Most people don’t talk about this subject, but I think it is definitely important to talk about! Because if you aren’t running a successful business behind the scenes, then how do you expect to run a successful business at all? I’m going to talk about what I do from shoot day to delivery day with my clients, and all the backend stuff you’ll need to know when running your photography business!
The gear that I bring with me on the day of my shoot is one I’d also like to touch on very quickly. Currently, I bring my two Canon 5D Mk III ‘s with me, and the reason I haven’t yet switched to the Mk IV’s yet is because I just simply haven’t invested in them. BUT, I do plan on buying 2 when I purchase them, because the color schemes can be different when editing a Mk III compared to a Mk IV. For consistency reasons, I’d like to have 2 of either.
I also bring my Sigma 35mm 1.4 lens, and it’s fantastic! I’d say it’s my go-to lens because it’s so sharp, so I definitely recommend if you’re thinking of getting it. I also have my Canon 50mm 1.2, and it’s a great lens to have for variety! I’d say I’m a fan of prime lenses – meaning no zoom lenses, because I think they are sharper and provide a better product. BUT, if you want to get the Canon 24-70mm, then that one is great as well! I just like having the variety with the prime lenses.
I do also bring my Canon 70-200mm 2.8, and it is primarily used for the Ceremony and Reception, for those close up shots when I can’t get all in their face. 🙂
Okay, THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!! Backing up your cards, especially on the day of a wedding, is so stinkin important. If one of your cards is corrupt and won’t upload to your computer, and you didn’t back it up, that’s it. You’re done. No photos. And how awful is that?! So I say it’s better to be safe than sorry later!
SO, that said, I have my 32 GB CF (or, compact flash) cards that I use as my “working” cards, and then I use 64 GB SD cards in the second slot of my Canon 5D Mk III’s to back up my CF cards. the 64 GB SD cards usually last the length of a wedding, so I’m only switching out the CF cards. I record to both the cards by going into my camera settings and choosing “record to multiple” (see image below).
Whenever I get home from a shoot, engagement or wedding, I ALWAYS upload my cards first. Even if it’s midnight, I still get the process started (because it can take a while sometimes, and it’s best to have the card data elsewhere just in case).
I do that by ingesting through Photo Mechanic to my two G-Drive hard drives. You can choose a “primary” and “secondary” location for your data, and it will upload the data on that card to the two hard drives if you choose them.
So simple!
I go into each client’s folder on my hard drives and create a “wedding” or “engagement” folder, and then in that folder I’ll create a “Raw” folder where I’ll store all of the raw data from the card.
Once I’ve gone through Photo Mechanic and tagged my photos, I’ll then upload them into Lightroom.
For every session, I create a new catalog. I’ll store this new catalog on my Working Hard drive, or the hard drive I primarily work from.
I’ll then upload the photos I’ve “tagged” from photo mechanic and start editing. Once the editing is finished, I will export to a new folder in my client’s folder titled “Edited”, on both hard drives.
When I’m delivering my photos, I upload all of them to Pixieset and divide them into different “sets”, mostly for wedding days. This helps the client navigate easily to each part of the wedding day, because when delivering over 900+ photos, looking through all of them can be a little overwhelming!
You can watch my YouTube video above to see an example of a gallery, but basically, I’ll divide the sets into “Getting Ready, First Look, Ceremony, Family Photos, Reception”. I’ll also have a “Highlights” section that will be the first set they look at when opening the gallery. That has all of my favorite photos of the entire day all listed out in order. 🙂
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I hope that’s been helpful for you! Leave a comment below if you have a question or want to see anything specific, I’d love to answer and help out!
Let Dani help you in your specific situation and get you on your feet so you can be succeeding at your dream as a wedding photographer!