How to Be a Good Second Shooter (H&S’s Guide to Second Shooting Pt. 2)
November 2, 2023
Hey photographer friends! Welcome back to our Photography Blog, Mastering the Wedding Photography Biz with Hunter and Sarah! Today, we’re continuing our blog series all about second shooting and how it can help photographers grow their wedding photography businesses. Even if they’re brand new to weddings! Last week, we introduced the concept of second shooting (or even assisting) other photographers. In that post, we shared the three biggest reasons why you should be doing it! This week, we’re going to give our best advice on how to be a good second shooter.
1. Set Expectations in Advance
The best thing you can do to be a good second shooter is to set expectations with your lead photographer in advance! If they haven’t told you exactly how they want you to assist them on the wedding day, then take the initiative to ask them. What do they expect of you during the wedding? Do they want you to carry bags, only shoot during the cocktail hour, and not speak unless spoken to? Or do they want you to be their co-lead, even taking charge as the primary shooter during certain parts of the day? Or maybe somewhere in between?
We’ve second shot for other photographers on both ends of this spectrum, and we always defer to whatever they prefer. Even if we’d like to take a stronger role and they want us in the background. Or even if we’d prefer to be a fly-on-the-wall and they want us front and center! Because the thing is: it’s their party. They are the lead, and when you’re the second, no matter what your comparative skill level or shooting ability, you’re there to serve them, and they’re in charge.
Second shooting is not only great experience and reps at your craft, but it can also be an exercise in humility! No matter where you are in your business or what you charge, there’s very likely someone a few steps ahead of you who you could learn from, if you’re willing to do so. More on this in Part 4.
2. Know Your Lead Photographer(s)
Here’s another tip that will help you be a good second shooter! Even if it’s your first time assisting a particular photographer, don’t go into things blind. Do your research! Check out their website and get a feel for their imagery. Stalk their social media profiles and find out how they interact with their couples. Do anything you can to find out more about them, because it’ll help you serve them better on the wedding day!
If you notice that the lead photographer is more photojournalistic than you, that knowledge will help you make some small adjustments in your shooting. That way, in the end, the lead photographer can use more of your images and still deliver a cohesive product to the couple. After all, they don’t want their wedding gallery to look like it was shot by two different photographers, even if it was!
3. Capture Variety
In our experience as lead shooters, there’s nothing more frustrating than our assistants shooting over our shoulders during high-pressure moments. Here’s an example of what we mean. If we’re photographing our couple during their portrait hour, and we hear shutters clicking in our ears, this is what our third shooters are communicating to us: “I don’t care about getting unique and different images, or enriching the final gallery for your clients. I want to get what you’re already getting to enrich my own portfolio!”
Plus, if our subjects are looking at my camera and our third shooter is taking photos within a few feet of me, our subjects will likely get confused, and their eyes will flicker back and forth between our two cameras. This can be incredibly frustrating when — in the editing process — we realize that there are no photos of the wedding party or family where everyone is looking at the camera, and it’s because our assistant wanted the same exact photo for their own portfolio!
Don’t get us wrong, during slower moments (and especially when it comes to detail photos, when we aren’t holding up anyone’s time), we don’t mind if our apprentices try to build their portfolio. In fact, that’s one of the purposes of our Apprenticeship program! But we encourage them to seek opportunities to capture angles and shots that we can’t get from where we’re shooting, and we’d encourage you to do the same.
4. Learn Their Equipment
Before every wedding with a new apprentice, we open up our camera bag and walk them through every single item in the bag, and where it belongs. This way, when we’re in the middle of a high-pressure moment on a wedding day and we ask them to run and grab our macro lens or the 70-200 or a reflector, they know where to find it, and where to put it back when we’re done. Something as simple as this can alleviate a lot of stress from us during a wedding day, and allow us to keep shooting and delivering more value to our couples rather than digging through camera bags.
If you’re assisting a photographer who shoots film and you’re unfamiliar with film, ask them to show you how you can help before the day begins. When we assist our mentor photographer (who shoots 120 mm film using the Contax 645 system), we spend a lot of time rolling film during golden hour so that he can continue shooting instead of spending his clients’ precious time rolling film.
Know where your lead photographer keeps their backup batteries and memory cards. Know whether or not they like to keep lens caps and back caps on their lenses when they’re in the bag. Have a flash ready before they ask you for it. If you serve them well, you’ll both get the most out of working together, and they’re more likely to invite you back again, or even refer work to you!
The Only Way to Learn to Be a Good Second Shooter: Get Out and Do It!
You know the best way to learn how to do something? Get out and do it! No matter how many blogs you read, you’ll only become a better second shooter or assistant if you get out and try it. If you aren’t sure where to start, stay tuned for next week’s post. We’ll discuss how to find the type of photographer who will be a good person to learn from! And in the meantime, Happy Second Shooting!
Want More?
Click HERE to get your free copy of our eBook: “5 Essential Tips for Turning your Side-Hustle into a Full-Time Photography Business.” You’ll also be subscribed to our newsletter, so our newest content, weekly encouragement, and exclusive offers will be delivered right to your inbox!
—
