I'm just starting out as a photographer. I've taken some classes (planning on taking more), I've assisted in a few weddings and now have a couple of friends asking me to do theirs this summer. I'm siked, scared, and going crazy trying to get the right equipment. I have a Nikon D50 and I'm planning on getting a D80 soon. I would appreciate any and all advice on equipment, wedding photography, and starting out in the photography business. THANKS!!!

Hi- I'm brand new to this site, and have only had my little side photography business for 2 years.  2 weddings under my belt, with 3 lined up this year....  (I mostly do portaits)

 I shot my first wedding for friends too... LOTS of work, completely nerve wracking, but loved every minute of it.  My biggest helps- external flash unit, a flash bracket to get it up higher if you're doing indoor work, and a good versitle lens (I went with a 28-105, it's still my favorite all-purpose lens to this day)

I visited the places they were getting married/having the reception ahead of time and took practice shots.  I figured out a few "fail safe" settings that I could rely on when things got hectic. And shoot liberally, you can always edit/delete later!!

 All in all, I gave them 300 proofs that I was happy with, and threw out the other 200 I shot.  My biggest regret was not doing enough shots of just the bride & groom together.  (But it was mostly the circumstances, the bride didn't want to do more than an hour of pics, you can only fit so much in!)

You've already assisted in some weddings, so you have a leg up on most newbies!!  Being nervous is good, it pushes you to do your best

Hi and welcome!:)  Starting a business can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming, but also really fun!:)  So, I guess my biggest helps would be:

1.  Check with your State/County for their regulations on registration/business practices 

2.  Make sure your equipment is insured, because it's not always covered under your homeowners/renters insurance

3.  Invest in a good website that will showcase your work; anymore these days people are looking to see if you're online 

There's tons of help all over these forums for almost any question imaginable, and if you can't find what you're looking for there's tons of helpful   photogs out there ready to tackle a new question:)  Good luck as you start your business!

 

Woo Hoo hi Denyse!   Ya made it!  Ok everybody, D'Marie is my cohort from Better Photo, and I told her how much she needed to come over here.  I'm really glad too.  She's another upstate NYer.

Anyway, glad you found us!

Hi Jess!!!  Yeah I've been romping all around the site, loving it, thanks for the invite!!  I'm still learning exactly how to navigate.  I tried searching for your name in the member list and it didn't come up (I tried jessE, maybe it's case sensitive?)

Evenstar makes several good points about the business stuff.  Once you talk to your town and have a DBA, you can open a business checking account and get a sales tax number.  My accountant has been invaluable at helping me figure all of this out.  I had a special section added to my renters insurance for the equipment, but you need to ask what it actually is insuranced against.  Mine is only for theft, NOT "oops i dropped it"!! (darn, they won't do it for accidental damage)

The website is also competely invaluable!!  I can't afford a full-blown site now, so I went with a template type site which still looks nice and is SO affordable (about $20/mo).  (Mine is thru betterphoto.com but I've heard good things about godaddy.com too)

Jess, I just checked out your new website, I REALLY like it!!  Very classy.  You have some great nature shots too.  I can't WAIT for the weather to break & we can get outside again!!

We have to try to meet for coffee & a shooting day this summer!!

Just a side note on the insurance thing...I chose to go through State Farm for my small business insurance, mainly because my husband and I have other policies through them as well, and they have a "floater" policy which does insure against the "oops, I dropped it" kinds of accidents, which is good for a clutz like me.  I have one of these floaters on all my camera equipment as well as my laptop.  I also have liability with them and the whole policy only added another $20/mo. to our monthly bill.  So for me, it was definitely worth it.  I'm sure other insurance agencies have similar options available so I would shop around if you're interested.

Evenstar:

Just a side note on the insurance thing...I chose to go through State Farm for my small business insurance, mainly because my husband and I have other policies through them as well, and they have a "floater" policy which does insure against the "oops, I dropped it" kinds of accidents, which is good for a clutz like me.  I have one of these floaters on all my camera equipment as well as my laptop.  I also have liability with them and the whole policy only added another $20/mo. to our monthly bill.  So for me, it was definitely worth it.  I'm sure other insurance agencies have similar options available so I would shop around if you're interested.

 WOW great to know, thanks!!!  I am leaving allstate for my car insurance anyways so I'll check out this "floater" policy with state farm and others.  What can you tell me about the liability policy?  (what does it protect against?) I tried to get one from allstate and they wanted like $800/year (malpractice insurance is all they could offer, for if I had a camera melt down and couldn't deliver any pics for a wedding client or something).  Uh, that's ridiculous!!  But what if someone on-location trips over my bag and breaks their leg, you know, I need some kind of liability insurance that's affordable like what you're describing....

The liability policy covers costs that I'd legally be obligated to pay because of bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, or advertising injury.  I actually just picked up the actual policy today, so I've been sitting here reading through it.  The bodily injury looks like it's only covered if someone is injured on my premises.  So I'm going to need to call them and see what it would take to bump that up; however, on the phone the agent made it sound like on-location was covered, because we talked about it extensively....hmmm....  Anyway, the liability policy covers me up to $1 mil. per event.
I'll give them a call tomorrow and I'll let you know what I find out.  As for malpractice, I've been thinking about joining PPA and getting covered under them, because I've heard a lot of others here sing their praises.

Denyse, I leave last night,and you had one post, and now you have 15!  I was too tired to spend much time on here last night, so maybe I will hangout here more tonight.

 I'll need to get checking on the insurance thing.

Haha, yeah Jess I DO enjoy this site as you can tell.

Having liability insurance would be a huge load off my mind.  That's next week's project to get figured out!!