Wedding advice and questions

[rokstomper]

As an introduction, a very good friend came to me today about photographing his sisters wedding tomorrow. I have only done photography as a hobby and he is well aware of that. I told him I would do it and told him I am not a professional and will not take any form of compensation for doing it.

With that being said, I have never taken photos at a wedding and I have little experience with portraits. I am fairly confident with camera controls and functionality, however I really do not even know where to begin with a wedding.

The location is at a house and he told me to be there at 2pm. The sun sets at approximately 7:45 pm. I will be getting some more information tonight.

I have the following gear
Nikon D7100
Nikon D3100
kit 18-55 vr
kit 55-200 vr
Sigma 17-50 f2.8

I do not have an external flash or any other major items I feel as though I will wish I had while I am there.

Question 1
With the above listed gear, do I have a chance at leaving with some great photos?
Question 2
Where do I start? That is obviously a very vague question but I have never done this so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Question 3
What can I do to prepare for it and what would be some things to do if more time was available to prepare?
Question 4
What focal length combinations would be the most generic solution?

Also, any other advice or comments would be awesome.
Thank you

 

[Derrel]

D7100 + Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 for indoor shots. For your telephoto shots, the 55-200 VR seems like the only lens you have, so use that outdoors at the event. 55-200 outdoors would make a lot of nice "detail isolation" snaps of guests, informal portraits,etc..

You could get "good shots" with an iPhone if you've got the skill and the eye. Weddings have people who 1)expect to be photographed 2)want to be photographed and 3) are dressed and coiffed to their ultimate level of beauty and grooming, so...people playing dress-up...with flowers, and fancy decorations, etc..

My advice: for a beginner or seldom-shooter:

For outdoors,bright-light areas: Set the D7100 to AUTO ISO and Manual mode, with a Safe Speed of 1/180 second at f/6.3 on the aperture, with a MINIMUM shutter speed of 1/60 second, and a Maximum ISO of 1,250. If you are not a seldom-shooter, shoot it however you want to...

For your dim-light-area exposure combo for low-light , I would use the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 stopped down a tiny bit, to f/3.2 and 1/60 second and a Max ISO level of 4,000. Set the slowest shutter speed at 1/40 second. This is for DIM lighting!

If you have used AUTO ISO with a "new-era" Nikon, in Manual exposure mode, with matrix metering set, you know how this will work! This will allow you to focus on composing, and on getting good shots. This is NOT the same thing as AUTO-ISO used to be, 10 years ago, with crappy sensors, or in Aperture-priorty mode,etc..

Auto-ISO in manual expsure mode allows you to SET the right shutter speed, and the right f/stop, for the kind of photos you want. The camera will then raise or lower the ISO to deliver the right exposure for the manually-selected 1/150 second and f/6.3 for bright-light areas and th early part of the day.



DO not be afraid to try some flash and slow shutter shots, like f/8 with flash and 1/20 to as slow as 1/8 second shutter for "dragging the shutter" brightening of indoor, low-light lights, candles, etc.

Do your best! No alcohol! Focus on the task at hand. Shoot in RAW!!! AUTO White Balance! Guard your memory cards as if they were gold! Clean the rear element of every lens--tonight!

 

[tirediron]

Excellent advice from Derrel!

... and 1/40 second and a Max ISO level of 4,000. Set the slowest shutter speed also at 1/40 second.

A word of caution, do a little practice before the day with these settings. 1/40 is definitely hand-holdable, but if you've not done it before, it's a good idea to practice and make sure you can do it without any issue. F3.2 toward the longer end of the focal range and at closer distances can provide a VERY thin DoF, again, ensure you understand just how thin. Practice before hand!

...Do your best! No alcohol! Focus on the task at hand. Shoot in RAW!!! AUTO White Balance! Guard your memory cards as if they were gold! Clean the rear element of every lens--tonight!

A-friggin'-men!!!

 

[Light Guru]

a very good friend came to me today about photographing his sisters wedding tomorrow.

I have never taken photos at a wedding and I have little experience with portraits.

I really do not even know where to begin with a wedding.

No offense but this is a recipe for disaster!

I hope you were honest with them about your lack of experience photographing people and that they understand they may not get any good photos at all. I also hope that if they are offering to pay you that you are willing to accept nothing is your results are bad.

 

[Derrel]

Excellent advice from Derrel!

SNIP>>>DO some practice the day before...SNIP

Um...the wedding is TOMORROW!!!!

 

[rokstomper]

D7100 + Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 for indoor shots. For your telephoto shots, the 55-200 VR seems like the only lens you have, so use that outdoors at the event. 55-200 outdoors would make a lot of nice "detail isolation" snaps of guests, informal portraits,etc..

You could get "good shots" with an iPhone if you've got the skill and the eye. Weddings have people who 1)expect to be photographed 2)want to be photographed and 3) are dressed and coiffed to their ultimate level of beauty and grooming, so...people playing dress-up...with flowers, and fancy decorations, etc..

My advice: for a beginner or seldom-shooter:

For outdoors,bright-light areas: Set the D7100 to AUTO ISO and Manual mode, with a Safe Speed of 1/180 second at f/6.3 on the aperture, with a MINIMUM shutter speed of 1/60 second, and a Maximum ISO of 1,250. If you are not a seldom-shooter, shoot it however you want to...

For your dim-light-area exposure combo for low-light , I would use the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 stopped down a tiny bit, to f/3.2 and 1/60 second and a Max ISO level of 4,000. Set the slowest shutter speed at 1/40 second. This is for DIM lighting!

If you have used AUTO ISO with a "new-era" Nikon, in Manual exposure mode, with matrix metering set, you know how this will work! This will allow you to focus on composing, and on getting good shots. This is NOT the same thing as AUTO-ISO used to be, 10 years ago, with crappy sensors, or in Aperture-priorty mode,etc..

Auto-ISO in manual expsure mode allows you to SET the right shutter speed, and the right f/stop, for the kind of photos you want. The camera will then raise or lower the ISO to deliver the right exposure for the manually-selected 1/150 second and f/6.3 for bright-light areas and th early part of the day.



DO not be afraid to try some flash and slow shutter shots, like f/8 with flash and 1/20 to as slow as 1/8 second shutter for "dragging the shutter" brightening of indoor, low-light lights, candles, etc.

Do your best! No alcohol! Focus on the task at hand. Shoot in RAW!!! AUTO White Balance! Guard your memory cards as if they were gold! Clean the rear element of every lens--tonight!

Thank you so much for all of that information. I never really thought of using auto iso but that almost seams genius for a fast changing environment. I normally use aperture priority and control aperture and iso simultaneously on the front and rear dials. I shoot a lot so I am comfortable within the camera menus and controlling fast and precise changes, I am just not use to the wedding scene.

Thank you again. You men and women are seriously the best.

 

[rokstomper]

a very good friend came to me today about photographing his sisters wedding tomorrow.

I have never taken photos at a wedding and I have little experience with portraits.

I really do not even know where to begin with a wedding.

No offense but this is a recipe for disaster!

I hope you were honest with them about your lack of experience photographing people and that they understand they may not get any good photos at all. I also hope that if they are offering to pay you that you are willing to accept nothing is your results are bad.

It is very much a recipe for disaster and I had a discussion again with him last night to make sure he is aware that I am not a professional and I showed him some things that I have done and he was pleased with those photos. I come out with decent results, they just are not what I know they can be with more experience and time. I strive for perfection and I am nowhere near that as of this time. I will not accept payment because he is my best friend and I do not know if I will come out with good results or not. I love having the opportunity to practice in an environment where the people asking for pictures do not expect anything great. They are on a tight budget and did not plan to have any photos taken besides for iPhone pictures. I can provide better than they would have had and that is all that they want. They did not even hire a DJ so now my brother is going to come with me and DJ for the wedding as well. It all comes down to budgeting here so it does help my stressful situation knowing that they would not have hired another photographer if I said no.

 

[rokstomper]

Excellent advice from Derrel!

... and 1/40 second and a Max ISO level of 4,000. Set the slowest shutter speed also at 1/40 second.

A word of caution, do a little practice before the day with these settings. 1/40 is definitely hand-holdable, but if you've not done it before, it's a good idea to practice and make sure you can do it without any issue. F3.2 toward the longer end of the focal range and at closer distances can provide a VERY thin DoF, again, ensure you understand just how thin. Practice before hand!

...Do your best! No alcohol! Focus on the task at hand. Shoot in RAW!!! AUTO White Balance! Guard your memory cards as if they were gold! Clean the rear element of every lens--tonight!

A-friggin'-men!!!

Thank you. I did do a little practice and I am used to shooting at 1/40 and even below. Low light/night scenes are some of my favorite scenes to shoot. I will post up some photos after this to let you guys see how it went. I am not sure if that is interesting but I always like to read the before and after results and see some of the results.

Thank you all for the very helpful responses.