Advice for wedding photography.

[Garbz]

Ok, my aunt is getting married in Feb and she has nominated me as the official photographer. I wanted no part of it, but she has her hearts pretty set. Needless to say I'm scared out of my mind.

Tomorrow I'm buying a Nikon D200, The 18-70mm AFS lens will come in early December, and I'm planning on buying a Nikon SB600 or SB800 flash units (but probably the former since it's half the price). I'll probably also get the battery pack attachment.

What I am wondering is if anyone out there who has sucessfully photographed a wedding can give me any kind of hints, no matter how basic or advanced.

Who do I concentrate on when photographing? Do I photograph just the wedding or the befores and afters as well? Is there some kind of etiquet when photographing in the church (I assume I'd need to get the ring on the finger, and the kiss)?
How about lighting? Is it best to slightly fillflash even during the middle of the day? Better to stand close with a wide angle, or away with a narrow angle? When photographing single people how do the professionals or proametures crop the shot, torso up or full body (I guess this one depends on the case)?

... help.

 

[bitteraspects]

normally id say DONT DO IT. if you have no experiance you usually dont want to tackle a wedding alone. but if it was by request of the bride, you cant really tell her no. all you can do is assure her you will try your best.
your best bet is to go over a shotlist with the bride and groom, to see what they want. and as you will be the primary (or only) photographer, your main focus should be the ceremony highlites, and formals.

 

[Wolff]

Check out the Portrait and Wedding Photography section. There are some really good tips and even come lists of the photos you should take.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20069

 

[JIP]

Just shoot don't be afraid if she likes your photography she likes your photography and your style but one thing if you are going to spend all that money on a D200 why in the hell would you buy an SB600 instead of an 800 at that point the difference between the two in price should not mean much

 

[dewey]

SB600 works fine... make sure you have a fast lens for the ceremony... say the 50mm 1.8 - it's amazing and it's like $100. My first wedding I was freaked out - just relax and don't think about the wedding think about capturing the moment - you'll do fine. :thumbup:

 

[Moose]

There is a great script for Weddng photography and what you should try and shoot.

I strongly recommend scouting out the church, photo locations, homes etc etc before hand and speaking to the preist so you know what you can and cannot do.

And here is that script:
http://tips.artificialrainbow.com/articles/article006.shtml#TheShootingScript

Moose

 

[markc]

normally id say DONT DO IT. if you have no experiance you usually dont want to tackle a wedding alone. but if it was by request of the bride, you cant really tell her no. all you can do is assure her you will try your best.

Second that. Except I think you can tell her "no". Really, if she won't listen, it will be tough to say no, but it's better than facing her afterwards when things don't turn out.

If you have a lot of photography experience, but you just haven't done weddings, I'd say go for it. But if you have equipment that's new to you (never a good idea for a wedding), you are unsure about lighting, and you haven't had exposure to the craziness of trying to be the main photographer of a wedding, I strongly suggest you pass. A lot of brides don't realize how much goes into getting a good set of photos. If you shoot regularly, a couple of months is enough time to get used to the camera, but the other things are a big deal. Do a search for other threads about starting wedding photography here.

 

[zx3guy2000]

I'm not a wedding photographer but here are a couple sites I liked!

http://www.ultimatewedding.com/articles/index.php

http://www.sheena.ca/photo/weddinglist.html

and this one is one that I look at for inspiration sometimes, as I like the way different days (weddings) are captured !!!

http://www.jamiealexanderphotography.com/

 

[Big Mike]

I agree with Mark. Wedding photography is one of the hardest things to pull off well...and if it doesn't turn out well...there could be a lot of hurt feelings. This isn't something that happens every day.

I wouldn't even consider shooting an wedding without at least two cameras, two flashes and a couple of lenses. You need to have backup equipment...you can't just say "sorry, the camera wasn't working".

Before I got into actual wedding photography, I had been asked several times to shoot people's weddings. I always said no...because I didn't have the equipment or the expertise. What I did do, was to offer to shoot all the supplemental stuff. I told them to hire a pro for the ceremony and formals...and I would be there to get the rest. It worked out great every time and I got a lot of good experience, without the stress and risk of being the hired pro.

That being said...we all have to start somewhere...so if you feel that you can prepare well enough...then go for it. But remember...a wedding is no place to figure out what you are doing...do that before.

 

[uberben]

My first wedding was when I bailed out my brother in law who's photographer bailed on him 1 month before his wedding. I was terrified going into it, but I tell you..Preparation is KEY. Practice as much as you can with your flash and camera. Scope out the all the sites...and make sure you go around the same times so you can judge lighting and the location of the sun. You will also want to talk to the Pastor/officiate to see what is allowed at the ceremony. Things to ask about..Flash allowed? Where can you shoot and not shoot? Where have past photographers shot from? Get a fast prime lens and a fast walk around lens. Find out where you can rent gear. Camera's Fail, so rent extra stuff and if you can't afford a nice walk around lens, rent one....If you have a friend that wouldn't mind helping you pose people and track people down that is very helpfull. Bring lots of memory and shoot RAW+jpeg. You can salvage a lot of shots when you shoot RAW, and the + jpeg will make it easy to sort later. You'll need a ton of memory or a laptop/mobile hard drive to dump the photos. Since you'll have a new camera, Learn everything about the camera. Be able to shoot it in manual and comfortably change settings in the dark. Get an order of events broken down in 30 minute periods of time. Weddings never go as planned, but at least you'll be on time and ready to go. Also give her a list of typical photos and have her label ones she needs to have, ones she'd like to have, and ones she could care less about. that will give you an idea of where to focus. Since your shooting digital...Shoot shoot shoot. You never know when you'll capture something so unique. I typically take 3 shots for every posed photos, since people smirk, blink, check out your hot assistant. I do 10-12 hour days when I Shoot and its not hard for me to shoot around 1500+ photos. I never delete photos from memory cards and always back up my photos on my portable hard drive. You never know when something will go wrong so back it up when ever possible.

Here is what I use as far as equipment:

(2) Canon 20d's
Tokina 12-24 f/4
Canon ef 24-70 f/2.8 L
Canon ef 70-200 f/2.8 IS L
Canon ef 50 f/1.8
canon 430ex
canon 580ex
8 canon camera batteries
16 NiMH AA battery's for the flashes
( 8 ) 1 GB CF cards
( 3 ) 2 GB CF cards
Wolverine 100 GB Portable storage device with built in memory card reader

I had to rent the ef 70-200, the 580ex, and second 20d for my first wedding. it was well worth it. I borrowed lots of memory from anybody I knew and bought a bunch as well. I already had the portable hard drive. You will know right away if you can handle the crazyness of weddings and if you want to go forward with future ones. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you want any of the contract doc's I use to make things legit.


My first wedding went amazing and I owe it mostly to getting all my ducks in a row.

~ Ben

 

[bitteraspects]

Second that. Except I think you can tell her "no". Really, if she won't listen, it will be tough to say no, but it's better than facing her afterwards when things don't turn out.

If you have a lot of photography experience, but you just haven't done weddings, I'd say go for it. But if you have equipment that's new to you (never a good idea for a wedding), you are unsure about lighting, and you haven't had exposure to the craziness of trying to be the main photographer of a wedding, I strongly suggest you pass. A lot of brides don't realize how much goes into getting a good set of photos. If you shoot regularly, a couple of months is enough time to get used to the camera, but the other things are a big deal. Do a search for other threads about starting wedding photography here.

true, you can say no. let her know shes better off going with a professional. i mean, it is only "the most important day of her life". what if you arent able to capture it? its not like you can just do a reshoot.

 

[uberben]

Some great resources.....

A must read..The new Wedding photographers Handbook
http://www.aljacobs.com/NEW WEDDING.pdf

The photolab I use is call White House Custom Colour..amazing quality, prices and Beyond amazing Customer service
http://www.whcc.com/

 

[fmw]

I shot a wedding for one of my sisters. She insisted. I tried to explain that I did commercial work, not weddings, and she would be better off getting an experienced wedding shooter to do the job. I couldn't duck it.

In the end, I suppose it worked out OK. I just gave her the negs and let her do what she wanted with them. It was kind of strange to attend a family wedding and spend the time working.

Personally, I don't recommend it. If you decide to go ahead, I would suggest you get an L bracket for the flash gun and an extension cord - or at least the extension cord. Getting the flash gun away from the camera will be critical.

It seems odd that you want to buy a new camera just for a single shoot but I suppose it is as good an excuse as any.

 

[benhasajeep]

I second the L bracket and extension cord. Also get an omni-bounce or similar bounce card. The sb-600 should suffice unless you are going to be way back (which is not suggested). You can do all the posing after the ceremony (in normal situations).

Spare batteries for camera and flash!!!

Also get a couple large flash cards!!!

Check the facility rules on flash use, and with the person doing the service!

Get the bride dressing / preparing.
Then skate to the church and get the Groom and groomsmen while they are waiting.
Get the bride arriving (assuming they prepped somewhere other than at facility).
Get the bride comming up the isle. If she is going to be given away and will kiss father or whom ever talk to them before hand. So you know what side to be on. (face shot instead of back of head).
Take shots of the ceremony. You can and should move around.
If they have recieving line at facility get some pictures of it.
After that, time for the formals.
After the formals, the reception is a breeze. Just keep your eyes open. Move around getting shots of the guests and keep checking back at the wedding party. You know when glasses are tapped that they will kiss so you can get a few shots of the kissing without the set up look.

If its a nice facility or reception hall, get some pics of it.

If you have enough memory cards shoot raw+jpeg. 1,000 pics is not unheard of.

Make sure you do not rush! Make sure the shot is in focus. Cameras will fire even though they are not in correct focus. Its better to have dozens of good sharp shots than to have hundreds of soft or out of focus shots!

 

[Garbz]

Thanks all sorry I'm slow to reply. I am in the middle of my exam block and kinda sidetracked.

Wolff thanks for the link I found it just after I posted while I was looking for examples of photography in the wedding gallery. Those are mostly fantastic photos and I doubt I can get anywhere near that quality.

JIP one of the reasons is I do not yet understand the differences between the SB600 and SB800. If you can give me some insight especially what it is that justifies the difference. One could say that I am buying the cheaper one because I just spent all my money on the D200

markc I just bought the D200 I'll have a bit over 1 and a half months to get accoustomed to it. In 2 weeks I'm holidaying in Austria, where the wedding is too, so I probably won't take my finger off the trigger Plenty of time to accustomise myself to the camera, what I am really worried about more than anything is the style of photograph. How to shoot a wedding, not how to shoot a wedding with a D200.

Big Mike that's the problem. I don't want to do it. But I don't think in their financial strife they can afford a professional. I'll try and convince her otherwise anyway. I just don't want to be the one that says afterwards you get what you pay for. 2 cameras won't be a problem. I'll have my Nikon FE as a film backup if all hell breaks loose.

uberben exactly the information I was after thanks!

fmw I didn't buy the camera for a single shoot. I've been planning and saving for this camera all year, I was only informed of the wedding last week lol. I'm thinking of fasttracking the purchase of a flash unit though if I can't get out of the wedding.

Anyway got the D200 yesterday, so much for exam study :S


Just for the record the equipment I will have on hand:
Nikon D200
Nikon FE
Nikkor AI 50mm f1.8 (great on the FE, bad on the D200),
Tamron 35-70mm f4 (horrible lens but
B+W Soft focus filter for Tamron lens
Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm f3.5-4
Manual SB-10 flash
The D200's builtin flash
Possibly a SB600 or SB800
Spare battery for the FE
The Battery attachment for the D200 plus extra batteries.
2GB CF card
Laptop
Few rolls of ISO100 and ISO400 fujifilm.

/EDIT: just confirmed i'm stuck with the job, so keep the advice comming. Getting some great tips so far. Although it is kinda depressing looking at gallery after gallery of weddings getting ideas.