HELP!!

Vtec44 · Jan 23, 2012

I'd put it on Auto and have some fun.... as a guest!

paigew · Jan 23, 2012

My husband and I decided to get married 'on a whim' during a family get together out of state. His brother took photos with his 'nice camera' and I love them. Sure a professional would have been nice, but I knew he wasn't a pro. He captured beautiful moments for us for free. If your friends can't afford a photographer, I say help them out. But make them very aware you are just a girl with a nice camera.

Overread · Jan 23, 2012

There is a big difference between

"That friend that has a cool camera that took some neat shots at the wedding"

and

"The photographer tasked to get the nice shots at the wedding" ie the "official photographer"

The former can make all kinds of mistakes, miss things and present average level work and still be liked at the end of the day. If the latter does this then they have failed - it becomes a painful point and people get all irate about it.

MLeeK · Jan 23, 2012

I wouldn't do it either, but I'll answer your question...
You'll need the 70-200 f/2.8L IS and the 24-70 f/2.8L
I am not pulling your leg either. You MUST have the 2.8 in a church and chances are with your camera it's still not going to be enough even if you max out your ISO. Which will mean you will NEED the IS on the 70-200 AND a prayer.
Grand total for those two? $3600 in lenses
And the chances are you cannot capture the wedding with your camera no matter what you do. It doesn't have the ISO capability needed to do it with no flash. So while you are shopping you might just want to purchase a 5d MK II while you are at it. $2000 give or take. I can't put it any clearer to you: Your camera can capture the snapshots and anything that you can use flash for, but it cannot capture at ISO 12800+ in a dark church. Let alone noise problems you will have at your max ISO.
So... Now you know why it's so expensive to hire a wedding photographer. And that is only a mere scratch in the gear you actually need.

naptime · Jan 23, 2012

Overread said:
"official photographer"

i'd rather be the official photographer for a fire department, than a friends wedding.

yes... i went there....

to the op... seriously, don't do it. insist they hire a pro. or make certain they understand you are probably not going to produce anything more than snapshot quality.

perhaps they would be fine with that.

not ALL brides want quality photos.

i know plenty that have gotten married on the courthouse steps and had a friend shoot pics with their cell phone.

guage what your friends wants, and go from there.

but, as has been mentioned, this could be something that ruins a friendship.

Vtec44 · Jan 23, 2012

naptime said:
i'd rather be the official photographer for a fire department, than a friends wedding.

yes... i went there....

Oh snap! lol

Bossy · Jan 23, 2012

If you value your friendship and reputation as a future professional, don't do it. When you botch the indoor pics, she might forgive you, but EVERYONE will know that you ruined it, and even if you're a million times better with all the proper gear a year later, noone within a 5 person relation is going to think about hiring you.

paigew · Jan 23, 2012

naptime said:
i know plenty that have gotten married on the courthouse steps and had a friend shoot pics with their cell phone.

guage what your friends wants, and go from there.

good advice!

Trever1t · Jan 23, 2012

one post and gone.....I smell a troll.

Bossy · Jan 23, 2012

Maybe not a troll, people don't generally like being told what they can't do for some reason. I only hope she/he takes some of it and thinks about it, at least. And normally with trolls they like to bait more, come back and be like "you can't tell me what to do I only asked what lenses i needed and you people are too stupid to just tell me I'm never coming back I'm too good for you all!". I have to pretend that people who do that are really just fake people, it hurts my entire being to think otherwise...

Overread · Jan 23, 2012

Trever1t said:
one post and gone.....I smell a troll.

I seriously doubt it - honestly its a common and fairly innocent question - which in all fairness should not and does not cause disruption in the site itself (which is what trolls are all about).

However its not uncommon for many people to ask questions, esp when new to a site, and not always have their account set to log in when they view the site. They might well read replies and drift away to do their own thing. Others might only get online every so often so there might be a few days between comments from them.
Finally many people will often ask the same question over several forums - not all places get a reply rate like here and in some it can take days before you get more than one or two inputs; so its common to spread out a little and get a broader series of opinions. Which can often mean people might well only focus on a few of those sites and not all.

blackrose89 · Jan 23, 2012

Thats what happened for my wedding. I could not afford an "official photographer" my friends/guests knew this and they all brought their best camera, put their best foot forward and made up a really nice portfolio between each other for me in the end with hundreds of photos.

One friend in particular was studying photography at the time and had a DSLR. I didn't know that was a course she was taking. She was smart and didn't tell me. She took really nice portait and wedding photos the whole night. I knew she had a nice camera, but I didn't know she had a real clue what she was doing.

It worked out better because she didn't have that added pressure on her and I ended up with some really nice professional looking photos as a suprise.

Amanda76 · Jan 24, 2012

Thank you all so much for your help. To answer some of your comments, I have already informed my friend that I am not a professional and she should reconsider the idea of having me photograph her big day. She insisted on me doing it and was not worried about "professional" photos, she wants fun photos and since I have a "nice" camera she asked me. I just wanted to know about a lens or setting for the church so the photos don't come out dark and wanted to get a good lens to zoom in closer so I am not right on top of them taking photos while they are saying their vows.

jwbryson1 · Jan 24, 2012

You are doomed if you accept this job. Don't do it.

pgriz · Jan 24, 2012

Amanda, the best advice I can give you (in addition to all the advice already given), is to go to the church with your equipment, and actually take pictures. In fact, take your friend with you and let her pose in various places. You will need to use the widest open aperture of your lens, and at least an ISO setting of around 800. Try a shutter speed of about 1/30sec to start with, and see if the images you are getting are blurred (due to hand shake or camera motion), in which case you will need to increase your shutter speed. Take a whole bunch, take them home, download them onto your computer, and look them over WITH your friend. If the two of you decide the result is acceptable, then both you and your friend know what you're getting into and what kind of results you will get. If they are not, then at least you have given your friend the heads-up BEFORE the wedding.

I've shot weddings as a family member with a camera, using a 24-105 f/4 with a T1i. The f/4 is rather limiting in dark areas, but I was able to get decent (but not very good) shots that were acceptable with a little post-processing tweaking. In all cases, there were professional photographers doing their thing, and using equipment like MLeek mentioned. In some venues, flash was allowed, in others, it was strictly ambient light only.