First Wedding Ever

[Tony_Buchanan]

A friend of a friend is getting married June 6th. This will be my 1st ever wedding shoot. I have never even assisted on a shoot let alone attempted anything like this. Needless to say, I offered my services for free with the bride only paying for what she likes afterwards. One of the reasons she asked me was the fact that I was upfront with her about my total lack of experience. I am a sports photographer (10 years) and some informal dinner dances as well. The other reason is that after getting quotes of 3-5 thousand for an experienced photographer, she simply could not afford them. I told her flat out that you get what you pay for and she is ok with that. She and her fiance are in their late 40's and its their 2nd time around.

I have a canon 1d and a 70-200 and a 28-80 both 2.8 and a 550ex. I wont be getting any portable lighting or increasing my lens bag for this. I dont plan on any more weddings in the future, (what a surprise). I am only doing this because I want the experience of doing one.

Have any suggestions other than not doing it?

thanks

[JoyPetersKurtz]

What wonderful comfort it will be to the bride...that you just 'wanted the experience of doing it'...if her photos turn out poorly.

I'm always amazed at the couples who say they 'can't afford' photography, but seemingly can afford everything else. Photography is the only thing they will hold in their hand 20 years from now. And if that doesn't humble you into a quivering ball of queasy sweat - I guess nothing will.

In the interests of the bride and groom - here are some suggestions.

Know the flow of the wedding, i.e., what comes next. Never take your camera from your eye for a minute. When in doubt inside a reception hall, shoot F5.6 @ 1/30th. Shoot the cake on a tripod without a flash. Make sure to get shots of the pew bows, the flowers on the altar, the table setting, the bouquet, the setting of the wedding without guests, the outside of the church. Get a recent book on weddings and familiarize yourself with poses for two, three, four and more groups of people. Use a light meter. Corral someone from the bride's side of the family who knows all the family members who should be included in pictures - same for groom's side - so you don't miss anyone. Get a time exposure on a tripod from the back of the church. Drag the shutter for a few shots when shooting the dancing, especially if there are lights around the dance floor. There are wonderful moments right after the ceremony to capture the emotion of the bride and groom alone. Don't miss those.

Good luck.

[Jonathan_Wienke]

Shoot the wedding rehearsal. It's a good way to find out what works and what won't before the actual ceremony.

[David_Willoughby]

Joy, with all due respects to you, If tony has that much experience shooting sports, and if he is good, his reaction and anticipation time will be much faster than most wedding shooters. I have experience with both and sports is probably one of the most demanding things to shoot and shoot well. You have to have quick reflexes, be able to shoot manual focus with long lenses at shallow aperatures, often in dimly lit situations, like a reception hall, and still capture split section peak action that last a fleeting moment and does not repeat itself in that moment.....when a bride and groom give each other a candid kiss and you see it, more often than not they will do it again. at a football game, you have about 1 second to figure where a pass is going, find the reciever, focus and time the shot so the ball is just at the fingertips. when a running back turns the corner and is running at 15 mph and dodging people...you have got to follow focus and make your photo at the right moment. until recently this was not done with high speed motordrives and autofocus. again, no offense meant.

the points you made othewise are excellent and I will agree fully with jonathan...Tony, trust your gut and experience, use your ablity to anticipate, and react. If you have journalism experience (my guess is that you do) treat it as any other event you would shoot for a paper or magazine....the things that are more difficult at a wedding than the photography are dealing with people. You might need to familiarize yourself with how a wedding ceremony/day goes, I might even suggest bringing along a sig other, sister, friend that likes weddings, goes to weddings, for me this was my wife, she understands the ettiquite...this might be a sexist thing but generally, more women know more about a wedding than most men. Have fun and shootemsharp. Your friend that can "afford" the full fledged studio has asked you because they know that you are not going to provide the same thing, nor do they seem to want that. I shoot for these type of people all the time, they are always happy with the photos, assuming that you approach it with a desire to do the best you can (and you do or you would not be asking for help) Put all your effort into it and you will do fine, get some great photos, and you might miss some, we all do, even the best! I assume that your friends, if it were not for you, would end up 20 years down the road will say I wish we could have afforded a photographer at the time so we could have pictures. My advice is vague because I feel that every photographer approaches the same situation with different technical ideas as how to accomplish it, that is what gives each of us our "style"

"When in doubt inside a reception hall, shoot F5.6 @ 1/30th. Shoot the cake on a tripod without a flash" I never do this, I always take each situation as it is presented to me differently. If I have white ceiling I will bounce the strob off of it or have an assistant hold a reflecter, or I have even used my hand as a relfecter, I will shoot avail light...dont rut yourself into always shooting something the same way....be creative you will do great.....rant over... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[IVANMARTINEZ]

Also, shoot with flash in rear sync mode, in situations where u want the backgrounds lit as well as the foreground, watch your shutter speeds and hold her steady, as these will be low in low light situations, and remember to be in the mix, like others said try and NOT take the cam away from your eye, if u can try and shoot PJ style u will see all and get all shots needed. It helps to know that she will not be to upset if u miss a shot or two, but try and remember to get the important shots, bride and groom at church, exchanging rings, walking down the aisle, and out of church rice throwing and such...ETC. and of course first dance, it looks as though u are on your way, dont be to nervous, these are friends and if u shoot as though its a regular shoot u are used to, you will do fine.

[Michael_Stillman]

Great post David,

I think Joy was a little cranky and came off a little too harsh. Tony, we've all been where you are in an awkward situation and are just trying to help the bride have something instead of nothing. My gut is you will do just fine based on you asking in this forum alone. If Joy is so upset with you for taking on this wedding, maybe she could give the bride and groom the $3000.00-$5000.00 to hire an "experienced wedding photographer". Just my opinion, maybe I'm the cranky one!

Good luck,

Mike

As long as the bride knows what she's getting, that's fine. Do the best you can, that's all anybody can do. "maybe she could give the bride and groom the $3000.00-$5000.00 to hire an "experienced wedding photographer". Just my opinion, maybe I'm the cranky one!" please

"maybe I'm the cranky one!"

Photogaraphers today are under attack for charging tooo much, please don't add fuel to the fire. When our own, make statements as such, it really undermines photography as a profession! Today want-to-be's pay supposed models to pose for them, just for fun. That idustry is really crazy, a friend gets e-mails all the time, model seeking paid work, she's 3yrs old????? This confuses the buying public? Never in my 17 yrs have I seen such, Joy pointed out the truth, I'll get 10-12 calls a year wanting to know if I can fix pictures that someone else shot and it's all they have! As long as the bride KNOWS what she's getting, then it rests with her. You've ben truthful so do your best, mix it up do a few posed shots with family and wedding party, then shoot candids. I usually throw away 1/3 of what I shoot! Good Luck