MURPHY'S LAW AND PHOTOGRAPHY - PRECAUTIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS from Feroz Ali's blog

Ever heard of Murphy's law? No insult to the Irish intended but this expression has entered the language as a way of saying that you should bear in mind that if it is possible that some mishap is going to occur, you should count on it happening.

Now Murphy's law has its application in Wedding film and photographyas it does in many other areas of life. A key difference however is that if all the pictures you take of the family outing get ruined it certainly can be upsetting but there is no comparison between this and making a mess out of photographing someone's wedding. The wedding is one of those landmark occasions in life where you want everything to go just right and getting excellent service out of your photographer has become an important ingredient in what goes into making a happy wedding day.

While there is no way any photographer can fully guard themselves from a Murphy's law happening, you can go along way to narrow down the range of possible problematic situations that might occur. Even before you set off for the wedding hall you should be going through your checklist of the photography equipment you need to bring with.

For example, experienced photographers always bring a few cameras along with them since you never known when a camera might jam. All these cameras should be loaded and you should have a plentiful supply of extra film and fully charged digital cameras available. In addition, you should verify that you have all the different types of lenses you might want to use including a telephoto lens for close up shots of the happy couple and a wide angle lens for the family group shots.

Spare lighting is another good idea to bring along with you since it is not unknown for lighting to blow and you do not want to waste time in a futile search for replacement lighting. A spare supply of batteries, lens cleaning fluids and all the other small items that go into the professional photographer's bag should also be brought along.

The actual wedding celebration might not be as well organized as you would like but there is no excuse for you not being well organized. If you can arrive early it leaves plenty of time to check out the best locations for shots and to set up all your equipment without the last Wedding film and photography minute mad rush that leads to errors and accidents. Also, you leave yourself ample opportunity to coordinate the photography with the family and setup the pre-wedding pictures.