Learning Tools for the Aspiring Wedding Photographer

In this, Part 3 of my series on my process getting into the business of wedding photography, I wanted to share the sources from which I gleaned most of my "book" knowledge on the subject and continue to do so on a regular basis. There is no substitute for real world hands on experience but you have to show up with the knowledge base to be able to play.
I don't want to assume anything so I will first list some great sources for the fundamentals of camera operation, composition, lighting, etc. Your camera is a tool and you must have the right tool for the job and you must know it inside and out. Problems always occur because that is life but you must know how to troubleshoot on the fly. A wedding of all events is not the place to practice. It is where we put into practice all the hours of learning and honing of the fundamentals: aperture, shutterspeed, ISO, white balance, focus, off camera flash, and low light photography as well as composition and seeing creatively. Some days things just go smooth and on others they just hit the fan. The more knowledge and insight into your primary and backup equipment you have the better equipped you are to recognize the problem and arrive at a quick solution. So, here is a comprehensive, but by no means ,exhaustive list of resources I have found invaluable to me as a photographer in general and as they pertain to wedding photography.

Proprietary Camera Manual- yes, the manual that came in the box with your camera of choice and I highly suggest a digital slr(single lens reflex) camera body with 10 mp or better and several fast lenses of differing focal lengths. The manual is written specifically for your equipment and holds most of the information you need to comfortably operate said camera in most conditions. It will give you a basic education in aperture, shutterspeed and ISO and how they all work together to arrive at a great exposure. I assume you will already have this understanding but if not the manual is the first place to go. It will also explain in detail the myriad of functions, buttons, and settings available on your specific model. I suggest a comfortable working knowledge of Manual setting and at the very least Aperture and Shutter Speed Priority settings. The Program setting along with the other Auto functions are convenient at best and very limiting to the fast paced action and low light conditions a wedding presents. You will find yourself with too slow a shutter speed to capture action and you will end up with a blur or your aperture will be wide open and nothing important will be in focus or vice versa a small aperture will yield the same blur.

Other Sources for Photography Fundamentals
The Camera-the Negative- Ansel Adams
The Basic Book of Photography -Tom and Michele Gimms
Understanding Exposure- Bryan Peterson
Understanding Shutter Speed- Bryan Peterson
Learning to See Creatively- Bryan Peterson
Photographic Composition- Grill and Scanlon
The Elements of Photography-Focal Press ( also has loads of other gret books on photography)
Amherst Media Services-books and more books by professional photographers- I have several and they are all good. (google Amherst Media)
Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography- Brenda Tharp
John Shaw's Landscape Photography
Location Lighting Solutions- Jack Neubart
The Moment It Clicks and The hot Shoe Diaries- Joe Mcnally
Within the Frame and VisonMongers- David Duchemin
Advertising Photography-Lou Lesko
Wedding Photography- Steve Sint

http://www.strobist.com/- lighting instruction
http://www.digitalpgotographyschool.com/- good tutorials for camera basics and lighting
http://www.photo.net/-  a great resource for all things photography

The Business of Photography- yes, photography is 10% clicking and 90% marketing and hard work
The Business of Studio Photography- Edward R. Lilley
Best Practices for Photographers- John Harrington
The Photographers Guide to Marketing and SelfPromotion-Piscopo
http://www.photo.net/- visit the forums on business and specific specialties
http://www.ndavidking.com/- go to Links tab and view a whole list of great resources.

The bottom line is to be a good photographer you require good solid skills which come from working with your camera, learning its capabilities, asking lots of questions, making lots of mistakes, and being humble enough to accept that this is an ongoing learning process and you can't learn enough.
These resources I have listed are the ones I use and there are more which I won't mention here as they do not pertain to wedding photography. These will help you get your feet wet, inpsire you, or make you realize shooting once and awhile on weekends is not such a bad way to go.

In Part 4, I will show what is in my bag , why its there, and how each component helps me to accomplish what I need to for your typical wedding.

unitl then......