Shooting weddings can be stressful. Between the mother of the bride telling what you should be doing, to Uncle Bobs who won’t stop shooting over your shoulder, a second shooter on a wedding day can make things SO much better. You not only have someone to help, but also that totally understands the situation, but you also want to make sure you have a few things ironed into place. Here are some tips for having a second shooter for a wedding.

Have a Plan

One of the worst things you can do is not having a plan on the wedding day when it comes to your second shooter. If you just have them show up, and shoot, you really have no idea what you could be getting. You have no idea what type of images you might get, or if you’ll even get images that will be something that you can use. Some of the most important things are:

1. Have a Contract- You have a contract with your clients, so why wouldn’t you have a contract with someone you are hiring to be a part of your business for the day? It’s kind of common sense. DO NOT shoot without a contract. Do I need to repeat that? DO NOT!! Shoot without a contract.
2. Equipment – If your second shooter doesn’t have the equipment necessary to successfully second shoot the wedding with you, will they be renting the equipment or borrowing items from you? In the event that they are renting, they should have everything a primary shooter would need on a wedding day. Back-ups included.
3. Memory Cards- this could be in the equipment category, but we’ll keep it in it’s own for the sake of being different. Personally, I prefer shooting with the primary’s cards, or having my 2nd shoot with cards, the only thing worse than having to worry about your own images or cards failing, is having to worry about your 2nd shooters equipment doing so. You pay them money to deliver quality images, and if they aren’t using quality cards, that could mean you don’t get images. That, and it’s a pain to try to get the images after the fact. Dropbox fails downloads, you can’t email huge files, and it’s easier to just leave that night with the images in hand.
4. Copyright or no copyright- Most second shooters turn over their copyright to the primary shooter, but are you ok with that as a second? If you aren’t, then you need to make sure their contract is adjusted accordingly. Also, as the primary, you need to make sure your second knows if they can use their images online or not after the fact. Some photogs WON’T allow usage online, while some will. So only allow a certain number of images used, while some there’s no holds bar. The most important thing is to communicate before hand, not after they blow up their Instagram feed with all the wedding images.
5. Editing- Usually the primary photographer will want to edit the images to ensure that the style matches their styles. And that brings us to….
6. Shooting RAW- Have your 2nds shoot in RAW format. If they don’t know what that means, if may not be a good idea to have them work with you JUST yet.
7. Clothing- What to wear is VERY important. Your 2nd shooter is representing YOU and your business. You want to be sure they know what you expect when it comes to what they are wearing! Some people’s ideas of what modest is may be COMPLETELY different than yours.
8. Time- This is one of the MOST important pieces of the day. Make sure you let your 2nd know, not only when they should be there, but also the timeline of the day. They can make sure to help keep things [close-to] on time, and it helps keep everyone on the same page.
9. Show me the MONEY! (2 points if you get the Jerry Mcguire reference 🙂 – Some people don’t like to talk money, but when you own a business you have to. Tell your 2nd what you intend to pay them before hand. This should even be in the contract. That way no one is confused at the end of the day.
10. Last but not least, COMMUNICATE. If there’s anything you get from this post, it should be the importance of communicating EVERYTHING. Whether you want them in a specific area during the ceremony, or that you don’t want them to use flash AT ALL, or that they can’t wear a skimpy cropped top, you need to make sure they know what your expectations are so they can meet those.

Second shooters can be a big help on a wedding day, and as long as there is communication, both sides will remain happy, and the wedding day should run great!