The Crucial Significance of Being Familiar with Your Gear as a Wedding Photographer.
There are a plethora of different pieces of kit that you have to be comfortable with. The most obvious one being a camera. Dslr cameras are very complicated types of equipment, but they can be learned with a reasonable amount of effort. To go along with your digital camera, you will also want an external flash and tripod; both of these are fairly self explanatory to use.
Now that these tools are understood, you'll have the technical knowledge to begin your wedding photography business - although it's but a single part of the skills you will need. As has been said earlier, there is much more to wedding photography than just knowing how to work your equipment.
But this isn't the finish of your search for technical proficiency, since after the wedding itself, you'll need to be able to edit your pictures, so a desktop PC with photography editing software is needed. But that is the topic for another time.
Now, if you are a seasoned photographer with a string of cameras and other bits of kit, then this will not apply to you, but if you've procured your camera and accessories recently then you'll want to be more than competent with your kit. You need to know it back to front.
There really is only one method to understand your kit, which is to practice with it €" a lot. That is not to imply that you can only shoot weddings with it, but you must get out and get shooting. Fill memory cards with photograph after photo. Don't concern yourself with artistry, but focus on learning about your equipment, that every little eccentricity, every little button of your kit is known by you.
It is not sufficient to know how to make your flash flash, but you need to know how long it takes to recycle €" the length of time till it's is ready to flash again €" could there be a delay? If so, whets the length? How does battery usage affect it? So too with your DSLR €" what's the battery length? Do you only have one battery? Really?
I am sure you get the picture€¦
When you're out snapping practice photographs, pack your bag as if it were a wedding event €" always keep batteries in the same pouch, just like your other equipment etc. Everything must have its own spot, and you should know where that place is without thinking.