Wedding photography is one of the most popular photography sub-niches going with many professional-level photographers earning a large portion of their income from the wedding photography gigs that they manage to land. As you would expect, with the wedding niche being so lucrative for photographers, we see large numbers of beginner photographers aspiring to become a wedding photographer to increase their income from their photography business.
Due to this, we constantly see a large number of different questions based around various tips, tricks, camera accessories, and pretty much anything else you could imagine for wedding photography. That said though, over the last few weeks, we have noticed a spike in the number of people asking questions based around “Do you need a tripod for wedding photography?“.
These types of questions are particularly common for people on a tight budget or who are new to photographer and are trying to keep their costs as low as possible. As we are seeing more and more people specifically asking about using a tripod for wedding photography, we have decided to make it the main focus of today’s article to try and help as many of our readers as possible who may be in this same situation.
So, Do You Need A Tripod For Wedding Photography?
As with most things in photography, this is going to depend on exactly what your clients are wanting from you as their photographer on their wedding day. As you probably know, wedding photography encompasses a large number of different types of photography throughout the day to preserve the moments for the happy couple as best you can.
Although many of these can be done without the use of a tripod as well as handheld run and gun style photography being very popular for various sections throughout the day, there are some situations where the image stabilization from a tripod can definitely help to improve your image quality. With more and more photographers also starting to offer videography services to their clients as a way to increase their income, the reasons for ensuring that you do have a tripod in your collection of camera accessories just increases.
That said though, even some of the tasks where using a tripod will be able to improve your image quality such as group photographs outside of the wedding venue, you can usually still get decent photographs when holding your camera in your hands. Due to this, although we would highly recommend that you do invest in a tripod as soon as possible, we do think that you could get through a wedding photography gig without having to use a tripod and still get great quality photographs for your clients.
One common misconception that we do often see from our readers is that they instantly think that they will have to pick up something like the Manfrotto MT055CXPRO3 that has a higher price tag. Although the MT055CXPRO3 is an excellent tripod that can potentially last you for decades if maintained correctly, you can go with one of the high-quality budget-friendly tripods like the Zomei z699c and still get excellent levels of image stabilization without breaking the bank.
The Best Budget Tripod For Wedding Photography Photography
As we mentioned above, in our opinion, the Zomei z699c is without a doubt one of the best budget-friendly tripods available on the market right now by a long shot. Over the last few years, the price of the decent entry-level tripods has dropped while their quality and levels of image stabilization have increased. This means that you can get some great tripods at or below the one hundred dollar price point these days making them an absolute bargain.
The Zomei z699c is our recommended tripod for anyone on a budget due to its excellent design, intermediate level features for an entry-level price tag, excellent levels of image stabilization, and it’s outstanding build quality relative to its price point. Even just five years ago you would have been hard-pressed to find all of this in a single tripod at higher price points than this.
Due to this, the Zomei z699c has managed to quickly establish itself as the king of the budget-friendly tripods and earn itself one of the best reputations that we have ever seen for its price point in the market. Its reputation alone goes to show just how good the tripod actually is and that there is no need to break the bank when looking for some image stabilization for your wedding photography gigs.
Alternatives To Tripods For Wedding Photography
We often see people reaching out and asking for alternatives to tripods for wedding photography and in all honesty, options are pretty scarce. Tripods have stood the test of time due to them being so reliable, simple to use, cheap to produce, and effective. Although you could try a monopod to keep costs down, we still feel that going with and actual tripod will almost always be the better option.
If you are looking to get involved in wedding videographer then a decent gimbal can provide you with image stabilization but it is not ideal for photography events. All of the decent entry level gimbal stabilizers also come with a much higher price tag than the decent entry level tripods too meaning that you should probably just pickup a tripod instead.
How Do You Take Pictures At Night Without A Tripod?
As we touched on earlier, if you really arnt able to invest in a tripod then you can often get through a wedding photography gig without having to use a tripod. You will probably be able to get the majority of the work done holding your camera in your hands but be sure to check with the client to ensure that they have no ideas that may specifically require a tripod for the gig.
Hand held, run and gun photography is often very popular for wedding gigs due to it being able to capture the guests at the reception in a more candid manor enjoying the day. The actual photographs at the ceremony can often be done while holding your camera body in your hands too so provided this is all the client requires from you, then you may be able to get through the gig with just handheld photography.
