First Wedding

[saiine]

All, my girlfriend and I have the opportunity to shoot our first wedding next weekend. We're not charging or providing prints, as we're not the main photographers, and it's a friend.

With that said, I'm still very nervous. I'm bringing along my 17-40l / 24-105l / 70-200l and hotshoe flash.

This wedding is in a church, reception inside as well, so we'll be unable to taek advantage of natural light. We are planning on going to the church this weekend to run some test shots, but I wanted to get the low down on etiquite and anything you guys learned from shooting them over the years which you might pass on to a newbie like me.

Given it's in a church and the lighting might be dim how would you handle this situation. The exchanging of rings, which is a sensetive, but very unique moment to capture, would be nice. I assume we'd have to be standing back a bit so I'd want to use my 200. In a dim light situation, a flash would have to throw that far as well.

Any tips for a newbie! I'm nervous as heck

[Mark K]

Get all your gears as listed
Plus plenty of batteries for your cameras and flash guns
Get a power cable and plug with chargers as well
Get on tripod, probably mount your 70-200 on it
Study the whole procedure
Basically shoot as many as possible, using natural light, in RAW+jpeg,
There is no time to review
Get mobile harddisk and bring enought compact flsh cards....................
After all, you will be greatly rewarded, as I did in my first wedding shooting.

[boku]

Aside from the protocol (which is way beyond a forum reply), I might offer some photographic observations...

1) What camera are you using? Newer camera have very good noise charactoristics and I would be inclined to go with ISO 400 or even 800 in the church. 10D and older are not as capable in this regard. In that case I would stick at ISO 200.

2) You gear seems quite suitable. On-camera flash will produce some undesireable side shadows for vertically-oriented pictures. Most wedding pros use a flash bracket that keeps the flash well above the lens regardless of vertical/horizontal orientation. Better yet is off-camera flash for interesting facial feature modeling, but this is arduous to pull off without experience and dedication.

3) Flash for weddings is quite tricky, so don't beat yourself up if there are some flaws in the results:
- difficult to balance ambient background light using in-camera metering
- Canon auto flash exposure systems aren't all that great
- large distant groups require power flashguns
- difficult to achieve balanced lighting for multi-row and wide groups
- direct flash is unflattering
- tough to hold detail in a white dress and a black tux simutaneously

4) Available light in a dark church requires you to lurk the perimiter with a robust tripod and a loud shutter. Very hard to be subtle and move into position quickly.

5) If the reception hall has a low ceiling, try using bounce flash with a frontal fill deflector (3x5 white file card and a rubber band works well).

6) Amateurs tend to create horizontal pictures. Albums read better with verticals. Don't be afraid to turn the camera, let the scene dictate orientation.

7) There appears to be a retro movement back to delivering some of the work in B+W, especially if the composition is strong enough to stand on its own without the visual impact of color.

A lot of wedding gunners are taking a lot of diagonally oriented shots - cutesy. These will look like polyester double knit leisure suits in 20 years. A fad - IMHO.

9) Don't be afraid - your scenario is a perfect opportunity for a first wedding - no pressure!

10) You will miss some shots - expect it and learn from it. Eventually you will understand how to anticipate and miss fewer shots - no one is perfect.

[saiine]

Thanks all, for the great replies.

Boku, I am using a rebel xt, with the lenses I listed above. I have a 430ex flash gun, am considering the 580ex.

Some of my first flash work can be seen here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/85377437@N00/...57594079072448/

This is going to be a challenge and nerve racking, ah, thanks again all!

Aside from the protocol (which is way beyond a forum reply), I might offer some photographic observations...

1) What camera are you using? Newer camera have very good noise charactoristics and I would be inclined to go with ISO 400 or even 800 in the church. 10D and older are not as capable in this regard. In that case I would stick at ISO 200.

2) You gear seems quite suitable. On-camera flash will produce some undesireable side shadows for vertically-oriented pictures. Most wedding pros use a flash bracket that keeps the flash well above the lens regardless of vertical/horizontal orientation. Better yet is off-camera flash for interesting facial feature modeling, but this is arduous to pull off without experience and dedication.

3) Flash for weddings is quite tricky, so don't beat yourself up if there are some flaws in the results:
- difficult to balance ambient background light using in-camera metering
- Canon auto flash exposure systems aren't all that great
- large distant groups require power flashguns
- difficult to achieve balanced lighting for multi-row and wide groups
- direct flash is unflattering
- tough to hold detail in a white dress and a black tux simutaneously

4) Available light in a dark church requires you to lurk the perimiter with a robust tripod and a loud shutter. Very hard to be subtle and move into position quickly.

5) If the reception hall has a low ceiling, try using bounce flash with a frontal fill deflector (3x5 white file card and a rubber band works well).

6) Amateurs tend to create horizontal pictures. Albums read better with verticals. Don't be afraid to turn the camera, let the scene dictate orientation.

7) There appears to be a retro movement back to delivering some of the work in B+W, especially if the composition is strong enough to stand on its own without the visual impact of color.

A lot of wedding gunners are taking a lot of diagonally oriented shots - cutesy. These will look like polyester double knit leisure suits in 20 years. A fad - IMHO.

9) Don't be afraid - your scenario is a perfect opportunity for a first wedding - no pressure!

10) You will miss some shots - expect it and learn from it. Eventually you will understand how to anticipate and miss fewer shots - no one is perfect.
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[G Lund]

I for one think once you get a system down lighting a wedding or reception is pretty easy. I use 4-6 sunpak 555's triggered by pocket wizard multi maxes for control at the camera. The only thing I have on my camera all night is the pocket wizard and the light is the same no matter where I walk.
Here is a link to my mentors site, have a good look around and see. IMHO no better lighting and none easier. http://www.delormephoto.com/wedmain.htm
When funds permit I will update my site, hopefully soon.
Downside....the cost of gearing up gets up there.
George

[saiine]

Good stuff George!


Thought I'd share this one with ya. She's a local woman, http://www.ktziegler.com/galleries/weddings/recent.shtml

I love her stuff.

I for one think once you get a system down lighting a wedding or reception is pretty easy. I use 4-6 sunpak 555's triggered by pocket wizard multi maxes for control at the camera. The only thing I have on my camera all night is the pocket wizard and the light is the same no matter where I walk.
Here is a link to my mentors site, have a good look around and see. IMHO no better lighting and none easier. http://www.delormephoto.com/wedmain.htm
When funds permit I will update my site, hopefully soon.
Downside....the cost of gearing up gets up there.
George
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