Possible Wedding Shoot: Equipment Adequate?

Merryheart

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I have the opportunity to shoot a wedding for the first time on my own for a bride and groom who don't have money to pay a "real" wedding photographer. (I've served as a second shooter once or twice.) Here's the question:

Would I even have any business at all agreeing to shoot a wedding with a Nikon D60 and the SB-600? I also have an SB-24 that belonged with my film camera. I have some nice lenses (I think)...70-200mm, 35mm, 18-55mm and 55-200mm.

I'm confident I could take some beautiful outdoor pictures after the ceremony, but I'm nervous about the action part of the service. You only get one first kiss! At the same time, I'd like to know if I COULD shoot weddings in the future. (I'd like to take a lighting class first, ideally.)

Thoughts?
 
...by the way, this site is so great! I just signed up this week and I think I'm officially addicted. So much knowledge! So many good ideas!
 
Merry.. put on your flame suit.. People will be very harsh replying to this kind of post :).
 
Back up camera?
You could use your film camera, just make sure to bring enough film to cover the entire event if need be.

What's the maximum aperture of your 35mm lens? That may be a good option for the lower light areas.

Depending on the situation, you may be able to use flash, which might allow you to get decent results with your 'slower' lenses...but you need to be sure of your ability to do so and that you will be allowed to do so.
 
Possible Wedding Shoot: Photographer Adequate?
 
Any way you can get your hands on a 24-70 f2.8? What's the widest ap for your 70-200? Like Big Mike said, a second camera is very nice to have around--I usually have my 24-70 on one body and the 70-200 on another, no switching lenses for a majority of the day is definitely great. Otherwise, rest up, make sure you have extra batteries and cards and give it all you've got!
 
Merry.. put on your flame suit.. People will be very harsh replying to this kind of post :).

Oh my! Why? I would like to be able to help out this couple and also gain some experience myself. I'm still a new photographer, but I do love my camera like a family member.
 
New + Wedding is a bad chemistry reaction on this forum I notice.
 
Any way you can get your hands on a 24-70 f2.8? What's the widest ap for your 70-200? Like Big Mike said, a second camera is very nice to have around--I usually have my 24-70 on one body and the 70-200 on another, no switching lenses for a majority of the day is definitely great. Otherwise, rest up, make sure you have extra batteries and cards and give it all you've got!

I got my 70-200mm secondhand: AF-S VR-NIKKOR 70-200mm 1:2.8G = f/2.8 widest ap.

I can probably borrow a D5000 as a second body. That would be preferable to using my film camera, I would think.

Thanks to you and Mike!
 
What's the maximum aperture of your 35mm lens? That may be a good option for the lower light areas.

Depending on the situation, you may be able to use flash, which might allow you to get decent results with your 'slower' lenses...but you need to be sure of your ability to do so and that you will be allowed to do so.

I have the AF-S NIKKOR 35mm 1:1.8G. This wouldn't be very helpful for a wedding ceremony, would it?
 
You will definitely need 2 camera bodies. You also will need some fast glass F2.8 and larger(f1.4). Shoot raw and have a minimum 16gb of memory. A nice wide angle for group shots , a 35mm to 50mm (on crop body) , along with your 70-200 F2.8 should do the trick. Also depending on the lighting you will probably be at ISO 800 and above which will reduce quality of the image so renting a nice full frame may help. For the reception its rather easy adjust your flash for the exposure wanted and you should be able to shoot the entire receeption on the same settings (if the reception is at night indoors) if its outside at sunset thats a little different. Good luck and have fun , Oh also make a checklist to carry with you of the shots wanted.
 
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Thoughts? Mine are: Your gear is adequate; you're not going to get top-end, tack-sharp, low-light shots, but it should be enough to preserve the memories. Most serious photographers (myself included) don't recommend that the unitiated or under-equipped take on weddings; as you point out, there is only one first kiss, BUT when a couple can't afford a professional, than IMO, someone with whatever equipment they have doing the best they can is a whole lot better than nothing.

A few thoughts to help you get the best possible results: Visit the venue before hand, if it's a church talk to the verger/rector/priest and find out if flash and/or photography are allowed inside. It's very common for flash not to be permitted, and I know of some churches which normally forbid photography of all types.

Try and visit the venue(s) at approximately the times of day the ceremony will take place so that you can get an idea of the lighting, and what equipment combination will give you the best results. Ensure you know where the couple will be, and where you can and cannot be. This is also crucial to your equipment choice.

Talk to the couple, ensure that you are clear on the timings and sequence of events, know where you're required and when, and get there EARLY! Make sure that you know where you can park and have parking change available if needed (Nothing more embarrasing than running in two minutes after the event has started because you didn't have change for the parking meter, or so I've heard...)

Shoot RAW, ensure you gear is clean, batteries are charged, you have LOTS of AAs for the flash and spare memory, WB to 'Auto'. AS SOON AS YOU CAN back up your cards to computer. DO NOT edit or even mess with the originals, but copy ALL the images to a totally separate directory and edit those. Only when you're finished and the couple is happy should you delete the images (and even then, I always keep a back-up DVD(s) ).

Good luck!
 
BUT when a couple can't afford a professional, than IMO, someone with whatever equipment they have doing the best they can is a whole lot better than nothing.

That was my thought on their behalf for sure.

Visit the venue before hand

I've done a few senior and first birthday-type shoots and have found that visiting the location even for that type of shoot is invaluable.

Shoot RAW

I've never shot in RAW. Does it really make that much of a difference when editing? I think I'll take some of my kids both with RAW and JPEG and see if I can play around with them.

I believe you kindly c&c'd some images I took and posted the other day, John. Thanks once again for your time!
 
I've never shot in RAW. Does it really make that much of a difference when editing? I think I'll take some of my kids both with RAW and JPEG and see if I can play around with them.

I believe you kindly c&c'd some images I took and posted the other day, John. Thanks once again for your time!

If you have the card-space for it, I would shoot RAW+JPG, but yes, the degree to which you can "rescue" a RAW image compared to even a high-resolution .jpg is many times.

:er: Glad I could help!
 

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