So, I'm going to shoot a wedding

[Irwin Nursoo]

The 24-70mm is one of the best "starting" lenses.

 

[Vtec44]

Did someone say wedding photography?

I can shoot an entire wedding with just 3 lenses... and 2 full frame cameras... and off camera flashes... My go to lenses are 24-70 f2.8, 50 f1.4, and 70-200 f2.8. The 24-70 has amazing focus speed, that is if your camera can detect focus in really low light with moving subjects. Most of my daytime work is done with my 50 f1.4. My 70-200 is great for ceremony when you can't really get up close. Setting up expectations is critical. You don't want them to expect something and then deliver something completely different.

Best of luck!

 

[zulu42]

Vtec44 - thanks very much for your input. I am a big fan of your work. In fact, I showed this couple some of your images when I was trying to convince them to hire a pro.

The shots during the actual ceremony have me most worried. I don't have a fast lens with enough reach to stay far back. I really don't want to use flash during the ceremony even though the couple says they don't mind. The posed shots and group shots will be fine to flash and even chimp and adjust, but the ceremony is the biggest challenge equipment and skill wise - and one chance to get it right.

I believe their expectations aren't beyond what I will deliver. Actually, I think that MY expectations will be much harder to live up to!

Thanks again everyone.

 

[chuasam]

make her sign a contract that absolves you of fault if the photographs suck

 

[zulu42]

Well, mission accomplished. Last Saturday the 17th was the wedding.
It was very, very difficult. I reserved the Tamron 24-70 for rental but was given a Nikkor 28-70 2.8. A very nice lens that I wouldn't mind owning some day. I had two days to practice and quickly realized that the physical size of the lens, it's girth, blocked my AF assist beam. So, when the light was low later in the evening, I had to carry a small flashlight and awkwardly shine it on my subjects to acquire focus. It was also a heavy lens and it was tough to carry around for six hours.

There were many other challenges. The dressing room was small and I had to plaster myself against the wall and shoot tighter than I wanted for shots of the bride and groom getting ready. The lighting was all dim tungsten and the walls were yellow. The couple's dog was part of the ceremony and they wanted a lot of shots with the uncooperative pet. The bride's mother was somewhat of a " momzilla" and wanted to dictate a lot of shots and also wanted me to set up several non wedding family photos.

I got a ton of shots with motion blur. Even with the lens wide open, shutter speeds hovered around 1/60 and the rear curtain flash failed to stop motion.

We did all of the group shots after the ceremony at dusk. I did get several good shots, but as it got darker I struggled to acquire focus and maintain DOF even with my two speedlights at full power.

During the dinner and dancing I was in full spray and pray mode, and totaled well over a thousand shots for the whole day. I've since spent hours culling and doing more post work than I anticipated, and I'm not done yet.

The results are, in addition to a huge respect for wedding photogs, about a hundred keeper photos. Mostly fair in quality, a few I consider good. There are a few the couple and family will consider great, not because they're great photos, but because I did capture some nice moments and some emotion.

I've shown the couple about a dozen samples and they're completely satisfied, luckily.

I love photography as a hobby, but this was serious work. While I'm glad I did it for the experience, I won't be doing it again anytime soon.

 

[Vtec44]

pics?

 

[zulu42]

I'll post a few later this evening. They should serve to discourage others like me from attempting a wedding

 

[OGsPhotography]

Sounds like you did a great job! E for effort at least. If you had 100 keepers I think you did awesome. Hindsight is 20/20 but having effort/ command of the moments is what counts, it'll never be as planned its a wedding!

Dont deliver them all unless you promised 100. Its good to have a few up your sleeve if they ( she lol) gets demanding.... you can theow them some " extras".

 

[robbins.photo]

So curious, how many people died or were horribly mangled by your attempts to shoot this wedding?

Because you know, I'm thinking if the answer is zero maybe some folks can relax a bit about future postings of this nature.. lol

 

[Derrel]

I'll post a few later this evening. They should serve to discourage others like me from attempting a wedding

Wow...this sounds like it was one tough gig! Yikes! Thanks for being so forthright abouyt the challenges. I can almost envison you, shining the flashlight at them, trynna' get focus....sounds awful. And yeah..the ancient 28-70 Nikkor AF-S...sooooo BIG and FAT a lens! like a small coffee can on the front of the camera...a 44-ounce nose-dive/wrist-twist special!! OMG, what an awful lens that was.

 

[zulu42]

Here are a few samples

 

[photo1x1.com]

Those are actually pretty nice! I like 1 and 2 most. Congrats. Some do look a little bit overprocessed though (3 and mainly 4). I can imagine that you felt pretty worn out the next day . Giving the couple a set of black and white images is always a good idea - especially when having different colored light sources you can´t really control.
Wedding photography is underpaid (at least in my country) IMO, that´s why I stopped doing it. I was one of the more expensive here but people don´t realize how much work it is. Preleminary talks, preparation, many hours of shooting, wading trough 1000s of images, editing, follow-up meeting,...
It is fun, but it is also rather stressful compared to other photography fields.

 

[zulu42]

Thanks very much for the comments and likes. I agree on the over processed look on many. I'll go back in and back off on some sliders. There were several shots with slightly missed focus that I had to try and save by mashing some LR sliders. There's really no saving missed focus shots I suppose.

Shot 2 might be my shot of the day. Got lucky on that one.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Thanks very much for the comments and likes. I agree on the over processed look on many. I'll go back in and back off on some sliders. There were several shots with slightly missed focus that I had to try and save by mashing some LR sliders. There's really no saving missed focus shots I suppose.

Shot 2 might be my shot of the day. Got lucky on that one.

If the focus is just slightly off, you could make two two layers - one with sharper focus, and one with slight gaussian blur. Then you mask e.g. the eyes that were rather soft to reveal the sharp layer, and for the rest you use the slightly blurred. That gives the impression that the focus is on the right spot. That trick even works for image agencies

 

[tirediron]

Nicely done! Weddings are tough, no two ways about it.