Customer Reviews

Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

...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.

This book tells experienced photographers everything they need to know to make the transition into professional wedding photography. It is one of the best written books I have encountered in the field of photography.

The author starts out by describing three styles of wedding photography: traditional wedding photography, photojournalistic-style wedding photography and portrait journalism with a summery of each to help the reader understand the implications in terms of equipment, wedding day activities, individual style and even fees. Like so much of the book the reader may well say, "That's so clear. Why didn't I think of that?"

Throughout the book, the author assumes he's dealing with photographers who understand how to use cameras. When he talks about equipment, he assumes the reader is familiar with a digital single lens reflex camera's functions and just describes the features he considers important in selecting a camera for wedding photography. His method throughout the book is to follow the wedding photographer's workflow, from meeting the client to the wedding day to delivering the pictures.

His discussion of the dressing room is typical of his approach. He discusses the lenses the photographer will need, and which ones to select for conditions to get appropriate wedding shots. He notes the lighting problems that will be encountered and suggests solutions. He even discusses how to suggest a dressing room location to the bride that will provide the most memorable shots, and moreover, includes advice on dressing room etiquette, including nudity.

When it comes to the ceremony, he tells you the shots you have to have, and how to plan so you don't miss any, while not offending the guests who came to see the wedding and not the photographer.

The book finishes up with some suggestions regarding workspace setup and methods of providing the photos to the customer.

This book could serve as a model to authors of photography books. The outline is clear and concise. There's no unnecessary material, but everything a photographer needs to know to make the transition to wedding photography is included.

The book is not aimed at someone who is attending a wedding and wants to get a few shots of the bride. Rather, it's aimed at the person who wants to photograph weddings as a business and already knows something about taking pictures and processing them digitally.

I'm not certain how much new material the practicing wedding photographer will find here, but even experienced wedding shooters may learn something about organizing workflow to achieve a product that will be artful and please the customers.

And that, by the way, is an underlying theme. You can make money; you can please the participants; and you can create satisfying art as a wedding photographer.

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.

Dismayed by yet another book purporting to be a guide to digital wedding photography. The topic is really too big to cover well in a single book, nonetheless Glen Johnson, like many dozens of other photographers charges ahead and tries to do so. As a result there is inaccurate and incomplete information on the digital camera equipment needed to photography weddings for pay without disappointing poor brides who are likely to regret for the rest of their lives the novice that they hired to photograph their wedding, using their Canon Rebel and a single zoom lens with a solitary flash unit and little technical skill or knowledge of composition or posing or even of their camera and flash.

This book is bound to appeal to the complete novice who wants to be told that it is easy to break into wedding photography and no big investment of time, money, and apprenticeship is needed. Easy to read the book and thick that everything is covered and all you really need as Glen mentions is a camera and a 35-135mm zoom lens. Easy to put up a posting on Craigslist and pay for that new camera or lens you have wanted but could not justify to the spouse or afford to buy.

Anyone entering the very crowded field of wedding photography thinks that it as easy as it looks and Glen does nothing to dispel this notion and in fact encourages it. Anyone interested in getting into wedding photography should direct their learning into group posing, composition, lighting, and spend time working with a pro principal photograph instead of learning at the expense of actual couples and their families. Glen encourages people to get a camera and a 35-135mm lens and go for it. What happens when the light level is low as with most churches and receptions or when the single camera fails or key shots are missed while the photographer is checking the LCD display and trying to determine the correct camera and flash settings to use or changing between their two lenses or the flash stops working midway through the day.

I have had the opportunity to review thousands of images taken by people wanting to be second photographers and more than 80% of the time I have to wonder about why they took a particular shot where nothing was happening and people's faces are devoid of expression much less the type of emotion that is much present at weddings, and often the photographers have no concept of DOF, how their camera's AF settings impact performance, how to do mixed light exposures with flash and the camera in manual mode, and they figure they can fix it all later in Photoshop - how wrong they are. If it was just their pictures of a wedding for themselves well no big deal and no harm done unless they get in the way of the photographer hired to photograph the wedding.

Areas like composition are given only the most rudimentary treatment and might as well been left out of the book altogether. No comparisons of bad and good shots and explanation of why one shot failed and how it should have been shot with the single exception of a group picture taken by green plants and grass. No mention of the problems likely to occur from the green light reflected off green plants and onto peoples skin. The many bad wedding photographers out doing shoot and burn weddings are not going to improve their abilities with this book and worse it encourages people with no experience to give it a try with no understanding of what is needed in the way of camera equipment and skill and knowledge of photographing people and the particulars of wedding photography.

There are hundreds of books, many quite good, that deal with photography, camera usage, composition, posing, flash lighting, Photoshop and post processing, DAM, and other areas that deserve to be covered in depth and studied by budding photographers. Many excellent website as well as forums where one can see the work of others and explore what works and what does not and also read about other people entering the field of wedding photography and of their trials and tribulations and try to learn from their mistakes as much as possible. In this area Glen makes no comment much less recommendations for the reader.

Digital cameras have led many people to believe that producing a few properly exposed and in focus pictures is all that it takes. And if they can do it at a friend's birthday party or company picnic then they are ready to photograph a friend's wedding or even charge for their services. These people have never had to take 2000 pictures over a 8-12 hour period indoors and out and with people moving around in dimly lit churches and hotel banquet halls or used their flash for hundreds of pictures with all of the pics correctly exposed, color balanced, and focused, while capturing the essence of the key moments of the day. Books like this one by Glen provide just enough rope for beginning wedding photographers to hang themselves and their brides.

Amazingly bad pictures used in the book. Someone should have looked at the proofs and realized that almost all the pictures were much too dark and hardly professional. I expect that Glen gives his brides and his families pictures that are quite different from what appear in the book and this may be the fault of the publisher. Regardless one would do much better to review images online at wedding photographers' websites and at online wedding photography forums like the digital wedding forum.

With the flood of digital wedding books by photographers eager to earn extra income and gain a little more visibility in the industry it is difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially with the universally glowing Amazon reviews by novice photographers. One book that is really worthy of praise is the book by the Australian wedding photographer, Marcus Bell. What Bell covers he covers well.

Master's Guide to Wedding Photography: Capturing Unforgettable Moments and Lasting Impressions

For getting started with learning posing techniques for weddings there is the very good book by Norman Phillips

Professional Posing Techniques for Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Point is that you cannot get all the information needed from any one book or for that matter any collection of books. A lot needs to be learned by doing and this does not mean at the expense of a bride and groom and parents and friends. Too many people photographing weddings do not even have a basic understanding of how THEIR camera and lenses and flash work. Recommendations like those made by Glen, to the effect that in these situations I have the camera on auto white balance and the flash at -1EV may be perfect for his Canon 5D and 580EX flash but this is not going to work with another camera, even a Canon camera, or a different flash, even a Canon flash, much less most of the equipment the new photographer will take to their first wedding. This is where the information provided on websites like the digitalweddingforum and others provide much better information that is useful and current.

Glen defends the shoot and burn photographers and uses the justification of the money they can earn for the little effort put forth but this really begs the question as to whether it is good for the wedding photography industry and whether it really is fair to the bride and groom and their families that are likely a year later to have only prints from Costco and no album. Hard to imagine a video camera person giving a couple all the recorded tapes from the wedding and expecting the couple to go off and edit them into something for viewing. It is great for the photographer who can leave the wedding, burn the files to a DVD and put it into the mail on Monday morning on the way in to work at their real job.

Do not understand why Glen and others with their books try to glorify wedding photography without a balanced perspective of the cost of all the equipment, the need to stay current with their skills and knowledge of not just photographing weddings but on creating products like gallery prints, DVD's, storybook albums, and business regs for sales tax, insurance, licenses, and liability protection from disgruntled brides when the photographer's equipment fails or the CF cards are stolen and other unexpected events happen. Nor the amount of effort to be attentive and anticipate the events of the day and be in position (and on your feet) throughout the day from when the bride starts to get her hair done to the end of the reception with her departure with her husband. Wedding photography requires a greater investment in equipment and capital and greater technical skill and better people skills than any other single area of photography while requiring that the photographer be a virtually solo act operating without benefit of a safety net.

For reasons I cannot fathom the wedding photography book authors often encourage people to get into wedding photography when most would find it a lot easier and a lot cheaper and involve a lot less risk to start with portrait photography or corporate event photography or team sports photography but somehow wedding photography has taken on a certain glamor that has resulted in an enormous volume of mediocre photographs and doubtless many unhappy brides. I have met more than a few mothers of brides who would still feel the pain of the poor photography of their own wedding and not having the kinds of photographs that they wanted their daughter to be able to enjoy.

If someone spends the $29.99 for Glen Johnson's book and follows his recommendations and think that they have the bases covered to even photograph a friend's wedding for free, they are sadly mistaken. They do not know what they do not know and this book like many others provides an incomplete and at times very accurate overview of wedding photography and the the professional requirements to get the job done and have delighted instead of disappointed couples as the result of their efforts.

I am a wedding photographer and have read numerous wedding photography books and this one by Glen Johnson is the best introduction and comprehensive overview I have found. Very thorough without providing information that is likely to be quickly dated.

For someone starting out or making the transition from film to digital and wants solid information on areas including workflow and managing and archiving images, along with the business considerations and people side of the business, this book is very well done.

Very good in explaining the line of reasoning for suggested approaches and provides the why along with the what for photographing a wedding day. Glen even covers ceremony etiquette, which is the first time I have seen this mentioned in a book on wedding photography, but I agree with Glen that the wedding day is for the bride and groom and their families and friends and not meant to be a photo shoot directed by the photographer.

Very well written, well illustrated, and excellent use of side bars to provide additional information with examples.

The one area where I felt it was weak was in providing lighting setup information for photographers having to make often expensive decisions on how to add lighting for formals or dim reception locations. A few sample lighting diagrams would be very helpful along with some information regarding different approaches to using remotely triggered flash, and considerations in choosing flash units and lighting modifiers.

If you have shot 0-4 weddings then there is plenty of good information. The book is very detail-oriented around the business aspect of wedding photography along with some coaching around events, shots, etiquette, etc. So if you are new to digital photography and want to shoot weddings this is a very good resource. However....

If you are looking for lots of ideas for shots this is one place where the book is adequate but really missing a big opportunity. For all the 336 pages you get lots of text and relatively slim numbers of photos. If you are looking to shoot a wedding what you need as much as business sense and technique is.... ideas. Creative ideas are one of the most important things you can have. And for most of us who do not hallucinate about weddings all the time what you really need to seed your creative juices is lots of photos of what others has done. In this specific respect this book did miss this opportunity and hence 4 stars instead of 5. (Twice as many photos would have been the minimum for 5 stars IMHO.)

If you want something to seed your creativity that is slightly better than this book (for concepts) then check out 'The Best of Wedding Photojournalism: Techniques and Images from the Pros' by Bill Hurter.

This book was excellent for me since I will be shooting my first wedding in Sept. It provided a tremendous amount of information about how to be organized, where to stand, what lenses to use, ideas for being creative, how to make money, etc, etc. If you are wanting to start down the road of wedding photography, buy this book first. This book has lots of excellent example photographs that help you understand what the author is talking about. I was so into this book I read it over two days. I will probably read it again here in the next week or two.

I have been a wedding photographer for 16 years and have purchased many books on that subject. This one by far is the the best yet, Glen goes into great detail about what equipment and techniques it takes to become a proficient wedding photographer. Some wedding books that I've read seem to generate more questions than answers, for instance; the author will talk about a specific technique or problem that you might encounter but then fail to completely explain the proper way solve it. Not so with Glen's book. He answers most any question that you might have and some that you probably didn't think of. I would highly recommend this book to anyone starting out in wedding photography to buy as their "Bible", also wedding pros that are transitioning from film to digital will find most all of their questions answered, lastly, pros like me who have made the leap to digital in the last few years will learn some tricks and tips to make their life a little easier and their photos better.
Here's the line that everyone who reads reviews looks for " If you can only buy one book on the subject, buy this one". I probably own more than a dozen books on the subject and this one by far is my favorite. In fact when I ordered this book I also purchased two other books that were highly regarded on this site, they pale in comparison, they're mostly all whipped cream and no pie, they show fancy images and touch on some techniques but they don't get into the meat of the matter the way that this book does.
My last comment is this; I've purchased over fifty books on various subjects from Amazon over the past 2 years and this one was the first one to compel me to write a review, I'd say that's the highest recommendation possible.

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 have been a wedding photographer for many years(37) and have purchased a lot of books and attended a lot of seminars to continue my education in wedding photography. The information contained in this newly released book by Glen Johnson is simply the latest and up to date you will find anywhere. It would be helpful to those just getting started or those who think they know almost everything. The book contains more information than those written by the big names in the industry. I also purchased another book at the same time by one of the "experts" who are just out to sell you their book and take your money. It was Worthless!! This book is the best buy I have made in years if not for all time. The information is priceless and worth much more than what you pay. Five stars for me. John