Learning and development process for Wedding Photography Companies: shadow weddings and style training
A new second shooter must match your look and your pace on the first day. Short, practical training before and during the season makes the album consistent across hands.
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Share your requirementsWhy learning and development process matters in wedding photography companies
Wedding clients choose a company for its look and expect it from every shooter. In practice a new second shooter may light, frame and cull in a very different way. Editors apply colour in their own taste. The lead photographer then corrects the work late at night or the client notices the inconsistency in the album.
Training here is mostly shadowing and reviewing. A style guide with sample images, a shadow wedding with a senior, a short edit test and a review of the first set from every new person. These steps take little time and spare the lead from fixing the same things at every event.
How to set it up
1. Write a style guide
Ten to fifteen sample images with notes on framing, light, colour and moments to capture, plus a list of shots every family expects.
2. Run a shadow wedding
New people follow a senior shooter through a real event, with a role they can handle and a debrief at the end.
3. Set an edit test
Give editors a batch from a past wedding to colour and cull, then review against your standard and note what to change.
4. Review the first set
The lead reviews the first full set from every new shooter within a few days and gives specific comments on three things to keep and three to change.
5. Hold a pre-season day
Gather the team for a morning on style, timing, conduct with families and safety at venues, plus a look at last year's best and worst moments.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask a second shooter what the company's look is, in their own words.
- Compare two shooters' edits of the same event.
- Count how many times the lead re-edited work last season.
- Check whether new people were shadowed before their first solo event.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach learning and development process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Usually a few events of shadowing and review, though it depends on prior experience. Judge by the match to your style in their first full set, not by time served.
Yes, if the training is short and practical. It improves your albums, and people who feel invested tend to return. A style guide costs very little and works for everyone.
Use shared presets, a reference set of approved images and a review of the first batch from each editor. Check a sample from every wedding before delivery for a few months.