Wedding season generally comes twice a year — early fall before it gets too cold, and the summer time. As a wedding videographer, you should plan to be busy during these two seasons. Considering weddings are booked so far in advance, you can be facing a scorcher of a summer wedding — but don’t let this deter you. This article can help you manage through filming during the dog days of summer weddings.
Necessary Gear for a Summer Wedding
Summer weddings can be as expressive and playful as a summer vacation, so I like to bring my DJI Ronin Gimbal Stabilizer and get as many sweeping shots as I can. You can capture the energy and spirit of summer with your camera movements and capture stunning B-roll. When you can visually see the heat of the sun, I like to create a visceral edit to put the viewers back into the day of their wedding.
On the topic of outside, this is a good opportunity to get some landscape shots with your bride and groom. Bring a 35mm lens (or maybe even a 24mm) and get wide shots of the landscape. Chances are, you’re at a venue with a surplus of space that can fill a large frame. These extreme wide shots will help balance your edit with all the close-ups you will have of the bride and groom.
Extra Gear to Consider:
Filters
Summer weddings will likely have some part of it outside. Be sure to bring a neutral density filter for each of your lenses (or at least one for each camera body). Neutral density filters are essentially sunglasses for your lenses. In case you haven’t noticed, the sun is bright and gives off a lot of light. ND filters slightly reduce that light coming into your camera which will allow you to use certain camera settings to achieve similar looks that you can get on shady days or indoors. For example, if you want to shoot with a shallow depth of field, the brightness of the sun may prevent you from opening your aperture wide enough, even with a low ISO. Once that data is blown out, you won’t even be able to fix it in post.
Small Towel
I like to bring a small hand towel so can dry off the sweat on my hands and face. Aside from personal comfort, you should also have a towel for the bride. I wouldn’t suggest being the go-to sweat blotter for the bride, but politely suggest to her makeup person or maid of honor to consider dapping her forehead for sweat if she’s out in the hot sun. You need to make sure that your closeups of the bride aren’t compromised by sweat that she may not want to show in the final video.
Water
Start the day hydrated — like really hydrated, because it’s going downhill from there. I bring a 64 oz.insulated water growler with some ice cubes in it to stash in my gear closet so I can recharge myself while I recharge my camera batteries. An unconscious videographer is an ineffective videographer and the summer sun has no sympathy.
Sunscreen
I’ll typically wear long sleeves and accept the burn but, depending on how your skin fares, consider bringing sunscreen. If you’re bald, I don’t even need to tell you to put on sunscreen. Face and lip sunscreen are underrated so be sure to protect yourself especially if you have many weddings booked for the summer.
Spare Camera
I know this will be budget-pending, but there is a non-zero chance that one of your cameras overheats. While I always suggest bringing two camera bodies, you may want to consider bringing a third camera body just to store in a cool and dry place on the wedding day as an emergency back-up. It will be extra hot in certain locations, such as an urban environment with a blacktop. If you’re feeling the heat from the top and bottom, think about your camera that will have millions of rapid movements spinning inside of it.
Reflectors
The sun can be unruly and, if you’re shooting outside, you may not have many obstacles to help cut or direct your light. Bring a bounce card or reflector! This will allow you to stage your couple in dimmer places, but bounce light to fill them so the background isn’t so blown out.
Extra Person
Having a second person means you can also take a break from the heat if needed. You’ll want to keep your focus in the heat, especially if you are running around and chasing after the bride and groom.
What to Wear as a Videographer
If you’re anything like me and sweat easily, you’ll want to consider bringing extra shirts to weddings. I’ll usually wear a white shirt under a dress shirt. I do torture myself with long sleeve shirts, but may roll up the sleeves when it gets hot. My go-to shirts are mostly cotton with some type of moisture-wicking material.
If I do sweat, I want it to disappear quickly and not stain my shirt. Polo shirts are also good options to consider. I know everybody has their own style, so if the situation permits, consider looking at performance fishing shirts. They are incredible breathable and built for enduring the hot sun. No matter what, I’ll always wear black to be discreet.
I highly recommend wearing pants. Shorts are not yet acceptable for weddings. Ladies can wear dresses if you feel comfortable and have the proper mobility you desire. I like to wear slightly stretchy pants that are straight and not too tight so I can bend down and get the low angles.
Bring a pair of sunglasses to at least preserve the integrity of your eyes. Squinting through the sun will not serve you well when your job is to capture beautiful shots throughout the day. Keep them on your person and wear them whenever it’s not compromising you being able to properly see your camera screen.
Dark or black sneakers are suggested since you’ll likely be running around a bit outside. Some shots may require you to get behind a bush, in sand, or through some tall grass. If you know the second half of the wedding will be inside, you can always bring a second pair of dress shoes to switch into.
Tips for Summer Wedding Videographers
Use Lens flares Tactically
Lens flares can easily ruin your footage or obscure somebody’s face. While they are fun to capture practically, know that you can always add them in post. If you are filming a lens flare, be sure to be extremely deliberate with it. Control where it’s going, avoid it shooting directly through the lens, and don’t obscure important faces.
Avoid Direct Sunlight
Let’s say there are no clouds in the sky and you’re trying to stage a cinematic shot of the couple looking cute. Your ND filter will be the first line of defense to get a shallower depth of field, but that sun is still bright. Bring them into a shady spot perhaps under a tree. If you’re looking for a close-up on their faces, you don’t want to see harsh shadows given off their noses. Soften that light with natural shadows around or consider using your bounce card as a flag to make your own shade.
Know Where the Sun is
Say you’re filming first looks and want to capture that first tear come down the groom’s eye. You should plan to capture two opposite angles: one angle of the bride coming up behind the groom, and the other angle of the groom. You do not want the sun in either of their eyes because those tears are for the bride not for the inevitable cataracts the groom will get. Position the sun to the side of their eye line.
Golden Hour is the Reason for the Season
Golden hour may come in during the reception and by then your couple could be lost in the party. Tell them at the beginning of the day that you want to get more footage during golden hour. The photographer may already be on top of this. Getting additional footage of the couple during this time will make all the difference for your final edit. Create a hair light around your bride. Capture the warm colors filling the sky.
Don’t Mix Colors
The sun will provide you with a color between 4500k-6500k. If you are shooting inside during the day and have large windows, your hand might be forced to mix color temperatures. Avoid this with your camera angles if possible. Consider using a camera like the Sony A7R V that has a rich color profile that may allow you to balance the colors in post. You can use a free color grading program like Davinci Resolve to isolate the areas of different color temperatures and try to balance it to match the other colors in the room.
Conclusion
The sun during summer weddings can be both your biggest enemy and most harmonious friend. Waking up early to track the sun’s path can help you prepare for the long day ahead. Bring spare waters for those around you. Clouds can come up at any time so roll with the punches and consider getting the same shot multiple times in different types of light.
