Tips & Pointers ???

[mwcfarms]

So I am going to be the crazy person that shoots a wedding for her friend because their original photographer backed out. I said I could explained my skill level and experience etc. She is ok with all of this. I have been practicing my butt off, I feel good about it, or did until today lol. The forecast now for tomorrow is for nothing but rain. Was supposed to be an outdoor wedding overlooking the Drumheller Valley. Now they have moved everything inside to the old..........school. Its quaint. Haha. I am going over there in a bit to see exactly what I will be working with.

I have two of everything, 4 sets of batteries for both camera's and flashes. I have adequate glass. I am not looking for those kind of tips. I know that I can't let this dampen the mood of the day so will put on my game face and do my best. She would really like me to bring a backdrop/lights etc which I can do but I am really not liking the idea of staged shots but whats a girl too do. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Hardrock]

Make a checklist and prioritze the shots... Thats all I got!

Dont forget flash gels!

 

[MWG]

Good for you! I have a feeling you will be prepared.

I saw you posted it was indoors, what type of flash equipment will you be working with? Modifiers? OCF?

Have you scouted out the location well?

 

[Fleetwood271]

Did you have a checklist of shots you will need to be sure you get?

 

[table1349]

Tips and pointers my granddad taught me.

Never eat in a joint called MOM's.

Never play cards with a man called POP's.

Never ever shoot a wedding.

That advise has served me well for 40 some years now. I'm guessing you aren't gonna take my advise, well at least not all of it, so all I can say is good luck.

 

[mwcfarms]

I have my list of shots and hers. I have been to this location before but not with my gear. Just a local centennial celebration. I have OCF, softboxes for the flashes, I have gels.

 

[camz]

Dee,

Never leave your bride on the wedding day - Rule # 1 for me =)

And we usually do the portrait sessions(B&G and wedding party) even before the ceremony where they are nice and fresh(This is where the creative shots happen). We allow about 1-2 hours of this. If time isn't alloted for this you won't get the creative shots and it's just going to be documenting. It's very hard to pull them during the in betweens of the day - also you want them to enjoy it once the day started.

Get some rest and drink your liquids because it's alot of calorie burning. =)

Good luck!

 

[mwcfarms]

Thanks Camz, will be packing the cooler tonight with lots of water and snacks for on the go. I have a cousin coming to help hold the reflector, bags etc for me but well now with all the rain not sure how I am going to work it haha. Indoor school is old old old and fugly.

 

[camz]

Might be a great opportunity to do some shots with an umbrella in the rain of the B&G if they are willing - a nice memorabilia for the day.

I think now the reflector that your cousin will be holding will probably be more useful to cover you from mother nature's elements! lol. The good thing that I see is that you won't have any harsh lighting so any covered area you can get creative with with just ambient lighting..the less gear the better.

 

[MWG]

Lol, it always sucks when you don't get to pick for on-location shooting.

How many flashes will you be using?1? Good call with the gels, its something thats missing from my gear bag

What colors are the walls?

 

[Derrel]

I would say pay quite a bit of attention on the ISO you settle on. I think far,far,far too many people elect to go with base ISO so that they will have "less noise", but what it ends up doing is requiring twice, or quadruple, the flash output compared with shooting at ISO 400. With studio flash illumination used right, there is not much of a penalty boosting the ISO to 400 and shooting in RAW,especially on a large-sensor camera like a D700. It allows you to use LESS flash power, which makes it a lot less-obnoxious on your subjects, speeds recycling, and keeps the flashes a little bit cooler. Not sure if there will be any outside light from windows or whatnot, but keep in mind, elevating the ISO has the effect of "brightening" the background that is not lit by the flash. It also effectively increases the flash's range.

If you are illuminating the formals and the bride and groom portraits before the ceremony (highly recommended), and are using monolights, with the lights backed off to 15 feet or so, you'll have pretty even illumination. Set the main light high and off to one side, so that the shadows fall down, under the nose, and are not really looooong, or going sideways in relation to their noses. Remember, if you are lighting a group of people, you cannot have the lights super-close, because when the lights are super-close, the degree of light fall-off is VERY high, and one side of the group can be as much as three or even four stops underexposed, so you need to move the lights "back" somewhat, to get an even distribution of light across the posing area. Keep the fill light close to the camera, aimed straight ahead.

Depending on the location/ceiling height/room size,etc.,etc., you might even end up bouncing a monolight or two off of the walls or ceilings, using the standard reflector, to create a big,broad,soft light source. Always watch the people with eyeglasses for reflections. If they lift the temples of the eyeglasses upward a little bit, back near their ears, it can angle the lenses downward enough to alleviate "Most" reflections. try and review your shots, briefly, every 5-10 minutes at least. Keep an eye on the way it's going.

 

[Kerbouchard]

I've got a few...
Don't blow out the dress.
The bride is the most important part of the wedding...nobody really cares about the groom. A great shot of the groom with the back of the brides head is still a shot of the back of the brides head.
Talk to the officiant before the wedding. Find out the rules, the taboos, and make sure everybody understands the expectations.
Try to figure out what you are going to do with the formals before the shoot happens. There is never enough time for all the combos and formals that the B&G want.
At the reception, talk to the B&G about maybe stealing away for a few minutes while everybody else eats. The B&G usually get to eat first and will have a few minutes after to get some cool shots in.
Copied from Bitter Jewler...talk to the B&G about making sure the wedding rings are cleaned prior to the wedding so you can get some great shots of the rings. The rings against the announcement is kinda corny but it always works.
Don't be afraid to bring a tripod for the ceremony and detail shots. Yes, it's a bit cumbersome, but it can make a world of difference in challenging lighting conditions.
Take a shot of a calibration target when things are slow...just having the reference point for true white, grey and black can make a world of difference in post processing.
Don't be afraid to take control. The wedding photographer is expected to have done this a thousand times. Often, the bride and groom don't know what they are supposed to do next. They often look to the photographer for guidance.
If you see something that isn't right, fix it. Don't just expect the bride to have paid attention to every detail. That is your job.
Stay on top of the other vendors...if the boutonnieres aren't there yet, find out why. You have only a little bit of time to get the shots of the pinning. You can't wait for other vendors to slow things down. Heck, often the vendors will be glad that there is somebody there who is prompting them. On a couple of occasions, everything was on site, but it wasn't until I prompted the vendor to actually give them to the B&G that they realized they hadn't, yet.

Most of all, have fun, and don't be afraid to ask the couple to recreate a shot if you miss it. Nobody should be going into this with any false pretenses...they know you aren't a wedding photographer. They should work with you.

And Most of all, the day isn't about photography. It is about two people joining as one...don't ruin it by thinking it is a photo op.

 

[Aye-non Oh-non Imus]

Contract? Best to be safe.

 

[mwcfarms]

Thank you everyone for all of your very helpful suggestions. I am praying the weather forecast is wrong and it can go as planned outside. I wrote everything down and will keep it close just in case I forget. If anyone has anything else they want to add keep em coming I will be up oh for a bit. Probably a whole bunch of hours lol.

 

[tirediron]

-Get a schedule for the day. Know where you're supposed to be and when. Get there at least 15 minutes (and preferably 30 minutes early).

-Know how to get from 'A' to 'B' to 'C', etc. Know where you're going to park, and make sure you have money if it's pay-parking.

-Visit the venue before hand, preferably at a similar time of day to the ceremony. Do some meter readings to get an idea of your settings on the day (be prepared to change on the fly). Scout locations to shoot from, know which lens you're likely to need when. Make sure you have a clear route to your shooting spot for the registry signing.

-Bring an emergency kit (safety pins, aspirin, Rolaids, band-aids, spare 'AA' batteries, etc) - people seem to rely on the photographer for things like that.

-If you're doing formals, have both a main and back-up location in mind..

Good luck!

-Find out if the venue has restrictions on flash, or even photography altogether.