Second shooter brief template for wedding photographers

A second shooter who arrives knowing where to stand, what to shoot, and what happens to the cards at midnight does twice the work of one who has to ask. The difference is one email, sent a week out. This is that email.

Copy it, fill in every bracket, and send it 7 days before the wedding.

The brief

Wedding: [Couple], [Date] Lead: [Your name], [phone] Second: [Name], [phone] Planner on the day: [Name], [phone]

Call time and locations

• Call time: [time] at [address]. Be parked and walking in 15 minutes before this.
• Parking: [where, cost, gate code]
• Dress: [black or dark neutrals, no logos, shoes you can stand in for 10 hours]
• Wrap: [time]. If we run late, I will tell you by [time], and overtime is paid.

Your assignments by block

• Getting ready, [time]: You are with [Partner 2] at [address]. Details first (outfit, shoes, rings, invitation if it is there), then candids, then the dressed portrait. Leave for the ceremony site by [time].
• Ceremony, [time]: Your position is [back left of the aisle]. Your shots: wide of the room from the back, [Partner 1]‘s face during the walk in, guest reactions, parents in the front row, the rings from the side. I have the aisle, the exchange, and the kiss.
• Family photos, [time]: You hold the list and call the next group while I shoot the current one. Shoot candids between groups. Do not shoot over my shoulder.
• Couple portraits, [time]: Long lens, a second angle, never my angle.
• Cocktail hour, [time]: You cover cocktail hour alone while I photograph the reception room empty. Candids, groups of friends, the bar, the food.
• Reception, [time]: Entrance: you take guest reactions, I take the couple. First dance: you take the parents watching, I take the couple. Toasts: you take the couple’s reactions, I take the speaker. Cake, parent dances, exit: [assignment].

Gear

• Bring: 2 bodies, [24-70, 70-200, 35, 85], flash and trigger, [6] cards, [4] batteries.
• I supply: [second trigger, light stand, spare cards].
• Settings: [RAW] on both bodies. [Auto white balance]. Same date and time as my cameras; we sync clocks at call time.
• Dual slots: RAW to both cards if your body has 2 slots.

File naming

• Do not rename anything. Leave the camera’s own file names.
• Set your camera’s file prefix to your initials if the body allows it, so your files never collide with mine.

Cards at the end of the night

• Hand me every card before you leave. I copy them to 2 drives while you wait, then give the cards back.
• If you keep the cards overnight: do not format, and get the copies to me by [time] on [drive or upload link].
• Do not format any card until I confirm the copies are good.
• Do not post anything. Do not share photos with the couple, guests, or vendors. After the gallery is delivered, I send you [20] edited photos for your portfolio, credited as second shooter for [studio].

Pay

[Rate], paid [when] by [method]. Overtime past [time] at [rate per hour].

Questions

Text me at [phone] any time before the day. On the day, text, do not call.

When to send it

7 days out, unless the timeline is still moving. Then send it the moment the planner’s final timeline arrives, and no later than 3 days out. Earlier than 10 days, the times you give will be wrong by the day and you will send it twice. Later than 3 days, they have no time to ask questions or borrow a lens.

Then a text the night before. Not the full brief again, just call time, address, and your number. That is the message they will read at 6 AM.

Assignments by block, not a shot list

The common mistake is sending a second shooter your full shot list. They read it once, then follow you around and shoot what you shoot from 2 feet to your left. You get 2 sets of the same photos.

Give them a block at a time and one rule: never the same angle as the lead. At the ceremony you own the aisle and the exchange; they own the reactions, the wide, and the parents. At toasts you own the speaker; they own the couple’s faces. At the first dance you own the couple; they own the parents watching.

The times in the brief come straight from the wedding day timeline. If it moves, they need to know. Send the new one.

Gear and settings

Ask for what you need them to bring, then say what you supply. Most seconds own 2 bodies and a 24-70; fewer own a 70-200 or a second flash. If you need a long lens on the aisle, say so now, or lend one. The gear checklist covers what a full kit looks like.

Two settings matter more than the rest. Set the same file format on both bodies: RAW, or RAW plus JPEG if you send sneak peeks that night. And sync the clocks with yours at call time. Without matching clocks, the cull is 2 interleaved days, and the ceremony from their camera lands in the middle of your getting-ready set.

File naming: ask them to do nothing

Do not ask a second shooter to rename files. Renaming takes time they should spend sleeping, and a bad rename produces duplicates that overwrite yours. Ask for 2 things instead: leave the camera’s file names alone, and set a custom file prefix (their initials) on the body if it allows one. Most current bodies do. Their files can then never collide with yours, and you sort by capture time in the cull with no extra work.

Cards at the end of the night

Decide before the day which of 2 systems you use, and write it in the brief.

The first: they hand you every card before they leave, you copy to 2 drives while they wait, then you hand the cards back. This takes 15 to 30 minutes at the venue, and you have everything the same night.

The second: they keep the cards, do not format, and get the copies to you by a set time the next day, on a drive or an upload link. Faster at midnight, slower overall, and it relies on them. Use it only with a second you have worked with before.

Either way, the brief says: do not format until I confirm the copies are good. The backup strategy guide covers what to do with the copies once you have them.

Posting and portfolio

Say plainly that they post nothing and share nothing, then say what they get instead: a set of edited photos after the gallery is delivered, credited as second shooter for your studio. Put the number in the brief so nobody has to ask later.

The unlesses

• If this is your regular second, cut the brief to the assignments, the times, and the pay, and skip the parts they know.
• If the couple hired the second directly, or the second is a lead on their own weddings, agree the split of coverage by phone, not by email. The brief then becomes a record of what you agreed.
• If there is no planner, you are also the person telling the second when things change on the day. Say that in the brief, and text them when it happens.

Pay, contracts, and how to find a good second are in working with a second shooter.