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09/08/2005 09:16:08 PM · #1 |
I have been asked to shoot a wedding for some friends and I have never done one before. It will start with some engagement photos next month and the wedding will not follow for probably a year to a year and a half. Just thinking of it has me very stressed and I was hoping to tap into the huge knowledge base here at dpchallenge for some help. Does anyone have advice - what could I do to prepare? what equipment is "must have" for a wedding? any suggestions as to how I make the final decision on whether this is over my head? any input is appreciated.
nick |
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09/08/2005 09:18:14 PM · #2 |
I don't have any advice for the equipment department; but for the stress - lots of vodka. |
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09/08/2005 09:22:59 PM · #3 |
Wedding Handbook
Saw this over on DPReview, thought it might help you out.
My best advice, get a second shooter. There is no way you can get it all by yourself. A flash is also a must... even outdoors for fill flash. Look for the ops and shoot lots!
-danny |
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09/08/2005 09:28:36 PM · #4 |
must have : wide angle lens, 18mm at least. A flash besides the pop up. Sb600 or 800. Also maybe a zoom lens. Rember take lots of photos of the bride and her mom.
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09/08/2005 09:43:11 PM · #5 |
I'm in the same boat. I'm going to use 420EX with Omni Bounce, but I fear I'm going to get flash reflection (they both wear glasses), judging from some test shots I did. May sound stupid, but how can you avoid this?
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09/08/2005 09:44:37 PM · #6 |
shoot at an angle. also maybe put acouple of pieces of scothch tape on your flash, that will help with the harsh light they give off.
travis
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09/08/2005 09:47:27 PM · #7 |
might want to slap on a lightsphere II onto that flash unit. i heard they work pretty well
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09/08/2005 09:51:27 PM · #8 |
That's what I got the Omni Bounce for. And they recommend it be tilted up at 45 deg right in the instructions. I don't have a flash bracket, but if I did might it work?
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09/08/2005 09:55:37 PM · #9 |
I got a Lightsphere last week and have been experimenting with it on my SB-600, happy with some results so far. I have a 50mm f/1.8 which is nice for portraits, but my widest is only a 28-90.
nick |
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09/08/2005 09:56:48 PM · #10 |
Just finished my second wedding a couple of weeks ago and the best bit of advice I can say is to just keep shooting. I spoke w/ one of the bridesmaids who had recently gotten married down in Columbia and she said that the photographer would only take 60 pictures total. She asked how many I planned on taking; I replied by saying "as many as it takes." I think the night ended up with well over 600 raw shots.
In short, bring extra memory cards and dump them to a laptop or external storage device once they are full and just keep shooting. |
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09/08/2005 10:19:01 PM · #11 |
For photos with people with glasses, if you can have their head angle down and to the side some, it can sometimes prevent that white reflection from the flash.
-danny |
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09/08/2005 10:20:33 PM · #12 |
The most important thing yo need is experience. you have time to get that.
Equipment: lens: most go for a 18-40 or so, 2.8 or perhaps a 28-70 2.8. a FAST lens is very important, usually....i have seen a 28-200 used, a 3.5-5.6 consumer lens. and the fee was $8000. Experience, remember? That lens came with $6 grand in lumedyne flash equipment, so low light was not a concern.
I get by with a 18-50 2.8. I wnat a second body with a 70-200 2.8 or perhaps 4.0. MUCH easier to swith cameras than lenses...but then, if you have a flash bracket (HIGHLY recomended) with a flash, perhaps radio slave equipment for other flashes...body switching is not going to happen.
I find 50mm not tight enough. 28 is not wide enough...I need an 18-125 2.8 lens!
practice with your flash!! you have to use it without thought. you think, and you'll miss a shot.
shoot raw. it will save those bad exposures.
pracitce at ISO 800 with noise removal.
practice low light focusing, low shutter speed hand holding.
get 4Mb of CF cards, at least.
Next..practice taking formal group shots - yo uneed an 'eye' to see if all are looking at you, smiling, blinking, etc. here a tripod and remote help - you are out from behind the camera and can see and interact more.
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09/08/2005 10:29:43 PM · #13 |
| I can tell you what not to do. Be sure the bride is not wearing glasses. I have shot 5 weddings most as gifts to the bride and groom. I did shoot my sister in laws wedding and lost every shot of her because her glasses are at an unusual angle. The other 4 where extremely successfull. bringing two of my relatives that almost spent thousands of dollars to tears. In fact I shot my brother in laws wedding as the best man and they published and enlarged my shot as apposed to there 5000.00 dollar "photographer". Shoot a couple rolls of black and white regardless of the requests they will be much more dramtic. HAVE FUN. |
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09/08/2005 10:33:18 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by willy_flew:
Shoot a couple rolls of black and white regardless of the requests they will be much more dramtic. HAVE FUN. |
Ummm...'film' is a four letter word around here! We shoot DIGITAL!
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09/08/2005 10:35:14 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by ngremour:
Does anyone have advice |
As luck would have it, "photojournalistic weddings" are all the rage these days. So you don't really need any special skills to be a wedding photographer. Just shoot with your lenses wide-open for shallow depth-of-field (this is the key that will separate you from all the wedding guests who are getting their own snapshots with their little P&S digicams!) Get wild-and-crazy with your crops and angles, lay on the floor, stand on tables, whatever you want! When you get home, apply some simple Photoshop manipulation to ALL of your photos (i.e. really bump up the contrast, convert them to black-and-white, use some cross-processing actions, add some grain if you didn't shoot any high-ISO images, etc.) and them put them together into a "collage" wedding album. If anybody says anything remotely negative about your work, just explain that it is your "artistic interpretation". Or... just simply put the images onto a CD and give it to the bride and groom to do with as they please like a lot of other new wedding photographers. By providing your images on CD, you take a lot of pressure off yourself to present a high-quality, polished, finished product.
A lot of brides are calling photographers and saying "I want you to photograph my wedding, but I don't want to talk to you the entire day. Can you do that?" to ensure that they get true PJ coverage. No posed shots whatsoever! (Seriously. I'm not making this up.)
So thank your lucky stars for the PJ rage and you'll be fine!
Message edited by author 2005-09-08 22:42:15. |
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09/08/2005 10:38:58 PM · #16 |
| oooopps DId I say roll??? sorry converted purist. I meant card.... |
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09/08/2005 10:49:20 PM · #17 |
Good luck with it! I just got my print order back from the wedding I shot in July. I'm very surprised at what the family chose to order vs. what I "thought" were the best shots....so take as many as you can! These were friends, but not close friends, and I charged them a minimum amount. Then I gave them the option to take the CD and get the prints themselves or have me take care of doing it for a "handling fee." They gladly are letting me take care of it and I'm excited to get a good return for my time, as well as the experience. My DSLR fund keeps growing. :)
My advice...from someone who still doesn't really know what she's doing...take everything you can think of that you might use and stash it in the car. Something I did that was appreciated was that I took a pair of white isotoner type slippers for the bride. In most shots you don't see her feet anyway, her feet are often hurting from the wedding shoes. I think it made her much more relaxed and unhurried for the posed shots, and if you take outside shots it keeps her shoes from getting all messed up!
Message edited by author 2005-09-08 22:51:03. |
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09/09/2005 12:04:47 AM · #18 |
Dear Eddy,
What sort of bug is that that crawled up your posterior re: wedding photography lately? Just curious.
M
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