Wedding Photography Question

canonhero · Nov 20, 2008

Tomorrow is the big day! It is my first wedding event and I need to know whether it is best to shoot with a tripod or a bracket? I know that the tripod will give me the best quality pics and the bracket will allow me to move around freely but I need to know from someone with experience, which is the best for weddings?

Big Mike · Nov 20, 2008

Welcome to the forum.

There really isn't a 'best for weddings'...each situation and photographer is different.

Most find that they don't have time to use a tripod during most of a wedding...maybe during the formal group shots.

You will be shooting people and people move...so you should be using a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze their movement...that will probably mean that you can hand hold the camera without camera shake blur...so a tripod may not be needed anyway.

A bracket is for getting the flash up and off the camera...which is a different issue than using a tripod. If you are asking about using a flash vs not using a flash...that's a whole new issue and is really up to your personal style.

I know some weddings shooters that use a monopod...it's faster than a tripod but can really help when shooting without flash in lower light.

Really, you should do what you are comfortable with.

canonhero · Nov 20, 2008

Thanks for this information. I think a tripod will slow me down. I appreciate your help!

ksmattfish · Nov 20, 2008

They do different things. A bracket keeps the flash up and over the camera no matter which way the camera is oriented; this helps avoid those ugly side shadows. A tripod eliminates the worry of camera movement at slow sutter speeds. I use a bracket at all weddings, and a tripod at many.

canonhero · Nov 20, 2008

I think the bracket will be the way to go for me. I had some suggestions of shooting in P mode and let it do all the work for me but what do you think? For the reception I will be shooting in low lighting and I would hate to have blurry pics by shooting in M Mode....not a good thing. Please advise...

dEARlEADER · Nov 20, 2008

canonhero said:
I think the bracket will be the way to go for me. I had some suggestions of shooting in P mode and let it do all the work for me but what do you think? For the reception I will be shooting in low lighting and I would hate to have blurry pics by shooting in M Mode....not a good thing. Please advise...

oh boy..... that's two today...