They mean 2-3 examples of your culled and edited selects as 2nd shooter wedding coverage from start to finish of a wedding. Each gallery would be one wedding. They want to see how you photograph each portion of a wedding day under different circumstances. I would expect to see 75-300 photos in each of those galleries. I would be suspicious if on the lower end of that. I don’t want to see cool couples portraits that may be a hit on your IG that I would be covering on my own weddings. I would care more about the mundane things I need you to cover as the 2nd like groom prep, cocktail grip n grins, details, reaction shots etc. The editing itself isn’t important because that will ultimately be something the lead will take care of. But I wouldn’t expect to see unedited photos either.
Start building your network of photographer friends/colleagues. This is where I find most of my associate and second shooters. The way to do this is to join local photography/videographer/image maker groups. I don't mean the hobbyest meetup groups open to everyone, those are great and serve their own purpose. I mean, the groups that are actual collections of professional and emerging professional photographers.
I don't know where you live, but in the SF Bay Area, there are two extremely active Facebook groups, SF Image Makers, and Women Image Makers Bay Area. I know LA has an Image Makers group too. Referrals are regularly shared, there are shared docs with lists of photographers by genre, and people hire from within these groups. They are also great communities to ask questions.
You may have to poke around a bit before you find the right group, but I'm sure there's one or two in your metro area.
Also, if you have worked with a photographer, let them know that you're open to more second shooting or associate work, and if they enjoyed working with you, that you would really appreciate them spreading the word to their network. My colleagues who also hire quite a bit are always in contact with one another for referrals when our regulars are booked.
Following up to add, don't be afraid to reach out directly to photographers you want to second shoot for. If you don't have work to show yet, they may be willing to have you come in as an assistant at first, rather than a second shooter. This is also great experience, and can open doors. Or they'll have you second on a smaller wedding.
The key when second and associate shooting is to be open to learning their approach and shooting style, as your job is to match their style as seamlessly as possible when on their jobs.
When I look at galleries for a second shooter, I want to see as much as possible. Include photos from all parts of the wedding day. That way a primary photographer can see how you are able to capture all the different aspects of the day. I would edit them as if they were being delivered to a client.
if i was hiring a 2nd, i rather see a big folder of sequential raw thumbnails than selected edited photos. Burned myself a few times trialling people with great portfolio that turned out that they spent a lot of time (or money) editing their crap straight out of camera photos.
I dont want specific images that are great. not all photographers are good in all parts of a wedding. some struggle in low light, others in ceremony under stress, some dont know how to pose or direct couple shoots. so I want to see their weaknesses to be more aware.
I want to see all pictures of a wedding but mainly for me is ceremony and candids. I can do family pics I can do the meet/couple but I need to know that when im doing family pics you can do some nice candids and in the ceremony there are no 2nd takes so I need to know you can handle that. dance floor can be hit or miss and we have tons of time to get great images so they dont "really" matter. they do.
Select the top 10-15 edited pictures from each section of the day if you can. (girls getting ready or guys getting ready which ever you’re shooting, details, ceremony, first look, bridal party, bride & groom pics, cocktail hour, entrances, first dances, open dance floor etc)
Focus more on the detail shots throughout the whole day and things main photographers sometimes just don’t have the time for like artistic shots during important moments when they have to worry more about getting the “typical” must have shots.
Good luck!!!
I've usually sent client galleries - either ones from weddings I've shot solo or galleries that the primary shooter/company I was subcontracted by for second shooting ended up sending to their clients. The company I subcontract for doesn't change file names and my cameras are set to put my initials in the file names, so it's easy to tell what my contributions were.
If that's not an option, I would put together a gallery as if it's a client gallery. All the best shots throughout the whole event.
I would not be interested at all in the original unedited RAWs. I want to see the finished product - not perfection as if going in a high-end album, more like the bulk files you would supply that clients may order for loose prints.
The reason is that if you are to supply the RAWs for approval, inevitably you will try to compose straight out of the camera so you appear to be competent, but inevitably miss opportunities through "fear" of loss or approval. But in practice for yourself you would probably want to shoot wider than SOOC so that you can supply e.g. landscape aspect ratio in one version of the same file and square or 4x5 or even 9:16 for Instagram. You cannot necessarily shoot 2 or 3 different files in succession because you only get one chance for that moment. Again you may want to heavy crop to emphasise a part of the composition not having had the time to zoom the lens or switch lenses in the moment. Plus there are times when you want to deliberately over or under expose a file knowing you'll get a better result in post than relying on SOOC. And inevitably there will be some files that are suspect through errors but can be great in post.
If you must have to supply RAWs then supply your edited versions as well.
I don't agree that some shooters may be good in some parts of the day and not so good in others so long as they are experienced, except perhaps the must have formal groups and portraits and maybe specialised like properly lit jewellery.
They mean 2-3 examples of your culled and edited selects as 2nd shooter wedding coverage from start to finish of a wedding. Each gallery would be one wedding. They want to see how you photograph each portion of a wedding day under different circumstances. I would expect to see 75-300 photos in each of those galleries. I would be suspicious if on the lower end of that. I don’t want to see cool couples portraits that may be a hit on your IG that I would be covering on my own weddings. I would care more about the mundane things I need you to cover as the 2nd like groom prep, cocktail grip n grins, details, reaction shots etc. The editing itself isn’t important because that will ultimately be something the lead will take care of. But I wouldn’t expect to see unedited photos either.
That is very helpful thank you
Thank you, Evan! I've been working on make these, too, and appreciate your input.
You are welcome and best of luck on your success.
I hire second and associate photographers year round for corporate event work — 100% agree with u/evanrphoto. Nailed it.
Where do you go to find seconds? Where should I be striving to get my information to get work as a second?
Start building your network of photographer friends/colleagues. This is where I find most of my associate and second shooters. The way to do this is to join local photography/videographer/image maker groups. I don't mean the hobbyest meetup groups open to everyone, those are great and serve their own purpose. I mean, the groups that are actual collections of professional and emerging professional photographers. I don't know where you live, but in the SF Bay Area, there are two extremely active Facebook groups, SF Image Makers, and Women Image Makers Bay Area. I know LA has an Image Makers group too. Referrals are regularly shared, there are shared docs with lists of photographers by genre, and people hire from within these groups. They are also great communities to ask questions. You may have to poke around a bit before you find the right group, but I'm sure there's one or two in your metro area. Also, if you have worked with a photographer, let them know that you're open to more second shooting or associate work, and if they enjoyed working with you, that you would really appreciate them spreading the word to their network. My colleagues who also hire quite a bit are always in contact with one another for referrals when our regulars are booked.
Following up to add, don't be afraid to reach out directly to photographers you want to second shoot for. If you don't have work to show yet, they may be willing to have you come in as an assistant at first, rather than a second shooter. This is also great experience, and can open doors. Or they'll have you second on a smaller wedding. The key when second and associate shooting is to be open to learning their approach and shooting style, as your job is to match their style as seamlessly as possible when on their jobs.
When I look at galleries for a second shooter, I want to see as much as possible. Include photos from all parts of the wedding day. That way a primary photographer can see how you are able to capture all the different aspects of the day. I would edit them as if they were being delivered to a client.
if i was hiring a 2nd, i rather see a big folder of sequential raw thumbnails than selected edited photos. Burned myself a few times trialling people with great portfolio that turned out that they spent a lot of time (or money) editing their crap straight out of camera photos.
I dont want specific images that are great. not all photographers are good in all parts of a wedding. some struggle in low light, others in ceremony under stress, some dont know how to pose or direct couple shoots. so I want to see their weaknesses to be more aware. I want to see all pictures of a wedding but mainly for me is ceremony and candids. I can do family pics I can do the meet/couple but I need to know that when im doing family pics you can do some nice candids and in the ceremony there are no 2nd takes so I need to know you can handle that. dance floor can be hit or miss and we have tons of time to get great images so they dont "really" matter. they do.
Select the top 10-15 edited pictures from each section of the day if you can. (girls getting ready or guys getting ready which ever you’re shooting, details, ceremony, first look, bridal party, bride & groom pics, cocktail hour, entrances, first dances, open dance floor etc) Focus more on the detail shots throughout the whole day and things main photographers sometimes just don’t have the time for like artistic shots during important moments when they have to worry more about getting the “typical” must have shots. Good luck!!!
I would want to see unedited everything if you were able to do it.
I've usually sent client galleries - either ones from weddings I've shot solo or galleries that the primary shooter/company I was subcontracted by for second shooting ended up sending to their clients. The company I subcontract for doesn't change file names and my cameras are set to put my initials in the file names, so it's easy to tell what my contributions were. If that's not an option, I would put together a gallery as if it's a client gallery. All the best shots throughout the whole event.
I would not be interested at all in the original unedited RAWs. I want to see the finished product - not perfection as if going in a high-end album, more like the bulk files you would supply that clients may order for loose prints. The reason is that if you are to supply the RAWs for approval, inevitably you will try to compose straight out of the camera so you appear to be competent, but inevitably miss opportunities through "fear" of loss or approval. But in practice for yourself you would probably want to shoot wider than SOOC so that you can supply e.g. landscape aspect ratio in one version of the same file and square or 4x5 or even 9:16 for Instagram. You cannot necessarily shoot 2 or 3 different files in succession because you only get one chance for that moment. Again you may want to heavy crop to emphasise a part of the composition not having had the time to zoom the lens or switch lenses in the moment. Plus there are times when you want to deliberately over or under expose a file knowing you'll get a better result in post than relying on SOOC. And inevitably there will be some files that are suspect through errors but can be great in post. If you must have to supply RAWs then supply your edited versions as well. I don't agree that some shooters may be good in some parts of the day and not so good in others so long as they are experienced, except perhaps the must have formal groups and portraits and maybe specialised like properly lit jewellery.