Advice please!!

[Bellaboo]

Hi all, I'm still new to this forum and I have to say it has been so helpful already, it has really got my creative juices flowing! I have lots of interesting things in the pipeline including a photography course which starts next week and the opportunity to shadow a pro at a wedding tomorrow which I'm dead excited about. I was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice as to what to watch out for, questions to ask etc bearing in mind this is the first time I will have done anything like this. I'm not under any pressure at all to produce anything fantastic as I'm just shadowing, but the photographer is allowing me to just shoot away at anything that might take my fancy and also she still uses film and I think she is quite excited to see the difference with digital too. Thanks everyone any advice at all will be very grately received

 

[Plato]

Thanks everyone any advice at all will be very grately received

Don't sneeze in her lunch bag!

 

[Derrel]

The single biggest thing I think you should watch out for is blurred subject movement due to the slower aperture of the 18-55 kit lens...it's very easy to set the ISO to 200 and then as soon as you get into lower light levels and longer focal length settings, the low ISO and the slower aperture of f/5.6 will drive your shutter speeds down to such a slow level that you'll be getting subject motion blur. Looking at the rear LCD, the bur might not be visible unless it is really blurry....but back at the computer, the blur can become very evident.

Keep your ISO UP...the slight loss of quality from ISO 800 will be a huge protection against slow shutter speeds that you'll get with the 18-55 kit lens.
A big shoot can sometimes make a person forget things they'd normally be aware of, so try and stay sharp,and periodically perform a mental check list.

 

[tom beard]

At the wedding the photographer will be much to busy to talk to you, so shadowing is a good word. Observe only and just watch and remember as best you can; lighting, angles and how the photographer manages (poses) the subjects etc. If you can wheedle your way into her post production session, that will be the time to discuss how they shot that frame and why, and what they are doing to tweak it. Also, you can compare your photos. Work in a support position, just don't get in the way!

Tom Beard

 

[Bellaboo]

Thankyou so much for all the great advice that you gave me yesterday, the day went really well, weather wasn't the best, but we made the best of it! I managed to get some really good shots, I also took my laptop along which the bride was really pleased about so she could see the pictures alomost straight away.
The photographer that I was shadowing used mainly film, which was interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing the difference between film and digital. I'm really looking forward to the next chance I get to shadow also I'm enrolled on a photography course that starts this week so lots to look forward too.
Many thanks again