Shooting my first wedding.. Tips

[TCampbell]

You can generally use a flash everywhere EXCEPT during the actual ceremony. Once the father-of-the-bride gives her away, you're done with flash until they're done and walking back out. During the ceremony you'll appreciate having a fast lens. An f/2.8 zoom will usually work. Canon makes a 135mm f/2L. You'll need a tripod.

Bouncing only works with the ceiling is low and that's almost never the case in a church. Dual flashes are nice (you'd need a side-lighter to hold the 2nd light ... usually on a monopod) because they wash out each other and leave gentle shadows. If you've just got the one 430EX, bring spare batteries or you may lose some shots as the batteries get weak and the cycle times get long.

Make sure you get great detail shots of the dress.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Here's a thought heh..... http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...y-pray-new-encouraged-way-shoot-weddings.html

 

[Robin Usagani]

George, you are so full of it. Maybe more action and less talking? Start shooting well bro. Trust me, your wedding work still stinks. Maybe you dont know how to use those 24-70 and 70-200. Every time you gain respect from me, you say stupid **** again.

 

[Kerbouchard]

George, you are so full of it. Maybe more action and less talking? Start shooting well bro. Trust me, your wedding work still stinks. Maybe you dont know how to use those 24-70 and 70-200. Every time you gain respect from me, you say stupid **** again.

Unless you are following the Visions in White Blog, you have no idea what my wedding work is like. In any case, I don't care anything about having 'respect' from you.

Now, back on topic, what is it you disagree with? You don't think people cropped, rotated, dodged, burned, etc in the film days?

Your exact quote:

I dont shoot with a prime. I shoot with 2 primes. The reason I say maybe back in film days is because you want to get the framing right on film. On digital, you can crop and rotate.

I assure you, they did both cropping and rotating pre-digital.

 

[Derrel]

George, you are so full of it. Maybe more action and less talking? Start shooting well bro. Trust me, your wedding work still stinks. Maybe you dont know how to use those 24-70 and 70-200. Every time you gain respect from me, you say stupid **** again.

What just happened here? I thought you two boys were playing and getting along nicely. Was it what George said about shooting only with prime lenses what made you mad? Would a glass of milk and some cookies make you feel better?

 

[Robin Usagani]

Nope derrel. Lactose intolerant. George... You have no idea how much work that is with cropping, magnifying, rotating film. Yes, they do that. You want to argue about manipulating photos too? Yes they did that with film too.

 

[jaomul]

To OP, you having second thoughts yet?

 

[LaFoto]

Back when I was still little, I watched my uncle crop and align, and dodge and burn when transferring the negative to the print, and he did that with ease, he simply adjusted the paper on the tray so the photo would be straight, and changed the position of the negative projector so he'd get a crop on paper, readjusted sharpness and voilà. Which makes me believe it was done as often, and as quickly, and as easily as we can do the same today in our digital "darkrooms".

Other than that my observation with regards to wedding photography in particular is that apparently it is being given a value in the States that goes far, far, far beyond that given to it in my country, for example. Any time I come across threads like this one, I am in awe. It amazes me to no end what prices are being paid for the wedding photography in addition to anything else that needs to be paid for when you get married! Or maybe it is just me, who I have never been too much into anything "glamorous"?!?!

I guess one thing ,though: you may have successfully bullied this OP out of TPF ...

 

[Overread]

Let's give the OP a little time to respond now shall we (according to her profile she's not logged back on since posting). However to dimples your first engagement shots didn't come out all that bad (from what I've seen as a person who isn't mad about portrait photography ). Weddings are a scary time for all and something that tends to end up being blown into crazy standards on the internet (by the time they are finished you'll be expected to make a Nat-Geo standard photo with a strip of film, box and pinhole in a black room whilst riding an elephant backwards before you pass the "standard to shoot a wedding").

If its something you're doing as a job and this is just the first I would strongly suggest stepping back and learning a lot lot more and also considering apprenticing/second shooting/interning under an already established photographer. giving you the chance to make your mistakes and learn whilst not risking the wedding itself.
If this is just a once-off for a friend go for it; though consider if there is any chance of you putting money (wedding gift) toward the costs of a pro for the Bride and Groom (though with less than a week this might not be possible).



Kerb - Schwetty - kiss and make up or something (though I'd appreciate it if the thread could be left on-topic and you make up your differences in private).

This thread delivers

It's lucky Overread is asleep or at work. He would have locked it before it got started.

You guys deliberately wait for me to sleep before starting don't you.....

 

[LINYBIMMER]

dimples, as you can see, this community regards wedding photography as something akin to a Secret Service agent covering "Tha Man" on a public relations tour of rural Afghanistan. You better know your bizz-nass LOL

We're really not saying these things to hurtful, we just want you to understand the implications of taking on a wedding.

I think that the topic of shooting a wedding doesn't belong in the beginners forum, after all it is not a beginners topic - I suspect that the negative tone of all the responses has something to do with an apparent lack of quality photographs shown by the you and your equipment listing. Neither of which appear adequate for the task at hand. OP, if you want advice and/or encouragement I would suggest phrasing your questions a little differently and skipping the part about this being your first wedding shoot. Everybody that gives advice here has always been a Brides/Sports Illustrated/National Geographic/Vogue/Cosmopolitan photographer.
I would hope that you have been second shooter on a number of occasions; that you in fact have a contract that spells out what will happen if either party is unhappy and that you have professional liability/errors and omissions insurance in the event the pictures don't meet expectations. And I think they won't based on your questions and equipment list.

Good luck and Godspeed - You're going to need it. Unless of course you are the second (or third) shooter or the bride or grooms sister. Otherwise uh-oh.

 

[cgipson1]

I would hope that you have been second shooter on a number of occasions;

You did see where I quoted her previous post about having NEVER taken her camera off of the AUTO setting before, right? I also agree that a wedding topic definitely doesn't belong in the beginners section.. but we get so many that DO belong there! Frightening!

 

[LuckySe7en]

Regardless of what everyone says, she's still going to shoot the wedding. And 3 days is NOT enough time to learn other modes if she only shoots in auto.
But Dimples, if you leave it in auto, get ready for some crappy pics. You might as well grab a point and shoot from one of the guests.
You might wanna give Tv a try. At least you can increase shutter speed to eliminate motion blur. If you're currently trusting the camera to set everything, you might be ok with it choosing your aperture. Be sure to adjust the iso accordingly. There are a lot of buttons on your camera, try to learn a couple of them before Saturday. Good luck.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Regardless of what everyone says, she's still going to shoot the wedding. And 3 days is NOT enough time to learn other modes if she only shoots in auto.
But Dimples, if you leave it in auto, get ready for some crappy pics. You might as well grab a point and shoot from one of the guests.
You might wanna give Tv a try. At least you can increase shutter speed to eliminate motion blur. If you're currently trusting the camera to set everything, you might be ok with it choosing your aperture. Be sure to adjust the iso accordingly. There are a lot of buttons on your camera, try to learn a couple of them before Saturday. Good luck.

What if the aperture blinks when she uses Tv?

 

[LuckySe7en]

Regardless of what everyone says, she's still going to shoot the wedding. And 3 days is NOT enough time to learn other modes if she only shoots in auto.
But Dimples, if you leave it in auto, get ready for some crappy pics. You might as well grab a point and shoot from one of the guests.
You might wanna give Tv a try. At least you can increase shutter speed to eliminate motion blur. If you're currently trusting the camera to set everything, you might be ok with it choosing your aperture. Be sure to adjust the iso accordingly. There are a lot of buttons on your camera, try to learn a couple of them before Saturday. Good luck.

What if the aperture blinks when she uses Tv?

then she misses the shot. either way she's not ready for what she's getting into. On second thought, she might wanna play it safe and leave it on auto and deliver crappy photos to the bride and groom.

 

[gsgary]

I don't think she will be back to read the replies