Wedding Photography

[faulknerwn 36]

A friend of mine is getting married in a couple of weeks, and his planned wedding photographer fell through and I somehow managed to get recruited.

I understand the photography side of things (f stops, lenses and such) but I don't understand weddings :-) I haven't been to a non-skydiving wedding in 15+ years :-)

I need help! I know bring 2 cameras - with 2 different style lenses for easy swapping between shots. Extra batteries, memory cards and such.

Don't have a clue about such things as where to be taking photos from while they're taking their vows, wedding portraits, and what else to do :-) I'm especially concerned about getting the shot during the ceremony without getting in the way! Monopod? Tripod? Hand hold? Where to hang out?

I own some photography books so I'm reading their wedding sections but they seem to be more focused on lightning and aperture etc rather than the more practical stuff...

I'm wedding challenged - help! :-)

[DSE 3]

Start at WEVA.com...there are some great articles from the von Lankens.
I might have a friend in your area that could be a "second" for you, send me a PM?

Getting the vows is important, so...if you have a decent cam with a fast lens, have no fear of AF and sport mode. This isn't a moment to be artistic.
You'll want an 85 or 105, something in that realm for easy closeups while maintaining speed (assuming you have a faster lens).
Are your bodies full-frame or APSC?
More info about your bodies would help target the best solutions.
Depending on what you have, might be able to help you source some glass, too.
You're likely going to need a flash and definitely a diffuser for it. LumiQ or similar will make life easy, but you can also make a diffuser very fast very chea, but you'll need it.

[faulknerwn 36]

Yeah I'm wandering around adorama right now. I own a T1i and a Canon 10-22 and a Tamron 18-270 I'm also going to have the grooms T1i with probably the kit lens (not positive about the lens). The books I'm looking at highly recommend a 50mm/1.8 lens and those are only ~100 bucks so that I can do. I don't own an external flash so that I'll need to get too. I own a Tripod but figure maybe a cheap monopod too.

Not sure about making a diffuser... WHat do you recommend for external flash and diffuser (not too expensive?)

[DSE 3]

You can use the onboard flash with a snoot, but that's as big a PITA as the flash diffuser, if not moreso.
If you don't mind blowing it "up" every time you brush someone, you can make a great lil' diffuser from a Walmart bag (white plastic) and a rubber band.
You can buy diffuers cheap. you'll be grateful for the 1.8 lens and at 50mm, it's eye width.
you *might* consider an RF remote for the vows portion so you can shoot one on a set of sticks and the other freehand. If you lock one cam down on sticks, you can use a slow lens 1/30 for the vows and freeshoot the 50mm @1.8, triggering both at the same time. CyberSync/AlienBee are popular brand. You *might* be ablet o rent em', too

[faulknerwn 36]

Just found out that the actual vows (weather permitting) are going to be outside under a gazebo so that makes things easier than if they are in a church. I own a remote control but its on a lanyward not RF. But your idea isn't bad.

What do you recommend for flash diffusers? (I'd rather notb use a walmart bag :-)

[DSE 3]

Google LumiQuest (LumiQ)
That'll get you a BUNCH of ideas.
Hey...Walmart bags are en vogue...recycling and all that. :-)
I used one just this morning on a cold instrument for an outdoor shoot in DC!

[edited to add...] You KNOW weddings will make even a woman go bald, right?
MUCH respect to wedding photographers. I'd much rather shoot a Taco Bell commercial with dogs and bimbos than a wedding.

[PharmerPhil 0]

A couple of random points to add. (I have only done one wedding, and it was similarly by request of the couple).

Renting lenses is cheap. I would get something longer than the 50mm that is fast also. I wouldn't think your Tamron will be fast enough. The Canon 70-200/2.8 is a beautiful (if expensive) lens and can be rented almost anywhere that rents lenses (including Adorama I think). Your 10-22mm will be great for getting shots of groups of people around dinner tables.

If you don't own an external flash now, I would practice A LOT before hand. And bring lots of flash batteries. You will likely burn through those quicker than the camera batteries. The gazebo could be tough lighting-wise if it is sunny out and they are in heavy shade. I would work out your camera/flash settings ahead of time.

You mentioned your friend (a guy) asked you to shoot this. You know he isn't your primary client right? In most weddings your primary job is to keep the mother of the bride happy. Even if that means pissing some other people off. No excuse will be good enough for a missed shot. Make sure you know what their expectations are ahead of time including all the classic shots (vows, ring, toast, cutting the cake, bride dancing with father, posed shots of the wedding party, place settings, etc.).

[pilotdave 0]

I've also only shot one wedding... for a skydiver of course. Wasn't a skydiving wedding though. They were well aware I had never done a wedding before... I made sure they really really wanted me.

You can get a lot of advice from internet forums like Fred Miranda's wedding photography forum. People post lots of sample shots and equipment advice.

I used 2 cameras and 3 lenses... Tamrom 17-50 2.8, Canon 70-300, and Canon 10-22 (which makes people look terrible, so don't use it too much!). I bought the 17-50 specifically for the wedding. I also used a Canon 580 II flash. It was an outdoor wedding with somewhat difficult light, a back yard surrounded by tall trees. For the ceremony, I needed flash and ended up putting the camera on manual mode and crossed my fingers.

I wouldn't recommend trying too many new things you haven't gotten a lot of practice with before. Keep it simple.

Don't worry too much about getting in the way. At my brother's wedding earlier this year, the photographer stood right in front of them during the ceremony. All I could see was his back the entire time. The guests may not have liked it, but they sure like their wedding pictures!

Also, how's your editing? None of the beautiful wedding pictures you'll come across looked that way straight out of the camera. Adobe Lightroom makes it easy. Or at least easier. Getting the white balance correct to make a white dress look white is a biggie.

In my case one of the groomsmen was wearing gray pants and all the rest were wearing black. But in their album, everyone matches! Magic!
Dave

[faulknerwn 36]

Yeah I have never used an external flash. I'll make sure to bring lots of batteries and practice beforehand.. And I always figured the bride was my primary client :-) She's a skydiver too at least :-) Don't know anything about the mother! The bride did point me to a facebook album of a friends wedding which had shots she liked..

Hopefully the lightning will be ok - its in a gazebo in the park. Will definitely try and play ahead of time.

I've found lots of lists on the internet of the classic shots so will make sure to print one out.

And they do know that I've never done this before - I made that abundantly clear :-)

And I'm decent at photoshop - question of the day is - some books recommend shooting in raw others jpeg.. Preferences?

[DSE 3]

jpg is best for fast turnaround.
RAW is best when you're shooting from the hip and already talking about pushing pixels in Photoshop.

[faulknerwn 36]

This is the park where it will take place at 1 PM. Assuming that the weather is decent I don't think the lighting will be too bad.
http://www.bryantx.gov/departments/default.asp?name=pf_heritage_park#

[Fast 0]

Quote

Yeah I have never used an external flash. I'll make sure to bring lots of batteries and practice beforehand.. And I always figured the bride was my primary client :-) She's a skydiver too at least :-) Don't know anything about the mother! The bride did point me to a facebook album of a friends wedding which had shots she liked..

Hopefully the lightning will be ok - its in a gazebo in the park. Will definitely try and play ahead of time.

I've found lots of lists on the internet of the classic shots so will make sure to print one out.

And they do know that I've never done this before - I made that abundantly clear :-)

And I'm decent at photoshop - question of the day is - some books recommend shooting in raw others jpeg.. Preferences?

I actually shoot both raw and jpeg when not skydiving cause the camera can push the data to the card faster than I normally want to take pictures. Outside is good cause then you don't have to worry about church/camera rules (Some do not allow flash photography at all durring ceremonies). But outside lighting can be quite complicated. Depending on time of day, positioning, etc there could be some really bad shadows, fill flash will make a huge difference. You need to understand guide numbers and how they relate to ISO and the distance a flash is effective from.

I want to second the "RENT" concept for the lenses that you use. Can't even come close to explaining how much better the pictures are going to look shot through L glass lenses compared to the standard stuff. My dad was a photographer for awhile, then got out of it and has gotten back into it somewhat. He sold his entire shop worth of woodworking tools to be able to afford the L lenses over standard.

If you want any kind of pictures that don't have flash that are shot at the reception you basically _have_ to have a fast lense (i.e. wide aperture) otherwise you're pretty much stuck with plash photography. Diffuser is a must, but you can also do a lot of really nice stuff by bouncing a flash off walls / cielings / etc. You just need some practice with it. Any on camera flash that doesn't have a swivel head is worthless as an addon purchase.

Flash photography is really fun once you get the hang of it.

(just for fun I attached a picture I took in the DZ parking lot, our office building is white, i had the flash pointed back and to the side at the building and it lit them up like this, sooo much better looking than if I had shot it straight on and blew out all the color with the white flash light)

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Fast 0]

Quote

This is the park where it will take place at 1 PM. Assuming that the weather is decent I don't think the lighting will be too bad.
http://www.bryantx.gov/departments/default.asp?name=pf_heritage_park#

If it's cloudy you're gonna have to worry about not enough light in general. If it's really sunny though, you are going to have problems with the background of the pictures being blown out if you don't have enough light under the gazebo or the camera will meter for the surrounding light and colors of the subjects under the gazebo will suck.

This is basically the same problem we see when taking a picture of a tandem student in the plane. It's hard to recognize anything outside the windows cause it's too bright, or the stuff outside looks nice and inside is too dark.

I dunno you prolly know most of this stuff, just wanted to throw in that extra bit!

Have fun it should be a good time!

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[AHoyThere 0]

Lot of good advice in here. The only thing that I didn't see that I really like is a flash rotator. This way the flash can stay above the lens quickly and easily when you are switching back and forth from landscape to portrait orientation. They also tend to lift the flash a bit higher above the camera to help eliminate red-eye issues.

Good luck.

[BMFin 0]

I also think a fast lens is a must.

I recommend you spend some time looking at some pro wedding photographers portfolios to get some idea what you want from your photos. I dont mean one should copy someone, but getting ideas here and there helps a lot.

Also remember that post processing plays big role
on the final outcome.

Personally I like Oka Morikawa´s style a lot.

http://okamorikawa.com/

Normally he has 2-3 Full frame bodies. One with wide angle 16-35mm, and the other two with prime lenses like 24mm, 35mm or 50mm. (he likes the wider end more) He NEVER uses a flash.

With your setup you will have to bring up the ISO quite high, but with this kind of photos its not a big problem IMO. Lots of times wedding photos need extra noise to add more "soul" in to the pics. I think Oka always adds quite a bit extra noise in his photos in post processing.

Good luck !


Also, if you want to learn how to make good B&W conversions search "Russel brown" and "black and white teqhnicues" (a great podcast tutorial)

[faulknerwn 36]

Those are definitely nice pics. I'm trying to stay vaguely not crazy expensive here - already spent a bunch of money I wasn't planning on right before Christmas.

I have NO desire to get into wedding photography for a living and dz party pics probably don't need a $1600 lens :-)

Is it a problem to leave the ISO setting on auto? Or should I pick my own settings?

[pilotdave 0]

Just something to remember about auto ISO - if you use flash, it sets the ISO to 400. You might want something different than that, depending on the lighting. With the 580 flash, there's a white card that pulls out of the flash. I haven't bought any fancy flash diffusers... I just point the flash straight up and use the card to bounce the flash. It loses a lot of power so range is limited, but makes much more pleasant lighting than just pointing the flash at the subject.

Dave

[wildcard451 0]

Something else to help. Preparation is key. Go take some friends to the gazebo at the time of day you will be shooting outside. This should help you get an idea of the settings you will need to get he proper exposures on the big day. You will also learn where shadows fall on people at that gazebo at that time of day.
-BRING EXTRA EVERYTHING.
-- Extra memory cards, extra batteries for the flash. And then more batteries. Bring a second flash of the same type that you are working with, so that when that flash dies, you can pick up and keep on rolling without going "how the fuck do I use this?" as they are walking from the altar.
Third the rental lenses - a nice fast lens (50mm 1.4 or 85mm 1.4 will allow higher shutter speeds handheld in low light environments. Also, you will be able to generate a beautiful bokeh.
- in Post, if you are using Lightroom, search for "Lightroom Wedding Presets - and you should find a free download of some presets that do some pretty nice and simple settings.

Have fun. Try not to lose your mind.

It's only the biggest day of her life.

[faulknerwn 36]

Unfortunately the wedding is a good drive away so I probably won't be able to see much till that day.

Reading my photography books I'm thinking I should be shooting in av mode rather than my skydiving tv mode so I can adjust more depth of field. Sound right?

[lewmonst 0]

Yes! 1)Av mode. Use depth of field to create intimate portraits and such. This exercise is going to be a huge learning experience for you in using flashes. I suggest you do at least one practice session beforehand. You want time to experiment. You won't have time during the actual wedding.
2)RENT a good lens or 2! I've used lensrentals.com a few times. They make it easy for you. You'll only need the lenses for a couple days (1 day practice, wedding day). It is worth it! Do not use a Canon 10-22. It's a fun little lens, but there are much better quality lenses out there. Try a 24-70L and/or 70-200L. The GLASS makes all the difference.
3)Find an assistant and use a slave flash/light box for fill light. If you really want the portraits to look good, you'll need the fill flash. And you want something soft, not just a direct flash. Try finding a cheap softbox, even something small. Have your assistant hold the slave flash as close to the people as possible without obviously getting in the shot. Some of the best shots I see are outdoor shots, backlit (think sun setting behind them) with the softbox fill flash lighting up their faces/front. If you figure this out, you're shots will look professional.

If the bride/groom/wedding party will cooperate and get dressed up early, it's easier to get a lot of the portraits out of the way beforehand. Then just some family shots after the ceremony before the reception.

Remember, backlit + fill flash :)

good luck, post some of the photos

http://www.exitshot.com

[faulknerwn 36]

I bought a Canon 50mm because that was HIGHLY recommended in all the wedding sections of my camera books.. I also own a Tamron 18-270 so the 10-22 would only be used for really wide angles..

The portraits are definitely going to be done after the wedding. Its already in the schedule..

I'm hesitant to spend $100 on lens rentals - I have 3 good lenses, and I've already spent $400 on random stuff for this ! (external flash, camera bag, 50mm lens, monopod, and I know there's at least another thing or two - the UPS guy will like me next week!)

I know the 18-200 is a great lens, but its expensive to rent and extremely heavy, especially when I'm going to be carrying it around all day..

[PharmerPhil 0]

I understand the hesitancy to rent when you already have three lenses, but everyone is telling you to get your hands on good, fast glass. Yes, your Tamron has the zoom range, but is very slow. Neither it nor the 10-22mm are that fast, which leaves you with only one focal range for fast glass (meaning you better be at the right distance for all of your shots). Yes, the Canon 50mm will be great, but the the Canon 70-200 will take over where your 50mm leaves off, and is very fast (good for both shallow depth of field during portraits and intimate shots, and quick focusing during "gotta get it quick" shots). It will be great when you have to reach across the room a little for something like the best man's toast (you never get much notice when this is about to happen). Besides, I'll bet you'll have a lot of fun with it!

I slightly disagree with Lew on the usefulness 10-22mm, only because I have found that when shooting in function halls, and trying to get group/family shots in crowded quarters by dinner tables, sometimes it really helps to have a very, very wide lens (my 17-85mm "walk-around" lens often isn't wide enough for these shots). And in these cases, you have time for a slow lens and don't necessarily need a shallow DoF (which is very hard to achieve in a wide angle anyways). Besides, you already own it.

[faulknerwn 36]

The issue is more of just how much of my own money I want to spend taking pictures of a wedding :-( This is a very last minute fill in deal and I've already spent a bunch of money on this.. The stuff I get to keep I can justify but going even more in the hole for rental is tough to swallow. Especially last minute right before Christmas - spending that much money (especially since its not my wedding!) is getting harder and harder to justify. I don't have the absolute best lens, but I've got some dang good ones..

The Tamron's not that slow. Its not crazy fast but its definitely not crazy slow either. Its definitely not as fast as the 18-200 but that's a $2000 lens.. And an expensive rental..

And heck - I don't shoot across the room ever - cuz I'm too short to see over anyone! I learned years ago I can squirm through crowds fast by going under - I can't shoot or see anything from across the room as short as I am!

Paying 5% of the cost of the lens for a 1-day rental just seems crazy. That's a lot of money for a couple hours worth of pictures.. Absolutely it would get better pictures, but in all honesty, with my camera skills, I think they would only be marginally better because without weeks to learn the lens, I don't think there would be that much difference.

When I first got the 10-22 for skydiving, my pictures improved a bit over the stock lens, but 2 years later they're a lot better. With less than 1 day to learn that lens, I just don't imagine the pictures would be that different to justify the large expense.

[wildcard451 0]

If you are not getting paid to do the wedding, then yeah, don't justify new expenses if you are not going to make a habit of it. Just make sure that the bride has realistic "fill in" expectations.

[faulknerwn 36]

I'm getting paid some but I've already spent more than I'm getting paid on goodies to do this :). And I'm
Completely ok with that seeing that I get to keep everything I bought.

I own a bunch of camera books ( I'm a geek - I buy books - tons pf em - for any new hobby ). I always skipped the wedding chapters cuz I didn't care about that :). Rereading them the one thing they all agreed on was that I must get a 50 mm prime zoom and possibly one other prime. They said 90 percent of the photos would be taken with it and the rest can vary.

So I took the books advice anyway :). And in some ways trying out an expensive camera lens could be like trying out a new smaller parachute - don't try unless you're willing to buy cuz you invariably fall in love! Laugh.

And believe me I assured them when I
Agreed to do this that I had no clue what I was doing and I hadn't been to a non-skydiving wedding in 15 years so I was even a bit fuzzy about what happens in them!!!