Wedding and Event Photography
ART-40733
Wedding and Event Photography
9 Weeks | Prerequisites: Photo I: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (ART-40629) and Digital Photography Workflow (ART-40705)
If you’ve ever envisioned yourself capturing the stories behind life’s most memorable gatherings—whether it’s a grand wedding, an intimate elopement, a lively engagement party, or another special event—this course is your pathway to skillful, compelling imagery. Wedding and Event Photography guides you through the essential techniques for planning your shoots, using professional tools and workflows, and elevating your creative vision. You’ll learn how to blend artistry and professionalism to ensure your photographs resonate long after the celebration ends.
Course Details
In addition to mastering the technical foundations, you’ll explore how to anticipate emotional moments, understand cultural nuances, and translate them into meaningful images. The curriculum examines shooting strategies for various ceremonies, receptions, and other commercial events, as well as strategies for communicating with clients, vendors, and venues. You’ll also discover the importance of industry research, gaining insights into the work of leading professionals and the latest trends shaping the field.
Through lectures, readings, assignments, and constructive critiques, this course will help you develop a comprehensive workflow—from the initial planning stages to capturing the event and refining your final images. By the end, you’ll have the confidence, technical know-how, and creative edge to excel in both wedding and event photography, assembling a portfolio that attracts new clients and celebrates the magic of life’s special occasions.
What You'll Learn
- Identify and capture key moments and elements in wedding and event photography.
- Prepare effectively for various scenarios, from intimate engagements to large-scale ceremonies and receptions.
- Apply techniques learned here to a wide range of commercial events beyond weddings.
- Deepen your understanding of manual exposure, ensuring consistently well-lit images.
- Utilize natural and strobe lighting strategies to enhance atmosphere and mood.
- Streamline your editing process using professional-grade software.
- Enhance your editing skills to portray life-like color and skin ones.
- Develop an understanding of how to amplify the content of an image using color and black & white processing.
- Enhance your knowledge of Photoshop's Retouching Tools, the Contextual Task Bar, and Generative Fill.
- Communicate confidently with clients, vendors, and venues to foster productive relationships.
- Research industry trends and study the work of leading wedding and event photographers for inspiration.
- Integrate marketing considerations into your editing style to appeal to target clients.
- Develop a professional, cohesive portfolio that demonstrates your versatility and artistic vision.
Course Information
Equipment/Software: Fully adjustable DSLR camera, 24-70mm lens (or similar), Off Camera Flash, Creative Cloud Photography Plan required (or full Adobe Creative Cloud plan). Lightroom Classic needed (not Lightroom Creative Cloud) and Adobe Photoshop.
Recommended Materials: Zoom lens, tripod, Photo Mechanic software.
Note: This is an elective course for the Photography: Images and Techniques Professional Certificate but is open to all students, even if you are not enrolled in the Certificate Program.
Academic Calendar: The Academic Calendar shows the open enrollment dates and term start dates for each quarter. Courses do not necessarily start on the first day of the term.
Course sessions
Section ID:
Class type:
This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.
Textbooks:
All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 4/4/2025
- Early Enrollment Discount: $400 ($425 if enrolled after 3/3/2025)
- Early enrollment advised
- No UCSD parking permit required
- No visitors permitted
Note:
Schedule:
Instructor:
Melanie Fiander
Melanie's work has been featured in Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Abroad, New York Weddings, PDN, The Vendor Report, Scotland Wedding, Tie the Knot Scotland, Ländle Wedding's "Seasons of Yes", Whimsically Wed, Bermuda Weddings and Honeymoons, Bermudian Weddings, How They Asked by The Knot, The Gray Collective, Wedding Wire, United With Love, National Geographic, It Started With Yes, Glittery Bride, 100 Layer Cake, Lets Bee Together, The Newport Bride, and Wedding Chicks.
Melanie has also shown her fine artwork at Masterworks Museum and the Bermuda Society of Arts in Bermuda, The Dunes in Washington D.C., Jason Simon’s One Minute Film Festival in New York, The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Space Gallery, and Portland Museum of Art in Maine.
Although still photography is her passion, she also has experience in time-based media and video. A large portion of her work created during graduate school was centered around video and audio; one of which was shown at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine.
Melanie has also hosted and curated a short film festival called the "Fiander Film Festival" in February of 2012, a sold-out event that was held at The Dunes in northwest Washington D.C. Artists and directors from all over the US, England, Italy, and Bermuda were screened at the festival including her video created in collaboration with her husband, Jim West, titled "Heartbeats". Directors with many different levels of experience in film entered their pieces into the Fiander Film Festival.
Melanie has worked as a photography professor at The Art Institutes, Sessions College, Southern Maine Community College, and McIntosh College.
