The Canon 6D is a popular full-frame DSLR that provides you with an exceptional photography experience for any event, anytime! It is a small and light DSLR known worldwide and features apex technical quality and expeditious autofocus. The best part about the product is that it costs a lot less money than many expensive DSLRs but captures equally high-quality photos. The light weight of the Canon 6D makes it feasible to carry all day long. The image quality that the camera produces is extraordinary.
The Canon 6D is an excellent option for wedding photography. This simple product can be your handy travel partner for professional photoshoots. Besides a compact size, the product also has a flawless screen focus and an accurate GPS. If you’re thinking of improving your career as a wedding photographer, consider using the Canon 6D.
To help you learn how you can use the Canon 6D in wedding photoshoots, we present 5 tips on using the Canon 6D for wedding photography. Regardless of your experience and skills, there is always room to learn more, and each camera is different. Therefore, we bring you a handful of tips to help you improve the wedding photos you capture. These can help you with creating an incredible portfolio as well!
The Perfect Location
A wedding day is a day full of rush and delays. No matter how strictly you stick to the schedule, things go erratic, and you may have to deviate from the schedule. When you’re looking for a location for a wedding shoot, keep this in mind. Photographers tend to think of how beautiful a location is, but don’t account for how long the venue will be available and if the lighting at the venue will change if the shoot gets delayed. To avoid such inconveniences, prepare well beforehand.
We recommend you visit the place early on the wedding day as well. You can make any necessary changes that may be needed. For example, if you’re planning to shoot in the ground, you can decorate the surroundings with custom flowers and set up your lights. This will help you avoid the on-spot anxiety!
In case there’s anything a bit off about the venue, use your camera’s features to offset whatever’s bothering you. For example, if the venue is backlit, but you struggle with such lighting conditions, you can use the Canon 6D’s HDR Backlight Control. In this setting, the camera takes three different shots at different exposures, which are combined. The resulting image will ensure that you don’t lose any detail in the pictures due to the backlighting.
You can also choose from the 6D’s own lighting or scene settings. These settings include the default setting, which is normally okay. You can also choose between daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten light, fluorescent light, and sunset.
If you’re struggling with choosing a location, you can also consult the bride and groom about what kind of photoshoot they want and if they have any particular location in their mind. Remember, timely location scouting can save you from embarrassment.
The Right Lighting
Wedding locations may range from expensive ballrooms to simple backyards and legal courthouses. However, no matter what the location is, a wedding photographer should adjust for the right lighting!
Ideally, wedding photographers want natural light coming in from large windows, or a small hideout lit with beautiful colored light fixtures. Sometimes they’ll use DJ lights illuminating a dance floor or a lawn during the sunset! Different people prefer different lighting scenarios, and sometimes you have no control over lighting conditions. Therefore, photographers need to be able to adapt. The best photographers are those that can work well regardless of lighting.
Both natural light and studio light are great. Both the light forms have a unique look and their own distinctive charms. Sometimes a flash will allow you to capture details that you can’t under the bright sun. However, ensure that you don’t stand too close to the subject when you’re using flash. Doing this can cause the picture to be overexposed or blurry.
The best way to choose one is to consider the light that is already occurring in the space. If the wedding hall is perfectly lighted, you can keep the flash off. If you are shooting in bright daylight, no flash is required either.
However, if the light around you is not enough, you can fix it with the Canon 6D’s flash! It can add contrast to your photos and helps you create dimensional lighting. With the Canon 6D, the higher your ISO, the larger your flash range will be. So, keep that in mind!
Understanding the concept of lighting can be a bit tough. But, it only improves with experience. The more you shoot, the more you get to know about the right forms of light.
Manage Your Equipment
Cameras, lenses, batteries, chargers, and tripods may be durable, but they have a limited lifespan and can betray you at any moment. Although Canon 6D comes with a reasonable guarantee, mishaps are still possible.
Therefore, you must expect anything at any moment. Most importantly, you need to be ready for any situation. Professional photographers always have their backup. This doesn’t concern only lenses, but spare cameras too. Luckily, the Canon 6D comes at super reasonable prices and doesn’t cost you much! A wedding day, as mentioned above, is a complete rush. You can’t afford to miss any important moment just because your camera isn’t working well. You have to have a backup plan.
Many photographers often overlook logistics too. However, doing so can be very risky. Hence, if possible, try to set up a home base for yourself at the back of the venue. This home base must contain some spare equipment, and you can use it to store heavier equipment that is usually difficult to carry. Make sure that the guests, especially the kids, can’t reach the equipment. Otherwise, they can tamper with your stuff.
Two camera bags, containing all essential equipment, is enough; one small and one large. The smaller one can roam around with you during the event, while the larger one can sit in the home base.
Maintain A Subtle Presence
The wedding photographer must be like a ninja, always there but hidden somewhere. A wedding day has many moments to be captured like the bride’s entry, sweet little moments of the couple secretly looking at each other, group photos, family reunions, laughter, dance, food, and whatnot.
A professional photographer cannot miss out on any of these moments. The wedding party will also expect you to capture all the memorable moments of their big day. Hence, you need to be everywhere, shooting from the front, back, higher platforms, side angles, and low angles.
For that, you need to maintain a subtle presence. You must be clever enough to capture people’s emotions and prepare a beautiful story for the couple to recollect the memories in the future. However, when people are aware that they’re being photographed, they may tense up and get awkward. This means you won’t be able to get the natural shots you need.
Luckily, the 6D has a Silent LV Shooting mode, which has two further sub-options. Mode 1 is quieter than the normal shooting mode and also allows you to take continuous shots. It offers a maximum shooting speed of 4.1 fps. The second mode doesn’t allow for continuous shooting. However, it offers very quiet functioning for single shots.
The best compliment that you can ever get as a wedding photographer is people saying that they didn’t remember you were there. You should completely dedicate yourself to the location and your subjects. Focus on capturing the true essence of the wedding. Only then can you capture the right best shots.
Use Your Unique Style
Your style of photography defines your brand. Keep it simple, unique, and versatile. Don’t follow the trends that everyone else is. Instead, give your work a personal touch. Bring something new that interests people so that they entrust you with capturing their wedding day. Try to be consistent as much as possible. Always remember, anyone can capture photos, but a real photographer is the one who captures emotions and freezes a moment for a lifetime.
Your style can be formal, classic, or anything. What is important is your focus, consistency, and creativity! But, having a good camera helps. The Canon 6D offers you multiple ‘picture styles’ that you can choose from to define your style.
The camera’s portrait mode creates pictures with nice skin tones and overall softness. The landscape mode makes blues and greens stand out. The 6D also has a ‘faithful’ mode. This is for people who post-process images, making it an excellent option for wedding photographers.
Try to make an impressive website that relates to the general audience too. Your website must speak for your unique style. It must include your previous projects and customer reviews. This will help the new client to judge your work. If you haven’t completed any professional project yet, you can do photoshoots on your own too. Just make sure you sound confident so that the client can be motivated to work with you.
