 Offers many keys to success
Damon Tucci's STEP-BY-STEP WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY: TECHNIQUES FOR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS covers all the basics of assuring wedding shots are given meaningful, poignant preparations, from how to embark on a great consultation plan to tips on anticipating photo ops and learning what to look for during the ceremony and at the reception. From the usual lighting and posing techniques to documenting all the emotions involved in a wedding, this offers many keys to success.
Intro To Weddings
This book makes a great starting point for anyone entering the field of wedding photography. The author explains the entire process from meeting with the bride to shooting on the day.
His style is distinctive. He prefers natural lighting to flash and his posing is interesting and edgey. This is a hybrid of photojournalism and fashion photography. Meticulously posed bridal images that appear to be candid. Nicely create and composed images. I certainly recommend this book.
Could be used as a text book for into class
I really enjoyed this book and if I were teaching a intro to wedding class,
this book would be one of my textbooks. Why? Because it covers the basis first in simple to understand manner. What the book is not it is not the
intermediate or advanced wedding photography book. One thing I like was the section about packing your equipment and how to do so. Early on I learned this lesson and it saves me time as I know where everything is.
I do believe he could have gone into using flash and modifiers a little more
but there is only so much you can put in a book.
I have ordered two copies of this book for beginning wedding photographers that I know and I simply ask them to pay it forward.
 In the Pack
Sometimes I wonder if wedding photography is so competitive that practitioners are always trying to get any edge they can so that they are always willing to buy new books on wedding photography. Or maybe it's that the field looks so lucrative to outsiders that they are willing to buy wedding photography books to try and figure out how to get a piece of the pie. Or maybe it's that so much is on the line that wedding photographers will grasp at any straw to avoid an error. There must be some explanation of why there are so many books published on the subject. Here's another entry in the race.
After a brief introduction that deals with things like the initial meeting with the clients and advice like packing your bag yourself, the author follows the event in a time-ordered sequence from preparation of the bride until the end of the reception. Because he emphasizes the pressures of time to really capture the big day, he provides seven time-saving strategies. There are too-brief discussions of posing, lighting, file formats, lenses and post-production and then a message to find your passion and style.
The author is a great believer in available light photography, made easier by the newest low-noise, high ISO digital cameras. He gives us very little guidance on the use of artificial light. There is no mention of softboxes, or bounce light, or Gary Fong, all so beloved to wedding photographers.
The pictures in the book seem rather standard (except that Tucci loves to pose the bride by herself, without train, against a garishly colored wall or in an unusual setting). However, the information provided for each picture reveals his preference for wide-angle lenses (which on his Nikon camera with a crop factor of 1.5 are generally shot in the near normal range). I wish he had spent more time explaining this preference. He also appears to love a 10.5mm fisheye. It seemed to me that more than one picture like that per wedding album might be overkill, but I suppose when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Sprinkled throughout the book are lighting diagrams that show the subject, or subjects, in relation to the camera and a reflector, but rarely show the direction of the main light.
This is a fine book if you are interested in a quick look at how one wedding photographer handles his work, and picking up a few tips. But in a crowded field like this, a book really has to be good to stand out above the crowd. My own personal favorite is "Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories" by Glen Johnson, which is far more comprehensive than this book, and is the book to get if you are only getting one. Tucci would provide a nice supplement, particularly if you want to follow the available light route. But then considering how much is on the line in photographing a wedding, maybe one should read as many books as possible before undertaking the task.
A definite must have
A well written and organized approach to everything you should be doing as a wedding photographer on wedding day. Great photos grace the pages of this book as if you were paging through a wedding album. All aspects of the day are covered with good advice on each section. How the author constructs the content is enjoyable to read. Even though I have shot numerous weddings, I picked up a lot of useful information.
Again, I must emphasize the photographic content here. There are many good ideas to draw from. The images are current and trendy and they are exactly what brides today are looking for. You will always have the traditional poses but its the non traditional that will set you apart. Good advice to try especially if you're still shooting the way you were five years ago. The following quote is from pages 62-63 and stresses my point: "You must really immerse yourself to come up with the goods consistently (and by "the goods", I mean better-than-average photographs). In the competitive market of wedding photography, this is what you must produce to survive".
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