All of the Gear and Programs I Use in My Wedding Photography Business
**Updated January 2022**
Jay & I get asked a lot what gear we use so I decided to whip up a post that lists ALL of the gear, systems, bags & programs we use to run our wedding photography biz so this post is pretty long. I’ll have little notes under some of the links if there’s a savings for you!
As is my usual, no fluffy intro…LETS GOOOOOO
Wedding Photography Gear:
We used to be Canon users. I was ride or die Canon from 2009-2019. But we recently switched over to Sony (begrudgingly on my part but I can admit when Im wrong because the Sony A7iii is amazing!!).
*Links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links to products we love! *
I was on the fence between the A7iii and the A7Riii but I decided that we reeeeeally didn’t need the extra megapixels. The files on the 7iii are smaller & more manageable, and they can still be printed really large which is all I cared about!
Plus I heard from many, many photographers who used both cameras that the autofocus on the 7iii was better than the newer 7Riii and the AF is a HUGE reason of why I was leaving Canon behind.
We each have a 7iii and we have one as a backup as well.
Y’all….this camera!!!! Small. Lightweight. Fits in your pocket. Has just as many megapixels as our Sony A7III. Its super non-intimidating so wedding guests actually relax more around us when we shoot with it thus producing much better documentary style candid images. Its a fixed 35mm lens but there are adapters to make it a 50mm & 28mm and we have both! I LOVE THIS CAMERA.
We just got these in March 2020 and sold our Sigma 50mm’s. I LOVE this lens.
I thought about getting the Sony 50mm 1.4 but for that price I could get 2 55mm 1.8’s so we could each have a new Sony lens. The photos are tack sharp but the bokeh is droolworthy. To me, it looks like film!
I sold my Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART lens & replaced it with this one! I actually really enjoy the wider angle of this lens. It feels really documentary to me. So far, I’ve used it for “landscape” photos at Disney, as well as wedding portraits, group photos & candid shots for the cocktail hour but I know I’ll be relying on it for really tight spaces at weddings where my 55mm is just too close.
We got this lens in late 2021 and it has literally been GLUED to Jay’s camera. Im pretty sure the last 6 weddings of our 2021 season he didn’t take it off until the dancing started when he switches over to his 16-35mm.
This is Jay’s favorite portrait lens! Its wonderful for portraits & the bokeh is dreamy too.
Jay uses this for ceremonies in churches and uh…thats about it. It’s a heavy son of a bitch though – we’re hopefully replacing it this year in 2022 with a Sony version!
Why’d we get the 4.0 instead of 2.8?
Two reasons.
1. Money. The 4.0 is significantly less expenses than the 2.8
2. Jay literally never shoots this lens at anything under f/5.6 sooooo seemed kinda dumb to get the 2.8 version when he never shoots that aperture anyway on it.
I shoot with 2 cards in, both are 128GB and BOTH are having Raw files written to them as backup measures.
If there is one thing you buy on this list, I don’t care which brand of camera you shoot, get the fricken Godox V1’s. They have them for Sony, Canon & Nikon as far as I can tell. They trigger wirelessly AAAAANNNNDDDD you can shoot SO many photos in a row without the battery needing to catch up!!!
I used to miss things because my Canon 600’s would need to refresh after 5 bursts of photos, but these babies…I read you can do up to 100 images before it needs to refresh. While testing them out, I took 30 photos in a row (literally just held the shutter button down so it was done in a burst) & it flashed for every single one of them.
So now, I don’t miss a damn thing which is so important.
JJC Macro Filters 49mm thread for Sony 55mm 1.8 lens
A few years ago I decided to lighten my load and got rid of my 100mm macro lens because I was literally only using it to take photos of the rings. But then I still had to lug it around the rest of the day!
Enter the macro filters! I love these because they fit easily in my bag, they weigh NOTHING, and you can stack them to get even closer. The link is for a 49mm threading, which is what our Sony 55mm 1.8 lenses are.
Check the threading of the lens you plan to use these with to buy the correct size.
Accessories for Wedding Photographers:
I LOVE THIS BACKPACK. And it comes in tons of colors – I want the yellow & red ones too. And the pink. Ahhhh. If you click the link above, you’ll get $20 off!
Anyway, This is my “accessories” bag, which holds the back up camera, both my flashes, a back up 50mm lens, both of my flashes, my mini printer, and lots of cleaning tools, a sewing kit & more!
AKA my Mary Poppins Apron. At least, that’s what 50 bridesmaids at this point have dubbed it haha I LOVE this thing. I put my phone, portable fan, timeline, film, snacks, tide to go pen, regular pen, crochet hook, bandaids, safety pins, bobby pins, hair ties, and SO MUCH MORE in it. Its lovely.
Electronics:
I for one don’t mind having a 5TB hard drive to store all my photo shit because it’s not the only place that I have my work backed up to. My couples galleries & Dropbox are 2 other places that the photos will always live on just in case this bad boy takes a tumble and dies on me. This was my main hard drive for years, but now it just holds my RAW files after Im done editing weddings.
Sandisk Portable SSD 2TB Harddrive
This is my workhorse hard drive as of 2021! It imports RAW files So. Fricken. Fast. I used to wait hours for my LaCie to import but now they’re downloaded in less than 30 minutes! Which means I get to go to bed faster after we get home from working a long wedding day
This thing is SUPER fast with uploading my cards which is SO NICE after working a long wedding day & I just want to go to bed! I pop the cards in, start the upload, and then hop in the shower real quick and once Im out, the photos are on my harddrive and I can go to sleep.
I tried so hard to work on a desktop but I just can’t do it. I love my 13in Macbook. Plus, I can take it with me on our many travels.
Programs:
Lightroom/Photoshop/Bridge
We signed up for the Adobe Photographers Bundle which includes Lightroom, Photoshop & Bridge!
I edit the photos in Lightroom, but in the rare instance that a photo needs to be re-touched I take it into Photoshop, and finally I use Bridge to organize the files when I’m sorting them into categories for the online gallery & rearranging them for blogging (-:
Formerly known as C1ick Match, now The Archetype Process! These are the Lightroom color profiles I use to edit photos (-:
I love these profiles because I have to do VERY minimal editing. Usually I up the exposure, contrast & shadows a bit, lower the highlights, +10 vibrancy and VOILA. Magic. But that’s also because I nail my exposure & lighting in camera which is 90% of the work.
I specifically have the Kodak pack since that’s the film I shoot. Here are some Before & After examples using the profiles (I applied Kodak Ektar 100 to both of these examples)
I used to cull photos in Lightroom which was a NIGHTMARE and took forever. Then I heard about Photomechanic and my life changed. I can cull a wedding in 30 minutes.
YES. A FULL wedding can be culled in 30 minutes or less. I cull every wedding as soon as we get home. I upload all of my files to my harddrive and once they’re on (and Ive taken my quick shower), I start uploading Jay’s. While his are uploading, I cull my files in PM & then import them to Lightroom. While those are uploading, I then cull his files and upload them. Its MAGICAL and LIFE CHANGING.
Magic Trick: cull BACKWARDS. I reverse the images in Photomechanic so Im culling the reception first. For some reason, this helps me fly through the process. I also only mark the files I want to keep instead of the ones I want to trash which is what I used to do and it took me longer.
I’ve been blogging since 2010 and two years ago my website suddenly became slow as shit. It was incredibly frustrating and after lots of research I realized that I had been uploading really big file sizes.
To take care of the photos already on my blog I had to install a plug-in to reduce the file sizes but I downloaded JPEG Mini to take care of that issue before I blog them.
Best part is you can link it to Lightroom and have the file size be reduced INSTANTLY on export with the JPEG Mini plug in!! One less thing I have to do manually!
I’ve been using BlogStomp for YEARS and it was a game changer. It makes blogging SO much easier & you can put up to 24 images into one which honestly saves space on your site but you can still show off tons of images.
You can create many different templates, add your watermark, upload right to social media…its great!
Making albums used to be a NIGHTMARE. It would take me 12-16 hours to design one in Photoshop and that was using templates!!
Then a new program entered the scene in 2010 and I cried tears of relief. With SmartAlbums I can design an album in 15 minutes!
I loveeee SmartSlides! I can make beautiful slideshows not just for my couples but for Social Media, blog posts, portfolios, and even to emotionally show off the album design!
There isn’t a large assortment of music like other places but I LOVE enough of the songs so I aint mad about the slim pickins.
*If you sign up via the link you’ll get 2GB free! *
I love Instaproofs. Like, I LOVE it. I’ve been using them since 2016, and I made the VERY stupid decision in 2020 to try out Pic-Time, where I made a whopping $2,500. So I went back to Instaproofs in 2021.
Instaproofs is a money making machine when set up correctly. Since 2016, I consistently make $15,000+ a year selling prints on Instaproofs.
In 2021 I made $21,946.
So use it.
*get 60 days free when you sign up with the link above!*
I literally still kick myself for waiting so long to use a proper Client Management System (CRM) like Tave. I was using Wedding Wire for 8 years because I could do contracts, invoicing & questionnaires through them and figured I was already paying them for advertising so why spend more money on a CRM?
Then Wedding Wire took away all those features (and I stopped advertising with them) so I scrambled to find a CRM.
Tave has made me SO MUCH more money because I never forget to send an invoice, my couples can add things on to their quote before they book, and the automation features are a game changer. It definitely takes some getting used to, and I don’t use it to its full capabilities, but good lawd, Im in love with it.
*when you sign up with the link above you get 50% off your subscription for the first 3 months AND a $50 Visa gift card*
Jay’s in charge of our finances & taxes and all that jazz and he swears that Quickbooks is a lifesaver. My uncle, who is our accountant, agrees that it also makes his life easier when he does our taxes!
*when you click that link you get $20 off your purchase!*
Alright, I’ve been using Pro.Photo since like…2012. So forEVER. The only other website builder I’ve used?
Apple.
Yeah. And I had to hand code that one. Yikes.
So I love Pro.Photo + WordPress, it’s a match made in heaven! I love nothing more than being 100% in control of my website’s design & WordPress has the best stuff for ranking high with SEO.
Other:
Im putting Airpods on my list because they changed my life. My husband HATES when I listen to Podcasts because I do it on 2x speed so I can pop in my Pods and listen to business podcasts while I work.
They also make my life easier for client calls! With the Airpods in, it’s a lot easier for me to hear both of my couples when Im put on speaker phone vs when I hold my phone up to one ear.
I LOVE CANVA. I signed up for the pro account because its THAT great. I use it to make more visually appealing Pin’s, free downloads for wedding planning & photographers, and even Instagram stories!
I loveeee this app. It tracks my drives so I don’t have to! Since I drive so much for work, I write off my mileage vs writing off car repairs because I don’t really ever need repairs.
I swipe a drive right if it was for business & left if it was personal. It tallies up monthly how much my business drives are worth and at the end of the year I send the drives to my accountant to be written off! Much better than keeping a pen & notepad in the car to calculate.
I use Tailwind for both Pinterest & Instagram – its one of VERY few programs that Instagram will allow to post FOR you which is a fucking godsend.
I use this at every wedding because it uses a compass to show me exactly where the Sun will be & at what time! So if Im scouting a First Look spot that isn’t happening for 3 more hours, I can tell if the light will be garbage or amazing in that spot at that time.
Dropbox is my photo backup system. I have 2TB’s of storage (right now) so this is where all of my edited JPEG files live the moment they’re done exporting from Lightroom. I also keep anything I’ve downloaded, such as educational materials & presets, in my Dropbox in case my hard drive crashes!
Are you a wedding photographer struggling to book dream clients and make a living with your craft? Contact me today to set up a mentor session! From SEO to Marketing, Im here to help you!
