Introduction: Meet your course tutors, Emily Lowrey, a wedding photographer with 10 years of experience and Stephen Walton a pro portrait photographer & former studio manager. Emily and Stephen outline what’s to come within the iPhotography Wedding Masterclass and a little about themselves.

Choosing the Right Camera: Emily is going to take you through what types of cameras are suitable for wedding photography and what essential features to look out for.

Lens Choices: Getting your lens choice correct is essential for creating beautiful wedding portraits. We’ll show you what you’ll need, and what to avoid.

Other Equipment: It’s not just camera and lenses though, there’s a whole other list of important accessories which will make your life much easier and safer.

Camera Bags & Accessories: Emily’s got even more suggestions and recommendations for accessories and kits that will be handy to have on-site.

Lighting Tutorial: You’ll find using a flash a real help and a creative outlet for your wedding portraits. Emily will take you through how to use off-camera flash.

Pre-Consultation with Clients: Learning about your clients will help you shape your plans and ideas. Emily will give you an idea on how to create a pre-consultation questionnaire. 

Same-Sex Weddings: Customising your weddings to your client makes it much more personal. Emily gives out some tips on how to market and plan for same-sex clientele. 

Meeting Clients & Planning: Emily will give you a review of her experience on meeting clients and what you should be thinking and asking of your client to shape their photographs.

Preparing for a Wedding: You can’t prepare enough! Over preparation isn’t a bad thing either. Therefore, we’ve got a little list of tips from what to wear to how to plan your day ahead of the wedding.

Arriving at the Venue: We’ve arrived at our wedding venue! What do you do next? Don’t worry Emily’s got some advice on what you should consider and look out for.

Bridal Prep Advice: These are the first shots you’ll be taking with your clients, so you need to make a good impression. We’ll show you how to be efficient with time and what shots you should be aiming to cover.

Bridal Prep Practical: Let us show you some creative shots and ideas you should be able to capture in all your bridal prep moments. 

Details: You can’t overlook the details! These are the smaller intimate photos such as bouquets, shoes, jewellery, and other gifts that give flavour to the day.

Dress & Bride Portraits: Understanding boundaries and showing respect is vital to building trust with Brides. Emily will give you great tips about where to stand and how to conduct yourself as the Bride is getting dressed.

The First Look: Probably one of the most anticipated and iconic shots of any wedding is the ‘first look’. Shots of the Bride fully dressed on her own (and getting her Father’s reaction) will be a memory no one wants to miss.

Bridal Prep at Home: Not every wedding will start at a venue, it may begin at home. Emily’s got some wise words about how to prepare for a location you may not get to visit beforehand.

Groom Prep: Time for the guys to step up and get some camera attention. Don’t forget to plan time for capturing the Groom & Best Man’s preparation. Stephen will give you some advice on what to expect and how to work.

Posing the Groom: Men aren’t always the most comfortable in front of the camera so capturing candid images throughout the day may be your best bet. We’ve got a great little set-up that you’ll encounter at most wedding parties to get the most natural reactions.

More Posing Ideas: Emily’s going to give you more ideas, camera settings and directing tips to capture natural group shots of the Groom and Groom’s party outside of the venue.

Pre-Ceremony Preparation: Whilst the room is ready and untouched, we’ll show you what to think about and look out for before ahead of the start of the ceremony.

Ceremony Practical: As the ceremony begins and the guests arrive, you’ll need to be ready and capture a range of candid moments. We’ve also got ideas on how to work if you’ve got an assistant with you.

Register Signing: You’ll need to be aware of the laws surrounding taking shots of the register signing, but we’ll make sure we can help you fill that time with other shots whilst your happy couple are doing the legal bits. 

Outdoor Ceremony Tips: If your wedding is being staged outdoors, you’ll be at the mercy of the weather. Either way we’ll show you how to work in non-ideal lighting conditions.

Church Ceremony Tips: Church weddings provide a different type of challenge. You may struggle with low light, rigid layouts, and fewer choices of angles. Emily will help you to maximise your shots despite any limitations.

Location Scouting at a Church: Just like a hotel venue, it’s important to scout out the Church beforehand and make a note of aspects to take advantage of and watch out for.

Large Groups: It may seem daunting to photograph big family groups. It’s more about crowd control rather than capturing stylish photos. So be prepared to speak up!

Editing Large Group Shots: Once you’ve got your group shots Emily will take you into Photoshop and how to fix group shots if you get the inevitable person that blinks during your photos.

Confetti Photos: A staple part of most weddings (but not all) confetti can make a shot look chaotic, so you’ll need Emily’s ideal camera settings to make sure you get the right shot.

Smaller Groups: If your wedding is a little more intimate, you’ll be able to increase your creativity and posing ideas as Emily will guide you through.

Bouquet Throwing: This is not a shot you’ll do twice so be prepared and listen to Emily’s suggestions about where you should stand and what camera settings you’ll need to succeed. 

Indoor Groups: If the weather’s not looking appealing outdoors or your wedding is at night then you’ll need to know how to set up either flashes or LED lights to capture indoor group shots.

Posing for Groups: There are several different posing shapes to follow to create strong compositions in group shots as Emily will now demonstrate. 

Posing Children: If you can win over the kids at a wedding, you’re on track for success – but it doesn’t’ always go that way. Stephen will show you a couple of little tricks on trying to get the happy expressions out of the little ones. 

Natural Light Indoors: Use natural light where possible, it’ll be your friend throughout a wedding. Emily demonstrates a few different poses and angles that you could consider capturing natural light group portraits.

Location Scouting: Checking out your venue before you turn on the camera is enjoyable and helps you feel more confident about the layout. There are some important features to look out for to make it fun for everyone else though too! 

Couple Portraits Introduction: Choosing the right location and saying the right prompts are all you need to consider when getting the couple alone for those all-important personal portraits.

How to Get Authentic Photos: Candid portraits can look more natural and genuine – but how do you ‘stage’ a candid photo? Emily’s got some hilarious games to try with your happy couple. 

Framing & Environment: Finding opportunities to exploit your surroundings to benefit the composition of your portraits is a great way to blend the background in with your clients. We’ll show you ways to increase the depth of field and watch out for useful leading lines.

Indoor Portraits: Back indoors, we’ve got more suggestions on how to keep your couple shots look intimate even in busy environments.

Evening Portraits: As the light starts to fade Emily demonstrates how to set up and position an off-camera flash to create beautiful and moody low light portraits.

Portraits in the City: If your couple are ‘city slickers’ you’ll need a different set of senses to keep you on your toes. Shooting in the city requires eyes in the back of your head to protect yourself but also capitalise on unexpected opportunities.