I pointed out, the other books I bought were stuffed with "Photographs!" that dazzle and inspire. Heck, I brought out the other two to thumb through and ogle pics last night. But last week, I broke this one out to read though again. New to wedding photography? Picture books are great for visual inspiration. Amazon is flooded with thin wedding books with purdyful, full-page pics. Heck, if you're reading this you can see what you probably aspire to right now by searching though the top rated wedding photographs in various online galleries such as photo*net or photosig*com. Some of the work there, as with many other books and websites, is distilled, unadulterated Mastery. This book, however, is written as a tutorial for your brain (and wallet) more than an art class for your eye sockets. If this describes your needs, then, a year after purchase, I still offer my recommendation to you.

I am a photographer with a passion and an eye, but not too much technical training and definitely far from what I would consider professional. I usually shoot in automatic mode because I'm not as comfortable in the other modes and the only lens I have is the one that came with my digital SLR. Still, I shot a few weddings years ago and was asked to shoot a friend's sister wedding this coming summer. I decided to use this as an excuse to brush up on my skills and expand my equipment. I wanted to be informed going into the wedding and was especially interested in learning about what sort of equipment I should be considering. I decided to buy this book and the Wedding Photographer's Handbook by Bill Hurter. The books arrived in the same shipment and as I flipped through the books, I immediately could tell that if I had seen both of these in bookstores before I purchased them, I would have probably just purchased this book, "Digital Wedding Photography:..." . It is significantly longer and almost looks like a text book with clearly outlined content. I prepared myself with post-its to mark up important things to refer to as I read the books to reference later. I read the Hunter book first, fairly quickly. It's a lot shorter and while their photos are far superior, offers a more top-level, general introduction to the world of wedding photography. I only placed 3 post-its in this book. Then I read this book by Glen Johnson and discovered that my first impression was spot-on. This book is much more detailed, including information down to the details of a drill you can do to practice getting the perfect shots for the bouquet toss and ideal angles to shoot from for the cake cutting. I used 12 post-its for this book. The actual photography in the book was not as creative as the photos in the Hunter book so I ended up being glad that I got both, although I value the information I received in this book over the inspiration I received from the Hunter book since I could probably find similar inspiration by looking at images online. Overall, this book was exactly what I was looking for. The only area I noticed that there wasn't much detail on was pricing. But I think that was done intentionally since it describes how regional pricing can be and how you should find out what the pricing average is in your area before you set up your own prices. I think the most useful information in this book was details about equipment recommendations and information about touching up photographs. I would have liked to learn more about retouching but the amount of information in here exceeded my expectations and if I need to learn more, I should simply get a book specifically on that topic.

As an advanced amatuer photographer, I became interested in doing wedding photography after attending several weddings for friends and family in a single year. Most of them had paid photographers, so I was free to practice without pressure. A couple were so informal that I was actually asked to be the impromptu photographer. I found that really I enjoyed the work, and was actually pretty good at it too! Somehow word of mouth landed me three paid jobs for weddings in the following year. Having no formal training or experience, I was terrified! So I decided to hit the books. I bought Glen Johnson's "Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories" at the same time as Bill Hurter's "The Best of Wedding Photojournalism: Techniques and Images from the Pros." Though Bill Hurter's book had some nice pictures and ideas, I was more impressed with the comprehensive business approach that Glen took in his book. He covered all the basis: from developing your own style and business model, ettiquette & attire, equipment & tools of the trade, ceremony/reception logistics, photo tips & pitfalls to avoid, techniques for working with people, the right camera settings for different scenes, and post-processing workflow. He uses photos to complement his text, but it doesn't appear to be a portfolio for him to show off his beautiful pictures. You can see that on his website. As some have complained, he doesn't attempt to cover every topic in boring depth. Instead, he provides an overview of key points, supplemented by useful references and WEBSITES where you can learn more. His own website is a comprehensive learning site, with all kinds of tips. He even has his contract online for you to reference when developing your own. I also liked that he interviewed several other professional photographers on their ceremony techniques, workflows, and software preferences to show how different approaches can work. It isn't his job to teach you how to use Photoshop, or how to design your webpage. So he instead highlights where you can get tools (i.e. Actions, templates, and programs) to make them work better for you. If you need to learn how to use Photoshop or how to design a webpage, there are plenty of other great books out there on that. I have now successfully shot all three of those weddings, and see a bright future ahead for my new business. I owe a majority of my success to Glen's book, for giving me a solid ground to start on.

I'm a amateur photograper, looking into ways to make some profit of my hobby. I picked this book because of all those great reviews it featered. In fact, I only found about under 10 tips that made me go "A-ha!" and bookmark the page. What drove me crazy was the way the book is written - Glen repeats himself on many subjects, thus giving a constant sense of deja vu, when you understand you'd already read that about about a 100 pages ago. My last complaint is that 80% of pictures featured in the book are not inspiring at all - either plain dull or overly manipulated.

This pretty thick book (300+ pages) addresses all aspects of wedding photography business, assuming readers who are already familiar with photography itself. The only "entry level" chapter is about composition, at the end of the first section. What you will find in the book: everything from what it means to be a wedding photographer, how it can be approached (traditional, journalistic, or a mix thereof he calls portrait journalism) and how to get the foot in the door of the business, to equipment for the various styles from batteries and memory cards to printers. The book addresses the big day, of course, but also the daily workflow, travels, risks and responsibilities. All in all a very good, very complete book that thoroughly covers the matter. While I do not agree with everything (anyone who knows me could tell you that :), I still highly recommend this book to anyone willing to start a career as a pro wedding photographer, as it has about it all. Only serious caveat: the book dates back to 2006, i.e seven years as of this review. The technique of digital photography has changed dramatically in those years, and although most of the book is still perfectly relevant, the equipment and related techniques have evolved. There is a newer revision (2011) that I wish I had found before buying this one. No problem, most of the subject matter is not the equipment. Otherwise, the best and most informative of the books about wedding photography business I have come across. If you were looking more for pictures (not necessarily text) you can have a look at The Best of Wedding Photography . If you were in search for purely artistic guidelines, check out Roberto Valenzula's Picture Perfect Practice . If, on the other hand, you were looking for a book presenting all you need to know to satrt shooting wedding as a pro, then look no further. This book or its later revision is what you were looking for. So why only 4 stars? To me three stars mean I am satisfied minus, four is when the quality, content etc. is more than what I was expecting, and five stars is exceptional. I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask me questions in comments.

As a beginning wedding photographer, I've had several questions about almost every aspect of the profession and business, and I can truely say that Glen's book offers answers to many of my most important queries. As you read this book, you feel as though you're in wedding photography workshop whereby Glen shares his experiences, secrets, and tips for digital wedding photography. I like how he explains the latest trends in the business, especially concerning the Creative Fee model whereby clients pay the photographer up front for complete wedding coverage and he or she in return provides the client with a CD or DVD of a set of full resolution, color corrected and enhanced, photos taken at the wedding. Clients can further hire the photographer for album design and production, but the focus is to provide clients with well done digital photos that tell a story about the wedding day. From the outset of the book, Glen had me taking notes and making a list of improvements I want to make to my digital photography. After reading the three digital workflow examples he includes in the book, I went to my computer and begin writing out my own workflow which as I refine it will not only save me time but will help me become a better photographer. In addition, Glen goes into nearly all aspects of digitla wedding photography, including light and exposure settings, essential shots throughout the weddding, suggestions for camera and other digital equipment (go to his website for a must have list of equipment) and post-production work using Photoshop and other photo management software. As a very busy and experienced destination wedding photographer, Glen doesn't shy away from sharing the challenges of wedding photography. He provides the pros and cons of the business and even shares the thoughts and experiences of his fellow photographers. Unlike many other wedding photography books, this one is not about show casing high end wedding shots. He includes images that I think can be attained by anyone serious about the craft. Almost every photo includes information about the nature of the shot and the camera settings used to take the shot. This is a book that you'll you want to write in, yellow sticky selected pages, and constantly refer back to as you prepare for various wedding shoots. I really appreciate what this hard working photographer has done. It's a much needed book.

I do not hesitate to claim that this book is absolutely the BEST overall book on wedding photography that can be purchased for an intermediate photographer looking to get into wedding photography. I'm slowly making the transition from being a landscape photographer to wedding photographer, and while I understand apertures and shutter speeds, there are various aspects to wedding photography that this book covers exceptionally well such as differing business models and types of wedding photography that someone coming from a different area of photography may be interested in learning more about. I have been also extremely impressed with both the breadth of topics covered by this book as well as the depth of topics. In fact, coming from someone who has read may books about varying areas of photography (even Ansel Adams' trilogy), I rank this book as one of the top. I find that this book has an excellent balance for the intermediate photographer looking to get into wedding photography. Additionally, this book is much longer than the other wedding books out there-- with 310 pages of information. Well done Mr. Johnson.

I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about wedding photography as I am considering trying to do it as a side business. I have used 35mm and digital cameras for many years now and wanted to find out more about wedding photography. I have to say, this book is excellent! It really gives you so much helpful information that even if you've never done wedding photography before, the information in this book will help you speak knowledgably to potential clients. This book does assume you already know photography well as it gives detailed information on exposure and camera settings- and if you don't have a full grasp of these topics, it may go over your head (as it did mine many times). However, the author does explain these concepts and it really helped me to understand photography a lot better. The pictures in this book are beautiful and this book has certainly inspired me to persue the dream of being a wedding photographer. Overall an excellent must read book for anybody considering getting into the wedding photography business as a side business or as a full time job.