Wedding question

[SamiJoSchwirtz]

My friend has asked me to shoot her wedding, I've never done weddings and the thought of it makes me nervous. I was wondering what your typical go to lenses are for a wedding?

 

[pixmedic]

all of them.
depends on the venue and amount of people.

 

[ronlane]

I don't have a "go to" lens for weddings. I politely decline the offer and tell them that I will help them find a good photographer to shoot it for them.

Now from what I've seen on here the answer to your question varies greatly, but the usual suspects are the 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, a 50mm, 85mm, and the 100 mm are ones that I recall people using most often.

 

[e.rose]

My friend has asked me to shoot her wedding, I've never done weddings and the thought of it makes me nervous. I was wondering what your typical go to lenses are for a wedding?

REFER THIS WEDDING TO A REAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER.

 

[vintagesnaps]

There you go... good advice in big letters! From what I remember seeing of photos you've posted it seems like you're still learning; it might be better to decline and maybe offer some suggestions as to where the friend could find a photographer if you know of any.

 

[robbins.photo]

My friend has asked me to shoot her wedding, I've never done weddings and the thought of it makes me nervous. I was wondering what your typical go to lenses are for a wedding?

REFER THIS WEDDING TO A REAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER.

Shhhh.. quiet folks. I think E.Rose might be trying to tell us something here. It's ok.. use your words.. tell us..

Rotfl

 

[tirediron]

There you go... good advice in big letters! From what I remember seeing of photos you've posted it seems like you're still learning; it might be better to decline and maybe offer some suggestions as to where the friend could find a photographer if you know of any.

Or, better yet... see if you couldn't come in as a second shooter for the hired gun!

 

[robbins.photo]

There you go... good advice in big letters! From what I remember seeing of photos you've posted it seems like you're still learning; it might be better to decline and maybe offer some suggestions as to where the friend could find a photographer if you know of any.

Or, better yet... see if you couldn't come in as a second shooter for the hired gun!

You know I think there's a plot for western movie in there somewhere. Sadly though I think it starred Don Knotts.. lol

 

[Vince.1551]

I supposed your friend approach you hoping to get lower pricing?

 

[e.rose]

There you go... good advice in big letters! From what I remember seeing of photos you've posted it seems like you're still learning; it might be better to decline and maybe offer some suggestions as to where the friend could find a photographer if you know of any.

Or, better yet... see if you couldn't come in as a second shooter for the hired gun!

There's nothing wrong with never having done a wedding. We all start somewhere, but John is 100% right.

Refer the wedding out, and then contact the photographer and see if they'll let you assist and shoot in-between helping schlep equipment, or see if you can be a non-paid third shooter.

My VERY first wedding, I came into Nashville to visit for a week, before we moved here, and my friend hooked me up with Myrick Cowart, who was super nice and awesome and let me tag along as a third shooter on a wedding, just to get some wedding experience.

He didn't need me there. He had a second shooter, but he was totally willing to let me hang out and shoot, and he had me assist him in between shooting, and taught me a lot. I gave him my images when I was done, but he was kind enough to let me use them for my second shooter portfolio if I wanted.

If shooting weddings is something you want to do, then you need to do is start networking with photographers who will let you assist, third shoot, or second shoot with them, before you take on one of your own.

 

[KmH]

A lot of B&G's do not have the financial means to hire a "real wedding photographer", let alone pay for a nice venue, catering, flowers and such.

Not withstanding the unfortunate fact that some of the "real wedding photographers" that shoot for pay (low pay especially) are actually real wedding fauxtographers.

Like Ron said, the go to lenses are typically 24-70 mm and 70-200 mm zooms. Though those are typical focal length ranges, a photographer may have a 24-85 mm zoom and an 80-200 mm zoom to cover essentially the same focal length ranges.
For indoor venues and a lack of light, 'fast" lenses are often preferred. Fast lenses also tend to have higher quality optics.
A lack of light can be overcome with a hot shoe or off camera flash - like maybe on a bracket.
Note that many wedding officiants do not allow flash photography during the wedding ceremony.

 

[TCampbell]

1) As Keith succinctly described... typically just two lenses... a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 (the f/2.8 bit is important ... particularly in the church. If you check the dictionary, you'll find the definition of it is "a venue designed to ensure inadequate lighting for photography in which religious ceremonies commonly take place." You don't have to take my word for it... check it yourself. It really says that!)

2) Back in "my day" a serious wedding photographer would use a medium format camera with an appropriate "normal" focal length lens for the format. These were virtually never zoom lenses. I used a Hasselblad 500 C/M medium format camera with an 80mm lens. But 80mm is considered a "normal" focal length for that format size. For a full-frame 35mm camera, a 50mm would be considered equivalent. For an APS-C camera, a 35mm lens would probably be about the closest. We would shoot the entire wedding with this -- at no point would we need to switch lenses. The whole world of photography somehow managed to survive without a zoom lens back in those days and the results weren't just good... they were fantastic. This is to say... I could shoot an entire wedding with a full-frame DSLR and 50mm lens and be completely in my element as I did this and confident of good results.

HOWEVER... we did have to use a few techniques to get some shots. We generally could not approach the altar (not very close anyway) "during" the ceremony. Many shots were re-created after the ceremony was completed. This is something which is not often done today given that photographers can use long low-focal ratio lenses and get the shot during the ceremony.

3) Lighting is a really big deal. No wimpy flashes! I used a Norman Lights flash off-camera and a Lumadyne flash on-camera. These were very powerful units (and not cheap) with large wearable battery packs that you sling over your shoulder (about the size of a lunchbox... perhaps just a tiny bit smaller). Those would get us through the day with no fear of running out of power (we always had spare gear including spare battery packs but never actually needed one... we never ran out of power even doing two weddings in one day.)

Could I do this today with speedlites... sure, I could. But it needs to be couple of HIGH END speedlites... no entry-level models because they're too wimpy and unreliable. Also bring plenty of spare batteries because as you use the speedlites, the recycle time will start to slow down and then you'll start to miss shots when the flash didn't fire because it was still waiting for the batteries to recycle the internal capacitors.

With all that said... much of wedding photography is psychology, knowing how to interact with strangers and get them to do what you want them to do (many of whom will not be particularly cooperative); knowing how to "model" people who are not professional models; and knowing the entire flow of a wedding and being able to anticipate "what comes next" and how to set the camera up and capture the next shot. We were never "reactive" -- everything is anticipated and the camera is pre-set for what's coming next.

Without that experience, you'll be getting surprised quite a bit. You want to be able to rely on experience rather than luck to get you through the day with a bounty of great shots.

I can also tell you that psychologically there are certain shots that you had BETTER capture or the bride and bride's mom won't be happy. I was at two different weddings (not as the photographer) in which neither photographer actually bothered to capture a solid photograph of the bride wearing her dress ... a full shot showing it all off. When you think about how much time a bride spends picking out that dress only to wear it just ONCE... you can understand why they'd be upset to have no photographs of it (only parts of it.)

They usually want a photo of the cake... but little kids (and sometimes adults) cannot resist the urge to put their finger into the frosting. You have to capture the cake before anyone can do that.

These are the sorts of things that every experienced wedding photographer knows but photographers who don't shoot weddings often just don't think about.

For this reason, while I realize that couples who can't afford an expensive top-notch in-demand wedding photographer would rather have a friend shoot it (usually for free... "it'll be your wedding gift to us") the BRIDE has NO CLUE that you need a considerably more than a camera to capture a good looking wedding album. So when she asks her friends to do this, and the photos don't turn out... she BLAMES THE FRIENDS and then the friendship is ruined.

That is why as soon as someone says "my friend asked me to shoot their wedding". I immediately respond with "convince them to get an experienced wedding photographer."

I don't recall the last time I saw the thread in which someone said "my friend asked me to shoot their wedding" -- with a follow-up post that explained how well it all went and how incredibly happy the bride is with the photos... because that almost never seems to be the result. :-(

 

[Tee]

I would be a hypocrite if I said to find another photographer as I found myself in your shoes 2 years ago. I did a write up about it here:http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...learned-photographing-wedding-first-time.html

Now, I did turn them down a year prior to the wedding so I did tell them "no" but when I learned they didn't have anyone I couldn't fail my best friend. After 2 years I've learned so much more I wish I could have a do-over. They're still happy they got images and that's all that matters I guess.

My biggest takeaway? I didn't tell a story. I took photos instead if that makes sense. Also, I should've shot wide much more than I did.

 

[Designer]

I was wondering what your typical go to lenses are for a wedding?

Hey, there! Are you considering obtaining some new glass for this? If you are renting, that is understandable. What lenses do you already have?

Besides lenses, we might ask about flash, modifiers, a second camera, a second shooter, and how much is this worth? I mean; is the bride so poor she cannot hire a photographer? Is she going to pay you? If so, how much? What are you going to give her? Is there going to be a written contract? There are many questions yet to be answered.

 

[Light Guru]

My friend has asked me to shoot her wedding, I've never done weddings and the thought of it makes me nervous.

You should be nervous photographing a friends wedding even if it is not the first wedding you have shot.

Are you prepared to no longer have this person as a friend if you screw up photographing the wedding?