Wedding

[Lynnzora]

Hello everyone, I have a question for you. I'm shooting a wedding as practice. The couple has already hired a photographer but would like to have me as a second person to get some shots for experience and my portfolio.

Problem: I do way better at shooting in natural light. The wedding is on a yaght but in doors. The bride believes that it will be bright enough during the day but the reception goes into the night. So it should be darker then.

I have a Pentax K20d.

lenses 15-55 kit lens
and 50 mm 1.4 (probably what I'll use)

I bought an off brand off camera flash Bower SF829TW

What else would you suggest that I purchase if anything?

Would you all say that I should have to get great shots in low light. I know that my lens is fast but in low light photos still tend to come out blury. Would you all suggest a strobe? I will be reading up on this tonight but would appreciate your input to point me in the right direction. Thanks.

 

[Lynnzora]

Help me please:hug::

 

[johnbergsing]

A set of color correction gels would be nice. It is so important to get it as close to "right" in camera as you can. Also, plan on bouncing that flash off of the ceiling. And last but not least, PRACTICE with the bouncing and gels prior to the event. The more comfortable you are with your equipment/techniques, the better images you'll produce when the heat is on!

 

[inTempus]

It depends on how low of light the low light is, but you should be able to get by with a relatively low shutter speed with a flash as the strobe will freeze the motion for you.

Here's an example I just shot a few moments ago.

My son is moving around like crazy. My camera settings are:

ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5
Shutter: 1/125
Flash: fired / bounced from ceiling

Now, I could have gotten the same shot with a shutter speed of 1/50 if I wanted since I was firing my flash.

Example:

Same time, but the camera settings are different this time but he isn't moving around as much.

ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5
Shutter: 1/50
Flash: fired / bounced from ceiling

The longer you drag the shutter, the more light you get from the background. But if you're shooting people dancing at a reception, I would find the shutter speed that works best and get the best bounce angle you can on the flash.

Also, you will want to put a bounce card on your flash if it doesn't have one. You can make one with an index card and a rubber band.

 

[Lynnzora]

Ok get some gels and get practice bouncing it off of the ceiling. Thanks for the input... All you can think of would be appreciated. I need to play with the off camera flash a little more... I just got it and the pics I take with it seem to be too bright.

 

[Lynnzora]

Your son is too cute btw!!!

 

[JIP]

Hello everyone, I have a question for you. I'm shooting a wedding as practice. The couple has already hired a photographer but would like to have me as a second person to get some shots for experience and my portfolio.

Problem: I do way better at shooting in natural light. The wedding is on a yaght but in doors. The bride believes that it will be bright enough during the day but the reception goes into the night. So it should be darker then.

I have a Pentax K20d.

lenses 15-55 kit lens
and 50 mm 1.4 (probably what I'll use)

I bought an off brand off camera flash Bower SF829TW

What else would you suggest that I purchase if anything?

Would you all say that I should have to get great shots in low light. I know that my lens is fast but in low light photos still tend to come out blury. Would you all suggest a strobe? I will be reading up on this tonight but would appreciate your input to point me in the right direction. Thanks.

If you plan this as practice to be a future wedding shooter then I sat DEFINATLY GET A FLASH. Natural light is nice when you have it but you can not depend on always having it. Learning how to use a flash properly is a key skill in shooting weddings. Be sure to take advantage of this time to experiment as much as you possibly can with as many diffrent techniques you can think of. It is great to be able to shoot and not have anyone rely on you to produce the critical images.

 

[tirediron]

If you do absolutely NOTHING else, make sure you shoot in RAW!!!!

 

[Lynnzora]

Yep I learned that shooting in raw can do miracles. Thanks guys. So I got that I should shoot in Raw, look into getting some gels for color correction. I have my off camera flash that I need to practice with a little more. My prime lens is pretty fast... Any other suggestions for those of you that have shot in low light.... Like at an indoors event.

 

[inTempus]

Your son is too cute btw!!!

Thanks.

He's my little pride and joy.

 

[atbawrps]

Does the hired pro know this? Best advice is to stay out of the way while you're "practicing."

 

[tirediron]

Does the hired pro know this? Best advice is to stay out of the way while you're "practicing."

Ummm... I'd disagree with this. Meet with the "pro" before hand, discuss what sorts of things he/she might want assistance with and if he/she is willing to provide any tips, guidance, mentorship. I don't do a lot of weddings, but when I do and there's a "family" photographer, I always try and talk to them before hand. One thing I like to is to have the second roam the church while I'm waiting for the Bride to make her entrance.

 

[inTempus]

Does the hired pro know this? Best advice is to stay out of the way while you're "practicing."

Ummm... I'd disagree with this. Meet with the "pro" before hand, discuss what sorts of things he/she might want assistance with and if he/she is willing to provide any tips, guidance, mentorship. I don't do a lot of weddings, but when I do and there's a "family" photographer, I always try and talk to them before hand. One thing I like to is to have the second roam the church while I'm waiting for the Bride to make her entrance.

You're saying you coordinate with the "family photographer" and have them roam the church? Are you saying you do this to get rid of them, or do you then get copies of their images and sell them to the bride and groom?

Hopefully you're just getting them out of the way.

 

[tirediron]

You're saying you coordinate with the "family photographer" and have them roam the church? Are you saying you do this to get rid of them, or do you then get copies of their images and sell them to the bride and groom?

Hopefully you're just getting them out of the way.

For sure. It's not to get rid of them, but so that we both know where each other stands and whose doing what. There's nothing worse than there being only one space when they go to cut the cake and "Cousin Joe" is already there and won't move. Sometimes they'll get some good shots too. I generally tell the wedding couple that if there are any, let me know and I'll incorporate them into the final product if they want.

 

[KmH]

Ok get some gels and get practice bouncing it off of the ceiling. Thanks for the input... All you can think of would be appreciated. I need to play with the off camera flash a little more... I just got it and the pics I take with it seem to be too bright.

There are just a ton of tutorials online for a motivated photographer to learn from. And this is generally acknowledged as the best one.

One of the keys to successfully using speedlights is understanding why your aperture controls the exposure of the subject but the shutter speed controls the exposure of the background.

Your camera has a maximum flash sync shutter speed (1/200? for your camera) If you try to use a higher shutter speed (than the sync speed) to stop motion, your images will have part of them blacked out. So you can't use a shutter speed greater than your cameras sync speed. (There is a feature that many speedlights have called FP sync. I don't know if your 3rd party Bower can do that. At any rate it eats up batteries and can seriously overheat a speedlight if used to excess.)

That's ok though because the speedlights flash will stop motion because it's much faster than your shutter.

So, with a speedlight, on or off camera, aperture controls the exposure of your subject and shutter speed controls the exposure of your background.

If the yacht has a dark wood ceiling you won't get much bounce and you'll get a color cast which is another reason to have color correcting gels handy.

Oh, spare batteries and spare batteries and spare batteries for camera and speedlight(s).

Practice as much as possible before the wedding.