• business is down
• it’s harder to book and keep weddings
• people are spending less
• potential client seem to be on a different page

I struggled with similar issues early in my career as well. We can blame it on the economy, or the new face of social media, or the access of digital cameras to the masses … but truthfully, the issues listed above have always been around. They are part of the growing pains of turning a hobby or dream into a viable, lucrative business. At some point, all small business owners hit these walls. Believe it or not, the fact that you are asking these questions means that you are ready for growth! And that’s exciting!

In many of my one on one coaching sessions with photographers, I have noticed that everyone has a blog or website, but many don’t understand how to use them effectively in order to grow and enhance their business.

Whether you are new to the industry, or have been in it for several years, one of the most important tools at your disposal is your website. This is your platform, your virtual storefront and your chance to create an amazing visual first impression. Your website is where you meet and engage your ideal client base.

Let me put it more directly … your website is where you let potential clients know who you are and why you are worth the money.

In order to do this effectively, your website needs to have five main components…

1. Relatability: Your target bride should want to be the brides she sees on your site.

• First … you need to know your target bride. Is she traditional and classic? Is she trendy and creative? Is she a statement destination bride or a classic country club bride? Does she want a farmhouse wedding with rustic accents or a five-star hotel wedding with high glamour?

• Then… show her pictures of her dream wedding! If most people who hire you are getting married at the local country club – putting a photo of a destination wedding as your homepage might impress them, but it won’t create an emotional pull towards you … because it’s not relatable. Decide who you want as your client and then show images that speak to her dreams and vision for her wedding day.

2. Credibility: Press, testimonials, and other recommendations will help create credibility on your site. This is especially true if you are just starting out. People want to work with someone they can trust. The best way to show them that you are as fantastic as you look is to have someone else tell them! Here’s how to get the cred…

• Are you new to the industry? Chances are you have photographed events for family and friends … ask them to write a 1 – 2 line testimonial of what they loved most about the images or working with you.

• Have you worked a few weddings and made great connections with other vendors? Cross market! Ask them to refer clients to you, and offer to do the same for them! In the process, ask if they could supply a one or two-line quote to put on your website. It gives you credibility, and gives them a little extra marketing plug!

• Have you been around for a while? Then you probably have a ton of testimonials right at your fingertips … the thank you notes your beautiful brides have sent when they received their images! Pull a quote from your favorite notes and show them along side a stunning photo from their wedding. The bride will be honored to be a feature on your site, and your potential clients will see what former brides have to say about you.

3. Emotion: As photographers, we often fall in love with an image from a technical or artistic perspective so we put it on our website. Stop!

Our clients are (typically) not photographers. They aren’t always aware of the technical or artistic perspectives. They are looking for emotion when they view your photos. Whether they know it or not, they are choosing you based largely on how they feel when they look at your images.

Let your website portfolio show the special moments and secret looks. The laughter and the tears. Once you have created a solid portfolio of the emotional shots, then sprinkle in a few artistic images of the dress and details to show that you can rock those, too! Think of the detail shots as the seasoning sprinkled throughout. Let the emotional moments be the main course!

4. Specialization: Many of us have a few different photographic specialties. Perhaps you have done corporate work in the past and are keeping that as a sideline to bolster your business in slower seasons. Or maybe you are dabbling with family portraiture as you follow your brides through the next phase of their journey. That’s great! Let me caution you about putting all of your eggs in one web basket.

If you are growing your wedding business and branding yourself that way, don’t dilute your message by showing all of your portfolios in one place. I know it sounds pricey, but I am a firm believer in separating out your sites.

Brides are in the midst of dreaming about their big day! They are emotionally tied to it and sometimes it’s all they can think about. While they may want to start a family, those images are not as compelling to them in this moment.

Similarly, once they are past the wedding, they will only want to look at maternity & newborn images and start dreaming about that milestone. Other people’s weddings will not seem as interesting. Show your clients what they are looking for, and put links to your other sites so that they can move along with you to the next phase.

5. Authenticity: Emotion cannot be manufactured. It has to be authentic. Your website needs to show authentic moments, and it needs to show that you understand the magic and power of those moments. Your potential client is trusting you with “ the most important day of their lives”. Show them that you get it! Be aware of the little things … the quiet moments, the butterflies in the stomach, the power of the first dance … put yourself in their shoes!

If you photograph weddings based solely on the latest looks from Pinterest the images will always seem hollow and in-authentic to your client. Dig deep!! Know what is in your heart!! Demonstrate your passion and connection through your photography and put that on your website.

SO there you go … website 101. You have the passion… you have the talent. Now go tweak that website and get the clients!

Thanks for reading. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information about specific topics! I’d love to hear how I can help you take the next steps!

–
Laura Novak has over 10 years of wedding photography experience, and her work has been featured on numerous national and international publications. Visit Laura’s site, www.lauranovak.com, to download a sample album that she used to generate over 1.2 million dollars in wedding business. Laura in Wilmington, Delaware with her husband, John, and baby, Andrew.

Mainly wedding photography, I would do just that!

Story behind this image: The Bride (in black) is the woman in center and i like this shot because I think it is very fresh and show how friendship is beautiful. And then, how many black brides we can photograph?

How would you describe your style?

With my style of photography I try to offer a new perspective on wedding photography: I try to capture moments as they happen by themselves. My goal is to use photography to tell the story of your wedding day as it unfolds spontaneously. I prefer to let the day’s events take place naturally, trying to always be ready to capture them in real-time, occasionally I like to create a little fun involving couples and / or guests in photographs unexpected, witty and funny. However, for most of the day, I try to stay “in the background”, as a silent observer, paying great attention to the interaction genuine and sincere ready to capture them.

What’s your approach to post processing?

Well, i think that post processing is an important part of digital photography, as well as in the analog photography period I develop my files to reach my taste. I try to bring back my sensation and the emotions that I’ve seen on the scene with my personal taste with all the instruments that are available today, I’m not a purist. Every time is a little different, depends on type of person I’ve photographed, someone deserve more post production, someone else less.

Story behind this image: I love this photograph because I’ve captured a real surprise moment, they are so beautiful!

What or who inspires you?

all great wedding photographers, I look at hundreds of pictures every single day, everyone has their own taste, but I love this kind of photography, I never enough, and always I learn something new.

Story behind this image: love has no boundaries, I really loved this wedding day, Raffaella and Mauro are very much in love and I was touched by this.

What gear do you use?

is not so important for me, photographs are made with the head and the heart, I eventually chosen Nikon professional equipment.

Links:

Website: http://www.gbfotografia.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GiorgioBaruffi.Photographer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GiorgioBaruffi
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/giorgiobaruffi/

It’s not our fault that we don’t always learn how to take these shots.   They aren’t the sort of shots that get featured on the web or in the pages of a magazine.  It’s great to see those beautiful shots of an outdoor wedding and the incredible formals but  what about  the other 500 pictures  the photographer  took? You know, the ones in the dark hall with the dancing people? You don’t see many of those on the ol’ website because they aren’t quite as dynamic.  Still, being able to take a good table shot or dancing shot is every bit as important as the perfectly lit formal.  For some clients it may be more important, depending on who is sitting at the table or dancing on the floor.  

My first rule of photography is this: Get the shot. First, learn how to get the shot, any shot, in any situation.  Then, learn how to get it in an artistic and creative way (if needed). Don’t spend so much time learning the “hard” shots that you neglect to learn the “easy” ones.  You may find that the “easy” ones aren’t so easy after all.

Let’s take a look at  some pictures from a recent Bat Mitzvah that I photographed in Tampa.  I’ll start with a “hard” one:

This picture was taken in about three minutes.  We had just finished all the family shots and the party was about to start.  I asked for a few minutes to shoot the client alone and this was the result.  Now, it’s true that a shot like this can require a lot of learning. I’m using a strobe mounted on a tripod with a shoot-thru umbrella.  I’ve balanced my shutter speed and f-stop so that I get the background I want (mostly dark but not pitch black) and can still hand-hold my camera without fear of shake.  I can quickly figure out the correct flash exposure because I have practiced it a hundred times.  As a photographer, I’m proud of my ability to be able to take a picture like this on location fast.  It takes work to be able to do it right (and quickly) and it’s obvious that it’s done by a pro.  Uncle Bob did not take this shot.  (Still, there are a few things I would fix if I had more time…)

Now, here’s a picture that’s not so obvious:

In many ways it’s just a snapshot and it doesn’t necessarily stand out as a “pro” shot.  But it’s still important and sooo easy to screw up.  The “hard” pictures are great but you can’t fill a 32-page album with them.  You need a lot more. These shots are the bread-and-butter of the album (which makes the fancy shots the icing-on-the-cake?)  Here’s how I shot the picture above:

My first consideration is light. How much do I have, how much do I need.  I’ve written before about my tendency to use a second strobe on a tripod to get more dance floor light and that’s what I did here.  I have a Canon 580EX mounted on a tripod to my right, pointed at the ceiling at 1/4 power with a full CTO gel.  I have a 580EXII on-camera on ETTL with a gel as well.   The on-camera strobe is usually pointed behind me so it acts mostly as fill.  Now I have enough light and I quickly test it at the start of the event.  f4.5 @1/200 ISO 1600.  I’m using a lens that goes to f2.8 but I am paranoid about depth-of-field so if I can shoot a little higher, I will (more on that later).  

A word about shutter speed:   It’s possible to stop action at very slow speeds by “freezing” the action with the flash.  The problem with this technique is that you are usually shooting at a slow speed so that you can get background light into the shot and if you are getting that light, it’s usually just enough to create blur or “ghosting.”  “Dragging the shutter”   with dancing people can be a disaster and many times you won’t notice the ghosting until you get home.

My second consideration is blur and it comes in two flavors: movement and depth-of-field (DOF).  The movement part is taken care of because I have enough light to shoot at 1/200.  Here’s how I tackle DOF:

Shoot far and wide.

DOF is affected by 3 things: aperture, focal length and distance to subject. If you can shoot far and wide you will be in DOF heaven.  So, for this shot I am shooting a moving subject, in a field of people so I want to get as much DOf as I can.  Here’s the original picture:

Now you can see the shadow created by my off-camera flash on the back wall.   The beauty of the giant megapixel camera is that we can shoot so much wider and crop later.  The best part is that the wider we shoot, the greater the DOF … which means we can crop closer and still have good focus.  Cropping doesn’t scare me because no one will be buying a 20×24 print of this picture.  It will probably be smaller than a 4×6 by the time it gets put into the album.  Cropping also eliminates the shadow on the wall. If I had used direct, on-camera flash the shadow would be behind her and impossible to remove.

Let me be clear that I’m not claiming that the “easy” picture on this page  is an  award winner.  My point is that you can’t make every picture an award-winning shot and you shouldn’t try to. Wedding and Bat Mitzvah clients want those incredible images but they also want a lot of pictures of the party … and they want those pictures to be well-lit and in-focus.  People will spend more time looking at the album page that  contains twelve good shots of friends and family at the party than they will the page that has one incredibly lit, stand-alone picture.  The perfect-pose, perfectly-lit picture is art but the great party picture is life.

The trick is to learn what you can do given the circumstances of your surroundings.  All of your party pictures don’t have to have huge DOF.  Get creative with tight-focus and shallow DOF all you want but at the same time, be able to get enough light on the subject and everything in focus if needed.

When I shoot a wedding, I have to be able to do the same thing as a portrait shoot …  as well as shoot in low-light in the church and at the reception, shoot action in low-light, shoot as a photojournalist and capture events that tell a story, shoot products, retouch everything and design an album that showcases the day. It’s a lot of hats.

What’s funny to me is how much of a kick I get out of “product” shots at a wedding. Don’t get me wrong, I love every element and get giddy as a schoolgirl when  I pull off an amazing shot, but I never thought I would enjoy the “product” shots as much as I do. “Product” shots are what I call the static shots of rings, flowers, tables, rooms, cakes, etc. that you have to take in order to capture everything about the day … the little details that people will be glad they have a picture of in years to come.

I can say with all sincerity that I would never want to be a catalog photographer. It would bore me to tears, I think. But I also think that I might understand the fellow photogs who do that work after seeing how excited I can get over a picture of a cake.

The trick is to approach the shot like it’s the most important one of the day. That way you really get a kick out of nailing it.

This particular cake was in a hall that was completely white. White ceiling, white walls, white, white, white. However, there was one spot in the whole place with color and it happened to be right behind the cake. There were also some fake trees back there.

I shot this handheld with on-camera flash pointed off to my left. It really didn’t take much work at all but I just love it. I moved the trees a few times to see how I liked it but eventually ended up using the very first shot. Cake shots are probably the easiest of the “product” shots at a wedding.

This is from the same wedding. I was sliding past the candy table looking for a little pick-me-up when I noticed a big jar of Hershey’s kisses. “Hey,” I thought, “Maybe I can use those for the ring shot!”

So, I grabbed an empty jar and a few handfuls of kisses and went to work. At first I tried putting the rings in the jar with the kisses but they were just getting lost.   Then I realized that the table cloth was chocolate colored so I just dumped the kisses on the table and positioned the rings.

My camera was on a tripod so that I could shoot very steady and long for better ambient light (these shots are sometimes the only time I use a tripod the entire day; but they are worth it, I think).

The wedding favor at this wedding was a dog tag with the wedding date stamped on it. I had the rings and was setting them up on the table where the cake was sitting and just couldn’t find enough props to make the picture. (Typically, the cake table is a good place to start because the table is usually decorated with candles and flowers, etc that I can use for the shot.)   So, I started looking around and spotted the dog tags.

I placed the rings on a rose petal, positioned a glass with floating candle to give me some filler and held the dog tags in my hand. The room was very dark so I knew that the movement of the tags wouldn’t be blurred because the flash would freeze the movement. The camera was on a tripod. The couple loves this picture, and I do too except for what is (to me) a huge mistake which I’m sure you have already spotted: You can’t read the dog tags. My only defense is that it was so dark I couldn’t read them when I was taking the shot!

This is a good example of how a product shot can end up being very special to the client. This particular client ordered a framed collage of five pictures and this is one of the five … chosen from the 700+ images that I took.

This may come as a surprise to you but WOMEN LOVE SHOES! What? You knew that? Oh, sorry.

The dress picture is often the hardest one I’ll take all day. Sad but true. It’s not always easy to find someplace beautiful to showcase a dress that is 200 feet long and weighs as much as a wild boar. When I find myself in a less than ideal place for the dress picture I will instead focus on something else and use the dress for background. You can’t go wrong focusing on shoes and jewelry.

This shot was taken hand-held. I exposed for the dress using natural light from the door to my left.   Then I shot a few with my flash on at -2, bounced off the wall behind me as fill light. When I shoot something like this, I throw a dozen different settings at it. The great thing about inanimate objects is they don’t care how many pictures you take, so take a lot. Try different settings and point your flash different directions. You might get something you weren’t expecting. It wasn’t until I was retouching this photo that I thought to convert it to black and white. I think the black and white gives it an old “Hollywood” feel but maybe that’s just me.

The bottom line is this:   Every picture you take can be special if you but some thought into it. You know that picture that you always see of the wedding couple with their hands on the bouquet, showing off their rings? I have never taken that picture. There are plenty of shots at a wedding that are considered “must-have” and  I take my share. But when it comes to the rings, I think I can do something better, or at least more unique. You’ll be surprised to discover that other people will love something if you love it too (and it shows in your work).

So, here’s what I’m going to do:   I’m going to post some pictures from a recent wedding and talk about the lighting in each one. Hopefully I will be able to stay on topic. (By the way, I am a wedding photographer in Tampa, FL and no raccoons were harmed in the writing of this article.)

This particular wedding reception was in a small room with low ceilings that were white (mana from heaven for a bounce flash photographer). I was able to shoot with my flash pointed back over my left shoulder most of the night. I think a lot of people tend to believe that you either bounce off a wall or you bounce off the ceiling in front of you. It’s important to realize that you can bounce off the ceiling behind you as well (especially if it’s low). You will typically lose some light, since most of it will bounce to the back of the room but you’ll still get some back from the ceiling, tablecloths, walls, etc.   I had my flash dialed up to +1 most of the night. Could I have taken this shot with a diffuser or direct flash? Sure, but I would have lost contrast in the subject. The reason the dancing man stands out is because the light falls off across his body (notice the shadow on his face).

I should point out that my first choice for flash photography is always a direct bounce of some sort. If I can’t pull that off I will use a bounce card and try to bounce off the ceiling with the card throwing some light forward to eliminate “raccoon eyes” (and you thought I was joking about the raccoons). If the ceiling is too high for a good bounce I will consider using a second strobe on a stand pointed at the ceiling to get more light (read this). If none of these options work, I light a chair on fire and escape in the confusion.

When I’m not using a card I point the flash over my left shoulder. When I’m using a card I point the flash to the left or right. This gives me a nice bounce for cross-lighting and the card reflects enough light for fill. (That’s my 5-year-old daughter demonstrating my typical bounce card setup.) Many times when you are shooting with a deep background (like a dance floor), you can stay in this configuration most of the night. It has the distinct advantage of working the same way when you tilt the camera, which is great for fast-paced dance floor pictures. However, if you are shooting against a wall, you will get more shadow, like the picture below:

When I approached the best man during his toast, my first thought was, “The wall behind me is too far away.” So, I switched to my fall back position with a bounce card.   I shot and chimped (ooh-ooh!) and immediately spotted the deep shadow on the wall. It’s still an acceptable picture and I was getting some contrast on his face but I wanted to do better. So, I dropped the card and rotated the flash to point behind me at 45 degrees just to see if I could get enough bounce:

Bingo! Good contrast and almost no shadow. Now I knew that I could bounce off the ceiling behind me from anywhere in the room. I never used the bounce card again that night.

Once you start to bounce flash at weddings you will find yourself looking for ways to be more creative:

For this picture I pointed the flash straight left and bounced it off the wall.

This brings up an interesting point: Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that you need a beautiful venue to get good pictures. Every wedding isn’t at The Ritz-Carlton. You never know what elements of a wedding will be most important to your bride and groom, but you can be sure that they hired you because they expect you to produce something unique with whatever they provide. Work the room, look for angles and find the shot. (btw, I’m undecided about whether or not to clean up the colored lights on Mom’s dress. I’ll probably clean it up for the album)

Remember, it’s not just about the fancy formals with off-camera lighting or the emotional close-ups during the ceremony. The #1 request that I get from clients when designing their album is, “more party pictures.”   With a little creative bounce flash you can elevate your reception pictures to a new level.

I was thinking today about what I would have liked to known when I was first starting out as a wedding photographer in Tampa and realized that, despite the wealth of information available to the newby, I don’t recall ever seeing a detailed breakdown of the equipment a typical wedding photographer carries to a shoot. So, with that in mind, here’s a breakdown of the equipment in my bag with comments about how I use it. This is, by no means, a definitive list. It’s just what I am carrying right now and could change at any time.

(2) Canon 40D – The Canon 40D may not be the best that Canon has to offer but it will certainly get the job done. Don’t get too caught up in the rush to buy the newest and most advanced camera available. The cheapest DSLR on the market is still light-years more advanced than every camera that came before it. Personally, I prefer two identical camera bodies. It’s a comfort to me that I can grab either camera and get the same results.

(4) Camera Batteries – One battery in each camera body and two backups. I don’t use a battery grip with my camera. I’ll admit I envy the convenience of the added controls so that you can hold the camera in portrait mode the same way you do in landscape but I’m put off by the extra bulk and weight. If I found myself frequently changing batteries during a shoot I would probably get a grip, but I rarely have to use my backup batteries.

(1) Black Rapid Strap (1) standard strap– I’ve written about this before. When I feel it necessary to carry both cameras, I have a second strap around my neck. Both my camera’s have Manfrotto tripod mounts on the bottom and I attach the straps there with speed clips. Typically, I will wear both straps during the ceremony and sometimes during the reception. I just attach the camera’s as needed.

Lenses:

Sigma 18-50, f2.8 – This is my main lens and is on my camera 90% 0f the time.

Canon 70-200mm, f2.8, IS – This is the lens that you wait to buy because it’s so expensive and then wonder how you ever managed without it. Great for no-flash ceremony pictures but also a favorite for portrait work. I could work a wedding with just this lens and the Sigma, and frequently do.

Canon 28-135mm, f3.5, IS – This is my in-between lens for the previous two. I use it more for studio style portrait work or outdoor stuff than anything else. It’s a good backup.

Canon 50mm, f1.4 – The “Plastic Fantastic.” Cheap and plastic but nice when you really need that wide aperture.

Tamron 28-75mm, f2.8 – This was my main lens before I switched to the Sigma (because it’s wider). Now it’s a backup.

You’ll notice that I don’t have a bag full of high-end Canon lenses, nor do I carry a bunch of fast primes. I have yet to encounter a need for these lenses that will justify the cost. My only regret is not purchasing an IS lens for my main. I’m sure there are many who will debate my lack of expensive glass but the same rule applies here that applies to the camera body: If you had to have the most expensive, modern equipment in order to take great pictures then how do you explain all the incredible photographers of the last 100 years? If you have the money to burn then, by all means, get the best glass you can afford because you may upgrade your camera body several times and still use the same glass. But if it comes down to premium glass vs. flashes, radio remotes, etc. … go with the extra gear.

Canon 580EX & EXII – There isn’t much that you can’t accomplish with these two flashes.

(2) Flash Battery Packs – I wear one on my hip all day. The other is attached to my off-camera light when I use it a lot, otherwise it stays in the bag. This is an example of where the added weight of the pack on my hip is worth the  knowledge that I won’t have to change batteries the whole day (plus, faster recycle time). I once had to ask the DJ to stall the bouquet toss because I had to change batteries in my off-camera flash. The next day I bought a battery pack for that one too.

Radio remote and (2) receivers– I use Alienbees remotes. My studio lighting is Alienbees and the remotes do double duty with those strobes as well. If and when they ever break, I will probably upgrade to true TTL remotes (like Radio Poppers) which allows for more automatic settings as well as the ability to change the strobe output remotely. Still, I would recommend that any photographer start with full manual triggers … it forces you to learn how to light and that knowledge will serve you every day of your professional life.

Batteries – I carry backup batteries for everything that takes a battery (don’t forget the radio trigger). I don’t carry as many backup AAs as I used to since there are 10 in the flash packs that could be used if needed.

Tripods
Manfrotto 055XProB with pistol grip – I use this tripod mostly for formals. Sometimes I have to shoot so slow (1/15th second) when taking artistic formals that I need the tripod (remember that IS lens I said I wanted?). Also, when shooting standard group formals, I will often use the tripod because it gives me freedom to move around more and guarantees that all the formal shots are on the same level plane (this helps with album design).

Lighting tripod– This is just a standard, lightweight, lighting  tripod. It has a swivel mount attached that will hold a flash and umbrella. I keep an umbrella mounted to it all the time and just swivel the clamp over so the umbrella lies flush against the tripod. I also keep a hotshoe with remote cord attached since the 580EX doesn’t have a jack.

Manfrotto Monopod– I use this when needed to stabilize the 70-200mm zoom when shooting at low shutter speeds. I also use it for high shots (Do you want a shot from the balcony, only there is no balcony?).

Swivel mount on a Manfrotto tripod mount– Basically, this is a tripod mount (the same one that is on the base of my camera) with a swivel mount attached to it. This enables me to quickly mount my second flash on to my Manfrotto tripod if I want a two-flash, off-camera setup. Without this, I would have to carry another tripod.

Light Modifiers
Shoot-thru umbrella – 35 inch (I keep a spare in the car)

Demb Flash Diffuser

Lumiquest Softbox III – Really more for portraits than weddings but I keep all my gear together so…

Strobist Gel Back – (much easier than cutting your own gels)  

Lumiquest fxtra – I cut off the gel holder because it interferes with the strobe tilt.

Notice I don’t carry an Omni-bounce or Lightsphere?

Light meter – I rarely use it for weddings but always use it for portrait work where I will be shooting the same thing all day (like dance recital pictures). I carry it because I like to keep all my gear together and it’s small and lightweight.

White balance cap – Again, more often used in portrait situations. With weddings you move around so much that your white balance will require post work no matter what you do.

Magic Egg – See this

Corded camera remote AND radio camera remote– The corded remote I use when I have the camera on the monopod over my head. The radio remote with formals sometimes, depending on time.   It comes in handy with children because it gives me more freedom to move. Also, since I work alone most of the time, I have been known to set the camera on a tripod and hold my off-camera flash myself when working in windy conditions.

Business cards, reading glasses, small flashlight, snoot, breath mints, case lock, pen, tape, velcro, snack bar,  memory cards.

AND… I keep it all in a Naneu Bag

A word about backups:
It’s important to have backups for everything and a plan for using them. When you are setting up and practicing shots, ask yourself what you would do if a particular item broke. If you don’t have a quick reply, work on it. For example, both my tripods will hold a flash but I usually only use one. I have a backup radio receiver for my flash  but even if they both failed somehow, I could still use Canon’s built-in IR system (and I practice with it occasionally so I’m not rusty). Two cameras, two flashes, several lenses … you could remove a lot of items from my bag and not affect my ability to shoot a wedding in the style that my clients expect. The bonus is that you have more confidence when you know that you have a backup plan.