Request for Assistance – Wedding Photography

[ac12]

Been there, kinda.
My nephew and his fiance asked me a couple days before the wedding if I could shoot part of the wedding, as the pro was scheduled to leave at a certain time during the reception. It was me, or cell phone cameras.
My flash was left at home, so all I had was the dinky pop-up flash. Oh well.
I was not happy with the results, but they were.

Tips:

• Get and use an assistant. This is VERY important.
  
• Make a list of ALL the shots to shoot. You will NEVER remember them.
  • They need to be clear on what shots they want.
    
  • They need to provide someone to tell you who is who, for that list of photos. And that person NEEDS to be the one to round up the people for the shots (usually the formals), not you.
  • The couple needs to make sure that the people in the formal know they need to stay for the pictures. There have been instances where one of the uncles/aunts left the church and headed for the reception, before the family formals were shot.
• If you have not shot formals, LEARN and PRACTICE.
  • Posing people can be very difficult for some of us, like me.
• PLAN the shoot. Shot by shot. What to take, were to be, where people will be, etc, etc.
  • Write this stuff down, you won't remember it all.
  • Your assistant needs to keep track of the shots.
• Go to the rehearsal and really think about where people are and where you need to be for what shots.
  • If they don't have a wedding planner, you need to step in and help.
  • For me the timing of the couples walking down the church was important, so that they don't stack up, and you can get clear shots of the individual couples.
• Go to the venue of the wedding and church to see what you have to deal with and how.
  
• Do a full "dry run" shoot of EVERYTHING (wedding and reception) with them and a few friends, so you can practice where you need to be to get what shots. And to get a feel for what the timing will be like.
  • Practice the cake cutting and feeding; where you need to be, how they hold the knife and look at you, etc. I found that always difficult for me.
• Depending on the church, you may be restricted to where you can be, how much you can move around during the ceremony, and if you can use a flash. Find out what these restrictions are, in advance, and plan how to deal with them.
• If you have not used a flash, PRACTICE and PRACTICE some more. It is not as easy as some think it is.
  • Understand the limitations of the flash; recycle time, max number of quick consecutive shots, range, coverage angle, when you need to use flash exposure compensation, etc.
    
  • I told my future niece, I can only take ONE shot of her tossing the bouquet; toss, mid air, or catch. I discussed the issues, primarily that my flash could not recycle fast enough to get more than the one shot. She made her choice, the toss, and it worked.
  • But the garter toss was a bust. My nephew tossed before I was ready, and I barely got the catch.
  • Get a flash bracket to raise the flash. Cuz cleaning up 'red eye' after the fact, is a real PiA.

• Since YOU are shooting the wedding for them, you cannot let other guests shove you aside. You need to be the camera in the correct location/angle to get the shot.

Gud Luk

AC12 - WoW, that is AWESOME and thank you so very much. As a matter of fact, I'm going to cut and past it into my photo file of important notes. Thank you again and again!

WARNING, this is only what I could think of in a few minutes.
There are many wedding photography books that you can buy which will tell you more stuff to plan and watch out for.

IMHO, the biggest issue is setting realistic expectations.
You are not a pro, so they REALLY need to understand that they will not get pro quality stuff.

I agree, with trying to get out of this gig.

 

[ac12]

Your offering them a very expensive wedding gift. When is the wedding?
How does what they are planning to spend on photography compare to the rest of the details (dress, venue, catering, flowers, etc).

I have been to a number of weddings where the bride and groom are on a tight budget and hire a photographer to cover just the church ceremony, usually including a few family group shots in the church at the end of the ceremony.

Of course you can go ahead and do it, if nothing else it will make it easier to say no next time.

I don't know what they are planning on spending on the wedding nor when the wedding will take place. I said wedding but meant to say engagement photos. And, the request centers around the fact that they truly don't have much money.

I'm very reluctant on wedding and my thoughts are; anything more than a beach wedding where the expenses are a shoe string budget...I'm out and recommend a pro. I really think that most people don't know or understand all that is involved in shooting an event...especially a wedding. I find it pretty easy to say no regularly and the forum has been very good for reinforcing my thoughts. It's simply beyond my talent - and any good pictures would be luck mostly.

I understand the part about not having much money.
It can be pretty tight, after you graduate from college, and are at the bottom of the pay scale, in a place with a HIGH cost of living.

If you take it on, all I can say is to PLAN as well as you can, then execute the plan as best you can.

• Work with the couple and make a script of EVERY SHOT they want; from time 0, to the end of the day.
  • This puts the monkey on their back, to tell you what shots they want.
    • What you don't want is for them to ask you, why you did not get a picture of uncle X, and he wasn't on the script.
    • There will be the optional shots, that if you can't get, is OK not shooting.
  • These are in addition to the "normal" engagement/wedding shots, which you need to research and discuss with them.
  • Only agree to shoot what you can shoot.
    • You may have to learn how to shoot some shots, but that is OK, as long as they understand that.
    • There may be shots that are "iffy." These will be shots that you have to just shoot as best as you can. Same, they need to know these shots are "iffy," and may not come out.
      
    • Some you can't shoot, like that ultra wide shot in the car, if you don't have an ultra wide lens.
    • You can't be in 2 places at the same time, so they have to choose which shots they want.
      • At a wedding, the common one for me, has been the simultaneous shots from the front of the church and the back of the church. Without a 2nd camera (me) the primary photog can't get the shots from the back of the church, when he is up in front.
  • At the end, you want an agreed upon script of the shots that you will shoot.
    • Your assistant needs to keep track of these shots, to keep you on track.
• Again, they need to provide the person to round up and identify the people for the formals.
• And PRACTICE in advance.
  • You need to have absolute confidence in your ability to use your gear.
    • How to set Exposure Compensation, how to use the flash, how to bounce the flash, what lens to use for what shots, etc. etc.
    • I have been out on shoots (yes more than once) and DAMM, I forgot how to make a particular change to the camera. And my manual was at home Carry a PDF of the manual on your phone. But the manual is a last ditch response. You need to KNOW how to use the gear without the manual, cuz you don't have time to read the manual during the shoot.
      
    • This will be more important for gear that you are renting, which is why you want to get it a few days ahead, to become familiar with it.
      
    • You figure out some of this by practicing, and doing the dry runs.
    • Do not ASS-U-ME anything. Verify that you know how to use the gear.
  • Make them practice with you, with dry runs.
  • If you have not shot posed shots, PRACTICE posing people. Posing is NOT as easy as the pros make it look.
    
  • Make your mistakes during practice, so you know what to do when it is the real thing.
• Make a checklist of EVERYTHING that you need to bring with you, including backup stuff.
  • The flash on the bracket won't work if I forgot to bring the sync cable. Did you test the sync cord?
    
  • One of my students went to shoot a basketball game; but he forgot to bring a memory card, and thus could not shoot the game.
  • Do you have enough memory card capacity? And format all the cards you plan to use.
    
  • Do you have spare batteries; camera and flash?
  • Your checklist/script of shots to shoot, on a clipboard with a pencil.
• Make a checklist of camera configuration that you need to set.
  • You don't want to shoot in sunlight with the camera white balance in tungsten mode. Although if you are shooting RAW, which you should, you can recover. Yes I made that mistake.
    
  • A dim church and a bright reception may have different configurations.
  • Do you need to reconfigure the camera to use the flash, and what needs to be reconfigured?
• Tip:
  • If they go from inside to outside, you need to quickly adjust your camera. The indoor ISO 3200 would not work in bright sunlight. I strongly suggest you practice this, as this transition can be pretty fast, and you need to know exactly what to do and when. I made this mistake, luckily the brides dress was not blown out. whew

Gud Luk

 

[Derrel]

I looked thru your Flickr account, and I think you should take braineack's advice, and NOT photograph this wedding, but do attend it, and do imbibe. Eat cake, enjoy the food, but do not take on the role of wedding photographer. Your Flickr pages do not show anything as challenging as the successful photographing of a wedding.

 

[goodguy]

Shooting your friends wedding is a great way to loose your friends.
When I started shooting weddings I already had 6 years of photography on my belt, had all the minimum required equipment and when I shot my first wedding as a volunteer under the supervision of a mentor I saw how very little I knew about event photography.
I am not saying its rocket science, but you need to know what to do and do it well.
Your attitude is admirable and I say don't do it!!!

 

[ac12]

The safest way to do this is, as was mentioned, to make their engagement present be, the hiring of a pro photographer to shoot the event for them. Though to afford it, again, as was mentioned, you will have to get together with a few of their friends to share the cost.

Most people have no idea of the work that goes into shooting an event; pre-event prep, shooting the event, post-event processing. They just think you shoot and upload. Hah, I wish. So they have no idea of the amount of work they are asking you to do for them. But in fairness to them, it is the case in MANY professions, where the customer/client has no idea of the amount of work behind the product/service. They just need education. Although in some cases, you just as well not let them know.

 

[fishing4sanity]

VanBlaricom, obviously we don't know all the dynamics of your situation, but you've gotten a lot of advice from some good photographers. Their consensus and what appears to be your own desire is to say 'no.' Zulu, seems to have been in a similar situation and said 'yes.' I've been in the same boat and like Zulu, I eventually caved in and agreed. I'm a hobbyist at best, prefer animals and landscapes, not much of a people person with or without a camera in hand. I hated doing it. I spent far more money on a few extra photography items than I ever would have on their gift. In the end, I believe for my situation I made the right decision in helping them and if it came up again I'd try a hell of a lot harder to not do it. That last sentence probably seems very contradictory, but that's how it came out. For their situation I was a weak solution, but probably their best solution. I think (hope) they were happy with what they got for photos, we're still as good of friends as we were before, but no better either. From a poorly informed spectator's viewpoint, I'd try very hard to get them to go another direction, but in the end follow what your heart tells you needs to happen. If you do it, go back through all the suggestions and take notes, and get ready for a tough day. When I was done I wondered why anyone would be a wedding photographer, but I gained a lot of respect for those that do. Also, I learned definitively - I am not a wedding photographer!

 

[ShutterVan]

VanBlaricom, obviously we don't know all the dynamics of your situation, but you've gotten a lot of advice from some good photographers. Their consensus and what appears to be your own desire is to say 'no.' Zulu, seems to have been in a similar situation and said 'yes.' I've been in the same boat and like Zulu, I eventually caved in and agreed. I'm a hobbyist at best, prefer animals and landscapes, not much of a people person with or without a camera in hand. I hated doing it. I spent far more money on a few extra photography items than I ever would have on their gift. In the end, I believe for my situation I made the right decision in helping them and if it came up again I'd try a hell of a lot harder to not do it. That last sentence probably seems very contradictory, but that's how it came out. For their situation I was a weak solution, but probably their best solution. I think (hope) they were happy with what they got for photos, we're still as good of friends as we were before, but no better either. From a poorly informed spectator's viewpoint, I'd try very hard to get them to go another direction, but in the end follow what your heart tells you needs to happen. If you do it, go back through all the suggestions and take notes, and get ready for a tough day. When I was done I wondered why anyone would be a wedding photographer, but I gained a lot of respect for those that do. Also, I learned definitively - I am not a wedding photographer!

I agree as I don't know why anyone would desire to be a wedding photographer - I'm sure it is rewarding in some way though. The more I'm around people, the more I enjoy spending time with animals. You're also spot on as every situation presents it's own dynamics and I'm actually very impressed with the great advise. I appreciate that many have taken their time to help - time is valuable and it can't be replaced. And FYI - that sentence that seems contradictory makes perfect sense. One thing for sure is that I'm armed with a great deal of knowledge and it will make the "lets have a sit down and discuss some concerns" much more effective and persuasive.

 

[Vtec44]

I agree as I don't know why anyone would desire to be a wedding photographer - I'm sure it is rewarding in some way though.

I'm a full time professional wedding photographer and I will not take this personally.

 

[ShutterVan]

I agree as I don't know why anyone would desire to be a wedding photographer - I'm sure it is rewarding in some way though.

I'm a full time professional wedding photographer and I will not take this personally.

It was actually meant to be a complement. You have a very difficult task that I'm sure many times goes under appreciated and underpaid. That said, I feel certain that it has it's rewards too - it's just that I think everyone agrees, it's a very talented and difficult job.

 

[Vtec44]

It was actually meant to be a complement. You have a very difficult task that I'm sure many times goes under appreciated and underpaid. That said, I feel certain that it has it's rewards too - it's just that I think everyone agrees, it's a very talented and difficult job.

Nah I was just being sarcastic. I don't get offended that easy. This the reason why professional wedding photographers charge a lot. To do everything consistently right the entire day in various lighting, space, and always never enough time is never easy.