Tomorrow I'm buying a Nikon D200, The 18-70mm AFS lens will come in early December, and I'm planning on buying a Nikon SB600 or SB800 flash units (but probably the former since it's half the price). I'll probably also get the battery pack attachment.
What I am wondering is if anyone out there who has sucessfully photographed a wedding can give me any kind of hints, no matter how basic or advanced.
Who do I concentrate on when photographing? Do I photograph just the wedding or the befores and afters as well? Is there some kind of etiquet when photographing in the church (I assume I'd need to get the ring on the finger, and the kiss)?
How about lighting? Is it best to slightly fillflash even during the middle of the day? Better to stand close with a wide angle, or away with a narrow angle? When photographing single people how do the professionals or proametures crop the shot, torso up or full body (I guess this one depends on the case)?
... help.
your best bet is to go over a shotlist with the bride and groom, to see what they want. and as you will be the primary (or only) photographer, your main focus should be the ceremony highlites, and formals.
I've also been in the same position as you - not quite sure I can do a big event like a wedding, but in my case, I really wanted to try it - because they knew ahead of time it wouldn't be the same as a pro shoot, and they weren't paying me - so they were "getting what they paid for".
I had my D70 which I'd had for awhile but bought an SB600 before and made the mistake of not familiarizing myself with it ahead of time, so I defaulted to the settings after shooting shots too bright and too dark, and after that it was a lot better.
I did, however, learn from that wedding to the next one - the first went fine and I shot TONS of photos (another very good tip - get another 2 GB card if you can and keep going) and they ended up with over 350 good finals that they printed and re-printed...I worked so hard I thought I deserved something for it but learned from that too - a contract or fee up-front (if you want to charge one) is much easier when dealing with friends, family, whatever.
For the second wedding, I had a sample contract (just do a search, there's tons on the web) to use for our agreement, and a sample list of photographs they can check off. KEEP THAT LIST when you go to the wedding - ask someone to assist you even just to wrangle people up and keep track of time, and the photos you still need to shoot.
Get that list organized so you don't have to shuffle people back and forth. Do all the guys first, all one family, whatever - so the wedding party can leave if they want to. If they are comfortable and don't see you sweat, they are much easier to work with. A nervous photographer will make them cranky - it WILL happen! :)
Time will go very fast and you can't spend a lot screwing around with equipment or looking for people, so whenever there is a lull, shoot - shoot - and shoot some more. People LOVE the children in casual situations, and kids love to mug for the camera - some parents don't get their kids in those clothes often and will love candid shots. I prefer more close-up pictures if it's one or two people, but get all different distances so they can choose what THEY like. Check out what other photogs do or get some wedding photography books for different picture setups, but get an idea of what the bride and groom want ahead of time and make sure you cater to that too.
What I've noticed in all the churches I've been in is I get a very yellow glow - I don't usually set up big lights since my churches have been very small and I can't get much in there but myself, but if you can get a big light in there to help cut down on the low lighting conditions, do it.
Set up your equipment before your scheduled time so you can move freely for the "before" shots - brides love those, too. I have done my weddings from when they get ready to almost the end of the dance - which makes for a long day. Bring water for yourself in case you work the whole day and don't get a chance to sit or even eat - if you don't have an assistant to watch out for you, you could get exhausted fast!
Organize your equipment so pack up is simple - either get some big totes or pro cases to put everything back safe and sound. You're usually in a rush after the actual ceremony to get to the next place and if someone helps you that doesn't know what they're doing, you could have some ruined equipment or lose something.
I have not had much time to do the standard portraits in front of backgrounds, for loss of time, but if that's a "must" for your bride and groom, set that up in a separate room where kids won't be running and you have plenty of space. Outdoors, if you CAN, are favorites too - colors are better and if you scope out the location, you can find some really nice backgrounds for your standard shots.
I could go on and on - and I have - but those are things I've noticed as I've done these events. They're lots of fun and with the right group, you can enjoy yourself even if you're working. If you want to correspond more about this, let me know! I don't mind sharing! Good luck!
A must read..The new Wedding photographers Handbook
http://www.aljacobs.com/NEW%20WEDDING.pdf
The photolab I use is call White House Custom Colour..amazing quality, prices and Beyond amazing Customer service
http://www.whcc.com/
I strongly recommend scouting out the church, photo locations, homes etc etc before hand and speaking to the preist so you know what you can and cannot do.
And here is that script:
http://tips.artificialrainbow.com/articles/article006.shtml#TheShootingScript
Moose
i have a D200 and an SB600. the 600 should be just fine for you--there isn't that much of a difference between them. also, check this out:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/sb600vs800.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/ittlslave.htm
i've done the wireless slave thing with my 600, and it works great.
i strongly recommend a separate flash than what comes on the D200, though. especially for portraits. GET A DIFFUSER. that's not really even an option, i think. i'd get a dome diffuser.
:)
Spare batteries for camera and flash!!!
Also get a couple large flash cards!!!
Check the facility rules on flash use, and with the person doing the service!
Get the bride dressing / preparing.
Then skate to the church and get the Groom and groomsmen while they are waiting.
Get the bride arriving (assuming they prepped somewhere other than at facility).
Get the bride comming up the isle. If she is going to be given away and will kiss father or whom ever talk to them before hand. So you know what side to be on. (face shot instead of back of head).
Take shots of the ceremony. You can and should move around.
If they have recieving line at facility get some pictures of it.
After that, time for the formals.
After the formals, the reception is a breeze. Just keep your eyes open. Move around getting shots of the guests and keep checking back at the wedding party. You know when glasses are tapped that they will kiss so you can get a few shots of the kissing without the set up look.
If its a nice facility or reception hall, get some pics of it.
If you have enough memory cards shoot raw+jpeg. 1,000 pics is not unheard of.
Make sure you do not rush! Make sure the shot is in focus. Cameras will fire even though they are not in correct focus. Its better to have dozens of good sharp shots than to have hundreds of soft or out of focus shots!
In the end, I suppose it worked out OK. I just gave her the negs and let her do what she wanted with them. It was kind of strange to attend a family wedding and spend the time working.
Personally, I don't recommend it. If you decide to go ahead, I would suggest you get an L bracket for the flash gun and an extension cord - or at least the extension cord. Getting the flash gun away from the camera will be critical.
It seems odd that you want to buy a new camera just for a single shoot but I suppose it is as good an excuse as any.
I wouldn't even consider shooting an wedding without at least two cameras, two flashes and a couple of lenses. You need to have backup equipment...you can't just say "sorry, the camera wasn't working".
Before I got into actual wedding photography, I had been asked several times to shoot people's weddings. I always said no...because I didn't have the equipment or the expertise. What I did do, was to offer to shoot all the supplemental stuff. I told them to hire a pro for the ceremony and formals...and I would be there to get the rest. It worked out great every time and I got a lot of good experience, without the stress and risk of being the hired pro.
That being said...we all have to start somewhere...so if you feel that you can prepare well enough...then go for it. But remember...a wedding is no place to figure out what you are doing...do that before.
Wolff thanks for the link I found it just after I posted while I was looking for examples of photography in the wedding gallery. Those are mostly fantastic photos and I doubt I can get anywhere near that quality.
JIP one of the reasons is I do not yet understand the differences between the SB600 and SB800. If you can give me some insight especially what it is that justifies the difference. One could say that I am buying the cheaper one because I just spent all my money on the D200 :)
markc I just bought the D200 I'll have a bit over 1 and a half months to get accoustomed to it. In 2 weeks I'm holidaying in Austria, where the wedding is too, so I probably won't take my finger off the trigger :) Plenty of time to accustomise myself to the camera, what I am really worried about more than anything is the style of photograph. How to shoot a wedding, not how to shoot a wedding with a D200.
Big Mike that's the problem. I don't want to do it. But I don't think in their financial strife they can afford a professional. I'll try and convince her otherwise anyway. I just don't want to be the one that says afterwards you get what you pay for. 2 cameras won't be a problem. I'll have my Nikon FE as a film backup if all hell breaks loose.
uberben exactly the information I was after thanks!
fmw I didn't buy the camera for a single shoot. I've been planning and saving for this camera all year, I was only informed of the wedding last week lol. I'm thinking of fasttracking the purchase of a flash unit though if I can't get out of the wedding.
Anyway got the D200 yesterday, so much for exam study :S
Just for the record the equipment I will have on hand:
Nikon D200
Nikon FE
Nikkor AI 50mm f1.8 (great on the FE, bad on the D200),
Tamron 35-70mm f4 (horrible lens but:)
B+W Soft focus filter for Tamron lens
Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm f3.5-4
Manual SB-10 flash
The D200's builtin flash
Possibly a SB600 or SB800
Spare battery for the FE
The Battery attachment for the D200 plus extra batteries.
2GB CF card
Laptop
Few rolls of ISO100 and ISO400 fujifilm.
/EDIT: just confirmed i'm stuck with the job, so keep the advice comming. Getting some great tips so far. Although it is kinda depressing looking at gallery after gallery of weddings getting ideas.
cvjarrod thanks a lot though for your reply. I didn't figure out the CLSuntill a few days ago, and I've been playing with it non-stop since. The SB800 worked well as an oncamera flash especially for the portraits which were done outside and slowsynced for some very satisfactory results.
I'm really enjoying this remote flash trigger now and in the future will be looking much more into how to use it, but I'm not going to be investing in any more SB800s at this point. Maybe a 600 as an extra slave but even that is pushing it with my debts atm.
Second that. Except I think you can tell her "no". Really, if she won't listen, it will be tough to say no, but it's better than facing her afterwards when things don't turn out.
If you have a lot of photography experience, but you just haven't done weddings, I'd say go for it. But if you have equipment that's new to you (never a good idea for a wedding), you are unsure about lighting, and you haven't had exposure to the craziness of trying to be the main photographer of a wedding, I strongly suggest you pass. A lot of brides don't realize how much goes into getting a good set of photos. If you shoot regularly, a couple of months is enough time to get used to the camera, but the other things are a big deal. Do a search for other threads about starting wedding photography here.
ironsidephoto I already bought an SB-800. I have something against many of Ken Rockwells reviews. Some are great but in the review of the SB-600 I as with some of his lenses I get the feeling he is just justifying his purchases rather than giving an unbiased review. There's a few features of the SB-800 that he wrote of as useless as with his D200 review that I use quite often. Plus the SB-800's extra power is really handy. Even the higher powered SB-800 eventually gave way to my trigger happyness during the wedding and underlighted a picture!
I am very happy with it and now looking at expanding my flash lighting experience :)
If I have time I may get the chance to post a few here to see what people think. Not sure about the assistant thing yet but I could probably get a family member from somewhere to give me a hand when needed.
Here is what I use as far as equipment:
(2) Canon 20d's
Tokina 12-24 f/4
Canon ef 24-70 f/2.8 L
Canon ef 70-200 f/2.8 IS L
Canon ef 50 f/1.8
canon 430ex
canon 580ex
8 canon camera batteries
16 NiMH AA battery's for the flashes
( 8 ) 1 GB CF cards
( 3 ) 2 GB CF cards
Wolverine 100 GB Portable storage device with built in memory card reader
I had to rent the ef 70-200, the 580ex, and second 20d for my first wedding. it was well worth it. I borrowed lots of memory from anybody I knew and bought a bunch as well. I already had the portable hard drive. You will know right away if you can handle the crazyness of weddings and if you want to go forward with future ones. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you want any of the contract doc's I use to make things legit.
My first wedding went amazing and I owe it mostly to getting all my ducks in a row.
~ Ben
The hardest thing was trying to get happy shots. Unfortunately the wedding was a bit... well lets just say until the beer came out it looked more like a funeral, long story, but I did get a few smiley snaps. Though far from professional it worked as well as it could IMHO.
All your tips helped very well and I'll post some pictures in the wedding gallery after I finished processing them and if the couple release them. Thanks again.
You'll want a diffuser for sure, and depending on the ambient lighting at the venues, you might need some gels.
Once you get into CLS on your D200 you'll use off camera lighting as often as possible. You should be using it at this wedding for the portrait shots if you don't have any other lighting equipment. It would be a lot better to get at least two SB800s for the portrait shots. One strobe off-camera lighting needs to be adjusted every time you get someone of different dimensions in the picture and you'll lose a lot of time fiddling with the strobe positioning.
If you do get into CLS, the SB800 can be used on-camera to control up to three banks of strobes as opposed to the two banks using the built in flash of the D200. The 600 can't be used as the commander, only as a remote unit.
Once you add in the extras and factor in stronger lighting, the 600 isn't as good of a bargain anymore.
BTW, Ken Rockwell gives reviews of equipment he has NEVER used. What the he## is that about...
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20069
hey and good luck. Shooting for your aunt, friends and family is how you get started. Gotta start somewhere. Don't let everybody scare you. She's insisted, not like you're getting paid and she will love them because they are from you.
http://www.digitalweddingforum.com
Here are some amazing sites for you to be inspired by...
http://www.kellymoorephotography.com/index2.php
http://www.amydeputyphotography.com/wedding_galleries.html
http://www.ridoutphotography.com/
If you have a lot of photography experience, but you just haven't done weddings, I'd say go for it. But if you have equipment that's new to you (never a good idea for a wedding), you are unsure about lighting, and you haven't had exposure to the craziness of trying to be the main photographer of a wedding, I strongly suggest you pass. A lot of brides don't realize how much goes into getting a good set of photos. If you shoot regularly, a couple of months is enough time to get used to the camera, but the other things are a big deal. Do a search for other threads about starting wedding photography here.
true, you can say no. let her know shes better off going with a professional. i mean, it is only "the most important day of her life". what if you arent able to capture it? its not like you can just do a reshoot.
http://www.ultimatewedding.com/articles/index.php
http://www.sheena.ca/photo/weddinglist.html
and this one is one that I look at for inspiration sometimes, as I like the way different days (weddings) are captured !!!
http://www.jamiealexanderphotography.com/
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